Monthly Archives: May, 2015

News
‘Whatever it takes’: John Campbell celebrates another victory
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Today, Campbell Live tweeted a clip of a song ‘Love lifts us up where we belong’ to celebrate the fact that it was the number one show on TV3 once again last night. Despite its recent ratings boost, the show is still under official review by MediaWorks, but the team is regularly showing its gratitude to the viewers for supporting it and making the decision to get rid of it more difficult for the powers that be. It’s also maintaining its competitive streak and trying to beat the opposition, which it did in entertainingly petty fashion last night.

News
Over 900,000 tune in as The Bachelor NZ gallops over the finish line*
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After farts, contestant scandals and fiery familial encounters, The Bachelor NZ concluded on Wednesday and, according to data from Nielsen, the finale attracted 900,500 viewers. This number averaged out at 461,1000 over the course of the show, and the ratings show that 227,100 viewers in the 25-54 demographic tuned in to watch Art Green choose Matilda Rice over Dani Robinson.

Opinion
Talking it up: why communications make reputations
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Last week, Colmar Brunton and Wright Communications’ released the first annual Corporate Reputation Index, with Air New Zealand, Z, Fisher & Paykel, Toyota and AA Insurance coming out on top. And those on the list prove that good communication is integral to business success, says Nikki Wright.

News
The world’s greatest outdoor innovation?
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New products fail more than they succeed. But that doesn’t seem to stop brands from continually ‘innovating’ and making more of them, no matter how impractical they might be. And Rhodes and Rose has riffed on that with a great promo for the Flextrek 37,000,000,000,000.

News
From Beacons success to future musings: FCB Media’s Rufus Chuter on the state of the industry
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At the first two first editions of the revamped Beacon Awards, there wasn’t much open space available on the FCB Media table on account of the sheer number of gongs the agency had collected over the course of the respective nights. At this year’s edition of the flashy awards evening that again seemed more akin to boxing event, the agency picked up a total of 13 awards, which is believed to be the highest number in the history of the event. Coinciding with this strong run of form is the tenure of FCB Media’s head of strategy Rufus Chuter, who joined FCB from London’s MEC in May 2012. And StopPress recently chatted to him about industry.

News
Air New Zealand plays on the emotion of aviation to round out its 75th
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Air New Zealand has run the full marketing gamut for its 75th anniversary celebrations, from the Te Papa exhibition (and associated travelling plane nose), quirky inflight experiences, social media giveaways, big discounts and plenty of archival footage put to very good use in its advertising (although, disappointingly, it’s removed its 50 Cent tribute video). Much of that has been quite whimsical, which is in keeping with the brand values. But it’s wrapped all that activity up and tried to hit the audience right in the feels with a 60 second brand ad that shows how the history of the airline is inextricably linked to the history of the nation.

News
Speight’s online competition promises to cure shed envy for ten Kiwis—UPDATED
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Earlier this year, Speight’s introduced Kiwis to Little Henry, the not-so-little Kiwi bloke who gathered his friends together to build a glorious shed featuring masculine decor, a dartboard and pull-out barbecue. This ad no doubt created envy in the hearts of many loyal Speight’s drinkers and the brand has now responded by launching an online competition that will give ten* lucky Kiwis a similarly legendary shed.

News
Kiwi as on Dot Kiwi
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A year ago, Angus Richardson introduced the first .kiwi URLS through his company Dot Kiwi. And since then, thousands of Kiwis have signed up to give their website—whether business or personal—a more Kiwi flavour. Included among these are the Mad Butcher, Porter Novelli, the Vodafone Warriors, Kiwibank (via a subrand), Tennis NZ and Rowing NZ. We look at some of the funny URLs registered thus far and chat to Richardson about how the business is going.

News
The digital hunt for Nessie
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Google is always looking for creative and enticing ways to get people using its services, and its latest initiative is to give amateur paranormal investigators the power of Google Maps to search for the Loch Ness monster from the comfort of their homes.

News
Rise of the machines: Spark’s Kate Thomas on shifting spend, expanding social and developing ideas
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Ever since Spark unveiled its new brand, it has worked hard to redefine itself as an innovative and nimble organisation capable of appealing to Kiwis across all demographics. And given that many within its target market are shifting their media consumption to the digital space, this has seen Spark follow the audience by releasing some major digital plays over the last year. And Kate Thomas, a senior communications manager at the telco, says this is only the start of the journey.

News
Charting change with social data
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There’s nothing more satisfying that than a good graph that shows trends over time and Bloomberg, one of the many media organisations focusing more on data journalism, has knocked it out of the park with a recent infographic that tracked the pace of social change in the US by looking at how long it took for inter-racial marriage, prohibition, women’s suffrage, abortion, same-sex marriage and marijuana tobe legalised.

News
Clicking for cars: how digital and mobile are changing the auto industry
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The local car industry had its best year ever last year, with a 12 percent increase in new car sales. And the growth looks set to continue, with 750,000 New Zealanders planning to buy a car over the next year. But the way they’re buying them has changed significantly in recent years and, according to Nielsen data, 78 percent are reaching for their keyboards to help them make a purchase decision. PLUS: what the rise of mobile search means for advertisers.

News
Special wins Holden’s hand after advertising duel
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After separating from its long-time agency Ogilvy, Holden decided to choose its new creative partner in a novel way by giving the two top contenders FCB and Special Group their own real world tests. And it’s Special Group that has come out victorious.

News
Get with the program(matic): the meaning behind the jargon
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DSP, SSP, DMP, pixel, impression, ad network, ad exchange, API, SDK. There’s no shortage of buzzwords in digital advertising. So, in the first edition of a new series, Adroll managing director for Australia and New Zealand Ben Sharp demystifies some of the words that make things seem more complicated than they really are.

News
Viva la revolución: Orcon brings back Raoul for more ISP madness
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Orcon has also taken a few shots at its competitors by pointing out that they throttle customers’ broadband speeds. This criticism was first introduced via an Orcon TVC released last year that introduced Kiwis to Raoul, a revolutionary figure clad in purple military fatigues who seems determined to bringing to what he sees as ISP injustices. And this colourful character—with his oscillating accent—has returned in a new spot that is even more bizarre than those that came before.

News
An issue in your hands
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There are many creative uses for bodily fluids, like semen being used for secret messages, religious icons being soaked in urine for art, or Whybin\TBWA adding the claret of some All Blacks to an Adidas poster (and going on to win a whole heap of awards). Now Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland and Austrian progressive men’s magazine Vangardist have taken that idea even further by adding HIV positive blood to its ink and trying to end the social stigma surrounding the virus.

News
Spark shifts direct account from Rapp to Proximity, aims to bring data and digital closer together
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After an eight-year partnership, Spark has parted ways with its direct marketing agency Rapp and appointed Clemenger-owned Proximity to the account “following a review of agency requirements”. PLUS: ASB general manager of marketing Ana Curzon to start her new role as Spark’s general manager of digital first on 18 May. UPDATE: Air New Zealand Airpoints has appointed Rapp to its account following a competitve pitch.

News
When giving doesn’t help
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The city of Cape Town has launched a new campaign designed to encourage South Africans not to give small change to those on the street, because it does little more than keep them there.

News
Spark continues throwing around the S6 swagger
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Justin Bieber said he was going to repeatedly do it on people in his track Boyfriend; Jay Z claimed to have invented it; journalists have predicted the death of it since 1982; it has made it onto various lists of words that should die immediately; and now Spark has added the word swag—derived from swagger—to its marketing vocabulary via an ongoing campaign that now includes two new spots.

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