THE HUMAN EXPERIMENT
Survivor New Zealand
Campaign / Film Direction / Editing / Integrated Launch
More than 8,000 Kiwis applied. Sixteen made it to Nicaragua. Ready to be pushed to their limits. Before the game began, we wanted to warn everyone what they’d signed up for.
We treated the contestants less like reality-TV stars and more like subjects in an Andy Warhol-eque experiment.
The result was an pop-art world - colourful, graphic and slightly unsettling.
Part warning, part scientific study, part invitation to watch the experiment unfold.
A series of fictional Nicaragua tourism ads and other deliberately constructed pieces of “evidence” extended the premise beyond the television campaign with cryptic warnings.
Teaser films obscured the contestants, turning faces into clues and building curiosity before the reveal of the eclectic cast.
THEY WEREN'T JUST CONTESTANTS. THEY WERE VARIABLES IN THE EXPERIMENT.
Each contestant became their own character study, built from their actual words about how they intended to play: who they’d manipulate, who they’d align with, and how they planned to dominate the competition.
A large-scale shoot brought together bespoke sets, wardrobe, props and talent to create a library of assets that could live everywhere - hero films, contestant spots, stills, digital, print, OOH and social.
We built the campaign as a complete visual campaign rather than a collection of promos. The same visual language travelled across adshells, posters, billboards and digital, making it all feel less like promotion for a new show and more like an experiment that’d escaped into the real world.
Working with Franklin Rd Studios, we commissioned a bespoke music track to further give the campaign its own sonic identity.
Results:
230,000+
average viewers (5+)
172,000
viewers aged 25–54 at launch
Top 5
frequently among TVNZ OnDemand's most-streamed shows
The physical world followed too: Survivor HQ, a shipping container installed at TVNZ's Auckland site, became a destination for additional content, interviews and audience engagement.
Before anyone knew who would survive, audiences already had reasons to choose sides.
The result was a launch that didn't simply introduce a new reality series…
It introduced the contestants as the spectacle.
Role:
Director / Editor — translating the campaign concept into a complete visual world.
Directed and edited the hero film, teasers and contestant spots, shaping performance, character and rhythm across the campaign.
Directed stills and helped build the multi-use production system across film, photography, digital, print and OOH.