When it comes to in-flight safety videos, it definitely is hard to beat Air New Zealand. Over the course of 6 years the Auckland-based national airline has been trying to come up with creative solutions to standard, and often-boring safety videos that not many people pay attention to anyway. And in this week’s #ThrowBrandThursday, takes us all the way to the Southern Hemisphere, and to a land of epic safety videos full of hobbits, surfing champions, Men in Black, swimwear models and elderly people, with plenty Hollywood stars making an appearance.
We start with the latest video from July called “Safety in Hollywood” that follows Scary Movie star Ana Faris and Flight of the Conchords’ Rhys Darby as they attempt to make an award-winning safety video. She portrays the “hot blonde” and Rhys the “hot ginger”, as they jump from scene to scene and genre to genre, trying everything from buddy cops to a stereotype, and a bit ‘cringy’, French couple – just to win Ana Faris her award. To get at least some of the vital safety information across the stunned viewers, they are politely interrupted by a pair of Air New Zealand crew members who deliver the most important lines in the clip. Faris explained how she “really wanted to be part of this project because Air New Zealand has redefined safety videos with its fun and creative approach. It’s so easy to tune out when watching a traditional safety video, so it comes as such a delightful surprise when you get something that’s really funny and engaging.”
Jodi Williams, Air New Zealand’s Head of Global Brand, added that “This latest video will again bring attention to New Zealand from around the globe and encourage visitors to travel to our wonderful country.” The video will also encourage a lot of YouTube views and social media shares, as the airline’s previous safety instructions have previously gained more than 83 million views online.
If you prefer a bit of rap and rugby, definitely check out the Man in Black Safety defenders video starring Stan Walker, Rip Torn and Frank the Pug. Created in partnership with Sony Pictures, the video shows members of the national rugby team, called incidentally All Blacks, take on a new challenge.
Labelled ‘The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made’ and directed by Academy-Award nominee Taika Waititi, the video made to celebrate the third and final film in The Hobbit Trilogy – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, definitely shows the official airline of Middle-earth going all out – the video stars Elijah Wood, Sylvester McCoy, Dean O’Gorman, and John Rhys-Davies, brings us an epic battle with a surprising ending, and also features a cameo by New Zealand’s own Sir Peter Jackson. All this in a supposedly boring (and of course vital) in-flight safety messages.
Before launching the epic safety video, there was another LoTR-themed video with rather unexpcted passangers and Mike Tod, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer at Air NZ, said: “This safety video inspired by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is another example of how New Zealand is a hotbed for creative talent. Our partners at Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, which brought Gollum to life inside the aircraft, have helped us demonstrate again that if you want to engage with audiences in a unique way, our nation has immense creative capability.”
In ‘Safety Old School Style’ from 2013, Golden Girls’ star and worldwide treasure Betty White proves age is just a number as she gives us the old school version of Air New Zealand’s in-flight safety, with a help of her rapscallion bunch of elders.
You probably wonder where Air NZ got this idea. We suggest watching the best of ‘Best of the best from our safety journey’, and although they might not be so full of action, they definitely show how the brand is pushing further the quality and interesting ideas within, what could be considered, dull explanation of flight rules.
To top it all up, here’s a rather non-traditional Winter Wonderland song from ex-Boyzone member ‘Roman’ Keating that finally represents a festive atmosphere, people in the Southern Hemisphere can get behind and relate to.
Credits: