The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
Auckland-based software company Propellerhead held a house-warming party for its new office on Drake Street. The refurbished warehouse space is a stone’s throw away from the redone Victoria Park Markets and boy is it fancy.
None of the entrants for the March round of the Orca awards were deemed good enough to take the prize, but the judges handed out two merit certificates for two campaigns with very different alcohol messages for Crafty Beggars and the Health Promotion Agency (nee ALAC).
The Sony Xperia Z mixes beautiful design on the outside with powerful electronic gadgetry on the inside. The phone gives Samsung a run for its money in the Android market and asks Apple the awkward question: “when are you gonna catch up?”
Eccentric millionaire, technologist and alleged pirate Kim Dotcom is currently sitting at second on Time’s list of 100 most influential people in 2013. In the online poll Dotcom has around 82,000 supporters and 5,400 detractors for his claim as this year’s most influential person.
Not long ago OHbaby! was announcing the launch of its new tablet edition. And now the independent title is celebrating another milestone: its first ever mainstream TV ad.
US craft beer exports rose 72 percent last year compared to 2011 numbers and while New Zealand still has a long way to go to reach the approximately 15 percent of market share craft beer holds stateside, similarly impressive growth trends exist in New Zealand. So as the movement gains steam—among both brewers and drinkers—Super Liquor is aiming to bring those two segments closer together with its Craftology initiative, which is part loyalty scheme, part content marketing and part kerrazzzee idea dreamed up while sitting around having a beer.
It’s only taken a year and half, but Google Play Music is finally available in New Zealand.
Convenience stores are often busy and cluttered, but new premium coffee and food brand Motto hopes to offer an oasis amongst the mad rush, with a splash of colour and a chirpy tone.
The news that Naked was shutting up shop in New Zealand surfaced a couple of weeks ago, and there were a few differences of opinion from the major players on the reasons behind the closure. But Matt O’Sullivan, as expected, has now launched his new entity: Open.
Urban strategist Charles Landry on what makes a city creative, how to inspire curiosity and why strategic agility is key.
We’re suckers for Old Spice ads. So much so that the various campaigns by Wieden + Kennedy have almost removed the stigma of dadness surrounding the brand. Its most recent campaign, Mr Wolfdog, stuck the boot into marketing in completely absurd fashion, but the products remained at the centre. And the latest work for its new bar soaps do much the same, with some magnificent songs that poke fun at old school soap ads.
We live in fat times and the supposedly duplicitous actions of the companies responsible for producing the food and drinks that play a part in this bodily expansion are often blamed for it. But the Government is attempting to address the issue and has signed off on new standards for health claims on labels that aim to reduce misleading marketing and help consumers make better-informed decisions.
Give praise for the return of Tim, the rebirth of Hubbards and the arrival of Tip Top’s Nourish Our Kids.
The New Zealand outdoor marketplace now has a big new name in its midst, with the biggest player in the Australian outdoor market rebranding nearly one thousand poster and billboard sites across New Zealand’s shopping centres, universities and Auckland airport from Eye to Ooh! Media.
Tip Top bread, a George Weston Foods brand, gained a few fans when chief executive Greg Coffey announced the establishment of its Nourish Our Kids programme on Campbell Live in February. The new initiative is a long-term commitment to work with Kidscan and help alleviate child hunger—and it fitted in nicely with Campbell Live’s quest to bring attention to and create solutions for child poverty. And now it’s promoting the programme with a simple but effective TV ad showing two very different worlds colliding.
While visiting New York in 1987, Dick Hubbard told his wife Diana about his idea to start a cereal company that would “make New Zealand proud and healthier at the same time”. Since then it has grown into a sizeable business that continues its breakfast battle with big beasts like Sanitarium and Kellogg’s. But it’s trying to up its game with a new integrated campaign via Hunter.
A time traveller stranded in New Zealand seeks help in the NZ Herald’s classifieds section to go back in time and warn younger self.
Tired of the increasing “tabloidisation” of news media, James Wendelborn took it upon himself to see if New Zealand’s largest paper had succumbed. During his spare time he collected and analysed the front page of every weekday issue of the NZ Herald in 2012 looking for tawdry tales and what ever the print edition of linkbait is. Last week he revealed the results of his year-long project called Selling the News.
