Monthly Archives: June, 2014

News
Rainger & Rolfe turns the furry tenants at Auckland Zoo into online brand ambassadors
By

Over the last few months, Auckland Zoo has been putting its colourful and varied range of tenants to work by having them feature in a series of YouTube videos designed to draw attention to the attraction in the Super City. Rainger & Rolfe, the agency behind the on-going digital campaign, has held the Auckland Zoo account since 2011 (the account was originally held by Rolfe Limited and then moved across after the merger with Rainger Connect).

News
Ogilvy’s Greg Whitham on brands becoming publishers
By

Brands are increasingly turning their noses up at traditional forms of advertising in favour of publishing content that doesn’t just interrupt the audience but also engages with it. Ogilvy’s digital group head and creative director Greg Whitham takes a look at what works, what doesn’t work and what brands need to do to ensure that their publishing efforts drive results.

News
Nike’s attack of the clones
By

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup just around the corner, brands are doing their best to link with this prestigious event any way they can. Nike has just done it again with their latest spot titled “The Last Game”.

News
Smooth Visa-card-toting skaters take April Ad Impact Award
By

Remember the slightly creepy corporate robot ad in 2011 for Visa Paywave? It almost made cash look cool. But in April this year the marketing changed tack with a sepia-coloured, quirky fantasy world made of skate bowls and skater girls and boys. It made contactless Paywave cards look so smooth the ad took out the Colmar Brunton Ad Impact Award for April.

News
TVNZ throws ad-hoc carnival, aims to spread World Cup fever
By

In an effort to share the festivities with the Kiwis and expats who aren’t fortunate enough to be in Brazil for the World Cup, TVNZ’s Blacksand has set up an ad-hoc carnival in Auckland. Placing the seemingly innocuous duo of a mini-goal and a football alongside a ‘kick me’ sign, the Blacksand team waited out of sight, with their cameras ready, for any passersby to take the bait. Those who did kick the ball into the net were then caught off gaurd by an impromptu carnival made up of football players, samba dancers, capoeira performers and fans from all over the world.

News
Vampires make their mark on vindy Vellington
By

There’s a fair bit of excitement over Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s What We do in the Shadows, which opens on June 19. And Wellington, a renowned film-friendly city, is getting behind it with a vampirical addition to its ‘blown away’ sign. PLUS: ‘The vampire’s guide to Vellington’.

News
Agent Anna punks unsuspecting home viewers in hidden camera stunt via TVNZ Blacksand
By

Following on from last year’s elaborate faux real estate campaign for Agent Anna’s first season, TVNZ’s in-house agency Blacksand has again tapped into the fake reality theme for the promotion of the dramedy’s second season. Shot in an actual rental home, the stunt features Robyn Malcolm in character as klutzy Anna Kingston showing real visitors—and potential tenants—around a home, which has been set up with a variety of booby traps that result in some awkward interactions.

News
Post Creative gets rub of the Greens
By

After a competitive pitch, Post Creative has been brought on to ‘engineer influence’ for the Green Party’s upcoming election campaign. PLUS: which agencies are working with the other major parties?

News
Radio New Zealand’s Paul Thompson on the decline of radio
By

On 12 May, Radio New Zealand’s chief executive Paul Thompson delivered a speech at the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Conference held in Glasgow—and his thoughts on the industry stood in stark contrast to the optimism that has been voiced by the respective PR teams of the commercial stations. From the first line of the speech, which is currently available on the Radio New Zealand website, it’s clear that Thompson is bracing himself for a significant challenge in the role that he only stepped into nine months ago.

News
Inside: Uno Loco
By

After around 18 years of fusing art with commerce, events and media company Madant has morphed into Uno Loco. And with clients increasingly looking to create experiences, not just ads, and with events companies increasingly dabbling in other areas, the planets appear to be in alignment for this successful yet under-the-radar business.

News
M&C Saatchi hijacks outdoor ads for Men’s Health Week
By

In an effort to encourage Kiwi men to open up, Men’s Health Week (which runs from 9 to 15 June) was launched late last night via a cheeky marketing campaign by M&C Saatchi. The ‘Speak Up’ campaign will see a series of speech bubbles being attached to existing advertisements in the Auckland CBD, Karangahape Road, Newmarket, Grey Lynn and Ponsonby—all areas that have been pinpointed as areas of concern.

