The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
In what will be a big blow to incumbent agency .99, Air New Zealand has chosen DrafFCB to be its lead agency after a competitive pitch, starting in March. But there is still some mystery surrounding the set-up of the account because Saatchi & Saatchi, which a few industry big mouths had thought was looking good to take the win, has also been included on the airline’s agency roster.
Fourteen months after launching its mobile application, GrabOne’s mobile sales are at an all time high. Twelve percent of all GrabOne purchases over the Christmas period were via the GrabOne mobile application, up from 5.45 percent in November 2011 and 1.5 percent over Christmas 2010.
Every year, tickets to one of the best events on New Zealand’s sporting calendar, the Wellington Sevens, sell out in minutes. The 2012 edition, which now has Hertz as naming rights sponsor, has already sold out, but never fear, because our cauliflower-eared friends at NZ Rugby World have got a couple of tickets to give away. All you need to do is send a message from your brain to your fingers, click here and fill in a few details. Then, if you win, you just have to come up with an amazing costume idea like this.
The Glossies
Just before the RWC began, Sonny Bill Williams’ management kicked up a bit of a stink when the NZRU decreed that he wasn’t allowed to sign a sponsorship deal with a drinks company considered to be a rival to official All Blacks sponsor Coca-Cola. It turned out he should have been thankful for the denial, because the interested suitor, South Pacific Beverages, used actor Ben Barrington to front one of the biggest turkeys of the year for its Pure Energy brand and Coca-Cola then decided to sign up the man mountain themselves (for an undisclosed sum, of course) as an official ambassador to help launch its new fizzy 300ml Powerade Fuel+, which aims to snatch a share of the energy drink market.
Good news: World TV is launching a new English-language Freeview channel. Bad news: The plug has already been pulled on TVNZ 6. TVNZ 7 will be gone by June, replaced with a shopping channel run by Ogilvy. And Stratos TV closed down with nary a whimper on 23 December 2012, leaving the writing on the wall for Triangle.
The call for entries for the 2012 CAANZ Media Awards, which was led by DDB’s Chris Hancock and Chris Schofield, went out today, with a theme that tongue-and-cheekily references the Mayan doomsday prophesy. And while we all wonder about the future of mankind, CAANZ has taken the opportunity to announce a host of changes to the Media and the other awards it runs.
The RWC certainly got the outdoor sector’s tills ringing loudly, with a 36 percent increase clocked in Q3 when compared to the same time in 2010. And while the full year totals aren’t quite that massive, the Outdoor Media Association of New Zealand (OMANZ) announced a strong finish to 2011, with gross media revenue increasing by 16 percent over 2010 to $72.4 million, the equivalent of a $10.1 million boost.
Who’s it for: Unitec by Special Group and Film Construction
Why we like it: The final set of 60-second ads in this year-long reality-advertising series showed just how much students can change if they put their mind to it. It was a risky …
Early in 2010, Pernod Ricard’s Montana wines were given a bit of a design refresh, with Dow Design embracing the Marlborough mountains for the brand’s global push. It then rebranded the products sold overseas to Brancott Estate, apparently because of confusion that the wine was from the state of Montana and Marlborough was deemed to be too close to cigarette brand Marlboro. And now, after a big year of RWC sponsorship and above-the-line activity (including this TVC as part of the ‘Stay Curious’ campaign), it’s just had another label spruce up, with new packaging launched across the entire Brancott Estate range.
New Zealanders could soon have a new way to proclaim their Kiwiness online, regardless of where they are, as Dot Kiwi Limited enters into the application process for the .kiwi domain.
Tip Top launched its new range of Ice Bar Co. ice blocks last year and, slightly unusually, aimed them directly at the grown-ups. Typically, ice blocks were something for the kids to get all over their faces, and their popularity with this demographic meant such treats were always in jeopardy if the stash happened to be discovered in the freezer. But thankfully, Colenso BBDO has come up with an ingenious product that aims to keep the goods safe from the greedy little thieving parasites (or from curious flatmates): a frozen pea packet camouflage system that uses the threat of vegetables and phrases like ‘now extra bland’ and ‘eight fewer flavours than ever before’ to put mischievous kids off the scent. Get yours for free here.
