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Movies are Better With Animals

Issue 14 | March 2010

Agency

AIM Proximity New Zealand

Creative Team

Creative Director: Dave King, Copywriters: Steve Anderson, Nicci Doak, Art Directors: David Reid, Mike O’Rourke

Production Team

Agency Producer: Paul Pritchard, Photographer: Troy Goodall

Date

September 2009

Background

In the past, Auckland Zoo has always hosted music events. In 2009 they launched a series of outdoor movies, projected onto the biggest outdoor screen in New Zealand. The task was to create awareness of Visa Entertainment as a major sponsor of the event, ensuring Visa cardholders got access to the best offers, and to drive ticket sales. As an incentive, $1 from every ticket purchased would be donated towards the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund.

Idea

There are loads of movies screened outdoors but few inside a zoo. So what’s unique about zoos? Well, for starters there are animals.

And they are what gave the team the idea. Animals make movies better. Jaws, 101 Dalmatians. King Kong. All classics. And all made better by the animals. So, naturally movies are better with animals.

Working from the line: "Movies are better with animals", the campaign used recognisable films, replacing the animal interest with humans.

Our Thoughts

There are no results attached to this case history and I believe that is because the event had to be cancelled. Still, we shouldn’t let that get in the way of a nice idea. In the trade we call this the ‘substitution’. You take a familiar person or object and replace it with something relevant but unexpected. It worked for me a few times too.