When the “Bare Essentials of Safety” clip came out, said Jodi Williams, the head of global brand development at Air New Zealand, “it was the first time that anyone had ever done anything like it — it took a completely different approach to what had been done before.”
The video was an instant hit, going viral on YouTube and giving the airline a new global visibility. It has been viewed more than seven million times. The Grylls iteration — with the tag line “The Bear Essentials of Safety” — may be on track to become even more popular. Since it was introduced Feb. 27, the four-and-a-half-minute clip has been watched more than 2.1 million times. The Hobbit safety clip has drawn more than 10.5 million views.
The challenge, he added, is to turn “something that people are reluctant to watch into something that people actually want to watch.”
