Monthly Archives: May, 2010

News
Marketing deficient small businesses to be taken in, nursed back to health
By

With limited resources at their disposal, small businesses rarely have the opportunity to invest time into their marketing planning, despite the fact that marketing is an integral element of their businesses. And, with a nation made up of many small to medium enterprises (SMEs), opportunities for guidance, advice and dedicated time to spend on marketing planning is usually quite rare. So, to try and relieve some of this pressure, the Marketing Association has just launched the SME Marketing Assistance Programme.

News
Business, family, community, whaling and flash cars
By

Who’s it for: BNZ by Sugar, Exile Films and Franklin Road.

Why we like it: Portraying banks as good, honest business/community/family builders is a pretty tough sell at present given the financial sector’s greed and recklessness played a large part …

News
TVNZ flicks Heartland switch, goes a-ramblin’ down memory lane
By

Today sees the launch of New Zealand’s first 100 percent local content channel, TVNZ Heartland, which features a mix of old classics and new gems and will be shown on the Sky platform. And, according to TVNZ’s head of digital Eric Kearley, we can expect to see more of these types of channels on the pay-TV platform in the future.

News
Stirling Sports and the smoking South African gun
By

Here’s one for the quite funny but presumably completely unintentional stuff-ups category. As you can see, the image is intended to promote the sale of supporter gear for the FIFA World Cup at Stirling Sports. But the logo they’ve chosen to use on their homepage had been modified slightly, most notably with the addition of a large gun. Ah yes, it’s the kind of woopsie the internet was invented for.

News
Simons say swap at JWT
By

As one Simon says goodbye, another says hello: Simon Lendrum has been appointed as the new managing director of JWT New Zealand, taking over from Simon Fitch, who has chosen to return home to Sydney after spending two and a half years in Auckland.

News
Kiwi tech sector on the rise, but life on e-frontier still a struggle
By

Ah, technology, you great saver of time, you great increaser of productivity/laziness and, if you believe the results of the second annual ‘Market Measures’ survey, you potentially great maker of money. But while the results seem to show that the Kiwi tech sector has laughed in the face of the recession (or at least sent it a few snarky emails and posted some anonymous comments about it on a blog), the boffins think many of these companies could be doing much better if they started taking a more strategic approach to marketing.

News
New Aussie tourism TVC waltzes, sings Matilda
By

There are a few things we simply can’t abide here at StopPress: intolerance for other nations, the Dutch and using the power of song to express your emotions. So, you can imagine our horror when we laid eyes and ears on the new TVC for Australia’s new tourism push, ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’.

News
Print sector arms race heats up, new readership figures used for self-praise and propaganda
By

The latest Nielsen Media Research data for readership numbers in the 12 months ending March 2010 has been released, and so has the obligatory combination of excessive adjective use, trumpet blowing, chest beating, questions about the research methodology, some oft-times fairly creative use of statistics and, if you look at the image above this paragraph, funny pictures of people with very white teeth who smile when they read.

Opinion
Recounting the commodities cost
By

I read with interest in the latest edition of NZ Marketing magazine about the issues around media being commoditised and how the four representatives of the CAANZ media committee propose addressing it. Strangely, these representatives are quick to put the blame on advertisers and procurement people but don’t acknowledge that media agencies have been responsible for the commoditising of media – not just overseas, but here in New Zealand.

News
Hug your client day
By

Whether it was the pseudoephedrine or that the eclectic audience of well over 200 marketing and advertising types was bigger than her Ad Show audience on TVNZ7, Hazel Phillips, mistress of ceremonies at Thursday evening’s Marketing Association talkfest on agency-client relationships, belied her claim that she is not a comedienne.

News
Ads@6: 20 – 26 May
By

This week on Ads@6, the exquisitely uncomfortable guys at Fresh Up keep on delivering, Intanza offer a rather compelling reason to get the flu jab, the BNZ indulge in some blatant 80s-style heartstring tugging  and Continental give us every girl’s worst nightmare. Plus, more Rhys Darby!

News
Extension needed for Colenso pool room
By

Colenso BBDO has picked up New Zealand’s only gongs at this year’s Clios, taking home a gold, silver and two bronzes at the awards in New York on May 26 and 27.

Its animated film Going West, produced for The New Zealand Book Council to promote books and …

News
Teacup storm may need bigger vessel
By

SBS called – and they’re not happy. Late yesterday the Aussie broadcaster was still mulling over its options as whether to take legal action over TV3’s use of the line “Six billion stories and counting” – SBS’s own tagline – in its new TVC.

Earlier this week, TV3’s director …

News
Yahoo! More moolah
By

Finally some good news for the beleaguered number crunchers at Telecom.  Yahoo!Xtra, the online joint venture between Yahoo!7 Pty Ltd and Telecom New Zealand Ltd, has announced an after tax profit of $1.37 million for 2009.

The company says this reflects the growth of digital media over …

News
More moves, more shakes
By

New Zealand Post’s Targeted Communications division has made three new appointments in the last month as it looks to grow its presence in the digital arena.

The posties see digital strategy playing an integral part in the future direction of the company, with initiatives on the horizon that will …

News
Thems were the days
By

On this week’s Ad Show we have a 50 Years of TV Advertising Long Lunch special. Shot at Clooney restaurant, the nostalgia-fest included industry legends Mike Hutcheson, one of the founders of Colenso, who has a 40-year sweep of the industry, Neil Livingstone of 99, who’s spent more …

News
Desks shift, new swipecards issued at Colenso and McCann
By

Colenso BBDO has welcomed strategic planner Steve Clark into the fold and announced the promotion of Levi Slavin from deputy creative director to plain old creative director.

Clark has been working in strategic planning at Mojo under Martin Yeoman. His move from Mojo to Colenso will see him working alongside …

Opinion
Congratulations, you’re getting a promotion
By

For the last two days, I’ve been relentlessly judging things. I’m a fan of judging, particularly if it’s harsh, unfair, rude, superficial and based solely on first impressions. On this occasion, however, I wasn’t judging for mere sadistic pleasure. It was for a slightly more legitimate purpose: I was part of the esteemed panel tasked with choosing the winners of the Australasian Promotional Products Association’s (APPA) annual awards. So let me take you on a long-winded journey through the oft-times surprising world of promotional products.

News
Outdoor shrinkage continues, but not as cold as last year
By

The Outdoor Media Association of New Zealand (OMANZ) has released its first quarter gross media revenue results. And, while it has shrunk 1.7 percent on the same period last year, with $13.618m spent outside, OMANZ says it is a significant improvement on the 8.1 percent shrinkage the out-of-home sector experienced in 2009.

News
State of Origin in 3D world first
By

Turns out you didn’t have to be there after all. Australian channel Nine is set to make techno history by offering the world’s first free-to-air 3D sports match with its screening of tonight’s State of Origin game. The multidimensional match up follows Foxtel becoming the first Australian …

News
Got two bucks for a movie ticket?
By

Newspapers and PR reports were all aflutter last week with the news that Boy, written and directed by Taika Waititi, is now the “number one New Zealand film of all time”, overtaking The World’s Fastest Indian (TWFI) with a lifetime box office of over $7,050,000 in the eight weeks since its release on March 25.  But are we comparing apples with apples?

News
Your logo here
By

Putting aside the business of creativity, strategy and effectiveness, international design competitions are kind of like Lotto Powerball. First and foremost, you’ve got to be in to win.

1 2 3 4