The Makings of a Classic campaign by Nestle. Photo / FCB
The Makings of a Classic campaign by Nestle. Photo / FCB
Nestlé has released a "Kiwi as" campaign to sell its iconic "Original Kiwi Dip".
"The Makings of a Classic" campaign focuses on the insight that we Kiwis have a secret language – a shorthand – that no one else understands.
Needing two ingredients to make this delicious dip, the campaign features a combination of memorable moments in New Zealand by using both Maggi's Onion Soup and Reduced Cream as canvases.
By using both products, Nestlé believes "they go together like John Key and ponytails".
One combo includes of an illustration on the Onion Soup with the quote "Always blow on the pie" plastered over the Reduced Cream.
The Makings of a Classic campaign by Nestle. Photo / FCB
Kiwis will remember this moment from a segment on Police Ten 7 in 2009 when a suspect tells a New Zealand police officer he was out buying a pie.
The officer then asks: "It's 3 o'clock in the morning, you're buying a pie at the BP station, what must you always do?"
The suspect is left dumbfounded until the officer says: "It's 3 o'clock in the morning, it been in a warming drawer for about 12 hours. It will be thermal nuclear. You must always blow on the pie."
Another Maggi Onion Dip features Suzanne Paul with the Reduce Cream quoting: "Thousands of Luminous Spheres".
Most Kiwis should remember the infomercial that launched Paul's career where she promotes Natural Glow, which of course contains "thousands of luminous spheres that reflect the light to give you a flawless complexion in seconds."
The Makings of a Classic campaign by Nestle. Photo / FCB
Paul has later admitted that at a Celebrity Speakers event in 2015 that:
"No one knew what the bloody hell a luminous sphere was ... but all they knew I was really excited about them.
"Everyone was going into pharmacies everywhere saying 'there's a woman on the telly with a horrible voice talking about luminous spheres and I got to get me some'."
"That was it, I was off and living the dream."
And finally, we have the Nek Minnit guy with his well-known saying "Nek Minute".
The Makings of a Classic campaign by Nestle. Photo / FCB
Nek Minnit became a viral internet meme made popular by New Zealand skateboarder Levi Hawken when he shared what happened to his scooter.
"I left my scooter at the dairy ... Nek Minnit," he says in the video before it pans down to a destroyed scooter with no wheels or handles.
"The Makings of a Classic" campaign, which started in the lead-up to Christmas, gave FCB and Nestlé the opportunity to team up with British illustrator Vanessa Dell, whose work has appeared in legendary publications such as Rolling Stone magazine.
Tony Clewett, executive creative director at FCB, commented, "I love that it so blatantly appeals to my Kiwiness. If you're not from New Zealand, you just won't get it – just like the dip. Big-ups to Nestlé for doing such an unconventional FMCG campaign.
"Most advertisers would take a photo of a glistening bowl of dip next to some celery and go, 'Job done!' To trust us to change their packaging, and then create something that doesn't show the end product – something that credits the audience with the intelligence to join the dots – is both smart and brave."
