The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
A new challenger for New Zealand’s TV shopping market is set to launch in the country later this year. Korean-based KD Media has announced the new (and yet to be named) channel, led by Auckland-based investor and chief executive Paul Ding.
According to Nielsen research, 54 percent of Kiwis aged over 18 years are now shopping online, an increase from 38 percent of New Zealanders five years ago, with New Zealanders spending $3.7 billion in the last 12 months.
Nielsen’s latest figures on online shopping show more Kiwis are clicking to buy. And from holographic retail assistants to interactive zombie gaming to mobile apps that allow users to purchase items via QR codes, retailers and marketers are donning their digital thinking caps to find the most creative ways to lure and retain customer attention in the colliding world of bricks, mortar and online retailing. Deirdre Robert shops on.
At the start of this month Charlie’s announced its new name: The Better Drinks Company. But that’s not the only change taking place behind the scenes for the drinks manufacturer. A new office space was commissioned to physically represent the company’s new philosophy.
To promote the fact that 2degrees customers on a Carryover Plan can call and text their Aussie mates at no extra cost, the cheeky telco has released an ad via TBWA that details the similarities between the two countries. But it still manages to stoke the trans-Tasman coals with a Troy McClure-esque disclaimer at the end.
The Crown, Pack & Co’s latest venue on Auckland’s Customs St in Britomart and the first of its Little Empire Brewery and Eating Houses, had its official opening last week. It plans on tapping into the craft boom and brewing its own beer in the near future. So no doubt it will need some help to name its different varieties. We’ve got two $50 bar tabs and two tickets to Beervana in Wellington on 9-10 August to give away. So add your best craft beer name to the comment wall and the top efforts (from those over 18, of course) will get the loot.
APN NZ’s group advertising director Andrew McNally died suddenly of a heart attack this morning at the age of 44. Updated with details of services in Melbourne and Auckland.
Peter Nuttall thinks New Zealand is playing a game of risk with its 100% Pure brand and believes it is bordering on greenwash. Wayne Linklater explains.
T-shirts are blank canvases best left that way – this is the idea behind DraftFCB duo Freddie Coltart and Matt Williams’ radio campaign for AS Colour Apparel, which has won the May round of the new ORCA award year.
A weekly wrap of funny things, good things, weird things and other things seen on the intertubes.
Finnish phone manufacturer Nokia has teamed up with upcoming Super Man movie Man of Steel (out here in New Zealand 27 June) to coat tail on its coolness – and boy is it cool.
From elevator frights, to dropping friends right in it, to dramatic surprises in town squares, to fake attacks, marketers and agencies seem to love nothing more than scaring the bejesus out of innocent bystanders with their social experiments. But UK road safety organisation Think and its agency Leo Burnett have taken it to a new level with their #PubLooShocker.
Nostalgia and geeky heroics combine to give DDB New Zealand May’s Ad of the Month Award from newspaper industry body News Works.
The Shopping Channel has had a pretty rough ride since it launched with great, Eva Longoria-inspired fanfare last year. But it’s still alive—albeit much leaner, in a different location and with a modified focus.
TradeMe Jobs recently launched a campaign showing that nominative determinism was a thing of the past. Try telling that to the BBC.
IBM has been beating its smarter data drum for a while now. And that philosophy has made its way into the real world, with a series of ads for its ‘Smarter Cities’ campaign that double as functional street furniture.
German beer brand Beck’s chose Semi-Permanent in Auckland to unveil its latest toy: a beer bottle where instead of a label there’s music.
‘Can you make it go viral?’ is a phrase that strikes fear into the hearts of all agency folk. But Swedish PR consultant Simon Strand, who has spent an inordinate amount of time philosophising on last year’s big YouTube hits and coming up with his own viral formula, is here to help.
Kim Dotcom’s cloud locker service Mega came under sustained cyber attack yesterday, which affected the New Zealand-based cloud company’s services for about 2.5 hours.
