A marketing expert has assessed New Zealand Police's new viral recruitment video as being "unusual" and "powerful" after the total cost of having the video made was revealed.
The video, which cost around $350,000, was posted on the NZ Police Recruitment Facebook page at 5pm on Sunday and has since been viewed more than three million times and shared more than 46,000 times.
The fast-paced and humorous three-minute video features police officers in a variety of different roles in the hopes of attracting more diverse faces.
Dr Bodo Lang, head of Auckland University's Marketing Department, said the video was unusual and well-produced, which made it very powerful.
"I think this is good positive advertising and considering that this is an ad to become a public servant, this is unusual, which makes it powerful, Dr Lang said.
Calvin Liu said his language will be an advantage if he takes up a role with the police.
"The target market for this is quite clear - ethnic minorities - because they make up an increasing proportion of the New Zealand population.
"The ad portrays the police as an exciting, team-oriented place where there is non-stop action ... clearly, this is not reflective of what police do most of the time but the ad highlights what is unique about the police - excitement, the thrill of the chase, and an adrenaline rush.
"This is what makes working at the police truly different from the vast majority of other jobs, so the ad is highlighting the unique differentiator of police work, which is sensible."
Police have confirmed to 1 NEWS the total cost of the video, produced by Ogilvy, was about $350,000, which came out of their $1.25m recruitment budget for the 2017/18 financial year.
At three minutes long, this equates to a cost of almost $2000 per second of footage.
The video, released on Facebook, has been watched more than a million times since it was released yesterday.
"While the production cost of $350,000 may seem high," Dr Lang said, "one has to keep in mind that the money goes into two things: the development and planning of the ad and the actual production of the ad.
"We know that cleverly-designed ads that are well produced are more likely to go viral - this ad clearly has those strengths because it has already had a strong impact online.
"Based on the high number of online views it would be easy to say 'yes it was worth it' ... however, on closer inspection, this is a little more difficult to ascertain because the desired result is the number of new recruits, particularly from ethnic minorities.
"If there is a surge of suitable recruits then clearly the ad is worth it."
Police reported a surge of interest on their recruitment website after the video was launched, including more than 500 people creating accounts on the newcops.co.nz website.
Dr Lang also said the advertisement, coming from a government agency, could have other effects.
"An interesting side benefit of the ad is that it reinforces the position of New Zealand as an innovative, young, fresh country," he said.
"So apart from building interest in becoming a police officer, the ad has also helped lift New Zealand's image to migrants and holiday makers."
Before September's election, the National government announced a package which would increase sworn police officer numbers from about 8900 at present to 9800 by June 2021.
Labour responded by upping the ante, promising to increase sworn police numbers by 1800 during its first term, bringing the total number to 10,800.
Seventy staff members, including Commissioner Bush, were involved in the video.
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