The News International phone hacking saga put the cosy network of media and government in sharp focus and showed how powerful media organisations can extert undue pressure on lawmakers and law upholders. And, according to a report by AUT University’s Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD), similar trends—and their associated dangers—are also evident in New Zealand.
Paymark figures show the country is already reaping the benefits of extra Rugby World Cup spending, with a surge in transactions even before the opening ceremony.
Per capita, New Zealand has the highest rate of banana consumption in the world. But, because we can’t grow enough of them ourselves, importing them is the only way to satisfy our voracious appetite. For All Good Organics, the problem was the wrong kind of bananas were being consumed, so it established a new socially responsible and sustainable banana brand that was, as the slogan says, good for the land, good for the grower, and good for consumers’ consciences—and they did it with an extremely limited budget and a challenger brand twinkle in the eye.
He switched from creative agency to media agency almost three years ago, and now Mitchell and Partners managing director Philip O’Neill is set to make another switch and will step down from the role in the next few months.
Shopping is one of the country’s favourite leisure activities. But for certain, usually non-female, demographics, the thrill of consumerism quickly wears thin. In response to this, Ikea has just developed a male creche in Australia called Manland. And, in New Zealand, as part of a programme to keep the kids entertained, Westfield BrandSpace, Persil and DNA have joined forces to create a series of new branded indoor playgrounds.
After around three years with JWT New Zealand, executive creative director Peter Ogden has resigned and will return to Sydney.
Some say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But if you work in advertising, marketing or media, you’ll know that’s not true. It’s lunch that’s at the top of the list. And Vinnies on Jervois Road in Auckland (bookings can be made online here) has referenced that with the launch of a rather enticing Friday lunch deal, where diners can get two courses and a glass of wine for just $45 (those with a meat tooth will be overjoyed to learn the lambshanks are back by popular demand). To celebrate this gastronomic arrival, we’re giving away two meals for four from the new lunch menu, one for the person who comes up with the best fictional slogan to advertise the new menu (add it to the comment wall) and one for the best rough sketch of a creative idea for a print ad (email it to [email protected] with Vinnies in the subject line).
The Fire Service and M&C Saatchi recently launched a fairly unique campaign that features revellers after a big night out discussing the perils of drinking and frying—and, by extension, celebrating the joy of takeaways. Now, in another unusual step, it’s joined forces with Hell Pizza, which is putting the ‘Don’t drink and fry’ message on over a million pizza boxes and 100,000 scratch and win tickets that will be distributed in hospitality areas at night over the next two months.
More like a film launch than a traditional ad campaign, Kiwibank’s cheeky new EasySwitch campaign, which encourages consumers to switch banks via an interactive YouTube channel called ‘Green Ops’ that looks and feels like a first-person POV-style game, has taken out the Colmar Brunton Ad Impact Award for August.
Special Group and MediaWorks TV took the non-rugby ball and ran with it for ‘The Home of Not Rugby’ campaign and their online ad that gave users the opportunity to ‘un-rugby’ an interactive banner has won the September IABNZ BollyAward, which aims to encourage great Kiwi-made online creative.
Who’s it for: NZ Lotteries/Big Wednesday by DDB NZ and Finch Company
Why we like it: The super rich, with their elaborate fountains, large mansions, fancy cars and salmon sweater/salmon polo shirt/salmon pant outfits, are actually quite comical. And the new Big Wednesday ad …
Asking the public to devise a campaign that best welcomes the world to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup might seem risky, but by the looks of this TVC, DDB’s Welcome the World campaign for ANZ Bank seems to have been successfully executed, even if it did take the help of hundreds of people and a copious amount of hours to get there.
There are 21,000 weddings every year in New Zealand, and each one costs an average of $32,000. Some have margarine sculptures and chocolate fountains, some have jandals on the beach and a few burnt snarlers. But whatever the format, all of them need to be planned and Tangible Media’s New Zealand Weddings is aiming to make that process much smoother with a new annual publication.
Every year the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes Review (DJSI World) provides a global analysis of corporate sustainability leadership across 57 sectors, capturing the top 10 percent of the biggest 2500 companies worldwide. Following this year’s assessment, 41 companies will be added to the list while 23 will be deleted. Of note when it comes to the top ranked is PepsiCo, Samsung Electronics and BMW, which is the only company in the automotive industry to be listed in this family of indexes every year since it was established in 1999.
In 2009 entrepreneur Geoff Matthews and a consortium of mates purchased a struggling fish farm near Twizel and renamed it Mount Cook Alpine Salmon (MCAS). They knew MCAS was ten years behind the game, so just to catch up wasn’t good enough. It had to leapfrog the industry and play by its own rules.
You’ve marvelled at the winners, who each get to drive a new Audi A1 Sport Plus for a week, and you’ve seen the pictures from the CAANZ Battle of the Ad Bands. Now, thanks to Flying Fish and Audi, you can hear some of the ear/see some of the eye candy those there on the night got to lap up by heading to the Experience Audi website.
