The Campaign

The campaign was born out of a simple insight - that waking up early sucks. With the tournament being held in the Northern Hemisphere, games were played at in the early hours of the morning in Australia. If it wasn’t hard enough just getting out of bed, knowing what time to actually get up also posed a problem with Australia’s vast size and complex time zone system. Enter ‘The Wake Up Call’ – a phone call from the All Blacks to wake fans up in time for the games. A campaign that turned a 3am phone call into something to look forward to.

Creative Execution

For the 8 weeks of the Rugby World Cup social media posts and teaser videos from Air New Zealand’s social media channels invited expats to register for a Wake Up Call online. Users entered their details, then chose what time they wanted to be woken up - early on to watch the pre-game coverage, or just before kick-off to catch the national anthem and haka. Fans could then drift off to sleep happy in the knowledge that in the early hours of the morning they’d receive a tailored call from ‘the boys’ to wake them from their slumber.

20,000 unique phone calls to 7580 fans. 5923 of these fans signed up for offers from Air New Zealand. But most importantly, kiwis in Australia loved it… “Thank you for keeping us connected. I felt such belonging, and boy did you guys make me one proud kiwi!” - Julie Margin “Air New Zealand this has got to be the best thing yet...I'm forever asking when? What time? And boom! You saved the hassle.” - Dan Bowly Warren “Loved it so much - would put it on loud-speaker so it woke my Aussie husband! Thank you, made me feel still part of New Zealand.” - Bianca Hunt “Great idea. Loved it so proud to be a kiwi here in Oz.” - Tania Hohaia “Thank you Air NZ for your support of our Great Team and looking after us homesick Kiwis in Oz. Such a well planned great idea.” - Pam Panapa

The All Blacks. New Zealand’s national rugby team. Revered so much New Zealand streets are named after them. During the Rugby World Cup, one of the top 10 biggest sporting events in the world, Air NZ offered fans a fun way to engage with the boys via a trusty Wake Up Call to help ensure they never slept through a game. Over 20,000 Kiwis signed up to receive their calls, all 100% undeterred by the fact that their phones would ring in the middle of the night - which ordinarily is a very hard time for a brand to entertain.

New Zealanders are rugby mad. The players are national heroes - new suburbs and newborn babies named in their honour. Living away from home, and with the tournament being held on the other side of the world, expats relied heavily on social channels to display their support for their team and to connect with one another. Given the size of Australia, and the scattered nature of the expat population, a digital campaign was most appropriate to capture and engage our audience. Anyone who watches Northern Hemisphere sport in the Southern Hemisphere knows how tough it can be to wake up to watch the games. We understood the insight that getting up at an ungodly hour is a way of showing your support and allegiance to the All Blacks. So we used their heroes to help get them out of bed.