This time last year we were oohing and ah-ing over the mad ball skills of the All Blacks. Which turned out to be the mad skills of the mighty ABs—and the special effects jiggery pokery of Brandspank. So when #aliwilliams tweeted “Haha yeah that copter thing was hilarious. Izzy took it out. BOOM!” along with a news announcement on the All Blacks and BackingBlack’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, followed shortly after by the release of a film showing the All Blacks smashing a “coptercam” out of the sky with a rugby ball, we should have guessed… we’d become victims of yet another ad campaign ‘going viral.’
So far, over 385,000 people have watched the video on YouTube. As the story unfolded, we were told the footage was shot on a phone. Then, it was revealed that this was a bit of fun had by Nokia, Telecom and Colenso BBDO to launch the new Nokia Lumia range – Nokia’s first Windows device to hit New Zealand. Colenso attached a Nokia Lumia to a remote control quadcopter that flew over a rugby ground where All Blacks Ali Williams, Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Isaia Toeava and Sam Whitelock were training.
“It was great fun filming a one-shot on a phone, from a tiny RC helicopter. The All Blacks hurled footy balls at our hovering coptercam until they brought it down with a well-placed ball. This wouldn’t have been possible without a great bunch of teens, tech geniuses and giant athletes,” says Matt Hampton, creative director at Colenso BBDO.
“This sort of campaign is a first for Nokia in New Zealand and the response has been incredible. We had a lot of fun making it happen” said Kimberley Bartlett, Nokia communications.
One YouTube viewer, Owaa22, commented: “So fake lol but still entertaining! People should relax, most people know its fake and even if they don’t let them have a laugh! lol This is fun and its cool the All Blacks don’t take everything so seriously!”
Credits
Client: Nokia and Telecom NZ
Agency: Colenso BBDO, Auckland
Creative Chairman: Nick Worthington
Creative Director: Matt Hampton
Creative Team: Rachael Walker and Tamryn Kerr
Director: Jae Morrison
Producer: Paul Courtney
Account Director: Helen Fitzsimons
Account Manager: James Cummins