Monthly Archives: February, 2015

News
NZ Pork aims to give mums a break from the cooking, gets some more grief for gender stereotyping
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Whether it’s the objectification of women (and, to a lesser degree, men) or the representation of male dunces incapable of doing the simplest of tasks, much has been written about the role of gender stereotypes in advertising. And now NZ Pork’s latest campaign, which aims to get men back into the kitchen, cook some pig and give their ‘missuses’ a break, has earned the ire of some for taking things back to the ’50s.

News
Media Munchies: Guy Williams
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In a new section that explores the media consumption habits of reasonably well-known New Zealand humans, Guy Williams, regular 7 Days panelist, co-host of The Edge Drive Show and serial offender on Jono and Ben at Ten, explains his fondness for podcasts, social media, sport and big natural boobs.

News
Swede as
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If you’ve got nothing to say, sing it. But if you’ve got something to say about working conditions, rap it. Wise advice that Swedish trade union TCO has done to show how good it is to do “business like a Swede”.

News
X Factor NZ pips Our First Home in early ratings race
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Last year the big free-to-air ratings battle was between The Block NZ and MKR NZ. This year it’s X-Factor NZ and Our First Home. And, early on in the piece, it’s a tight tussle, with the first episode of the second season of MediaWorks’ talent show charting slightly bigger ratings than TVNZ’s new reno-reality show. PLUS: TVNZ’s Our First Home game extends the show to the second screen.

News
Lightbox’s original sin
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Some of today’s best audio-visual content is coming from slightly surprising quarters. Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Vimeo and even brands like Chipotle are stumping up cash and proving that they can make great original shows, not just distribute them. And judging by a slightly misleading phrase on the promotional material for Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul, it seems like Lightbox wants to be in that club too.

News
All about the love
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Since we’ve already done a bit of a run down on what Kiwi brands been up to this Valentine’s Day, we thought we’d better see what kind of stunts went on further afield during the romantically charged weekend.

News
Data dump: papering over the cracks?
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For some, ink on paper is anachronistic and wasteful. For others, there’s still some romance to tangibility. And, unlike vinyl or CDs, books are still a pretty efficient delivery system for words and pictures as there are no batteries to charge, you can read it relatively safely in the bath and it’s resistant to sand. The media is predisposed to covering the old vs. the new. The old generally tends to lose, so ears pricked up after word of increased physical book sales and declining e-reader sales in major markets in December. So how are physical book sales tracking in New Zealand? And is it a blip or a curve?

News
How brands courted Kiwis on Valentine’s Day
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This past weekend again marked that time when advertisers tell us we’d better remind our loved ones of just how much we love them (because we don’t do it any other time of the year) by purchasing expensive jewellery, flowers or heart-shaped chocolates. We thought we’d take a look at what a few different brands got up to, to try and grab our attention on this year’s Valentine’s Day.

Opinion
Why I’m leaving Twitter
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Flossie founder Jenene Crossan never shies away from a public debate, so it comes a bit of a surprise to hear that she is leaving Twitter. Here’s why she’s had enough of communicating in 140 characters or fewer.

News
Land Rover and Y&R’s story of love found, lost, restored and reunited dishes up a dose of the feels, gains international attention
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Car brands love stunts, as evidenced by this cracker from Ford in the US. And car brands also love restoring old models/pimping out new ones, as evidenced by Holden’s 60th campaign and the bespoke Toyota Hiluxes created for Willie Apiata and Matt Watson. But Land Rover New Zealand and Y&R NZ have combined the two in a clever campaign that has brought joy to the hearts of many—and presumably some jealously to the hearts of those who wish it had happened to them. And there’s a special connection, as one of the recipients, Will Radford, is my tin-arse brother in law.

News
NZME Radio backtracks on research hiatus, finances its own survey—UPDATED
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In December, the radio industry came to an accord that the radio survey scheduled for the first half of the year would not occur. However, it now seems that after several weeks of contemplation, NZME has taken matters into its own hands and earlier today announced it will fully fund an independent survey of radio audiences in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. And this move has caught MediaWorks off-guard.

