Author StopPress Team

After more than a decade as managing director at SC Johnson, three years in the same role at Lion Breweries, then nearly 20 years as the boss of Fonterra Brands, there’s not much Peter McClure doesn’t know about how to launch a product. As he steps down from the role he tells Amanda Sachtleben about grabbing shoppers’ eyeballs in eight seconds, why that lightproof milk bottle wasn’t actually a flop and the reason entrepreneurs have a marketing jump on the corporates.

McDonald’s, fresh from launching a new brand that ups the love and aims to halt sliding sales, launched a new ad during the Golden Globes that showed how the signs outside its restaurants in the US “have been used to spread messages of love, hope and respect”. Of course, whenever there is a sign, there will be those who manipulate them for comedic effect. And College Humour has put together a different, more puerile version.

Whether it’s a BMW skidding on an aircraft carrier, Volvo’s Live Test series, Hyundai’s empty car convoy or, closer to home, Holden’s Heartracing or Mini’s Driving Dogs, there’s no doubt automotive brands love a good stunt. And you can add Ford to that list after it launched a two minute clip featuring a host of Falcon fanatics who were recruited to line up along a custom-made racetrack in fetching blue overalls as Mark Winterbottom tried his best to avoid them.

Back in 2013, ANZ’s summer cricket spot was about as naff as you could get, with a few of the bank’s sporting ambassadors watching Eric Murray get a tennis ball beamer from Shane Bond. This year it’s taken a more serious approach for its naming rights sponsorship of the Sri Lankan series and its sponsorship of the upcoming Cricket World Cup by launching a campaign called Dream Big.

As scores of dejected New Zealand humans shuffle back into their workplaces after their unbridled leisure, it’s important to have a regular fill of pointless but moderately entertaining content to fill in your day while brain functionality slowly returns to normal. And here’s a quality example of that: 1650 mousetraps and 1840 ping-pong balls creating a non-explosive chain reaction to ring in the new year for Pepsi Max.

We asked some stalwarts a simple question. Here’s what Lorraine Breheny, general manager of marketing at The Warehouse, had to say.

Niue Tourism is putting its public relations and advertising agency work to tender for 2015 and beyond, with submissions closing 31 January 2015.

In keeping with an ongoing tradition, a few industry players gave us their take on the year for our annual opinion harvest. Here’s what Julian Andrews, creative director at Whybin\TBWA, thought about 2014.

We asked some stalwarts a simple question. Here’s what Mike Tod, chief marketing and customer officer at Air New Zealand, had to say.

We asked some stalwarts a simple question. Here’s what Paul Sanderson, a senior applied technologist at Finch, had to say.

In keeping with an ongoing tradition, a few industry players gave us their take on the year for our annual opinion harvest. Here’s what Andrew Hawley, managing director of Touchcast, thought about 2014.

We asked some stalwarts a simple question. Here’s what Jason Paris, general manager of home, mobile and business at Spark, had to say.

In keeping with an ongoing tradition, a few industry players gave us their take on the year for our annual opinion harvest. Here’s what Marnie Jane Samphier, the general manager of marketing at Holden New Zealand, thought about 2014.