Author StopPress Team

In this round of Ads@6, Expedia taps into our frugal Australasian sensibilities with its ‘New York on $50’ spot; Westfield and Moccona continue to push their  big travel promotions; Countdown continues its TV domination; P&O’s ads somehow make going on a cruise seem like it would be enjoyable; Persil hits the spot with its Small Whites ad; Rexona gets uber fashionable for its ‘fragrance collection’; Burger King puts bourbon in its burgers; TV3 embraces comparative advertising; Hyundai gets bucolic—and patriotic—with its Country Calendar promotion; and if Harvey Norman’s shouting, the ITM 400 Hamilton promos and the Protex ‘wash wash’ jingle are just too much to handle, Maxalt and The Low Down are here to help.

Air New Zealand’s suave yet moderately offensive travelling mascot Rico has already laid down some beats with a couple of Wellingtonian musos. But he’s taken his music career up a few notches recently after recording his debut track ‘Hello Sunshine’ in Los Angeles. And it features a pretty special guest who’s also earned a reputation as something of a ladies man: Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. AKA Tha Doggfather AKA Snoop Dogg.

The research business is pretty damn tight at the moment as clients cut back on ‘luxuries’ and agencies increasingly take the work in-house. But that hasn’t stopped Edentify, a specialist online market research agency that was started in Australia 11 years ago, from opening its doors in Auckland.

It was a mixed bag for DDB New Zealand last week. The team were forced to drown their sorrows late last week after the agency realignment everyone was talking about saw it say goodbye to the big ANZ account. But, on the plus side, it dominated the Fairfax Admedia agency of the year awards and it’s continued its run of hot form with another good awards haul, this time at Adfest in Thailand.

The last adidas campaign featuring a galaxy of stars was largely deemed to be an expensive, cringe-worthy flop. But the German apparel behemoth is aiming to make amends for that misfire with a massive new global campaign called ‘adidas all in’. And while it doesn’t quite reach the giddy heights of Nike’s ‘Write the Future’, it comes pretty damn close.

The Axis Awards are just around the corner. And Andy Fackrell of 180 Amsterdam (quite possibly the most successful ex-pat Kiwi creative), Bryan Rowles of 72 and Sunny in Los Angeles and Dejan Rasic of Colman Rasic in Sydney are the three international boffins doing the judging. All three will show their work and wax lyrical at the Axis Creative Function on Wednesday 30 March (tickets are on sale at www.caanz.co.nz), but in an effort to limit the awkward silence that almost always eventuates after Kiwi crowds are asked if they have any questions, we want you to add yours to the comment wall. The best ones will be read out on the night by MC Oliver Driver, leaving you to focus on your drinking.

There’s already been a steady stream of cash donations to the various Christchurch Quake appeals and plenty of initiatives from the business community to raise funds. Now Loyalty New Zealand, the company behind Fly Buys, has come up with another way to help those affected by the disaster by allowing its 2.5 million card holders to donate their points in one hundred point lots to the Red Cross or the SPCA Canterbury. So get in there and donate your points here.

Lionel Richie is performing in Auckland this week. And in completely unrelated but presumably more important news, one of Healthy Life Media’s main protagonists has sold her shares in the hugely successful company; Waitemata Films has added two more to its flock; and EYE has found its global marketing head honcho.

TradeMe has already launched a daily deals site. But as mouths continue to water about the potential of the world’s latest business trend, it’s about to launch another one called Treat Me, a stand-alone group-buying site focused on services, events and experiences rather than low-margin goods sent out through the post.

'One laptop, one scotch and one phone'

The building that once housed Strategy design and advertising in Christchurch has been obliterated. But, as managing director Geoff Cranko writes, the staff are all well, they’ve found a new studio, they’ve got plenty of whisky on hand and, with the help of modern technology, they’re muddling through and are still able to do great work.

Regular advertising transmission was interrupted following the Christchurch quake as both major networks wisely opted for commercial-free broadcasts during their coverage of the disaster. With its public broadcasting commitments, TVNZ pretty much had to and has promised to make good on the lost air time, but as a privately-owned company saddled with debt, the decision to go ad-free (at an estimated cost of $1 million a day) was presumably a slightly more bitter pill to swallow for MediaWorks. Of note after the ad breaks came back on during the 6pm broadcasts, Countdown Summer Series now has a new cohort in the form of last year’s Masterchef; 2degrees introduces us to Brian and Bruce; ANZ gets the piano out and dials up the patriotism for its RWC spot; AA dresses up for the occasion; Skyline garages gets the tick of approval with its new animated gem; Bonds embraces buttocks for its new lo-rider undies; Moccona launches its new promotion; and Carina Coffee dishes up a spicy, rather cheesy home shopping meatball.

Toot Group’s beer drinking and fundraising initiative for Christchurch may be over, but for one super quick and beer-savvy StopPress reader, the beer drinking is only just beginning. The folks at Toot Group have put up a $100 bar tab to use at the The Golden Dawn—Tavern of Power bar in Auckland for the  first reader who can name the  mystery beer that flowed from the Christchurch beer taps. Quickly now.

With 53 leading independent PR partner companies and 3,000 experienced practitioners worldwide, Public Relations Organisation International (PROI)  is one of the largest public relations partnerships in the world. But not content with 53 partners, the company is adding more to its stable by welcoming Kiwi communications group Senate Communications on board, along with Australian communication firm SHJ, who together form the trans-Tasman communications group, SenateSHJ. The move will make Senate Communications PROI’s sole New Zealand partner.

When Toot Group launched its High Street Lucky Christmas Shop initiative in Auckland last year, the success took them a little by surprise after the shop sold out of gifts three times over. The shop, which housed wrapped boxes containing mystery gifts from Auckland’s swanky High Street shops, ended …

Down to the Wire, a website developed and helmed by online digital creative’s heyday!, has won Most Outstanding Website at the ONYAs.

The ONYAs, not so much an acronym as it is techy-wordplay, picked Down to the Wire out of four finalists, the other three being the NZ On …

Applications for the inaugural James & Wells: Fashion Communication Design Award, a joint effort from Fashion Industry New Zealand (FINZ) and James & Wells Intellectual Property to celebrate creativity and excellence in fashion-specific communication design, are set to close on 11 March.

The award is open to all New Zealand clothing designers …

Colenso BBDO is an agency that prides itself on creating work that’s interesting enough to create conversations. It probably doesn’t pride itself on having work pulled for breaking the rules, but that’s happened twice in the past few weeks, first with the DB Export TVC that was removed from television, cinema and online after a complaint was upheld by the ASA and then with the massive viral video Rear View Girls for Levi’s that, after more than seven million views, was pulled from YouTube for violating its terms and conditions.