Air New Zealand cooked up a wee gem with its cheesy synchronised skiing clip a few weeks back. And Ford and JWT have also embraced synchronicity with a new campaign aimed at drawing attention to the five cars in its Focus range.
Dr Jane Cherrington, ex-head of the Mental Health Foundation, founding partner at now 16-strong agency String Theory, research director at The Briefing and self-confirmed ‘catalyst’, wants Kiwi businesses and marketing departments to thrive, adapt and do good. Here’s how.
Around one year after launching, One Plus One Communications has signed up as an affiliate of Publicis Groupe-owned MSL Group, which has more than 100 offices in 46 countries. And founder and managing director Kelly Bennett says the deal means it will be able to offer international muscle to local clients if the need arises, add international clients requiring assistance in this market to its roster and potentially work with other Publicis Groupe agencies in New Zealand.
ASB, McDonald’s and a double from Air New Zealand lift the cup this week.
This week Ian Thorpe revealed he was gay in an interview with Michael Parkinson. A few months back, Michael Sam and Jason Collins became the first openly gay men to be drafted into the NFL and NBA respectively. And New Zealand and many other nations have legalised gay marriage. So progress is certainly being made in the area of gay rights, at least in the developed world. But there’s still a long way to go. And as John Browne’s book The Glass Closet, ASB’s response to Thorpe’s news and OUTLine’s 100% OK campaign show, the business community can lead the way.
FCB has been running like a dream in recent years, and so has its media arm FCB Media, with four best in shows in the past five years at the Media Awards/The Beacons, a few big clients added to its roster and its integrated offering proving to be a major point of difference. But the world has changed and FCB Media has recently changed its structure to better suit it, with the skills of the digital department now being distributed more broadly across the agency. Managing director Derek Lindsay talks about its philosophy, adding value to clients’ businesses and addressing some of the perception problems media agencies currently face.
Back in the day, StopPress used to be an insert in the monthly NZ Marketing magazine until we put it online in 2009. Since then, the son has started eating the father and, like many publishers, a lot of the action has been online, which isn’t entirely surprising given the digitally-savvy sector we cover. We publish columns and some other content from the magazine on StopPress from time to time but, as the site was developed for news and short, snappy pieces, it wasn’t really suited to displaying the longer features. But now we’ve launched a new section dedicated to bringing some of that long-form content from the magazine to life online. PLUS: even more gratuitous self-promotion!
When it comes to reaching New Zealanders, ye olde traditional broadcast media is still on top, with the results of NZ On Air’s independent media consumption study showing the majority of Kiwis are still consuming lots of linear television and live radio every day. But music audiences, the young and the Asian community are leading the charge to digital platforms.
Whybin\TBWA has been through a fair amount of change since Todd McLeay took over in early 2013, both in terms of clients and staff. But, much to the agency’s relief, it has retained its biggest client after ANZ re-signed its trans-Tasman contract. PLUS: Yellow also picks the agency for a brand refresh.
It’s no secret that brands are increasingly moving away from traditional forms of paid media in favour of other options like branded content, native advertising and owned media, with a recent PWC report in Australia showing 67 percent of marketers were shifting their spend from bought to owned channels and a quarter of marketers spent between 20 percent and 30 percent of their budget building their own media channels. But Resene has been ahead of the curve in this regard, with its twice-yearly magazine Habitat launching back in 2004. And it is continuing that evolution with the launch of a new responsive, content-rich website www.habitatbyresene.co.nz.
There’s no better way to celebrate centuries of oppressive colonialism than with a series of sporting contests. Thankfully, we’ve got the Commonwealth Games for that. And while they might not be quite as prestigious (or popular) as the Olympics, official broadcaster Sky TV and NZ Olympic Committee sponsor ANZ are doing all they can to draw attention to the upcoming Glasgow games.
Time has been a fairly popular theme for Kiwi brands in recent months, with Hyundai running its Family Time Project and ANZ just releasing a couple of ads detailing how time really is money. TSB has also joined that club, with a new campaign via Special Group that aims to turn potential customers on to its business by promoting its ‘putting customers first’ philosophy.
FMCG is a pretty tough business to be in at the moment. And with Nielsen stats showing around 60 percent of all grocery purchases in New Zealand are bought on discount, the highest percentage of any developed nation, brands are trying everything they can to boost sales and margins. Geometry Global, the world’s largest shopper marketing and activation network, has recently opened its doors in New Zealand and it reckons it can help.
