The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
Fairfax yesterday announced that it would be restructuring its business to align it more closely with a “modern newsroom,” which is digital-centric and focused on audiences and content rather than traditional mastheads. This immediately led to interest from all major media outlets and speculation as to how many job cuts the changes could result in.
Following on from the report of two departures at DDB earlier this week—and what DDB says was the unrelated resignation of Chris Riley—we followed up on comments suggesting there were more departures than DDB chief executive Justin Mowday was letting on. He referred us to Rapp managing director Robert Limb, who confirmed the staff count on the third floor of the building would also be going down. PLUS: what changes to the Spark roster might mean for Dynamo.
During the New Zealand Radio Awards, hosts Andrew Mulligan and Bryce Casey shared a series of faux Tweets supposedly posted by a series of celebrities during the event. Prime minister John Key, X Factor NZ host Dominic Bowden and even Queen Elizabeth (or Lizzie as she refers to herself) were victims of Photoshopped Tweets on the night.
The 2015 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards are ready to be collected. So if you feel you’ve performed heroic feats of marketing over the past year, take a leaf out of Vaughan Schwass’ book, submit an entry before the deadline of 5pm today and you could also be Mighty Marketing material. NOTE: Last day for entries.
According to Mary Meeker’s latest report, online attention minutes continue to grow in the US (with mobile now accounting for over half the time spent online). And the gap between attention and ad spend is also starting to close. That trend is evident here too, and the latest IAB/PwC Online Advertising Report showed that the sector generated $180 million in the first quarter of 2015, a 53 percent increase year on year.
In an effort to show drivers that they have an alternative to breathing in exhaust fumes for hours a day, Vespa has released a clever campaign via Y&R Ecuador that feeds an ad onto the Waze navigation app, telling drivers how much faster they would reach their destination if they were on two wheels. While the campaign certainly does make the point that it might be time for drivers to invest in an alternative mode of transport, it will probably also contribute to road rage levels—because let’s face it, there’s nothing quite as annoying as watching motorcyclists effortlessly weave their way through traffic. And knowing that they are reaching their destinations about three days before you do makes it all so much worse.
Content marketing and its dodgy cousin native advertising are big areas of focus for brands and media owners at present. And they’re also big areas of confusion, with no set rules on disclosure and very little data for this market. The IAB NZ’s Standards & Guidelines Council is aiming to change that and has set out on a mission to gauge the level of activity, build a resource on the topic and help educate and showcase what is currently being offered in New Zealand.
To simplify the process of scouring through apps to find the best ones, Spark Digital has introduced a new offering called Spark Digital Apps that gives small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to the core digital tools they need to run their businesses. StopPress chatted to the recently appointed Spark Digital marketing manager Mark Redgrave about the thinking behind this move.
We live in visual times. We also live in an age of showoffery, where the experiences we now seem to crave over material goods are enhanced through sharing (and social validation). Brands and agencies have figured out a few clever ways of getting in on the rise of user-generated content, whether it’s Instagram printers at events or social media-enabled photobooths, but Hamilton-based app developer Kapja has launched a new app called Biz Brand Cam, which it says is the first fully customisable app of its type available to download directly from the Apple App Store.
Ad avoidance software provider Adblock Plus recently announced that it would be extending its service to mobile devices, leading Sarah Kavanagh, the acting chair of the IAB NZ Mobile Council, to raise a series of concerns about the increasing use of tools designed to dodge ads in the online space. And the extent of the issue on a local level has now been revealed, with Ben Williams, the spokesperson of Eyeo (parent company of Adblock Plus), saying that the company already has 200,000 active users in New Zealand. And, if international trends are anything to go by, then this is only set to increase over the next few years.
The vast majority of ads are an annoyance, and that seems particularly true of the largely ad-funded online realm. How else do you explain the fact that several hundred million people use ad blocking software? But D&AD and BETC Paris have tried to prove that people don’t hate advertising, they just hate bad advertising, with a web browser extension called the Ad Filter.
Venture capitalist Mary Meeker’s annual State of the Internet presentation has become required reading for those interested in how the online era is affecting human behaviour—and so business, transport, security, healthcare, education, communication, regulation and pretty much everything else. And the 2015 version once again condenses the major tech-inspired trends in one handy slide deck.
A nationwide survey of office workers conducted by research agency Perceptive shows that 81 percent of Kiwi office workers believe the physical environment at their workplace has an impact on their happiness and job satisfaction, while nine out of ten workers agree that if they are happy at work, they are more productive. So StopPress looks at a few examples that are getting spatial design right. PLUS: galleries of hip office spaces from ad land and beyond.
While the era of managed corporate communications and non-disclosure agreements means pitching is far less public than the days of clients announcing how much their business was worth and which agencies would be fighting for it, the process is still all about competition. There is a winner (and occasionally winners) and there are losers. And in the recent Harcourts pitch, which was won by Contagion, it seems no-one wanted to be a loser.
