News
VW does Escher
Released last month, these VW 4Motion print ads by DDB NZ get a woop from us. Eye-catching, clever and an homage to the exceptional MC Escher.
Author Frances Chan
News
Bulldozer wants hungry MD
Are you a “hungry world-class MD”? Love junk food? You might want to wing it to Sydney to apply for the top position at Bulldozer Inc.
The agency has just won the Kettle Chip account after a four-way pitch. The client was handled by DDB for the past five years …
News
Flurry of dust storm ads cloud market
Nothing like a meteorological phenomenon to pep up your copywriting talents. Stuck in their offices, surrounded by flying red dirt, some agency creatives quickly came up with these print and online ads to make their brands most topical in the face of impending suffocation.
News
Conversant unleashed
A cuddly retro orange C is the logo behind internet phone company, Conversant. Brewing for a couple of years now, the company’s mission is “to help medium and small business escape the tyranny of the big telecom providers”.
The new website launches Conversant into the sandpit with the big …
News
Microsoft to pay US$290m to i4i?
Last week, a US federal appeals court heard the case of i4i vs. Microsoft following the August 11 Texas court ruling that ordered Microsoft to pay US$290m to i4i for infringement of i4i’s patent of an XML tag editor.
A simple version of the backstory can be read …
News
Vegemite’s cheesy name
With nearly 50,000 names submitted, including the inventive Wow Chow, Ruddymite and 2ritemite, Kraft Australia has named its new Vegemite spread, wait for it … iSnack2.0. WTF? The winning name came from 27-year-old Dean Robbins, a web designer (no kidding).
Responding to a demand for a spread that did …
News
Aussies won’t pay for online news
Despite Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp making serious noises about charging for its online news, a recent Pure poll of 18,000 Australians are not impressed; 78 per cent don’t want a bar of it.
Only 5 per cent said they would pay for “high-quality articles” and only 7 …
News
Ads@6: 18-24 Sep
A week of the most expensive ads on NZ telly for your viewing pleasure. New campaigns by Fresh’n Fruity, Sovereign and a very curious cat collection launched this week.
TV3, 24 September 2009
Arnott’s Vita-Weet crackers Harvey Norman, 10, 10, 10 deal G-Force movie Bunnings Pearl …
News
Facebook leads the social media revolution
Further to our story of Nielsen shacking up with Facebook to create a 300+ million market research base, our mate David MacGregor alerted us to this vid from Socialnomics, which claims if Facebook was a country it would be the fourth largest in the world. Test your memory retention in …
News
Oldies, foodies & girlies clicking the most
No real surprises that the most visited lifestyle websites for unique browsers last week were Stuff, Yahoo and NZ Herald, according to Nielsen analysis. Stuff.co.nz is the clear winner, and looks the nicest too in a category that suffers from a lot of cluttered design. Voxy also makes …
News
Throng TV launches first online episode
Congrats to Throng TV for launching its first online episode on its website this week. It’s NZ’s first digital portal dedicated to all things TV. Some teething problems with sound but it’s early days and there’s no holding back this gung-ho gang of media wannabes.
Producer …
News
Saatchi wins trans-Tasman MSN award
In a win that surprised their own team, Saatchi & Saatchi DGS takes out round one of MSN’s trans-Tasman Butterfly Award for creative online advertising. The winning banner for Westpac delivered on the criteria of powerful brand building, clever integration within a larger mix and creative cut-through.
The Saatchi team …
News
Nielsen gets poked by Facebook
It’s a weighty brand match made in marketing heaven – Nielsen and Facebook are joining forces in a “multi-year strategic alliance to help marketers better use the Internet to develop and market new products”.
Facebook has the ability to reach a ginomous global consumer network and Nielsen has the market …
News
Direct and transparent mail marketing
Are you a marketer that can’t be bothered with the un-fun fiddly bits of a large-scale direct mail campaign? New Zealand Post Targeted Communications to the rescue with the launch of DM One.
DM One is an all-in-one solution for print, data, mailhouse and lodgement services that lets advertisers …
News
Effies for cardboard signs?
