With a 44-year legacy in the insurance industry but a fast-moving digital environment surrounding it, Fidelity Life needed future-proofing. It called on Goodfolk and Phosphor to create a new website with its staff front and centre and as Goodfolk general manager Benn Winlove explains, the execution is a result of the client’s willingness to listen to its agencies and the agencies’ willingness to understand their client.
Browsing: website
In what might seem an unusual approach for a company rolling out Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) across New Zealand, Chorus has included a print element in its latest campaign.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand launched a swanky, interactive website built by FCB to show off New Zealand’s new bank notes. But, it’s more than just a website, it’s also the centre of a wider campaign around the roll out of our new paper (or rather, plastic) which spans over several other mediums.
Australian lifestyle brand Urban List is expanding into the Auckland market and is looking to establish partnerships with businesses on this side of the ditch. The website, which was first launched in 2011 and provides content on dining, shopping, health and beauty, has grown quickly in the Australian market, attracting a following of 1.2 million unique visitors per month across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Innovative data-sourcing site Wiki New Zealand launched in December 2012 as something of a test model to see what users wanted from the site and how it could run more efficiently. Two years on, the site has now been redesigned and chief executive Lillian Grace says feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive”.
Advertising agency netplus is sharing the love with its clients—past, present and future—by resurrecting the cultural phenomenon that was the mix tape. The agency embarked on a Valentine’s mission to cosy up to its clients by launching a website called ‘mixplus’, a digital interface where clients the agency loves, clients its lost and clients it wants can select different mix tapes after which the appropriate ’80s tunes (sourced via SoundCloud) sing out from the computer.
Given that it relies on bored workers to shop during the workday, hotel-booking website Last Minute has incorporated a defense mechanism into its homepage to ensure that workers are always only a single click away from the safety of a spreadsheet. A small link titled ‘the boss is coming – look busy’ navigates users away from the pink glow of the website to the safety of a jargon-filled spreadsheet.
Following on from last week’s announcement that Yahoo had updated its website with features that allow for greater personalisation, MSN has now similarly given its homepage a facelift. And althought the website has not yet been officially released, Kiwis can catch a glimpse of the changes by visiting the preview site. StopPress takes a look at what the update will offer users and advertisers in the near future.
Bauer-owned Home magazine has updated its website, giving it a slick new online abode that’s more befitting of the stylish print publication.
Macular degeneration is a disorder that is said to affect as many as one in seven Kiwis over the age 50. And while treatable when caught early enough, most people don’t even know what it is—let alone what symptoms to look out for. So, in an effort to demystify the condition and make Kiwis more aware what can be done to counter it, Macular Degeneration New Zealand (MDNZ)—a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the cause—has launched a new campaign conceptualised by Logan Brooke Communications. And to help in delivering the message behind the campaign, MDNZ has called Philip Sherry out of retirement.
Above the American-style Lone Star steakhouse in New Lynn, Auckland, is a very Kiwi office that runs the most influential wine website in the United States. So, aside from feeding off the subliminal vibes of country music wafting up from the restaurant every day from 4.30pm, how did Wine Searcher get from suburban New Zealand to dominating the US online wine scene?
Sky has given its ‘come with us’ microsite a facelift by introducing an interactive browsing feature that takes the visitor on a short promotional journey through the programming currently on offer to subscribers. PLUS: The broadcaster has also announced a partnership with Boston-based, text-streaming company Spritz, which recently unveiled technology that allows viewers to read text on screens one word at a time without having to move from word to word or around the page.
Coca-Cola-owned Powerade has introduced a new app and updated its website in an effort to encourage Kiwis to lead healthier lifestyles. Rather than focusing on the Powerade product range, the new website instead provides users with a performance hub where they can set fitness goals, receive training programmes, track their performance and map runs. These digital upgrades coincide with the release of the sports drink’s ‘Performance is everything’ campaign, which was recently activated via an Ogilvy-created TVC that features All Blacks Liam Messam, Beauden Barrett and Julian Savea battling on a rugby field through a heavy downpour.
