Easily the best thing we’ve seen all week; Conan O’Brien finds one person may be writing all the news in the US; Domino’s does what it says on the tin; hey look, a dancing horse; What would you do?; the joys of live TV; Greenpeace fades to black; finally someone finds a good use for QR codes; Dove hacks Photoshop; every horrible corporate website in one; least popular Pope names; and a glorious release.
Author StopPress Team
It worked pretty well for Morton Coutts and now Colenso BBDO is going back in time with Stewart Monteith, and a one take TVC (includes behind the scenes vid).
DDB took a summer quinella by winning both the December and January rounds of the newspaper ad of the month comp with its YWCA and VW ads. And now it’s claimed yet more Beetle/paper-related victory with a classified ad to promote its Beetling campaign.
After a record 290 entries across 21 categories, 99 finalists have made it through to the final rounds of judging for the Media Awards. And the usual suspects are on top, with OMD on 36 finalists (11 from its Wellington office), Spark PHD on 20 and DraftFCB Media on 16.
The inaugural Glossies Magazine Advertising Awards kicked off last night to smoke, meat and unfurling banners. Ecostore, Special Group and Naked Communications take top prize.
Twitter, noun: A service for communicating in short bursts, typically up to 140 characters, which is creating a vernacular of its own. This infographic helps break down some of the jargon being created on the social network [ed: does anyone use any of these words in real life?].
A few New Zealand marcomms folk will be making the trip to Sydney for AWARD later this month and, just as the speeches and seminars have become a major drawcard for the Cannes Lions, they’re also a big drawcard for the Circus Festival of Commercial Creativity. So the The Communications Council decided to remind the region’s most experienced chief marketing officers that when it comes to creative thinking we still have plenty to learn.
Daikin’s last big splash involved a surprisingly creepy Dan Carter hanging on a wall and plenty of come hither eyes. But the agency behind that campaign, The Works Sydney, has now been exchanged for Sugar & Partners, which won a two-way competitive pitch for the New Zealand business.
In April last year, VW released a series of ‘the same, but different’ ads to run before the main One News weather bulletin. And it’s back for more in 2013, with five more weather sponsorship idents that are imbued with VW’s now well-renowned sense of humour and show how the various features make life more enjoyable for people. And dogs.
Alt Group’s no stranger to winning things, but its latest accolade is a pretty big one: a German Design Award in honour of its work for architectural practice Warren and Mahoney.
TBWA\ welcomes more new blood, Brendan Hewitt gets the nod as a rising media star, Marlen Smith pushes the CAANZ advertising barrow, Beat gets growing and Hotwire launches new analytics tool.
Over 600 media and advertising movers and shakers attended the third annual Friends in High Places party last night at Mantells on the Water in Westhaven, Auckland to see Funkommunity, Latin Aotearoa, David Dallas, PNC and Aaradhna take to the stage. And here’s what they got up to.
Roy Morgan Research last night revealed the 24 winners of its 2nd annual Customer Satisfaction Awards at a dinner in Auckland, and SBS Bank, Kiwi Bank, Subway, Kirkcaldie & Stains, Suzuki, 2 degrees, and Paradise retained their crowns from last year.
Adam Strange was killed in a shark attack as he swam off Muriwai beach last night, and tributes are flowing for a great father and husband and a talented artist and TVC director. Updated with trust account details.
Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook says there’s “great stuff” on the horizon. And we think we may have found it.
It’s been a while between drinks for Sony PlayStation, with the PlayStation 3 launched in 2006. But given the first three generations of the machine sold more than 300 million units, there was plenty of interest in the announcement about no. 4, which some have said is a ‘tablet-inspired console’ that hopes to face up to the host of new screens it’s now competing against. And the hype film showing how to ‘push the boundaries of play’ was no.1 on AdAge’s viral video chart, clocking up more than 18 million views.
The mobile age is most definitely upon us. And, after hitting the $1 million turnover mark recently, doubling its growth rate in the past year and upping the number of employees from four to 15, Sush Mobile is welcoming it. Co-founder Sheenu Chawla dials in.
The winner of the annual Glossie Award—and of the $10,000 travel prize from OMD—will be announced at an event next week. But we wanted to know if our dear, opinionated readers felt the same way as our dear, opinionated judges about the country’s best magazine ad. So select your favourite ad (the list is made up of all the winners across the competition plus a few wildcard entries we felt deserved to be in the hunt for the major prize) and then click on the vote button down below.
Hobbit mania has thankfully subsided (although some embers sparked yesterday after the release of a few interesting emails). And Air New Zealand is back with another new safety video, this time featuring intrepid explorer/eater/showman Bear Grylls, who traipses around the Fiordland wilderness and helps to promote the airline’s $3 million commercial partnership with the Department of Conservation.
Victor Hugo said “puns are the droppings of soaring wits”. But while it could be said the new ad from New Zealand labour provider Allied Work Force fits the first half of that quote, it’s doubtful it could be included it in the latter.
Kiwi directing duo Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland, collectively known as Mark & Louis, have picked up a Grand Prix at the Berlin International Film Festival for their feature Shopping. And, in more good news for The Sweet Shop gang, it has also been named as one of Creativity magazine’s stand-out production companies of 2012.
Last year, when Lindsey Redding passed away, one of the posts he had written called a ‘A Short Lesson in Perspective’ started circulating again. In it, he concluded that life in this industry didn’t really pass his ‘overnight test’ and that those sitting in “a darkened studio or edit suite agonising over whether housewife A should pick up the soap powder with her left hand or her right” should do themselves a favour and go home to see their family. There’s no doubt this profession is a demanding one—and it seems to be becoming more demanding by the day—but it’s also got plenty going for it and, in a new video series aimed at promoting the industry, the Marketing Association has decided to get some of those positives from experienced campaigners.
After nine years at TBWA\, Andy Blood, one of the industry’s most awarded, respected and well-liked creative directors, is handing the reins to Toby Talbot. How’s that for disruption.
Auckland is currently in the midst of the kookiness that is Fringe, and as a sponsor of the festival, taxi media company Taxi Impact wanted to celebrate the creativity and originality on display with its Taxi Art Project, which asked entrants to plaster a taxi with whatever the hell they wanted. And Marcus Brill and Seth Zwart, with their submission ‘The People are the Artists’ was chosen as the winner.
Banks are increasingly cottoning onto the importance of the customer experience, and Westpac’s signature store at 79 Queen Street (which opened late last year) is a prime example.
The winners of Bauer Media’s Best in Beauty Awards were announced last week at the Langham Hotel in Auckland, and, alongside the vast array of winning tonics and tinctures, a few industry folk were also acknowledged.
The Marketing Association has announced the return of its Brainy Breakfast event series for 2013, and there’s a new sponsor on board, with Ubiquity taking over from past sponsor Jericho.
Forbes to the fore on Maori TV, Susan Wood makes a TV comeback, Young & Shand & Growing, Clemenger Group welcomes its annual influx of young’uns, The Sweet Shop adds some more talent, The Blue Rose shifts timeslot, and jobs.co.nz hunts for a new way.
In its 25th year celebration, and fresh from a major overhaul that saw the RSVP and Nexus Awards renamed as the NZ Direct Marketing Awards, justONE, Colenso and Barnes, Catmur & Friends stood out.
It’s hard times to be in Australasian media, that is unless of course you’re Sky TV and you have a monopoly to help you.