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For some, industry awards are about acknowledging excellence. For many others, they’re more of an excuse to get loose. And, to celebrate last night’s inaugural Beacons, the trio from Auckland Daze put that sentiment into song—and used the power of opera to give those who take their jobs a bit too seriously a prod.
Vampires are so hot right now. And so are Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. Combine those ingredients and you’ve got what looks like a very funny movie.
For the first time in the three-year history of the competition, Kiwi and Aussie entrants went head to head as they vied to be selected as one of Yahoo’s Digital Stars. And while our neighbours across the ditch dominated proceedings by taking seven of the nine available spots, employees from two Kiwi agencies placed among the winners. Ikon’s communications planner Meei Chai and OMD Wellington’s senior digital planner Will Innes were both singled out at the competition, which recognise the best up-and-coming talent in the media agency arena.
Social Media NZ co-founder John Lai has confirmed that he has sold his website to independent advertising and social media marketing agency Catalyst90. Established in 2009 by Lai and Leonardo Law, Social Media NZ serves as blog-styled platform that provides information and news stories related to the digital sphere in New Zealand. Updated with comments from Catalyst90 general manager Jess Bovey. (Image: Catalyst90’s founder Tom Reidy and general manager Jess Bovey)
The www.inthehouse.co.nz website, which hosts the video record of every session from the New Zealand Parliament since 2009, has been upgraded ready for this year’s general election by Christchurch-based company Tandem Studios.
If we were told that there would come a time when we would long for the awkward pout of an incongruously placed duck-face, we wouldn’t have believed it. But, that day might well have arrived. The proliferation of drone ownership has led to a new means of unapologetic self-promotion called the taking of dronies (a portmanteu of drone and selfie). And while the lip pouts of teenage girls were certainly annoying, they pale in comparison to seeing grown men squinting into the sun as they try to capture footage of themselves with the drone flying overhead.
The spinning wheel of death, the buffering bar, ‘waiting for’ [insert website name here], that sickening modem dial-up sound. Humans really don’t like waiting these days. And Swedish broadband provider Ume.net has showed just annoying delays are in the real world with an entertaining experiment called ‘Living with lag’.
Beck’s and Shine just launched some pretty cool Playable Posters to celebrate the start of NZ Music Month. And if you liked that musical contraption, then check out Play House, a ridiculously complex music maker made of Lego Technic.
There are plenty of rules around the advertising of cigarettes in New Zealand. And this one breaks them all. At least it would if it was a real ad and not a joke based on a fellatio pun.
If you’re a fan of Women Laughing Alone with Salad, Completely Unusable Stock Photos and other pisstakes of generic stock imagery, then you’ll probably like this campaign from the Cannes Lions aimed at drawing attention to the upcoming festival, which hopes to get attendees to ‘fall in love again with what they do for a living’. And to do this, McCann London and photographer Max Oppenheim embraced stock photo cliches and shot various creative stars from around the world doing their best impression of over-excited, fist-pumping office workers.
Kiwi entrepreneur Derek Handley is on a mission to change the world—and the world of business—through his involvement with The B Team and his own charitable foundation. So he’s asking Kiwis to help find someone who can straddle the worlds of venture capital, investment, innovation and sustainability through #theshouldertap campaign.
There are plenty of shudder-inducing sponsorship campaigns, with brands often clutching at straws in an attempt to associate themselves with their chosen property. But a great stunt by Weet-bix gave us shudders of a positive kind by making the dreams of one rugby-mad Kiwi kid come true.
Argentina’s Del Campo Saatchi & Saatchi—the agency that previously exposed us to untimely erections, miraculous hens and summer haters—has now turned its creative talents to fighting the scourge of bullying for VH1. In the new ad, which is carried by a reworked version of Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’, a series of kids cast in stereotypically nerdy roles are depicted enduring a range of punishments at the hands of bullies. And despite being tied to flag poles and having their heads stuck into toilet bowls, the nerdy kids are shown retaining a sense of pride, due to the knowledge that they will one day reign over the bullies on the corporate ladder.
