TBWA has called on New Zealand’s favourite comedian Rhys Darby to leave the bustling life of LA and join former partner 2degrees in their new and unusual campaign.
It’s been longer than a decade since Darby first began working alongside the challenger telco, helping launch the brand and making everyone laugh. Now he’s back with one final mission, to remind Kiwis that 2degress does offer broadband.
In an extremely odd but nonetheless creative campaign, Darby and 2degrees aim to make ‘sense’, and scence, to all Kiwis by revealing the seven layers of what the internet smells like. Yes, you read that correctly.
Since when did the internet have a scent? And do we want to know what it is? The internet to me smells like iron and Dorito dust.
“When I heard that two-thirds of New Zealanders don’t know that 2degrees does broadband, I was shocked. It just doesn’t make sense – they’re a full-service telco,” Darby explains.
“I had to come back for one last job and that’s to make it make sense, literally, by making a candle that smells like the internet because candles make scents, like 2degrees broadband makes sense … geddit?!”
The campaign will run for 12 weeks across TV, digital, out of home, in-store and social and for seven of those weeks, Darby will unveil a new scent from the far reaches of the internet.
TBWA NZ chief creative officer, Shane Bradnick, says Darby was the only guy who could help inform Kiwis about 2degrees broadband, as he helped make the brand become a New Zealand favourite from the get-go.
“While 2degrees started out making prepay fairer, over the years they have bought their Fight for Fair to all telco offerings – including Broadband. So, it wasn’t fair that so few Kiwis knew about 2degrees Broadband and there was only one guy who could help us fix this, so we are bringing Rhys back one last time.” says Bradnick.
“Rhys was a good sport throughout the whole campaign, bringing his classic 2degrees humour and even letting us 3D scan his head at his LA home, so his unique range of 2degrees Internet Scented Candles can be offered to all of New Zealand.”
Chief brand and insights officer for 2degrees, Ben Wheeler, adds that the humour and silliness of the campaign is refreshing and much needed right now.
“2degrees has always been the challenger brand that never took itself too seriously and through the ‘Fighting for Fair’ platform and this new campaign we’ve been able to recapture that in a way that demonstrates how our business has grown. Our Broadband isn’t just fair for all Kiwi’s, we reckon it smells the best too. 2degrees and broadband, it just makes scents.”
To find out what these ‘internet scents’ are, 2degrees’ Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages will be posting the “whiffle of the week” as each layer is revealed and debated.
“Just think about it – what are the scents of the internet. What do football dives and make up tutorials smell like? I found the answer to these important questions – and more,” enthuses Darby.
Candle lovers can also be in to win one of their very own 2degrees candles if they register to 2degrees or sign up to 2degrees broadband. And who would want to waste that opportunity?
CAMPAIGN CREDITS:
Client: 2degrees
Agency: TBWAGroup NZ
Production: Eight
Audio: Franklin Road Audio
Media Agency: IKON
PR Agency: Porter Novelli
