Hot Topic
Rich List
Telecom is proving it still has a sense of humour, with a new XT ad to launch tonight. The spot is by Chameleon Television, a boutique agency by Nic Craig (MD and producer) and Simon Shattky (creative director).
The ad features dramatic wide shots of the Greenstone River in the South Island, with Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds wandering about fly fishing. There’s hero music and you’ll wince at the clichéd nature of it all – until Reynolds declares XT even works in the Greenstone Valley.
He dials: “Hello… hello? Bugger.” But just kidding!
We’re not 100% XT really does work in the Greenstone Valley, but maybe some intrepid adventurers on the network can give it a test next time they’re in the area.
Still, it’s great to see the big corporate having a sense of humour about its predicament and PR nightmares, and taking the mickey. Self-deprecation is fun.
The soundtrack is by Murray Grindlay; writers were Andy Lish, Simon Shattky and Paul Reynolds. The spot was produced by Mr Craig and directed by Mr Shattky.
The ad is a forerunner for a bigger retail campaign, a sort of short-term stake in the ground, to try to change the game for the company.
“Our brief was to telegraph to New Zealand that Telecom ʻgets it,” said Mr Craig.
“We needed to send a genuine signal of behaviour change from the CEO to all their stakeholders in a public fashion. We used self-deprecating humour to achieve this. The mere fact that Telecom would take the piss out of themselves demonstrates this culture shift.”
CEOs featuring in ads? Well, are we making a habit out of it?!
It's been many months since we've seen XT on our screens; it's understood Mr Reynolds will front the campaign for its first three weeks – and we won't be seeing the now-infamous Richard Hammond ads again.
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