There’s been a whole heap of chatter about Anchor’s new light-proof bottles over the past few weeks, plenty of it negative. But one month after the first bottle was produced, Fonterra Brands’ group marketing manager Craig Irwin says the innovation is already paying dividends in terms of increased sales and share.
It’s not unusual to see marcomms work for the New Zealand market that’s been done by our dear Australian friends. But Auckland independent Lassoo Media and PR has been reversing that trend recently after being enlisted to carry out trans-Tasman work for clients like Cavalier Bremworth, Trilogy and, most recently, The Comfort Group, which owns Sleepyhead and Sleepmaker, amongst other brands.
A few weeks back, Clemenger Group chief executive Jim Moser was welcoming a new business to the family as justONE was fused with .99. And now he’s farewelling one of the family after selling direct mailhouse and digital print provider Mailshop back to managing director Deidre Ross.
Mt Maunganui-based full-service agency Wave has been operating for around 20 years, but after a long, hot summer, it’s decided to give itself a brand refresh—literally and figuratively.
Tegel Foods Ltd, the market-leader in New Zealand for the production and retail of poultry, has had a scratch around in the dust that is ad land and, after a competitive pitch, has chosen DraftFCB as its full-service agency.
Kevin Kenrick has been at the head of TVNZ’s table for around a year now. So what has he learned and what does he see in TV’s tea leaves?
Around 15 percent of Cadbury’s total revenue is thought to come over Easter. So it’s a very important time of year for the Kraft/Mondolez-International-owned chocolate makers. And, judging by the fact that its Easter ad won the March round of Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award, it might even be higher this year.
Lumps and milk don’t generally go too well together. Except when it comes to Primo Pineapple Lumps milk, which is the first of a few planned licensing deals between Kraft/Cadbury and Fonterra Brands over the next couple of years.
Silver Fern Farms’ rural education and a remarkable turnaround for a Phoenix Juice drinker take the biscuit this week.
For years, pessimistic pundits have been talking about the death of TV. But TV viewership is still as strong as ever, and ad revenue is standing fairly firm. One thing that has definitely changed, however, is the integration of brands into programming and the ability of social media to light fires underneath content, as evidenced most recently by the launch of the X Factor NZ—and the way broadcasters are now working more closely with marketers and creative agencies to come up with original branded content ideas.
The Great Phone Wars of the early Teenies have been escalating recently, with Apple fans regularly lining up for the latest toy (as comedian Tom Gleesson said at the Comedy Gala, Apple’s next move will probably be to release a product that doesn’t fit existing plugs so we’ll have to rewire our houses and we’ll still say ‘thanks Apple’) and Samsung making fun of their blinkered devotion in some of its ads. But in this new spot for the Nokia Lumia by Crispin, Porter + Bogusky and Roman Coppola, Windows thinks both of the obsessed, bickering factions should take a look at another option.
At first glance, using old ads for a new campaign seems like an easy option. But the story behind Mitsubishi and Clemenger BBDO’s campaign to celebrate the return of the Mirage proves that theory wrong.
Small independent creative agency ProCreation has won the Super Liquor business in a competitive pitch, beating out rumoured contenders including the incumbent .99, Running with Scissors/Tangible Media and Social Fabric.
The last Massey University ad was the first in New Zealand to be filmed on an iPhone. And its latest campaign, the first television ad shot entirely on Massey’s Albany campus in its 20-year history, once again features vice-chancellor Steve Maharey talking up one of the innovations the university had a hand in: the Hulme Supercar.
New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where Red Bull isn’t the number one energy drink, with Frucor’s V taking that honour. But it’s aiming to rectify that—and make more of its burgeoning content business—by appointing Special Group as its creative agency.
With a tongue in cheek riff on Eastern Bloc sporting stereotypes (and particularly shotputting drug cheat Nadzeya Ostapchuk), Phoenix Juices and Assignment Group are aiming to show that its Organic Good Energy drink offers all the buzz, “but without all the teeth grinding, wall-smashing and three year competition bans.”
