Orcon has appealed an Advertising Standards Authority ruling that upheld a complaint about its TV ad which featured Kim Dotcom saying, “join today and start living with truly unlimited broadband”. The telco says it’s got rid of the Fair Use policy that was the bone of contention.
In an effort to maintain viewers’ curiosity levels while Shortland Street is on hiatus, TVNZ has devised an interactive crime mystery that will give fans a daily fix until the show returns on 13 January. The campaign is based on the premise that one of the characters died during the 11 December finale. And since the identity of the deceased is still unknown, TVNZ aims to keep fans interested by posting one revealing clue each day before the premiere of the 2014 season. PLUS: see Jono and Ben’s parody.
Saatchi & Saatchi, Blacksand and Trade Tested clink eggnog glasses in the last round of 2013.
As the spirit of Christmas giving takes hold, Kiwi corporates are highlighting the sponsorship efforts that give them a good name and worthy causes a helping hand. Telcos and banks are among those stumping up dollars and resources for charitable campaigns.
There’s been plenty of sadness at the passing of Nelson Mandela. And plenty of coat-tail riding by corporations, like South African energy drink company Turbovite, which is feeling the social media burn after its heartfelt tribute/plea for likes mistakenly used a picture of Morgan Freeman.
Changes at Seven Sharp, OMD loses an experienced campaigner to MBM, Bruce Matchett leaves his Singaporean post, another Fairfax shift and the NBR announces its new front page tenant.
The best way to embrace Christmas is to accept the unbridled commercialism of it all with open arms. So sit back, relax and enjoy some of the creative efforts that the capitalist machine used this year to convince shoppers to part with their cash.
As someone, somewhere, once said, if the marketing department is the ass end of business, ad agencies are the pimple on that ass. But if you’re questioning your worth and wondering what you’re doing to make this world a better place, then you need to watch the marketers’ anthem, which celebrates the profession by showing how ridiculous it is.
Just over a month after officially lodging a Commerce Commission application to acquire several magazine titles from APN, Bauer Media has confirmed that there will be job cuts as part of a restructuring process.
It’s been a busy end-of-year for DDB NZ, with some big losses and a few big wins. And it’s got some more news to share because executive creative director Andy Fackrell has decided to take up a new role within the DDB Group as regional creative director for Asia Pacific and will move to Sydney in the new year.
With little awareness, a tight budget and a whole range of complexities, MediaWorks TV tapped into the country’s passion for DIY and created a nation of ‘Block-a-holics’.
A complete overhaul of the Heart Foundation’s brand and fundraising initiatives led to increased donations and donor engagement.
In an effort to remind passers-by that no one is perfect, Pro Infirmis, a Swiss organisation that campaigns for the disabled, cast a series of mannequins from moulds based on the bodies of a selection of people with physical disabilities. And although the video was made to draw attention to those who suffer from disabilities, it could just as easily be applied to representations of women in the fashion industry in general.
Some days just don’t go as intended. And, in this brilliant 90-second spot for Verizon by Mcgarrybown and MJZ, Edward Norton unwittingly gets himself into a…
The classic ‘work first, play later’ incentive strategy works. But in this industry, Michael Goldthorpe thinks fun works better.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
At the 20th instalment of the annual Campaign Asia Pacific Awards, Barnes, Catmur & Friends stole the show by becoming the first Kiwi agency to win the Australia/New Zealand Independent Agency of the Year category. PLUS: media agencies also get acknowledged for their contribution to the industry.
Boy director Taika Waititi has worked some magic of late for Steinlager Pure and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Now his new series for Carlton Dry shows the scary possibilities when you get male flatmates and their beer together.
Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa aims to get Kiwis to put their health first by encouraging them to talk about number twos. The ‘Give a crap’ video campaign, which features TV personality Nigel Latta and various other celebrities, is designed to make New Zealanders feel more comfortable about broaching the awkward subject of bowel movements in the hope that this will lead to early diagnosis of the disease.
Only a few weeks after suffering dual account losses, DDB seems to have turned things around and it looks as though the agency will be ending the year on a high. In addition to recently returning to the driver’s seat by winning the BMW/Mini account, DDB has been announced as New Zealand’s leading creative agency for 2013 at the annual Campaign Asia Agency of the Year Awards. PLUS: there are rumours that the agency will be toasting with a Speight’s in-hand at the end of the year.
In an effort to provide images that resonate more strongly with an increasingly diversified market, Getty Images has launched Curve Visual Trends, a series of insights that takes note of how advertising is stepping out of set moulds to celebrate people irrespective of their ethnicity, body type, age, sexual orientation or gender.
Ricoh New Zealand is looking to steal a march in the local 3D printing market by partnering with major US player Makerbot to bring three of its products here. The global market for 3D printing is tipped to reach $8.4 billion by 2020, growing at a compound rate of 23 percent annually and Asia Pacific has been identified as the fastest growing region.
It seems the days of the sedate product launch, held seated over a light lunch, are over as tech companies get ever more daring with their stunts. Plus: Samsung and Pead part company.
A six-minute summary of all the viral madness that pervaded 2013. If ever there was a reason to fear for the future of humanity, this might be it.
SkyTV, one of New Zealand’s biggest broadcasters, has followed in TVNZ’s footsteps by launching SkyGo, an iOS app that enables Sky subscribers to stream content on compatible laptops, mobiles or tablets. But rather than including an on-demand streaming feature, the new app limits viewers to pre-recorded content and live channels. While this is sure to be hit with sports fans, it will do little to appease those who want an on-demand mobile option.
The bar for call for entries campaigns has risen significantly in recent years, with the likes of DraftFCB’s ‘The real judge of advertising is the consumer’ campaign for the 2011 Effies and TBWA\’s ‘Results Don’t Lie’ effort this year standing out. And there are a couple more good ones bubbling away at the moment for the Axis Awards and the newly rejigged Beacon Awards.
Century 21 has done some seriously clever online marketing lately — there was the supposedly haunted houses for sale during Halloween and for Thanksgiving, the very strange psychadelic slow jam for your turkey feast. Now it’s joined Waterstones in the UK in taking the mickey out of Amazon’s plans for product delivery by drone.
Sometimes the simplest creative ideas are the most powerful, and that’s the premise of searchforacure.co.nz, a new site that capitalises on the ubiquity of Google as a home page for quick search.
When Coca-Cola stuck Santa on its products to inspire more brown beverage consumption in winter (and in so doing largely created the image of the fat, red-faced man we now know), it obviously realised the commercial power of old Saint Nick. But things have come a long way since then. And anyone with such a high-profile deserves a sophisticated brand identity. Thankfully, UK writing shop Quiet Room is here to help and has created this brilliant, jargon-filled festive brandbook for the jolly old chap.
By the time the curtains had been drawn at the end of New Zealand Film Awards, those sitting at the ‘Shopping’ table had seven awards to carry home, making the film, which was released in New Zealand in May, the biggest winner of the night.