Air New Zealand Teams Up With All Blacks

Air New Zealand has teamed up with the All Blacks and an all-star line-up of international rugby greats to tackle the airline’s latest on board safety video, Men in Black Safety Defenders.

Inspired by the Columbia Pictures global film franchise Men in Black, Air New Zealand’s latest safety installment features All Black’s Captain Richie McCaw and Dan Carter as Men in Black agents.

Starring alongside the two long-serving All Blacks is coach Steve Hansen, teammates Kieran Read, Keven Mealamu, Sam Whitelock and Israel Dagg who gets to test his vocals alongside Kiwi musician Stan Walker.

American actor Rip Torn reprises his role as chief of the Men in Black with Wallabies great David Campese, former England Captain Martin Johnson and former Argentinean Captain Agustin Pichot making cameo appearances.

“The creative concept and the parallels drawn between the All Blacks and the Men in Black are really clever. It’s been exciting to help Air New Zealand bring the Men in Black universe to life in this unique way,” says Emmanuelle Borde, executive vice-president, Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Air New Zealand head of global brand development Jodi Williams says the airline is crazy about rugby making the All Blacks the perfect partner for its latest safety offering.

“We recently extended our sponsorship of the All Blacks and New Zealand Rugby through until 2020 and thought what better way to celebrate than with a safety video. We’ve worked with the All Blacks on previous safety videos and thought it would be fun this time around to have them step into the shoes of the other highly trained Men in Black. The result is not only entertaining, but makes people sit up and take notice of the key safety messages,” she said.