With the help of .99, justONE and the marketing team led by last year’s marketer of the year finalist Dean Cook, Farmers has undergone a fairly remarkable business and brand transformation in the past few years. And now, in an effort to build on the success of the Farmers Beauty Card, which boasts over 700,000 members, it’s just launched the Farmers Club to extend the loyalty and rewards offering storewide.
Colenso BBDO is currently dealing with the loss of one of its biggest clients. But there was a ray of light last night at the Aotea centre when its ‘Home Alone’ ad for Pedigree Dog Food was given the newspaper ad of the year award and the creative team responsible for it took home the $10,000 booty.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development has just released a report that sheds some light on Auckland’s diverse creative workforce and its impact on the local economy. And the results make for surprising—and, if you like rubbing it in to Australians, impressive—reading.
The big news from the past few weeks was that Vodafone has decided to review its agency partners, which left the role of incumbent Colenso up in the air and led to speculation that a decision had already been made to move the account elsewhere without the agency being involved in a pitch. And while Clemenger Group chief executive Jim Moser admits Colenso is now out of the picture, resources have been shifted to .99, which will be the epicentre of the account for the next three months and is “going to participate aggressively” in the upcoming pitch.
3 News has already had a swipe at TVNZ’s poor coverage of the Christchurch and Japanese earthquakes with some comparative advertising earlier this year. And it’s keeping the pressure on the national broadcaster with a new campaign to promote the variety of news offerings available throughout the day.
Who’s it for: Royal New Zealand Air Force by Saatchi & Saatchi, Resn, Paragon Electronic Design and Kennedy Model Making.
Why we like it: We featured an ad that employed the services of miniatures in this section last week, but this week’s miniature thing has …
Life insurance is often seen as something of a morbid necessity and insurance companies often tap into the guilt factor to sell it. But Sovereign’s new campaign ‘Choose Life. Choose Sovereign’, which was developed by Whybin\TBWA and Tequila\ and continues a rebranding journey that began three years ago, aims to take a new, more positive stance on the role insurance plays in Kiwis’ lives with “a message of light-hearted empowerment”.
It looked like the writing was on the wall for Publicis Mojo when DDB was given the big 2011 project for Steinlager and Shine was handed the Southern Finishing School work a few months back. And the relationship is now officially over, with DDB taking over all things Steinlager and Shine taking over all things Speight’s.
Special Group took over Lion’s suite of Diageo products after it won a competitive pitch in June last year. But a decision to use more global creative for its Smirnoff brand means the local boys have been cut out the action for the time being.
Slacktivists the world over see Che Guevara as the personification of rebellion and often wear t-shirts to show just how rebellious they are. As such, he’s become something of an unlikely advertising icon, used to sell everything from lip balm to Smirnoff to mousepads. But local electricity retailer Powershop, fresh from a well-received satirical campaign featuring various dictators using their power differently, is up in arms after an Aussie energy drink company called Powerbeverage ripped off an online banner featuring the freedom fighter.
Print is often seen as the poor cousin of the media mix when it comes to creativity in advertising, especially when compared to some of the tricks now able to be performed in the online realm. But occasionally a publisher shows what can be done with good fashioned old paper and ink and NZ Rugby World has backed up its supreme accolades at the recent Magazine Awards with a very well-timed ‘barndoor’ cover on the August issue featuring our Dear Captain resplendent in Adidas’ new All Blacks jersey.
Who’s it for: Sky by DDB and Prodigy
Why we like it: On first viewing, it seems like just another over earnest rugby ad. Turns out it’s one of the funniest instalments of the Match Fit series so far. Taking rugby advertising cliches and poking some …
The attraction of lower prices, convenience and broader product ranges is swelling the ranks of Kiwi consumers choosing to shop online, both locally and on international websites. And, according to a report on the Australian and New Zealand online shopping market published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Frost & Sullivan, almost half of the New Zealand population will do just that in 2011, with each shopper spending an average of almost $1,400.
Following on from the recent spate of trademark bullying, with DB winning the rights to use the generic term “radler” and Fonterra now trying to claim “vintage”, Moa, which announced its slightly surprising sponsorship of the New Zealand Olympic team last week, recently received a letter from Jean-Luc Barnier, the chief guardian of the Champagne region, telling the brand to cease and desist on the use of the word champagne on its website. As you can imagine, this request went down well with the always well-behaved Moa team, who felt the letter was a particularly French way of going about things. So they sent Jean-Luc a uniquely Kiwi response: a lovely postcard of the Rainbow Warrior with the Te Reo equivalent of “fuck off” written on the back.
It’s hard to promote crap places, which means town branding campaigns often end up smacking of desperation (‘Milton: A Town of Opportunities’, for example). But you would think promoting a city that Monocle magazine recently ranked the world’s 16th most livable would be a much easier task. Sadly, due in part to the fragmented bureaucracy of the past, Auckland’s promotional efforts have been rather disjointed in recent years, especially when compared to the impressive destination marketing work done by the Wellingtonians and New Zealand as a whole. Now, however, after the birth of the Super City and the lure of all those domestic and foreign visitors expected to hit the Auckland streets during the Rugby World Cup, things have been turned up a notch or two.
First Ecoya’s sexy billboard on Auckland’s Fanshawe St featuring a naked woman astride a white horse was boldly stolen by mystery assailants. And now the same billboard has been given a slap by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Questions are hovering over the Telecom account as a result of its planned demerger, and there’s some fresh uncertainty surrounding one of its main rivals, with Colenso BBDO’s hold on the Vodafone account seemingly up in the air.
