Sky TV and TVNZ’s joint venture, Igloo, has gotten the go-ahead from the Commerce Commission, and looks set to launch next month as planned. But a separate investigation is now underway into Sky’s content contracts with ISPs.
Doggelganger, last year’s Pedigree Adoption Drive campaign by Colenso BBDO, used facial recognition technology to match humans with dogs and ended up winning all kinds of awards. And there’s a technological bent to this year’s campaign, too, with production company Finch developing a system that allows two entirely different films to be screened simultaneously on the same cinema screen with the use of specially designed glasses.
The Block is one of the biggest reality TV shows in the world. In Australia, where the show began, it remains the highest-rated television series of all time, and over 350 episodes have been produced in the UK, USA, Israel, Russia, Romania, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Given New Zealand’s penchant for property, it’s perhaps surprising it’s taken this long to arrive here, but it’s landing soon and MediaWorks is claiming a first for a major New Zealand television series by allowing foundation partners whose brands are integrated into the show the ability to use the stars in commercial campaigns outside the broadcast of the programme.
The debate between those in favour of pre-testing ads and the creative departments who generally oppose it is an ongoing one. But Colmar Brunton has some new ammunition in its fight and is about to launch a new development to its Link pre-testing product that uses facial mapping technology to find out how consumers respond to ads.
Ogilvy’s Adam Barnes and Hywel James have taken out the March/April round of the new ORCA year after judges Karl Fleet (Campaign Palace), Lachlan McPherson (Publicis Mojo), Harriet Crampton (The Radio Network) and Chris Schofield (DDB) chose their KFC ads ‘Poor Old $5’ and ‘Ginga Note’ as the best of the bunch.
Who’s it for: New World by Colenso BBDO/.99 and Finch
Why we like it: A long overdue brand refresh for New World, which has been battered by the big-spending Countdown in recent years. All three ads from the new campaign are bang on in terms of …
When we interviewed Andy Fackrell, DDB’s new executive creative director, in the latest edition of NZ Marketing, he said we could probably expect fewer gags and more visual storytelling to come out of the agency in the next few months. And its impressive campaign to promote the Olympic coverage on Sky, a brand that’s well-renowned for taking a humorous approach to its marketing efforts, ticks both of those boxes.
Y&R NZ has been appointed as the creative agency for Quickflix Australia and New Zealand and will start immediately on developing separate campaigns for both markets. And Quickflix is certainly going to need some help in this market, as it seems to have largely gone under the radar since launching with a call to the government to regulate content rights because they hinder broadband uptake.
After a pitch involving a rumoured list of TBWA\ and the incumbent McCann, it’s thought DDB has managed to get a foot in the door with Coca-Cola after winning the Lift Plus account.
With the seemingly imminent move to a tabloid format on weekdays for The New Zealand Herald, the recent appointment of Deutsche Bank to undertake a strategic review of its media assets in New Zealand (and presumably ready some of them for sale) and the decision to upgrade its stake in GrabOne to 100 percent and buy out Shane Bradley, there are some big things happening at APN at the moment. And while times are pretty tough in the newspaper business, there’s plenty of courage being shown under fire and The New Zealand Herald has been rewarded for its efforts by scoring a hat-trick of wins at the 2012 International Newsmedia Marketing Association.
The biggest name in New Zealand rugby signs up with the biggest name in New Zealand milk, Wellington PR agency Ideas Shop gets into politics, Shine welcomes an experienced campaigner to the roster, The New Zealand Herald names its travel editor, Portfolio adds a digital recruitment specialist, fledgling magazine Homestyle fills a new position, Newstalk ZB is nominated for a prestigious international radio award, and super yacht guru Neville Crichton is honoured by his peers.
Per capita, more Subarus are sold in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world. And it’s not entirely surprising, as one in every three kilometres of New Zealand road is unsealed and there’s no telling when you’ll need to haul some golf clubs/diving gear/surfboards/groceries/kai moana/compost/children/dogs/drugs harvests in the back of your steed. So, to showcase the fleet-footed Legacy in its natural habitat, Barnes, Catmur & Friends has given a nod to the taxonomists of yore—and to the Department of Conservation—with its ‘Great Wagons of New Zealand’ spot.
The One Club’s Creative Week in New York has come to an end, and the world’s best creative advertising ideas have been acknowledged. But it was fairly slim pickings for the Kiwi contenders, with Colenso BBDO winning a rare Gold Pencil for the Levi’s ‘Rear View Girls’ web film at One Show Interactive and Publicis Mojo taking a Silver Pencil for the Greenpeace ‘Oil on Canvas’ campaign in the integrated branding – public service campaign category at The One Show.
Beer porn and students emerged as the big winners at the annual PRINZ awards over the weekend, with the Student Volunteer Army and the WilliamsWarn personal brewer—the best beer porn you’ll see all day—taking joint supreme honours.
Next magazine has recently embarked on a mission to reinvigorate itself after a period of significant circulation decline, and as well as a thorough redesign, a new masthead to give it a more sophisticated feel and a new size, it’s also targeting a younger audience, taking a few more risks and flouting a few well-established commercial publishing rules. And its just launched June issue is maintaining that trend by breaking with more than two decades of tradition and featuring a man—MasterChef judge Josh Emett—on the cover.
Countdown has been going hammer and tong on the marketing front recently. But New World has come steaming back into view. And its new brand campaign is about as far as you can get from animated shopping baskets and fruit and vegetable musicals.
