Aotearoa NZ beckons curious travellers in new global ‘If You Seek’ campaign via DDB Aotearoa
Tourism New Zealand has unveils its first global campaign in two years – ‘IF YOU SEEK’ via DDB Aotearoa, and the country’s invitation to international visitors who seek more through extraordinary travel.
Launched today in core visitor markets such as Australia and the United States, IF YOU SEEK explores perspectives unfamiliar to the travel category; enticing audiences to explore Aotearoa New Zealand via unexpected and alluring glimpses of the destination’s unique people and place.
Says René de Monchy, chief executive, Tourism New Zealand: “There is intense competition as destinations compete to capture the imaginations of travellers. Because of our size and location, New Zealand will have to work hard to encourage visitation post-covid with international visitor numbers taking years to build up and Kiwis now having the option of travelling overseas.”
A suite of 18 short films teases the diversity of the destination’s distinct local culture, generosity and famed natural beauty – suggesting the true magic of Aotearoa New Zealand is reserved for the inquisitive traveller, in quest of authenticity and discovery.
Says de Monchy: “Tourism New Zealand uses a range of insights to design compelling campaign work to reach high-quality visitors. These are visitors who we think will explore more deeply, and ultimately contribute to New Zealand’s tourism sector in ways beyond the economic benefit. They are travellers who want to engage with our culture, and society and also interact with our environment in a respectful way.”
In accompaniment to the 18 sensory visuals, a commanding 60” manifesto film further summons seekers to explore the power of Aotearoa New Zealand. Numerous cutdowns and iterations breathe IF YOU SEEK to life across paid, owned, earned and trade channels as the organisation continues to support the recovery of the sector.
An immersive digital experience extend the campaign through Tourism New Zealand’s owned environment IF YOU SEEK mini experiences providing viewers with more to seek and entice them to book.
DDB Aotearoa chief creative officer, Gary Steele says the campaign is an invitation to the curious intended to reward audiences who go a little further and explore a little deeper: “When the first explorers discovered these islands, they were met with a long white cloud on the horizon. Aotearoa was then – and still is to this day – a place for those willing to seek. This campaign celebrates that idea and rewards those who go that step further. Every element of the campaign invites them to see, hear or feel a little bit more, building Aotearoa’s story through connected digital and interactive OOH experiences that complement the films.”
Sas Raymond Otene McKay, chief creative officer, RUN: “Working on this campaign since last year has allowed RUN to walk in two worlds, applying our unique mix of advertising creativity with a te ao Māori lens. With a big strategic idea that imbued the concept of manaakitanga, we knew our take on it had to be authentic in its delivery creatively. At the same time, we had to balance how Māori culture showed up in this campaign – all guided by tikanga Māori.”
A localised execution will encourage New Zealanders to explore further, signalling there’s more to find in their backyard if they seek to uncover it.
Tourism New Zealand research shows that around two-thirds of New Zealanders intend to take a domestic holiday in the coming year, and 42% are motivated to visit a place they haven’t before on their upcoming travels.
Client: Tourism New Zealand
Lead Agency: DDB Group Aotearoa
Agency: RUN
Agency: TBWA Sydney
Agency: The Hatchery
Production Company: The Sweetshop, Director: Tom Gould
Editors: Tim Mauger/ Mariano Segedin/ Fauze Hassen
Colour: Images and Sound
Online: The Machine Room
Sound & Music: Franklin Road
Photography: Miles Holden
International Media: Mindshare Global
Domestic Media: Stanley St
Consultancy: Eat Big Fish
34 Comments
The child narrating an overwrought manifesto against a backdrop of nature stock footage is so played out at this point it’s crazy. Also are we cribbing our taglines from Bible verses in 2022? Weirdly anachronistic.
Surely we have to blame Tourism NZ for this because DDB are so much better than this.
All the ads look/feel the same.
Government money, probably.
Where’s the danger?
Where’s the scary big idea?
How did we get to his?
Why is everything so safe?
Luckily, I have Armagnac.
Join me at Andiamo this Friday for a robust discussion. I’ll find a client to pay for it.
Isn’t DDB’s thing doing the unexpected? this is um…rather cliche.
Same, same. Seems like the same narratives being told over and over again. 100% pure and boring.