News
Raising funds through fashion: NZBCF tries to outnumber breast cancer with clever t-shirt campaign
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Scarcity is a powerful motivator, as anyone looking for a fancy chocolate milk in the past few months could probably attest, and the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, with the help of Previously Unavailable and DDMMYY, is trying to tap into that by selling 1000 different t-shirts that are numbered one to 1,000 and cost the dollar value of their individual numbers.

News
Pad up, marketers: brands embrace leather on willow as attention turns to Cricket World Cup
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Cricket mania, or, at least, slightly increased cricket enthusiasm, has hit New Zealand once again in the form of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, which kicks off tomorrow when the Blackcaps play Sri Lanka. And, like many large sporting events, plenty of big big brands are hoping to profit from all the attention. Here’s what KFC, Matua, Hyundai, the MPI and others are up to.

News
Wrestling with victory
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Some believe the Blackcaps are in the best form ever and have the best chance of winning the World Cup. And, given it’s taking place here, there are no shortage of supporters. Even the the World Wrestling Federation, which, as some have pointed out, are renowned match fixers, is backing us.

News
Balls to that: Tracta compares grass seeds to Buck Shelford
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The Super Rugby season is about to start. And we all know what that means: ads directed at farmers. So, to show the toughness of Seed Force perennials, Tracta enlisted the services of renowned hard man Buck Shelford and got him to tell the now-famous and eye-wateringly painful tale of a dangling bollock.

News
Havin’ a hoon on TVNZ’s new OnDemand platform
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Mat Yurow, the associate director, audience development, at The New York Times, wrote a great piece on Medium recently about the publishing industry’s “iTunes moment”. And it could be argued that TV is having an iTunes moment of its own as viewers are increasingly able to consume the shows (or, increasingly, the sports) they’re interested in on their own terms, online, and without the need for a channel brand or an all-you-can-eat subscription. TVNZ is embracing that change with its soon-to-be-updated Ondemand platform. And we had a preview to see what’s instore.

News
Auckland Council swears in Goodfolk and Alt Group to complete its triumvirate
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Following on from Auckland Council’s appointment of DDB as its lead agency, Goodfolk has been appointed the digital communications agency and Alt Group will be responsible for arts and culture communications. This announcement brings the long-running process to an end, and gives the agencies until the next mandatory RFP process to work with the Council. PLUS: Goodfolk wins Fletcher Building account.

News
Filming fashion
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The earnestness, thousand yard stares and various cliches seen in fashion ads are a fairly easy target, as seen in anything from Zoolander to Mercedes-Benz’ tongue in cheek Fistful of Wolves. But, given the importance placed on aesthetics in this industry, they generally look good and that’s certainly the case with a film shot by Vince McMillan, a director’s assistant at Exit Films, for AUT University’s fashion department.

News
20 popular iStock images showcase the shift in representations of love
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Over the last few years, Getty Images has been tracking the type of imagery that companies prefer to use when it comes to representing their brands. And what the company has found, is that brands are shifting from the stereotypical stock types and opting for more varied and diverse alternatives. And these trends are also being reflected in terms of the imagery that brands are using to depict love in 2015. Rebecca Swift, the director of creative planning at iStock, shares her views on how Kiwi and Aussie representations of love are shifting.

Opinion
The great comfort of bad Super Bowl ads
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Damon Stapleton reckons just 15 percent of the 100 or so Super Bowl ads could be classified as any good. And, given the pressure on agencies and clients to produce great work, that’s not such a good hit rate. But he believes the idea that being weird is a far greater sin than being average is one of the major reasons.

News
A smarter way to sleep
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It seems like almost everything is becoming ‘smart’ these days, or is at least in someway linked to the digital realm: smart phones, smart televisions, smart coffee machines, Google Glass, the Microsoft HoloLens, we could go on. And now Luna has found a way to bring the digital into the bedroom, with a prototype of the world’s very first smart bed.

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