A new Steinlager Pure commercial directed by and featuring Taika, first time aired last Sunday on TV One.

Since Steinlager Pure was launched in 2007, Lion has used big name American actors to endorse the brand, with the likes of Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe and Vincent Gallo… for the first time the new mascot is a Kiwi: successful director, actor and all-round funny man Taika Waititi.

“It was a lot of fun to be involved in the new Steinlager Pure campaign, both as an actor and director,” says Waititi, who also contributed significantly to the writing of the ad. “I am excited to be the first Kiwi front man for Pure and it was exciting bringing my style of comedy to the brand and celebrating how good we have it in New Zealand, in a slightly unique way.”

DDB’s managing director Justin Mowday says he’s pretty stoked, both to get Waititi on board and with the end result, which was filmed in Los Angeles and orchestrated by Waititi’s production representatives from Curious…

About poking fun at Kiwi characteristics in the ad,

There’s a desire to show that the cultural cringe isn’t what it used to be and we’re willing to celebrate successful Kiwis on the world stage.

As Todd Gordon, Steinlager’s marketing manager says: “This is a coming-of-age story. We’ve developed a newfound confidence in our place in the world and this new campaign reflects that. Taika is a Kiwi succeeding on the global stage and we’re proud of him and other Kiwis that are achieving internationally. We’ve come a long way as a nation, and can now pat each other on the back when we do well, and this new instalment of Pure is a reflection of this.”

Obviously, Waititi, has a signature style, and Mowday says everyone agreed that it wasn’t worth getting him on board to do the ad if he was just going to be shut down, which meant he had a fairly loose leash so he could do his thing. (full article: StopPress.co.nz)

When Things Are This Good, Keep It Pure

CREDITS:

Agency – DDB Group New Zealand
Client – Lion Nathan
Executive Creative Director – Andy Fackrell
Creative Director – Chris Schofield
Art Director: Damian Galvin
Copywriter: Rory McKechnie
Head of Television: Judy Thompson
Agency Producer: Kim Baldwinson/Pip Mayne
Managing Partner: Scott Wallace
Account Manager: Jonathan Rea
Production Company: Curious
Director: Taika Waititi
Producer: Matt Noonan
DOP: John Lindley
Editor: Luke Haigh
Visual Effects: Curious Post
Music: Liquid Studios
Sound Design: Jon Cooper at Coopers FR