The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
Pokémon Go, the augmented reality game where Pokémon appear in the real world to be caught, has taken the world by storm, with players roaming their cities to search out the Pokémon. As many creatures have been found in businesses, brands have also jumped on the bandwagon to share some Pokémon themed fun.
Earlier in the year, Oreo enchanted New Yorkers with the Wonder Vault, an Oreo shaped door that when opened, gave out free Oreos. Now, to launch the chocolate chip flavour, Oreo has opened up the vault further, by allowing people to step inside and get Oreos from a giant cookie jar.
Three cheers for ANZ, Trade Me, Heart of the City, Toyota and Realestate.co.nz.
Trade Me has launched a new brand campaign called ‘Life Lives Here’ via DDB, opting for a more emotive approach to connect with Kiwis.
Adshel has launched New Zealand’s first national digital roadside network, Adshel Live, and, to celebrate its screens, it’s giving Kiwis the chance to win one for themselves.
The MediaWorks staffer accused of fraud amounting to over $450,000 today entered a guilty plea in respect of all charges at the District Court in Auckland. Until now, the identity of the accused has been protected by a name suppression order that prohibits the media from reporting on who it is. Presiding judge Taumaunu made the decision to keep the name suppression order in place until sentencing.
After 18 months of having its comment section switched on, RNZ has announced it will no longer allow comments on its website and it will phase out the capability on its site by the end of the week, instead encouraging comments on its social media channels, we chat to RNZ’s Megan Whelan about why it made the decision and what it means for its audience. PLUS: how technology might improve comment sections in the future, and Fairfax’s approach to its comment sections.
Following on from last week’s announcement of the category and judges’ awards finalists, we move onto the individual finalists for this year’s edition of the event. The list of finalists are split into veterans and newbies, with the former in contention to win the Marketer of the Year Award and the latter in to win the Rookie Marketer of the Year.
If you were wondering where that bright floodlight was coming from that was beaming up into Auckland’s night sky was last weekend, well look no further. It was merely ANZ, marking the launch of the next phase of its Olympic campaign, which has seen it release a brand new app where users can send Olympians messages through the stars (yes, you heard correctly) as well as another TVC by True promoting the app and creating anticipation for the Rio games, which kick off early next month.
Fairfax has announced the launch of Urban Adventure, a Crossfit-styled event that will see companies vie against each other for bragging rights. We chat to the media company’s events manager Brett McMeekin on the strategy behind the increased investment in events like these.
Mac’s Beer is celebrating its 35th birthday with Shine by “beering” all and adding a new beverage to its collection.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Every year, Christmas advertising seems to crawl further and further away from the actual event, surprising us with the Santa-themed adornments earlier and earlier and reminding us that journalists and Olympic sprinters aren’t the only ones obsessed with being first. This is something we’ve come to expect as part of the hyper-commercialisation of the day, and it’s hardly surprising or newsworthy anymore. However, this year, New World has set a new record, putting out a Christmas display in the early days of July.
Auckland’s Heart of the City and Colenso BBDO are letting some of the CBD’s secrets out of the bag in a new campaign to encourage Aucklanders to discover the diversity of offerings in the city.
The founders of The Social Club, a two-way market place where influencers can login to view brands and brands can login to view influencers was launched late last year and according to its founders, recently penned a partnership with Mish Guru to improve its offering for brands and influencers alike.
New Zealand ISP Bigpipe reckons it has the solution to an overcrowded internet connection with a new app that will give users the ability to prioritise their internet for different uses.
Saatchi & Saatchi’s Paul Wilson and Colenso BBDO’s Scott Coldham are among the 150 influential Kiwis who will tonight be trading in their home comforts to sleep rough for a night in a bid to draw attention to the plight of the homeless as part of the Big Sleepout event.
It’s been over a decade since New Zealanders have ventured into the the Toyota Signature Class plant in Thames, but this week Saatchi & Saatchi is catching up with the workers for the next installment of the cars’ journey.
