French director Sylvain Chomet has stamped his eccentric style on the Simpsons oft-altered couch gag, with Homer feasting on snails, Lisa saving a goose from near death and Maggie surviving a close encounter with Homer’s butt crack.
Stuntvertising seems to be all the rage at the moment, with hamsters driving trucks, dogs driving cars, Jean Claude van Damme doing splits and many others. And now you can add a man boarding a yacht, walking up the massive mast and jumping in to the ocean in his Hugo Boss suit to that oeuvre.
In this 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 this segment, we chat to the three founders of the NZ Blog Collective.
When it comes to agencies, is bigger usually better? Or can smaller shops be just as sharp? Michael Goldthorpe reckons the answer to both questions is yes.
Designworks just purchased Wellington agency The Church, it won a big regional award for being the best performing agency among the 76 businesses in the STW Group and now the Auckland office has unveiled its new home in the old art gallery.
Contagion’s Tom Bates headed to the #ArtCopyCode session with Google’s marketers at SXSW. So here are some practical examples of how they help brands bring data and insight to life in today’s digital world.
Summer 2013/2014 has undoubtedly been the season of the pop-ups, with Jacob’s Creek, Corona and Stoneleigh all introducing relaxation or entertainment enclaves to promote their products. And it seems that the trend is stretching into autumn, as Rekorderlig recently launched Rekorderlig Summerhouse, a bar modelled on a Swedish abode that will be serving drinks and snacks to visitors over the next two weeks.
In an effort to fill a demand for digital, UX and motion content in the Wellington market, STW-owned Designworks has acquired 100 percent of 15-strong design and digital communications agency The Church, making it the region’s largest strategic brand and multi-disciplinary design practice, with around 130 staff across its five offices. Plus: Designworks’ big regional accolades and Sven Baker’s new STW role.
ASB’s Like Loan promotion, where Facebook fans determine how low its home loan borrowing rate will go, is back for a second round. This time live TVCs, banners and radio streams have joined the mix as the bank tries to draw participants into a conversation.
In December last year, it was reported that OMD and MediaCom were involved in a pitching tussle for the Fonterra media account. And now, after several months of speculation as to where the account would go, the dairy producer has confirmed that MediaCom has won the pitch. Updated with information on the duration of OMD’s hold on the account.
The February edition of News Works’ Agency of the Month served up a close battle, with both Ogilvy and M&C Saatchi putting forward impressive pieces for consideration.
DDB NZ’s new digital creative director Haydn Kerr is getting a glimpse of the future at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Here are five things he picked up on day two.
After independent media and PR agency Lassoo took the Emirates account off Starcom last month, it looked fairly certain that it had some kind of connection to French holding company Havas, which won Emirates’ global media account last year. At the time, Lassoo’s directors weren’t able to comment, but now it has officially announced a strategic alliance and will act as the New Zealand arm of Havas Media Group.
Red Bull’s new spot looks more like a stock-content provider’s attempt to tap into the extreme sports market than an advertisement for a sugary drink. Playing out to Pharrell Williams’ ‘Come get it bae,’ the ‘World of Red Bull’ commercial features the impressive exploits of surfers Jamie O’Brien and Sally Fitzgibbons, mountain biker Brook MacDonald, cliff diver Orlando Duque, five-time Dakar Rally champion Cyril Despres, and bands Awolnation and Skrillex.
DDB NZ’s new digital creative director Haydn Kerr is getting a glimpse of the future at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Here’s what he’s learned so far.
The opening keynote at SXSW in Austin, Texas, features some heavy hitters. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, joins Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas and Steven Levy, senior writer at Wired, for a debate on the next few years in the digital world. Contagion’s Tom Bates is there to find out what’s next and whether privacy is gone forever.
While Clemenger BBDO’s ‘Blazed’ campaign and Colenso BBDO/Proximity’s Smartphone Line stole much of the attention at last night’s Axis Awards, the magazine category showed that the Kiwi creative streak still extends to print.
All the best ideas in the business were recognised last night at the Axis Awards, and one of the best men in the business was recognised too, with advertising veteran Sandy Moore accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Last night’s Axis Awards, hosted by Newstalk ZB’s Andrew Dickens at the Viaduct events centre, delivered a plush showcase of the country’s best creative talent for the 34th year in a row. The theme for this year’s edition was ‘share the love,’ and this was certainly a sentiment that all 800 people in attendance embraced as smiles around the room were as ubiquitous as celebratory drinks. Here’s a rundown of how the event went.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
For some, the consumption of bacon is close to a religious experience. And Oscar Mayer has referenced that intense love, bowing down at the porcine temple and creating a surreal spot to promote a new app that wakes people up with the smell of bacon.
New Zealanders, like the inhabitants of many other developed nations, tend to take peace for granted and struggle to comprehend the horror of life in a warzone. But Save the Children has created a powerful ad that makes that suffering much more relevant with a powerful one-shot-a-day video that imagines what it would be like if London was subjected to a crisis like that seen in Syria.
Vend’s startup introduction video was a fun take on the world of cloud point of sale systems, involving nearly all its staff, a customer and even a baby. So it’s not surprising the behind the scenes clip reveals even more fun, from mattress dives to communal cheers.
Carefree has taken a page out of the Vagina Monologues with a new campaign that aims to subvert the shame women feel about their menstrual cycles by encouraging an online dialogue about periods.
Only five months after NBR reported that Mediaweb was unable to pay its staff, it has now been announced that the publisher has gone into receivership. Updated with comments from Tony Maginness, the receiver who has been appointed to the case.
Monteith’s new augmented reality app designed to show consumers how they can match beer, cider and meat dishes, was part of a wider campaign that brought a hunting experience to downtown Auckland. And it’s a chance for the brand to attract new people to its category.
Facebook has challenged Kiwi creatives to come up with a three month campaign that makes the most of the social network’s native functionality. That means looking past apps to newsfeed posts rich with imagery and video, according to the brief.
AJ Park patent specialists Anton Blijlevens and Jillian Lim touch on some of interesting patents to look out for, including an e-Ink screen on the back of your phone, a free ride from Google and making the connection for convertible heels.
Guy Williams has literally become the (disembodied) face of responsible drinking in New Zealand as part the second stage of DraftFCB’s ‘Say Yeah, Nah’ campaign from last year. Updated with comments from Guy Williams on why he decided to participate in the campaign.
Former Guardian interactive editor Jonathan Richards has entered a shiny new world of storytelling at Google’s Creative Lab in Sydney. But he warns ad industry members that they ignore traditional techniques and media at their peril.