iSite Media switches agencies, Ogilvy & Mather locks in a pair of creative directors, Andrew Sparrow goes it alone, Kraft New Zealand gets with the Mondelez International programme, Phil Clemas takes on Men’s Health Trust role and David Bell’s foray into writing.
Browsing: Dow
It’s pretty tough going for the mainstream beers at the moment, with all the growth coming from the craft category and the old stalwarts struggling to keep up as palates change and new tipples tickle fancies. Speight’s Gold Medal Ale is still the country’s most popular beer brand by volume, however, and the brand has recently tried to become more craft-like and even branched out into—block your ears Southern Men—cider. So, in an effort to create a more cohesive family unit and ensure the flagship variety continues its reign, the brand has been given an overhaul by Dow Design.
A humane possum trap and a power company that taught people to like them are among the seven finalists in the inaugural Best Effect award to be announced at the Best Design Awards on 5 October.
A guitar with a body sculpted like a spider web, uber cool packaging for compost, a Mexican restaurant, a fanzine for motorcyclists, a tiny cinema in a stair well, and various pop up shops in Auckland’s Viaduct and the Christchurch Re:START container mall are among the 310 finalists in this year’s Best Design Awards, which are organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand and recognise the country’s best graphic, interactive, spatial and product designs from the past year.
Early in 2010, Pernod Ricard’s Montana wines were given a bit of a design refresh, with Dow Design embracing the Marlborough mountains for the brand’s global push. It then rebranded the products sold overseas to Brancott Estate, apparently because of confusion that the wine was from the state of Montana and Marlborough was deemed to be too close to cigarette brand Marlboro. And now, after a big year of RWC sponsorship and above-the-line activity (including this TVC as part of the ‘Stay Curious’ campaign), it’s just had another label spruce up, with new packaging launched across the entire Brancott Estate range.
Colenso’s new campaign for Anchor set about breathing some new life into milk—a product that had, as a result of a focus on price, become seen as a something of a commodity—and create a point of difference for the brand. And, as well as a stellar TVC, outdoor and print campaign, Dow Design has had its wicked way with the packaging and given Anchor a new “vibrant, upbeat” look.
The finalists have been announced for the 2010 Best Awards. And, from cool album covers to modern buildings, from striking packaging to branding and identity, it’s a who’s who and what’s what of New Zealand’s design scene.
What is Auckland Super City thinking? As we in the design world have always thought, everyone is a designer, so why not throw a competition out to all New Zealanders and get them to design a random logo for the country’s commercial centre. That’ll give us international credibility. Yeah right!