It’s nearly a year since the Canterbury region suffered one of the biggest earthquakes our country has seen. It’s time to reflect and remember those who lost their lives, homes, jobs and loved ones, even forgo a latte or two to show some support for the region. So what are you doing on 22 February? How about showing Christchurch you care?
Kono is already exporting its wares to 25 countries, but the Nelson-based Wakatū Incorporation’s food and beverage business arm is hoping to increase that number—and its exports to Asia—after being given a big brand spruce up by Wellington agency Mission Hall.
For one night only New Zealand’s best cheesemakers will showcase their award-winning fare at Monteith’s CheeseFest on Wednesday 29 February. Keen as mustard? We have three double passes to give away…
Consumers generally aren’t too enamoured with large corporate entities, even less so in this climate of occupation. And Telecom, with its monopolistic heritage and less than enviable recent track record, is looking for all the love it can get. So, in an effort to show that it isn’t just a faceless corporation and really does care about its customers, its direct agency Rapp Tribal came up with a creative way for the employees of one of the country’s biggest companies to show their thanks.
In the rush to satiate our appetite for smart phones, manufacturers are launching newer smarter mobiles every other day. Yesterday Nokia launched its new Lumia Windows phone. And Samsung’s getting in on the act for its soon-to-launch Galaxy Note with a clever marketing mix of pop culture and celebrity endorsement.
The latest magazine circulation and readership figures came out last week, replete with a few significant changes to the research methodology and mostly downward-trending numbers. But, as ex Saatchi & Saatchi big wig and current Assignment Group don Peter Cullinane discussed at the Nielsen Innovation Seminar this week, magazines still have a very good story to tell because they have higher levels of engagement than other mediums, something a few publishers are trying to tap into with recent changes to their products.
What GFC? The beans have been counted, the results are in, and it’s all good news for online. The IABNZ/PwC Insight report released today had the total online ad spend up nearly a quarter on the previous year. Display advertising has overtaken classifieds for the first time, up $1.27m (4.80 percent) on its previous quarter, making it the biggest quarter for display since PwC started measuring, back in 2007. The total online advertising spend in New Zealand for 2011 was $328.11 million, up 24.16 percent from 2010.
Barfoot & Thompson, New Zealand’s largest privately owned real estate company, has appointed Big Communications as its advertising and direct marketing agency, taking over from Voice.
Poor old Dick. A big load of stores appear to be on the chopping block here and in Australia. And, as this photo by Ana Samways shows, its Valentine’s Day promotion may have gone a bit hard on the innuendo. It’s almost as good as its ‘floating phone’ promotion.
Judging by the amount of recruitment news this week, it appears plenty of folk began the year looking for greener pastures. Thick As Thieves has stolen Colenso BBDO’s art director Jae Morrison, marketing maven Simone Iles finds a new Post, Wellington Tourism gets some absolutely positive additions to the team, Paul Gardiner crosses the line wearing lycra, Gareth Davies joins RedYeti Films, Fee-fi-fo-fum finds the Ideas Shop, Market Pulse reaches for ignition, Hitchcock directs Flying Fish (no birds in sight), APN Outdoor’s Friends in High Places line-up gets a shakeup, The Sweet Shop moves even further into Asia, Prodigy signs Bradstreet boy, and Blair Haeata joins Ngage.
Larrie Moore, the founding marketing director for 2degrees, has quit the mobile operator.
A radio stunt giving away an all-expenses paid divorce on Valentine’s Day on The Rock FM has backfired in spectacular fashion on the shock jocks behind it. Notorious pranksters Robert Taylor and Jono Pryor, ran the ‘win a divorce’ competition on Valentines Day, despite a raft of negative media attention both here and overseas. A listener could win the divorce on condition they broke up with their unsuspecting spouse live on air. But it was a lesbian couple who had the last laugh, sabotaging the competition and turning on the presenters, leaving them speechless for the first time.
As sponsors of the Wellington International Sevens, Nikon set out to build brand awareness amongst the thousands of fans that turn out for New Zealand’s biggest annual party. With a bit of help from BRR Ltd, it created an integrated campaign that stood out in the stadium and saw its fan base rocket up a whopping 850 percent.
Given the commercial slant of Valentine’s Day, and the willingness consumers have to shell out for objects for the objects of affection, there’s never any shortage of interesting creative ideas clamouring for attention at this time of the year. Some of them are pretty good, most of them aren’t. But here are a couple of local examples that caught our attention.
MediaWorks TV is recruiting for a director of sales to replace Linda Farrelly, who has resigned and is taking complete time out for six months. She will rejoin the company in a consultancy capacity later in the year.
The Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) has opened its annual awards competition by announcing a newly named award after long-standing chief executive Paul Dryden, who passed away in March 2011.
Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland released a cheeky Valentine’s Day stunt for Tui today that allowed blokes to create DIY roses from an ad in the New Zealand Herald, and, at the exact opposite end of the Valentine’s Day advertising spectrum, the Wellington office has launched a subversive campaign for Women’s Refuge that hopes to get people thinking about what love means for some women, bring domestic abuse into the open and encourage New Zealanders to take a second glance if they suspect something isn’t right in a relationship.
Could Wilson the Lotto dog get any luckier? Lotto is launching another installment of its award-winning Lotto campaign–and in it the popular canine hero Wilson finds a girlfriend. Lotto is also getting into the spirit of Valentine’s Day, and sharing the love… name the lucky bitch, and you could win prizes.
Tui-drinkers are widely renowned as hopeless romantics. But some of them obviously need a bit of help to grease the wheels of love. So Tui and Saatchi & Saatchi have come to their aid by finding another use for the newspaper and creating a gift to help impress the missus (or the mister). Much like the alternative strip for Tuatara by Y&R Wellington last year, a bunch of foldable DIY roses is included in every edition of today’s New Zealand Herald, which means these sensitive new age guys “can keep [their] dosh for a dozen of another kind.”
Last year, Special Group launched a campaign for America’s Next Top Model that featured a naked lady pulling the old hand-over-the-side-boob-on-the-back-of-the-ute trick. It also launched a campaign for Top Chef Just Desserts featuring the words Backstabbing Slut on a cake. Both campaigns were complained about to the ASA, and the complaint about the offensive cake was upheld. And it’s taken a similarly attention-grabbing approach with new poster campaigns for Four’s America’s Next Top Model All Stars and Family Guy.
Nothing says I love you like a massive sign outside a mall. And, to tap into the romantic spirit of the day, Westfield has once again let New Zealanders publicly declare their affection on 12 billboards around the country as part of its second Truly, Madly, Hugely campaign.
As 2degrees closes in on its millionth customer, Whybin\TBWA launches its latest 60 second brand TVC for them, The Mission Continues, with the inimitable Rhys Darby.
New Zealanders, with our unusual combination of immense pride and nagging self-doubt, like to be liked (“How are you enjoying your trip? Are you enjoying your trip? You’re enjoying your trip, aren’t you?”). But, just as Aucklanders have certain preconceptions of, say, Invercargill, many Australians couldn’t think of anything worse than visiting their Tasman neighbours. So, as part of a campaign launching today in Australia, Air New Zealand and its Aussie agency Host Sydney attempted to show a bunch of ‘Kiwi Sceptics’ what they were missing out on by tricking them into a trip to the other lucky country.
Nothing endures but change, and the latest newspaper and magazine stats from Nielsen and the Audit Bureau of Circulation are no exception, as the ABC changes both its methodology, and its frequency of audits. The ABC will now be sending out quarterly rolling averages, instead of the six months end-on-end averages it has been doing. The key benefits for marketers and agencies will be receiving more regular data, and the methodology of releasing rolling annual totals is aligned with readership.
The conversation economy just keeps getting bigger—and, as the regular social media fails show, scarier. So to help marketers benefit from it rather than get slapped by it, the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group (MLG) is following up the sell-out New Rules of Brand Engagement event last year with Re-Imagining PR: How ideas-led PR can help business, a forum featuring the brains behind the Cannes 2011 PR Grand Prix winner National Australia Bank’s Break Up campaign, PR Gold Lion winner Bundaberg’s Watermark, as well as Lynne Anne Davis from Asia Pacific PR agency of the year, Fleishman Hillard Asia Pacific.
After the success of Pepsi’s MaxIt Jobs campaign last year, there were high hopes for Colenso’s follow-up, Bromitment. But, by the power of Facebook, the vocal minority have got their way and convinced Frucor/Frucor’s PR agency to bow to online pressure and withdraw a prize offering a trip to the running of the bulls in Spain from the campaign.
Now, no matter where you are in the world, you’re never far from a poem reminding you of home. It’s all thanks to a project started in 2009 by Phantom’s Jim Wilson. So… what’s the reason for all this rhyme?
Nielsen has now implemented its new Unitam model, which takes into account both overnight viewing and time-shifted viewing and also features an expanded panel, so it marks a new step in the way TV ratings are gathered in New Zealand. Added to that, the two major broadcasters are both back into full swing and many of the big new and returning shows that were trumpeted at the vastly different new season launches last year are now on the box. So how is New Zealand watching? And how are the new season ratings stacking up?
The scene: a trendy bar and eatery in Freemans Bay, Auckland. Booked exclusively last evening for a business function, three stalwarts of the popular press, including Ms F O’Sullivan and Mr P Holmes, tarried at an outdoor table after a late lunch. When politely reminded their time was up, the visitor from Hawke’s Bay replied: “Don’t you know who I am?” Sadly, the young and demure organiser had to admit that she had no idea, just that she had booked the place exclusively. Perhaps the question should have been: “Don’t you know who I was?” The defenders of the fourth estate stayed ostentatiously put after the bar manager quailed in the face of the ferocious and fulsome trio, fearing a D rated review.