Monthly Archives: August, 2012

News
Air New Zealand does the math
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Studies have shown and experts agree Friday is the best day to show infographics. And Air New Zealand has come to the party with a selection of stats to celebrate 30 years of flying to LA and London.

Opinion
APN NZ’s Todd McLeay on facing up to challenges and changing for the better
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There is no question the media landscape is changing and the pace of technological advancements means that change is happening more rapidly than ever. This is changing the way people live their lives and the way that they consume media. At APN we spend a lot of time listening to consumers and understanding the affect these changes have on their relationships with our news and entertainment brands. There is no denying that more and more people are reading, watching and listening to our content across print, digital and mobile platforms. But rather than seeing that as a negative trend, we believe this is a strong signal for a positive future.

News
TBWA\ stamps its fantastical mark on New Zealand with 100% Middle-earth
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The 100% Pure New Zealand campaign is now in its 13th year, is held up as a master-class in tourism marketing and has helped turn New Zealand into one of the strongest country brands in the world. And Tourism New Zealand is aiming to replicate the international influx of visitors following The Lord of the Rings trilogy with the release of a new global campaign by the Sydney and Auckland offices of Whybin\TBWA and Curious Film that “invokes the magic of Middle-earth”.

News
Perennial performers Colenso and DraftFCB on top of Effie finalist table, BC&F and DDB hot on their heels
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As the bean counters might say, if advertising doesn’t improve the bottom line, it’s really just art. And expensive art at that. And the agencies that improved their clients’ businesses the most this year have been announced, with perennial Effie performers Colenso BBDO and DraftFCB on top with 22 and 16 finalists respectively, followed by the bolter Barnes, Catmur & Friends on ten and DDB on nine.

News
The future of newspapers, hear all about it
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The newspaper industry is certainly not without its naysayers, but in spite of dwindling numbers and organisational shake ups, it’s also full of people that will gladly proclaim the ongoing vitality of the medium. In fact you can expect newspapers to emerge stronger from their current circulation woes and enter 2020 as a leaner, more valued and trusted medium than at any time in the past 50 years, according to Peter Thomson, founder and former chief executive of M2M International. And you can find out for yourself why he’s so sure when he arrives to our shores in September as a keynote speaker at the revamped News Works NZ Advertising Awards.

News
AIM Proximity quashes the fun with Toyota campaign
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Toyota has been busy this year. It’s launched a host of cars, including the Prius, Prius c, Prius V, Camry, Aurion, Lexus GS, Lexus RX and new Corolla Wagon. And the 86 has also taken to the streets, but not before receiving some attention from the Fun Police, a campaign developed by AIM Proximity Wellington to launch its sportscar.

News
Idealog chalks one up to experience
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It’s estimated that tablet use will triple in New Zealand in the next six months, which bodes well for publishers hoping to find a way to distribute their content electronically without giving it away for free. But while apps and jabscreens are all well and good, you still can’t beat the feeling of wood pulp in your hands, especially if it features a quality cover like Idealog’s design issue.

News
Telecom enlists more young’uns, this time for its ultra fast broadband push
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Telecom’s Tommy and Boris campaign has been going great guns but while the masses are busy fawning over Tommy and his cute turtle, elsewhere Telecom is busy rallying up young’uns in school to spread the word on the potential of ultra fast broadband (UFB). Its Amazing Ideas Search (AIS) was launched last month, inviting pupils across the country to consider what UFB will make possible in the future and what that future may look like.

News
Give free stuff and they will come: Countdown seeks to lure shoppers with glassy offering
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While New World is busy trying to win shoppers’ hearts with nostalgia, and Pak ‘n Save with stickmen, Countdown is once again tugging at the most powerful of consumer heartstrings, free stuff. Off the back of its popular knives promotion, which saw more than 700,000 free Thomas Knives snapped up by customers, the supermarket has launched its Royal Worcester glasses promotion, and it’s confident this one will be just as successful as its predecessor.

News
TVCs of the Week: 21 August
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‘Tis a tussle of the telcos this week, with Vodafone’s ‘Do Your Thing Better’ and the return of Tommy and Boris for Telecom scooping the prize.

