Uber, the ultimate disruptor, proven perhaps by the increasingly frequent reference of other tech innovations being dubbed as “The Uber of [insert tech innovation]”. And, it’s easy to see why. Recent results show Uber for business travel is doing extremely well with several companies jumping aboard the Uber bandwagon/cab.
Following on from our story on the work of NZ Herald data editor Harkanwal Singh, we recently also got glimpse of some of the work that the Stuff projects team is doing in the data journalism space. Stuff projects editor John Hartevelt chats about why the newsroom will become increasingly occupied by specialists not traditionally associated with journalism.
There’s plenty of action in the outdoor space at the moment, with yet more consolidation, a major new arrival and a continuing focus on developing digital out-of-home networks. And now iSite Media’s got a big new toy to play with, switching on its 8m wide x 16m high digital billboard in the Auckland CBD that has taken the crown as the nation’s largest.
After a rejection from main competitor McDonald’s to join forces and create the McWhopper for Peace Day, Burger King, with Y&R, graciously released another open letter this morning, with a further proposition for collaboration on the day. This time to Denny’s, Wayback Burgers, Krystal, Giraffas and again, McDonald’s.
This week has seen an executive shuffle at two of the nation’s major media players. Following on from reports that MediaWorks group head of revenue Liz Fraser had resigned from her post to take up a new position at Air New Zealand, NZME has today announced the appointment of Laura Maxwell as its group head of revenue and Sandra King as general manger of market solutions.
NZME has brought on board Irene Chapple as the NZ Herald’s new digital editor, who is returning to the Herald after ten years in other roles, and several years overseas.
During the Cricket World Cup, ANZ used its Dream Big initiative to get cut-through the marketing noise during the Cricket World Cup. Rather than focusing exclusively on the event, the bank brought its Black Caps sponsorship to life by travelling around the country showing its support for grassroots cricket by upgrading the facilities at various grounds around the country. And now, with the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, ANZ is at it again, this time renovating Waitemata Rugby Club in a new video posted to Facebook. The difference in this instance is that ANZ isn’t even a sponsor of Rugby New Zealand, the All Blacks or the Rugby World Cup.
We all have those friends or know at least one person who only smokes when they drink, who’s a “social smoker” or who will only buy a pack in the weekends. 72and Sunny released an ad tackling the issue of social smoking called ‘It’s a Trap’.
Today the Flag Consideration Panel announced the shortlist of the flag designs consisting of four, which eligible voters will rank in the first binding postal referendum later this year. Twitter responses on the matter range from ambivalent, to angry and some of them are, from our view, quite funny. The somewhat heated responses reminds us of other flag designs and national symbols which people loathed to begin with before they became beloved national icons. We take a look at a few examples after sharing some of our favourite tweets on the shortlisted designs.
Burger King, the New Zealand Fire Service, Icebreaker and James & Wells bask in the limelight on the first day of spring.
Pacific Magazines has confirmed that the Kiwi iterations of New Idea and Girlfriend will be discontinued and that it will not have any staff on the ground in New Zealand. And this has led to NZME serving termination notices to seven contractors and 15 staff.
Icebreaker has released a new ad called ‘Live wild. Be wild’, which is part of a larger campaign to be launched in New Zealand in the next six months. And as usual (and as has worked for it) the brand has again effectively emphasised a connection to nature.
Rob Limb argues that while the terms ‘precision’, ‘predictability’, ‘fact-based decision making’ and ‘real-time contextual automation’ are thrown around freely, marketers should still be focusing on the customers behind the numbers and ad tech.
As is often the case with cancer, the sufferer’s chances of recovery are drastically increased by early detection of the disease. However, when it comes to prostate cancer, many men tend to have inhibitions about having the rectal examination necessary to check for prostate abnormalities. For this reason, not-for-profit organisation Blue September has released a confronting message for its 2015 campaign that encourages men to “man up and give prostate cancer the finger”.