When Paul Henry was signed up by MediaWorks to host the drive show on RadioLive, there was an understanding he’d be involved in the occasional TV project as well. But aside from an interview on 60 Minutes, the bespectacled cackling offender has been slightly conspicuous by his absence on the telly. That will all change on Friday night when a self- (and dwarf) deprecating skit about his fictional quest to make the autobiographical potboiler What was I thinking into a movie airs on The Jono Project on TV3.
Telecom and the MED released a document on Tuesday about its plan to ‘demerge’ and split into two separate entities—the network division Chorus and the retail arm at this stage colloquially known as the ‘New Telecom’—as part of the conditions imposed by the government after its successful bid to build the Ultra Fast Broadband network. And the split, which still requires shareholder and bondholder approval, has led to a fresh round of speculation that it could be a catalyst for changes to its agency roster and might spell the end of Kevin Roberts’ position on the Telecom board.
Put yourself in the shoes of a rugby hater for a moment. Almost everywhere you turn you are bombarded by earnest, emotional ads from sponsors of the All Blacks or the Rugby World Cup talking about long-awaited victory, national pride, unwavering support and inner belief, while the ‘cluster ruck’ of domestic broadcasters (Sky, Rugby Channel, TV3, TV One and Maori TV) screening, repeating and analysing the Big Rugby Event (BRE) means it will probably be quite difficult to escape the tournament when it kicks off. No doubt, there is plenty of excitement in the air, but MediaWorks and Special Group have decided to zig while everyone else is zagging with a cheeky, entertaining new campaign for FOUR that references the overkill and positions the channel as ‘The Home of Not Rugby’.
Who’s it for: Kiwi bacon by Buffalo Creative and Curious
Why we like it: Firstly, it’s an ad about bacon and everyone likes bacon (except for the militant vegetarians who complained about Idealog’s new meaty and apparently deeply offensive e-newsletter because it was called The …
There have been a few charity auctions in recent times as various groups try to help out our beleaguered compatriots in Christchurch. But Saatchi & Saatchi has added a point of difference—and some heavy emotional resonance—to the typical charity auction for its 2011 Women’s Refuge campaign by using Trade Me as a portal both to tell the harrowing stories of those affected by domestic violence and to increase donations.
At a time when consumers are increasingly gravitating towards environmentally and socially responsible products, brands are increasingly ramping up their efforts to show their green stripes. Some of them are legit and based around a very real desire to create a better world, while many others appear to be indulging in a spot of greenwashing. But whatever the motivation, it’s a reaction to a definite and growing consumer trend and APN has responded with Element, “the country’s largest mass-reach social marketing magazine”.
Given Moa’s well-established reputation for marketing cheekiness and the involvement of Pead PR, Darryl Parsons and the lads behind 42 Below in the small but growing beer business, the StopPress cynics initially thought the announcement about the craft brewery signing on as a sponsor for the New Zealand Olympic Team had to be some kind of brazen stunt; another brave/foolish/possibly illegal attempt to gain attention at whatever cost. But, somewhat surprisingly, it’s all true, and Moa is now officially the ‘Beer for Olympians’, the first time a craft brewery has held this level of sponsorship in New Zealand or, as far as the Moans know, the world.
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” class=”oembed” > Advertising is a funny old game. One minute you’re winning global creative accolades for clients, the next you’re wiping away salty tears after being cast aside. That’s pretty much what happened after Orcon dropped Special Group late last year and shacked up with DraftFCB and the new pairing have come up with their first major piece of work, a rather retro, extremely bright and entertainingly self-aware retail campaign to sell its flash new hero product, Genius.
Labour’s political big wigs gathered together yesterday to fire the first election salvo and spell out the party’s intention to impose a capital gains tax if it wins power in November. And the campaign, which is being led by Image Centre Group and String Theory, hopes to persuade Kiwis to vote for the reds by playing on the ideas of fairness and ownership of the future.
There’s been plenty of discussion about the Major Events Management Act (MEMA) and the steps being taken by organisers to limit so-called ambush marketing during the upcoming ‘Big Rugby Event’. Some say the rules are too draconian and kowtow to the corporates, while others believe they’re fair enough because they aim to protect the sizable investment of the Rugby World Cup’s official sponsors. Urgent Courier’s Mobile AdVert has already come under fire from OMANZ for a possible breach. And we’ve found a campaign on AA’s Bookabach.co.nz that looks like it’s in a very similar boat.
When Nielsen launched its pimped out Consumer & Media Insights (CMI) research tool back in April, publishers’ mouths started watering at the prospect of being able to prove New Zealanders who read magazines and newspapers actually spent more, thereby showing print was a good place for brands to be seen. And while the first instalment of the new readership offering had a few teething problems, its new fused data approach has revealed there is “a strong connection between high household expenditure and print media readership”.
In an effort to ramp up the experiential side of its comms, 2degrees recently put its PR account up for pitch. And Spark Activate came out on top, beating out a suspected list of Pead, Mango, Eleven and the incumbent Bullet.
When we last spoke with indie agency Zephyr at the start of the year, they had just won three new pieces of business. Now the three sausage-loving partners—Robert Coulter, Warwick Delmonte and Quentin Pfiszter—may be cooking up a few more celebratory bangers after winning Lion’s McKenna bourbon account in a pitch involving Special Group and BCG2.