The Red Bull Stratos campaign, which saw madman Felix Baumgartner jump from a capsule approximately 39 kilometres above Earth, was one of the most watched brand-sponsored events in history. And Lion and DDB are attempting to do something similar, with a new campaign for Steinlager Pure that aims to drum up interest in Kiwi free diver William Trubridge and the upcoming effort to break his own world record of 101m.
True opened its doors in 2011 after a few senior protagonists from .99 felt the need to go it alone and break away from the nurturing bosom of The Clemenger Group. Like any new business, the first few years were tough going and it focused on growth rather than profit, but it’s gaining momentum, it’s working with big brands like Air New Zealand and Vodafone, it’s moving into areas outside traditional advertising and it currently employs 25 staff. Managing director Matt Dickinson spills the beans on its philosophy.
Telecom has announced that it will emerge as Spark on 8 August. But the powers that be say the new name is just one aspect of the company’s transformation into “a confident, forward-looking technology company”. In an edited version of an article originally published in the May/June edition of NZ Marketing, Ben Fahy looks at the thinking behind one of the country’s biggest-ever—and most controversial—rebrands and the important role chief operating officer Jason Paris played in the process.
Goodbye Pork Pie is to Mini in New Zealand as The Italian Job is to Mini in Europe. So, to drum up some interest in the new Mini Hatch in this part of the world, Mini, DDB and director Matt Murphy—the son of the original film’s director Geoff Murphy—set out on a mission to remake a classic scene from the movie. And the final clip premiered this week.
Australia is the biggest source of visitors to New Zealand, and they’re also pretty keen on Wellington. But there are some enduring misconceptions about the capital across the ditch, so in an effort to address them, Positively Wellington Tourism has enlisted the services of The Voice host Darren McMullan for a tongue-in-cheek self-promotional campaign. PLUS: Wellington pops-up in Auckland.
Despite some initial wailing when AIG took prime position on the All Blacks jersey—and all the other New Zealand rugby teams’ jerseys—the global insurance behemoth has been a pretty good tenant and has done a good job of getting its pound of flesh without causing too much animosity. Its global sponsorship agency Augusto has been responsible for a lot of that work, from the big launch ad, to a full page ad in The New York Times celebrating last year’s perfect season, to the documentary about Aaron Cruden’s ‘Road to Recovery’. And the pair have been busy lately with the AIG FanPic campaign, the launch of a new travel insurance product and the drumming up of interest in the All Blacks game against the US in Chicago in November.
Lion has put its digital business up for pitch, with the incumbent DAN, Gladeye and Young & Shand/Tailor thought to be in the running.
As a story in Adweek noted recently, “purpose transcends business and product (the what) and delivers on human principles (the why).” A lot of companies tend to tack this purpose on to the marketing department, or make it part of a corporate social responsibility programme. But All Good Organics, as the name implies, has goodness running through its veins and its efforts have been rewarded with a global award as the fairest trader of them all, beating out 27,000 products from 120 countries that carry the Fairtrade mark.
For some consumers, auto-play video is an annoyance that has them searching for the x or mute buttons. For many publishers, it’s a good way to tap into the rise of online video, which, according to the IAB’s numbers for the last quarter, has increased its share in New Zealand from 12 percent to 17 percent YoY (with a total of $120 million last quarter, that equates to around $20 million). And APN is aiming to get a bigger slice of that pie with the launch of In-Read video, a new advertising unit that shows video within its editorial environments.
In days gone by, the only thing a plastic beer bottle at the rugby was good for was throwing in the air during a Mexican wave (and making your beer warm). But Steinlager and DDB have found a way to make the bottle more useful with a social media campaign called #AllBlackSnap that’s running during the three test series against England.
Tux, TVNZ and Greenpeace raise their bats and ackowledge the crowd this week.
After a competitive pitch, Post Creative has been brought on to ‘engineer influence’ for the Green Party’s upcoming election campaign. PLUS: which agencies are working with the other major parties?
After around 18 years of fusing art with commerce, events and media company Madant has morphed into Uno Loco. And with clients increasingly looking to create experiences, not just ads, and with events companies increasingly dabbling in other areas, the planets appear to be in alignment for this successful yet under-the-radar business.
A Dog’s Show lives on as a Kiwi classic, and it was recently referenced by Ford and JWT in a quirky Fieldays-related spot. And now Assignment Group and Adam Stevens of Robber’s Dog have done the same, with a 60 second ad that shows a humble house dog being inspired by his rural canine forebears and fuelled by a bellyful of Tux to achieve the seemingly impossible: herding cats.
Jason Delamore took over as general manager, marketing and communications at Auckland International Airport around four months ago and his appointment marked the first time that marketing earned a place at the executive table. Here’s how he sees it playing a big role in achieving some of the airport’s bold 30-year goals.
