A 25-year-old brand asset returns
One New Zealand has relaunched ‘Matter of Faith,’ the Warriors anthem first created by Vodafone in 2001. Reimagined by Māori brothers band Coterie, the 2026 version launched on Spotify and Apple Music on 2 October, with McCann New Zealand behind the campaign.
It would have been easy to treat the track as a piece of nostalgia. Instead, One NZ uses the song to celebrate the one constant in its Warriors partnership: fans keep showing up no matter the result.
The insight behind the revival
Susannah Winger, Head of Brand Experience at One NZ, describes the campaign as a way to draw on shared history while creating something meaningful for today. ‘We’ve been backing the Warriors for more than 25 years, so there’s a huge amount of shared history between our brand, the club and its fans,’ she said.
That line matters. Sports sponsorships often live or die by match performance. This campaign reframes the sponsor’s role around loyalty and belief, which are far more durable assets.
Fans are the creative
The launch film was shot at Go Media Stadium and directed by Andy Morton, a longtime Warriors supporter. Coterie leads supporters through the stadium’s tunnels, concourses and stands before a mass performance on the pitch.
The set is packed with club history: vintage jerseys, memorabilia and the first Warriors jersey presented at the club’s 1995 launch. Morton calls the work a ‘tip of the hat to those who stand ten toes deep for the club.’
The balance is smart. The brand and agency could have made a polished music video. Instead, they let real fans and real artefacts carry the story.
What marketers can steal
- Reactivate familiar assets: an anthem fans already sing along to has more pull than a new jingle.
- Anchor to behaviour, not results: loyalty survives losing seasons; performance-based messages don’t.
- Put the community in the frame: real supporters and memorabilia add credibility no actor can fake.
Why it matters now
Marketers are under pressure to produce new assets constantly. This campaign makes the case for looking backwards deliberately. A strong piece of brand history can do the heavy lifting if the cultural moment still fits.
The revival is less about the song itself and more about the enduring relationship between a sponsor, a club and its fans. That’s a useful reminder: the most valuable creative may already be in your archive.
Source: Campaign Brief
