Watch: Air NZ swaps serious themes for sports and celebs in first new safety video in years

Thursday, 14 November 2024

Lorna Thornber is a travel journalist for Stuff

Air New Zealand has played it safe with its first safety video in more than two years, opting for crowd-pleasing sports and celebs over the more serious themes of recent predecessors.

Entitled Every Point Counts, the new video, which screens on Air New Zealand flights from Thursday, features Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams taking on a group of kids in an initially friendly game of basketball.

Competition quickly heats up, apparently transporting the players from an outdoor court to an NBA-style one complete with roaring crowd.

The Crowd Goes Wild host Andrew Mulligan provides the commentary, while comedian Tom Sainsbury plays for easy laughs as coach and referee, claiming Adams has an “unfair height advantage” over the kids and tacitly acknowledging the difficulty airlines have in getting people to watch their safety videos.

“I wish I had time for an inspirational speech,” he says. “But this is a safety video and people like them short.”

Asked why Air NZ made basketball the focus, chief executive Greg Foran told Stuff Travel the airline wanted its latest video to be uplifting.

“It fits in with a role we see as really important, which is about bringing people’s dreams to life.

“There’s a lot of kids playing basketball these days and it’s an opportunity to meet one of the superstars of the sport. We’d been talking to Steven and everything sort of collided together nicely and we’ve got what we’ve got. We wanted something that was a bit of fun and also even a bit shorter.”

Airlines with the entertainment-focused videos Air New Zealand is famous for copped criticism in the wake of the Japan Airlines (JAL) emergency at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in January.

The JAL crew’s composure and clear instructions undoubtedly played a big part in ensuring everyone disembarked before the Airbus A350 jet was engulfed in flames. But some experts say the straightforward safety video may also have helped.

There is limited research on the topic but a University of New South Wales study published in 2015 found that straightforward safety videos prompted slightly better recall of safety messages than their movie-themed or humorous counterparts - 53% compared to 47% and 35% respectively.

Foran said the airline had “thought long and hard” about the issue and sought feedback from customers on it.

“It was resoundingly clear that they did want us to maintain some things that are unique and important to the brand, our DNA. The other thing that was apparent is they don’t want it to go on too long.

“I have been on some flights where (the safety video) goes on for nine minutes and others that are sort of five minutes. This is actually one of our shortest ones. We’ve been able to connect a couple of things here. We’ve stayed true to who we are, it’s fun, it’s light, it’s got some real dreaming aspects to it, which is really important to us, and it gets through in just over three minutes.”

The national carrier’s videos became distinctly more serious after the disaster that was the multi-million dollar It’s Kiwi Safety video, which was so widely derided in 2017 that it was quickly pulled.

In recent years, its still-elaborate videos have showcased New Zealand and pushed conservation or sustainability messages.

Another criticism levelled at videos with an entertainment focus is that they put the promotion of the airline and New Zealand (the government, as a key stakeholder, is invested in tourism) ahead of the safety messages they are designed to impart.

Despite Adams’ impressive slam dunks, the latest video appears to have no especially lofty goals. Instead it delivers the mandatory safety message with what has become the airline’s characteristic brand of light humour. Unlike in previous videos there is nothing raunchy, politically incorrect or otherwise controversial. It’s hard to imagine most people taking a strong dislike to it.

Some passengers may also enjoy the cameos by TikToker Theo Shakes and Adams’ sister, Olympic legend Dame Valerie Adams, who helps the kids to a defeat over her brother in an act of sibling rivalry.

So does this mean the airline has got it right this time? Foran sure thinks so, saying “we think we’ve nailed it”.

If the video is entertaining enough to keep passengers’ eyeballs on the screen and conveys the safety messages clearly and effectively then it seems fair to say it has fulfilled its brief.

On the other hand, proponents of more straightforward safety videos would likely say the sports and celebs detract from the video’s main objective.

Jose Perezgonzalez, a senior lecturer at Massey’s aviation school, previously told Stuff Travel that a video that gets passengers’ attention is not necessarily effective at helping people understand and retain safety messaging.

“(Air New Zealand’s) videos seem to be, for the most part, mini-films that market New Zealand and the airline” he said.

Perezgonzales said a compromise could be struck if airlines used both types of video.

“In an ideal world, both could co-exist. An Air New Zealand-type of video may sit well with inbound flights, presenting the safety message together with an exhortation of the beauty of natural and cultural New Zealand…

“A simpler message may be more effective in outbound flights, however, as departing passengers are less motivated by the beauty of a country they are leaving, thus may pay more attention to safety technicalities that may arise in an international flight.”

Foran made it clear that Air NZ would not adopt this approach.

“(The videos) take a bit of loading onto the different aircraft and all the configurations, so we’ll stick with one that’s nice and simple,” he said.

“We’ll make sure we get it right… I think (Every Point Counts) is going to be a massive hit.”

What do you think of Air NZ’s new safety video? Let us know in the comments.