Adidas and All Blacks, ’Haka’ - high quality and without station idents

The original All Blacks Haka TV commercial for adidas created by Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand in 1999. This is direct from the agency reel and is of the highest quality without any interfering idents to spoil it. This black and white commercial uses interchanging images of Maori warriors complete with moko with the All Blacks performing the Ka Mate Haka and playing the game. Howard Grieve who directed the film said the intention was to create something primal and scary. adidas wanted something authentic and the idea was to show the viewer what it was like to be confronted by the Haka. Indeed, adidas wrote that they wanted ’the raw power and intensity of the game - and the powerful colour of black.’ In the making of the commercial, two specialist camermen were flown in from the US and cameras were positoned every 30m around Eden emphasis was on bone-crunching tackles and was filmed at night.