In the wake of a flurry of recent agency/client retainer relationships coming to an end and big consultancies enhancing their creative chops, Erin McKenzie goes behind the scenes to find out why more clients are playing the field and focusing on projects and what the impact is on brand and customer experience.
NZME and Stuff have announced this week they will seek leave to appeal a High Court ruling that upheld a Commerce Commission block on their proposed merger. In December the High Court upheld a Commerce Commission ruling not to clear or authorise the merger. With that in mind, we take a look at what industry folk think of the proposed merger and mergers in general.
A rundown of those who walked home with a treasured doorstop last night.
As the Vice New Zealand team gear up to celebrate Viceland’s first year on Sky and all the work that’s been put in to have local stories heard on Vice, we talk to head of content Frances Morton about finding untold stories, the sustainability of clickbait, agility in a competitive media environment and what’s in store in the future.
With viewability rates as low as 40 percent on supposedly trustworthy local sites, rampant ad fraud costing marketers billions and ads being served alongside objectionable content, Damien Venuto looks at digital advertising’s reputation issues – and why it isn’t always living up to the promise it arrived with.
With rebates, questionable digital dealings and measurement issues plaguing media agencies over the last year, Damien Venuto delves into the murky world of media buying to find out if local clients know what they’re paying for.
All the world’s most successful people tend to make their own luck. And through a combination of talent and tenacity, Joan Withers has become very lucky indeed.
Fire your retailers or stoke the retail fire to warm your customers’ hearts? That question was answered comprehensively by fireplace manufacturer Escea.
Pinning its hopes on a rebrand, the freshly-christened Helloworld knew from the outset that it could not outspend its competitors. The solution? A marketing approach that focused on innovation and the clever use of ‘killer’ o ers to create cut-through rather than competing head-on.
The development of the NZ Olympic Team App by the New Zealand Olympic Committee and sponsor ANZ is a perfect example of teamwork and moving sponsorship to partnership.
Looking to tackle a chronic shortage of quality building apprentices, the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) leapt in, boots and all, to a multistage, cross-platform campaign that managed to win hearts and minds, not just of potential candidates, but traditional and new media too.
New World’s immersive in-store Easter experience broke new ground for the brand, leveraging emerging tech and capturing the hearts and minds of young would-be Easter egg hunters.
Ensuring frontline staff fully engage customers with your product is never an easy task. As New Zealand’s most popular loyalty programme (with over 2.5 million members) but without a physical presence, that disconnect was proving disastrous for Fly Buys. So how do you motivate the wildly diverse frontline staff of Fly Buys’ partners?
2degrees developed a bespoke app that enabled users to hunt down bundles of data and capture them in real time by combining the GPS capability of smartphones with the emerging technology of augmented reality.
With a recognised ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ brand problem, VTNZ had to pull off the impossible. It flipped the script on its negative public image while turning an acknowledged grudge purchase into something resembling a pleasure.
Persuading half a million Kiwis to go online and opt-in sounds like Mission Impossible, especially when the track record’s not that good and the benefits are marginal. But that’s what Spark managed to do.
It’s natural for the advertisers to want to become better at measuring the effectiveness of what they do. But as they dance with the numbers, are they getting seduced by what those numbers can actually achieve. PHD strategy director Simon Bird considers what the love affair with numbers means for an industry desperate for validation.
For award-winning designer Angus Muir, success is measured in giving people something to enjoy. It just so happens that what he gives people is often big, colourful and interactive.
Sometimes a single insight is all it takes to transform an entire business. For Bay Audiology it was the realisation that families are divided by hearing loss and that audio technology can be the thing that brings them back together.
Who would have thought that the survival of the Nelson Mail and the protection of the environment and the honey industry in the Nelson- Tasman region could be secured in a three-week window by getting the community to wipe out some wasps?
Traffic jams are the bane of our lives, particularly if you are living in Auckland, but seldom do we take personal responsibility for it. Auckland Transport did, however, manage to get Auckland commuters to do just this.
You’d think broken necks, head injuries, collapsed lungs, spinal fractures and comas would be enough to make young drivers aware of how their driving might affect themselves and others. You’d be wrong.
Whittaker’s has grown from humble beginnings to a world-class chocolate company. Partnering with the domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, it’s encouraged consumers to join the switch to New Zealand’s finest chocolate.
Ethics may not be something traditionally associated with the soda industry, but for Karma Cola, creating good looking, great tasting, do-gooding drinks is at the heart of what they do and so far, that devotion to purpose is paying off.
Faced with a market in free-fall, a decade of declining beer volumes and an iconic brand fast losing relevance, Lion was in need of creating the next big thing. Enter Steinlager’s Tokyo Dry.
Faced with a market in free-fall, a decade of declining beer volumes and an iconic brand fast losing relevance, Lion was in need of creating the next big thing. Enter Steinlager’s Tokyo Dry.
New Zealanders’ reluctance to talk about their finances is a challenge for banks looking to have meaningful conversations with would-be new customers, so Kiwibank decided to push the boundaries of marketing to get Kiwis to speak up.
It’s unusual for an insurance company to motivate cynical journalists to create national coverage, but that’s what Sovereign did, tempting them to discover whether their health age was younger or older than their true age.
“Imagine stations with those shares now,” said radio industry veteran David Gibbs upon seeing radio survey results from a quarter-century ago—a fitting response, given there was once a single station with an 18 percent share of New Zealand ears. We look back to see how much radio has changed.
During her 18 months as a marketing assistant for Whittaker’s, Caitlin Attenburrow has already managed to make her mark on the iconic chocolate brand. Having helped lead successful campaigns for a number of product launches, this is one Rookie Marketer with high hopes for the future.