Witty ukeleles win April ORCA
The final round of the Outstanding Radio Creativity Awards (ORCA) is now done and dusted. A pair of creatives from Clemenger BBDO is $500 richer and a step closer to a trip to the Cannes Lions.
Get the latest direct to your inbox twice a week. Sign up today. 
Browsing: News
The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
Chris Hadfield wins space race for Canadians with Bowie cover song
The Canadians won the space race the moment they sent commander Chris Hadfield into space. In his time aboard the International Space Station he’s taken gorgeous photos of New Zealand, answered numerous questions on Reddit and still found time to undertake the sciency things the Canadians sent him into space to do in the first place.
Axis: a year in the life of Kiwi advertising
As evidenced by the Axis exhibition in the Viaduct Events Centre last week, it’s good to see all the work done in one year in one place. And Saatchi & Saatchi and Flying Fish did just that as part of the Axis festivities, with a clip showing some of the quality video content created by local agencies and directors in 2012/2013.
Big man, big life: Dave Walden’s lifetime achievement award video
Whybin\TBWA’s David Walden was honoured for his long—and entertaining—career in advertising on Thursday night at the Axis awards. So have a gander at this video to see what the people he has worked with over the years, like Andy Blood, ASB’s Barbara Chapman (who debunks a few myths), Roy Meares and Mike Hutcheson, had to say about the quintessential ad man, charming rogue and renowned restaurant-goer.
Chromacon artists speak about their illustrated lives
This Sunday saw the inaugural Chromacon illustration and animation convention hit Auckland City, bringing with it a host of talented illustrators, designers and world creators.
As someone whose illustration prowess goes only as far as drawing shaky stick figures, I was awed by all the artwork crammed into Aotea Square. Not so awed that I couldn’t ask a few of the illustrators who caught my eye a question or two.
Awards rewards: Geoff Matthews
As part of our push to remind you marcomms folk to get your entries in for the 2013 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards (there’s still 15 days left) we’re asking some past winners to tell us about their glorious victory, what it meant to the business and why these awards are different. Here’s why Geoff Matthews, director of BrandCom and winner of awards for Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon, Red Witch guitar pedals and taxrefunds.co.nz, reckons you should enter.
APN makes it six in a row at Canon Media Awards as NZ Herald rejig nets top prize—UPDATED
It’s one night where the big challenges currently being faced by the print media industry are brushed to one side and the hard work of photographers, journalists, artists, designers, cartoonists, editors and many others—both in print and, increasingly, online—is celebrated at the Canon Media Awards. And it was APN’s newly compacted New Zealand Herald that came away with the top prize.
Where’s Waldro?
As purveyors of only the finest typos here at StopPress, we couldn’t help but notice this gem from last night’s Axis awards, where the name of a certain lifetime achievement award recipient was spelled wrong. Devo is thought to have demanded a public hanging to boost morale.
DraftFCB unable to get rid of metallic taste, adds One Show pencils to awards haul
Last year, Clemenger BBDO’s Ghost Chips won a yellow pencil at D&AD the same night it was snubbed at Axis. But this time the planets were in alignment, because DraftFCB’s grand axis winning Driving Dogs for Mini and SPCA has also won a prestigious gold pencil in the integrated branding, consumer campaign category at the One Show.
Y&R and Red Cross deliver a box of hope
To draw attention to the role Red Cross plays in New Zealand and around the world—and to raise more money so it can keep doing it—Y&R NZ and Flying Fish have created an animated TVC that follows the instantly recognisable white and red box through a range of crises the charity deals with.
What happens on Vegas, stays on Vegas
DraftFCB’s senior copywriter Peter Vegas wasn’t there in person to see Driving Dogs clean up at Axis (he was in New York collecting a few other awards the campaign had won). But, with the help of a few cardboard masks, he was there in spirit.
The Compendium: 10 May
A weekly wrap of various things seen and noted.
Oldies show young’uns how to shake their groove thing in ASB promo
The Hip Op-eration dance crew is the dopest, flyest dance crew to ever come out of Waiheke – and it’s lending its street cred to the ASB Stage Challenge.
DraftFCB gets creative monkey off its back as Driving Dogs takes top Axis prize
As director and filmmaker Tony Kaye said to the gathered marcomms folk yesterday afternoon during his mad but wise speech, “you’ve just got to keep making shit”. And of all the shit that was made in the past year and a bit in this country, DraftFCB’s Driving Dogs for Mini and SPCA was chosen as the best.
2degrees picks Ikon as new media agency
Ikon Communications has won 2degrees as a client, snatching the number three telco away from its previous partner Carat.
It’s the rock & roll life for Kiwi music discovery game
If you’ve had dreams of managing The Beatles but haven’t quite figured out where to begin your management career (or how to build a time machine), Indie Music Manager is the game for you.
GIFs: Duncan Garner makes drugs look uncool, good job
In a display of some truly Hunter S Thompson-esque journalism, Radio Live presenter and the other half of Guyon Espiner, Duncan Garner took some synthetic canabis to show people it’s dangerous – or something like that.
Broken news? Fairfax’s Garry Ferris on the newsroom of the modern era
As if taking on the rather sizeable job as Fairfax’s Auckland editor-in-chief wasn’t stressful enough, Garry Ferris’s home was robbed three times in his first eight days in Auckland. But despite the tough introduction and fairly troubling times for print media—and the company he’s now working for—the avowed newspaper man is still remarkably chipper.
