Battle To The Beehive
VICE New Zealand
Issue 46 | March 2018
Agency
J. Walter Thompson, Auckland
Creative Team
Creative Executive Creative Director Justin Barnes Copywriter Rafi Stone Art Director Nick Houghton
Production Team
Production Senior Developer Nick Byfleet Digital Director Anthony Brosnan Digital Design & Illustration Sasha Fowler Head of Design Glenn Chapman Production Manager Richard Hollingum Production Company Heyday, Wellington
Other Credits
Other Managing Director Simon Lendrum Senior Account Manager Shaun Rush Head of Planning Jacqueline Smart
Date
August 2017
Background
In the 2017 New Zealand general election, voters ages 18 to 24 were completely disinterested in politics and had one of the highest rates of voter apathy in the world. Only 65% of that demographic had enrolled to vote. In other words, 35% of young New Zealanders couldn't be bothered to register. Of those that did, 125,000 didn't bother to vote at the previous election.
The Beehive was the name given to the building that formed the main part of the New Zealand Parliament.
Idea
To engage these bored 18 to 24 year olds the idea was to gamify politics. The 'Battle To The Beehive' was a retro-style, Street Fighter video game that transformed New Zealand's main political candidates into playable arcade game fighters and allowed players to select a political leader so that they could fight their way to the top of New Zealand's parliament building (the famous Beehive). Along the way, players had to deal with issues such as transport, housing, education and the environment. They couldn't help but learn about some of the critical policies that were being debated.
The game sat alongside VICE election coverage. As the media choice of young people, VICE wanted to cut through the rhetoric and get to the issues that mattered most to their audience.
Results
Results not yet available.
Our Thoughts
Talking to Gen Z is tricky. If you get on down with the kids, you can easily look fake. A bit like a rapping Cliff Richard. On the other hand, if you use the language you're most comfortable with, then you sound irrelevant and out of touch. Plenty of brands have got it spectacularly wrong, not least Pepsi with their infamous "Protest" video with Kendall Jenner. So, brilliant work from JWT New Zealand to pitch it exactly right.
And bravo to Jacinda Ardern, who thought it was a great idea. Which may partly explain why she is now the youngest head of a government anywhere in the world.