15/02/2018

New Zealand Olympic Committee Launches New #EarnTheFern Brand Platform For PyeongChang

The new ‘Earn The Fern’ brand platform is a multi-platform initiative supporting New Zealand’s Winter Olympians competing at PyeongChang 2018.

 

The campaign revolves around exploring what athletes have to do to reach the elite level and earn the privilege of wearing the country’s iconic fern symbol.

 

The initiative saw the New Zealand Olympic Committee work in tandem with agency Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand on an integrated campaign that spans a video series, digital and social content and OOH work spearheaded by a special build in central Auckland (click to view).

 

Earn the Fern features an array of New Zealand 2018 Olympics and is spearheaded by a series of social video telling the stories of skier Janina Kuzma,

 

 

snowboarder Zoi Sadowski Synott,

 

 

ski cross athlete Jamie Prebble

 

 

and Bruce Wells, father and coach to the Wells brothers (three of whom will be competing in Korea).

 

 

Rolling out months ahead of the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and running right through the event, as well as YouTube the campaign content runs across the rights-holder’s platforms including Facebook

 

 

Instagram,

 

 

and Twitter.

 

 

The campaign also continues through the competition with #EarnTheFern content pieces rolling out in real-time and in response to New Zealand athlete events and performances.

 

 

 

 

At its core, the work dovetails to form an athlete’s manifesto – one which they themselves helped to write – capturing just what wearing the Fern means to them.

 

“The Fern is far more than a just a logo or a trademark. The Fern is where courage, conviction and composure meet…the Fern is our guide…we don’t just want to wear it. We want to take it somewhere it’s never been before,” explains Sharon van Gulik, commercial director of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

 

“The brief was to build an over-arching campaign for our 2018 Games that spoke to the unique audiences and athletes competing at each Games. Our Olympic Winter Games campaign kicks off the first of these, with stories from our small but dynamic New Zealand Team.”

 

Toby Talbot, chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, adds: “It has been a real honour to partner with the New Zealand Olympic Committee and our Winter Olympians in the creation of this campaign. Each athlete’s story is unique, but what they all share is a deep pride in the Fern. The fearlessness it takes to do what they do is truly inspiring.”

 

In addition to the creative team from Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, others involved in the brand platform included production outfit Frontside, Out of Home contractor APNO, director Sigi Spath and camera operator John-Jo Ritson.

 

The campaign also already looks set to run through to this year’s Commnwealth Games.

 

 

Comment:

 

This is a serious approach to leveraging the snow and ice sports of the Winter Olympics.

 

Indeed, the topic of danger and the athlete journey of overcoming fear and recoervy from injury has been one of the most prominent narrative themes of both rights-holder marketing, broadcaster promos and sponsor activation around the 2018 Winter Olympics.

 

And this campaign is no exception dovetails with that thematic trend.

 

Links:

 

NZ Olympic Committee

http://www.olympic.org.nz/

https://twitter.com/nzolympics

https://www.facebook.com/nzolympicteam

https://www.instagram.com/nzolympics/

https://www.youtube.com/user/nzolympics

 

Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand

https://saatchi.co.nz/



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