Description:

When Vodafone New Zealand changed its name to One NZ, it did so without telling a story. Customers didn’t understand what the new brand stood for. Consideration dropped. Trust fell. The rebrand needed a rebrand.

The opportunity was to give the new platform line — Let’s Get Connected — real meaning. In a category supposedly built on connection, no one was treating it as more than a product benefit. But connection is one of our most fundamental human needs. It’s emotional infrastructure that became the foundation of our brand reset.

Our approach was to launch the platform not with an ad, but with a story — one that would feel like a trailer for an offbeat Kiwi film or TV show. A cinematic tale that hinted at something bigger than itself.

The result was Finding Jade — a 90” film about a young man on a slightly surreal odyssey to connect with a past he never knew. Funny, moving, and full of oddball characters, it introduced audiences to a fictional world with long-term brand potential — not just a one-off campaign.

It deliberately blurred the lines between advertising and entertainment. Viewers were left asking, “Wait… is this a real movie?” They wanted to know what happened next. Some begged for a sequel. Others asked where to stream it.

And behind the creativity was a strategy to shift the tone of telco advertising — away from features and price, toward emotional storytelling.

Finding Jade became one of New Zealand’s most-loved ads, driving market-leading lifts in brand consideration, business performance and product sales.

But most importantly, it gave the brand what it was missing: meaning. A new platform with cultural momentum, emotional weight, and room to grow.