The Shopping Channel announced its arrival last week, and dropped a few hints about the industry bigwig that would be running the ship. Seven days later and it has been confirmed that Alistair Duff, currently TVNZ’s general manager of media sales, will be the network’s chief executive.
It’s 2009 and we’re in the depths of recession. Damn those bankers! But one company is booming. Les Mills International is quietly taking over the fitness world with its new suite of products under the Bodyvive brand. The new, baby-boomer fitness regime is sold to gyms around the world and includes music, routines, training, equipment and a marketing pack and hits $1.2 million in sales in just one year. But wait, is this a marketing story? Where are the ads?
You’ve only got one week left to tell your marketing story and get your entry in for the 2012 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. Entries close 5pm Friday 18 May 2012 and hopefully you’ve noticed that there are eight new categories to enter. Time waits for no man, of course, but if you’re unable to submit your entry on time for whatever reason (laziness, inebriation, unreliable minions etc), all is not lost. You can extend the deadline by a week by applying for an extension here and forking over $50.
May not be a picture of painting spiderbots
Robots, social media, spray cans and three of the world’s leading design creatives are coming together in Auckland this month at design conference Semi-Permanent as part of Orcon’s Spider Art, which is believed to be the world’s first art painted by Twitter-controlled ‘spiderbots’.
Colenso was named as TVNZ’s ‘agency of choice’ in October 2009, when the Brent Smart/Jason Paris agency-client combo was in effect. But, judging by some of the national broadcaster’s recent projects, that doesn’t appear to be the case any more.
Public broadcasting is getting a pretty rough ride at the moment. Radio New Zealand has had its funding frozen for five years, TVNZ6 has been axed and TVNZ7 is on the chopping block, while The GC, New Zealand’s Got Talent and possibly even Sally and Jaime Ridge get the government’s cash. But there is a group doing its best to ensure there remains an appropriate balance between commercial and public broadcasting in New Zealand and Save 7 is hoping to enlist some creative assistance from those in the marcomms community who believe in the cause and can help spread the message about the need for a government U-turn.
Professional designers may groan at the news that logo design has once again been commoditised, but Auckland branding design agency Rare is claiming a New Zealand-first by launching a digital marketplace called logoorchard.com where businesses can browse for and buy ready-to-use, exclusive, locally-created logos—and the associated generic business names.
The cover story in the latest NZ Marketing discusses ANZ Group’s mission to win the hearts and minds of New Zealanders and mitigate the effects of inevitably sending the well-liked National Bank brand to the glue factory. It’s one mother of a marketing challenge. And the financial vultures are circling. But ANZ, a brand that’s long been at or near the bottom on the customer service/satisfaction league tables when compared to its competitors, is doing everything in its power to better connect with Kiwis by spending up large on above the line advertising, dropping rates, supporting communities, raising funds and snapping up a host of high-profile sponsorships. And it’s added another big one to the list by announcing a three-year deal with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
Smartphone penetration is now thought to be around 30 percent in New Zealand, and that number is increasing rapidly. So Countdown has jumped on the mobile bandwagon and upped the ante in terms of customer experience by launching what it’s calling a New Zealand-first iPhone app that features a digital shopping list and barcode scanning technology, as well as the ability to check prices, find recipe ingredients, collect loyalty points and shop online.
The power of TV advertising, as shown through the story of a dog and his friend.
The power of an energy drink, as shown through cat-toast.
Aussie vodka makes fun of Poles—and parkour (here’s another one).
Lynx’s ‘invisible ad …
MediaWorks and Special Group put a bit of effort into promoting the Sunday showing of The Simpsons’ 500th episode. And it worked, with nearly a quarter of a million viewers aged 5+ tuning in to the show, the most viewers since the channel was launched in February last year.
First Mercury and TBWA\ talked the Good Energy talk in February with the launch of a big TVC featuring Tiki Taane and his version of ‘Over the Rainbow’. And it’s backed that feelgood brand sentiment up in meat space as well, with all proceeds from downloads of the song going to Starship Foundation and a ‘good samaritan’ social experiment on the side of the road that showed how helpful Kiwis are. Now it’s taking the karma bank concept to the city streets with the Good Energy Taxi, where rides are paid for by good deeds rather than cash.
You might recall the sound of your first PC; the distinct hum of the hard drive powering up and whirring away as you perused Encarta or had the smiley-faced paperclip teach you to use Clip Art. Or at least that’s what they told you made all that noise. But was there really a little motor inside the big grey box? No, it was a very clever little mouse, because in 1996 homegrown computer manufacturer PC Direct pitched itself as the small but powerful Kiwi PC company who took on the big multinationals, becoming an iconic Kiwi brand of the tech era and winning the 1997 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Award for Consumer Products – Durable.
Vero’s 1300kg Black Angus bull burst onto the scene in 2003 when Big launched the brand in New Zealand with the memorable TVC ‘Bull in a China Shop’. Fast forward about nine years and the Hawke’s Bay-based Sensation is still going strong and is one of the most enduring and well-liked mascots in the country, as evidenced by the fact an ad featured in Kia Ora magazine has taken out the April round of The Glossies with 24 percent of the vote, beating Landrover’s double-page spread in NZ Rugby World’s 1st XV with 19 percent and Team Architect’s ad by Glow Consulting in Home magazine with 12 percent.