Monthly Archives: September, 2015

News
Home is where the Harcourts agent is: the real estate company gets emotive with first national brand campaign in nearly a decade
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Ads for real estate companies have long been filled with happy families, keys and smiling real estate agents and while these same tropes still apply, recently real estate companys’ ads have become a lot more heartwarming. A campaign for Harcourts via Contagion called ‘With you all the way’ illustrates this, and follows a young family and their experience as time passes and they move from house to house through a longstanding relationship with Harcourts.

News
From New York to Sydney
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In celebration of the launch of 236 episodes of Friends on streaming service Stan, New York’s most famous coffee shop Central Perk is heading to Australia. The real-life pop-up café will be opening in Hyde Park, Sydney for over two weeks.

Features
Deus ex machina?
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There’s automation for almost every aspect of marketing these days. So is there still room for human creativity? Damien Venuto ventures into the ad tech factory.

Features
Deus ex machina?
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There’s automation for almost every aspect of marketing these days. So is there still room for human creativity? Damien Venuto ventures into the ad tech factory.

News
Lewis Road Creamery cries over copied milk as Goodman Fielder aims for a slice of the premium market
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Lewis Road Creamery’s Peter Cullinane says the premium dairy brand he founded in 2011 has re-energised the white milk sector and now has over 50 percent of the organic milk market in New Zealand. Now Goodman Fielder has taken the cow by the teats and released its own range of three premium organic milks under the Puhoi Valley brand. But Cullinane has come out swinging, saying it is “pathetic plagiarism” and shows a “staggering lack of imagination”.

News
Stickman’s landscape to go pink for cancer
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In addition to venomous fauna and teenage hoodlums, the chromatic pairing of black and yellow has come to typify Pak ‘n Save in the Kiwi retail industry. However, this year, in a show of support for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF), Pak ‘n Save will set aside its colour allegiance and turn its ‘Number 8 wire’ ad pink in the ten days leading up to the annual Pink Ribbon Appeal, which takes place on 9 and 10 October this year.

News
As New Zealand interests evolve, have we reached peak rugby?—UPDATED
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Judging by the numerous rugby-related office discussions and the blanket media coverage—from the above board chat on outlets like Radio New Zealand to the below board banter inside a giant scrotum as part of the Alternative Commentary Collective’s Champagne Rugby, you could be forgiven for thinking the nation has a collective ‘code boner’ over the Rugby World Cup at present. But is rugby losing its lustre in New Zealand? And is there a limit to the All Black appropriation?

News
Masterchef NZ’s final episode ends on a high note after the series suffers a ratings slump–UPDATED
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It’s been a rough year for MediaWorks, with TVNZ reigning in the ratings department. And despite its hopes that its pick up of Masterchef NZ’s sixth season would pull a decent few pairs of eyes over to the network, the show has rated significantly lower than its preceding seasons. But, as Auckland physiotherapist Tim Read was crowned as Masterchef NZ 2015 last night, the show’s final episode went out on a ratings high. PLUS: Seven weeks on, Story’s ratings are no match for Seven Sharp’s.

News
The biggest driver distraction
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The New Zealand Transport Agency has run various campaigns encouraging drivers to focus when behind the wheel. Much of the attention thus far has been placed on the distractions caused by mobile phones. However, a recent investigation conducted by Jono and Ben has found there might be a much bigger problem that’s being largely overlooked—namely, giant billboards featuring scantily clad All Blacks all over the nation.

News
Griffin’s inspires some of the tiniest bakers you ever did see through a recipe competition
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Griffin’s recently launched an online competition campaign called ‘Super Little Bakers’ via Assignment Group, which urges kids (or rather, their parents) to submit recipes to a micro-page within Griffin’s Facebook to go in the draw to win prizes. An overall winner will be crowned Griffin’s Super Little Baker of 2015 by the end of the week, after over 170 recipes were submitted.

News
A day in advertising rendered in emojis
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Emojis are on their way to global takeover. They’re appearing in all sorts of campaigns, including a recent spot by Spark for Morepork home security, which features a family of emojis that talk and think in emojis. Even the Pope has been emojified. Digiday asked ad creatives, strategists and account manage to describe a day in their lives with emojis, here are the results.

News
Whittaker’s re-enacts Rugby World Cup stories with chocolatey protagonists
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With the entire nation not necessarily willing to wake up ridiculously early to watch all games of the Ruby World Cup, daily highlight reels are playing an important role in keeping fans informed of the daily proceedings. And Whittaker’s is now getting in on the highlights action but it’s going about in a very different way. Rather than showing clips from the actual games, the chocolate company, recently chosen as New Zealand’s most trusted brand, is re-enacting key events with the use of All Blacks chocolates and an assortment of children’s toys and posting these to its Facebook page.

Partner articles
Quiz: How regional are you?
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New Zealand is increasingly seen as two nations: Auckland and the rest. Unsurprisingly, the growth in Auckland is sucking up plenty of attention—and plenty of money. But ‘the rest’ is still crucially important to the nation’s prosperity and the regions remain the engine of the Kiwi economy. Marketing is all about understanding—and connecting with—your target audience. And when it comes to media habits, those in the marcomms sector, as last year’s Nielsen survey showed, can’t really be described as normal. As a result, city slickers who work in this industry are in danger of falling into an urban echo chamber and may not understand the important role newspapers still play in the regions (who’s going to argue with Warren Buffett and WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell?). So test—and improve—your regional knowledge by taking our quiz and all those who complete it will go into the draw to win a two night Air New Zealand Deluxe Mystery Break for two somewhere in New Zealand*.

News
The incredible shrinking queue
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Having recently had himself 3D-printed as part of Spark’s promotional push for the release of the iPhone 6, Henry Oliver looks at whether the concept of queuing for readily available items might soon become a thing of the past.

News
MediaWorks issues cease-and-desist letter to NZ Blokes
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MediaWorks has taken legal steps against online men’s brand NZ Blokes, sending the editors of the site a cease-and-desist letter in regard to the promotion of an event called NZ Crate Day on the NZ Blokes Facebook page. The letter from MediaWorks stipulates NZ Blokes recently commenced marketing activities in relation to the NZ Crate Day and that this constitutes an infringement given the similarity between the names and the fact that both events were scheduled to occur on 5 December.

News
Another Kiwi surprise from Heineken
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As an official sponsor of the Rugby World Cup, Heineken is one of the few companies that’s actually allowed to mention the event by name. And given this privilege, the company has been incorporating the event into much of its recent advertising.

News
A beat that stays with you
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As indicated by the proliferation of headphones fastened to the ears of runners and gym goers, a personal soundtrack has become something of a necessity for an exercise regime. Given this affiliation between music and exercise, organisations such as Beats by Dr Dre has released a plethora of ads featuring sports stars using its products. Similarly, Spotify has also been making moves into this space, developing playlists specifically targeted at those engaging in exercise. And now, the music streaming service has taken it one step further by launching a feature that plays tracks matched to the pace the runner is moving at.

News
Served but not seen: how the industry is dealing with the issue of viewability
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Since online advertising first emerged, publishers have been selling their ads with the promise that they’re targeted to specific audiences and trackable. And this is true to some degree. The tech platforms available on the market today certainly do have the ability to serve ads onto specific websites, but whether those ads are seen by humans or anyone at all is completely different issue.

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