News
Carefree ad discharged without conviction by the ASA
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Stories about ASA complaints that weren’t upheld are generally the marcomms equivalent of ‘there was no accident on the bridge today’. But in the case of an advertisement for Carefree Acti-Fresh Panty Liners, otherwise known as vagina discharge-gate, we’ll make an exception, because none of the 18 complaints received will get to have their day in court.

Opinion
Dead wrong: Sandra King on why New Zealand’s print market is alive and well
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Over the past few months, discussions around the future of the media have come to a head, thanks in part to a couple of big announcements from the other side of the Tasman and a big one here in New Zealand too. This has brought about loads of discussion within the New Zealand industry about the role of media in society and changing trends in how consumers select and consume news. Worryingly, lots of commentators have been all too willing to eulogise New Zealand’s robust newspaper market. So I’m putting my hand up to remind you all that newspapers and magazines are alive and well in New Zealand.

News
Telecom puts Tommy and Boris to work
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We had a chat with Telecom’s chief marketing officer Jason Paris yesterday for a profile that will feature in the next edition of NZ Marketing magazine and he said one of the best things about the new Tommy and Boris work is the fact that everyone thinks it’s a brand campaign. That’s understandable, given the set-up ad is the only one that has been released so far. But it’s actually a retail platform that’s being used to promote different aspects of the Telecom business. And the first examples of that strategy were launched last night, with one spot focusing on ‘New Zealand’s best pre-paid pack’ and another classy number showing some of the lesser known benefits of broadband.

News
Sush Mobile feels fear, creates Speak Like a Pro app anyway
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When it comes to inspiring fear, public speaking is up there with spiders, heights and getting stuck in the lift with John Banks. But a Kiwi app development company called Sush Mobile hopes it can reduce the number of sweaty palms, dull thuds in the chest and embarrassing stutters with a new iPhone app called Speak Like a Pro. And it’s already proving popular, with the app reaching No. 1 in the iTunes entertainment app charts and, within 48 hours of its launch, No. 9 in the iTunes business app charts.

Movings & Shakings
Movings/Shakings: 21 August
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Spark PHD welcomes back an old friend, CAANZ announces its international Effie judge, Healthy Life Media’s allergic reaction, Adshool students have something to crow about, The PR Shop goes corporate, TEDx announces its speaker line-up and Adobe appoints a new communicator.

News
The Rock turns the other cheek
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The Rock is certainly no stranger to controversy. The radio station is aimed squarely at men, and, more specifically, 18-35 year old male bogans, so on-air hijinks like win a divorce and un-PC promotions like win a wife (after some mild outrage the comp name was changed to ‘WIN A TRIP TO BEAUTIFUL UKRAINE FOR 12 NIGHTS AND MEET EASTERN EUROPEAN HOT LADY WHO MAYBE ONE DAY YOU MARRY’) are often the order of the day. Such activities don’t always go down to well with, for example, those who listen to The Breeze or Concert FM. But rather than shy away from these complaints, the station has embraced it as part of a new campaign.

News
Herald shows off its big H, as talk of paywall gets louder
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As the numerous press releases attest, the launch of the “smaller, but smarter and deeper” weekday New Zealand Herald is seen as a pretty important step for APN NZ. And along with the new format, readers can expect to see a new masthead on 10 September—and, in the future, a bill for the content they consume online.

News
Vodafone and DraftFCB focus on the doing, ramp up Kiwi factor with Boy star
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Last week we welcomed Telecom’s new mascots Tommy and Boris, which took the telco steaming back into its heartland territory of New Zealandness and connectivity. Vodafone has long played the exotic foreigner role and, for obvious reasons, hasn’t really played—or needed to play—the patriotic card. But that’s all changed now, because it’s gone the whole Kiwi hog for its big new brand campaign, which features the tagline ‘Do Your Thing Better’ and celebrates the fact that New Zealand is a nation of doers.

News
What’s small, hairy and airborne?
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There’s danger in being good at something: you create expectations. Air New Zealand has created some pretty high expectations for its inflight safety videos after releasing a few stunners and most seemed to think they weren’t met with the last animated effort. But it’s trying again and, in line with Tourism New Zealand’s new 100% Pure Middle Earth slogan, it’s a tribute to The Hobbit movies.

