AUCKLAND, Wednesday: Southern Cross Pet Insurance and TBWA\New Zealand have worked with designer Matthew Adams Dolan to keep pets safe on the road with the launch of VIS, a high-visibility fashion collection that everyone will see coming.
The campaign comes as part of their Live Your Pet Life initiative, which seeks to highlight the dangers pets commonly face, and find engaging ways to raise awareness and combat them to keep our best friends living longer.
TBWA\NZ and Southern Cross analysed data on the main risks pets face and identified a road safety issue among the NZ animal community. They found people are not always as careful as they need to be and drivers don’t always pay attention to pets around the road, especially at night.
The resulting idea was to create high-visibility wear for pets, that would ensure pets are seen. This led to VIS – The Road Safety Collection, a wardrobe for pets that’s high-fashion couture in daylight, and hi-vis for safety in car headlights.
To develop a range, TBWA\ partnered with international fashion designer Matthew Adams Dolan, who found fashion fame through his work with Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Gigi Hadid.
Adams fused function with fashion, using a range of reflective materials from puffer jackets and a night breaker coat to winter woollies and bandana accessories.
“Adams fused function with fashion, using a range of reflective materials from puffer jackets to winter woollies.”
Dolan said: “As a dog-lover and owner of Maisie, I was inspired to receive such a meaningful brief. It’s been an amazing journey working on launching this range and highlighting road safety issues for pets and make garments that are fashion forward and purposeful.”
To make sure the collection had a true fashion feel TBWA\ enlisted the talents of art and directing collective The Glue Society and photographer Derek Henderson, who emulated typical fashion campaigns with a twist – the production centres around catwalk scenarios as seen in New York and Paris, only this time, the runway is marked by traffic cones, road signs and zebra crossings.
In lieu of spotlights, car headlights illuminate the space, interacting with the reflective garments to showcase their full high-visibility potential. The campaign will feature across AV, VOD, social, digital, OOH, PR, and influencer channels.
TBWA\ CCO Shane Bradnick said: “Our idea was to combine Matthew’s signature oversized and exaggerated design features with retro reflective and iridescent materials to make pets physically unmissable to distracted drivers.”
“It’s been a truly global fashion collaboration for a purpose that we all love as an agency of pet lovers.
“With Matthew based between Italy and New York, Southern Cross Pet Insurance and ourselves based in New Zealand, our creative team currently based in London and fabric suppliers from all around the world, it’s been incredible to experience everyone coming together to create something very special.”
- 2-minute interview with Matthew Adams Dolan below
CREDITS
Agency: TBWA/New Zealand
Production Company: Revolver
Art & Directing Collective: The Glue Society
Director: Pete Baker
Executive Producer: Jasmin Hellier
Line Producer: Mark Foster
DOP & Photographer: Derek Henderson
Post Production: The Glue Society Studios
Media Agency: MBM NZ
Share this Post