The November/December round of voting for The Glossies has come to an end and the creative campaign concocted by ecostore, Special Group, Naked and Salt Interactive that ran in ACP’s Little Treasures and allowed parents to turn their children into cover stars has claimed first place with 22 percent of the 574 votes received, beating out Alt Group’s Fisher & Paykel ad in Cuisine (18 percent) and Tourism Queensland’s multi-page execution (EBOOK_LTQG_2011_LR) in Let’s Travel Golf edition (15 percent).
Award winning journalist Mihingarangi Forbes has left her role with TV3’s current affairs show Campbell Live and signed with Maori Television to produce its daily news programme, Te Kaea.
The final episodes of Unitec’s reality-doco campaign show just how much three students can change in one year. The last installments in Unitec Institute of Technology’s ad campaign which has been following three real life students for the past 12 months go to air nationwide from tonight.
A new road safety campaign uses hidden camera footage to reveal the unscripted responses of ordinary New Zealanders finding out they are being driven around by someone high on drugs. The ads, produced by Clemenger, are the start of a multi-channel campaign aimed at reducing the harm caused by drugged drivers.
Big ups to Colenso’s Nick Worthington (pictured) who was crowned best executive creative director in the world, and James Hurman the second-best planner. Colenso BBDO Auckland was ranked fifth best agency in the world on this year’s Big Won list by Directory. Big Won awards are won by winning the most awards. Worthington can now brag that he’s officially got a Big Won.
Cover illustration by David Dawn
We all like to squeeze in a bit of reading over the holidays. And we’ve got just the thing: a freshly minted copy of NZ Marketing magazine. For your summer reading pleasure, we’ve compiled our extremely definitive end of year list complete with the best campaigns, the epic fails, the captivating stoushes, the most-loved things, the mergers, the departures, the ship jumpers and anything else we could squeeze in. There’s also a rare glimpse into the under-the-radar success of indie agency Shine and the rather interesting results of our Salary Survey, which was conducted by The Research Agency, filled in by more than 500 people and showed a definite desire for movement in 2012. You can read the mag the quaint, old-fashioned way by buying it at the shop or subscribing here. But because you marcomms folk are so tech-savvy, you can also download an electronic version of the magazine to your device for just $6 by heading to the Zinio site (digital subscriptions for six issues are also available for $25).
Publicis Mojo’s latest multi-platform campaign for Greenpeace is a simple yet stunning piece of PR. It is starkly original, emotive and extremely powerful. And, with everything from pop-up art galleries to support from Radiohead, we reckon this campaign is, if you’ll excuse our Rainbow Warrior French, pretty fucking good.
Women have the ability to create fantasy, desire, life and mayhem. Some more so than others. And Publicis Mojo celebrated this power in its latest campaign for Glassons. The 60 second online film and 45 second TVC features women (one of whom some of you might remember from NZ’s Next Top Model) wearing Glassons outfits in a fantasy world of their own creation and it was shot in Auckland by Derek Henderson of Curious Ltd, and set to the Donovan track ‘Season of the witch’.
Find out which brand of deodorant our favorite world champions really use… and whether it has ever let them down. Warning: way too much information from Ma’a. No one uses the word ‘stiffy’ anymore.
First it’s One, nek minnit it’s 60 Minutes. But do not adjust your sets. TVNZ political editor Guyon Espiner will join TV3 in the New Year, as a journalist on the current affairs programme 60 Minutes.
2degrees has sought urgent Commerce Commission action to stop Telecom from damaging competition in the mobile market. Telecom has confirmed it will lock the phones of customers who buy its planned ‘Skinny’ product, forcing them to pay a fee if they want to leave before a certain time. ‘SIM-locking’ is an anti-competitive practice the Commerce Commission warned against in 2008, when Vodafone tried to get away with it. Vodafone backed down after receiving a letter stating the practice was anti-competitive
DDB’s executive creative director Toby Talbot had a bit of a leaving do last night. And, to acknowledge his departure, a couple of his cheeky cohorts decided to create a rather unique farewell card that was strategically placed across the road from SPQR on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road and referenced a long-standing agency in-joke about his oft-misspelled name.