Like Eldorado, the fountain of youth and a decent cup of coffee at midnight – achieving inbox zero is a goal many set out on, but very few ever achieve. Mailbox App for iPhone (free from the Apple App Store) helps those on their own journeys to an uncluttered email account, using sleek software which makes you look at Apple’s native Mail client with disdain.
Journalists in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, but we feel this editorial decision by Stuff should be preserved for posterity.
No, Facebook isn’t releasing a phone. It is however working to further envelop its users into its ecosystem, with the upcoming launch of Facebook Home.
With only so many minutes in the day (1440 to be precise) there’s not much time for lolly-gagging about when looking for which news articles are worth reading and which are not. Ferald is an extension for the Chrome browser which takes the hassle out of this equation for New Zealander news consumers.
Last year, Mastercard, McCann Sydney and Robber’s Dog walked away with the top prize at the Fair Go Ad Awards for their ‘Tight on Tour’ spot. And Tim, the over-excited All Blacks ‘super-fan’, has been brought back to celebrate the launch of its contactless payment technology PayPass.
The Radio Industry Research Committee (which includes representatives from TRB, Mediaworks, and the Radio Network) has released its half yearly commercial radio listenership survey, which shows a year on year drop of 52,400 weekly listeners in the aged 10+ bracket.
Jib Jab hasn’t completely cornered the market on animations with people’s faces stuck on them, as BNZ Bank clearly shows in its latest Kiwisaver campaign on Facebook.
Car salesmen get a pretty bad rap. All shiny shoes, sparkling teeth and snake oil. And Rav4 owners aren’t typically regarded as being too outrageous. But they’ve been painted in a new light in the new Toyota campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi and Thick as Thieves that aims to celebrate the inherently adventurous spirit in all Kiwis with a good, old-fashioned Goodbye Pork Pie-style road trip.
Igloo may take up to six years to break even, says TVNZ. The state broadcaster revealed this information in a written statement to the Commerce Committee, where it says “There is no specific target for sales in the first 12 months as we recognise it could anywhere between 4 – 6 years for the business to reach break-even.”
Despite the prevalence of high-tech devices, slot-car sets still retain their almost retro allure and TBWA\ and Match Photography took seven hours to construct a rather large track in a living room for ANZ’s latest print ad, as this behind-the-scenes clip shows.
Fairfax Media restructure sees Fairfax New Zealand chief executive Allen Williams heading to Australia to become managing director of the newly formed Australian Publishing Media division. But aside from a change at the top, the changes won’t be affecting the New Zealand business.
Social Media Club Auckland kicked off its first event of the year last week, discussing the use of social media for PR. Following hot on the tracks of the My Food Bag ad vs #ad hubbub, panelists Hazel Phillips (editor at Idealog), Deborah Pead of Pead PR, and David Fisher from the New Zealand Herald deftly argued the merits of using media (particularly journalists) to promote products on Twitter.
The trouble with DRMLast week we saw a vulnerability in TV3’s On Demand service exposed,…
DraftFCB and Mini are on a bit of a roll at the moment, with SPCA’s Driving Dogs winning pretty much everything in sight (it has been shortlisted four times at the prestigious Festival of Media, second only behind ASOS’ best night ever with five). And the pair are victorious once more, with the ‘Ducks’ ad taking out News Works’ newspaper ad of the month for March and the Mini newspaper NIM campaign getting a special mention.
Social media isn’t about awareness any more. It’s about driving connections and sharing interests with consumers.
Bethells Beach and Maori warriors star in Samsung’s latest global TVC campaign.
I gave up on full frame cameras not longer after I got into photography. I have the back of a 60-year-old and the budget of a 20-year-old, neither situation lending itself to owning heavy and expensive kit. Using the Canon EOS 6D this last week makes me reconsider the perks of a nice big 35mm sensors.
The digital realm offers a boatload of exciting opportunities for marketers and advertisers. But don’t forget your old shipmates.