Tuatara, kiwi, ruru (morepork), korora (little blue penguin), weta, kea, and tuna (eels) are the stars of a new campaign out of Auckland Zoo’s in-house creative team that promotes conservation with a multilingual message to families – via the NZ cinema circuit over the Easter holiday.
The campaign film features startlingly clear living images of the animals moving against a white backdrop, blending in with a voiceover in both Maori & English.
“We feel it’s fantastic that the zoo is utilising our native animals and strong Maori connection to create such a local feel, all whilst creating their content in house,” says Val Morgan account executive Joshua McWilliams
“The film was inspired by the best of NZ artwork, as well as National Geographic photographer Joel Satore’s Photo Ark, and the desire to incorporate te reo Maori more in our work – as it is as beautiful as the species featured in the ad,” said Auckland Zoo contenta advisor Kate Ogrias.
“We feel by featuring the animals on a plain background you really get to appreciate their colours, features and quirks. Whenever we create content, we’re always striving to showcase wildlife in a different way, so people become a little bit more curious about them and what they’re all about.”
Why cinema?
“Auckland Zoo is very lucky to have the resources to produce video in-house,” said marketing advisor Jane Pickering. “We are always exploring different ways to showcase our beautiful animals through the creative use of slow-mo, animation, language, music – and then there’s always the challenge of producing effective video without the use of sound as well.
“Cinema is an obvious distribution channel for us for a number of reasons. A captive audience is key when you are bombarded with advertising messages on a daily basis. I find some people even look forward to watching the commercials before a movie starts, which is great.
“Cinema advertising is also a channel that is cost-effective, probably more than people realise, and being able to target by genre and location is a no-brainer for us.
“With family-targeted movies often released during the school holiday period we feel confident knowing we can reach this audience. Nothing really beats video advertising in my mind when it comes to bringing a campaign alive – and in surround sound with a giant screen, why wouldn’t you?”
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