The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
As the internet pulls audiences in all sorts of directions, and brands risk losing touch of their market, Motion Sickness Studio and Latch Digital have responded by creating The Social Club, a platform which aims to create meaningful connections between brands and influencers – and it’s not as exclusive as you think.
The Dentsu Aegis Network today announced that it had acquired a majority share in Barnes, Catmur and Friends (BC&F), an agency which has over the last two decades become one of the most prominent indies in the industry. PLUS: BC&F wins a bigger piece of the Jetstar business.
Southern Cross Health Society has appointed Contagion as its lead agency. The appointment means Contagion will now help develop and implement Southern Cross’ marketing strategy, creative, social and media work. Southern Cross Health society head of product and marketing Chris Watney says that Contagion will now be responsible for the day-to-day agency tasks and that Barnes, Catmur & Friends (the lead creative agency for the last eight years) “would be taking more of a backseat.”
Hats off to McDonald’s, KFC and Farmers.
Westpac has released the next stage of its ‘It’s time’ campaign by DDB, which promotes its 24-hour Smart ATMs, aimed at those who would benefit from late-night banking.
Fanta and NZME are taking their latest campaigns to the streets in the hopes foot traffic will provide ultimate brand engagement.
We’re gradually seeing a shift in retail advertising where shouty retail spots are being swapped out for more emotive material. Simply announcing a sale or displaying an item in a catalogue-inspired style isn’t enough to get through to an increasingly distracted and fragmented audience. Farmers recently cottoned onto this and continues to show its change in approach in its upbeat ad for its new season collection via The Workshop.
After only eight weeks in development Flick Electric Co. released a new app this week, called Choice, that gives Kiwis information about the carbon impact of the electricity they are using in real time.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Electric Kiwi has named Saatchi & Saatchi as its creative agency, after a pitch which took place in January.
With its announcement of the upcoming Survivor New Zealand TVNZ isn’t only searching for contestants keen to be stranded on an island during Survivor NZ. The broadcaster is also looking for brands that might want to get in on the action.
Every year, with the growing prominence of data, the skills used in direct marketing to target specific segments with personalised messaging becomes more important to marketers. For this reason, direct marketing is shifting from the fringes, where it existed as uncool but necessary, to play a key role in the industry. And as was indicated by the creativity on show at this year’s edition at the annual New Zealand Direct Marketing Awards, the industry is also doing a good job at improving its cool factor.
Super Rugby sponsor KFC has launched a new campaign via Ogilvy & Mather called ‘For the fans’, which celebrates that sense of camaraderie fans experience when heading to a game. It’s also released a spot for its picnic hampers, which is a bit of a departure from its usual ads, swapping light-hearted humour for the heart-warming family time card.
McDonald’s, DDB and Robber’s Dog want burger fans to join John Smith and make history by creating their perfect burger.
It’s been an advertising trope for years, but brands are increasingly shifting away from racy imagery in favour of a more inclusive alternative. Elly Strang investigates the trend.
Tiny mobile screens. Precarious cables traversing a room. Shared headphones and a laptop in bed. All familiar scenes to anyone who has delved into online streaming. And while any of these examples are acceptable in certain circumstances, a new campaign from Freeview NZ shows there are some advantages to the bigger television screen, particularly when watching a show with someone else.
As Faris Yakob argues, attention is a finite resource, yet the amount of content continues to grow, so something has to give. From inane Facebook posts to in-depth investigative pieces, the term content is nigh-on useless as a descriptor because it is so broad. And, writing in McSweeneys, Kendra Eash illustrates that brilliantly with her story ‘And on the Eighth Day, God Created Content’.
The solution to a cluttered office is here, with Nissan creating a self parking office chair inspired by the park assist feature on its cars.
While many of us probably take the honey sitting in our pantry for granted, mentally placing it in the same family as the marmite, jam and peanut butter, if you really think about it, honey is a small miracle. There are so many vital variables that make the production of the golden sweetener possible. Newly launched honey brand Lumojo has attempted to reflect honey’s value as a premium product through strong design, creating minimalist and streamlined packaging with Alt Group to, as it says, pay homage to the “natural designers” aka the bees. PLUS: we delve into the apparent increase of ‘premium’ products and take look at the honey industry in New Zealand.
With many New Zealanders facing a cold and damp winter, both outdoors and in, HRV has announced itself as the solution with a new campaign by Y&R.
L&P is going the online route for its major brand campaign this year, launching a weekly talk show, fronted by comedians Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery.
The virtual world is creeping closer and closer to the real world as Facebook now gives its users six reactions to chose from.
The Tiaki fishing approach, which includes innovative nets and a mobile app, is being trialled in a bid to enable consumers around the world to see where their fish came from and how it was caught.
Auckland Council has pulled in the big guns, literally, to announce the City Rail Link.
At last weeks Retail NZ’s shop.kiwi event, the CEO of the US National Retail Federation Matthew Shay said a shift in attitudes towards spending means consumers are spending more in houses and home renovations.
DB and Toyota recently pulled ads in social media commenters expressing concerns that the creative was inappropriate. And while this is a nod to the effectiveness of self-regulation, it’s worrying that ASA board played no part in the decision to pull these spots.
High fives for NZTA, Mercury Energy and Greenpeace New Zealand.
The annual Auckland Pride festival (5 February – 21 February) has been running for the past four years and the highlight is the Pride Parade, which saw colourful floats and well-known drag queens sashaying down Ponsonby Road on Saturday. Here’s a look at how the parade’s sponsors were involved to show their support for the rainbow community.
Marketing doesn’t always have to shouted onto a television screen, splurged across the pages of a mailer or hammered into a Gmail inbox. Sometimes, the most effective marketing comes instead as a subtle suggestion. As was discovered by a member of the Tangible Media business team, sometimes this suggestion can take the form of a friendly email, which in this instance came from Powershop asking a customer moving out of a home to remember to leave important information—such as the rubbish day, neighbours’ names, best local takeaway and the nearest dairy—for the next person moving in.
NZTA and Clemenger BBDO have released a new drug-driving campaign called ‘Thoughts’ to help prevent Kiwis from smoking up and then getting out on the road. And like its previous efforts it’s added a bit of humour without diminishing the seriousness of the message.
Referencing important moments throughout history—both local and international—a short video clip from Greenpeace elaborates on the important role that civil disobedience has played in the fight for human rights over the years. Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandhi, the suffragettes and Apartheid activists are all appear in the clip, reminding viewers that civil disobedience is justifiable if a cause is important enough. And in this instance, Greenpeace is arguing that climate change is an issue that merits civil disobedience.
Creative agency Ben & Libby has picked the National Rural Fire Authority account after a creative pitch understood to have involved two other agencies. PLUS: Bernie, the mascot, faces an uncertain future.
Mercury Energy have turned up the cute factor while they turn down the power bill in their latest campaign with FCB.
Tasty Pot Co., which creates apparently nutritious, microwavable meals, has just released new packaging that gives you all the information about the product you need, including cooking instructions. But for some weird reason, it doesn’t seem to have finished the instructions for how to hangi your meal. StopPress investigates.
You’ve got to stand out, says Paper Plus chief executive Sam Shosanya. And sometimes that means putting your faith in a weird, green and slightly seductive entity.
For those who struggle to consume dry articles about the economy, it might have just been made a bit quicker and easier with NZME’s Economy Hub, a content video series which is essentially a short weekly panel show tackling topical economic issues sponsored by HSBC.