Author Ben Fahy

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Phone home
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Who’s it for: Telecom by Saatchi & Saatchi and Prodigy

Why we like it: It’s a fairly earnest, emotional affair, but it’s beautifully shot, well written and it uses a range of scenes and an accurate insight to show why so many different people are so …

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An ode to connection: Telecom and Saatchi launch new heartstring-tugging brand ad
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When it comes to smartphone usage overseas, the tipping point appears to be approaching rapidly. And while New Zealand is slightly behind in the smartphone uptake stakes, Telecom and Saatchi & Saatchi are hoping to increase the numbers by tapping into the emotional appeal of the devices and promoting their ability to aid all kinds of communication with its latest brand ad, one of the first pieces of work new executive creative director Antonio Navas has his name attached to.

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Non-guinea pigs unite as ecostore ramps up opt-out campaign on Facebook
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Ecostore’s latest campaign has been pushing the ‘I’m not a guinea pig line’ to encourage consumers to opt out of using nasty chemicals often found in other baby, beauty, body and household cleaning products. Now, in what it claims is a marketing first, it’s taking that idea a step further by trying to get consumers’ entire Facebook networks to do the same. 

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Super smart or super stupid? Super Liquor and Tangible launch unorthodox new brand-funded website
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Anyone who’s had the pleasure of working on a custom publication will understand there are certain promotional objectives that usually need to be met and plenty of hoops that need to be jumped through in an effort to please the client. But Super Liquor has taken a rather unique approach to this concept with its latest marketing initiative, a website called Super 10 that has been created in conjunction with Tangible Media and &Some over several months and aims to “save the world from work” with ten weekly nuggets of online interestingness.

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TBWA\ and 2degrees wake the sleeping giant in Next Top Model, as MediaWorks trumpets solid June
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MediaWorks has been in the news a bit recently, with the unexpected departure of its TV wunderkind Jason Paris and continuing discussion about the sizable debts of its owner Ironbridge. But it’s not all bad: its two-channel strategy appears to be paying off in terms of share, ad revenue is up and general manager of integration Melanie Reece says the “sleeping giant” of branded content and product placement is starting to wake up, as evidenced by the success of New Zealand’s Next Top Model and the inclusion of new sponsors like 2degrees into the show. 

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I’m thinking that ANZ and TBWA\ have launched a new ad campaign
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After the drama of the recent ANZ pitch, where Whybin\TBWA\ Melbourne took ownership of the account and ousted Kiwi incumbent DDB, everyone was interested to see what the big creative idea that supposedly won the day was. Now you can judge for yourself, because the bank’s first global ad campaign, which features Aussie actor Simon Baker in character as The Mentalist’s Patrick Jane, has been launched in Australia and Asia, with New Zealand soon to follow.

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2degrees opens for business, tapes man to billboard
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2degrees came out in March saying it had gained 11 percent of the consumer market since its launch around two years ago. Now it’s gunning for New Zealand’s business customers with new plans, a new TBWA\ TV campaign featuring a dizzying array of Rhys Darbys and a man strapped to a billboard.

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Supreme magazine honours supreme team with Steinlager-sponsored collector’s edition
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Where there is rugby, there is often beer, as anyone who’s visited the clubrooms after a game anywhere in New Zealand could probably well attest. And Lion and Tangible Media’s NZ Rugby World have joined forces to put out a special collector’s edition that takes an in-depth look at the All Blacks’ tremendous achievements over the past 25 years and is sponsored exclusively by Steinlager to coincide with the 25th anniversary of its support of the All Blacks and the launch of its new ‘We Believe’ campaign.

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Babies, beverages and bereavement
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Who’s it for: Westpac by .99 and Robber’s Dog

Why we like it: There’s no doubt dressing babies up in funny costumes and using them as props is both cute and hilarious (even when they’re dressed up as dictators, it seems). Westpac has done …

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July/August NZ Marketing gets the juice on businessman of the hour Stefan Lepionka
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Sometimes the planets align. On the same day the July/August edition of NZ Marketing magazine hits the shelves with a cover story about Charlie’s chief executive and co-founder Stefan Lepionka comes news that Japanese beverage giant Asahi has offered to take the company off his hands for $130 million. You can read all about the deal on the new Idealog website here and, if you want to find out how the business got to where it is now through a combination of savvy ‘gut-feel’ marketing, astute brand-building and good old-fashioned honesty, you can subscribe to NZ Marketing here. 

