In their first major brand campaign via Motion Sickness, Te Whānau O Waipareira celebrates the passionate spirit that guides the West Auckland urban Māori support network.
Founded as an advocate for its people – those who came to the city seeking work – the organisation supports positive life changes for whānau.
Launching this week, Proud To Be Māori has rolled out across TV and digital with an accompanying OOH portrait series.
The film addresses the hardships Māori have faced and continue to endure through a candid lens, then flips the narrative to demonstrate how asking for support is not a sign of weakness, but the essence of collective strength and solidarity – and in doing so removing the shame of needing help.
The scenes are woven together with a rendition of ‘You’re Magic’ sung by Māori Party MP Rawiri Waititi.
Creative Director Sam Stuchbury says: “When we began to dig into the creative approach we felt the only way to do this brief justice was to have an unwavering directness to our messaging.
“A key consideration for the creative was, how do we create an emotive mood, but still feel inspiring? We decided to do this with strong music and sound design to give the film gravity and progression. The style of filming was very intimate, through handheld camera movements. This gave it a sense of energy I don’t think we would have achieved otherwise.”
Waipareira Digital Lead Katene Durie-Doherty says: “[Motion Sickness] have delivered hope, resilience and pride to our people and the communities they represent. They have set a new benchmark not only for what a campaign can do but what authentic and meaningful cultural engagement and diversity in New Zealand can achieve when united.”
The campaign has already been met with over 150,000 organic views on social media, over 4,000 shares and overwhelmingly positive feedback.
CREDITS:
Te Whānau o Waipareira Team: Katene Durie-Doherty, Renee Solomon-Tauhinu, Fender Maeva, Richard Green
Creative Director / Director: Sam Stuchbury
Producer: Joseph McAlpine
Associate Creative Director / Photographer: Jordan Stent
Art Director / Strategist: Anna Maxwell
Creative: Will Macdonald
Creative Assistant: Freddy Riddiford
DOP: Ziga Zupancic
1st AC: Alex Campbell
2nd AC: Cameron Bennett
Gaffer: Spencer Locke-Bonney
Best Boy: Andrew Garfield
LX Assistant: Julian Wagner
Sound Recordist: Sofiane Tib
Hair & Make Up: Guillermina Gentile
Editor: Jolin Lee
Colourist: Matic Prusnik
Sound Post: BigPop Studios
