Ansett Australia: Commitment to sport, 2001

A 2001 advertisement presented by Gary Toomey, President and CEO of Air New Zealand and Ansett Australia Group, outlining the company's commitment to its ongoing sponsorship of major sporting events.
Produced by advertising agency George Patterson Bates in late July 2001, this advertisement was made during Air New Zealand's short-lived 18 month tenure as the 100% owners of Ansett Australia. The company's commitment to sponsorship of major sporting events in Australia and New Zealand included Australian Test Cricket; the Australian Football league (AFL) as official airline and by supporter of the AFL Rising Star program; New Zealand Rugby through supporting the National Provincial Championship and the All Blacks; and the America's Cup.
There is a long history in Australia of business' trying to garner support and brand connectivity through sponsoring major sporting events (particular events that have high television coverage as it is an effective way to reach a large audience). The dual branding of Air New Zealand and Ansett is prominent in the footage used for this advertisement to evoke a sense of strength and stability in a time when Ansett was trying to regain its corporate standing after losing consumer confidence in Australia. For the first time in its history the Ansett was wholly owned by a foreign company and only a few short months earlier the whole fleet had been grounded over the Easter weekend due to maintenance concerns leaving a lot of angry customers in the lurch (NFSA Title# 1033664).
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[@hoilst]

"...for the next five years..."
Oh, no you're not...

[@jackbollingmoore7554]

Ansett Australia also sponsored the V8 Supercars and even the Brisbane Broncos NRL team

[@johndean958]

A beautiful Airline.

[@geoffreyhansen8543]

I'd love to see the regional version of the Gary Toomey ad

[@airlineshow]

Gary Toomey flew the airline into the ground

[@nicholassmith3786]

Team New Zealand black magic nzl 60 is in this commercial

[@Magpie_Mark92]

Funny they went bust that year over sponsoring sends you broke

[@KG1970.]

Simply Ansett ended up punching above it's weight with multiple sponsorship programs. Ansett becoming official carrier for the 2000 Olympics was a key in it's downfall.

[@jamesbracy2368]

I think you’ll find this was not Ansett punching above it’s weight but rather it’s owner Air New Zealand which purchased something they at the time had no hope of operating. By the time action was taken - it was too late and Ansett was consigned to bankruptcy while Air NZ had to be bailed out by the NZ Government.
While sponsoring the 2000 Olympics wasn’t the best spend of money - half of it came from News Ltd which had plenty back in the mid to late 90s when the sponsorship was signed so really had very little impact on the collapse.