Unoriginal, boring and predictable. Would have hoped the first work in two years would be so much better than this. I think it’s a tired client and a tired agency.
Craft can’t hide the lack of an idea. The fact the client keeps making the same work over and over shows their lack of ambition. Many people worked very hard on this to create so little.
Love these. Not sure why the negativity.
Beautifully shot. Fresh stories. Not just smiling bungee jumpers. Gives me the goosies.
Same!
Great mahi, and great to see Te Ao Māori values upheld in these films
The words are fine. Execution is poorly done. Something DDB would do. But still better than what most other competitor groups could ever think of doing let alone even executing it competitively. Tired agency, tired creatives, yes but they will never change.
The end frame is the worst. Otherwise acceptable and expectable. Pats of the bottoms all round.
Your big strategic idea is exactly the same as Air NZ’s latest safety video, just nowhere near as good. At least they had a flying Waka – something creative, here there’s nothing creative at all. How would any tourist in the world get a different impression of NZ from this than every 100% PURE NZ concept that’s come before. This is making something for the sake of making it, also known as ‘looking busy’.
this is not.
Maybe I am an outlier in the comments section here – but I used to work on TNZ.
I do know that it takes ages, sometimes years, for someone to make the decision to come over here.
The whole one big ad thing never really worked for that – but the idea of stretching out the communication over a longer period makes a lot more sense to me – especially in this digital age.
Where is the rest of it?
You say ‘digital experiences’ and ‘experiential’ but that is not here – it is just films.
Or are the films the ‘digital experiences’ – which they are clearly not.
I love the idea – If you seek. That could be great digitally. (Do that if you haven’t yet!!)
To say ‘there is no idea’ I have no idea what you are talking about tbh.
Maybe no old school film idea – not sure what you mean?
https://seek.newzealand.com/dolphins/nz
Yet another piece of work that’s not in the least bit ‘Unexpected’. Which right now for DDB is totally expected.
Manifesto’s a bit meh, but some of these are really nice. Tane, Lost World, Powhiri, I like a lot. Music and sound especially. Well done to Franklin and co.
If this is how we talk about a successful agency, making decent work, for hard working clients, it’s no wonder our industry is seen as a joke.
The manifesto is a bit meh. The shorter films are fun though.
Click on the link to the ‘mini experiences’
The powhiri one gave me chills and the kina one made me want a bite even though I’m not a kina fan at all.
I agree with Mother Nature. Manifesto a bit so so. Shorter films are choice. Nice idea to create a tourism campaign that doesn’t show you what you’ll see before you get there.
Boo
They are actually pretty good.
Not revealing everything is a sweet idea in the films and then I can imagine them working quite well.
Manifesto, is so/so – I agree.
Little films are great.
Experiential could be amazing but I haven’t seen any of this.
This is a big long term platform – I’d like to get one of those briefs.
Chin up DDB. You can see the negative comments are from the agencies who didn’t win the pitch. The work shows how beautiful our country is, and it will make tourists want to come here. That’s a job well done you bunch of negative nancies.
So many haters. But the hater comments just sound old-fashioned and self-absorbed. I think this work is designed to make an emotional impression. It talks to your belly – not your brain. That’s the power of this work. It’s not designed to make you think, it’s designed to make you feel. Congrats DDB and TNZ. It’s magic.
You sound like a grumpy old man and a tiny baby at the same time.
Should go back and watch the 30s. Really good. Nice one.
Tourism is tough space to do something fresh and inspired in. This is more of the same, but it is what is. Some nice beats in a couple of spots though.
I like it, just wish it could have missed the humour and used the absolute tradition of nz. Give me the cold fuzzies rather than punch a fireman in the nose.
I respect the risk here, especially off the back of Covid. Not just your safe and typical tourism money-shots, but something that provokes further action through not revealing. I applaud the execution.
The first comments are always from competitive agencies – we know this. Ka pai DDB. Well crafted and effective mahi.
When pretty much no agency is getting any work to market… well done on a big launch.
Sad times when just ‘getting something to market’ is the benchmark.
This isn’t ‘getting something to market’ – it’s really good work.
I don’t get all the negative comments tbh (except for the montage piece).
Tourism NZ always leads with their epic landscapes – the idea of not revealing them is really smart.
And I love the line. It’s a long term thought.