Rainger Connect and Rolfe Limited have merged to form a new agency called Rainger & Rolfe. Managing partners Ant Rainger and Jen Rolfe have each left their respective offices in favour of a new digs in Parnell, which now brings 10 staff members and about a dozen key clients under the same roof.
Whybin\TBWA has lent its creative talents to the cause of autism by producing a thought-provoking campaign for Minds for Minds. By giving a polarised snapshot of the contrasting perspectives of neurotypicals and those suffering from the disorder, Whybin hopes to encourage people to learn more about a problem that affects 45,000 families in New Zealand.
TVNZ has caved in to public pressure and will now broadcast the Grammy Awards twice on 27 January: first live on TV2 at 2pm and then delayed on TV ONE at 9.15pm.
Watching the promotional launch of DB Export Citrus left everyone here at StopPress longing for the neck-warming mullets, fiery wells and soothing Latin charms that pervaded the Export Dry, Gold and 33 TVCs.
BNZ has announced an update to YouMoney that enables users to add accounts dedicated to specific items via a smartphone. And to spread awareness of the update, the blue bank has also launched a social media competition that asks Kiwis to share pictures of things they want via social media channels.
In 2013, many Kiwi music fans were left with a Big Day Out-shaped hole in their hearts on account of the event being pulled due to the disappointing 2012 lineup resulting in poor ticket sales. But this year, with Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire, Deftones and Snoop of the canine or feline persuasion making an appearance, the hype has attracted not only fans but also a few Kiwi businesses. Here’s what attendees can look forward to at this year’s event.
Judging by the prevalence of orange T-shirts at the recent T20 match between the West Indies and the Black Caps, it’s clear that cricket fans are very keen to get their hands (or hand) on one of 12 cash prizes of $100,000 that Tui is giving to spectators who make a one-handed catch while at the West Indian and Indian T20 and ODI games during the 2013/14 season.
Building on the success of 2013’s campaign that required fans to guess who died in the last episode, TVNZ has now launched Shortland Street Car Park, an interactive multimedia campaign that has been initiated in conjunction with Holden.
Clemenger BBDO has once again delivered for the New Zealand Transport Agency with a new ad that targets drivers who think it’s safe to exceed the speed limit by only a few kilometres per hour.
Mike Hosking and Toni Street will be joining Jesse Mulligan as the presenters of Seven Sharp in 2014. To make way for the new pair of faces, current presenter Ali Mau and stand-in presenter Tamati Coffey will accompany Seven Sharp producer Mauricio Olmedo-Perez as they exit the TVNZ offices for the last time on 20 December. PLUS: Willie Jackson to return to RadioLive.
In an effort to maintain viewers’ curiosity levels while Shortland Street is on hiatus, TVNZ has devised an interactive crime mystery that will give fans a daily fix until the show returns on 13 January. The campaign is based on the premise that one of the characters died during the 11 December finale. And since the identity of the deceased is still unknown, TVNZ aims to keep fans interested by posting one revealing clue each day before the premiere of the 2014 season. PLUS: see Jono and Ben’s parody.
Just over a month after officially lodging a Commerce Commission application to acquire several magazine titles from APN, Bauer Media has confirmed that there will be job cuts as part of a restructuring process.
Only a few weeks after suffering dual account losses, DDB seems to have turned things around and it looks as though the agency will be ending the year on a high. In addition to recently returning to the driver’s seat by winning the BMW/Mini account, DDB has been announced as New Zealand’s leading creative agency for 2013 at the annual Campaign Asia Agency of the Year Awards. PLUS: there are rumours that the agency will be toasting with a Speight’s in-hand at the end of the year.
In an effort to provide images that resonate more strongly with an increasingly diversified market, Getty Images has launched Curve Visual Trends, a series of insights that takes note of how advertising is stepping out of set moulds to celebrate people irrespective of their ethnicity, body type, age, sexual orientation or gender.
SkyTV, one of New Zealand’s biggest broadcasters, has followed in TVNZ’s footsteps by launching SkyGo, an iOS app that enables Sky subscribers to stream content on compatible laptops, mobiles or tablets. But rather than including an on-demand streaming feature, the new app limits viewers to pre-recorded content and live channels. While this is sure to be hit with sports fans, it will do little to appease those who want an on-demand mobile option.
