The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2016
Air New Zealand turns its safety briefing into a Hollywood movie parody
Air New Zealand's 'Safety in Hollywood' casts Anna Faris and Rhys Darby across movie sets — a safety video the series' audience passed 83M views.
Air New Zealand
What it had to solve
By 2016 Air New Zealand had made humorous safety videos a brand signature, with editions starring the All Blacks and the cast of The Hobbit. The brief for the follow-up was to keep the series' streak alive: entertain customers and draw global attention to New Zealand while still delivering the mandated safety information.
How it works
Airlines must show a safety briefing before every flight, and passengers have learned to ignore it. Air New Zealand answered by turning the obligation into entertainment, releasing a series of comedic safety videos that began with the All Blacks and Middle-earth; each new edition was awaited like a piece of content, not endured like a lecture.
The 2016 instalment, 'Safety in Hollywood', was shot at four Warner Bros studio sets evoking Jurassic Park, Casablanca and War of the Worlds. New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby plays himself trying to convince Hollywood actress Anna Faris to appear in the video, and the pair travel through movie genres — with cabin crew demonstrating seat belts, life jackets and oxygen masks inside each film's world. Chester the Chihuahua, known from Transformers and Grey's Anatomy, appears as a cameo.
The video was produced by Auckland agency True, directed by Steve Saussey, and rolled out across the airline's fleet from July 2016. Air New Zealand's Head of Global Brand Jodi Williams said passengers anticipate the releases and that the safety videos had collectively attracted more than 83 million online views, with coverage in CNN, BBC, Time.com and the Daily Mail.
The series served a dual purpose: passengers on board watched the briefing they would otherwise skip, and the films became free global advertising for New Zealand tourism — Williams described them as drawing eyeballs to the country and encouraging people to visit.
Why it lands
- The safety message was mandatory, so the only variable the airline could own was whether people watched it — entertainment solved that.
- Star power and film sets gave the video a reason to exist beyond compliance, making the release newsworthy rather than procedural.
- Each demo point was embedded inside a scene, so the safety information stayed genuinely present instead of being buried.
- Air New Zealand treated the series as a repeatable brand asset, so every edition reinforced the airline's reputation before a new audience.
What it did
The film rolled out across Air New Zealand's fleet from July 2016 and continued the series that had already passed 83 million online views and coverage from CNN, BBC, Time.com and the Daily Mail. Air New Zealand's brand head credited the videos with drawing international eyeballs to New Zealand and encouraging travel to the country.
What you can take
When a message is mandatory and routinely ignored, the fix is to make the medium itself the draw: entertainment earns the attention that regulation cannot command.
Since then
The Hollywood edition was followed by further instalments, including 'A Fantastical Journey', confirming the entertaining safety video as a durable Air New Zealand franchise rather than a one-off stunt. The approach was widely imitated by other airlines, and the series' aggregate views kept climbing as each new video added to the total.
Sources
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