Cannes Contenders: New Zealand

Global Woman New Zealand - Career-Limiting Move

The fearsome strength and abilities of motherhood are to be admired and celebrated. Yet in most workplaces, the motherhood penalty is real. In contrast to public service messages that tug at the heartstrings, this operates with pure logic. 

The creators make a deliberate unemotional play with stylisation rather than realism. Using stop motion puppets instead of live-action brings abstraction to the metaphor and makes the message more impactful. Plus, I love that handmade, yet institutional tone.

Bank Of New Zealand - The Dancer

A lifetime ago, I was a ballet dancer in a small rural town. So I can be excused for confessing that this gives me goosebumps. We’ve seen plenty of executions that show technology allowing people to connect and engage. And this one could have easily been another glossy telco snooze. But the use of character, contorting choreography, and a dose of surrealism make it a winner, one for small-town dancers everywhere.

George Harrison - Isn’t It A Pity

On a rainy autumn day in the southern hemisphere, this film washes away the melancholy with sumptuous visuals and delightfully disconnected imagery.

Somehow nothing makes sense, yet everything is coherent and complete. One unified film, or is it a dream?

Spark - Recharge

Forget about Artificial intelligence becoming self-aware; I am more amazed when advertisers do. Spark is a local telco telling us to switch off. Gently shot, cleverly crafted and drawing the viewer down corridors, through factories, and into the backyard. If only for a moment.

Now, if I can just stop scrolling...

NZ Blood - Unseen emergencies

And finally, this is the one we shot. New Zealanders respond generously by donating blood whenever there is a crisis - the Christchurch shooting or the White Island eruption. But every day, there are emergencies that don’t make the news.

We’re proud of the filmmaking, but the real genius is the innovative use of media from the team at brave independent agency YoungShand.

More than a single ad, this was a television event. Throughout a primetime news bulletin on NZ national news, separate 15-second executions introduce each character who turns from their activity to speak directly with the viewer, breaking the fourth wall. Each person warns that they will experience a medical emergency requiring blood or plasma infusions in a few minutes. The predictions continue until the final break of the news bulletin, when all five characters experience their unseen emergency.

Effective. Donations of blood and plasma went through the roof, and the work gleaned the AXIS For Good trophy. Along with a clutch of craft awards.