Not content with the attention it receives in the trade media after an award win, Special Group has made a habit of paying to get a bit more of it by placing full-page ads in the Herald, making it one of a rare few ad agencies that actually advertise. And it’s done some more showing off after winning Best in Show at the Media Awards alongside Naked/Open for Unitec’s ‘We make the people who make it’ campaign.
Mergers and acquisitions have been fairly rare throughout These Difficult Times, but the Clemenger Group has made a significant addition to its communications coterie and is hoping to create a formidable advertising force by fusing .99 and direct/CRM/1-to-1 agency justONE.
News Works NZ revamped its newspaper ad of the year awards programme last year, and it’s continued to innovate with the arrival of the Agency League, a points-based scoring system for the newspaper ad of the month award that aims to tap into the competitive nature of creative agencies.
DB Export’s twisted love story, Genesis Energy’s comparative number and a slightly frustrated Dan Carter get a back pat and a bum slap.
Creative folk are always coming up with ideas and finding ways to execute them during the day and then going home and doing the same thing at night, whether it’s a business, an app, a film or some other diversion. Saatchi & Saatchi’s digital creative director Nathan Cooper is certainly in that category, and, with the help of a few industry friends, he has just released his first short film about “a perilous journey across the gulf of booze-induced amnesia” called The Beer Scooter.
For the past few years, Unitec, Special Group and Naked—which has recently closed and been reborn as Open—have tried to bring a bit more chutzpah to the education sector and change the impression of the institution in potential students’ minds, first with the ‘Change Starts Here’ docu-ads and then with the trade-focused follow-up, ‘We Make the People who Make it’. And in a slightly surprising victory, the campaign managed to beat out the big boys for the best in show prize at last night’s Media Awards at the Langham.
.99 is often thought of as a retail shop. That is its main area of expertise, of course, and there’s no doubt its production processes and studio facilities are a big part of its appeal to clients—and one of the major reasons it won five out of five pitches in recent months and managed to recover super quickly from a horror year in 2012. But it has had its creative moments as well, perhaps none more so than the inflight videos for Air New Zealand, and it’s shown its creative stripes once again for one of its new clients Genesis Energy, with a brand refresh that centres around a split-screen TVC that shows how the company is ‘in it for you’.
The Auckland Unitary Plan is an important step for the future of the country’s biggest city. So, rather than leaving it to the usual folk who interact with/complain about the bureaucrats, it’s hoping to get a wide range of society to consider the issues and help guide the decision-making. And to help do that, and at the same time simplify some rather complex issues, Auckland Council has released an online housing simulator.
Not long ago OHbaby! was announcing the launch of its new tablet edition. And now the independent title is celebrating another milestone: its first ever mainstream TV ad.
US craft beer exports rose 72 percent last year compared to 2011 numbers and while New Zealand still has a long way to go to reach the approximately 15 percent of market share craft beer holds stateside, similarly impressive growth trends exist in New Zealand. So as the movement gains steam—among both brewers and drinkers—Super Liquor is aiming to bring those two segments closer together with its Craftology initiative, which is part loyalty scheme, part content marketing and part kerrazzzee idea dreamed up while sitting around having a beer.
The news that Naked was shutting up shop in New Zealand surfaced a couple of weeks ago, and there were a few differences of opinion from the major players on the reasons behind the closure. But Matt O’Sullivan, as expected, has now launched his new entity: Open.
We live in fat times and the supposedly duplicitous actions of the companies responsible for producing the food and drinks that play a part in this bodily expansion are often blamed for it. But the Government is attempting to address the issue and has signed off on new standards for health claims on labels that aim to reduce misleading marketing and help consumers make better-informed decisions.
Give praise for the return of Tim, the rebirth of Hubbards and the arrival of Tip Top’s Nourish Our Kids.
The New Zealand outdoor marketplace now has a big new name in its midst, with the biggest player in the Australian outdoor market rebranding nearly one thousand poster and billboard sites across New Zealand’s shopping centres, universities and Auckland airport from Eye to Ooh! Media.