Tourism New Zealand’s newzealand.com had its highest traffic in history this January, bringing in 1.5 million visitors to what is for many their first contact with New Zealand.
Key marketing professionals are set to receive a boost to their own bottom lines in 2013, according to the latest global salary survey from specialist recruitment consultancy Robert Walters.
Telecom wants New Zealanders to be savvier with their technology, starting with viewers of One News. The country’s largest telco is launching a series of new TV spots called Tech in a Sec, to help Kiwis figure out their damn-fangled devices.
Over the past year and a bit we’ve been showcasing some of the best magazine advertising in the country through The Glossies. And the time has come to hand out the annual award—and the $10,000 travel prize, which has been provided by the good folk at OMD. We’ll also be handing out the StopPress people’s choice award (a poll will be going up on the site next week so make sure you vote). The event will be taking place on 6 March in the printing hall at Image Centre Group and food and booze will be provided. Invites are going out today, but if you missed out and want to come along, email the MPA’s commercial director Katrina Horton.
There’s been plenty of mystery and a fair bit of pope bashing since Papa Ratzi announced he was chucking in the mitre. And, never one to miss out on an opportunity for a laff, Tui has got in on the act too, with a new billboard via Saatchi & Saatchi.
It’s all go at TBWA\ at the moment, with Todd McLeay set to step into the big shoes of Dave Walden soon and Toby Talbot set to take over from Andy Blood in March. And, following on Steve Kane’s shift, it’s added two more DDB scalps, with Lisa Fedyszyn and Jonathan McMahon joining as creative directors.
Kiwibank has split up with Ogilvy in an effort to, as general manager of marketing Nicky Ashton says, stay fresh and vibrant. And to do that it’s given the business to Ogilvy’s STW stablemate Assignment Group without a pitch.
Hundreds of jobs at Telecom are being cut, as the company posts a half year profit to December 2012 of $163 million, up by around 58 percent from the previous year.
Derek Handley’s Snakk Media to list on NZAX in March, and he says more NZ tech startups should do the same
There’s nothing we love more than excellent use of generic stock imagery; finally, a cure; Zebra-based drama; the world’s first (planned) backflip in a car; God made a factory farmer; Nike inspires some social media-fuelled masochism; the power of glass; the best bust stop in the world; advertising via stethoscope; rappin’ for Jesus; yawns are weird; workplace ineptitude; horse power; canine Facebook; and Tyler Brule’s love letter to Auckland.
Today we launch the latest addition to the StopPress media empire: Didge. Now let us tell you about why we think the digital world is important enough for its own coveted space on StopPress.
DraftFCB is top of the dog show, with its Driving Dogs campaign for Mini and the SPCA taking home the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Online Creative Award for February.
Google’s Glass project makes us go “wow!” and “whoa!”, but could augmented reality also make us go “wtf?” in the future.
This industry isn’t renowned for its institutional memory and, when looking for candidates for the Back Then section in NZ Marketing, it’s a surprisingly common occurrence to hear back from agencies and brands who aren’t able to find any of their early advertising work. Online repositories are certainly helping to remedy that situation, and a good example of that is the nostalgia section on the new website of Wellington creative consultancy Doublefish, which is worth a gander for anyone with a passing interest in the craft of advertising—or local popular culture.
There’s been plenty of news about hacking in recent weeks, from local examples like Telecom and Yahoo’s email debacle, to the takeover of Burger King and Jeep’s Twitter accounts, to break-ins to Twitter, Apple and Facebook. It’s a fairly common occurrence these days, and while we might add in an exclamation mark instead of a 1 to our password and feel a bit more secure about our data, a fairly terrifying Wired article from late last year that looked into the world of online security shows that “no matter how complex, no matter how unique, your passwords can no longer protect you.”
Since it won the New Zealand Pork account early last year, Ogilvy has been on a mission to change outdated perceptions and “drive purchase behaviour through a journey of digital awareness, engaging in-store communications, promotions and demonstration”. It brought chef Simon Gault onboard as spokescook for the Extraordinary Kitchen campaign and focused heavily on retail. But, like its recent change of direction for Holden, it’s tried to bring a bit more emotion to the table and, as executive creative director Angus Hennah says, “tell simple human stories that make pork the hero”.
Chaz Savage left Igloo only weeks after launching the TVNZ/Sky TV joint venture. Sim Ahmed talks to him as he prepares to leave, discussing what caused the six month delay of Igloo, the future of the product, and what he will be doing in his new role heading Telstra’s T-box offerring in Australia.
Auction giant Trade Me says more than a third of its visitors use the site on a mobile device, almost double what it was this time last year.
It seems we can chalk up yet another win for .99, with the retail specialist thought to have taken the Warehouse Stationery business in a competitive pitch, beating out incumbent M&C Saatchi and rumoured contenders of Y&R and DDB.
The plug is pulled on the NZ Television Awards, but the CAANZ Media Awards and Canon Media Awards are puffing out their chests after record entries. Plus: preliminary media awards judges announced.
Lisa Carrington adds another healthy endorsement to her list, Fluxx gets it on with Get! Communications, Mark Copplestone takes the reins at the IAB’s mobile advertising council, Pead PR rearranges the troops, mediaR feels the warmth with Bradford Gold, Duncan Stuart returns to the land of indie, Media3 stays up late and Arielle Tai joins Datamine.
Sorted’s ‘Think, Shrink and Grow’ money management cycle, which was intended to up the engagement and become the financial equivalent of ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’, kicked off in March last year. And now the circle is complete, with the last phase of the campaign showing its animated spokesmouse encouraging Kiwis to ‘grow’ their money.
It hasn’t been a particularly good month for old broadcasters and, following on from the death of Sir Paul Holmes, radio stalwart Kevin Black passed away last night at the age of 69 from a suspected heart attack.
Parliament has announced today it’s introducing plain packaging requirements for cigarettes and other tobacco products, making New Zealand only the second country in the world to do so. Rachel Ramsay looks at both sides of the plain packaging argument, asking if where there is smoke , there is liars.
Cupcakes all round for ASB’s beardy new mascot and Mitre 10’s romantic instructional video.
Latest figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Insight report shows digital creatives will be having many more “client lunches” in 2013, following a bonanza year in 2012.
In an effort to create more efficiencies across departments—and, of course, reduce the $60 million spent on the purchase of advertising and media services in New Zealand in 2011—the Government has been on a mission to assemble a panel of trusted advertising soldiers to join its army. And, after a bit of a delay, it’s chosen its longlist and asked successful parties for their “best and final offer”.
Partnership between New Zealand’s two biggest telcos, and Australia’s Telstra, will added almost 300 times our current internet capacity by 2014.
The lure of toasters, knives or coffee is fairly compelling for many Kiwis, and, according to the results of an independent study commissioned by Muffin Break that investigated the habits of shoppers and their interest in frequent purchasing programmes, 42 percent of those surveyed said they would return to a store where the service had dropped if the loyalty programme on offer was good.
Ecoya came in for some unwanted attention for its very visible nudity in 2011, with its Lady Godiva-inspired billboard getting a slap from the ASA (and also getting stolen). And in the latest campaign it’s maintained the sans clothes approach, although this time it’s claiming the nudity is ‘invisible’.