| Winner | Auckland Transport |
| Marketing initiative | Bus Driver Appreciation Day 2025 |
| Marketing partners | Auckland Transport team, MBM, Lumo |
| Finalists | ADInstruments, Auckland Transport (separate initiative), Big Little Campers, Greyhounds as Pets, New Plymouth District Council, NZ Mountain Safety Council |
| Judges’ comments | “This is a very strong creative execution, with an exceptional tactical mix. We loved the phased activation and smart use of earned media. Get ready with me content was a clever – and funny – way to make use of and overturn existing content tropes. Well done.” |
A new route to appreciation
What’s better than a half-hearted “thank you driver”? Your name and bus number up on a billboard.
Every weekday, Auckland’s bus drivers carried hundreds of thousands of people to work, school and appointments. Yet the people behind the wheel often went unnoticed. For many passengers, a Hop card beep and a half-wave were the only exchange they had with their driver.
Years of feeling undervalued had taken a toll on drivers’ morale across the network. In 2022, Auckland Transport launched Bus Driver Appreciation Day, an initiative designed to transform those transactional interactions into genuine moments of connection.
While the campaign generated goodwill, AT felt it hadn’t measurably shifted public perception or inspired meaningful community participation.
“The question wasn’t how to say thank you. It was why appreciation had failed to take root after three years of trying,” says the team.
By 2025, Bus Driver Appreciation Day had switched tack. Rather than another thank you campaign, the team realised what was needed was an introduction.
The goal was simple: “Get Aucklanders to see the person behind the uniform first, and appreciation would follow naturally.”
AT then made the idea a reality across three campaign phases.
First, nine drivers were filmed in short, interview-style videos, speaking unscripted about their lives, what they love about the job and what they wish passengers knew. Shot in real environments with no studio gloss or voiceover, the videos were released daily across social channels and supported by a small paid Facebook boost to build initial reach.
In the second phase, individual drivers’ names appeared on digital billboards, allowing them to see themselves recognised as they drove their routes along Anzac Avenue and through Kingsland.
Phase three was amplification. The Hop onBoard email newsletter, sent to 110,000 subscribers, raised awareness at no additional cost. AT’s network of reserved digital screens extended the campaign across bus stops and stations, while LinkedIn targeted stakeholders and industry partners.
‘Authenticity is cheaper than polish’
To extend the recognition further, a KitKat gifting activation rolled out on Appreciation Day. Supplied at no cost by Nestlé, each driver was given a personalised bar and card as they started their shift.
Throughout the campaign, every creative element centred on a specific individual rather than a generic representation of the role. Working with a tight budget, “authenticity is cheaper than polish. None of the creative work needed money to be great. It needed honesty,” says the team.
The campaign reached Aucklanders and generated video views in the hundreds of thousands. It also triggered 117 personalised billboard messages in real time. Combined paid and owned media value achieved more than double the total spend.
More importantly, it changed the conversation. Aucklanders began commenting on drivers’ videos by name, while drivers shared their stories on social.
AT says the campaign did what the previous three years hadn’t: made recognition feel personal.
This story comes from NZ Marketing magazine issue 88, Sept-Nov 2026. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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