By the time the curtains had been drawn at the end of New Zealand Film Awards, those sitting at the ‘Shopping’ table had seven awards to carry home, making the film, which was released in New Zealand in May, the biggest winner of the night.
Taking inspiration from the ‘Fix. Fasten. Forget’ campaign slogan from the well-loved Havoc and Newsboy campaign of the early 2000s, Y&R Wellington has now launched ‘Fix. Fasten. Don’t forget,’ a government-funded follow-on that aims to remind Kiwis of the importance of securely fastening items around the home. But rather than using a humorous educational approach, Y&R aims to catch the audience off guard with three ads designed to shock Kiwis out of their inertia.
Colenso BBDO has created an ad campaign featuring 64 unique videos that calls out pre-roll ads for being a nuisance. Each ad is linked to the video that the viewer originally searched for and comes with a customised line that mentions the desired content.
The sporting banter between Andrew Mulligan and Mark Richardson is no longer restricted to weeknights on Prime. Since 25 November, The Crowd Goes Wild, the popular television show the pair co-host, has also moved into the radio realm with a morning show on Radio Sport. Plus: find out who’s coming back to Radio Sport.
From 2014, Sacha McNeil will be swapping her late-night TV slot for early mornings, as she steps in to co-host Firstline with current 3 News business editor Michael Wilson. And there will also be key staff changes elsewhere, with Mediaworks announcing that Janika ter Ellen will be brought on as the news anchor for The Paul Henry Show. PLUS: read about additional changes behind the scenes.
In 2013, the students enrolled at Media Design School and AUT Adschool caught the attention of several leading agencies with work that was not only creative but also commercially viable. So impressed were the bigwigs in attendance at the end-of-year shows that they swooped in and hired several of the young bloods shortly after the event.
The lucky few travellers who were at Auckland airport this morning became the first people in the world to see Peter Jackson’s take on the dragon Smaug, which has been emblazoned across a Boeing 777-300. The 54-metre rendering of the creature, which was designed by Weta Digital, gives Kiwis a taste of what they can look forward to when The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug is released in cinemas on 13 December. But this wasn’t the only Hobbit-themed campaign to appear yesterday. Tourism New Zealand also unveiled the ‘Book of New Zealand,’ a giant pop-up book that showcases four of the film’s filming locations.
bcg2, which already holds the Yates Australia account, has now also added Yates New Zealand to its growing portfolio of clients. This win, which comes as the result of a successful creative pitch, is the third trans-Tasman account the agency has penned into the books in 2013.
Auckland City Mission has revisited its 2010 and 2011 ‘Become Someone’s Angel’ campaign with a new 30-second TVC that aims to pull at the heartstrings of Aucklanders over the month of December. But rather than following the previous trend of including a depressing case study, this year’s commercial has instead opted for a subtle approach that shows the difference that a donation can make to people who are closer than you think.
Ikon, which recently added the 2degrees account to a client portfolio that includes the likes of Coca-Cola New Zealand, Kiwi Bank, L&P, Mercury Energy and Trademe, announced that it has decided to restructure its offering, and as a result both managing partner roles have been made redundant.
To promote the 26th edition of Shark Week, Discovery Channel’s longest running stunt, Sky TV sent five omionous shark fins to infiltrate the MetService website. The campaign, which was conceptualised by OMD, has been described as “a nicely executed creative idea that isn’t obtrusive and gets across the message in a simple yet clever way.”
McDonald’s New Zealand has just launched the ‘Our food, Your Questions’ campaign, which allows members of the public to send in questions on any topics related to the food on the menu. The fast-food juggernaut hopes that this will help to dispel some of the myths related to way its meals are produced.
Every year, Doritos, the tortilla chip producer owned by PepsiCo, hosts a competition that gives fans the chance to create an advert that will appear during the brand-loaded Superbowl. Previously, this competition was only open to entrants in the United States, but this year the restrictions were lifted, thereby giving a team of Kiwis the chance to enter.
Quarterly statistics released by the Outdoor Media Association of New Zealand indicate strong revenue growth figures for the out-of-home advertising category. And APN Outdoor will be hoping it grows further, because it has just launched a new, smaller billboard package that will enable brands to book ad space at ten prime locations for two weeks at a time.
Earlier this month, DraftFCB sent Dr Who fans’ voices to moon, and now, to continue the 50th birthday celebrations of the popular TV show, the agency has launched an online time machine that sends viewers spiralling through the history of the interwebs.