Author StopPress Team

Barfoot & Thompson, New Zealand’s largest privately owned real estate company, has appointed Big Communications as its advertising and direct marketing agency, taking over from Voice.

MediaWorks TV is recruiting for a director of sales to replace Linda Farrelly, who has resigned and is taking complete time out for six months. She will rejoin the company in a consultancy capacity later in the year.

Nothing says I love you like a massive sign outside a mall. And, to tap into the romantic spirit of the day, Westfield has once again let New Zealanders publicly declare their affection on 12 billboards around the country as part of its second Truly, Madly, Hugely campaign. 

The scene: a trendy bar and eatery in Freemans Bay, Auckland. Booked exclusively last evening for a business function, three stalwarts of the popular press, including Ms F O’Sullivan and Mr P Holmes, tarried at an outdoor table after a late lunch. When politely reminded their time was up, the visitor from Hawke’s Bay replied: “Don’t you know who I am?” Sadly, the young and demure organiser had to admit that she had no idea, just that she had booked the place exclusively. Perhaps the question should have been: “Don’t you know who I was?” The defenders of the fourth estate stayed ostentatiously put after the bar manager quailed in the face of the ferocious and fulsome trio, fearing a D rated review.

There were 300 entries from 33 countries for the Google-sponsored IxDA Interaction Design Awards. And Xero has beaten corporate giants Nike and Windows Phone 7 to take out the “best in class for global interaction design” award.  

Whispering sweet nothings just got a whole lot easier, but those with a sweet tooth might do best to avoid the Q-Pot phone, which is more than likely to cause users extreme chocaholic cravings every time they pull it out.

Brands increasingly need to look for creative ways to make the most of their sponsorship dollars. And bands increasingly need to look for creative ways to make money. So, what better way to do both of these things than by filming and editing a pretty bloody good music video in one rather manic day at Auckland’s last Big Day Out, something Kiwi band I am Giant and Speight’s Summit did. 

Amanda Stevenson

From the Police to marketing then consulting, Amanda Stevenson had multi-career success – a few years ago, she’d done it all, except graduate from university. But now the 51-year-old manager has realised her goal, completing the University of Auckland’s post-graduate diploma in business studies in 2010. She says it’s given her confidence and broadened her thinking.

Last year New Zealanders spent more time than ever watching television. While the average person’s viewing time of three hours and 22 minutes per day remained unchanged from 2010, more people tuned in each day, resulting in growth of total hours viewed up two percent.

The high-quality animation makes this latest Red Bull cinema commercial really stand out. So much so, we’re declaring it this week’s TVC of the week.

Credits: The ad was placed in NZ by Lassoo; but the agency and film company are not known.

As Brancott Estate rolls out a contemporary new look across its entire wine range, it’s also releasing a new app bringing together the worlds of wine and entertainment via QR code.

Design and communications agency The Church has created a new direction for the New Zealand International Arts Festival. Targeted at first time festival goers the concept is about adding an ‘extraordinary’ experience to your every day life – be it catching a bus, or walking to work. Creative director Chris Waind says the opportunity to work on such an iconic event was too good to miss. “We’ve been able to bring all our experience with the NZSO and our creative conference We Can Create to bear and that’s injected the energy and effectiveness we think the brand needed”.

Judging by this expensive-looking new epic for the launch of the Subaru XV, the Australian arm of the business isn’t afraid to spend money on big ads. And while it’s fair to assume New Zealand doesn’t have access to those sort of budgets, it does have Barnes, Catmur & Friends on its side, and, just like its contextual number celebrating the Great Auckland Snow last year, this smart print ad showcasing the reversing cameras that now come as standard in the Legacy and Outback models also hits the spot.