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Spark Bets on Surreal Storytelling to Reframe Network Value
Spark New Zealand launched 'It's Better with Spark' on September 21, 2025, a brand repositioning campaign created by Colenso BBDO that replaces functional network claims with an emotional platform built around discovery, possibility, and connection, anchored by a surreal hero film in which a passenger section of a car splits away and propels a young woman across New Zealand on an unexpected journey.
The campaign marks a deliberate shift in brand direction for Spark, New Zealand's largest mobile network operator. Rather than leading with the accolades the company has earned — Opensignal awarded Spark the number-one mobile network coverage ranking in New Zealand in its September 2024 NZ Mobile Network Experience report — the 'It's Better with Spark' platform centres on the feeling that superior connectivity unlocks. Hannah Bay, Brand Experience Chapter Area Lead at Spark NZ, describes the campaign as an ode to discovery: more connection, more possibilities, more of what matters, with Spark as the enabling force behind all of it. The geographic focus is firmly on New Zealand, with the campaign's narrative journey reading as a love letter to the country's landscapes and the spontaneous experiences its network makes possible.
The campaign launched with a two-minute hero film premiering in cinema, a format chosen to command attention and give the surreal creative concept room to breathe. That film was then supported by a full suite of cutdowns at 90, 60, 30, and 15 seconds, complemented by social assets and executions across broadcast, digital, and out-of-home channels, as reported by Campaign Brief NZ. The integrated rollout was handled with media by PHD, ensuring the 'It's Better with Spark' message reached audiences across the New Zealand market through every major touchpoint. Clapboard rates this campaign 73 out of 100, recognising its creative ambition and strategic coherence while noting the challenge of sustaining emotional resonance across shorter format cutdowns.
Spark holds 41.4% mobile market share in New Zealand as of June 30, 2025, according to Investors Sparknz, making it the country's dominant mobile operator by a significant margin. One New Zealand held 35.5% and 2degrees held 21.2% of the market over the same period, per the same source, meaning Spark operates in a three-player competitive environment where the top two operators together account for well over three quarters of all mobile subscribers. In a market this consolidated, rational product differentiation — network maps, speed benchmarks, price comparisons — becomes increasingly difficult to sustain as a primary brand driver, because all three major operators can make credible coverage claims to varying degrees.
The strategic insight underpinning 'It's Better with Spark' is that functional superiority, even when verifiable, does not generate emotional loyalty on its own. Spark has the network credentials: the Opensignal number-one coverage ranking in New Zealand, confirmed in the September 2024 NZ Mobile Network Experience report, provides a defensible factual foundation. But the campaign's creative brief, as articulated by Colenso Group Creative Director Kimberley Ragan and reported by Campaign Brief NZ, was explicitly oriented toward curiosity and feeling rather than specification. The question the campaign poses is not whether Spark has better coverage but what better coverage actually feels like in a person's daily life — in New Zealand's cities, on its roads, across its open landscapes.
The New Zealand mobile market grew approximately 1.2% in the financial year 2025, according to investors.sparknz.co.nz, a more modest expansion than earlier industry projections had anticipated. In a slower-growth environment, the battle for subscriber loyalty and brand preference intensifies, and the 'It's Better with Spark' platform is designed to build the kind of affective connection that protects market share when switching costs are low and competitor pricing is competitive. The campaign positions Spark's electronic devices ecosystem and network coverage not as utilities but as catalysts for a richer, more surprising lifestyle — a framing with clear relevance to younger New Zealand audiences who are the most mobile-native segment of the market.
Director Damien Shatford of The Sweetshop leads the creative execution of 'It's Better with Spark', bringing a visual sensibility that balances absurdist comedy with genuine emotional warmth. The central device — a car physically splitting so that its passenger compartment separates and travels independently — is the kind of impossible image that demands cinematic scale to land properly, which explains Spark and Colenso BBDO's decision to launch the campaign with a two-minute hero film in cinema before any other channel, as reported by nzmarketingmag.co.nz.
The narrative follows a young woman named Sam who borrows her friend's Spark-connected phone after experiencing issues with her own. That simple act of borrowing triggers the surreal turn: discovering she is now on the Spark network, she finds herself propelled on a cross-country journey she never planned, in a quarter of a car, through the kinds of landscapes and encounters that feel impossible until they are happening. As Kimberley Ragan, Colenso Group Creative Director, describes it in Campaign Brief NZ, the goal was to draw people in and make them curious about the network — with the quarter-car as the bold, joyful physical embodiment of what Spark connectivity can unlock.
