Changes at Saatchi & Saatchi, Tourism Malaysia, Fairfax, The Edge and Hanmer Springs, new business for Sputnik and Pead PR, Fonterra’s rumoured new sponsorship, RIP Richard Clark, kudos for Belowtheline and Award School returns.
Tip Top has made new promotional posters that use artificial food colourings discarded in its move to natural ingredients. It’s also wooing communities outside Auckland with virtual reality games designed to draw the crowds over summer.
For most New Zealanders, there’s been a high rate of food consumption over the past few months. And the nation’s broadcasters are hoping there will be plenty of food-related TV consumed this year as well, with TVNZ’s MasterChef NZ making a few changes to its format and MediaWorks hoping for big things with its new show The Great Food Race.
Westpac has had nearly 30,000 YouTube views of a promotional clip for its UK Global App challenge, which calls on British geeks to test their adventurous mettle downunder.
In a new series, we talk to Kiwi keyboard tappers that have managed to shift from the personal realm of blogging to create online media brands that are widely read (and in some cases profitable). In the first segment, we chat to Jamie Frater, the founder of Listverse.
A look back at the advertising published in the 2 January 1900 edition of the Otago Daily Times provides a glimpse at the cost of living, the advertising standards and the creative motivations that pervaded the early 20th century.
The look and functionality of Kim Dotcom’s long awaited music service Baboom has been revealed and so far it’s a showcase of the internet entrepreneur and his album Good Times.
Late last year, StopPress covered the efforts of a team of Kiwi creatives who entered the Doritos “Crash the Superbowl’ competition, which invited ad makers the world over to vie for a chance to have their original ad appear during the Superbowl. Although the Kiwis didn’t make the final cut, the five shortlisted entries are definitely worth a watch.
Newspaper publishers here and around the world are looking for new revenue streams to make up for a big drop in print advertising, says Michael Carney. And both major publishers in this market are thought to be looking at launching paywalls this year. But will Kiwi consumers pony up if they are put in place? And what options do the publishers have?
Sometimes poignant, sometimes inspirational, the 2013 awards compilation from Getty Images offers a series of snapshots that captures the highs and lows of the human experience in a way that is only possible through the laconic medium of photography. Portraits of animal cruelty, political snapshots, sporting action pics, war photography and eerie juxtapositions appear alongside the more commonly seen photographs of natural wonders, artistic poses and press shots.
There was plenty of excitement about the Share a Coke campaign, which offered punters a personalised can and tapped into the powerful narcissistic tendencies of the modern age. And Pernod Ricard brand Jacob’s Creek is offering something of a grown-up equivalent, with a pop-up winemaking experience in Auckland where customers can taste and combine up to four of the label’s most popular varieties to make their own red or white blend.
TAB’s new spot, starring a rugged John Leigh, straddles a risky moral line by claiming that the Triple Trio betting initiative requires a combination of both skill and chance. PLUS: find out which Australian ad agency turned its back on the gambling industry.
In order to dispel a few myths, McDonald’s New Zealand has recently embraced honesty—and followed in the footsteps of Canada—by inviting people to ask them some tough questions. And The Onion has obviously been inspired by that decision, as evidenced by a deeply philosophical fake ad it generously created for the brand that features “grainy, rapidly shifting images of raw ground beef, masticated hamburger, livestock, a fornicating couple and static”.
Aged 76, Ian Douglas Wells died on January 4 and more than 400 attended his funeral at Old St Paul’s Cathedral in Wellington on January 9. Rick Neville takes a moment to reflect on the tireless effort Wells put into making Wellington a better place. (Image credit: Stuff.co.nz)
Given that the lines between the physical and digital worlds are becoming increasingly blurred, Ajax has decided to transpose its real-world cleaning methods into the internet with a new campaign that promises to help you clean up your social media life.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Rainger Connect and Rolfe Limited have merged to form a new agency called Rainger & Rolfe. Managing partners Ant Rainger and Jen Rolfe have each left their respective offices in favour of a new digs in Parnell, which now brings 10 staff members and about a dozen key clients under the same roof.
Sky launched Sky Go, the long-awaited update to its online and catch-up service iSky, in October last year. And, after a fair bit of social media activity to promote the new website and mobile apps, it’s now launched a print and TV campaign via DDB that shows how easy—and potentially perilous—it is for subscribers to ‘Watch On’.
Sincerity, an advertising man and columnist not a million pages from here was once quoted as saying, is everything. Learn how to fake that, and you’ve got it made. He couldn’t have been more wrong, says Vaughn Davis.
Whybin\TBWA has lent its creative talents to the cause of autism by producing a thought-provoking campaign for Minds for Minds. By giving a polarised snapshot of the contrasting perspectives of neurotypicals and those suffering from the disorder, Whybin hopes to encourage people to learn more about a problem that affects 45,000 families in New Zealand.
From the rise of e-commerce to social media usage to online media stats to smartphone penetration, it was another year of huge digital growth in 2013. And where there are consumers, there will be agencies, clients and publishers trying to get in front of them. Spark’s digital and social arm PHDiQ nabbed a host of awards for its campaigns last year and welcomed Jane Stanley to the position of managing director after Alysha Delany shifted to MBM. Here are her thoughts.
Every year, The Poynter Institute chronicles some of the errors made by the world’s media—and the ensuing corrections. Some are serious mistakes and have serious repercussions, like the Error of the Year given to 60 Minutes for its flawed Benghazi report. But most veer towards the comical. Either way, 2013’s lot are worth a read.
Another successful year of moulding, shaping and nurturing young minds and preparing them for a life of advertising, with 100 percent of the students now in jobs. Media Design School’s Kate Humphries shares her thoughts.
Back in 1964, sci-fi writer and biochemistry professor Isaac Asimov wrote an article for The New York Times predicting what life might be like in 2014. He got a few things right (although he was off in other areas, but humans do tend to remember the hits and overlook the many misses of futurists and psychics, something often known as the Jeane Dixon effect). And while there’s no doubt we live in a remarkable age, filled with an array of remarkable innovations designed to make our lives easier, we’re still obviously a long way from cracking the audio-to-text puzzle, as this transcript of an interview Vincent Heeringa recently gave to James Hurman that was converted by an automated online service attests.
TVNZ has caved in to public pressure and will now broadcast the Grammy Awards twice on 27 January: first live on TV2 at 2pm and then delayed on TV ONE at 9.15pm.
Auckland company Assembly has created a new site for Sony’s ‘Be Moved’ brand campaign, which showcases a selection of products as the sum of their parts. Animations give the appearance of product assembly to seven products as visitors scroll through the site.
Viewership of broadcast TV is declining here and around the world. And, in correlation, some consumers appear to have largely checked out of advertising altogether, writes Andrew Lewis. So a reliance on brand-led communications to drive engagement will be found wanting.
Watching the promotional launch of DB Export Citrus left everyone here at StopPress longing for the neck-warming mullets, fiery wells and soothing Latin charms that pervaded the Export Dry, Gold and 33 TVCs.
McDonald’s made a big song and dance about the launch of its lamb burger last year before removing it from the menu due to poor sales. But that hasn’t stopped Burger King from trying, and it’s playing up the premium nature of its new King’s Collection product and aiming to show that “every man can eat like he’s rich, including the rich” with the help of its new spokestoffs: the frightfully wealthy stereotypical British aristocrats Sir Roger Poppincock and Baron von Cravat.
