THE BRIEF

TVNZ is New Zealand’s National Broadcaster. In a drive to reconnect with its audience and live up to it’s remit of “inspiring New Zealanders on every screen” it decided to bring back the iconic “Kiwi and the Cat”

THE SOLUTION

The “Kiwi and the Cat” are deep rooted in the psyche of New Zealanders, enjoying a loyal following. They were animated characters that were seen closing down the lights of the TV station and going to bed signaling the end of transmission for that day. Many children were allowed to stay up to watch them.

Whilst wanting to tap into the nostalgia surrounding these characters it was important to update them but also be true to the originals. Creatively, therefore, we decided to go down a traditional hand drawn cell animation route brought to life by the brilliant Tim Hunt. In addition TVNZ adopted a frame from it as their annual corporate Xmas card.

THE RESULT

Enormous publicity surrounded the return, after a 14 year absence, of the Kiwi and the Cat. It got a mention on the national 6 o’clock news, as well creating a facebook and blog frenzy and resulted in a very positive campaign for TVNZ.

In the ultimate compliment “Eating Media Lunch” then parodied our card with their own irreverent version of the kiwi standing on Santa Claus holding a gun!

TESTIMONIAL

“Well done yet again to you and your teams. The execution was perfect – tone, music, animation etc. Brilliant stuff.”

– Jason Paris, General Manager Marketing & Emerging Business, TVNZ.