Christchurch Agency Launches NFT Campaign for Southern Hemisphere's Oldest Tuna Bake
In what experts are calling 'a creative risk' and interns are calling 'a cry for help', Christchurch-based agency Gherkin & Lackluster has unveiled a new campaign that leverages blockchain technology to protect—but mostly promote—the southern hemisphere’s oldest tuna bake.
The dish in question, discovered during a 1993 fridge clean-out at the Invercargill FoodCo Innovation Centre, has been cryogenically frozen ever since. Gherkin & Lackluster’s new campaign, titled 'Serve The Legacy', introduces a collection of 14 NFT digital recreations of the bake, each featuring a different degree of crust density and speculative smellwave. Collectors are invited to 'own a slice of culinary resilience' while commemorating what the agency is calling 'the Everest of mayonnaise-based endurance'.
“We wanted to push boundaries, mostly because client feedback told us to ‘push boundaries’ and we already tried writing in Helvetica for a week,” said creative lead Dan Gleeson, who once ran the agency’s all-egg Christmas party. “This isn’t just a dish, it’s a metaphor. Possibly for climate change. Or nostalgia. Or both.”
The campaign will also feature a pop-up exhibition in a disused Mitre 10 carpark, where visitors can view a full-scale polystyrene replica of the tuna bake, listen to ambient fridge hums from the ‘90s, and watch a looping video of regional OfficeMax staff describing what they had for lunch. The bake itself remains frozen in a controlled facility but will be digitally 'served' during a live-streamed tasting séance hosted by a former ZM breakfast host and the guy who did the Pakuranga Kmart voiceovers.
The dish in question, discovered during a 1993 fridge clean-out at the Invercargill FoodCo Innovation Centre, has been cryogenically frozen ever since. Gherkin & Lackluster’s new campaign, titled 'Serve The Legacy', introduces a collection of 14 NFT digital recreations of the bake, each featuring a different degree of crust density and speculative smellwave. Collectors are invited to 'own a slice of culinary resilience' while commemorating what the agency is calling 'the Everest of mayonnaise-based endurance'.
“We wanted to push boundaries, mostly because client feedback told us to ‘push boundaries’ and we already tried writing in Helvetica for a week,” said creative lead Dan Gleeson, who once ran the agency’s all-egg Christmas party. “This isn’t just a dish, it’s a metaphor. Possibly for climate change. Or nostalgia. Or both.”
The campaign will also feature a pop-up exhibition in a disused Mitre 10 carpark, where visitors can view a full-scale polystyrene replica of the tuna bake, listen to ambient fridge hums from the ‘90s, and watch a looping video of regional OfficeMax staff describing what they had for lunch. The bake itself remains frozen in a controlled facility but will be digitally 'served' during a live-streamed tasting séance hosted by a former ZM breakfast host and the guy who did the Pakuranga Kmart voiceovers.