Director of photography Sam Chiplin shot the film, with audio design by Craig Matushka at Liquid Studios, and executive producer Jimena Murray overseeing production at The Sweetshop, per campaign documentation cited by nzmarketingmag.co.nz and campaignbrief.co.nz. The practical and visual effects work required to convincingly split a moving vehicle and sustain the illusion across a road-trip narrative reflects a significant production investment, and the two-minute format gives Shatford the time to develop character, place, and tonal register before the abbreviated cutdowns distil the concept to its most essential moments. The result is a campaign that operates with genuine craft at its centre, trusting the image to carry the brand's new emotional positioning across the New Zealand market and, by extension, into the Australian market where the campaign also aired.
No independently verified post-campaign performance data for 'It's Better with Spark' is publicly available at the time of writing, as the campaign launched on September 21, 2025, and comprehensive effectiveness metrics have not been disclosed by Spark, Colenso BBDO, or PHD. What can be assessed is the structural architecture of a campaign built for measurable brand-metric impact.
The decision to lead with a two-minute cinema film, as reported by campaignbrief.co.nz, is a deliberate investment in attention — cinema audiences are captive, the format is unskippable, and the scale suits a visual concept as kinetic as a splitting car. This approach mirrors effectiveness research from markets including New Zealand and Australia that consistently shows longer-form brand films generate stronger emotional encoding and brand recall when deployed correctly before shorter cutdowns reinforce the message across digital and broadcast channels. The five-length rollout structure — from two minutes to 15 seconds — is textbook for building reach while protecting creative coherence.
Spark's market position provides a meaningful baseline: with 41.4% mobile market share in New Zealand as of June 30, 2025, according to investors.sparknz.co.nz, the brand is not chasing volume so much as defending preference and deepening loyalty. Campaign Brief NZ published broadly positive coverage on September 23, 2025, describing the work as a playful expression of the brand's network confidence. Coverage also appeared in mumbrella.com.au and campaignbriefasia.com, extending the conversation into the Australian market. The Clapboard Score of 73 out of 100 reflects a campaign that executes its emotional brief with confidence and craft, with the primary structural question being whether the surreal central metaphor translates consistently at shorter lengths and across non-cinema environments.
Spark's 'It's Better with Spark' is a brand repositioning campaign launched in New Zealand and Australia in September 2025. Created by Colenso BBDO and directed by Damien Shatford, it uses a surreal road-trip narrative — built around a car splitting in two — to express how Spark's mobile network unlocks discovery, connection, and possibility in everyday life.
Colenso BBDO created the 'It's Better with Spark' campaign for Spark New Zealand, with media handled by PHD. Director Damien Shatford of The Sweetshop led production, with director of photography Sam Chiplin and audio design by Craig Matushka at Liquid Studios, as documented by nzmarketingmag.co.nz and campaignbrief.co.nz.
Spark launched 'It's Better with Spark' on September 21, 2025, per campaign documentation reported by campaignbrief.co.nz. The campaign debuted with a two-minute hero film in cinema, followed by 90-, 60-, 30-, and 15-second cutdowns across broadcast, digital, social, and out-of-home channels across the New Zealand market.
Spark holds 41.4% mobile market share in New Zealand as of June 30, 2025, according to investors.sparknz.co.nz, making it the country's largest operator ahead of One New Zealand at 35.5% and 2degrees at 21.2%. The campaign shifts brand differentiation from functional network claims to emotional positioning, targeting loyalty in a consolidated, slower-growth market.
Clapboard rates 'It's Better with Spark' 73 out of 100. The score reflects strong creative ambition and strategic coherence in repositioning Spark's mobile network around emotional discovery rather than specification. The primary analytical question identified by Clapboard is whether the surreal central metaphor sustains its impact consistently across shorter cutdown formats.
No verified awards results for 'It's Better with Spark' are publicly available at the time of writing, as the campaign launched in September 2025 and major award cycles post-date the publication of this analysis. The campaign received broadly positive trade coverage from campaignbrief.co.nz, mumbrella.com.au, and campaignbriefasia.com following its New Zealand and Australian launch.
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