Fair Go Bro: MasterCard wins at New Zealand’s annual Fair Go Ad Awards

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Screen shot 2012-10-25 at 8.58.57 PM.jpgNew Zealand’s annual Fair Go Ad Awards were held last night, in which the best and worst advertisements on New Zealand television were announced.

The award for Best Ad of the Year, as voted for by the public, was McCann Sydney’s MasterCard ‘Check In’ ad featuring the All Blacks.

Joe Hawkins, ACD and copywriter behind the spot, accepted the award on the televised event – one of the country’s most watched programs. You can view the award announcement here.

The ad was part of a MasterCard Promotion campaign across TV, radio, OOH and digital. Even before scoring the honour of being voted best ad by the public at Fair Go, the TV spot quickly became one of New Zealand’s most talked about campaigns, with activity all over Twitter and Facebook. It shows Captain Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Ma’a Nonu encountering an overly familiar fan.

The promotion offered one lucky MasterCard cardholder and a friend the money-can’t-buy experience of touring Europe for five weeks to watch the All Blacks.

Over the course of 11 weeks, the campaign received more registrations than any prior campaign, making it the most successful New Zealand MasterCard campaign to date.

Says Oliver Maisey, executive creative director at McCann Sydney: “Kiwis love their All Blacks, so there are a hell a lot of All Black ads on the box each year. It’s great to know ours is not only seen to be the best of them, but of all the non-All Black ads as well. The last few Fair Go winners have all been pretty good, so we’re delighted to be in such good company. After doing pretty well at Spikes Asia, and MADC, it’s just more good news for the new McCann.”

The nation’s Worst Ad was awarded to Lumino the Dentist’s ‘Love your Smile’ spot.