New Zealand – Age Concern New Zealand has teamed up with ANZ Bank and advertising agency TBWA\NZ to launch a new campaign designed to protect older individuals from growing threats of scams.
Over 40 years after its original run, the campaign brings back the beloved 1980s cop drama CHiPs, which was a staple on New Zealand TV screens in the late 70s and 80s. Renowned for its action-packed storylines and memorable characters, CHiPs remains an iconic piece of television history.
In this campaign, CHiPs is reimagined to raise awareness among elderly New Zealanders about the increasing threat of scams. The initiative seeks to empower individuals by reinforcing their right to hang up, say no, and reject unsolicited calls, texts, and emails from people they don’t know.
Additionally, the campaign is designed to be empowering, engaging, and enjoyable, aiming to alleviate feelings of overwhelm or fear while educating viewers on scam prevention. It focusses on resonating with older New Zealanders, helping them recognise and avoid the scams currently targeting them.
The national campaign, launched across Age Concern centres and various media, features a 60-second hero trailer alongside targeted 30- and 15-second spots. Developed by TBWA\NZ, these spots aim to raise awareness and educate viewers on essential scam protection behaviours.
In addition to its broad national reach, the campaign is featured in Age Concern centres and rest homes across New Zealand. It includes digital literacy programs to boost online confidence, a scam awareness training guide, the ANZ Scam Academy website, and practical toolkits. Posters and guides will also be distributed to libraries and community centres nationwide.
Shane Bradnick, CCO of TBWA\NZ, said, “While scams and fraud are challenges faced by all Kiwis, we wanted to focus on how we could uniquely support the older people of New Zealand first. With ANZ’s partnership with Age Concern, our goal was to use humour and nostalgia to engage, entertain, and empower seniors to be ‘on patrol’ against scams.”
Bradnick further explained, “Making this unique miniseries meant a long production process. We chose to re-edit and rework the original footage into brand-new micro-storylines that deliver a clear and concise message about modern-day scams. We reviewed over a hundred episodes across all six seasons, carefully piecing together moments that could effectively convey key messages of scam prevention—or, as we like to say, bringing old-school justice to today’s scams. We worked with Warner Brothers to secure licensing of the show, the specific footage, actors, and music, and to gain permission from the California Highway Patrol. We also worked with show star Erik Estrada to help launch the campaign in PR in New Zealand.”
Meanwhile, Matt Pickering, general manager of marketing at ANZ, shared, “It’s been a great process to work with Age Concern on a program that can help make a real difference. At the heart of this scam awareness program is education and empowerment in an engaging way. This is just one aspect of the work we are doing with Age Concern around digital literacy and one aspect of the work we are doing to help battle fraudsters targeting New Zealanders”.
