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An artistic touch: Blunt Umbrellas, Motion Sickness and Dick Frizzell team up to promote umbrellas and charity

An artist might not seem the first port of call to promote an umbrella, but for Blunt Umbrellas and Motion Sickness, New Zealand’s Dick Frizzell has provided a unique opportunity to make a mini documentary and a donation to Oxfam.

Sitting and working about his sun-drenched Mt Eden studio, Frizzell shares to the camera a story from his primary school days, when he first knew he had a special talent. “I’m also addicted to challenges of design and image,” he says. Meanwhile, the Day of the Dead figurines hanging off a shelf, the colourful animal masks hanging on the wall and a Dick Frizzell bobble head all listen in.

The two-minute documentary then follows him outside as he puts to test his creation with a walk in the rain.

Founder and creative director of Motion Sickness, Sam Stuchbury, worked on the video closely with Blunt Umbrellas and says the filming process focused on both the cinematic and the natural. There is a story telling vibe to the documentary-esque footage.

The team sat down with Frizzell and talked for half an hour or so, and let the artist’s own idiosyncrasies and personality shine through the filming.

“The main thing with Blunt is everything about the brand needs to be authentic and genuine,” says Stuchbury.

And no where is this better seen, than in Frizzell’s description of Blunt as “a mighty umbrella that’s changing the course of history, that’s fucking awesome”.

The Dick Frizzell umbrella sells for NZ$99, with $40 from each donated to Oxfam. There are 1000 available.

Motion Sickness has been working with Blunt for a couple of months, with a heavy focus on generating sales through social media and Facebook in particular. And it’s a strategy that’s paying off, as Blunt has seen an increase in online New Zealand sales by 25 percent.

“Social media has just become hugely important for us,” says Josh Page, Blunt’s global brand manager. The brand was in a bit of a holding pattern with its social activity but are now looking into its digital strategy for the year ahead, with attention to web sales. 

The video promoting Frizzell’s Blunt umbrella on Facebook had 8000 views in the first 16 hours and sold 50 of the umbrellas in the first two hours of being live on Facebook. 

This follows the success of a video last week, which reached 4.4 million views worldwide. The fun video is part of a digital launch into the American and international market.

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