“I’m not retiring.” Walden predicts great things
Resigning Whybin’s boss David Walden scotches rumours he’s retiring, predicts tremendous years ahead for agency and self.
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Browsing: News
The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
Making the sustainability change
How do we instigate change and get others motivated when it comes to sustainability?
David Walden resigns as head of Whybin\TBWA, ex-APN honcho new CEO
Big news in ad land today, with the confirmed resignation of David Walden as head of the agency he helped set up 14 years ago. Toby Talbot steps down as executive creative director.
One in four New Zealanders suffer from internet guilt, but it doesn’t stop us from going online
In the ultimate show of first world problems, one in ten New Zealanders say their offline relationships suffer because of the amount of time they fritter away online, according to a survey by Canstar Blue.
Unlimited breaks its paper habit with shift to digital
That new ink smell of glossy pages will now be thing of the past for Unlimited magazine because, following in the footsteps of magazines like Newsweek, it’s going fully digital in April.
IMD climbs aboard the eBus
Local company eBUS, which offers a cloud-based TV ad delivery system, is the latest in a string to be bought up by an overseas firm.
TVCs of the Week: 5 February
Hyundai’s ode to towing, Pak ‘n’ Save’s Countdown takedown and the next instalment of NZ Fire Service’s powerful campaign get the nod this week.
Seven Sharp debut more than double Campbell Live audience—UPDATED
Seven Sharp debuted last night to mixed fanfare from viewers, but TVNZ (and principal sponsor RaboDirect) won’t be disappointed with the audience figures released today for the coveted 7-7:30pm slot.
Smalley’s image hijacked for online weight loss endorsement
Remember the unfortunate guy who unwittingly became a spokesman for a particular brand of lubricant on Facebook last year? Now telly presenter Rachel Smalley is battling Facebook herself in an effort to get a photo of her used in a weight loss advertisement taken off Facebook.
Herald on Sunday follows in its big brother’s relaunched footsteps
There have been plenty of changes at APN NZ of late, with the relaunch of the Herald last year and restructures of both the editorial and sales and marketing teams. And now the Herald on Sunday, the country’s best performing newspaper, is getting its turn with what editor Bryce Johns calls “a complete revamp of the paper’s look and feel, and improved content mix”.
Review: Seven Sharp’s dull-edged premiere
I suck at watching awkward television because I always feel personally responsible for that awkwardness. I can’t get through an episode of American Idol without squirming into the back of my couch, flinching as every one of Simon Cowell’s barbed remarks pointed directly towards me. Their failures are my failures, and that’s why I couldn’t stand the first episode of Seven Sharp, which was more cringe-worthy than watching a chalkboard being scratched for thirty minutes.
StopPress’ best Super Bowl ads of 2013
The average game of NFL contains only 11 minutes of action, the rest of the three hours is spent on replays, shots of players, and commercials. It’s no wonder then that there’s so much hooplah around Super Bowl ads, because for some it’s the only entertainment amidst the spectacle that is American football.
Warehouse Stationery rummages through adland’s pencil cases
Warehouse Stationery has put its creative account up for pitch. And it’s pretty close to a must-win for the incumbent M&C Saatchi.
Fisher & Paykel keeps Colenso in its corner
Fisher & Paykel Appliances has reattached its wagon to Colenso BBDO after a head to head pitch with DDB at the end of last year.
Seven Sharp gets bank as sponsor
TVNZ’s new current affairs programme, Seven Sharp, has scored itself a sponsor with RaboDirect, ahead of its premiere tonight.
School’s back, and so is NZ Fire Service’s emotional fire alarm TVC
M&C Saatchi’s emotionally charged “Installation” campaign for the New Zealand Fire Service launches new ad coinciding with the start of the new school year, grabbing at all new heart strings.
Volkswagen and DDB spread the bug
Planking, owling, batting, breading, milking, Tebowing, horsemanning … There’s certainly no shortage of ridiculous participatory memes these days. And, to launch its new Beetle, Volkswagen and DDB have tried to create another one: Beetling.
A tribute of tributes for the late Sir Paul Holmes
Sir Paul Holmes passed away today at the age of 62, surrounded by family in Hawke’s Bay. Tributes have already started flowing through for the man who inspired or infuriated New Zealanders, and here we share a few.
New Rule: Change your passwords before you fire the social media team
Just as you’d change the locks when kicking out an ex, HMV has taught brands today it’s a good idea to change their social media passwords before firing staff.
