AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — Clemenger BBDO was brought in as the communications partner for the New Zealand Government’s pandemic response team. The agency was tasked with creating a flexible platform that could guide New Zealanders through the changing landscape of the pandemic – in one week. In that time, they had to develop the platform identity, look and feel, tone of voice and comms and targeting strategy, along with the official NZ Government website (built with partners Silverstripe).
As a result, Unite Against COVID-19 was launched—a human response to a health crisis. Instead of centring communications around the virus, Clemenger BBDO put people at its heart, injecting humanity into the platform from the start. Empathy and positivity were incredibly important in setting the tone, moving New Zealanders to action through emotion and reason. The agency sought to foster calm and compassion, rather than fear. The symbol of a heart and language like, ‘Be kind’ aren’t one’s typical PSAs; but this more human approach gave deeper meaning and purpose to the asks.
The platform itself wasn’t just as a top-down directive from government, but a call to participate: to unite together to fight the virus. Rallying New Zealanders behind a common cause, a common enemy. This centred people and gave clarity and focus at a time of much confusion and misinformation. With so many different asks—stay home; sneeze into your elbow; only one person per household can go to the supermarket, etc.—the simple rally to unite gave even the smallest actions bigger purpose.
From the outset, Clemenger BBDO also actively avoided the type of iconography traditionally associated with a virus or pandemic—rather than depicting the virus itself, they favoured more human icons and language—making the communications non-threatening and approachable.
The platform also gave ownership to New Zealanders, who embraced it. Rather than one-way communications from the Government, Unite Against gave Kiwis the tools and vernacular to take our messages and spread them for themselves, ingraining it within culture.
When developing the platform, Clemenger BBDO knew this was just the beginning of an unknown ride. So the system had to be able to flex with where the situation went – not only with the virus, but with the mood and emotions of New Zealanders.
Early on, the agency engaged a psychologist to help anticipate the emotional journey New Zealanders would likely go on throughout the course of the pandemic, so they could pre-empt the beats and emotions they’d need to appeal to, to keep our communities engaged.
While earlier films appealed to a sense of collective patriotism, others used humour to beat boredom and frustration. Each of these levers kept people in it at the right moments; keeping the information fresh, and the momentum going.
A human tone of voice is incredibly important for helping to dissipate fear and make dense information accessible and approachable.
The campaign’s typeface and colour palette were carefully chosen to feel informative yet non-threatening. Language was used that was friendly and easily understood. Simple, graphic, human-feeling icons gave clarity and simplicity to the messaging, so the actual written ask could be short and punchy.
Clarity, simplicity and consistency also quickly earned the nation’s trust. Our distinctive yellow and white chevrons immediately stood out as authoritative, yet approachable, and signalled a consistent source of truth. Wherever people saw them, they knew they’d be guided with best practice information.
Unite Against delivered messaging across more than 20 languages, but all were united through our universal icons and visual language. The consistency of messaging and visual cohesion created a single source of truth for New Zealanders, helping to guide them through the changing stages of the pandemic.
The platform was designed to change and evolve as the situation required. This came into play only a few days after launch, when the country went into a nationwide lockdown within 48 hours – and our comms had to quickly adapt to guide New Zealanders through it.
Since then, the agency has continually adapted and evolved the platform in line with New Zealand’s changing situation and the learnings so far. Whether guiding New Zealanders through lockdown, to communicating around border restrictions and resurgence, Unite Against has been a consistent thread that had provided a single source of truth and inspiration for New Zealanders.
One year ago today, New Zealand went into Alert Level 4 to stop the spread of COVID-19. New Zealanders stayed home to save lives and break the chain of transmission. All of us sacrificed our normal lives to come together and unite against COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/1iiPoSqlTR
— Unite against COVID-19 (@covid19nz) March 24, 2021
Results
- Campaign awareness reached 97%
Taken from a nationwide survey commissioned one week into lockdown.
- Understanding of Alert Levels, 86%
As above and repeated through a further survey in lockdown.
- Trust in government information, 88%
Colmar Brunton survey conducted during initial lockdown period. Where relevant, the New Zealand results are compared to the G7 results. Each country’s results are based on 1,000 residents.
- Trust in government information, 88%
- New Zealand achieved the lowest death rate per capita in the OECD.
Analysis published by University of Otago.
New Zealanders have owned it, too. Unite Against has become ingrained in Kiwi culture, with the brand identity playfully applied across everything from birthday cakes to wine labels, fashion and album sleeves. It’s even now been immortalised on a Lego character featuring New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern; signalling the marker of the moment that Unite Against has become.
