We’ve all seen the scenes in movies where people are hanging by a thread off a cliff, not sure whether they’ll be rescued or fall to their doom.
New Zealand outdoor brand Macpac is taking that cinematic trope to great heights in a new campaign for its gear. As part of the brand’s “Weather Anything” platform, a 45-second spot finds a crew of hikers in a precarious position.
“This is a Bit Precarious” is a spot by Accenture Song agency The Monkeys that finds a man dropping his phone as he hangs onto a jacket that is being held by a man seemingly hanging on a precipice. The two chat about their unsteady situation, even noting that if the predicament they find themselves was part of a movie, the jacket would be ripping. But luckily it’s not because it’s a Macpac and therefore, super strong.
Pan out and we see that it is actually a trip of surprisingly calm people dangling off the edge of a cliff.
“Macpac gear is designed and tested by some of New Zealand’s best alpinists in some of the world’s toughest environments, so it’s great to demonstrate this in such a distinctive and memorable way,” said Maria Glass, acting general manager of marketing at Macpac in a statement.
The Monkeys wanted to show just how durable and reliable Macpac gear is in a way that people couldn’t ignore, thus the cliffhanger.
Directed by Damien Shatford from Sweetshop, the integrated campaign launches this week in Australia and New Zealand across, TV, outdoor, social, online and in-store.
“We watched Cliffhanger, and Cliffhanger 2 and realized cliffhanger moments are called so for a reason—you can’t look away. So, we just added a Macpac jacket, some deadpan Kiwi delivery and a little special Shatford sauce and it ended up pretty great,” said Hugh Gurney, creative director, The Monkeys Melbourne in a statement.