Monthly Archives: October, 2015

Partner articles
Up Country: the Nelson Mail’s Victoria Guild on the allure of local content, the paper’s digital audience and Fairfax’s newsroom shake-up
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In conjunction with News Works, the Up Country series talks with some of New Zealand’s top regional newspaper editors about the performance of their titles in print and online, the role local news plays in regional communities, where they see the industry going and why advertisers should stick with them. Next up, Victoria Guild, editor of the Nelson Mail.

News
When the future finally arrives
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In two days it will be the 30th anniversary of Marty and Doc’s journey from the 1980’s to 2015. And to celebrate Pepsi is releasing a limited run of Pepsi Perfect, the futuristic looking Pepsi bottle in the second instalment of the Back to the Future films, while Toyota has released a car based on the fuel cell technology of the DeLorean.

News
Wake up and smell the belief
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Steinlager has gone to an extra effort to ensure rugby fans get up early to watch the game (and perhaps crack open a few Steinys later), by introducing the ‘Steinlatte’.

News
Spark thought to have given Shine a juicy strategic bone
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When we asked Spark back in September if its creative account was up for pitch, a spokesperson said no, but said a group of agencies was working on a brand project and they were asked to come back with ideas on a specific problem. But it’s thought that pitch process was much bigger than a project, and Shine appears to be the first to benefit from it.

News
The Irish Piggy Sue
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When Vodafone launched the Piggy Sue campaign earlier this year, the response from the public was generally good, with Kiwi viewers enjoying the story of the lost pig and her adventure with the big-hearted courier driver. And it seems this story also pulled at the heartstrings of a few people in the international market, because Vodafone Ireland has just released its own scene-by-scene remake of the Piggy-Sue campaign.

News
A promise that can’t be erased
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In an effort to hold politicians accountable to their promises, a cheeky Canadian tattoo parlour called MTL has launched a campaign offering a free tattoo to politicians willing to ink their campaign promises to their flesh.

News
Gashes, wounds and Christmas sweaters: DDB dips toe into fashion design for Fargo promo
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For the launch of the second season of hit TV series Fargo, Neon has launched a hilarious campaign that brings together Mid-Western sweater fashion with the largely unexpected horrors that take place in the show. Called Fargo Woollens, the campaign features a collection of actual sweaters, which have been made specifically for promotional push. The products stay true to the ugly sweater style that is often celebrated by American families during Christmas time, but the design also feature gory elements in the shape of gashes, knife wounds and cleaver assaults.

Opinion
Simon Wilson’s magazine manifesto
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After around five years as editor of Metro, Simon Wilson recently sent his final issue off to the printers and stepped into a new role where he aims to do more writing and less wrangling. And he signed off with an editorial that editors—and advertisers—could all learn something from.

News
A guarantee, of sorts
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Whether it’s ‘natural’, ‘supports’, ‘may’, ‘favourite’, ‘leading’ or ‘from’, the wording in ads is often suitably vague, makes claims that can’t really be disproven and regularly embraces the art of omission. Guaranteed is generally not a word placed in that category, so we couldn’t help but notice a fairly bold claim in a Vodafone ad in the business section of today’s Herald that talked up the benefits of getting a new phone.

News
A tweet oh so fowl
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Australian fast food chain Chicken Treat has handed its social media account to an actual chicken named Betty. But this isn’t the usual automated tweet approach. Instead, Chicken Treat has put a keyboard in a chicken’s coop and allows the chicken to peck away at whatever keys it chooses. And from the absolute gibberish that has been tweeted thus far, it’s evident that this chicken is not gifted in the literary arts.

News
Illuminated pedestrians
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To draw attention to the tech underpinning the headlights of its new A4 model, Audi has launched an innovative piece of outdoor advertising that picks up on pedestrians and illuminates them while they are crossing the road. In addition to illustrating the mobility of the lights in the system, the activation also serves make those crossing the road more visible when the streets are dark.

News
Dances with lone wolves: report shows Kiwi tech exporters lagging behind on digital marketing smarts
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It seems like there’s an unending wave of innovative products coming out of the New Zealand tech sector at the moment. We’re making software and hardware for use in everything from nanotechnology to aerospace to kitchens to shops. And we’re not keeping it to ourselves. But, according to the latest Market Measures survey, New Zealand’s technology exporters are well behind their US competitors in using digital marketing techniques to sell themselves and their products.

News
Who you gonna call? Kiwi horror movie creates ghost spotting app
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We’re quite partial to the Monster Detector app here at StopPress, which lets kids (and maybe a few adults) rest easy after a quick scan of the bedroom. And to promote the Halloween launch of indie New Zealand film The Deadroom, Centron Pictures and Stun have employed some similar technology, creating a ‘paranormal investigation’ app that shows ghostly activity in your photos.

News
Attitude Live wins global award, attempts to get businesses to see the opportunity in the growing disabled community
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Back in 2013, Attitude Group, which has been telling the inspiring stories of New Zealanders living with disabilities, recovering from injuries and dealing with health problems since 1992 and broadcasting on TVNZ since 2005, moved into the online realm with Attitude Live. The site runs versions of its broadcast content, offered live streaming of the Sochi Winter Olympics and has been steadily growing its audience. And for its troubles, it beat competition from 86 countries to win the “inclusion and empowerment” category at the United Nations-based World Summit Awards and was also named by the Grand Jury as “best and most innovative digital innovation with high impact on society 2015”.

News
The scary reality of retail robots
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It’s happening, the robots are preparing for world domination. Well, not really, but they are beginning to take our jobs. Here’s a few examples of robots who have made it to the shop floor as retail assistants.

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