Making the data sing: Facebook and iTunes collide as Kiwi website 25mostplayed.com goes live
The confluence of data and creativity—and figuring out how to combine the ‘math and magic’ to best effect—seems destined to be one of the marketing world’s biggest challenges in coming years. And Anthony Gardiner has checked both of those boxes with a website called www.25mostplayed.com that, by combining Facebook data and iTunes data, offers a look at what’s tickling the musical fancy of different demographics.
Resn takes home five FWA awards in January
A haul of five Favourite Website Awards last month has left the smug folk at Resn just a little smugger.
Y&R mans its impressive new fort
Over the past year and a bit, Y&R NZ has been undergoing something of a transformation (as its logo said, ‘re-est. 2012’). And, along with a new brand, new sub-brands and a swanky new office in the Auckland CBD, there have also been a host of changes to the staff roster in recent months.
Stuff and TVNZ jump the cat
Hacker story too delicious for cat-friendly media not to pounce on.
Are SPCA dogs Top Gear material?
Off the cuff comment by Top Gear presenter fuels speculation that the show is coming to New Zealand to film our talented dogs, however the agency behind the campaign says it’s pure speculation.
Ford and JWT embrace Kuga karaoke for X Factor sponsorship
Sponsorship isn’t just about logos on hoardings any more. It’s all about ‘activation’ and ‘integration’. And, with the X Factor hitting TV3’s screens this year, broadcast sponsor Ford and its agency JWT have already got in on the act with The Passengers, a campaign that aims to find “traffic light tunesters and side-street singers” to feature on a remix of Che Fu’s ‘Fade Away’. Plus: Last two X Factor judges named.
Tip Top and Colenso’s blast from the past
Where Kiwi kids may once have had a melting Popsicle dribbling down their chin as they climbed trees, played BYC or harassed geckos over summer, it seems they’re much more likely to be eating a Popsicle and staring at a screen these days. So, to tap into this evolution and add a bit of digi-fun to the brand, Tip Top and Colenso BBDO have tipped their hat to the classic arcade game Asteroids and custom-designed something similar to promote the new Popsicle Blasta.
Media Awards 2013: you be the judge
For all those media minds looking to have their say on the best media thinking of the past year, prospective judges need to have their applications to join the Media Awards panel in by 4pm this Friday.
YouTube reportedly contemplating paid subscription channels
Bad news for flailing media companies, you’ll soon be competing for subscription dollars with the third largest social network – YouTube.
Igloo boss quits for Australia
Igloo boss Chaz Savage has resigned from the fledgling pay TV venture, and is taking up a role with Telstra in Australia, according to a spokesperson for Igloo.
It’s a family affair: NZTA and Clemenger BBDO blur the lines
Following on from last year’s Donna Time campaign, which moved the focus from young Maori mates to slightly boganic mums, NZTA and Clemenger BBDO have launched an eye-straining new print campaign that targets families where drink driving is a common behaviour and, like the previous campaigns, encourages someone to speak up about it.
TVCs of the Week: 29 January
Chorus takes Kiwi artists to New York and Mitsubishi goes retro.
APNO adds to Auckland arsenal
In an effort to “be in the right place with the right inventory”, APN Outdoor has reached an agreement with the sole remaining principle of JAM Billboards, Vanessa Bryce, to acquire its three remaining billboard licenses in Auckland, effective from 1 February.
Google Plus edges Twitter, is now second most active social network
Watch out Facebook, Google+ is on your behind. Somebody’s using the untrendy service, because it’s now the number two social network in the world, says one study.
Twitter’s video app Vine in hot water for porn cockup
If Rule 34 of the internet is “If it exists, there’s porn of it”, then surely Rule 35 is “If it can host porn, it will host porn”, a lesson Twitter’s new video service, Vine, has learned today.
Design is at a crossroads, so how can NZ compete?
David Kester, ex-UK Design Council head, gives a pep talk on how to invigorate a culture of constant design in New Zealand.
Mindfood iPad app gets readers’ clicks and Apple’s tick
When tablet computers first arrived on the scene, they were slated as something of a saviour for the ailing magazine industry; a medium that offered the utility of digital technology but actually allowed publishers to make money from it. That certainly hasn’t come to pass in New Zealand yet, and there have been a couple of false starts in that space already. But with impressive download figures and an endorsement from Apple in its best of list at the end of 2012, McHugh Media’s Mindfood iPad app could just be a glimpse into the future.