Air New Zealand isn’t above doing something a little scandalous to bring in customers and publicity. Two years ago, it painted uniforms onto the skin of supposed members of a ANZ flight crew for an ad campaign, raising more than a few eyebrows.

Then a year ago, the airline introduced a brand mascot: a raunchy puppet named Rico, who starred in an online-only ad campaign in which he used “sexual innuendo and chats with B-grade celebrities,” such as David Hasselhoff, Richard Simmons, Snoop Dogg and Lindsay Lohan, to help sell the airline, according to New Zealand’s Stuff.

Rico found some success, collecting 4.5 million YouTube viewers and more than 48,000 Facebook fans along the way. ANZ is likely the only major airline that had a series of online ads starring a puppet that all opened with the text, “The following video contains language and themes of a sensitive nature. Viewer discretion is advised.”Continue reading...

Trending on YouTube: the latest example of how Air New Zealand is determined to win at the viral video game.

From Rico, the smarmy suave puppet, to hiring Snoop Dogg to rap with Rico, and now hiring Richard Simmons (with a cameo by Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan) for a comedic in-flight safety video — but really to generate a #richroll meme on Twitter, picking up where the #rickroll craze left off — the airline's doing more to boost NZ's national image than Peter Jackson's Kiwi filmmaking featuring hobbits (but no sheep).Continue reading...