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At the marcomms altar we bow down and give thanks to…

…new PR accounts, the success of an ex-Telecom employee, an attempt to inspire some enthusiasm for the local body elections, New Zealand’s biggest free concert, digital braaaaiiinnnnns, the dynamic international retail market, MTV keepin’ on truckin’ (kind of), the country’s most popular tech websites and videos of tiny humans.

Keepin’ it Fresh

Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest manufacturer of healthcare products, has jumped into bed with fresh pr, which will manage the PR for its beauty care brand portfolio, including Neutrogena and Aveeno skincare brands.

Fresh pr is a boutique agency specialising in beauty, entertainment fashion and lifestyle industries run by principals Angelique Fris-Taylor, Angelina Farry and Karen Maurice O’Leary, who between them have over 30 years experience in the biz. It also claims to run a unique business structure that incorporates a creative department into its staffing mix.

Craig Towers, managing director for Johnson & Johnson, New Zealand says PR now plays a critical role in reaching out to the consumer in a way that remains relevant.

“At Johnson & Johnson, PR is seen an essential component in building our long-term brand equity. Importantly, done well it can help to endear our brands to our consumers for a lifetime. Myself and everyone in the team at Johnson & Johnson are really excited to be commencing work with Angelique, Angelina, Karen and with fresh pr.  We look forward to a long and productive collaboration.”

Gimme’ some Sugar

London-based Kiwi and ex-Telecom marketer Paloma Vivanco-Coutts has been chosen to appear on the next season of BBC’s reality TV show, The Apprentice, which starts next week.

The 30-year-old, Peru-born telecommunications professional from Auckland is the first Kiwi to ever make the final 16. And she was selected from over 30,000 applicants from across the U.K. She will join fellow contestants at a private London mansion over the next few weeks to battle it out for the grand prize: a £100,000-a-year ‘apprentice’ job with UK businessman Lord Alan Sugar.

Vivanco-Coutts left New Zealand in late 2006 where she worked in marketing for Telecom to travel and pursue a career in London. She is now one of U.K’s pre-eminent telecommunications marketing professionals having worked for British Telecom (BT), Vodafone Group, Virgin Mobile and 3 Mobile.

“I applied for The Apprentice, just to see how far I would get. The interview process was long and tough, but I think my Kiwi pragmatism and no-nonsense approach to business helped earn me a place on the show,” she says. “I’ve toughened up a lot since working in the highly cut-throat UK market, and I’m hoping the resilience I’ve gained will carry me through the next few months.”

Vivanco-Coutts is married to New Zealander Colin Coutts, who heads up IT and operations for Fisher and Paykel UK and Ireland. You can support Vivanco-Coutts on the Facebook Fan Page.

Post the Vote

Youtube Video

In Auckland about 80 percent of people vote in general elections. But in the local body postal elections it’s more like 40 percent. So Simon Pound has organised the Post the Vote event/concert on Monday 4 October in an attempt to get them thinking about why they don’t vote locally.

He says it is a bit different to the Rock the Vote communication message, as it isn’t trying to get new or hard-to-reach apathetic detached people. It is trying to talk to people who do vote but don’t, if you catch his drift.

The point of the gig is to try to start conversations, so hopefully this works to get a few people wondering why they don’t vote in local body elections.

“It is a bit of an experiment, and I don’t know how it will go, but it is cool to be able to start some conversations and get out there and talk about it a bit.”

There are a few bands and some pizza on offer and it’s free entry if you take a photo on your mobile of you posting your vote in the Supercity elections and show it to us on the door (send it to [email protected]). Without the photo it’s $10.

Band Aid

Speaking of concerts, the Band Together concert for Canterbury on 23 October is set to be the biggest free concert New Zealand has ever seen.

It’s being organised by Paul Ellis and Opshop’s Jason Kerrison, with help from Mojo Auckland, which has created the pretty cool brand concept and is working with the pair to attract sponsors. So far Vodafone, AMI, ANZ, TV3, Fairfax and Air New Zealand are on board and there are a few more to come.

Canterbury stalwarts The Exponents are specially reforming for the event, and Opshop, The Feelers, Minuit, Clap Clap Riot, Midnight Youth, Ivy Lies, The Bats, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn, J.Williams, Che Fu, Dane Rumble, Julia Deans, King Kapisi and Nathan King will also be performing.

And for the oldies, Ray Columbus and Dinah Lee are returning to reprise their hits.

Both organisers are extremely appreciative of the talent who have put up their hands to help: “It’s a fantastic mix of artists and we’re so lucky that so many have been able to make themselves available for this,” says Kerrison.

There will also be a number of sporting stars plus TV and radio celebrities to host the event, which will be broadcast live on TV3 from midday.

Brainnnnnssss

The global empire of digital technology is steadily growing and paving the way for evolutionary thinking, changing the way we consume traditional media and how we market our products and services. And the NZ Marketing Association’s next Brainy Breakfast is welcoming three heavyweight speakers from the digital space to explore what these changes mean for their/your industry sector:

  • Eric Kearley, Head of Digital Media and Digital Channels – TVNZ
  • Patrick Hancock, New Zealand Business Director – DDB Shop and
  • Jane Hastings, General Manager – Event Cinemas New Zealand

Sign up for the digi-goodness here.

The new retail

The New Zealand Retailers Association (NZRA) is holding its Global Retail Insights Seminar (GRI) on 5 October, and experienced presenters from the Australian Centre for Retail Studies at Monash University, and a guest presenter from Google Australia, will be there to share their knowledge, experience and opinions in relation to the dynamic international retail scene, as well as illustrate the key lessons for New Zealand retail organisations.

The half-day seminar will increase your awareness of the latest retail trends and stimulate thought and discussion around the implications and applications for your own organisation, customer and clients.

The agenda is based around the following topic areas:

  • International Retail Trends including Multichannel Retailing
  • Consumer Trends
  • Website Conversion
  • Social Media Trends and value across Generations
  • 2010 Retail Thought Leadership Project – Multichannel Retailing

Book your tickets online here. For further information contact Kay at [email protected] or call 04 472 2052.

I want my MTV promotion

It was announced early this week that the going was too tough and that MTV would get going from New Zealand in December, closing its office and saying goodbye to 23 staff. But a large promotion being run to find a presenter is continuing. Whoever lands the job as the Pick Me TV winner, they will be flown to Sydney to film with the MTV Australian production crew and meet with talent scouts and Australian VJ’s

They’ll be presenting MTV NZ News with Jay Reeve, interviewing local and international celebrities. Plus, they’ll be presenting with the stars at one of New Zealand’s biggest parties – Rhythm and Vines. The winner will also be flown to the MTV EMAs in Madrid, where they’ll also be given the opportunity to meet and be noticed by MTV executives, productions teams and talent scouts from all over the world, before being told: “Yeah, that accent just isn’t going to work”.

Tech battle

Nielsen Netservices shows the top five sites in the technology category for domestic traffic are stuff.co.nz/technology, nzherald.co.nz/technology, geekzone.co.nz, pcworld.co.nz and computerworld.co.nz.

Baby Tubing

To celebrate a brand new look and new improved range, Treasures has launched www.treasuresqualitytime.co.nz, a virtual ‘Baby Tube’ whereby overly proud parents can upload videos of their baby. And, in another example of crowd-sourced campaigning, the best baby moments will be chosen to appear in a Treasures TV commercial.

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