NZ SAYS '39'

Short List
TitleNZ SAYS '39'
BrandTOURISM NEW ZEALAND
Product / ServiceNEW ZEALAND TOURISM
CategoryF03. Single-market Campaign
EntrantSPECIAL GROUP Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Idea Creation SPECIAL GROUP Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Idea Creation 2 SPECIAL GROUP Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Media Placement DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
PR DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Production AUGUSTO Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Production 2 DARKHORSE Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Production 3 HAUMI Gisborne, NEW ZEALAND
Additional Company TOURISM NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Additional Company 2 NEW ZEALAND RUGBY UNION Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Additional Company 3 AIR NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Additional Company 4 PEOPLE OF NGāTI HIKAIRO Kawhia, NEW ZEALAND
Additional Company 5 NEW ZEALAND MAORI ARTS AND CRAFTS INSTITUTE Rotorua, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Stephen England-Hall Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Officer
Lauren Vosper Tourism New Zealand Global Manager, Public Relations and Major Events
Brodie Reid Tourism New Zealand Director Marketing
Greg Wafelbaker Tourism New Zealand General Manager Asia
Setsuko Yajima Tourism New Zealand Japan Marketing Manager
Joanna Gourley Tourism New Zealand Japan PR Manager
Takahide Nakazawa Tourism New Zealand Japan Social Media & Content Manager
Yuka Gray Taguchi Tourism New Zealand Project Co-ordinator
Danelle Mouat Tourism New Zealand Project Manager
Tony Bradbourne Special Group New Zealand CEO/CCO
Michael Redwood Special Group New Zealand Managing Partner
Rory Gallery Special Group New Zealand Head of Strategy
Heath Lowe Special Group New Zealand Executive Design Director
Arnya Karaitiana Special Group New Zealand Creative Director
Stu Mallarkey Special Group New Zealand Executive Creative Director
Jack Nunn Special Group Australia Creative Director
Nils Eberhardt Special Group Australia Creative Director
Storm Day Special Group New Zealand Head of Client Service
Sandra Daniel Special Group New Zealand Group Business Director
Sam Hall Special Group New Zealand Account Director
Amelia Daly Special Group New Zealand Senior Business Director
Rachael Williams Special Group New Zealand Account Management
Heath Davy Augusto Executive Creator Opportunities
Rich Robson Augusto Creative Director
Matt Sellars Augusto Creative Director
Yukihiro Oguchi Dentsu PR
Aya Yamamoto Dentsu PR
Eiichi Kitajima Dentsu PR
HIdeyuki Matsumoto Dentsu PR
Yuma Mikumo Dentsu PR
Liam Taylor DARKHORSE Co-Founder
Graeme Heald DARKHORSE Head of Production
Karl Johnstone Haumi Director
Nick Dwyer Goodmood Director

Please tell us how the work was designed / adapted for a single country / region / market

We believed that if Japanese people saw a bit of their culture reflected in ours, they’d find New Zealand more appealing. The heart of our strategy was to pay our respects to the people of Japan by creating a gesture of thanks for their generous hospitality towards Kiwis during the Rugby World Cup. But rather than simply saying “thank you” in our own language, we wanted to say it in a way that would carry weight among our gracious hosts. We realised that in Japan, numbers are commonly used as linguistic shortcuts for all sorts of things — “39” is used to say ‘thank you.’ Phonetically, “San (3) Kyu (9)” sounds close to English’s “Thank You.” This formed the basis of our creative idea, and so ‘39’ was a culturally relevant message of thanks the All Blacks took to the field every match, to pay their respects to their