The first day night test match in history, to be played with a pink ball instead of the usual red, begins today and Australian opener David Warner is likely to be a major threat to Kiwi hopes. But how good is he in the dark?
A promotional spot for LG Australia devised by Auckland based creative agency, Contagion, to show off the colour quality of LG’s new HD Oled colour TVs, puts Warner to the test to see his batting prowess in complete darkness.
Warner faced balls of up to 150km/h, while the bowlers had an unfair advantage of having night vision goggles. Warner not only hit plenty of sixes, he managed to hit explosive targets in the air.
Worryingly for New Zealand’s bowling attack, which has suffered Warner’s wrath throughout the test series so far as he has racked up over 500 runs at an average of 139, the aggressive Aussie opener connects bat to ball with disturbing regularity despite a distinct lack of visibility.
Taunting Kiwi fans eager to see him swiftly removed from the batting crease, Warner signs off with more than a touch of braggadocio by saying “those Kiwis won’t see me coming”.
The campaign was in response to a tweet a David Warner put out to his 3.6 million social followers, saying, “I’m going to do a training run at night to show there’s nothing to this day/nighter. Got any shots you want me to try?”
LG stepped up and said they’d take care of the details, then surprised him by turning out all the lights. Two 15” teaser films were created, a hero 90” piece, the making of, and Warner, a prolific sharer on social media, has also got a special treat for his most loyal fans and will respond to their challenges personally through Instagram and Twitter over the next few weeks.
Tell me the shots you want me to play at a special night training session #WarnersNightTest pic.twitter.com/f4qIo6qJC6
— David Warner (@davidwarner31) November 17, 2015
Bridget Taylor, creative director for Contagion, says showcasing Warner’s explosive power seemed the best way to showcase the explosive colours on LG OLED TVs.
“We wanted to demonstrate LG OLED TV’s perfect black and explosive colours. What better way than to get a world famous cricketer to bash explosive cricket balls around the ground in the dark?”
Not bad. But we still prefer binocular soccer.
Credits:
Client: LG Australia
Marketing Manager for LG Home Electronics: Grant Vanderberg
Agency: Contagion New Zealand
Creatives: Bridget Tayor & Verity Dookia
Planner: Dean Taylor
Social Influence Director: Tom Bates
Client Partner: Siva Clement
Producer: Heath Davy
Production Company: Mint Australia
Sound Design: Radiate Sound, NZ