‘Hand Outs’, the next instalment in DDB’s ‘Start Asking’ campaign for Westpac, puts the spotlight on the ‘sandwiched’ generation. But the ad, which puts a humorous spin on the group’s endless plight to keep their family financially supported and uses the Zorba the Greek track, has managed to rile up a few Greeks who believe the ad is racist.
Whereas in the past the overwhelming focus of SXSW has been on the consumer world (it is is where both Twitter and Foursquare first broke out), Ben Kepes says the event seems to be changing focus with enterprise and the physical world starting to garner attention.
David Cameron, Barak Obama and John Key have all been seen dancing Psy’s Gangnam Style and Ban Ki-Moon has hailed it as a “force for world peace”. Now Powershop and DoubleFish are using it to sell electricity, with hot new band Mao Tse Tung and the Great Leap Forward performing Gangnam For Freedom as part of its long-running ‘Same Power, Different Attitude’ campaign.
Facebook is a chronic tinkerer when it comes to design and its latest News Feed facelift last week shows the company wants more to offer its advertising partners.
ZO completes its management team, Clems chief financial officer heads for the rum, Y&R adds to its digital chops, Air New Zealand puts even more emphasis on the customer experience, Dita De Boni heads to PR, The Pond adds a digital heavyweight, Commando gets one back, Southern PR bolsters the line-up, On the Grill takes biscuit and Linda Clark returns to TV.
Swearing is funny, as evidenced by ‘tourettes karaoke’. And MediaWork’s hero station The Rock has tapped into that with some cunning wordplay in its latest outdoor campaign.
Our intrepid honorary reporter Tom Bates of Contagion is at SXSW in Austin, Texas – looking into what trends from the world of marketing, media and advertising might affect us in New Zealand this year. Former US vice president and climate change activist Al Gore is up first, talking about the forces shaping the world today. Join us at 10:30am for the liveblog.
Top Gear Magazine New Zealand has ceased publication after seven years in the game, with this month’s issue its last.
Seven New Zealanders are amongst this year’s jurors for the 60th year of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Idealog editor Hazel Phillips gets to the root of what annoys her about some PR approaches, while providing a pretty handy list of do’s for those not wishing to gain her wrath.
Behind the scenes for TVCs are all the rage and Air New Zealand joins the fray showing the “epicness” behind its latest flight safety video, involving survivalist and renowned urine-drinker, Bear Grylls.
Easily the best thing we’ve seen all week; Conan O’Brien finds one person may be writing all the news in the US; Domino’s does what it says on the tin; hey look, a dancing horse; What would you do?; the joys of live TV; Greenpeace fades to black; finally someone finds a good use for QR codes; Dove hacks Photoshop; every horrible corporate website in one; least popular Pope names; and a glorious release.
It worked pretty well for Morton Coutts and now Colenso BBDO is going back in time with Stewart Monteith, and a one take TVC (includes behind the scenes vid).
After a record 290 entries across 21 categories, 99 finalists have made it through to the final rounds of judging for the Media Awards. And the usual suspects are on top, with OMD on 36 finalists (11 from its Wellington office), Spark PHD on 20 and DraftFCB Media on 16.
DDB took a summer quinella by winning both the December and January rounds of the newspaper ad of the month comp with its YWCA and VW ads. And now it’s claimed yet more Beetle/paper-related victory with a classified ad to promote its Beetling campaign.
In addition to the usual suspects of ‘market share’, ‘customer retention’ and ‘campaign ROI’, Dennis Kibirev found that warm-and-fuzzies such as ‘lives changed’, ‘worthwhile causes supported’ or ‘communities improved’ were cited at the Marketing Association’s first Not-For-Profit event last week.
The inaugural Glossies Magazine Advertising Awards kicked off last night to smoke, meat and unfurling banners. Ecostore, Special Group and Naked Communications take top prize.
How much would you pay to directly message the Prime Minister on Facebook? Ten dollars seems reasonable. Also, changes to Facebook news feed on the horizon.
If you log into Google+ today you’ll notice a facelift on the social network and the addition of a few new features including reviews and juiced up cover photos.
Twitter, noun: A service for communicating in short bursts, typically up to 140 characters, which is creating a vernacular of its own. This infographic helps break down some of the jargon being created on the social network [ed: does anyone use any of these words in real life?].
Snakk has become the first company to list on the stock exchange this year, with its addition to the New Zealand Alternative Exchange (NZAX). The mobile advertising startup is expanding its sales presence in Australia.
Ian Moody switched from Westpac to BNZ to take up the head of brand role in early November last year, which made for a fairly difficult acceptance speech when he was named as marketer of the year while between jobs. And he has resigned just a few months in to the new job due to what external relations manager Emily Davies calls “personal reasons”.
Trade Me says it’s selling daily deal site Treat Me for an undisclosed amount, in a management buy out led by Treat Me head James MacAvoy.
In the battle of the premium cars, New Zealand is something of an anomaly, because unlike most markets around the world Audi has been top of the pile for the past six years. But by rethinking its marketing tactics, tailoring its products and comms to suit the New Zealand market, standing up to HQ and targeting new customers, BMW managed to reclaim the throne last year.
A few New Zealand marcomms folk will be making the trip to Sydney for AWARD later this month and, just as the speeches and seminars have become a major drawcard for the Cannes Lions, they’re also a big drawcard for the Circus Festival of Commercial Creativity. So the The Communications Council decided to remind the region’s most experienced chief marketing officers that when it comes to creative thinking we still have plenty to learn.
Daikin’s last big splash involved a surprisingly creepy Dan Carter hanging on a wall and plenty of come hither eyes. But the agency behind that campaign, The Works Sydney, has now been exchanged for Sugar & Partners, which won a two-way competitive pitch for the New Zealand business.
Government launches a million dollar ad campaign to bring investors to the sale of Mighty River Power, spanning across TV, print and online. But where is it? [Updated: Oh, here it is.]
Get the right people in the room, and magic can sometimes happen. Synapses fire, tangents are explored and ideas are developed. And Lifehack is hoping the same is true when it comes to dealing with youth mental health issues.
In April last year, VW released a series of ‘the same, but different’ ads to run before the main One News weather bulletin. And it’s back for more in 2013, with five more weather sponsorship idents that are imbued with VW’s now well-renowned sense of humour and show how the various features make life more enjoyable for people. And dogs.
