Big Fish has steered away from cautionary tales in its Save Kiwi Week campaign for the Kiwis for kiwi trust, preferring fun and frivolity with quintessentially Kiwi former All Blacks head coach Sir Graham Henry.
The agency’s worked with the charity since shortly after it formed about eight years ago, and created a TVC with production company Imagine Group and reskinned website for the fundraising week.
Creative director Tristan Tuckey says most New Zealanders aren’t aware kiwi are endangered, and getting that message out was the campaign’s priority. But negativity wasn’t the way to do it, he says.
“We’re all a bit numb to the negative message. If you look at other forms of advertising, there’s a general shift away from the negative.
“It’s more that we can’t imagine a New Zealand without kiwi, as opposed to, you realise your dog could make this mess. It’s a cause for national concern more than, you could squash these things on the road at night.”
Henry, the charity’s patron, was the ideal frontperson for the message, Tuckey says.
“He’s as close as you can get to the mayor of Kiwiville with the amount of respect he’s got. We wanted to utilise his mana to speak to the nation.”
Kiwis for kiwi executive director Michelle Impey says unless we take action now, kiwi will be gone from the mainland in our lifetime. “The tragic reality is that without protection, 95 percent of kiwi are killed in the wild before they are old enough to breed. Save Kiwi Week is about raising funds for predator control. In areas that are actively managed, kiwi survival rate increases from five to 60 percent.”
The national campaign has a target of raising $100,000 which the trust says will protect kiwi and their chicks from stoats, weasels, rats and other pests.
Save Kiwi Week is supported by BNZ, Department of Conservation, Trade Me, Air New Zealand and Mr Vintage.
Kiwi-related items were auctioned on Trade Me during the week and teachers could download a Kiwis Forever toolkit to educate students.
Credits:
Agency: Big Fish Creative
Creative Director: Tristan Tuckey
Producer: Rebecca Moore
Art Direction: Chris Anderson, Barac Underwood
Production Company: Imagine Group
Director: Isaac Bell, DOP/Camera: Dennis Murphy
