Media is a competitive business, with everyone fighting hard for their slice of the pie. But it’s also collegial, with everyone cognisant of the struggles involved in getting those slices. And the two worlds combined this week when Tangible Media’s NZ Fishing World took on Fairfax’s Fishing News in the second annual fishing competition.
In the quickly evolving digital sphere, it’s pretty tough to keep up. And while Yahoo! New Zealand has been tweaking its homepage regularly over the years in order to do just that, it hasn’t made any major changes since 2008. But now, after a year-long project, it’s launched its new, simplified, longer and de-cluttered version.
Saatchi & Saatchi snaffles a digi-boffin, a word from our X Factor sponsors, the Media Design School kids are alright, Adshel brings in a chief organiser, DB stalwart steps down, Gopher adds one to the burrow and Murray Lindsay swaps stations.
As Interbrand’s Tom Warden recently wrote, whether you go for a descriptive or associative brand name, choosing a name for your business is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. And The Namery, which claims to be Auckland’s first specialist naming consultancy, wants to help you with the process.
In the vacuum cleaner industry, the consumer perception is that a defining characteristic of a quality hoover is its low hum. This and other interesting tidbits related to audio branding were overheard during breakfast by Dennis Kibirev at the final presentation for the year organised by marketing research firm Ipsos.
Entertainment has long been part of advertising, as evidenced by the (paraphrased) old Saatchi & Saatchi mantra of ‘if it’s interrupting you in your living room, it better be good’. But that idea has evolved over the years, to the point where Cannes added a branded content category into the schedule this year and Mumbrella recently held its inaugural Australasian Branded Entertainment Awards. And Special Group managed to take home a silver for The Gravity Coffee Run in best integration of brand story-telling (non-fictional) and a gold for The Smirnoff Night Project in transmedia. Air New Zealand’s Kiwi Sceptics campaign by Host Sydney took two bronzes in the same two categories.
At this time of year, many university students are looking forward to heading back to the family ranch, regularly opening the fridge to marvel at all the food inside and, possibly, attempting to dry out after a torrid year of mind expansion/erosion. They—and their secondary school friends who are about to embark on the next phase of education—probably aren’t thinking too much about banking. But ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi are dangling a few carrots with a new 50’s-inspired online video campaign to promote its tertiary accounts.
One fairly accurate definition of a brand is the sum of all conversations it has with its customers, from the advertising to the call centre and everything in between. And Chemistry, a new agency launched by Joseph Silk from Silk Communications, Andrew Mitchell from Magnet Customer Attraction and Mike Larmer, formerly head of marketing at Mercury Energy and before that managing director of Whybin\TBWA’s direct and digital arm Tequila, thinks there’s a gap in the landscape for an agency that understands the confluence of creativity and technology and can help clients take customer experience marketing to the next level.
As consumers continue to find ways to avoid commercial messages, TV networks, brands and agencies are increasingly trying to make them unmissable by putting them inside some of their most popular programmes rather than inbetween, with the likes of MasterChef, The Block or the raft of talent shows all aiming to take things much further than a traditional sponsorship. And, as TVNZ’s head of sales Jeremy O’Brien announced at the network’s new season launch last week, TVNZ is trying to become more pro-active about cementing these relationships with brands with the creation of a new branded content initiative set to launch in 2014.
Father Time gets with the programme, John Lewis and the Kiwi connection, AA Insurance keeps on sorting, Dulux channels Muto, Mountain Dew goes 3D, and Freeview shares some love.
As news of APN NZ’s decision to sell off a few of its regional assets surfaced yesterday, news also surfaced about changes at News Works New Zealand, the umbrella organisation responsible for profiling the industry’s print and digital brands, which has restructured to “better serve the changing needs of the newspaper industry as it gears up for 2013” and create a more commercial focus to better promote its 30 national and regional news brands across the country.
AA Insurance and Special Group took the opportunity to remind the nation about the positive aspects of insurance with the launch of its big 90 second brand ad a few weeks back. And now it’s following that up with a series of 30 and 15 second product ads—once again nicely crafted by Special Problems—and an attention-grabbing outdoor campaign that aims to communicate the new ‘Let’s get things sorted’ positioning and showcase the various facets of the business, from tailored car insurance to personal case managers.
When David Walden left the relative safety of the multinationals to set up the Auckland office of Whybin\TBWA back in 1997, there were more than a few doubters predicting its swift demise or claiming it would simply be a postbox for the international network. Those doubters were wrong, of course, and the agency has become firmly ensconced in the upper echelons. But he’s not going to be around forever, and Walden, one of the most enigmatic characters in the ad industry, is making preparations to hand over the reins. PLUS: Vincent Heeringa’s NZ Marketing profile republished.
Anyone got Warren Buffett’s number? APN New Zealand Media has announced it has made a strategic decision to put three regional publishing businesses—The Star in Canterbury, the Oamaru Mail and the Capital Community Newspaper group in Wellington—on the market.