M&C Saatchi has been busy with its emergency services accounts this year, with a slightly controversial Police campaign after the earthquake that gained some international media attention and a very personal campaign for the Fire Service. And it’s continued that momentum with two more good efforts, one featuring a few well-lubricated folks at the end of a big night slurring away about the dangers of drinking and frying and another radio campaign to try and stop foreign visitors here for the RWC from having to call 111.
As part of Colmar Brunton’s inaugural New Zealand Dinner Plate Study, 1017 Kiwis were asked what they were having for dinner, who planned, cooked and shopped for the meal, what their attitudes and emotions were to cooking, and all the who with, what with, where and which day of the week questions you can think of. And while there were lots of findings that fit with what you’d expect, there were a few surprises too, chief among them that Kiwi blokes now make up nearly half of the growing ‘passionate foodies’ category and are generally more passionate about cooking.
As we’ve seen in the lead-up up to the Rugby World Cup, PR is very important—and, at times, very tough to control. But it’s not just about crisis management or pushing products. So in an effort to show what PR is actually all about—and how it can be used effectively—the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) has released the first ever New Zealand Public Relations Case Studies eBook, which tells the tales of 26 PRINZ Award winners and entrants from 2011.
Some said they saw it coming, but when ProDesign made the announcement in May that it would be closing its pages for good, it was a sad occasion for many. But at the end of the day, revenue is king and AGM opted to channel its energy and money to the more lucrative interior design sector, with ProDesign editor Michael Barrett taking the reins of the new venture. Last week the fruits of Barrett’s labour were displayed for all to see when AGM launched new magazine Interior.
He’s been on gardening leave since his surprise resignation from the role of chief executive at MediaWorks TV in June. And now it’s been announced that Jason Paris will take over the role of chief marketing officer at Telecom, replacing the outgoing Keiren Cooney, who took a big media battering over the Abstain for the Game campaign and is set to take up the role of chief communications officer with the National Broadband Network company in Australia.
The DDB NZ and NZ Lotteries combo is a pretty bloody good one, as evidenced by the wins in the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. And, following on from its much-loved Wilson epic, which is the most liked Lotto campaign to date, the duo are hoping to fill the coffers even further and sell the mid-week dream with a refresh of Big Wednesday.
Traditional power retailers seem to see their job as providing a commodity to unengaged consumers. But Powershop, ‘the world’s first online energy store’, flipped the script when it launched in New Zealand in 2009 and started selling electricity as a simple and exciting fast moving consumer good to highly engaged customers and using marketing to revolutionise the way Kiwis interact with their supplier.
Tui thrives on taking a slightly different approach to events or issues of national significance. So it’s not surprising to see a cheeky rugby-related billboard erection from the trickster beer brand that demonstrates the extent of Kiwis’ hospitable nature.
From psychic Kiwis to psychic cows to the TAB’s prediction chicken, New Zealand rugby augurs are looking for signs to give them confidence the All Blacks will break their 24 year Rubber Wool Cup drought. But, like GNS vs Ken Ring, we base our predictions on hard data rather than snake oil, as can be seen very clearly with the first of our weekly, alternative Rugby World Cup infographic predictions that generally have absolutely nothing to do with rugby and were created by infographics.co.nz. This week, if the RWC is to be won ‘up front’, here are the likely contenders based on average penis size, although it should be noted it may be something of a hollow victory for France as the data wasn’t available for Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Namibia.
Brad Novak via Cleverbastards.co.nz
With the nation currently in the grip of a violent strain of rugby fever (symptoms include very low workplace productivity, constant gridlock in Auckland, increasing popularity for psychic animals, ads between the haka, Google doodles and a penchant for infographics), it’s fairly difficult to think about anything else today.
We may have been slow off the mark here in New Zealand to adopt them, but QR (Quick Response) codes are finally making their move, popping up everywhere from outdoor advertising to shampoo bottles. Now, in a more ethical application of the technology, Kiwi company All Good Bananas has announced all its bananas will come equipped with a code, helping connect shoppers with the growers of their fruit — the first time the technology has been used in such a manner in New Zealand.
All the kids love Gali the Alligator.
Substitute this ad for rugby and it sums up the next six weeks.
Quite possibly the best thing ever invented.
What designers from the ’30s thought today’s fashion would be like.
A …
This time last year Instant Kiwi was losing relevance, players were lapsing out of the category and sales were going backwards. Unlike NZ Lotteries’ jackpot games like Lotto, Strike, Powerball and Big Wednesday, which had all been rejigged, Instant Kiwi wasn’t selling the dream very well.
Every week, there are over 3.1 million attendees at Les Mills International classes in more than 75 countries. And by 2020 it hopes to grow that to over 20 million. So early in 2010, after four years without launching any new group fitness products, it tapped into developing fitness trends and launched CX30, a revolutionary core training programme, and SH’BAM, a 45 minute dance workout.