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.

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

Air New Zealand wanted to identify and engage expat New Zealanders living in Australia - an audience that fly home frequently. This campaign, the ‘Wake Up Call’ achieved just that and more - including nearly 6,000 expat New Zealanders signing up to hear about offers from the airline.

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.

In 2015, England and Wales hosted the Rugby World Cup, a major event that only comes around every four years.

As airline sponsor of the New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, Air New Zealand wanted to use the event to connect with the many thousand New Zealanders living in Australia – an important audience for the brand given they fly home so frequently.

The task was to engage them, and encourage them to sign up for offers on flights home with the airline.