Cannes Contenders: Y&R New Zealand
How will New Zealand perform at Cannes this year? In the lead up to the Festival, Campaign Brief will be showcasing the work we hope will impress the judges…
Y&R New Zealand
How a fictional Head of Innovation reinvented a real-world product. In 2017, Heinz Beanz Australia changed the size of their iconic cans; the first significant change in almost 90 years. Problem is… when it comes to the products they love, people hate change. So, Y&R mitigated any potential backlash by creating a heart-warming campaign, spearheaded by an unconventional packaging refresh. The existing packs had become inconspicuous, so Y&R redesigned the labels to communicate size using something other than grams, targeting the four demographics via more relevant, colloquial language. Alongside the talented team at Assembly Ltd, they then produced a charming, animated short film, to tell the story of how the new cans came to be. The film followed ‘Geoff’ – the Head of Innovation at Heinz – who designed and named the new can sizes based on his own personal milestones: single life, married life, young kids, teenage kids. The cans Geoff designed in his animated world were simultaneously released in the real-world, instantly selling-out in supermarkets across Australia. And for once, people were crying over a product change for all the right reasons.
Y&R New Zealand
Misuse of the word ‘gay’ perpetuates homophobia, which is especially challenging for young people still developing a sense of identity. To counter this, RainbowYOUTH created a film that acted as a sharable toolkit, empowering people to call out their casually homophobic friends and join our cause. The message was simple: it’s fine to use the word “gay” but only if it’s actually gay. The film was designed to be provocative and generate a huge amount of organic PR around the topic, creating ambassadors out of people who typically wouldn’t associate with the charity. This all had to be done with $0 media and PR spend. Within days, the film had been viewed over a million times in over 90 different countries, gaining more than 25 million impressions. But, more importantly, thousands of people used the video to apologise and call out their friends for casual homophobia all over the world.
Y&R New Zealand
No longer the cupboard staples they used to be, Arnott’s New Zealand was tasked with reinvigorating declining biscuit sales with an All Black sponsorship. But with the iconic Rugby team endorsing as many as 20 brands, every sponsorship dollar was delivering diminishing returns. Arnott’s knew they needed a new strategy, one that would redefine the sporting endorsement category and steal limelight from the six other All Black campaigns launching in 2017. So, while other brands fought over the team’s youngest and fittest members, Y&R New Zealand chose the oldest, grumpiest and least likely member of the team, the coach – to be the protagonist. Tapping into the rising end of days’ trend the integrated campaign introduced New Zealand to an absurd fictional tale where a scarcity of biscuits had triggered a catastrophic apocalypse. Titled ‘Apocalypse Steve Hansen, Don’t lose your biscuit’ the film was promoted like any other blockbuster. Each touch point was designed to replicate the lead up to a blockbuster release: television ads became trailers, consumer promotions became casting calls and outdoor became movie posters. Each execution encouraged customer engagement, amplification and ultimately biscuit purchase. Arnott’s total portfolio sales lifted +8.6%, and ‘Never, ever lose your biscuit’ became the catchphrase of 2017, with All Blacks quoting it in press conferences and news anchors dropping it into features.