News
All aboard for the telco tell-all
By

Today’s consumers are fickle. It’s becoming harder to find loyal customers who won’t jump ship at the sight of a sweeter deal. They demand more for less, and are more willing than ever to shop around rather than sticking with a ‘preferred’ brand or provider. The telco industry knows this better than most. And you can find out how some of the country’s biggest players are dealing with it, differentiating themselves and inspiring customer loyalty and at the MA’s next Knowledge Bites event on Tuesday.

News
Herald hosts 10 three-minute docos, aims to keep mobile eyes fixed
By

In the age of vines and five-second films, the 15 minutes of a YouTube-hosted documentary seems like a veritable viewing mountain. So, in an effort to keep the decreasing attention spans of its growing digital audience interested, APN’s online publishing team has penned a one-off partnership with filmmakers Loading Docs to host a series of ten three-minute documentaries on the NZ Herald website.

News
World Oceans Day: Greenpeace uses humour to push tale of woe, Sealord uses augmented reality to push positives—UPDATE
By

In a world where celebrity weddings tend to get more attention than serious environmental issues, it’s getting harder to avoid the curse of MEGO (my eyes glaze over). That means drawing attention to those issues often requires a more creative approach, which is exactly what Greenpeace has done ahead of World Oceans day through a collaboration with the creators of popular online video series Beached Az. PLUS: Sealord’s augmented reality experience pushes a very different message.

News
Sealord and Saatchi & Saatchi embrace their inner pyros with burning billboard
By

The billboard seems to be a growing darling of marketing and this year, for the first time ever, outdoor entries at the Cannes Lions overtook the number of press submissions (5660 outdoor entries vs. 5007 press entries). And while the majority are still static and passive, some of the more progressive outdoor executions aim to inspire more interactivity, both in real life and, increasingly, online. And Saatchi & Saatchi has gone down this road, setting a manuka billboard on fire to launch Sealord’s new hot-smoked salmon.

News
Tux still keeps ’em full of life—and significantly enhances cat herding abilities
By

A Dog’s Show lives on as a Kiwi classic, and it was recently referenced by Ford and JWT in a quirky Fieldays-related spot. And now Assignment Group and Adam Stevens of Robber’s Dog have done the same, with a 60 second ad that shows a humble house dog being inspired by his rural canine forebears and fuelled by a bellyful of Tux to achieve the seemingly impossible: herding cats.

News
Beats captivates with epic five-minute World Cup spot
By

A ball hasn’t even been kicked yet, but this year’s World Cup has already served up a fair amount of entertainment in terms of the ads that have come from major corporates. While Nike, Adidas and Puma have in the past been the trifecta of good sports advertising, other brands are also starting to intrude on this space by producing ads that are comparable if not better than those produced by the sports juggernauts.

News
Clarification: regional readership anomalies explained
By

Earlier this week StopPress published a story on the Q1 readership and circulation statistics for the nation’s newspapers. While the circulation figures sourced from ABC’s website and the majority of the readership figures were all accurate, the readership figures attributed to some of the provincial papers served up a series of anomalies that didn’t seem to correlate with statistics from previous surveys.

News
Mcdonald’s World Cup trick shots
By

McDonald’s seems to have taken a leaf out of Dude Perfect’s book with their latest ad. To highlight their association with the 2014 FIFA World Cup the golden arches has made a video featuring some pretty amazing trick shots. Whether they are all real is still yet to be seen.

News
Sky gives ‘come with us’ microsite a facelift, promises to wow with Spritz technology
By

Sky has given its ‘come with us’ microsite a facelift by introducing an interactive browsing feature that takes the visitor on a short promotional journey through the programming currently on offer to subscribers. PLUS: The broadcaster has also announced a partnership with Boston-based, text-streaming company Spritz, which recently unveiled technology that allows viewers to read text on screens one word at a time without having to move from word to word or around the page.

1 … 3 4 5 6