The Whittaker’s Big Egg Hunt NZ in support of The Starship Foundation ran again this Easter and saw 100 giant eggs created by leading and emerging artists hidden in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The public had to scramble the streets for the artworks and download the app for a chance win four gold Whittaker’s Wabbit necklaces crafted by Partridge Jewellers. And of course, there were several brands involved.
The hunt ran from 12 March until 7 April 7 and eventually the eggs will be auctioned off for Starship, with 80 of them being put up on TradeMe and 20 were sold at a gala cocktail event on 31 March.
The Big Egg Hunt pre-event reveal
Before the hunt began, we held a special sneak preview of all 100 eggs for our amazing artists, event sponsors and partners. We are so grateful for their support of The Whittaker’s Big Egg Hunt and Starship Foundation. Check out this video showcasing the reveal! #BigEggHuntNZ
Posted by The Big Egg Hunt NZ on Thursday, 2 April 2015
The entire campaign was undoubtedly a collaborative effort between Whittaker’s, a host of other brands and various agencies. Whittaker’s agecny Assignment Group created the videos that appeared on the Whittaker’s Chocolate Lovers Facebook page, however the ones on The Bigg Egg Hunt page were contributed by a variety of brands. Furthermore, the app for the egg hunt was developed for Whittaker’s by digital agency Tell.
Whittaker’s brand manager Jasmine Currie says the brand also handed wrapper design duties over to the kids at Starship through a colouring-in competition.
“Milla, aged five (who visits Starship hospital) had her design feature on our Creamy Milk block packaging throughout the campaign period,” says Currie.
Currie says Whittaker’s donated 20 cents from each block to help it raise the $150,000 it wants to donate from the campaign.
“We have committed to raising $150,000 and we also raised extra money through selling our Whittaker Wabbit soft toys on Trade Me where $4 per Wabbit was also donated to the Starship Foundation,” says Currie.
She says the winners of the hunt will be announced soon.
“Watch this space. They will be announced on our social media pages.”
Some of the more well-known artists and designers who worked on the eggs included Askew One, Dean Proudfoot, Dick Frizzell, Flox, Keven Mealamu, Mervyn Williams, Misery, Reuben Paterson, Rod Emmerson, Taika Waititi, World and Zambesi.
In this video Jordan Barnes Artist shares the vision for his amazing egg ‘Handle With Care’ (Welcome The Night). Have you found this egg in its hiding place in Wellington? #BigEggHuntNZ #Egg86
Posted by The Big Egg Hunt NZ on Saturday, 28 March 2015
There were plenty of brands involved, including Sky, which had its own egg created by artist Ingrid Boot and uploaded a video of her painting it to its Facebook page.
The eggs are out there! We’re happy to be involved with this year’s The Big Egg Hunt NZ in support of Starship…
Posted by SKY TV on Saturday, 28 March 2015
Other sponsors included NZ Herald, Resene, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Vector Arena, Main Freight, Animal Planet, Les Mills, Sky City as well as partners Auckland Art Gallery, TradeMe, Auckland Zoo and Norcross Printing Group.
The Big Egg Hunt was also pushed out over various channels of social media, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram (or ‘Egg-stagram’ as it was referred to), for the campaign. And rather unsurprisingly, the egg puns were thrown across each of these channels.
The eggstraordinary @WhittakersNZ Big Egg Hunt in support of @captainstarship is back this Easter! Are you eggcited? http://t.co/x7Z1PWU71x
— The Big Egg Hunt NZ (@BigEggHuntNZ) February 4, 2015
According to the Big Egg Hunt website, the hunt first came about in London in 2012 to engage the public in a fun and interactive way while fundraising for charity. Since then The Big Egg Hunt has grown to include Dublin, New York and New Zealand. It is believed to be the biggest egg hunt of its kind worldwide.
