KiwiRail

TURNING A NEWS DISASTER INTO A NEW DESTINATION

The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake severed the Coastal Pacific railway, the main tourism artery for the area, causing an estimated loss of $63 million for the region. It took two years to repair the track and in 2018, when KiwiRail was ready to reopen the line, we had to challenge the perception the media had painted of the region.

Amongst the destruction, the earthquake had also uplifted 80 kilometres of coastline, created alpine lakes, exposing hidden undersea worlds and landscapes never seen before. It was as if an entirely ‘new’ New Zealand had been formed.

So to launch the re-opening of the line, the same words that told the story of the region’s destruction, were combined with striking photojournalist’s images of the amazing new landmarks, and placed in the same newspapers those quotes originally appeared, turning ‘a news disaster’ into ‘a new destination.’