Best Use of Sponsorship / Retail

Goodnight Kiwi

Encouraging Kiwi kids to read more The Warehouse’s Goodnight Kiwi campaign was both socially responsible and bang on brand in the build up to Christmas. 


The Challenge

For many years Goodnight Kiwi operated as an animal who would signal the end of the day’s transmission and a reminder your kids were up too late. In 2019, his comeback was for a different purpose, to encourage New Zealanders to read with their children. 

Kiwi kids’ reading standards had dropped to an all-time low, and simply putting a book into a family’s hand and saying “read” wasn’t going to help. The Warehouse decided they needed an initiative that would help create shared reading experiences, celebrate books and create family bonds. 

The Response

The solution was to bring back Goodnight Kiwi. A legend that would be a symbol of education and would encourage families to read together and listen to tales on TV at the end of the day. To achieve this, The Warehouse enhanced their current relationship with Duffy Books and partnered with one of the country’s best storytellers, TVNZ. 

A clear customer journey was demonstrated through awareness communications with the OnDemand experience, and to the purchase of books online and instore. The TV set was filled with products to create a connected journey from at-home viewing to instore retail.

As a further incentive, The Warehouse introduced ‘Buy-One-Gift-One’, where each purchase of a book meant another would be donated to homes and schools. 

 The delivery of Goodnight Kiwi’s return was a collaboration from a broad number of internal teams and external partners. Within the Warehouse, the heart of the initiative were the media and brand marketing teams. At TVNZ, the programme makers and marketing and sales teams truly brought the campaign to life. 

The Result

Bringing such a recognisable character to life meant media pick-up for the campaign was huge with the PR value exceeding $740,000. Tracking also showed that those who had viewed the TV content were 20 percent more likely to follow up with a store visit or buying a book. 

The Warehouse saw an 85 percent awareness overall with nearly 44 percent of Kiwis either having watched, or planning to watch, an episode. 77 percent of Kiwis also agreed with The Warehouse in that they “want to encourage reading in New Zealand.”

Entry details

Category: Best Use of Sponsorship & Retail
Company: The Warehouse Group
Marketing Initiative: Goodnight Kiwi
Marketing Partners: Omnicom Media Group, TVNZ, Duffy Books
Judge’s Comments: “The content partnership between The Warehouse Group and TVNZ was an outstanding entry.”
Finalists: Best Use of Sponsorship: ASB Bank, DB Breweries, J. H. Whittaker & Sons, Fisher & Paykel Appliances – Haier, Meridian Energy: AMPED: Giving Kids The Power To Play and Turbine. Retail: Foodstuffs New Zealand, The Warehouse: Command Centre


This article was originally published in the December/January 2020 issue of NZ Marketing. You can subscribe to the magazine, here. Or read the other winner stories, here.

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