Judge's comments:

This was an elegant and beautifully executed campaign that had so many elements, and they were all faultless. It teased enough to get you interested but hid enough to make you want to explore. It asked you to engage and change your behaviour in an unique and captivating manner. We loved the congruence of the journey from physical into digital. A complete campaign.

Description:

In 2022, Tourism NZ relaunched this place to the world with a fully integrated communications campaign. It was an invitation to the pākiki. The curious - those willing to give a little more.

We called it IF YOU SEEK. A tourism campaign that doesn’t show it all. Not at first anyway.

Visually and aurally redacted campaign content enticed the viewer, teased, but never revealed everything. It compelled the viewer to seek our taonga for themselves.

Only if the viewer gave something more; their time, a click or a scan, do they get to see, hear or feel more of our wonders – building Aotearoa’s story through connected digital and interactive experiences.

This was a campaign built on manākitanga, a mutual respect and understanding between nation and visitor. You give and we give.

Across the many campaign touchpoints (over 1000), we created an experience of discovery that engages the seeker mindset, rewarding those who engage deeper with six additional digital experiences :

DDB Group Aotearoa worked with cultural creative agency RUN and Illustrator Munro Te Whata.

An Adventure Through the World of Hobbiton™
Make the journey to Hobbiton’s Green Dragon Inn for a feast to remember.

Through a mix of 2D, 3D, sound, and captured footage from Hobbiton™ we created an immersive experience that utilised network pairing to connect two players who could go through the experience in real time.

Dolphin Encounter

Have an up close encounter with of one of the world’s rarest dolphins.

But don’t make any noise, or you’ll scare them off. This experience utilised 3D assets, in camera video, and the smartphone’s internal mic to create an interactive film that can only be experienced if the user finds a silent space.

Ocean Floor to Mountain Peak
Discover a few of Milford Sounds treasures in this interactive film.

In this experience users descend to the ocean floor participants travel from the deepest parts of Milford’s ocean, through the freshwater layer that creates this special ecosystem, and to the waterfall covered mountain peaks.

Māui and the Sun
Experience the infamous tale of Māui and the sun, brought to life for the first time as a mobile web experience.

The He Puna Taimoana hotpools are one of the earliest places to see the sunrise. After capturing a long exposure of the sun from the pool we worked with our cultural partner RUN and Illustrator Munro Te Whata to retell the tale of Māui connecting this famous sunrise experience to the legends of Aotearoa.

Experience Your First Kina
Open a Kina the Kiwi way for a glimpse of our most treasured delicacy.

This experience utilises a consistent and natural interaction language to guide participants through the steps to crack their first Kina.

Hooker Valley Track
Our tallest mountain and most sacred ancestor. Give him your time, walk the last 50m of the trail with your smartphone to reveal his face.

This experience utilised the smartphone’s accelerometer to simulate a step counter, creating a film that can only be unlocked through movement.