Monthly Archives: February, 2012

News
New website unlocks access to government info
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Accessing government information can be a necessary evil, one often accompanied by much gnashing of teeth, wailing, and tearing of hair follicles. Why? The word bureaucratic springs to mind, followed swiftly by convoluted, unnecessarily intricate, and confusing. But that’s all about to change, thanks to a brand spanking new website The New Zealand Government Directory. Now, understanding the workings of government, and its key power brokers, has never been easier. The interactive new site, developed by Network Communication, brings together all publicly available information onto the one site. Hurrah.

News
Yahoo! and MSN give each other gloveslaps—UPDATED
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Looking for number-based sneakiness and selective/creative use of statistics comes with the territory in this job. Whenever audience data for magazines, newspapers, radio, TV or online is released, we can generally look forward to a host of releases from proud media owners that, understandably, aim to portray the results in a positive light—and, by extension, portray their competitors in a negative light. And, with the battle for online eyeballs heating up, MSN NZ and Yahoo! NZ are currently engaging in some data-related fisticuffs. 

News
APN announces joint outdoor venture off the back of a $45m net loss
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The Christchurch earthquake and New Zealand’s subdued economy are being blamed for Australian media beast APN News & Media’s full-year earnings sinking $45m into the red. The results come at the same time as APN announces an outdoor advertising joint venture with Quadrant Private Equity, allowing it to expand further into Australasia.

Movings & Shakings
Movings/Shakings: February 23
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Rod Vaughan joins the NBR, TVNZ announces Guyon Espiner’s replacement for Q+A, fast Foxtrot means changes at Tango, Rochelle Weaver swaps bus shelters for banks, Martin Shanahan puts some new boots on at Tangible Media, The Pond continues to burst its banks, TradeMe trades up, mobile advertising network InMobi launches in New Zealand, the PR Shop adds to its Aussie arsenal, Tina McIntosh embraces the child within and Ben English takes over at Adobe.

News
Kordia’s piping hot DM campaign
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Kordia has delivered television and radio to our homes for the last 60 years, enjoying relative anonymity. But the switch to digital later this year leaves the state-owned telco competing with the likes of Gen-i, Telecom, and Telstra for slices of the telecommunications pie. So, Kordia and Silk Communications have come up with some novel ways to gain the attention of the people who count. Literally. The chief information officers (CIOs), by appealing to their inner geek.

News
Marketing minds pass the test, get call-up for Media Awards judging
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CAANZ has rung plenty of changes to the awards programme this year. And, for the first time, it asked industry big brains to apply or be nominated for their positions on the judging panel in an effort to add a bit of gravitas. And after 96 applications and 20 nominations were received, the CAANZ Media Awards Committee has announced 89 successful candidates for the preliminary round of judging.

News
Contagion’s Stories beat Stuff gets the young’uns clicking
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15-29 year olds make up 25 percent of New Zealand’s total visitors. And while they may not spend as much as the older folk, they stay here for a longer and are an important chunk of revenue for the industry. Due to a combination of new, exciting and probably cheaper destinations coming into fashion and a lack of activity directed at the youth market over the years, New Zealand has fallen off the radar slightly for this demographic, but Stories Beat Stuff, a digital campaign launched by Contagion last year that asks potential travellers to give something up in exchange for a trip to New Zealand, is helping to change that.

News
Janet Frame lights up Times Square
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The Phantom Billstickers Poems on Posters initiative has seen posters of Kiwi poetry pasted up all over the world; in London, Glasgow, Paris, Austria, Australia and the United States. It’s the brainchild of Jim Wilson, who started the project in 2009. His aim is to use posters to share the heart of the Kiwi poet with people outside of New Zealand, and to that effect, eight Kiwi poets are flying to New York next week for a live poetry performance at Saatchi & Saatchi on 28 February. To help spread the word about the event, Phantom have put Janet Frame’s poetry poster, The End, up in bright lights on a billboard in Times Square.

News
TBWA\ brings home a prize Bird
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Naked announced the appointment of Guy Cousins as its managing partner last week. And as he comes in the front door, highly regarded strategist and planner Simon Bird has snuck out the back for a role as the head of planning within Whybin\TBWA.

News
How now, brown cow? New Idealog spreads its knowing wings
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Life is tough. There are many undesirable situations in the world right now. The Greek economy, world hunger, Justin Bieber … Idealog doesn’t claim to have all the answers but its latest issue can help with some of the lesser details, like how to read your rival’s financial statements, shut down a dinner party bore, give a winning speech, get on the front page, self-publish and more.

News
Beer and leather
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Who’s it for: DB Export Dry by Colenso BBDO and The Sweet Shop

Why we like it: Everyone loves the ’80s. Or at least laughing at them. And this brilliantly-made piece of masculine nostalgia for DB Export Dry’s ‘say no to wine’ campaign is a gem …

News
Harry Pappafloratos: here’s to a life well lived
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I first met Harry in the late ’70s when he applied for a job at Survey Research (now called Research International). He was fresh out of university, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Despite his unpronounceable name, there was something about him that I liked and he was hired for his first job.

