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The Australian cricket team has arrived in New Zealand this week with a bunch of new faces and to make their stay more enjoyable New Zealand Cricket has joined forces with advertising giants DDB to welcome our Tasman neighbours.
The welcoming television advertisements, billboards, print ads, posters and more have been styled around 1950s public service announcements and are sure to make any Kiwi giggle.
Steve Ogilvie was part of the creative team at DDB behind the latest campaign and he said the ads were great fun to create. “We wanted to play on that rivalry between New Zealand and Australia,” he said. “We wanted to give the Australians wrong information about our country and help our team!”
The television ads suggest the Australians suck on a kumara to stay hydrated or help themselves to as much shell fish as possible – which has caused a stir with some organisations. “Everyone in New Zealand knows there are laws around taking things from the beach. But this puts the image in people’s head of the Australians down at the beach pulling stuff out of the sand,” Ogilvie said. “Australians have got a sense of humour and give as good as they get, so we wanted to give them a bit of friendly abuse. We are standing up to them and we aren’t afraid of them.”
Other ads point the Australians in the wrong direction at Eden Park and the Westpac Stadium, suggest Huntly has great nightlife and asks whether the players have their South Island Visa. “There might even be some tourism opportunities for the Australians,” he laughed. “We might get a bus load of cricketers through Huntly and help top up the economy in the small town.”
It’s the little things in the ads that also make the campaign so special; Ogilvie suggests keeping an eye out for the batsman at the end of the television commercials. “It’s the little things that really make the ads. Every time you see them you see something different.”
DDB has a reputation of creative eye catching, and sometimes controversial ads. This campaign is no different. “It’s better to have people liking or disliking your ad rather than not caring. We all love cricket and we want people to react to it and come to watch the games.”
