TV3’s Grand Designs New Zealand is set to kick off early next month and today MediaWorks released the second phase of its marketing campaign for the show, which lives up to the Grand Design ethos of creative design including some clever eyeball trickery through interactive adshels. PLUS: partner ANZ’s campaign around the show.
The show, airing on Sunday October 4 at 8.30pm and hosted by Kiwi architect Chris Moller will: “Share the stories of creative and enterprising Kiwis who are taking on the challenge of building their own unique and inspirational homes,” TV3’s website says.
It follows the successful UK format of which there has been fifteen series, all hosted by Kevin McCloud.
The first promo for the show was released on Monday September 7 and includes Moller looking at a bunch of sites where the Kiwis involved exhibit the classic “she’ll be right” attitude.
A MediaWorks release says: “It partnered typical Grand Designs storylines – budget, site obstacles, consents – with a laid back, can-do Kiwi attitude, a demonstration of how Grand Designs New Zealand does things a little differently.”
“If you’ve ever seen Grand Designs or tried to build one, yeah that long-drop at your bach doesn’t count, you would be familiar with every hurdle there is,” says MediaWorks creative director Ant Farac. “We wanted to emphasis those challenges while celebrating our ‘Kiwi as’, ‘she’ll be right’ ethos. This attitude is an integral part of our DNA and perfectly complemented our Kiwi twist on a grand brand.”
This creative idea formed the backbone of a campaign that spans a wide media mix. The television promos and digital video that launched the concept also provided an outlet to introduce New Zealand host Chris Moller, the release says.
TV3 brand manager Rebecca Saunders says: “We wanted to ensure fans became familiar with Chris and had the chance to get to know him through the promo and a series of online videos prior to the first episode, from there we feel confident people will fall in love with him as we have,”
The second phase focuses on the design aspect of the show, the release says, so fans can see a creative architectural vision translated into digital, print and a series of interactive adshel takeovers. The adshels show quintessential New Zealand landscapes with familiar looking buildings, overlaid with a Grand Designs visual plan.
“People on the street can look through a transparent end to see how the architectural drawing would sit in the landscape behind,” says Saunders.
MediaWorks’ partner for the show, ANZ, has also released its own campaign around Grand Designs NZ with WhybinTBWA.
A WhybinTBWA release says the bank launched initiatives to support its partnership and commitment to Kiwis realising their home ownership goals.
The multi-platform home loan campaign kicked off last week ahead of the show’s launch and brings to life the idea that every home buyer’s journey is unique through the eyes of individuals and families who are, with the bank’s tools and expertise, able to realise their own dreams, the release says.
ANZ head of marketing Astrud Burgess says the show is a perfect match for the bank.
“The sentiment underpinning Grand Designs New Zealand is all about people realising their dreams and we think that’s worth celebrating. We’re thrilled to have helped MediaWorks bring this New Zealand edition of the show to our TV screens.”
“As the country’s biggest home lender we understand the complexities and nuances involved with buying or building a home and believe that the right tools, support and education can make that journey smoother and more accessible,” she says.
The home loans campaign features multiple AV spots for TV and online video, radio, print, outdoor and digital and will support the show throughout its duration.
WhybinTBWA chief executive officer Todd McLeay says that the campaign taps into the classic Kiwi desire of ‘owning your own patch’ as well as ANZ’s ‘Your World, Your Way’ ethos.
“Home ownership is undeniably a hot topic with the challenges surrounding supply and demand, cost and accessibility. For many people it’s all a bit overwhelming and for even more, the idea of owning their own home feels unachievable,” he says.
“ANZ is an industry-leader in terms of providing the right people, products and services to help Kiwis get ahead with their dreams and we’re proud to work with them to bring this to life.”
ANZ head of retail and business marketing Matt Pickering said earlier Grand Designs was the gold standard when it came to home renovation shows.
“Helping bring the show to New Zealand is a great fit for ANZ given that around one in three New Zealanders get their home loan from us …”
Pickering wouldn’t reveal how much ANZ was tipping in, but it’s thought to be significantly more than its sponsorship of Art of the Architect, which received NZ on Air funding of $1,162,397 for eight episodes. Grand Designs NZ, which is being made by Imagination Television, received NZ on Air funding of $550,000 for ten episodes, so, to maintain the high standards seen in its home market, a production partner was required.
At a TVNZ event Grand Designs UK host Kevin McCloud said while the UK show is screened in almost 150 countries, very few markets have taken the leap and created their own because it takes so long to film (the longest build it followed took five years) and is therefore very expensive.
There has been some debate about whether NZ on Air should be funding local versions of international formats, but if its decisions around NZ’s Got Talent and X Factor NZ are any gauge, it appears to give them a start and then taper the funding off (it dedicated $800,000 to another season of X Factor NZ after giving $1.6 million for the first season, but said this will be the last time it funds the show).
“Grand Designs New Zealand will be in production for 12 months and will feature ten ambitious projects from around the country,” says MediaWorks TV chief executive Paul Maher in a release. “Together we’re going to be showcasing some very creative, enterprising and entertaining New Zealanders.”
The last season of Grand Designs UK on TV3 rated 288,100 in 5+ and 156,200 in 25-54 and the last season of Grand Designs Australia rated 205,300 in 5+ and 88,000 in 25-54. According to NZ on Air, an average of 378,643 in 5+ watched Art of the Architect. on TV One.
Credits:
Group head of brand & marketing – Katie Mills
Creative director – Ant Farac
TV3 brand manager – Rebecca Saunders
Senior creative/director – Shay Logan
Assistant director – Ben Hobbs
Marketing assistant – Lily Kingston
Publicist: Jeane Mowatt
Print and digital art director – Teresa Wong
Visual FX & graphic designer – Andrew Bunyan
DOP – Clayton Carpinter
Producer – Rebecca Boyce
Gaffer – Matt Hunt
Camera assistant – Sam Toms
Sound – Phil Donovan
Hair and make-up artist – Rebekah Banks
Stylist – Shona Wilson
Online video editor – Patrick Calderlari
Online editor – Jessica Betty and Ana Diaz
Media agency – Spark PHD
ANZ campaign credits:
Creative lead – Andy Lish
Creative director – Julian Andrews
Creative – Watchara Tansikreat, Dave Sylvester, Bruce Doscher
Production company – Curious Film
Director – Robin Walters
Photography – Troy Goodall
Head of brand, retail and business banking marketing – Matthew Pickering
Senior marketing manager – Sara Johnson, Erin Dudding
Marketing manager – Juliana Raven, Katie Thompson
Planning – David McIndoe, Steve Clark
Account director – Maike Blackman
Account manager – Nicola Stallard
Agency producer – Esther Watkins
