Matt Bain: Spark marketing and data director on the popularity of the AI-generated Skinny ad - Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

TRA’s latest New Zealand’s Favourite Ads survey for June 2025 has revealed what ads Kiwis are loving the most - and one of the top contenders is powered by AI.

Skinny's new ad campaign starring a digitally cloned 64-year-old Liz Wright - chosen from hundreds of entries in a nationwide search - rounded out the top 10 in a list including Tux, One NZ, KFC and Turners. 

Spark's marketing and data director, Matt Bain, says AI has allowed digital effects in advertising to become more 'democratised'.

"Brands like Skinny can actually do things like clone a customer and then create scenes that wouldn't have been possible on Skinny's budgets."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.