Those señors of shrewd comment, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics, have compiled a selection of cardboard signs from Flickr and ponder the secret to a sign’s success. See below for appeals to a sense of family responsibility, sobriety, revenge, romance and more.
Pic by mistermuckle
Pic by …
News
Pure blonde sweet as
Here’s a little local plug for this chuckle-worthy ad for Pure Blonde beer by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. It was shot in Auckland and the production company was The Sweet Shop, founded in Ak by Paul Prince. The company also has offices in Sydney, London, New York, Los …
News
Cream of the crap
We give you the good, now here’s the bad and the ugly. The Tracy Awards are like Hollywood’s Razzies, except they ‘celebrate’ lamo US print and TV ads. There are some real shockers for Pristiq anti-depressant and McDs, among others. But there’s nothing stopping you submitting a …
News
Tourism NZ wants Brits to go all the way
In the wake of New Zild winning favourite long-haul destination in UK Conde Nast Traveller recently, Tourism New Zealand is picking up ball and running with the momentum of the NZ profile.
Next month it launches a campaign specially marketed towards UK backpackers and young travellers through the STA UK …
News
Vote for your fave envelope art
The 2009 Art of the Envelope Awards September finalists are:
The Lantern MailerClient: HSBCAgency: JWTCreative: Mike Ramsay
Daylight RobberyClient: Bond and BondAgency: Draft FCBCreatives: Jane Jamieson and Leisa Wall
Koru Mountain ViewClient: Air New ZealandAgency: Trio Group / Aim ProximityCreative: Andrea Cummerfield …
Awards
Get creative at the AWARD Copy Academy
Calling all budding writers and creatives keen to make an investment for their career – applications are open for the Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association (AWARD) Copy Academy.
Learn the nuances for writing for all types of media. Hone your skills for creating the perfect headline. Impress the hell out …
News
Genius label for Johnnie Walker ad
Too long for a woop but too good not to include on StopPress, this six-minute ad for Johnnie Walker whisky featuring Robert Carlyle is an impressive piece of filmmaking.
Some points to spout off at dinner parties: The agency is Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) London. The film was …
News
Tops in Toronto
In case you haven’t heard, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls has won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The TIFF description reads:In this elegantly compiled work – part biopic, part concept film, part comedy – [director] Leanne Pooley provides a …
News
Orange Monkey
Real-life British weather presenter Emma Jesson fronts a series of ads for Monkey music sharing on Orange. Let’s hope it doesn’t give Jim Hickey any ideas.
News
Work distracts life
Attention HR managers: ever wonder how much actual work you’re getting out of your employees? If computers rule your life, your production output is constantly hampered by distractions. See it large here and spend a few more minutes not doing whatever is it you’re paid to do.
News
The marshmallow test
Psychological research never looked so cute. Our friends at Idealog alerted us to this re-enactment of the infamous marshmallow test that was first done in the late 1960s.
To test self-discipline and delay gratification, four-year-olds were put in room alone with one marshmallow. They were told they could …
News
Shock, horror – Aussie telcos tell the truth
Three top Australian telecommunications companies have promised to be more truthful in their advertising. What a novel idea.
In an effort to stamp out dubious and misleading claims in the telco industry, Telstra, Vodafone and Optus have assured the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that they will improve their …
News
Harbour bridge stunt for Fashion Week?
This little marketing teaser looks promising for Air NZ Fashion Week, which starts Monday 21 September.
News
What Kiwi blokes want
Not rugby, racing and beer, but babes, Beemers and, er, more babes. That’s according to the stats on MSN’s new NZ Men page.
Launched two weeks ago, the site has notched up 273,779 page views (PVs) and more than 18,000 unique browsers. The most popular slide …
News
It’s cool to be eco
ecostore has won the Large Business Trailblazer award and named the Sustainable Business of the Year for the northern region in the Sustainable Business Network Awards held this week.
This follows the results of the Creo/Perceptive Corporate Trust Survey in July, in which ecostore was viewed as the top …