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Les Mills, a New Zealand fitness brand, aimed to connect with younger audiences globally. The only problem was that nobody had ever heard of them. However, everyone knew that New Zealanders are scientifically some of the happiest people in the world. So, instead of inviting people to subscribe to yet another fitness service, we created the Happiness Ambassador program. We gave away working visas to individuals from other countries so they could come and learn to live, work, and work out like a New Zealander. Les Mills instructors would train them to get their endorphins moving, and the winners would attend the Les Mills Happy Lab with lead fitness scientists, to learn more about the science behind fitness and happiness.
Our launch film invited people to apply. We collaborated with Brett Goldstein, famous for his grumpy character in Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, and partnered with Andreas Nilsson to depict his journey from a grueling workout to the happiest place on Earth: New Zealand. From clichés found in typical fitness commercials, we extracted phrases and magnified them to the brink of chaos. We launched the campaign just as the Ted Lasso cast went to the White House to talk about mental health and happiness.
Brett, who flew to New Zealand to shoot the commercial, became our very first Happiness Ambassador. “When I traveled to New Zealand, I saw first-hand why the island nation is one of the world’s happiest countries,” noted Goldstein. As our film launched, we then opened the Ambassadorship to the world.
We received 15,000 entries in just 48 hours. Pubity and Forbes posted the campaign, propelling both the film and Ambassadorship into virality, reaching 10 million impressions.