Annabel Langbein recently shacked up with Silver Fern Farms in an effort to peddle more of its meaty wares. And we’ve got a couple of copies of her Free Range in the City book to give away. Just tell us what Christmas delights you’re planning to feast upon and imbibe this year. In addition to the books, six lucky carnivores can win a private dinner party at Langbein’s Auckland house, including return flights and accommodation, by picking up some Silver Fern Farms’ lamb or venison before February and entering online using the unique code found on specially marked packs. Visit www.bestcutsbestrecipes.co.nz for more information.
Christmas is a time to celebrate enduring traditions. Trees, mistletoe, binge eating, rampant consumerism. But in adland one of the most enduring traditions is seeing what progressive Auckland church St Matthew in the City puts on its billboard to celebrate the festive season and waiting for the angry response to ensue. Last year it was M&C Saatchi showing Mary and Joseph’s post-coital awkwardness and this year it’s the follow up from TBWA\: a billboard showing a shocked Mary looking at the results of her pregnancy test.
After plenty of rigorous discussions between various marketing big-brains, the finalists of the 24th RSVP and Nexus Awards have been announced and DraftFCB is sitting pretty with 12 nominations across the Nexus, RSVP and RSVP Craft categories, followed by Colenso/AIM Proximity with eight (plus three more for AIM Proximity on its own), justONE with seven, Ogilvy with five and Affinity ID with four.
Colmar Brunton and global partner Millward Brown’s Futures Group have peered into the digital tea-leaves to identify some emerging trends for next year. Among their predictions – gamification, “virtual togetherness” and real-time online decision-making will be the big hitters of 2012, changing the way marketers interact with consumers via digital channels.
With summer suddenly upon us brands are turning to the experiential space to engage with consumers who are out enjoying environments ideally suited for building brand awareness and loyalty. Beaches, zoos, parks, waterfronts and city streets are about to provide a tableau of (hopefully) meaningful and engaging brand activity to provide some ‘surprise and delight’ moments to make your summer more fun and enjoyable.
Who’s it for: 2Degrees Mobile by TBWA and Film Construction
Why we like it: Two words, Rhys Darby. He appeals to all demos with the trademark quirky geek style. And we want some “handy auto-writing arms” too.
Who’s it for: Axis Awards 2012, CAANZ …
There was both joy and despair when Air New Zealand announced it had killed off Rico. And whether or not you liked the fur and fang, the digital trickery employed by .99 and the cute tie-in with Cluedo was a clever way of sending the non-specific spokebeast off. Now his murderer has been found and in a merging of mascots, Richard Simmons is back in front of the camera for Air New Zealand, along with the very talented puppeteer behind/inside Rico, Tyler Bunch.
According to Nielsen’s AIS data, Revlon spent $4.1 million on advertising in New Zealand in 2010 and $3.3 million to the end of October this year (base rate card value), largely in magazines and TV, and, as part of a global alignment, MediaCom has taken over the media planning and buying in New Zealand from DraftFCB.
It was a big year of rugby for adidas and TBWA\ was behind much of the work done to leverage its sponsorship of the All Blacks. ‘All In’ and Stand in Black were solid campaigns, but for many they were overshadowed by the PR shitstorm that ensued after the jersey price debacle. And as the global sports giant shifts its focus away from rugby and towards other sports, so the focus also shifts away from the New Zealand branch and towards the two agencies it uses in Australia.
The days of the digital wild west could be numbered, if the Law Commission has its way. In its latest paper News Media Meets New Media, the commission has proposed a single regulator across all types of news media in New Zealand. One “independent of both government and the news industry,” that will outline the standards and accountabilities that it believes should apply to all news media and bloggers, in the digital age.
Christmas is close, and this sees The Warehouse, Noel Leemimg, Farmers, Harvey Norman, Telstra Clear, Bond and Bond, Holden, Telecom, and Chrisco, all jiggling for space on the tinsel-trimmed bandwagon. Dad’s dance moves are lampooned by Microsoft. Mel B, on shedding her baby weight with Old Spice… sorry, ahem, that should read Jenny Craig. Plus BNZ, on how to ‘basically’ get a remote-controlled flying shark for free.
The latest installment of the Countdown family soap opera sees the Colemans struggling to cope, after mum Nikki returns to work following the birth of her baby. MacDonald’s targets office girls who enjoy being engulfed in waves of runny brown stuff, and Vodafone shows how you can spend Christmas with the people you really love – your Facebook friends, while sharing Christmas dinner with your family.