Google NZ pays $165k tax in boom year for online ad spend
Google New Zealand’s latest financial statement to the government shows the search giant paid $165,000 to the tax man in 2012.
Bullseye Digital rebrands, eyes New Zealand growth
Australian digital agency Bullseye Digital has given itself a new coat of paint with a retro–vintage makeover to make the staunchest hipster proud. With the new look comes a new attitude, which includes aspirations for growing the company in New Zealand.
Simone McCallum takes a look at the pros and cons of new(ish) publishing platform Medium.com
Medium.com has been around for a few months. Another brainchild of Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, it’s a clean and simple publishing community for posts longer than Twitter’s 140 character limit, but less than a novel. In other words, medium length posts.
The Radio Network snags Yahoo NZ boss Laura Maxwell-Hansen
The Radio Network (TRN) has tapped Yahoo New Zealand general manager (soon to be ex-general manager) Laura Maxwell-Hansen as its new commercial director.
Review: Microsoft Surface RT – pretty on the outside, dumb on the inside
Microsoft surprised the world last year when it unveiled the Surface RT, a tablet manufactured by what is traditionally a software company. I was blown away by its beautiful design and dissimilarities to the iPad. In a field of Apple clones, the Surface RT is refreshingly its own device. Microsoft launched the Surface RT in New Zealand earlier this year and for the past few weeks I’ve been giving it a test drive.
Awards rewards: Simon Coley
As part of our push to remind you marcomms folk to get your entries in for the 2013 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards (there’s still 15 days left) we’re asking some past winners to tell us about their glorious victory, what it meant to the business and why these awards are different. Here’s why Simon Coley, design director of Powershop and co-founder of All Good, reckons you should enter.
Johnny’s got a gun
Jesse Mulligan said he wanted to be the Jon Stewart of New Zealand before he started his role as host of Seven Sharp. ‘Tis a noble goal. But after watching this deeply concerning, very funny and downright brilliant three-part series on The Daily Show about the gun control debate and how Australia managed to achieve what the US gun lobby says is impossible, who’s going to be New Zealand’s John Oliver?
McDonald’s sends lamb to the slaughter, but Chickens come to the rescue
McDonald’s announced today that it was discontinuing its lamb burgers in New Zealand after disappointing sales results. But as one range departs, the new chicken range has arrived, and DDB NZ has enlisted 20 people who really know their chicken to help sell it.
Google slaps the Bass
On what would have been the 93rd birthday of American graphic designer and film-maker Saul Bass, Google has honoured him with a doodle.
Field of dreams? BNZ puts rugby players in the money chair
Having a bank tell you to be good with money seems to be a tough pill for many to swallow. But when those who are held up as idols tell you, it has a lot more weight. And that’s exactly what BNZ is trying to tap into by getting past and present Super Rugby players to open up and talk about financial concerns, goals and advice.
Channeling the anger
It was good to see NZTA and Clemenger BBDO taking a slightly different approach to road safety with the Drive Social campaign (although it would’ve been good to see that sentiment translated into a usable ride-sharing initiative). But Formula E Indoor Raceway in Manukau obviously thinks there’s still room for a bit of road rage, just on its track rather than in public.
Awards rewards: Dave Shoemack
As part of our push to remind you marcomms folk to get your entries in for the 2013 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards, we’re asking some past winners to tell us about their glorious victory, what it meant to the business and why these awards are different. Here’s what Dave Shoemack, ex-DB Export marketing manager and now global marketing manager for Heineken’s Sol brand, had to say.
Samsung style
Samsung has upped its marketing game in recent years. But it’s reached new heights in India with a magnificent performance of what is undoubtedly the best song ever written about a phone.
There’s no accounting for taste
As the videos of people attempting the Cinnamon Challenge or Hell’s Pizza Roulette attest, watching reactions to strange and unpleasant mouth sensations usually makes for compelling viewing. And, as part of TedX Sydney, Saatchi & Saatchi and Heckler have given us some more with ‘The First Taste’.
TVCs of the Week: 7 May
Human Chickens, cerebral insulators and a well-travelled boy hit the charts this week.
Anchor sees light at the end of the tunnel with increase in milk sales and share
There’s been a whole heap of chatter about Anchor’s new light-proof bottles over the past few weeks, plenty of it negative. But one month after the first bottle was produced, Fonterra Brands’ group marketing manager Craig Irwin says the innovation is already paying dividends in terms of increased sales and share.
Adobe abandons Creative Suite after a decade in favour of Creative Cloud – we look at the pros and cons
A decade and six versions since first launching Creative Suite, Adobe has abandoned its flagship retail software in favour of its Creative Cloud pay-as-you go model. We look at some of the pros and cons of Adobe’s new(ish) business model.
Red Bull’s southern drift—UPDATED
Anyone with a bit of boganic blood in their veins who’s driven the Crown Range has probably wondered what it would be like to have the road to themselves. And, by the power of Red Bull, this wish was granted to New Zealand-based drift driver Mad Mike Whiddett, who left plenty of skidmarks with his pimped our Mazda RX7.