Advertising veteran Mike O’Sullivan passed away on 4 July, bringing an end to his fight against cancer. We invite colleagues and friends to share memories to honour him.
MediaWorks and NBC International have appointed Maria Mahony as the general manager for Bravo New Zealand. She joins the joint venture from her recent role as the head of programming and local content for Lightbox, arriving with 17 years in local and international broadcasting experience at a range of companies, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TVNZ (Lightbox is yet to announce a replacement for Mahony).
High fives for Spark, NZ Post, ANZ, The University of Otago and Power Farming.
You may feel like you cannot participate in society if you don’t watch Game of Thrones. The fantasy programme has taken the world by storm and now Neon, the only legal streaming service in New Zealand with Game of Thrones on its lists, is a testament to that popularity as the site reports its best period ever off the back of season six.
Like all media channels, radio is going through a period of enormous flux. And to stay relevant in this changing environment, radio jocks have had to evolve to stay relevant. We chat to ZM’s afternoon jocks Jase Hawkins and PJ Harding to find out how they’re dealing with the challenges of doing their day jobs while simultaneously coming up with creative ideas that brands can use across channels.
Expedia is trying to tempt visitors to Australia by asking its audience ‘how far would you go for the things you love?’ in a 360-video that shows off some of the county’s best views.
The University of Otago is celebrating student life in a new ‘Only Otago’ campaign via Rainger and Rolfe, showing what goes on inside and outside of the classroom.
In the latter part of last year, Spark appointed Shine as its strategic partner and Colenso BBDO as its above-the-line agency as it looked to evolve the brand. Now, after what has been quite a long gestation period, the Kiwi telco has launched its first major brand ad through its new partners.
Rental car provider Europcar and Mercedes-Benz have joined forces to make childhood dreams come true in a unique activation in London.
NZ Post and Clemenger BBDO called on hip-hop dancer and choreographer Parris Goebel and her crew of dancers for its new ‘My Parcels, My Way’ campaign, promoting its flexible range of parcel delivery options.
The finalists of this year’s TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards have been announced after a record number of entries were received. It won’t be long until champagne-filled glasses will once again be clinked together at the Langham, celebrating the best of marketing over the past year.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople broke box office records with an opening weekend take of over $1.2 million and it has gone on to win critical acclaim across the world. There’s no doubt that the film is a local cinematic pleasure, but sometimes this isn’t enough to secure commercial success. Marketing, or the lack thereof, can often play a major role in whether or not a film succeeds. Fortunately, there was quite a hefty campaign behind this one.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Pandora has announced a new partnership that sees the music-streaming company hitch a ride with Uber. From this week, Pandora will be integrated directly within the Uber driver app, giving drivers the ability to manage their Pandora stations and rides in a single place.
After a successful week at Cannes nabbing a Grand Prix and a Titanium Lion for ‘Brewtroleum’, Colenso BBDO has now won Creative Agency of the Year 2016 at this year’s Caples Awards, with Clemenger BBDO and Young & Shand also coming away with an award each.
We’ve had a couple of stories recently about the extracurricular creative pursuits of people in the ad industry. So we thought it only fitting to cover those of Brendan Boughen, a Microsoft PR aficionado by day, cartoonist named Jim by night, who’s on the home stretch of his Pledge Me campaign to fund a book of cartoons and writing about people’s obsession with technology.
The way the word ‘digital’ is thrown about in the media industry suggests it’s a platform still in its early days. And while many brands are still coming to terms with digital capabilities, Stuff is celebrating its 16th birthday. In that time the news provider has built up a monthly audience of two million New Zealanders. Now, coinciding with its birthday, it is putting the focus on the audience, with a refreshed version of its ‘Go Full Spectrum’ campaign via Shine, to remind audiences what it does for them.
With sports teams, we often speak in the possessive, referring to “our team”, “our win” or “our home turf” even though none of those things actually belong to us. Well, BNZ is looking to give the endless stream of possessive phrases some more meaning with a new campaign that allows New Zealanders to claim a piece of the Crusaders’ turf for themselves.