Whittaker’s and Assignment Group have been successfully beating the patriotic, family-owned, challenger brand drum for many years. But, due to New Zealand’s International Inferiority Complex (IIS), everyone knows that anything with Kiwi provenance needs a ringing foreign endorsement before it can be considered a true success and Whittaker’s has got a good one in the form of UK celebrity chef and unashamed chocolate lover Nigella Lawson, who has signed on to promote the new five roll refined Creamy Milk Chocolate—and give the Swiss a bit of a hurry up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsHbmi_CngI
Whittaker’s marketing manager Philip Poole couldn’t be contacted, but the ad, which was shot in London by Peter Burger of Capital City Films and is geo-restricted to New Zealand audiences on YouTube, has generated plenty of positive commentary on its Facebook page.
It’s certainly not the first time a New Zealand brand has gone for international star power, with Steinlager Pure using a host of international mascots in its ads before recently going local again with Taika Waititi, and BNZ recently using actor Toby Huss as the lead for its ‘Be Good With Money’ teaser campaign. And it’s not the first time “Whittaker’s de Porirua” has compared itself to foreign chocolate super powers either, as evidenced by the Chocolatiers ad that can be found on its website.
Speaking of Nigella, this is awkward.
