Like the strange neighbour who leaves their Christmas decorations up until late January and keeps wearing jandals to work, we’re clinging desperately to the last vestiges of summer festivus here at StopPress. And, as such, we’re briefly going back for a blast from the past with a few Year in Reviews we didn’t get up on the site last year, starting off with Whittaker’s wunderkind and rookie marketer of the year Jasmine Griffin.
1)
Favourite campaign that isn’t yours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAK0J8Uhzk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7t63xZ4GRASPCA ‘Driving Dogs’ would be my favourite for the
year. I also liked the Hell’s ‘Pizza Roulette’ campaign. It
was a very popular lunchtime choice in our office and the accountants were often
the unlucky ones. What’s not to like about that?
2)
Favourite campaign that is yours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsHbmi_CngI‘Taking on the Swiss,’ featuring Nigella Lawson for
our new Five Roll Refined Creamy Milk chocolate. It wasn’t easy for our agency
Assignment to come up with a creative concept that communicated the improved
quality of our milk chocolate because our Creamy Milk was already top quality,
and very popular with consumers. But the Five Roll Refined chocolate is all about
extra smoothness and refinement, and I can’t think of anyone more refined than
Nigella to convey this to New Zealanders.
3)
Least favourite campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-YiklY7qF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBTcNMwmm2EBNZ’s ‘Good with Money’. I was so excited
about the teaser campaign and all those mysterious billboards, but
unfortunately the TVC was an anti-climax for me. And State Insurance’s ‘Break my Stride’ was another. I can’t
get that song out of my head.
4)
Best brand
As you might expect, I’ll have to go with Whittaker’s
after we were voted New Zealand’s Most Trusted Brand in 2012. I also love what Air New Zealand has achieved using
social media.
5)
Best stoush
Blue? Green? Red? I will have to go with the banks
duking it out after the ANZ/National merger announcement.
6)
Heroes
Nigella
Lawson, because she’s sexy, classy and refined—not to mention a lovely
person—and because she loves our chocolate.
8)
Most memorable marketing moment
It would definitely have to be Whittaker’s being
voted New Zealand’s Most Trusted Brand this year. And a personal achievement was winning the 2012 Rookie
Marketer of the Year award at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards for my work with
Whittaker’s.
9)
A few predictions for 2013
Digital
will continue to grow and become more and more important to our overall marketing
strategies. Mobile and smartphones will provide new ways to share and create
content, and engage with key audiences. And brand consistency across all communications
will also be more important than ever.
