The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
Good Magazine’s December/January 2011 issue has beaten off fierce competition to be hailed as winner of The Maggies: Magazine Cover of the Year 2011. The cover features an image of a handmade pohutukawa wreath evoking the Kiwi Christmas spirit, and beat titles across all five categories, to be crowned overall Magazine Cover of the Year, as well as winning the Lifestyle category.
Westpac hasn’t been doing too shabby as of late. Last week it announced the New Zealand business has once again outperformed its Australian parent with a 41 percent boost in earnings. And perhaps proving that profitability doesn’t have to come at the expense of sustainability, Westpac also cleaned up at last night’s 2011 NZI National Sustainable Business Network. Westpac was named Sustainable Business of the Year and also took home the People’s Choice and the Trailblazer Large and Corporate Business awards.
They’re often seen as arch-rivals, but, in what appears to be a prime case of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, TVNZ and Sky are thought to have snuggled up for a new digital TV product called Igloo that could be launched before the end of the year.
In a similar fashion to its NZ Pure billboard at the Auckland airport, Boundary Road Brewery and Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ have launched a cheeky new billboard for its new Lawn Ranger brew and referenced the recent spate of trademark bullying.
We knew it was going up for sale after a glittering career spent promoting the nation in some of the world’s busiest urban hubs. But we still had to laugh when we saw this unusual item come up on the government tender site last night. Only in New Zealand, you might say. Although it’s a shame it’s not on TradeMe. We think you creative types will be able to come up with a few interesting ideas for the next phase of the magnificent Giant Rugby Ball (imagine how impressed your clients would be if you had your Christmas party in this bad boy) and the best suggestion wins themselves a subscription to NZ Rugby World, some Cadbury chocolate and a new book by Jack Ralston and Steve Kilgallon The Sports Insider.
Love magazines? Love winning? The good folk at The Magazine Marketing Company are launching the Creative Magazine Guide and to celebrate they are giving away $3,000 worth of creative magazines.
The election isn’t dominating the ad breaks quite as much as rugby did last month – just some asset-kissing from the politicians in this latest round of Ads@6. “Vote National and kiss your assets goodbye,” says the Labour Party. Tony’s tires continue to grate, and that disaster prone Peter Elliot is back wondering whether your family would survive one.
Who’s it for: Mitre 10 Mega and Plunket by DraftFCB and Flying Fish
Why we like it: We’re suckers for time-lapse, especially when it’s used to promote a campaign helping to raise money for Plunket. A good idea, well-made and a nice original track from …
It’s been a tumultuous time for our Christchurch friends of late. But the team from UMC advertising is feeling pretty positive about the future after a surprisingly good year on the business front and a recent rebrand to Simpatico.
Tourism New Zealand has signed a $9 million marketing deal with Jetstar that will combine the airline’s low fares with the tourism organisation’s strong destination branding to encourage more international visitors from Australia, Singapore, Japan and across the Asia region.
The party may be over. But, as expected, there are plenty of sponsors trying to bask in the reflected glow of the All Blacks Rugby World Cup victory, including Adidas with its new ‘all ours, again’ spot.
Rugby World Cup orientated advertising is finally on the way out – replaced with electioneering in this latest round of Ads@6. There is some Nutricious nuttiness, and Mainland talks to the cheese.. but will the cheese respond?
As a grand finale to its 75th anniversary year, the Home New Zealand editorial team and Inhouse design have given the mag a spruce up for the Dec/Jan Summer issue. And, to showcase both the new design and the collaborative process required to create it, they’ve produced a cool little ‘home movie’.
Almost 30 years after New Zealand’s infamous snap election, a Wellington based distiller is bringing old-fashioned fun and satire back to modern day politics. Ulf Fuehrer, maker of traditional German schnapps Zumwohl, says one of his greatest passions in life, aside from schnapps, is politics. Now he’s found a way to bring the two together.
When it comes to valuable marketing commodities, celebrity chef, food writer, publisher and TV star Annabel Langbein is basically the Dan Carter of cooking. And Silver Fern Farms has signed on to use Langbein as its meaty ambassador for her property Fresh Everyday.
Coca Cola Amatil (CCA) has taken three more brands off incumbent Ogilvy and awarded them to Saatchi & Saatchi.
The 24 Hour Movie Marathon is now the Fatso 24 Hour Movie Marathon after the online DVD rental company took up headline sponsorship of the event dedicated to true film buffs with a minimum two year commitment. This year marks the 12th annual event and it has once again been masterminded by film aficionado, producer and distributor Ant Timpson. Sadly, the event on Saturday 19 November at Auckland’s Hollywood Cinema has already sold out, so we can’t give away any tickets, but Fatso is offering a prize pack to help you replicate it all at home with a free three month Super Plan subscription, a Movie Marathon t-shirt and a Fatso Movie Marathon poster, designed by the immensely talented Tane Williams. So add a strange name for a movie to the comment wall (here’s some inspiration) and it could all be yours.
The Air New Zealand business is thought to be up for pitch, with a rumoured list of Saatchi & Saatchi, DraftFCB, Special Group and the incumbent .99/Colenso all gunning for one of the country’s best-loved brands.