There’s gold in them thar mobile hills. And a rare few developers have been able to mine it, with The Angry Birds brand estimated to be worth over $1 billion, and OMGPOP, the makers of the hugely popular Draw Something app, bought by Zynga earlier this year for US$185 million (it’s a fickle world, however, and, as is often the case, both Zynga and OMGPOP have failed to rediscover the magic recently). And now, inspired by the gameplay of Draw Something, Kiwi entrepreneurs Tristan Holman, who runs a consultancy called Flashgun in the UK, and Brett Hancock, who heads up Born Digital, are hoping they might follow in their footsteps with their own game called Act a Word.
As head of marketing for ANZ, Mike Cunnington is donkey deep in one of the biggest ever changes to New Zealand’s financial landscape. And the campaign to fuse the brands is now in its final stages. We had a chat with him for the November/December edition of NZ Marketing. And here’s what he said.
TBWA\ has been cranking out the work for ANZ since ‘The Announcement’ of the new—and, if you believe the ads, improved—bank. And, with plenty at stake, it’s no surprise that no expense has been spared and the doctor has been well and truly gone for. And now it has moved into the final phase of the campaign to show what products and services it can now offer its customers.
The air was thick with the smell of creativity at the Hopetoun Alpha on 8 November for Adshel’s Creative Challenge (turns out creativity smells a little bit like a combination of cigarette smoke, ironic t-shirts, Sal’s Pizza and desperation), and after 60 minutes of furious jotting and pressurised thinking to come up with a campaign that would raise awareness—and funds—for Surf Life Saving New Zealand next winter, it was Colenso BBDO’s team that took the top prize.
There is little value in reminding agency folk that magazines are well targeted and engaging, says MPA’s commercial director Katrina Horton, as a recent survey shows everyone’s pretty much in agreement there. But there is value in talking about why magazines are well targeted, how readers are engaged and what this means for advertisers.
New Zealand’s largest national newspaper, The Sunday Star Times, has had a pretty rough time of it recently, with some fairly concerning readership and circulation results. But an editorial rejig is in process to, as Fairfax chief executive Allen Williams says, improve the newspaper and make it more appealing and authoritative, and it’s also launched a new campaign with its new agency .99 that aims to draw attention to the great content it provides.
Colenso BBDO has earned a reputation for its cause-related communications, from its multi-award winning Doggelganger campaign for Pedigree to the brilliant Trial by Timeline for Amnesty International. And now it’s aiming to help St John, New Zealand’s primary frontline medical response organisation and the main provider of ambulance services. It takes over from Work Communications.
Coloured facial hair is usually reserved for those who drive housebuses, members of hair metal bands or Billy Connolly. It’s certainly not too common in this biz, but Carat’s business director Gareth ‘Connolly of the South’ O’Connor has used colour to great effect and been rewarded with the mo of the week title.
Aside from the arrival of Jeremy Wells’ column in the Herald, 2012 hasn’t been a particularly memorable one for New Zealand Cricket. But things can only get better (right?) and, after a short competitive pitch process, it’s chosen indie agency True to help out.
The growth in the outdoor industry is largely being driven by digital media, both ‘place-based’, like shopping malls, oil chains and airports, and large format. In the Asia/Pacific region, ad spend in digital out-of-home has grown 19 percent on average every year from 2006 to 2011 and global spend in the sector last year was $US7 billion, which is forecast to grow almost 20 percent this year. So local digital signage network nGage is bringing together a few smart cookies at an event that aims to showcase the digital signage ecosystem and offer a glimpse into the future.
Fenton moves up the chain as viral hit remade into ad; one for the hairy inbetweeners out there; the perils of reply all; the athlete machine; things can only get better; the ‘truth’ about music videos; Guinness shows its progressive side; a couple of slightly surreal takes on Christmas; some sweet time lapse action in KL; another magnificent web comic from the Oatmeal that sums up the creative process; the Onion’s dehumanizer; get your phallic sway on; and deep fried gadgets.
Westpac’s Martine Jager heads back to Oz, Colenso shares the account management love, CAANZ announces four new board members, indies band together to create new agency forum, Orangebox makes a big Wellington hire, Fairfax goes Peat mining and Alexander Communications goes global.
More than half of Kiwi households with televisions fork out for Sky, which is thought to be one of the highest per capita rates in the world. And, according to a recent PwC study, 40 percent of these subscribers have taken up MySky, an increase of 45 percent since last year. It’s where most of the growth is coming from for Sky, much to the chagrin of poor old father time, who, as a great new, almost Wes Anderson-esque 90 second spot by DDB and The Sweet Shop shows, has been rendered obsolete by the wonderous technology.
TVNZ brought out the big guns last night as it announced the launch of some snazzy new Ondemand toys and the new and returning shows for 2013 to trade and media. And here are a few glamour shots.
DraftFCB took a couple of .99’s biggest accounts last year in the form of Vodafone and Air New Zealand, but it looks likes .99 has got some retribution as it’s won the Genesis Energy pitch along with justONE. And there’s also a change in media, with Starcom taking over from the incumbent Spark.
During the annual hirsute pilgrimage that is Movember, many participants become quite attached to their new lip slugs. So, to ensure that the memory lives on, Schick and Y&R have created a Facebook campaign called Mount your Mo to not only reward the dedicated men of New Zealand for their efforts, but, through the wonder of taxidermy, to “allow them to keep their pride without prejudice”.