Brief Explanation

The design brief for this particular piece-the passport stamp-was actually defined by its mandatories: ‘adhere to the strict specifications necessary in order to be DIA sanctioned passport stamp’. There were no more challenges than that. It made sure that we were as authentic as possible.

The Brief

The ‘Welcome to Middle-earth’ passport stamp was used at Immigration by actual, on-duty, immigration officials at Auckland Airport from Monday 26th November 2012. The campaign brief was to ‘earn as much media as we could, by using our association with all things Middle-earth’. So if you’re entering a country that really is Middle-earth, you’d get a stamp in your passport that said ‘Welcome to Middle-earth’ wouldn’t you?

How the final design was conceived

There are few things more personal, and more valuable than your own passport. And the stamps inside are souvenirs in their own right. Being able to stamp our campaign right inside one, makes it even more treasured than before: a priceless souvenir, and the reminder of the trip of a lifetime: to another world. And even though the passport stamp would live on for some time to come, we wanted them to have a social life now via sharing on Instagram, Facebook and twitter.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Shock…laughter…‘Share’: typical responses of people who got a stamp in their passport during premiere week as 70 000 travelers passed through customs when our ‘stamp’ was live. These included ‘influencers’ like Larry Curtis, Senior Contributor of ‘theonering.net’, who immediately photographed his passport stamp and broadcast it online via Instagram and Facebook to his hundreds of thousands of followers. Within an hour posting a photo of his own stamp, Larry received nearly 4,000 likes. Journalist Ann Curry posted a shot of hers to 1.45 million followers adding: ‘NZ has actually stamped my passport ‘welcome to middle-earth’. How wild is THAT’.