News
Show us your covers
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In 2011, Good’s cover featuring a handmade pohutukawa wreath was crowned winner of the second edition of The Maggies. And it went on to win the supreme magazine title at this year’s magazine awards. Coincidence? We think not. So get your nominations in for this year’s edition of The Maggies, a national poll to recognise and celebrate the best New Zealand magazine covers of the past year.

News
M&C Saatchi puts another coat of paint on NZ Police recruitment campaign
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M&C Saatchi caused a bit of a stir last year when it used stencil art in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland to tell some extraordinary police stories. That work, created by Otis Frizzell, received some international media attention (and, in Auckland, some attention from taggers). And the latest phase of the campaign builds on that idea, with TVC, radio, online, and ambient/out of home activity that aims to challenge prevailing perceptions of what it takes to become a cop.

News
Magnificent seven plug in for BOTAB
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The whisk(e)y is being gargled, the leather vests are being shined and powerstances are being perfected. Which can mean only one thing: preparations are underway for The Battle of the Ad Bands. Seven agency bands have put up their hands to rock your world this year. So here are the contenders gunning for rock godhood, along with the classic movie songs they’ve been given to perform.

News
Puns unavoidable as Avigra extends reach with TV thrust
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The profitability of Big Pharma’s brands can collapse suddenly when patents expire and generic ‘knock offs’ flood the market. When this happens, the accepted norm is for up to 90 percent of an originator brand’s volume and share to be lost almost overnight and it’s an issue the industry hasn’t yet been able to resolve, so, typically, blockbuster compounds and their brands are simply written off or retired. But the local Pfizer branch wasn’t going to take the early patent expiry of Viagra in New Zealand lying down, so to speak, so it took the very unusual step of launching its own generic brand called Avigra and trying to migrate consumers to the cheaper, Pfizer-made alternative. And now, after a pun-laden press campaign and a bit of TV masthead activity, it’s stiffened its resolve by creating a new TVC.

News
Ogilvy duo trump July ORCA with a P-cooking, weed-growing and car-stealing
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If the last two rounds of the ORCAs are anything to go by, making the move from one agency to another bodes well for an ORCA win. Last month Clemenger BBDO’s Jon Pickersgill and Sarah Jackson picked up an ORCA just before they headed across the ditch to Sapient Nitro in Brisbane, and the July round has been won by Matt Williams and Freddie Coltart for a campaign they created just before they left Ogilvy for Draft FCB.

News
Competitive sleeping! BLR! Team GB! Kenneth! Last words! Thriller! Gymnastics! Rio! Geeks! Helmets! Weirdness! Lego! Linkage!
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Comedy Central’s sleepy gem, Mitt gets the bad lip reading treatment, Adidas flies the GB flag post Olympics, Mini gets musical, everyone loves sentient vending machines, famous last words, a thriller like you’ve never seen, gymnastic cross-dressing entertainment, a trip back into the mists of time with Apple, the invisible bike helmet, Tim & Eric, the animated story of Lego, a very accurate brand glossary, how not to advertise your product, and Ariel gets some work done.

News
Saatchi & Saatchi, ASB and Spotify team up to form musical medley of Olympic moodiness
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With a customer base of over four million paying subscribers and over 15 million active users, it’s fair to say Spotify’s rise has been nothing short of gigantic. And, as it seeks new ways of monetising its service, it has set it sights on big brands that are equally keen to tap into the service to create unique marketing opportunities. The likes of McDonald’s and Reebok are already on board with their recommended playlists, and it’s even making tracks in political circles, with the creation of the official 2012 Obama campaign playlist. It recently gained some traction locally, too, with ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi teaming up to create what it says is a “New Zealand media-first” branded Facebook app that integrated with the Spotify platform and industry commentators to create an ‘Olympic Moods’ soundtrack to the Olympics.

News
ASA scotches Hauraki’s hangover ad
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From ‘it’s not the drinking, it’s how we’re drinking’ to the ‘ghost chips’ legends, our collective love for the bottle has been referenced in advertising far too many times to count. Now a billboard for Radio Hauraki’s ‘Drive’ show that normalises drinking has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority, but the same ad placed in the New Zealand Herald was deemed acceptable.

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