The Genius of Air New Zealand with Hobbit Safety Briefing

The Hobbit Air Safety Briefing from Air New Zealand was posted two days ago and, as I write this, already has over 3.3 million views on YouTube!

 So, what’s the genius of Air New Zealand on this?

• It’s current. The world premiere screening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is on November 28, 2012 in New Zealand. The movie will be in US theaters on December 14th.
• It’s shareable. The hobbit safety briefing is so shockingly unique, so uniquely creative, so creatively shocking that the first reaction a lot of people have is to share it. And in this age of social media, isn’t that what a brand wants? In fact, when they do case studies in the future (like next week) on the concept of viral, this may be Exhibit A.
• It’s funny and unexpected. There are times in this 4 minute 27 second video where they seem to be making fun of the characters, being star-struck, the production, the whole process really. They feature unexpected transitions and weave a story line into “No smoking” and “What to do in the event of an emergency” announcements. Around every bend there’s a twist, and one has to watch it more than one time to catch them all.
• It makes them human. Oddly enough, using fictional characters makes the airline seem more human to the viewer. It’s not the regular routine, business as usual kind of approach.
• It takes an otherwise boring and often disregarded topic and makes it interesting. Ah, the many training videos that could take a lesson from this! The point too is that humor often makes a message memorable, even one as important as air safety.

What other genius do you see from Air New Zealand in this? What are the lessons you see for your organization’s content? How can you make it more current, shareable, funny, unexpected, human, and, quite frankly, less boring?