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State has released the latest chapter in its ‘Click. Done’ campaign through Colenso BBDO and Finch, which promotes its online service. This time with a new character who really digs life, but doesn’t really dig insurance.
The marketing industry has already dabbled in sharkvertising, madvertising, nudevertising and even sleepvertising. But there’s always room for more. And for the launch of its insurance offering, Trade Me has probed into the netherworlds of what could be described as analvertising (not to be confused with analyvertising, which refers to ads that provide insightful analyses on pressing social issues). This new sub-category of the ever-growing encyclopedia of marketing experimentation is introduced through a series of irreverent spots by Assignment Group, during which Trade Me makes the point that the paperwork and admin involved with insurance can (quite literally in this case) be a pain in the butt.
The Health Promotion Agency and FCB just launched the third phase in its Step Forward campaign, which began its run on TV this week.
Since Google was first launched, Larry Page has shown his inner prankster through quirky doodles, elaborate April Fools’ jokes and a slew of Easter Eggs. And, despite the seriousness of his latest message on the launch of Alphabet, it still came with a sneaky touch of Google’s humour.
Calculators are useful things. Or perhaps they were useful things before smartphones came along and made them somewhat redundant (unless you pursue a study/career in maths or science, are in highschool or want to write ‘80085’ or ‘55378008’ into the device). But 2degrees is proving other kinds of calculators can be useful, and it’s used its own one which it says reveals Kiwis are paying too much for their mobile, with millions more dollars in savings possible if they make the switch to a different provider aka 2degrees.
The Financial Times, which has recently been sold to Nikkei, is at the forefront of economic and business journalism. But, just like The Economist’s well-regarded wit, this level of professionalism and seriousness doesn’t detract from its sense of humour, as evidenced by a recent development project on its website that tried to add some character to its error page.
As Paul Catmur wrote last year, the marketing bit often seems to be forgotten in the world of digital marketing. But here are a few that combined the two and were deemed worthy of a place in the interactive marketing category at the Best Awards.
The Auckland City Mission, which provides specialised health and social services to marginalised Aucklanders, is running a unique campaign through Rapp where it’s “cyber-squatting” on the .nz homepages of dozens of New Zealand organisations in an effort to raise awareness about homelessness in the city and increase donations.
Netflix has taken a rather innovative and interesting route for its latest ad which promotes its show Sense8 by creating an original piece of music using people’s brainwaves.
In his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying, Oscar Wilde observed that, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” And in the more modern context, where reality TV has become one of the more popular forms of entertainment, this expression could be evolved to say something like: ‘real life imitates reality TV far more than reality TV imitates real life’. And nowhere is this clearer than in the example of a Reno Rumble poster that has been pasted onto the wall of the TVNZ building, which is currently under construction.
New Zealand has a horrible rate of boating deaths. And, in an effort to reduce those numbers and get people wearing lifejackets, the powers that be have tried campaigns involving everything from peer-pressuring clowns to ’80s-inspired gunfights. But French watersports company Tribord has gone down a different, more abstract path and created a rather unique drink.
A round of applause for Maggi, McDonald’s, Hallenstein Brothers, F. Whitlock & Sons and NZ Olympics.
Early this year, the MPA announced that it was making some big changes to its annual awards, with a new name, a few new categories and a new judging process. Those changes have led to an almost 40 percent increase in entry numbers and as far as the finalists go, Bauer is on top with 46, followed by Tangible Media with 25, Fairfax with 19 and Kowhai Media with 10.
At sporadic intervals between the 1980s to the early 2000s, the Care Bears, a multi-coloured collection of pint-sized heroes, appeared on television entertaining kids with their various adventures against the forces of evil. Powered by a range of super powers indicated by the emblems emblazoned across their chests, the Care Bears dedicated their days to increasing the levels of care in the world. And, now, three years after the Care Bears last made a TV appearance, tissue brand Earthcare has introduced its own variation of a bear that can’t help but care, perhaps a little too much. But rather than following the cute footsteps of the Care Bears, Earthcare has opted for a slightly more intimidating iteration of a do-gooder bear.
In a television age dominated by reality cooking shows like Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules, no doubt many of us feel we need to step up our game in the kitchen, and make sure each dish has at least one food source which is impossible to pronounce or perhaps includes kale from a remote region of New Zealand which has grown to the sound of children’s laughter and been watered only with water collected from a luscious mountain stream, or some chia seeds, or maybe some salted caramel topped with cream churned by the feet of baby ducks. But considering most of us don’t have the time or money to regularly produce artisan cuisines, sometimes we just want to whip up something quick, something we know improves the taste of our meal and something that won’t make us recoil from the state of our bank balances, like some ready-made gravy paste by Maggi.
