Everyone’s got an opinion in this industry! Thought leadership pieces from in and around New Zealand Adland.
Simon Lendrum took over as the managing director of JWT in 2010 after a long stint at Ogilvy and, with solid campaigns for Ford and PlaceMakers this year, a freshly renovated office and a new creative director at the helm, there’s some excitement afoot. Here’s what he thought about 2011.
There were a host of enthralling PR disasters this year. And, perhaps as a result of all the humans wandering the streets during the Rubber Wool Cup, there was also a noticeable increase in the number of brands using experiential marketing in their campaigns. So who better to spill the beans on 2011 than Claudia Macdonald, managing director of PR, events and experiential agency Mango and a founding member of the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group.
Much like That Difficult Second Album Syndrome, it’s very hard for companies to keep up the growth required to make it back onto the Deloitte Fast 50 list. But, perhaps not surprisingly considering it now works with big clients like IAG, ASB, Volkswagen, Frucor, NZ Lotteries and Vodafone, Auckland boutique The Research Agency managed to do that this year, ranked as the 42nd fastest growing company in New Zealand after taking 29th position in 2010. Here’s what tickled the fancies—and got the goats—of its two partners Andrew Lewis and Amber Coulter.
It’s that time of year again, the time when we’re so busy dreaming of sausages and sauvignon that, rather than write anything ourselves, we rope in some of the industry’s most vigorous cutters and dastardly thrusters to give us their $0.02 on the goods, bads and uglies of 2011. First up, TBWA\Tequila’s chief raconteur Dave Walden, whose agency has bounced back from a fairly tough ASB-related 2010 after getting its mitts on the ANZ and Tourism New Zealand accounts.
In the last edition of NZ Marketing magazine, BCG2’s planning director Abe Dew wrote something of an open letter to Localist and Yellow Local and put forward his views on why the ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ corporate start-ups looked likely to fall into the same category as Telecom’s Ferrit. Not surprisingly, Localist chief executive Blair Glubb disagreed. He responds to some of the claims and outlines its plans for acceleration after what he says is a strong performance in the six months since launch.
Things are heating up in the election race. And the comms are coming thick and fast. So here’s a rundown of what the parties have been up to on the campaign front in the final week of hand-shaking, baby-kissing and tongue-wagging.
Like most media outlets, we get sent a lot of press releases. But because journalists are so busy destroying the lies, discovering the truth, inadvertently recording conversations and farewelling colleagues who move into PR, it’s increasingly difficult to get their attention. So we certainly appreciated this rather creative—and honest—approach to attention getting in a release one of our colleagues received recently.
Debate about the changing agency model has been raging for a while now. Some indie up-and-comers believe smaller is better, more efficient and less archaic. While bigger full-service multinationals believe the do-it-all-under-the-one-roof approach still works best. Turns out both models are wrong, as this video about the future of advertising made by Toronto agency John St shows.
Sometimes you see an ad and wonder what those responsible for it were thinking. And we couldn’t help but notice this one starring The Almighty Johnson’s Ben Barrington for Pure Energy, an all-natural ‘healthy’ energy drink. It’s made by South Pacific Beverages, the company that got knocked back by the NZRU (and, by extension All Blacks’ sponsors Coca-Cola) when it tried to get Sonny Bill Williams to endorse the product. But, judging by this ad, he’s probably thankful for the supposed double-standard.
Not surprisingly, the All Blacks’ celebrations with Old Bill in the changing rooms was the most popular photo gallery of the tournament on nzherald.co.nz. But, given the marketing battle royale that has played out between Steinlager and Heineken, we couldn’t help but notice one photo in particular. If you look closely you’ll see some members of the team—and the Dear Leader who never misses out—drinking the team sponsor’s product (good to see Andrew ‘The Seal Killer’ Hore rocking a white can) in the supposedly ‘clean’ stadium. But, blow me down, Piri Weepu is supping from a bottle of Heineken. Someone call the IRB. A fine must be dished out.
As a kid, I used to love playing Where’s Wally (although in Germany we’d call it Where’s Walter). But every now and again, I just couldn’t find that red-striped shirt, hat and nerdy glasses. It would drive me crazy. I knew he was there somewhere on that jam-packed beach, but I just couldn’t see him. Today I don’t play Where’s Wally anymore. But every so often I play a variation of it: ‘Where’s the login’ or ‘Where’s the email address’ or ‘Where’s the link’. And just as back in the Wally-days, it can get very frustrating.
Everyone loves an infographic. All that boring data made much more digestible through the wonders of design. And to celebrate the launch of his new Simon Says blog, JWT’s managing director Simon Lendrum got the team to whip something up that shows how Kiwi consumers feel about and react to advertising.
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.” Steve Jobs’ desire to make the world a better place through technology, design and innovation has been a catalyst for many of the changes the communications industry is currently battling with—and, in many cases, now using to its benefit. So we’ve scoured the internet for an insight into the great man’s life.
Over the years it’s evolved under many different names, from field marketing, brand experience and even experimental marketing. But experiential marketing is finally beginning to establish itself as both a name and a discipline in its own right in New Zealand marketing circles. And this is giving rise to the trend for guerilla marketing techniques, live stunts and a variety of other non-permission based campaigns. As these become more commonplace, we’ll see these activities get closer and closer to the mark of what is and isn’t acceptable. So is self-regulation the right answer?
Due to moderately popular demand, our immature penchant for photoshopping heads onto different bodies and a desire to help New Zealand come to terms with the crushing loss of our broken talisman, we’ve decided to ‘disappear’ Dan Carter, just as our quarter final opponent did in the 1970s and 80s. Piri Weepu looked good as a Daikin heatpump. So here’s how Colin stacks up as an off-field replacement.
Like many New Zealanders gagging for a long-awaited Rugby World Cup victory, the news that Dan Carter was out of the tournament with a groin injury that obviously came about because it was poisoned by the South Africans ripped our knickers and left a gaping void in our now husk-like hearts. As a very valuable marketing property, many of the brands he endorses, such as Jockey (maybe he should’ve been kicking commando, a la Andre Agassi?), Daikin and Philips, will also be devastated. Before the injury, seeing him on TV or half-nude on a massive billboard was a reminder that our hero was here to vanquish the enemies. Now they only serve to remind us of what we have lost and could forever be linked to pain and suffering. So, for the nation’s good, we propose taking the Stalinest approach and changing history by modifying all marketing campaigns featuring our man Dan. To start the ball rolling—and in honour of the tweet that said “serves him right for being a heatpump”—here’s what we think his ideal replacement would look like in the role. Interestingly, Piri doesn’t look quite as creepy.
As many law-abiding citizens know, prisons are a necessary evil. Recently our finance minister said prisons were a “moral and fiscal failure” at “$250,000 a bed, $90,000 a year to run”. The money spent by New Zealand on incarceration dwarfs what has been spent on the Rugby World …
There are various ways you can deal with harsh public criticism and while managers will generally look to use practical public relations tools when they respond to protests, they should also consider legal options that might help close down unhelpful attacks.