NZ’s ‘Everyone must go’ campaign might actually work: Compass Auckland

Hal Crawford

February 19, 2025 8:20

NZ’s ‘Everyone must go’ campaign might actually work: Compass Auckland

Matt Martell, Jo Mitchell, Paul Pritchard, Angela Watson

Guests at Unmade’s Compass Auckland event on Tuesday night heard a full-throated defence of Tourism New Zealand’s ridiculed ‘Everyone must go’ campaign.

The campaign has been derided in Australian, New Zealand and international media as a “clearance sale” since its launch by NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Sunday.

But The Warehouse Group’s CMO, Jo Mitchell, told the Unmade event the benefit of the doubt should go to Tourism New Zealand.

Source: Tourism NZ

“They did their homework. They understood what was going to drive those consumers to think about us and perceive New Zealand as a market to travel to,” she said.

“I’ve just been on a fantastic holiday in the South Island and there were more Aussies down there than I’ve met in a long time in Auckland. Maybe it was the right thing to do.”

Panellist Paul Pritchard, CEO of ecommerce agency Overdose, questioned why the campaign was being attacked in the absence of data.

“The best thing about that campaign is it stands for something, and it tells people what to do. Two pretty basic tenets of advertising. As Jo said, you can trust New Zealand Tourism to have done their homework. They’ve gone out, they’ve tested it, they understand exactly what message is going to resonate.”

Unmade Compass Auckland, held at NZME’s headquarters, was the final in a series of roadshow events that began in Hobart in November 2024. Unmade and Mumbrella are both owned by Mumbrella Media.

The four panellists were Mitchell, Pritchard, NZME managing editor Matt Martel, and Colenso BBDO CEO Angela Watson. They covered a wide range of topics, including the possible impending watering down of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives, based on US trends, and the closure of big NZ content operations.

Matt Martell, Jo Mitchell, Paul Pritchard, Angela Watson

(L-R): Matt Martel, Jo Mitchell, Paul Pritchard, Angela Watson

When asked what the big losses of 2024 were, Martel pointed to Warner Bros Discovery’s closure of the Newshub newsroom, one of only two commercial TV news outlets in NZ.

“It was a strong, important part of New Zealand media, it’s now gone,” said Martel. “I think in some ways it was also a win, because we’re looking at that and going ‘we have to act’. If we don’t act, we’re seeing that train is coming down the tracks at us.”

The impact of AI on creative agencies and editorial operations was also considered.

“For me I use AI as devil’s advocate,” said Colenso’s Angela Watson. “I have a point of view and I test that and build an argument from it. In a work sense, it is making things that are intangible, tangible.”