September 21 marks the five-year anniversary of the day when Facebook turned social media into just plain ‘media’. This date is probably worth noting, if not necessarily celebrating, as it marks the end of the dream of brands having unlimited conversations with their fans for free.
As Paul Catmur basks in the newfound power of his chief executive status, he muses on one of the few corporate psychopaths he’s encountered in his time.
Subaru might hail from Japan, but the car brand has done a pretty solid job of integrating itself into the local landscape over the last few decades. Whether it’s on the rally track, in suburban Auckland or on some desolate beach up north, you don’t need to look far to see the blue and silver insignia pasted onto a vehicle. It’s this connection to the local market that Barnes, Catmur & Friends was looking to tap into in a new 60-second spot for the brand.
Every year, StopPress asks players in the local industry for their reflections on the marketing year that was. Here’s what Paul Catmur, managing partner and executive creative director, Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu, has to say.
In the wake of Prime Minister John Key’s resignation, Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu managing partner and executive creative director Paul Catmur has a confession to make.
We pit two industry heavyweights against each other in a debate on a contentious topic. The first round sees Tangible Media chief executive John Baker taking on Barnes Catmur & Friends Dentsu executive creative director Paul Catmur.
The Dentsu Aegis Network today announced that it had acquired a majority share in Barnes, Catmur and Friends (BC&F), an agency which has over the last two decades become one of the most prominent indies in the industry. PLUS: BC&F wins a bigger piece of the Jetstar business.
Paul Catmur on the difficulty advertisers face in the fickle digital age to compete with all the cats, celebrities and Blackburn self-pleasurers out there.
We humans like to think we’re rational creatures. But we’re not, says Paul Catmur. And marketers need to remember that.
Advertising awards are very important. We know this because there are a lot of them and agencies spend a fortune entering them. Almost all of this money is wasted, says Paul Catmur, so here are some are some insider tips for those wishing to improve their odds.
Back in 1996, Daniel Barnes started up his own agency. In 2008, he was joined by Paul Catmur, who moved down the road from his role as ECD at DDB to fight the independent fight. And seven years on, Barnes Catmur & Friends has established a solid reputation for pumping out effective work, its in-house media model is catching a bit of attention and some big clients have come knocking recently.
Consumers don’t make a distinction between digital and traditional when it comes to marketing content, says Paul Catmur. So why should the industry?
In keeping with an ongoing tradition, a few industry players gave us their take on the year for our annual opinion harvest. Here’s what Paul Catmur, the creative managing partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, thought about 2014.
The in-built handbrake to New Zealand’s economic progress is demonstrated by the opposition to the long overdue changing of the flag, says Paul Catmur.
As part of our series with the One Percent Collective that’s dedicated to celebrating good work and inspiring a bit more generosity, Ant Salmon, managing director of Big Communications, doffs his cap to Andy McDowell and all the others who have done their own thing.
Paul Catmur, the creative managing partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, shares his views on life, advertising and other annoyances, such as the unwillingness of the magazine industry to accept the unvarnished truth.
Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ Paul Catmur shares his thoughts on Geoff Ross’ journey to becoming “a vodka millionaire and New Zealand’s favourite business guru”.
Paul Catmur, the creative managing partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, shares his views on life, advertising and other annoyances, such as the unbundling of media.
Paul Catmur, the managing partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, shares his views on life, advertising and the parallels between the FIFA World Cup and Game of Thrones.
Paul Catmur, the managing partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, shares his views on life, advertising and other annoyances, like flying to Amsterdam in the hope of getting a movie made.
In the first of an irregular series, Paul Catmur, the managing partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, shares his views on life, advertising and other annoyances, such as “the disproportionately high number of people with digital in their title who are talking out of their arse”.
For the second year in a row, Barnes Catmur & Friends’ Friends Electric took the top prize at the only ad award that really matters, BOTAB.
As part of last year’s Battle of the Ad Bands, the winning band, Barnes Catmur & Friends’ Friends Electric, ate the 50 gallons of personalised ice cream and drove the Audi slightly above the speed limit. They were also given a recording session at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios and had a music video filmed. So, as the industry gears up for this year’s musical showdown tonight at the Kings Arms, what better time to reveal the fruits of that labour.
While Samsung has shot a few ads in New Zealand, the local executions have been few and far between. Colenso BBDO has done a few things for the South Korean behemoth, like Peter Bromhead drawing cartoons live on nzherald.co.nz and a virtual queue to launch the Galaxy S4. And now Barnes Catmur has given the Galaxy Note 2 the full Kiwi treatment by getting actor/director Taika Waititi to do his mad thing in an online only, long-form video called ‘State of the —ATION’.
A couple of years ago Barnes, Catmur & Friends employed the services of some LED lights and a thermometer to rub salt in the wintry wounds of Kiwis and draw attention to the temperature in Fiji. And now, to draw attention to the fact that Asahi has been ‘Brewed in the Future since 1987’, it’s added a digital clock to a billboard in Ponsonby Road that, as Paul Catmur says, has been “causing a wee bit of confusion all around” and keeping revellers on their toes.
Stolen from your mum’s purse? Relieved yourself in a swimming pool? Told someone that, no, they don’t look fat in that? Boundary Road and Barnes, Catmur & Friends are looking questioningly at you. And a new ‘scientific’ online survey seeks to gauge Kiwi honesty, with a campaign asking cider-drinkers or free-stuff-sifters to answer 15 questions in The Great Kiwi Honesty Test and win a season’s* worth of the new bevvie, Honesty Box Cider.
‘Twas a big year for Barnes, Catmur & Friends, with plenty of success and international attention for the sado-masochistic Pizza Roulette, a long-awaited BOTAB victory for Friends Electric, one of the country’s best hauls at the EFFIES and some consistently good low-budget work for Independent Liquor’s Boundary Road Brewery, which is now thought to have gained 20 percent of the ‘gateway craft’ market after its launch last year. Say hello to managing creative partner Paul Catmur.
Paul Catmur’s take on ‘Changing the world is the only fit work for a grown man’, an eyewitness account of the life and times of advertising visionary Howard Luck Gossage.
When it comes to self-promotion, it’s fair to say the coolest little capital in the world has had it over the big little city for a while now. And while the lure of the exotic foreigners is hard to ignore, both cities have launched campaigns recently to attract more domestic visitors, with Auckland taking a self-deprecating approach to try and knock a few stereotypes on the head and Wellington offering up a few treats to potential guests from its biggest market.
Hell’s Pizza Roulette product innovation received a huge amount of national and international PR coverage when it was launched and led to a massive increase in sales, without discounting. And Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ ad to promote it has added to the accolades by winning the April round of Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award.