A blog for the New Zealand creative advertising industry, now at www.campaignbrief.com/nz. Email news to: michael@campaignbrief.com

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

GINGERBREAD MEN DOING HAKA VIRAL GETS 3 MILLION HITS

A viral campaign created by Blackwood Communications Group, Auckland for the NZ Bakery of the Year challenge - featuring animated gingerbread men doing the haka - has already had 3 million hits from around the world and climbing, according to the agency. It’s also featured on several NZ and Aussie TV and radio stations.
Says Blackwood art director: Matthias May: "The viral was created for the Baking Industry Association of New Zealand’s (BIANZ) annual Bakery of the Year competition. It was open to public voting for the first time this year, so we thought we’d promote this fierce competition with a fierce challenge – and what’s a better representation of that than the haka?
"Only two weeks after the public voting opened, the clip’s already had 3 million hits from around the world and climbing. It’s also featured on several NZ and Aussie TV and radio stations. The number of registered bakeries has more than tripled from last year, and several thousand people have voted so far."

Title: Gingerbread Haka
Client: Bakers Industry Association of New Zealand
Agency: Blackwood Communications Group
Business Development: Ben Lightfoot
ECD: James Blackwood
Art Director: Matthias May
Copywriter: Lil Cameron
Animation: Kangoo
Voices: Silverdale Rugby Club
Sound: Images & Sound

19 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's a half-baked idea

10:42 am NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My parents emailed this to me... which is quite an accomplishment. So nice work.

ps. I like how you cut from the end screen to the gingerbread man doing the throat slit then back to the end screen.

2:55 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah nah good

10:01 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

could not have said it better myself, if anything this proves how moronic 3 million people are.

11:25 am NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, we all know how advertising works 11:25. And all of us have seen it. Must be morons then...

3:11 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

More than 3 million views and not a $ spent on media - nice work.

1:28 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

what a joke. i'd expect a y&r client to come up with better than that.

chocolate lover boy

5:51 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

3 million views?
Wonder how they've worked that out. It's been posted onto You Tube by supposedly 17 different people, and has had around 27,694 views there,(check it out at youtube by typing 'Ginger Haka' into the search box).
I'd love to know where the other 2.975 million views have come from.
Have they counted TV audiences as part of that? If not, then the Bakers Association must have one hell of a website, and very BIG servers.
Having said all that, it's quite nice work but let's see some stats to back this claim!

10:59 am NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know about the stats and server size of the bakers 10:59, but when you check Google and see

27 Youtube uploads
33 MySpace uploads
1919 Bebo profiles

and over twenty pages of results from all over the world, I personally might just believe the 3 million.

8:55 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

dear 10.59

so you're saying that, apart from being the most unpopuar agency in town BG are also blatant liars?

go matt and j!

8:58 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Claim schmaim. This is just plain good. How many times is Colenso's exploding FedEx billboard going to get passed on compared to this?

8:59 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I emailed it on to my 3 year old, she loved it.

9:53 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Welcome to the NZ effectiveness circle blog...

9:10 am NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's wicked. Love it.

3:16 am NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is good. Fullstop.

7:50 am NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Commenting on your own work doesn't count.

3:19 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If we're not supposed to comment upon effectiveness, then let's not publish stories where the complete thrust of the headline is on the 'effectiveness' of the campaign. The claim was made, so some validation of that claim is in order.

3:02 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whoops - forgot that effectiveness doesn't count if you work in an ad agency, only doing something "cool for your book'. Wake up, the world has moved on (a lot).

9:20 pm NZST

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the real gingerbread men, guys.

9:29 pm NZST

 

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