Air NZ's new weapon in Oz: A goose called Dave

Air New Zealand has launched a fresh offensive into the Australian market, this time chasing long haul travellers to North and South America. In Sydney Thursday, the airline unveiled a big push into Qantas' and Virgin Australia's home patch, looking to take passengers off those and other airlines and fly them across the Pacific via Auckland. "This is a huge opportunity because we know we can rip very easily into Australia," Air NZ CE Christopher Luxon says. It is setting up a sales network throughout states in Australia and is launching a multi-million dollar advertising and marketing campaign, taking television spots for the first time across the Tasman. The star of the campaign is goose called Dave, a CGI creation in digital the TV ads that will run throughout Australia from Sunday promoting Air New Zealand's long haul network and range of products. Dave, voiced by Australian actor Bryan Brown, finds flying on a plane across the Pacific "a better way to fly" than birds' customary means of migration. The initial 90 second TV ad also references transtasman rugby rivalry, accents and pavlova and Brown's role in the movie Cocktail.<br/>