Peter Jackson appears in Air New Zealand's Hobbit-themed
video. Photo YouTube
Air New Zealand's new Hobbit-themed inflight safety video
has received more than six million YouTube views in four days.
The video, named An Unexpected Briefing, features elves,
wizards and hobbits along with a cameo from the popular Lord
of the Rings character Gollum.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey director Peter Jackson
makes a brief appearance, finding the "one ring" on the
ground and exclaiming "my precious" before putting it on and
disappearing.
International media including CNN, the Sydney Morning Herald,
The Telegraph and Wall Street Journal have carried stories
about the video.
Popular sports and pop culture website Grantland was
particularly glowing, with its story titled "everything about
Air New Zealand's Hobbit safety video is magical".
The positive coverage has helped lift YouTube views of the
briefing to more than 6.2 million in four days.
Air New Zealand international marketing chief Jodi Williams
said An Unexpected Briefing was a viral hit from the start,
receiving one million views on the day it launched.
"The video has been simply fantastic for growing global
awareness of the forthcoming movie, Air New Zealand's brand
and New Zealand as a destination. But most importantly it's
been a hit with customers on our aircraft and has again shown
that by creating world class content people will engage with
the safety messages."
The clip also features New Zealander Dean O'Gorman, who plays
the Dwarf Fili in the movie, and Mike and Royd Tolkien,
great-grandsons of the book's author, JRR Tolkien.
It was created in conjunction with the Academy Award-winning
Weta Workshop, who have worked on both the Lord of the Rings
and Hobbit films.
- Hayden Donnell of Herald Online
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