Author Ben Fahy

Programmatic buying is still just a sliver of the total online ad spend, here and around the world (in New Zealand, it accounted for nine percent or $3 million of the total $31.4 million spent on online display in the last quarter). But it’s getting plenty of column inches and that spend is trending upwards. Most of the big media players have invested in or have access to trading desks and demand side platforms, and many ads for local brands now feature on international sites as a result. But Acquire Online’s Anthony Ord is aiming to get those clients and agencies to support local publishers a bit more by creating a list of 156 different Kiwi sites that have offered inventory as part of a network buy.

National released its first campaign TVC this morning and there was plenty of discussion about it—and its soundtrack—on social media afterwards (as Tim Denee wrote on Twitter: “National STRONG like SPORTS TEAM. Other party weak like baby in lifejacket”). Now Labour’s followed suit and launched the TV execution of its Vote Positive campaign.

The National Party has been forced to make a few rugby analogies in recent days as it deals with the fallout from Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics. But it’s used a rowing analogy in its new TVC to try and show Kiwis it’s a smooth, well-oiled, economic machine that’s taking the country in the right direction and that its opponents are bumbling idiots.

Mobile development company Sush Mobile kicked off in 2008 and quickly gained a solid reputation for its various apps and solutions. And just six years later it has been bought by Asia Pacific financial tech company Finzsoft for $1.9 million.

27 years ago, Telecom was given its name. Today it’s officially giving itself a new one. As one of the country’s biggest ever rebrands rolls off the production line, we talk internal enthusiasm, teaser campaigns, customer sentiment, competitive responses and man-hole covers with Spark’s general manager of home, mobile and business Jason Paris and Spark Digital’s general manager services and solutions Jo Allison.

Banking is becoming increasingly mobile, with all the major banks offering apps and a whole range of different ways to pay, from Bump to Facebook to NFC-enabled stickers. And now The Co-Operative bank has joined the fray, albeit slightly belatedly, with what it’s calling “a ground-breaking new mobile banking app”.

Last night Campbell Live broadcast a show dedicated to the generosity of New Zealanders, GJ Gardner and various suppliers who pitched in to help a couple who had bought a house that was infested with termites. And it was a great example of the power of positivity—and the marketing value of good, genuine corporate citizenship.

For the past two elections, The Green Party’s messaging has been what national campaign director Ben Youdan calls “aspirational”. That’s worked very well, with its vote going from five percent to 11 percent in 2011, making it by far the fastest growing party. But for the 2014 election it’s getting slightly more confrontational, juxtaposing images of open-cast mines, oil spills, Auckland gridlock and poor children with its positive—and protective—campaign slogan of ‘Love New Zealand’.

After 14 years, the New Zealand Sponsorship Agency recently rebranded as Spur. And, as more brands see the benefits of creating experiences for customers that can then be amplified online, it seems the planets are coming into alignment for this small but growing agency.

One fact that has stuck with me over the years—and flashes up in front of me occasionally when I’m deep in a time-sucking online/social media rabbit hole—is that the same part of the brain that responds so favourably to pokie machines is the same part of the brain that responds so favourably to the constant arrival of notifications on your phone, in your inbox or on social networks. So, like digital meerkats, many of us are constantly popping our heads up and looking for the next information fix. And, as a recent Victoria University study has shown, the online realm is having an impact on our reading behaviour.

Back in 2010, tampon brand Kotex confronted the Netherlands and used the word vagina in an ad. Last year, Carefree followed suit and online tampon service Hello Flo went even further with a couple of hilarious spots. The same trend towards openness seems to be developing in the bum wiping sector, long a haven of rolly dogs, tacky euphemisms and smiling actors, and Kleenex Cottonelle has convinced comedian Madeleine Sami, someone who seems to revel in public displays of awkwardness, to get on board and spruik its moistened wipes to New Zealanders. PLUS: Why wastewater experts are waging war on ‘flushable’ wipes.