You might know comedian Gavin McInnes from his popular clip How to Fight a Baby, which offers some handy hints on protecting yourself against these dangerous tiny threats. Now he’s joined forces with Vans’ OffTheWall.TV and extended his range of subjects with the How to Do Everything in the World series.
To commemorate two decades of South African democracy, Coca Cola created a series of real rainbows, which arched over the billboards throughout the city. Conceptualised and executed by FCB South Africa, the colourful additions to the sky were produced using sunlight, water and “a bunch of fancy calculations”.
In New York rats and mice are a serious problem. It is thought that there could be as many as four for each New Yorker. That’s a lot vermin (roughly 32 million if you were wondering). d-CON, an American pest control company has taken to celebrating the little victories against our furry foes in their latest campaign via Havas Worldwide.
Last year, Maritime New Zealand took the comical approach to inspire life jacket usage. But over in France, high-end marine clothing label Guy Cotten has taken the ‘let’s scare the crap out of them’ approach, with a first person online experience called ‘A Trip to the Sea’ that shows what it’s like to drown.
Last year, Maritime New Zealand took the comical approach to inspire life jacket usage. But over in France, high-end marine clothing label Guy Cotten and its agency CLM BBDO has taken the ‘let’s scare the crap out of them’ approach, with a first person online experience called ‘A Trip to the Sea’ that shows what it’s like to drown.
Changes at Blackfoot, Colenso BBDO, MediaWorks, First Star Communications, Adhesif Labels and GrabOne
As someone interested in the art/science of persuasion, we know you understand the importance of customer insight. And we want to get to know our readers a little better. So answer a few simple questions and you’ll go into the draw to win either a Storm Satellite Slate watch (valued at $375) or a Storm Kanti Black watch (valued at $325). The survey should take around two minutes and we promise not to hand over your details to shady criminal networks (unless they kidnap our children, and then we may be forced to reconsider).
Nigel Hollis, author, award-winning thinker and executive vice president and chief global analyst at Colmar Brunton’s global partner Millward Brown, brings 30 years of research experience to bear on his understanding of how marketing communications can build and maintain brands. He gave a presentation in New Zealand this morning on how smart brands make more money. And he answered a few of our curly ones.
Robin Williams’ stirring monologue from the Dead Poets Society pulled at the heartstrings sufficiently to ensure that Apple’s ‘Your Verse’ TVC for the iPad Air was awarded Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact award for January.
Apple has given second life to the Pixies’ 1988 track ‘Gigantic’ in a new spot that will have you mouthing along to the chorus about 45 seconds into the 90-second spot.
It is a sad fact that we have become so accustomed to ignoring the homeless. This social experiment serves as a stark illustration of just how hard hearted and unsympathetic we have become towards the homeless.
In an effort to illustrate the severity of the risk of extinction for the Sumatran tiger, DDB New York sent 400 copies of an original song to a collection of recipients, who were then asked to make digital reproductions of the tune.
A new Australian ad conceptualised by Clemenger BBDO Sydney depicts skateboarders making Visa PayWave purchases while skating in the bowl. During the course of the 60-second TVC, various people (even a guy in a suit) are shown making payments, mid trick, for coffee, pizzas and tacos at an ad-hoc take-away store.
BKA Interactive kicked off when HTML was newfangled and Webmonkey was the only way to search the net for how to code. Now CEO Barbara Anderson, creative director Maak Bow and the team are mining their diverse base of work for nuggets to turn into products that could be used across industries, companies and the globe. We take a look behind the concrete curtain at this innovative company.
‘Wearable technology’ is quickly become the latest marketing buzzword, with many expressing their love or hate for this emerging trend. With advertisers scrambling to figure out how they will best utilse wearable tech, FirstBank has taken a slightly different approach with the latest ad for its banking app.
For generations, the wallet bulge has protruded, somewhat erroneously, from the side of a men clad in their slim-fit suit trousers. So, in an effort to solve this unsightly problem, the Heritage Bank, Eleven PR and tailor M.J. Bale have colluded in a new spot via Whybin\TBWA Sydney that introduces a suit that removes the need to carry a wallet.
Moves and shakes at Y&R NZ, MediaWorks, The Breeze, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, Online Republic, Lily & Louis and Seven Sharp.
