After NZ Lotteries’ big rehash of Instant Kiwi, DDB launched the much-loved, much-awarded and completely OTT ‘It Can All Change in an Instant‘ musical number in 2010. And while the humour is still there in the follow-up ‘It Pays to Push your Luck’, they have taken a slightly more complicated approach this time round.
Kirsty Phillips, Instant Kiwi marketing manager, says it’s a lot different to anything they’ve done in the past, primarily because it was largely unscripted.
“That keeps it fresh and spontaneous, but it did make it that much harder to sell internally because it was such a leap of faith. We really needed to have a lot of faith in DDB, the director [The Sweet Shop’s Stuart McDonald, he of Summer Height’s High fame] and Jesse [Griffin],” she says.
Youtube Video
She says the garage sale scenario, which shows how financial benefits can arise after Griffin gets creative and convinces attendees to buy a range useless things like prepaid alibis, superhero undies, dodgy unicycles, mismatched skates and air guitars (those who believe gambling is a tax on the stupid might find the ads quite ironic), is also a good way to ease viewers into the push your luck concept because it’s a familiar scenario for Kiwis.
And, with a total of 21 executions (see them here), there’s much more luck-pushing to come, with the scenarios including an audition for an eight-year-old’s birthday party and some hijinks at a department store (which is Phillips’ favourite).
While conventional talent and scripts were involved with the garage sale, Griffin and McDonald held a series of workshops about the different scenarios in an effort to arm him with “lots and lots of ammo” so that they could surprise the actors and capture those genuine reactions. And, as a result of the entertaining ad libbing, she says they didn’t end up using the scripts anyway.
The other two scenarios took more of a reality TV-esque approach, with some actual unknowing humans happy to have their moment of fame being filmed and then agreeing to be featured in the ads, so while it was often a surprise for the talent, seeing what happened was also a surprise for those behind the scenes.
Phillips says digital has already launched (another point of difference for this campaign is that there’s an unusually big online component to it), cinema launches this week and the TV ads, which provide more evidence of NZ Lotteries’ cognisance of how powerful music is by featuring a dose of Tone Loc, launch on Sunday. And Phillips is hoping that all the various executions being drip-fed into the wild will keep the punters interested and will be in action for the next 12-18 months.
UPDATE: “The campaign is fresh and brave and without equal in this market,” DDB Group NZ executive creative director Andy Fackrell. “It’s a great idea, beautifully executed and I have every faith it’s going to have great cut through with the target because it’s so damn funny.”
With Push Your Luck aiming to gain the attention of a new, infrequent Instant Kiwi player, Sparkphd & DDB instigated a significant shift from the brands traditional media approach to a content led strategy, requiring a flexible and dynamic campaign approach.
Spark PHD and PHDIQ developed a digitally-led launch strategy that aimed to ignite conversation within our consumers’ social world. By tapping into their desire to be involved with the ‘next new thing’ Instant Kiwi had the opportunity centre the Push Your Luck content around existing moments of fun, play and anticipation.
Credits:
Agency: DDB Group New Zealand
Client: New Zealand Lotteries
Product: Instant Kiwi
Group Executive Creative Director: Andy Fackrell
Group Executive Creative Director: Toby Talbot
Creative Director: Steve Kane
Art Director/copywriter: Jonathan McMahon
Art Director/copywriter: Lisa Fedyszyn
Designer: Toby Morris
Executive Producer: Judy Thompson
Agency Producer: Jane Mill
Agency Producer: Rosie Grayson
Agency Producer: Tania Jeram
Production Company: The Sweet Shop
Director: Stuart McDonald
Producer: Ben Dailey
Executive Producer: Fiona King
Managing Director: George Mackenzie
DOP: Crighton Bone
Editor: Peter Sciberras @ the Butchery
Assistant Editor: Michael Lutman @ the Butchery
Visual Effects Artist: Eugene Richards@ The Refinery
Colourist: Vincent Taylor @ The Refinery
Sound Design: Jon Cooper @ The Coopers of Franklin Road,
Sound Design: Craig Conway @ Final Sound.
Animation: Tony Leslie @ Waxeye.
Animation: Paul Carter @ Waxeye.
Group Business Director: Angela Watson
Group Business Director: Aimee McCammon
Account Director: Jenny Travers
Account Manager: Peter Jiang
Planner: Thinza Mon
Chief Executive: Wayne Pickup
Chief Financial Officer: Warren Sailsbury
Head of Marketing: Wendy Rayner
Marketing Manager: Kirsty Phillips
Brand Manager: John Alexander