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Out-of-home, technology and pavement pounding collide in The Powerade Challenge
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For years, brands have created ads and placed them in appropriate media in the hope that they’d help sell more of their stuff. These days, brands are increasingly creating experiences in the real world that are relevant to the product and involving consumers in those experiences. And The Powerade Challenge, a 9km running course/interactive marketing campaign around Auckland’s waterfront, is a prime example of this shift. 

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Inspiration for breakfast: Sam Morgan helps launch pimped out Idealog (with pics)
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New cover, courtesy of DDB

Idealog was first launched six years ago and it has won best business magazine at the Magazine Awards every year since. Even so, when you’re putting out a mag focused on innovation, there’s always room for improvement, so co-founder and publisher Vincent Heeringa, ex-editor and digital boffin Matt Cooney (the NBR’s Hazel Phillips takes over in mid July), the Image Centre team and DDB, which was responsible for the cover concept and the small ad campaign, gave the old girl a good going over. The latest issue features new sections, a new lay-out, new writers and a soon-to-be-relaunched daily business news service and tablet offering, all filtered through the sieve of innovation and ideas. And to celebrate the transformation, Idealog invited Sam Morgan to speak about some of his business ventures and the importance of media that inspires New Zealanders to try turning their ideas into income.

 

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Westpac’s talkin’ bout your generations
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Ahhh, babies. So cute, so cuddly, so much potential, yet so financially illiterate. To help remedy that—but mainly to celebrate 150 years in New Zealand—Westpac, with the help of .99 and Robber’s Dog, has launched a new campaign called Gen W that’s offering 150 small Kiwi humans ongoing financial support and advice until they turn 18.

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Very animated
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Who’s it for: Toshiba by Clemenger BBDO Sydney and Yukfoo

Why we like it: It’s pretty tough not to become derivative and cliched with your marketing efforts if you’re a sponsor of the Rugby World Cup. Certain boxes just need to be checked. And we …

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Woman’s Weekly gets a spruce up, but exclusive deals issue casts a pall
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It’s been a fairly interesting period for the ladies mags recently. The old battle between ACP’s Woman’s Day and NZ Magazine’s Woman’s Weekly was spiced up considerably after a few big editorial switcheroos and a hearty debate about the pros and cons of brands signing exclusive deals with publishers. Now there’s even more excitement, with Woman’s Weekly undergoing its biggest change in more than a decade. 

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Mmmmm, Oliver Driver
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Oliver Driver is one of the go-to guys for MC duties these days. But what many people don’t know is that he is also a publishing luminary, as this short film created for the Magazine Awards shows.

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Ruggers rejoice as NZ Rugby World takes top magazine honours
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John Baker

If our office is any guide, there are plenty of bleary-eyed, slow-moving, grease-craving media folk today following the mid-winter Christmas party that is the Magazine Awards last night at the Pullman. And, after 56 awards across 14 categories were handed out, it was a night for the ruggers to celebrate, with Tangible Media’s NZ Rugby World taking home the top two awards of the night, supreme editor of the year for Gregor Paul and supreme magazine of the year.

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In Coke we trust
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Who’s it for: Coca-Cola by Hugh Mitton

Why we like it: Coca-Cola recently ran a worldwide crowdsourcing contest on the eYeka co-creation platform and asked participants to create an illustration, photograph or video of the brand to depict ‘energizing refreshment’. The contest saw over 2,600 entries …

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Corporate Cabs gets glossy with new in-car magazine
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Most airlines produce complimentary inflight magazines. It’s a captive audience of bored, high-value readers and this perfect publishing storm means Air New Zealand’s Kia Ora is one of the country’s most expensive magazines to advertise in. Now the same idea is being employed on the ground, with premium cab company Corporate Cabs releasing its own glossy ‘in-car’ magazine called ME, ‘your guide to a luxury lifestyle’.

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Four to the floor
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We’re taking the politically correct NCEA approach today. So we’ve chosen four winners.

Who’s it for: NZTA by Clemenger BBDO and Film Construction

Why we like it: It’s funny because it’s true. Nice to see NZTA using a bit of humour to get …

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As Yellow goes hard, Localist goes soft
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Yellow Local appears to have spared no expense in splashing itself around Auckland since launching, with its new hyperlocal offerings featuring on billboards, TV, online and in print. And while NZ Post’s Localist has been promising to launch—and promising to offer something better than Yellow—since late last year, it has taken a much different approach to that of its major competitor and soft launched the site on Friday.

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Beverages, biscuits and bygone rugby days
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Who’s it for: Mountain Dew by Colenso BBDO and Satin & Lace

Why we like it: For many years, Frucor has been giving Colenso heaps of cash so it can bring cool ideas to life. Then people start talking about it, Frucor sells truckloads more of its stuff …

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