This is the last official StopPress day of the year. Thank God, we—and probably you—say. We’re off to gorge ourselves to within an inch our lives over Christmas, tip over a few cars and throw bottles at the police as we celebrate a traditional Kiwi New Years and try valiantly to avoid getting sunburnt tops of the feet. Hearty thanks to all our readers, advertisers, sponsors, contributors, commentors and team members. It’s been a great first year for us and, as per usual, an interesting year for what really is a pretty damn exciting industry to work in (imagine being an accountant? Borrrring). It was a helluva lot of fun writing about it all and we look forward to more frivolity, tomfoolery and cheesy puntastic headlines next year, starting 17 January (well, as much as you can look forward to getting back to work just before you go on holiday). Have a good’un, StopPressers. And make sure you fill in our survey, which will be up over the break.
Monthly Archives: December, 2010
2010’s been a mixed bag for TBWA\, losing the massive ASB account to Droga5 yet doing very well with 2degrees. To his credit, chief executive Dave Walden held his tongue and acted very professionally following what he calls the “ASB debacle” (and he also takes the prize for year’s best quote with “you’ve got to look at the silver lining in every fucking cloud”). As for the future, the agency has some big plans to bring digital to the centre of the agency offering and, given it seems to have missed out on a couple of pitches recently, it will be gunning for some more business next year. So, take it away Devo.
DraftFCB has followed up a rip snorter in 2009 with another rip snorter this year. It’s picked up a swag of new business, it’s at the top of its social messaging game, it’s the consummate all-rounder, it won the big one at the CAANZ Media Awards, it was unlucky to lose out to cat food for Best in Show at the Effies and, perhaps most importantly, it’s still unbeaten in the Balls of Steel table tennis tournament after taking down Colenso in the second round last night. James Mok, executive creative director, gets his opinion on.
With the release of a very popular iPad app, some impressive print readership numbers, an excellent performance at the Qantas Media Awards and a good battle with Stuff for New Zealand’s online eyeball honours, APN shouldn’t be complaining too much over the Christmas break. Here’s what floated the boat of Donna O’Keeffe, advertising director at nzherald.co.nz
Ogilvy NZ liked Bullet PR’s online nous and Bullet PR liked Ogilvy’s technical cred, so they’ve joined forces under the unified (yet slightly ungainly) banner of Ogilvy 360˚Digital Influence.
It was all about ‘reverse integration’ for bcg2 this year, after it merged with Grey Global Group. And with some solid work for Lion and Audi, as well as the recent acquisition of the Esquires account, the new relationship seems to be going fairly swimmingly so far. Director of strategy and planning Abe Dew (who’s written a great piece on agency/client relationships in the latest NZ Marketing magazine, by the way) pipes up on 2010.
New Zealand Post sponsors and runs a huge number of industry events, awards and competitions. And, with Localist moving into the directories space recently, a range of new tech-related developments like Send-a-Card and some flash new data toys on offer, it’s been busily going about its future-proofing business this year. So, pull up a chair and see what Fiona Woolley, manager, market engagement at Targeted Communications, had to say about 2010.
When two memes collide.
Diva toys. And another one.
The next instalment of Sky’s Rugby World Cup ‘Match Fit’ campaign.
It’s why everyone runs, innit?
A McDonald’s bombshell; a very cool new file format developed by WWF that can …
… a dynamic duo is announced for Effie duties, TVNZ’s Breakfast gets its new co-hosts, adstream NZ increases its staff arsenal, MediaWorks says goodbye to some long-serving news staffers and Robyn Janes opens a production outfit in Hokitika. This is the last edition of Movings/Shakings of 2010. There, there, don’t cry. We’ll be back next year and we promise to quench your nigh-on insatiable thirst for employment scandals, unexpected departures, dastardly poachings, new postings (all of which will be written in capital letters to show their importance) and various industry accolades.
Publicis Mojo has finished the year on a high, having recently announced Mike Barnwell as executive creative director following Rebecca Carrasco’s short-lived tenure in the role and winning the Subway creative account. Its work on Vogel’s and Steinlager Pure through the year was well-received and it has also launched a new campaign to try and up Hallensteins’ street cred. So, here’s what creative director Lachlan McPherson thought about 2010.
Colmar Brunton is in the midst of launching its new Youth division, bringing in Spencer Willis of 18 and 18tracker fame to spearhead the initiative. And it looks like he’s brought one of his old habits with him, because he’s started producing free reports on youth culture for general consumption and entertainment. And the first of many out of the newly named CByouth camp is ‘Baby Boomer Dad’s and Gen Y Sons’.
Another crop of bright young advertising things has been put through their paces at AUT University’s School of Communications this year. And, with 12 of the 19 students who showed their wares at the end of year show getting placements, Paul White, senior lecturer/creative director of the Ad Creativity course, says it was a pretty good vintage. Here are some of the things that did and didn’t tickle his fancy in 2010.
At a time when cringey Christmas e-cards and PR naffery come thick and fast, it’s nice to see something that doesn’t make you want to scratch your eyes out. The latest Stella Artois retro fest to hit New Zealand screens, ‘She is a thing of beauty’ by Mother London, is a gem. And the “customised musical e-card” viral Une Superproduction Musicale that’s been released for the festive season is too. It’s part of a digital campaign to build on Stella Artois’ heritage as a premium beer originally crafted for Christmas and the vid has a retro ice-skating theme, self-deprecatingly crappy lyrics, a weird looking frontman and a personalised message from the sender to the recipient that can be sent via email or Facebook. Check it out here. We can only hope a southern hemisphere version is made next year.
