TVNZ, NZ’s largest broadcaster, needed to reposition itself to take on the big dogs like Netflix and Amazon. Reaching a mass audience is critical for revenue generation, but linear TV was on the decline, especially for younger audiences.

TVNZ On-Demand was created as the streaming solution to capture younger audiences – but it wasn’t working. Instead, it was perceived as stale and low quality, it was a catch-up service, We needed to shed this perception, and repositioning to TVNZ+ was the starting point.

It was an underdog story for the ages, TVNZ was fighting for attention.

By injecting Kiwi humour into classic, big-budget, Hollywood cinema tropes, we proved the scale of the entertainment on offer on TVNZ+ and landed our unique selling point – that, unlike other platforms, it’s all free. It’s fair to say that TVNZ+ stole the show.

Whilst it may not cost a cent, there is still a very real cost to watching such engrossing content. This strategic insight connected the key line from the campaign to TVNZ+’s major point of difference.

To launch TVNZ+, we dramatized the unexpected consequences of being distracted by the amazing entertainment on offer.

We brought this to life by telling the stories of unsuspecting viewers' unwittingly ending up in unexpected situations – cementing in the campaign line: ‘It’s Free, But it Could Cost You'.

By demonstrating that our content was superior (in that it was both interesting and free), we warned people that TVNZ+ was so good, it might just get them into trouble.

Our audience, on average, had four different subscriptions to paid streaming services and TVNZ wasn’t one of them. Our audience was suffering from ‘decision fatigue’, and spent 51 minutes a day just figuring out what to watch.

Our research also found that our audience knew TV was addictive. Binging, once perceived as unacceptable, is now commonplace viewing behaviour, and it creates a constant stream of dopamine straight into the brain. It reinforces our obsession with the activity.

It’s the addiction that’s a sign of a good TV show, and it was having trivial (but very real) consequences on our audience's lives. Whether missing important conversations, burning dinner, or being late for a drink with friends, binging TV was getting them in trouble.

Our strategy was to demonstrate that our content was interesting and free. But people needed to be warned: it was so good, it might just cost you.

This ad borrows from classic Hollywood mafia film tropes. A mobster turns the sign on an Italian restaurant at night. It’s closed. He joins three other mafia members at a table, where a tense conversation is underway. Speaking in metaphors, the Don says the soup has “gone bad” and to “throw it out”. He then turns to a nervous young mobster, and explains the number one rule of cooking minestrone: “you never talk about the recipe”. As he says this, one of the other mobsters slips on a set of brass knuckles under the table.

Suddenly, a man’s goofy laugh breaks the tension. The mobsters look into the adjacent room and see a guy laughing at a comedy show on his tablet – oblivious to the conversation. The mobster with brass knuckles makes his way over to him and the line appears: “TVNZ+. It’s free but it could cost you.”

The campaign produced over 30 million impressions, and we can confidently say we engaged with every digitally connected New Zealander through TV, VOD, Online Video, and OOH.

TVNZ already served a broad audience across the entire country, so with this in mind there was a significant brand perception job to do, this mass reach approach ensured we met the below qualitative targets:

1. Increase Positive Sentiment towards TVNZ+ (after seeing the campaign)

2. Positive responses to the question: “After seeing all of this advertising for TVNZ+, how does it make you feel about TVNZ+?”

3. Positive responses to the question: “How would you describe TVNZ+?”

The results from qualitative research were:

1. 52% increase in positive sentiment towards the TVNZ+ brand after seeing the campaign

2. 66% increase in proportion of respondents who describe TVNZ+ as “light hearted”

3. 200% increase in proportion of respondents who describe TVNZ+ as “youthful”