In 2002, 120 years after first being established, NZFarmer was discontinued. But Fairfax Media’s new AgriMedia division is bringing it back as a weekly print publication and rebranding Straight Furrow.
Creative talent placement agency The Pond recently redesigned its website to make it fully compatible and responsive on iPads and iPhones—meaning that iOS users can now access their accounts on the go. The new website, which was designed by Wellington-based digital agency Heyday and serves largely as a creative matchmaking service, enables company owners to browse through the profiles of creatives to find someone suitable for a certain job.
The Designers Institute has a fresh website, which puts the spotlight on organisation members. The simplified homepage, with ‘760 Designers’ in large type, links to a member directory, while a pared back menu has information about the institute, its events, sponsors, awards and business resources.
Dish magazine has a new website to satisfy readers’ appetites for news and tips in between its bi-monthly print editions. The responsive website will include more hospitality news and content previously only offered via its Facebook page.
The US government shutdown is finally over, but while the chaos was continuing angry drunk diallers in the US got a legitimate outlet for their frustrations with a website that let them call to vent their frustrations. The site was for furloughed workers, those being forced to work for free or just “fed up at Capitol Hill”.
The Warehouse Group, which includes Noel Leeming, Torpedo 7, pet.co.nz, Warehouse Stationery and the iconic Red Sheds, has announced the launch of a new online shopping site for Kiwis looking for health and beauty products – www.ilovebeauty.co.nz.
Radio New Zealand’s recently redesigned website has received an international nod of approval.
Browsing the New Zealand Herald website this morning for Pope stories I noticed a few new buttons that weren’t there the day before. Overnight the NZ Herald has added features to make sharing on the site a little bit easier.
Alt Group’s no stranger to winning things, but its latest accolade is a pretty big one: a German Design Award in honour of its work for architectural practice Warren and Mahoney.
MetService is launching a redesigned website this afternoon to bring more of its labyrinth of meteorological data up to the user level.
The new site also gives advertisers an interesting proposition: bid for ads next to different weather types.
Avanti Bikes, which celebrated its 25th birthday last year, is renowned as a design-led company, as evidenced by the gold it won at the Best Awards this year for its sexy Corsa DR. And that focus on design is helping it move into other overseas markets. Now it’s added another technology-driven advantage to its arsenal in the form of its multi-lingual, responsive website, which was built by Auckland digital agency Salt Interactive.
In the quickly evolving digital sphere, it’s pretty tough to keep up. And while Yahoo! New Zealand has been tweaking its homepage regularly over the years in order to do just that, it hasn’t made any major changes since 2008. But now, after a year-long project, it’s launched its new, simplified, longer and de-cluttered version.
Tourism New Zealand’s marketing strategy is all about convincing ‘active considerers’ to give New Zealand a go. And almost all of its budget is now spent on digital marketing to communicate directly with consumers, with the award-winning newzealand.com website acting as the central hub to convert them to travel. And, with the help of TBWA\’s Digital Arts Network (DAN), the latest iteration of the site has been launched.
Fonterra has been under the pump in recent times due to the steadily rising price of dairy products. But a complainant recently took aim at some of the language used on its website to promote the goodness of dairy. And not even new ambassador Richie McCaw could stop the Advertising Standards Authority from upholding two of the five complaints.
In a recent Idealog column, David MacGregor wrote: “User experience (UX) is a central thought for marketing today. Products are just stuff. There is no shortage of replacements for yours.” When you consider that more than a third of Air New Zealand’s revenue is generated by its global websites, and nearly half the people visiting go straight to the booking search tool, UX is an especially important aspect of the increasingly digital-centric travel industry. Those figures look likely to increase, so Air New Zealand has heeded the words of the digital soothsayers and made www.airnz.co.nz more customer friendly with the most significant changes to the site’s usability in six years.
One of Gordon Ramsay’s most popular programmes is Kitchen Nightmares, where he helps turn struggling restaurants around. Let me say right from the start, I’m no fan of Ramsay. But I believe he’s teaching us some valuable lessons when it comes to website marketing. Let me explain.
AGM Publishing has launched a new online product resource, Selector.com, targeting the design, architecture and building industries.