When it comes to ad spend, there are a few measures available, from the ratecard-based Nielsen AIS, to the industry-supplied figures released annually by the Advertising Standards Authority, or other quarterly releases sent out by various industry bodies. But a new player is about to take the field, with Standard Media Index (SMI) launching in the New Zealand market this month.
City slickers who have given up on the big smoke but can’t tell the difference between a cow and a fence post have a new site to look to for advice on rural living.
Mention the word drones and images of indiscriminate bombing come to mind. But Ex-Wired editor Chris Anderson has a different take on things and he’s been extolling the virtues of—and making a business out of—unmanned flying devices for years. Now Domino’s has also seen the light and, as this video of the ‘DomiCopter’ shows, the pizza of the future might be airborne.
Getty Images’ Hulton Archive goes almost all the way back to the birth of photography. So, as part of an effort to highlight the breadth and depth of historic content available there, it teamed up with Short and Sweet to launch a film challenge with a twist.
All Blacks sponsors have a long history of piecing together some game-day footage, showing a few big hits, adding a bit of emotive language to illustrate the mana of the black jersey and trying to give Kiwis a few goosebumps. Adidas did it to pretty good effect during the Rugby World Cup. And, with the game against the French kicking off on Saturday, Steinlager, which has sponsored the All Blacks for 27 years, has done it as well with a dubstep-backed ode to one of the most successful teams in world sport.
My love hate relationship with Samsung’s Galaxy Note range now spans over two years of smartphones and tablets. These flagship devices known for the signature S Pen stylus inputs, border gimmicky on one end and business essential on the other. With the Galaxy Note 8.0, Samsung has created a device that’s definitely more latter than the former – putting a powerful iPad Mini competitor in the hands of consumers (for a price).
While print media continues to tumble and find its footing in the digital age, online advertising is on a rocket ride to the top. According to PwC’s latest entertainment and media outlook, online advertising is expected to reach $543 million in annual revenue by 2017.
The Dollar Shave Club guy, otherwise known as Michael Dubin, earned legions of fans for his very entertaining launch video. And he’s back with no.2—and an array of no. 2 puns—to promote the arrival of his next product: butt wipes for men.
Film duo Campbell Hooper and Joel Kefali (aka Special Problems) permiered their short film Echoes at Cannes last month to some of the biggest names in the global film industry.
Two of the country’s biggest TV shows came to their seasons’ end over the long weekend, with the fourth seasons of MasterChef NZ and My Kitchen Rules (MKR) continuing to bring in the viewers for TVNZ despite competition from MediaWorks’ big show X Factor NZ.
The psychology of food and the changing quest for employment receive a warm embrace this week.
Coca-Cola’s branding for the past few years has been all about “sharing the happiness” (as opposed to sharing its secret ingredients). Taking that point to the next level is a new can design from Ogilvy which twists to reveal two small cans – perfect for sharing with friends or other Coke addicts.
If Bear Grylls can do it, Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam reckons Heineken drinkers can too.
Coat-tailing on the success of The Hobbit trilogy is paying off for Tourism New Zealand and it says it’s a strategy that will feature heavily in the organisation’s three-year plan for marketing the country to the rest of the world.
Just like its father/mother is in the online auction space, TradeMe Jobs is the most-visited New Zealand jobs site, reaching that goal a couple of years ago. And, it’s aiming to stay there with the help of its first-ever brand campaign via JWT.
By combining beautiful illustrations, a simple narrative and highly interactive data – Sadaf Lourie (writer), Riccardo Scott (illustrator), Jarred Bishop (designer/developer) and Alex Gibson (data/developer) have won the May Showcase Award from the Mix & Mash competition – along with a $500 cash prize.
After a stellar 2012 on the awards front, Colenso BBDO was named the world’s best advertising agency by the Big Won report. And it aims to stay at the top. In an article that originally appeared in NZ Marketing, Ben Fahy talks commercial creativity, Kiwi clobbering machines and the increasing importance of IP with Nick Garrett and Nick Worthington.