This post was created by one of the small but mighty StopPress team of journalists. Among their number are: Zahra Shahtahmasebi, Niko Kloeten, Penny Murray and Rachel Tsai. Send your news to [email protected].
Search marketing agency First Rate, the first Google Analytics accredited company in New Zealand, has been appointed as the exclusive licensee in New Zealand and Australia of the search engine marketing (SEM) technology SearchIgnite.
As Mother always said, free money is the best kind of money. And BBC.com is offering three prize packs worth a total of NZ$33,000 to New Zealand media buyers and marketers. Each pack includes NZ$1,000 cash for the winning buyer and NZ$10,000 in online advertising media for their lucky client.
New Zealand’s third largest fourth largest Large-ish Kiwi telecommunications company CallPlus has appointed Republik to its communications business.
Wine, like chocolate, is better when it comes equipped with a ridiculous summary, so add an über-descriptive, extremely specific review of the new Yellow chocolate to the comment wall below and the best entries will get to lay their tastebuds on a selection of the alkaloid of the Gods from Barista@Home. We might even send you some Yellow chocolate.
Ah, the Superbowl, where the advertising inbetween the numerous stoppages is usually more captivating than the game itself (just seven minutes of actual movement in the average three-ish hour game, apparently). It’s where big-time US advertisers still go to show-off and find millions of mainly male eyeballs. And, thankfully, the New York Times was nice enough to collect all of the rather expensive ads that were featured and pen some live blogommentary on such topics as men with no pants, controversial gay men who like Megan Fox, ironic Google searching, beer, abortion and male beauty products.
New Zealand digital media solutions provider Modica Group has helped launch “the biggest marketing campaign ever seen in the Middle Eastern emirate of Qatar”, with a million TXTs sent to all customers who had made international calls on Vodafone Qatar’s network that prompted them to join a calling club and get special rates.
With the success of Avatar, the start of the 3D broadcasting era for sporting events and a steady increase in the amount of 3D content being created, 3D is all the rage at the moment, leading some to conclude that the new goggle boxes are destined to be the next must-have for couch lovers this year. At present, however, it’s visual effects houses and production studios doing the buying in Australasia.
New Zealand’s “most anticipated chocolate bar”, Yellow Chocolate, hits supermarket shelves nationwide today, signifying the end of a long road for Josh Winger, who accepted the mission to create the world’s first yellow tasting chocolate bar using companies sourced only from Yellow – books, online, mobile and maps.
Tourism New Zealand is kicking off another early-bird ski campaign on Sunday to try and lure Australians back to the slopes in 2010.
Rude, abusive and offensive; it all makes good reading but publishers of social media — who can range from bloggers and niche media to mega-corporations and governments — must deal with the difficult question of what to do when comments go bad. On the one hand, you want to let comments flow freely (this is a democracy still, I think). On the other hand, some comments are anonymous, abusive, stupid and occasionally defamatory.
What’s a poor boy to do?
Both traditional and social media juggernauts will be very well catered for in the coming days and weeks, with the inaugural Auckland Social Media Club event taking place on Tuesday 9 February at the 42 Below Bar and the next Media Mingle set for 23 February at Honey Bar.
Six of the country’s largest, most impressive creative brains will join a host of other large, impressive international creative brains as jury members for the 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
HB Media today launched a mobile version of the popular website Stoppress.co.nz
“Actually we always had it but forgot to turn it on,” says Matt Cooney, the expert entrusted with HB Media’s web stuff.
DraftFCB and Pacific Blue’s ‘Happy Flying’ campaign, which features some of the airline’s cabin crew and pilots frolicking in the aisles and singing an aviation-themed remix of the world’s most sickening tune, the Macarena, has been voted Best TV Commercial at the Low Cost Airlines World Asia Pacific 2010 conference in Singapore.
A very observant photographer sent this humorous little number in to StopPress, saying: “Oh the irony … Don’t DraftFCB do more unaddressed mail than anyone else?”
Independent Wellington-based advertising agency Robertson Communications (R+R) and Auckland-based media company media360 have formed a media placement alliance, with media360 now acting as R+R’s primary media partner on key clients PSIS and Intervet Schering-Plough, taking over from Mediaedge:cia in Wellington.
Broadcast programme maker Screentime has rebranded its corporate television arm as Screentime Communications, referencing the fact that its non-broadcast business is providing a growing portion of the company’s turnover.
The Newspaper Advertising Bureau has made up for a mediocre November in the Newspaper Ad of the Month competition by announcing a double whammee, with DDB’s Sky TV Arts Channel ‘Jackson Pollock’ concept taking the December title and DraftFCB’s latest in the artwork series for Robert Harris coffee winning January’s round.
Seven of the country’s leading innovators and entrepreneurs, in fields ranging from biotechnology to the creative arts, were announced as category winners of the World Class New Zealand Awards. And Mark D’Arcy, president and chief creative officer of Time Warner Global Media Group, took the creative industries gong.
Getty Images today launched Thinkstock, a new image subscription product that claims to provide one of the most complete offerings in the marketplace.
Time and Fortune has selected New Zealand Magazines, a division of APN New Zealand, as the media sales agency to represent Time magazine in New Zealand.
Loyalty New Zealand (LNZ), the operator of Fly Buys, has opened a new Auckland office and made three new appointments to complete the team and strengthen its nationwide presence.
New design
A key component of Montana’s global marketing campaign will be released this month, as it places its new look Classics and Reserve ranges on international shelves, with new package designs that aim to reinforce the brand’s premium status.
Check out this interesting social media spat between a particularly passive aggressive Waiwera Water and poor old Bruce, a Facebook greenhorn who dared to question the quality of its bottled H2O.
Hey Ads@6, whaddya been up to? What’s that, you’ve recorded all the commercials during the first ad break of the 6pm news on both major TV channels so that everyone in the marketing and communications industry can see who’s paying for the expensive, primetime spots? Well, that’s very nice of you. Sorry, what’s that? Adstream, a one stop shop for all of your TV, print, radio and workflow solutions, is the new sponsor of Ads@6? Well, that’s very nice of them. Alright, have a good weekend. See you next week. Don’t go changin’.
On 26 February, the best response-driven marketing campaigns of 2009 and the talented marketers behind them will be honoured at the New Zealand Marketing Association’s RSVP and Nexus Awards. So, with less than a month to go, here’s a gentle reminder to make sure you book your table for a date with marketing’s newest ‘Grand Masters’.
Already sick of making new work? Then enter some old work for an award instead.
Venture capitalist and philanthropist Sam Morgan and marketer and bike lover Richard Leggat are the latest additions to the board of Tourism New Zealand.
Sarah Nicholson will take over as editor of Cuisine magazine in February, replacing outgoing editor Eric Matthews, who is returning to Sydney to work as a design consultant.
If you fancy yourself as a bit of an angler, harness both your enthusiasm and a team of no more than eight people and put Friday, 5 March aside for a day on the water as part of The Great ACP Media Fishing Competition, which is hosted by ACP Media’s men’s magazines.