Longtime Daily Show host Jon Stewart bowed out today after 16 years. And the tributes flowed. Here are a few of the best.
Industry happenings at TRA, Dot Loves Data, Adshel, Comvita, Intelligent Ink, Better by Design and Asia Pacific Digital.
From the moment Vodafone’s Piggy Sue stepped in to replace James Rolleston for Vodafone, there was a sense that the ad would be popular. It did, after all, feature an adorable piglet that was remarkably puppy-like in its behaviour. And so it has proven, with the ad racking up over 300,000 views online and also getting the most votes in the People’s Choice division in this year’s MediaWorks/StopPress TVC of the Year competition. PLUS: see how many votes each of the finalists received.
The undeniably adorable Piggy Sue has returned to screens once again in a continuation of Vodafone’s brand campaign developed by FCB, this time she’s been recruited as a flanker.
Ogilvy & Mather took out the July Newspaper Ad of the Month award for its topical Rebel Sport ad ‘National Pride’, scooping up $500 for the win.
Belting out La Bamba is practically a rite of passage in this country. But what does it all mean? Thankfully Google is here to help non Spanish speakers.
John Campbell is set to take up a position as the drivetime host on Radio New Zealand and it’s likely good news for the broadcaster’s growing digital audience as it plans to use Campbell to front a revamped show featuring streamed video and a podcast.
We’re fans of brands that get creative in an effort to hijack the attention generated by major events they don’t actually sponsor, whether it’s the African airline that found a way to get Sepp Blatter to endorse it, Nike’s focus on other Londons during the Olympics or Calendar Girls flying a plane above Eden Park advertising its services as Martin Guptill smashed a six after a Mitchell Johnson no-ball in the Cricket World Cup. Steinlager is winning that battle at the moment with its ‘We Believe’ campaign managing to reference the upcoming Large Sporting Event without actually mentioning it. And Samsung is also embracing euphemisms for one of its promotions.
For those Back to the Future fans who have always wanted to have a hoon on a hoverboard, your day could be soon. Lexus has just launched one (for real!).
We all have that one thing that we are especially good at, or that one meal that we make so well we re-make it again and again instead of learning something new, and that’s what F. Whitlock & Sons has tapped into with its new campaign targeting men via Us&Co for its Killer Sauce, which includes an online ad with an interactive ending.
Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy have created a comic-styled story through Instagram where players get to choose their own alternate endings using the platform’s tagging function.
For the relaunch of the McRib, Mcdonald’s went down a slightly crazy path by featuring a passionate individual dancing as a bucket of thick sauce was emptied out on his head. While the clip was unappetiwing at best and downright disturbing at worst, it was memorable and a definite improvement on the usual fast-food launch approach of showcasing carefully constructed burgers in the ideal light from the best possible angle. McDonald’s clearly sees value in the quirkiness, because the brand has now followed on from the McRib launch with an equally outrageous (and messy) spot that features a human guinea pig comparing the newly launched butter chicken Georgie Pie to its pastry-free alternative.
In most instances, losing an item is little more than a frustration, but it can be quite a major problem when the said item is a credit card. Usually, the relisation that a credit card is missing is followed by about 20 minutes of manic searching, 30 minutes of concern about where you were pick-pocketed and then the painful recognition that you’ll have to cancel the card for security’s sake. Then, once the card is cancelled, nothing is quite as annoying as finding the now useless piece of plastic lying in your wardrobe under your trousers and realising that it just fell out of the pocket of your jeans (yes, this is a personal experience).
It would appear the ‘cool kids’ in the States are wearing Old Navy these days which this ad iterates through the eyes of a boy who dresses a bit too well, thanks to his overbearing mother.
The local industry is currently a little obsessed with conflating different foods together to create a delectable (and some very questionable) hybrids. We’ve had Whittaker’s chocolate milk, Cadbury’s Vegemite atrocity and St Pierre’s sushiwi. Internationally, brands are also dabbling in the art of fusion, but now DC Shoes has taken it beyond cuisine to create a new hybrid sport by combining surfing and motocross. In a new video commissioned by the brand, motocross daredevil Robbie Maddison is shown riding a customised motorcycle across the surface of the Pacific Ocean, before dropping in on a wave (undoubtedly annoying the surfers waiting in the lineup).