Two years after joining the agency from OMD, DDB’s chief operating officer Chris Riley is set to depart.
The sad lives of India’s street dogs were highlighted in this clever clip by Ogilvy Mumbai for Mumbai-based animal welfare organisation World for all Animal Care and Adoptions. The video follows a day in the life of a stray dog, which has a camera mounted on its body. It runs through the streets of Mumbai, digging through rubbish and drinking dirty water while cruel locals kick at it and taunt it.
Vodafone, DB Export and Ssangyong share the spoils this week.
The magazine industry, like all other ‘traditional’ media, is adapting to a very different environment. And so are the magazine industry’s awards, with The Magazine Publishers Association adding new categories, simplifying entry, changing the judging process and renaming it the Magazine Media Awards for 2015.
Whittaker’s has released four TVCs via Assignment Group to advertise its new artisan chocolate, which sees Nigella Lawson reprising her role as domestic goddess.
Local publications have been filled with all the typical Argentinean features, including glorious steaks, fanatic football scenes, and elegant tango steps. And one article in the Herald honoured the street art of the nation by using the colourful splash of some graffiti as its leading image. And while this piece of street art is eye-catching, the text featured on it is incongruous to say the least.
Ben Polkinghorne had an odd hobby: burritos. When he wasn’t writing copy and winning various awards at Colenso BBDO, he sought them out, reviewed them, experimented with new varieties. Then last year he met a guy with another odd passion: sausages. And the burrito-flavoured sausage was born. Now the entrepreneur has quit his day job to take the Bangerrito to the world —and, in a nice send off, he also won IdealogLive’s Pitch Circus last night.
Whether it’s the dormant corporate blogs, the desolate Facebook/Tumblr/Pinterest pages or the media start-ups that kick off with a hiss and a roar, are temporarily fuelled by enthusiasm but end up falling over, the internet is littered with good intentions. But Duncan Greive, founder and editor of TV-obsessed website thespinoff.co.nz and Barkers’ magazine 1972—is confident he’s found a model that works. And it’s all based around content marketing.
Assignment Group has won the creative account for premium dairy brand Kapiti, following a competitive pitch thought to have involved several agencies.
When men drink beer they come up with great ideas, according to a new DB Export commercial by Colenso BBDO which celebrates mans’ greatest creations from the pyramids of Giza to the “plastic bits at the end of shoe laces”.
Mitsubishi has released a new commercial via Clemenger BBDO for its Outlander SUV and, rather than focus on the car’s features as is often customary in auto ads, it’s focusing on the drivers. And while it’s a laudable goal to try something new, we must admit to being slightly confused about this one.
At this year’s edition of the Canon Media Awards, The Herald took out both of the key traditional print awards by winning the Newspaper of the Year and the Best Daily Newspaper (over 30,000 circulation). And at a time when the digital is becoming increasingly important, the NZME-owned publication also took out the Best Website award. PLUS: Northland Age editor Peter Jackson wins over the audience.
Soon the nation will be bombarded with Rugby World Cup-related ads, whether from the tournament’s family of sponsors, the national sponsors, the ambushers or even the teams themselves. And MasterCard is one of the first of the bunch to get in on the act, bringing back its long-time mascot Tim for his fourth run.
Special Group has announced the appointment of ex-Ogilvy employees Angus Hennah and Sandra Daniel as creative director and business director, respectively.
One of the bedrocks of being a good sportperson is the ability to work well in a team, and this shines through in Rebel Sport’s new commercial created by Ogilvy & Mather and The Sweet Shop for its winter campaign.
FCB head of studio Simon Pengelly runs one of the largest agency studios in New Zealand. And despite having a schedule with very few gaps, he recently took a few minutes to chat to Creative Store founder Louise Lawton about what his high-pressure role entails.
The official deadline may have passed, but you can still submit your entry to the 2015 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. So if you feel you’ve performed heroic feats of marketing over the past year, request a late entry and you could also be Mighty Marketing material like Fonterra’s Tim Deane.
It was a record night for New Zealand agencies at this year’s D&AD awards in London with a standout moment of the night for Colenso BBDO/Proximity, when K9FM became the first ever New Zealand campaign to win a highly coveted Black Pencil, one of only five awarded globally this year.
A piglet named Piggy Sue and a Southern Mail courier driver Keith will replace James Rolleston as the face of Vodafone on Sunday night when the telco launches a new brand campaign developed by FCB.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Safety has long been a major focus of car companies. And VW has shown how important its safety features are with a powerful, shiver-inducing montage via Ogilvy Cape Town that zeroes in the most most important moment of one girl’s life.
Dunedin-based agency Brandaid and young production company ‘Two Bearded Men’ have created a new video for Enterprise Dunedin, and unlike many other videos about Dunedin, has steered well away from student life (and student revelry), focusing instead on the people and gems of the city.