Motion Sickness Plates Up Warning, 'Don’t Try This at Home'

Ahead of August Restaurant Month, Heart of The City is highlighting the craft and creativity of Auckland's restaurants by reminding people you can’t recreate a restaurant-level dining experience at home.

The OOH campaign from Motion Sickness focuses on a simple concept: While most people can cook, their best efforts can't compare to a kitchen full of trained chefs, Japanese knives, and high-end ingredients.

Copywriter Freddy Riddiford said the campaign's focus on contrasting home cooking and restaurant dining highlights the often overlooked food scene in Auckland.

"You can’t compete with priceless Japanese blades, obscure ingredients and fanatical chefs," Freddy told LBB.

"It's often overlooked how potently good our gastronomical scene is; we wanted to remind Auckland of that. It’s something worth celebrating."

The OOH, comprising a series of six signature dishes from top restaurants, started from "a very dense spreadsheet" of contenders.

"From there, we worked with the great Hugh Davison, capturing a series of visually striking still-life moments that do justice to the culinary gems found in and around the city," Freddy said.

"Even though you may recognise a dish or two, the intention was never to focus on one restaurant or dish, but rather give a sense of the city's wider restaurant culture. There’s innovative, beautiful and bizarre things happening in those kitchens. The culinary scene is but another place where we, bashful New Zealanders, punch above our weight."

The launch film, featuring Ahi executive chef Mike Shatura, details the finer points of the upcoming festivities.

"The films needed to be helmed by someone with a certain presence in the kitchen," Freddy explained.

"Mike’s a seasoned chef, one of the best around, and a stone-cold killer in front of the lens. 'Don’t Try This At Home' had to be delivered with the slightest touch of menace, a razor-sharp PSA, and Mike hit it out of the park."

Accompanied by a simple message, 'Don’t try this at home -- try it at Restaurant Month instead'; the campaign is now live across OOH, press, social and digital channels.