Instant Kiwi’s ‘Believe it or Not’ and Lotto’s ‘Lucky Dog’ (which is close to reaching the 500,000 views mark on YouTube) were two of the year’s favourite campaigns. And the Scratchy Bus was pretty damn cool too. Thanks DDB and Wendy Rayner, NZ Lotteries’ head of marketing.
… as Subway shacks up with Publicis Mojo, bcg2 sweeps Esquires of its feet, BallantyneTaylor gets into grass growing and Lily & Louis is appointed to manage the PR campaign for the relaunch of Line 7’s menswear range.
We all know the story: a duopoly, a gap in the market, products to fit into that gap, a great ad campaign, a much-loved frontman, a truckload of marketing cash, some big award wins, well over 200,000 customers in the first year and plans to take a bit more of its bigger competitors’ market share. The rise of 2degrees has been a pleasure to watch in 2010. So, take it away chief marketing officer Larrie Moore.
The recent Law Commission report Alcohol in Our Lives: Curbing the Harm, made 153 recommendations to the National government. Some of those suggestions have formed the basis of the Alcohol Reform bill. And, now that the government’s position on booze has been clarified somewhat, the Advertising Standards Authority has decided the time is right to establish an independent panel to review the Code for Advertising Liquor.
Affinity ID announced last week that it would be opening an office in Australia. And the Christmas cheer has continued this week with news that it took home two big trophies at the Database Excellence Awards in the US for its impressive and rather complex work with Progressive Enterprises.
He’s one of the main brains behind Social Media Junction, he co-founded Media Mingle, Social Media Club Auckland and the marketing-related Twitter discussion #markchat, and he’s one of those rare creatures, a man working in PR. So here’s what floated—and sank—the boat of Bullet PR’s Alex Erasmus this year.
Clare Morgan, the general manager of marketing at DB Breweries, has been busy ‘inspiring good times’ in 2010, presiding over a massive refresh of the DB Export family, the launch of a new ultra premium beer called Monteith’s Single Source and the efforts to leverage Heineken’s Rugby World Cup sponsorship. And here’s what piqued her interest in the world of marketing this year.
Colenso BBDO has had another stellar year, with a swag of awards—both for creativity and effectiveness— and a growing international reputation. Planning director James Hurman, who passionately believes that creatively focused leadership and creative advertising leads to business success, has played a big part in that. And here’s his take on 2010.
It’s been a big year for DDB New Zealand. And it’s finishing on a high note with the launch of a massive new McDonald’s retail campaign in Australia and New Zealand that features (well, kind of) Shane Warne.
DDB New Zealand embarked on an international search to find a new managing director earlier this year. And they found the right man for the job just down the road at DraftFCB. So far, so good in the new role for Justin Mowday, with two big accounts in Cadbury and The Warehouse staying put and a host of top notch creative work being released (added to that, his old place of employ did very well at this year’s Effies). So, here’s his $0.02 on the year in marketing.
It’s the most popular energy drink in Australasia, it’s currently available in 18 countries including the UK, Holland, Sweden and Argentina, its marketing campaigns with Colenso BBDO have won a host of prestigious awards, and it’s clocking up $250 million worth of exports each year. Well, that’s set to rise, because Frucor Beverages has announced that V will soon be available in Spain thanks to a partnership with Frucor’s Spain-based sister company, Orangina Schweppes.
This is the last round of TVC of the week for 2010. We’re planning on putting all the TVCs that featured in this section into one place and running a poll early next year to find out which ad was the best of the year. So keep your eyes …
… as RadioLIVE’s Maggie Barry throws in the towel, Sarah Stuart takes over as editor of Woman’s Weekly, Rapp Tribal welcomes two new deputy creative directors, MediaWorks says goodbye to some experienced journalistic campaigners, Chris Rudd leaves ACP Magazines and Tourism New Zealand fills its boots with five new hires.
They took out the 50 cent classic category at the Art of the Envelope awards recently, and now the AUT University pair of Christabel Spong and Erin Gulyas have taken out the 2010 Student Marketer of the Year Award with their campaign for the annual launch of Westpac’s tertiary package ‘Westie Pac’.
Why work when you could peruse a few end of year lists and gain some marketing inspiration for 2011 instead? Advertising Age has compiled the admittedly quite US centric ‘Book of Tens’ for 2010, which showcases what it deems to be the year’s best creative, best apps, best iPad apps, best magazine covers and coolest out-of-home ideas, among many others. Marketing in the UK has also joined the list party and chosen its favourite moments of 2010. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Check out the year’s most popular YouTube videos (with Paul Henry’s Qantas acceptance speech taking top spot in the New Zealand list and Air New Zealand nabbing second and third spots with Rico and Crazy About Rugby).
StopPress was quite partial to Fairfax Media’s recent ‘Find Out More’ campaign, so we found it quite surprising when a reliable little birdie told us that Fairfax and Assignment Group wouldn’t be working together anymore. Perhaps Fairfax has developed a case of the Orcons, we quipped, laughing at our hilarious marketing in-joke. As per usual, Assignment Group wasn’t talking (Josh &Jamie won the account and took it with them when they were bought out) and, when we asked Fairfax digital platform and channel development general manager Nigel Tutt about the situation, things got a little confusing.
Design-led, Christchurch-based advertising agency Strategy has bolstered its Auckland offering and added the similarly design-led talents of Seven to its roster.