Air New Zealand has once again released another belter of a safety video.
While most of us tune out during the tedious safety section of any flight, Air New Zealand long ago worked out keeping people entertained also keeps their attention.
Previous videos have gone viral – a Lord of the Rings-themed contribution has 22 million views on YouTube – and the latest offering already had 5.2 million views only a week after it was uploaded.
And as for any comparison to Qantas’s safety videos, well, if New Zealand could stop doing everything better than us, that would be great.
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The latest video links New Zealand’s rich Maori traditional storytelling to its natural beauty and ties it all up with the standard safety spiel. It’s a clever way to introduce the country’s stunning landscape and Indigenous culture and could easily stand alone as a tourism promotion in itself.
In a statement on its website, Air New Zealand said the video was inspired by the Tiaki Promise, a pledge created to encourage tourists to care for New Zealand while travelling.
The promise asks people to: care for land, sea and nature, treading softly and leaving no trace; travel safely, showing care and consideration for all; and respecting culture, travelling with an open heart and mind.
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“Tiaki means to care for our people, place and culture and is Aotearoa’s way of showing people how to preserve and protect what makes our home so special, so that it can continue to be enjoyed for generations to come,” the Air New Zealand website states.
In the video, a young man called Tiaki boards a waka rererangi (flying canoe) to see the best of Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Air New Zealand brand marketing general manager Jeremy O’Brien told Travel Weekly, as tourism started to return to New Zealand, that the video was a reminder for people to look after the country while they are there.
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“We want tourism to build back better than it was before and part of this is to share with our visitors a sense of ‘kaitaiki’ to encourage them to act like guardians of our own country,” he says.
“Our safety videos are world renowned and through them we have an opportunity to educate and inspire ourselves. It’s about being good hosts and good visitors.”
Technology used in the video included cutting edge LED stage screens as used in the spin off Star Wars television series The Mandalorian.
Check out the video below.
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