Don’t miss out… time is running out to register for the Marketing Today Conference 2011. The Big Day Out for the marketing industry is only 12 days away and the line up is top notch.
MediaWorks revealed its new season line-up in fairly understated fashion last week. But TVNZ was ‘avin it large on Wednesday night and took it back to the good old days with a big, expensive, Hollywood-esque launch event for its 2012 season.
GrabOne has presented its retailers with an early Christmas pressie – 2000 android tablets to redeem coupons. It is in response to some irate Grabbies who’ve had trouble redeeming their vouchers using their phones. Seems some retailers were refusing to accept vouchers unless they’d been printed out.
Ondemand is proving very popular with Kiwi audiences, with the stream view worm heading swiftly upwards for both major broadcasters and online video content on the major news sites going through the roof. And TVNZ is aiming to replicate the success of its interactive, digital Emmy award-winning, Ondemand-only show Reservoir Hill with a follow-up along similar lines: a new spoof comedy show called Auckland Daze.
The printing presses may be slowing down across the board, but online channels are starting to take up some of that slack. And, in an effort to capitalise on the mobile and online momentum and make it easier for retailers to get their wares in front of modern shoppers, Reachmedia has released the next version of its catalogue viewing platform, which effectively takes catalogues, resizes them and publishes them in a Facebook environment and on mobile apps.
Just as sales of tennis racquets always go up in the UK after Wimbledon when mere mortals are inspired to play, thousands of rugby balls were being kicked around the day after the All Blacks’ victory as kids all over New Zealand dreamed of becoming the next Beaver. And, in an effort to tap into the increased interest in the sport at all levels and, at the same time, prepare future stars for life in the professional era, NZ Rugby World and the New Zealand Rugby Players Association (NZRAP) are set to release a special annual publication dedicated to First XV rugby.
Not convinced about the sustainability argument when it comes to the purchasing behaviour of consumers? Think again. The latest Colmar Brunton ‘Better Business Better World’ survey results reveal that sustainability influenced the purchasing decisions of 88 percent of respondents. That bodes well for purchasing potential, but on the flip side the survey also found that 72 percent couldn’t think of any brand leaders in sustainability. And if ever there was concern that the term ‘sustainability’ is still perhaps ambiguous in definition to some people, the survey found 20 percent of respondents didn’t know what it meant.
Part 43 in a 198 part series about local humans and companies that have recently won something, including Omnigraphics, Brett Phibbs, Method Studios, 35 of the nation’s best workplaces and Urgent Couriers.
Rugby World Cup advertising continued to dominate throughout October, some say to the detriment of both quality and originality. And after being told to ‘touch pause engage’ one time too many, the NAB judges have decided no one deserves the October Newspaper Ad of the Month award. The obvious headlines and groan inducing puns featured across too much of the material – at times to the detriment of art direction.
These days it’s not uncommon for kids to be more computer savvy than their parents. So how can computer illiterate parents keep their children safe online?
Who’s it for: Steelfort ‘Lawnmaster’ by Seed Group
Why we like it: Kudos for being a New Zealand company that’s still actually making things in New Zealand (Palmerston North to be exact). Kudos for somehow making the creation of lawnmowers look cool and dramatic. And kudos …
One of the surprises of the Effie awards was not seeing DrafFCB and The Electricity Authority’s What’s My Number campaign up on the podium. Turns out it was ineligible for this year’s competition because of the dates it ran, but it looks set to be a shoo in for next year, because you don’t get much more effective than a campaign that ends up influencing the nation’s interest and inflation rates.
APN is claiming to be the first New Zealand publisher to launch an augmented reality app, with The Herald’s TimeOut section being made into an interactive print product through the use of regularly updated virtual content.
Along with industry specialists traditionally seen in the judging line-up for the RSVP and Nexus Awards, the Marketing Association has confirmed several new faces for this year’s panel.
Fresh from an impressive Best Awards haul, its first Effie accolade, a big Kathmandu rebrand and the global launch of MahiFX, Strategy Design and Advertising has ramped up its expansion plans by bringing Wellington’s Cue Design into the fold, with the studio adding to its existing offices in Christchurch, Auckland and Sydney.
…as another senior Adshel staffer departs, Val Morgan welcomes a new national sales director, the Newspaper Publisher’s Association announces a new business and marketing manager, and GrabOne adds to the family.
Newspapers have had a bit of bad press lately (geddit?), facing dwindling sales and circulation as news junkies get their fixes for free online. But newspapers still remain close to Kiwis hearts, even when they’re overseas. To prove it Special Group placed the front page of the Herald in the free daily newspaper Metro for thousands of Kiwis living overseas to read.
New Zealand likes Vogel’s. And puns. And, when it comes to the rules around RWC advertising, loopholes. So it was no surprise to hear actual humans—not just marcomms insiders—commenting on how much they liked the combination of these three things in Publicis Mojo’s recent work for the Goodman Fielder bread brand. In our eyes, it was one of the best outdoor campaigns of the year, so, as a tribute to impressive punmanship and supreme confidence, here’s the lot of them, including a post-victory billboard that oozes smugness.