Is ‘bloke culture’ coming round to electrification?
The Rock’s legendary Rock 2000 countdown has always been about Kiwi music culture – but this year it’s also about a ute. More than 117,000 voters went into the draw to win a brand-new BYD Shark plug-in hybrid, fresh from being named Autocar’s 2025 Car of the Year.
Content director Brad King says the idea of pairing the Shark with New Zealand’s biggest music countdown “started as a random idea” but quickly made sense. “We’d never really put a voting incentive on the countdown, but we’d been talking with BYD and thought, here’s a great opportunity to see if two worlds can collide. Everything came together brilliantly and their goals and values met with ours.”
Changing the conversation
For a station where Holdens, Fords and diesel workhorses have long dominated on-air banter, the shift to promoting an electrified ute might once have been a risk. King admits he was initially unsure.
“I was a bit sceptical a while ago that we’d have people driving around in electric vehicles but the response has been absolutely overwhelming. We had around90% participation rate from people that voted in the countdown who opted into the competition,” he says.
“The Rock’s been around for 34 years and it evolves. We always say it’s an evolution, not a revolution,” he explains. “Gone are the days where it’s just all petrol heads. As long as it’s got the grunt and they look good and they can take the boat or jet ski out for weekend’s … it’s just become a lot more for audiences to accept this is the new sort of future.”
Sharks on the road
To make the promotion more than a logo tie-in, BYD has lent four Sharks to Rock announcers on the breakfast and drive shows, with another nine spread nationwide. Hosts are driving them daily, taking them to events, and talking about their experiences on-air.
Even Roger Farrelly – “one of the old dogs” of the station – has been won over. “He’s only ever driven a Vitz… he can’t even reverse a car, let alone drive around in a Shark. He’s been sort of given the keys to take it for a spin and do what he likes with it, and can’t get him out of it now. It’s crazy. They’re absolutely loving it,” King says.
Afternoon host Jay Reeve has been so taken with his loan vehicle he’s considering purchasing one when the campaign ends.
Countdown and finale
King says the partnership has exceeded expectations. “There’s 12 of these trucks nationwide… from Northland down to Southland. They’re getting out to all these provincial heartland New Zealand towns and really starting to make an impact. It’s great.”
