CLIENT

Stats NZ

TYPE

PR, 🇳🇿

AGENCY

VMLYR

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Dan Moth

ART DIRECTOR

Nick Plomp

STRATEGY

Aroha Gell

Even Harry Styles

What would motivate disengaged young people to take part in the 54-question New Zealand Census? Knowing they were doing it with everyone else in the country… even Harry Styles.

The 2023 Census was the first to include questions about gender and sexual identity. When we discovered Harry Styles was performing in NZ on Census Day and would be required to take part, we wanted the champion of inclusivity to encourage his fans, and the nation, to join him.

We tweeted that everyone needed to do the Census ‘even former members of One Direction’, setting off a social media and global news frenzy. 

Via his guitarist Ny Oh and eager fans, we sent signs into the crowd and even on stage. On Census day, in front of 40,000 ecstatic fans, with the curious nation watching on, Harry answered the question on everyone’s lips - he’d done the census with us. 

He sung our campaign song and encouraged everyone to take part, turning the dry, low-interest census into a cultural moment. Participation surged, with many stating they did it ‘because of Harry Styles’.