Chief executives as the front-person in ad campaigns have been a long-held staple in the advertising space, but the majority are often boring and overused, with voiceovers set to a kitschy hipster montage or “walk-n-talk’s” directly addressing the consumer (shout to to Chanui). But here are a few that over-the-top/down right dangerous stunts that don’t fall into that trap.
Browsing: Rob Fyfe
Plenty of Kiwis have Icebreaker products in their drawers, and, as the brand has gradually expanded outside of New Zealand’s borders, so do an increasing number of foreign folk. And now the pioneering apparel brand has decided to partner with DDB New Zealand to help gets its woolly gear on more of them.
Changes at Assignment Group, Sovereign, the MPA, Bauer, Shine, Sky, Icebreaker, More FM and PRINZ.
From product and price to advertising and loyalty, Air New Zealand is customer-centric at every point of the experience and marketing-led at every point of the business. And its consistency over the past three years makes it a worthy winner of the inaugural Marketing Excellence award.
2012 marks the 21st anniversary of the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. And, in keeping with the traditions of the land, it emerged into adulthood this year with a new central theme of Everything Marketing and eight new categories, including financial, technology, automotive, utilities/communications, lifestyle/travel/leisure and sponsorship. And coming out at the head of the field with the supreme award was Volkswagen, with ex-Westpac and soon-to-be BNZ head of brand Ian Moody named as marketer of the year, Whittaker’s Jasmine Griffin named as rookie marketer of the year, Air New Zealand taking the marketing excellence award and Pfizer, Z Energy and Red Witch both picking up multiple awards.
Air New Zealand is going black for good, with its fleet set to sport a new livery from next year that was created in collaboration with leading Kiwi typeface designer Kris Sowersby and Designworks.
The Research Agency welcomes an international research heavyweight, Eleven\PR snatches a couple from PPR, Ambient Group ramps up its experiential and talent offering, Firebrand does some of its own recruiting, Rob Fyfe wraps up warm with Icebreaker, Komli NZ wins About.com, In Motion Post gets a slice of Bunnings, JOOB announces one of its regional big dogs and a couple of Auckland dining hotspots get some international attention.
In keeping with the burgeoning–and some would say, worrying—trend for the Department of Conservation to align itself with corporate benefactors (as outlined in a story about ‘Conservation for Prosperity’ in a recent issue of North & South), and in keeping with Air New Zealand’s environmental push, the national airline has signed up for a three year partnership with DoC worth the equivalent of $1 million annually.
As the nation shrugs off its collective hangover and tries to return to normality, many are struggling to remember life before the World Cup… What did we care about? What do I do? But at Air New Zealand it was straight back to business as usual, and first up was ensuring the airline’s continuing support for the All Blacks.
Sir Richard Branson launched ‘The Virgin Business Challenge’ on sunny Takapuna beach this morning in typical style. After making a glamorous entrance, arriving on an amphibious Kiwi invention Sealegs, he then challenged Air New Zealand’s Rob Fyfe and BNZ’s Andrew Thorburn to race him past the buoys and back.
Air New Zealand is making a habit of creating memorable inflight safety briefings. First it was the tasteful nudes, then came a cast of All Blacks, followed by a rather puerile puppet. And .99’s latest 80s inspired effort, which features Richard Simmons, Paul Henry, Phil Keoghan, Temepara George and, as expected, a little cameo from Rob Fyfe, has continued that trend and looks set to add a few million more views to the seven million the airline’s previous safety videos have already garnered on YouTube.
It worked last year when TBWA\ creatives Iain Neallie and Tara McKenty somehow managed to scavenge their way to Cannes by selling fictional stocks in themselves. And the disease is obviously catching at the Auckland agency, because another fledgling creative pair are hoping to get themselves a free trip to Adfest in Thailand by buttering up the nation’s muscliest silver fox through the power of song.
The indies weren’t just nipping at the heels of the big boys last year, they were occasionally biting off their legs. And, with many clients recognising that the big shops don’t have a monopoly on creativity or international quality work, a number of sizable accounts ended up in unexpected hands. Friday O’Flaherty, one of the all-powerful leaders of Running With Scissors, wields his mighty pen on 2010.
BNZ’s GlobalPlus has, up until very recently, been the only credit card where users were able to earn Air New Zealand Air Points through their everyday purchases. But the airline decided to expand its credit card offerings in November, which means New Zealand Airpoints Members can now earn Airpoints Dollars with a few new banking providers. And what better way to show off this exciting evolution than with a sexy, slightly ridiculous romp around Auckland with a blow-up doll.
The newspapers were the real winners of the May edition of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau’s (NAB) Ad of the Month competition after Air New Zealand’s chief executive Rob Fyfe, with the help of its agency .99, decided to take his grievances with the Listener public by producing a video and running a few full page print ads. And it just kept getting better for the papers when the Listener decided to follow suit, continuing the stoush with a few full-pagers of its own.
Greedy old Air New Zealand has scooped another Best Airline award, this time at the 2010 Which? Awards.
You get a feeling for the stories that will spark some debate on StopPress. And the story on Friday about Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe’s rather original response to an editorial that was featured in last week’s Listener was always going to be a bit of a doozy.
The editorial in last week’s Listener, ‘Turbulence Ahead’, was based around Air New Zealand’s proposed trans-Tasman allegiance with Virgin Blue and how it seemed as though the national carrier was on its way to becoming a budget airline, which, according to the writer, contradicted the ‘premium carrier’ tag it was using in its marketing. Turns out chief executive Rob Fyfe was so incensed by the article that he felt the need to respond on camera in an effort to draw attention to the facts.
With a mix of pomp, ceremony, well-managed PR and a fair bit of international media interest, Air New Zealand today unveiled the final prototype of its new cabin upgrades for the soon-to-arrive fleet of five Boeing 777-300s.