Movings & Shakings
Movings/Shakings: 21 February
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Guy Cousins swaps SparkPHD for Naked, Yahoo! promotes two of its own, Rachel Broadmore swaps five-star for financial services, Ian Finch presides over New Zealand’s patent attourneys, Margaret Zabel takes the reins at The Communications Council in Oz and Renee Bushby changes tack. 

News
Ads@6: 12 December – 25 December, 2011
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In the two weeks leading up to Christmas it’s no surprise most TVCs, including those from Harvey Norman, Briscoes, Telecom, Sky, Lotto, Farmers, Postie, Warehouse Stationery, and the Warehouse were Christmas themed. Cadbury came up with the most original one, building an enormous snow globe in the middle of Auckland, at the height of summer. Bunnings bravely went against the grain, not mentioning Xmas at all, instead showing just how much fun can be had with a few good chainsaws…

News
Massey goes Massive as legislation leads to changes for student media
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Heather Roy’s Education Freedom of Association amendment act brought an end to compulsory membership to student’s associations at a tertiary level. And while it would be easy to write off the effects of the legislation as minor, the loss of the small payment included with the usual student fees has led to some big changes to Massey’s student publications.

News
In pursuit of happiness: Zephyr and Guinness aim for the record books
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All around the world, things go a little bit green on St Patrick’s Day as token Irishfolk embrace the festivities and set about downing 13 million pints of Guinness. And, as part of a global effort to make March 17 officially the friendliest day of the year, Lion and Zephyr have put Guinness back on TV for the first time in 12 years with a campaign featuring very funny Irish comedian Jimeoin. 

News
MSN News boasts large growth after going it alone
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MSN’s recent investment in local news production and global news and video content is paying off big time, with latest Omniture figures showing a whopping 48 percent year-on-year upswing in unique browsers (UBs) visiting MSN’s news portal, up 250,000 to 771,000. In contrast, over the same period, UBs visiting rival Yahoo’s news offering dropped more than ten percent, from 1.7 million to 1.5 million. (Source: Nielsen MI).

Awards
Give PR some PR, win ticket to MLG event
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As part of its efforts to push the barrow of ideas-led PR and discuss its impact on business in the modern world, the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group is putting on the Re-imagining PR event in Auckland on 21 March and bringing the brains behind the Cannes 2011 PR Grand Prix winning NAB Break Up campaign and the PR Gold Lion winning Bundaberg Watermark campaign, as well as Lynne Anne Davis from Asia Pacific PR agency of the year, Fleishman Hillard Asia Pacific, to New Zealand. We know it’s easy to come up with examples of PR gone wrong, but if you post an example of good PR that has helped a business or person, you could get yourself a ticket to the event worth $290. 

News
Movie industry shakes up patrons
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It’s been a rough old time in the movie industry lately. The last few years have seen a general decline in ticket sales, partly from the competition of video-piracy and video-games, but also because some punters actually prefer watching the latest releases on DVD from the comforts of their own home. With advances in home entertainment rapidly evolving, cinema owners are having to up the ante, launching sophisticated technology not available in the average home. Synchronised motion effects built into cinema seats are the industry’s latest tactic to attract moviegoers—and they could offer some creative advertising opportunities as well. 

News
DB Export Dry goes back in time to snuff out wine
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The ’80s were a wonderous time. Big hair, big lunches, big phones. But back in 1987, wine was in and beer was out, so it was also a time of pain and suffering for many bemulleted, beer-loving Kiwi males. And the latest historical campaign celebrating DB Export Dry’s 25th anniversary aims to bring the brown stuff back into fashion by poking fun at wine. 

News
Mass exodus at NBR? UPDATED
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The bastion of business news, The National Business Review (NBR) is looking for fresh blood, as staff leave the building in droves in search of greener pastures.

News
Vodafone continues its dilly-dallying as pitch decision drags on
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“The review will be completed by mid-October 2011.” Those were the words used in a statement sent by Vodafone in late July last year after it decided to shift from its agency of four years Colenso and move the troops up the road to .99 during the RFP process. Now, almost seven months later, and after a pitch was held in December, no decision has been made. So what gives? 

News
BCG2 gets cosy with Canon
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After successfully completing initial projects through the year, BCG2 has been awarded the Canon New Zealand consumer business, which includes cameras, lenses, printers and printing consumables. It replaces Ballantyne Taylor, which maintains its role as Canon’s B2B agency. 

News
Taika Waititi’s big-name superbowl sing-along
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Kiwi director Taika Waititi is currently trying to drum up some cash in order to get Boy shown in the US. And, after being nominated for an Oscar, directing a couple of Flight of the Conchords episodes and starring in The Green Lantern, his star keeps rising, as evidenced by this big musical number he directed for NBC that showed before its superbowl coverage.