The latest agency news, campaigns and client wins (and losses) making headlines across Aotearoa.
And the fresh TV work keeps on coming, with a new cerebral/agrarian spot for Volkswagen’s first ever ute, V takes street art to a new level with the help of Humpty Dumpty, Mitsubishi speaks the car-related, localised truth and Cirkus Animation’s TVC for Vietnamese stationery brand Thien Long.
It took a while to get there, but the official announcement has been made and Clemenger BBDO has been chosen as NZ Post’s new creative partner, beating out DraftFCB.
The automotive industry has had a rough time of it recently and there’s been a consolidation of automotive media in the local market, but the New Zealand Herald is obviously confident things are looking up, because it’s taken a fairly bold step and launched a comprehensive new motoring lift-out called Driven and backed it up with a big launch campaign.
Jeremy Irwin, the chief executive of the the Association of New Zealand Advertisers (ANZA), has announced he will retire at the end of June.
The good news keeps coming for Alt, which is no stranger to winning global accolades. The design agency has picked up a bronze from the Art Director’s Club of New York for its efforts on Auckland Museum’s I AM campaign, developed from an acronym of Auckland Museum, and a pattern language developed as part of the identity of the museum. And Strategy Design is also sitting pretty with a nomination in the Clio Awards.
With the rise of daily deal sites, smart phone technology and e-commerce, the way we’re shopping is changing rapidly and a discount culture has well and truly taken hold. And while New Zealand may be lagging behind slightly in comparison to other tech-savvy nations, lasoo.co.nz is hoping to remedy that slightly with the launch of its “smarter shopping assistant” on Android and Windows Phone apps, which allow shoppers to find and select the best deals while wandering in ‘meatspace’.
‘International indie’ bcg2 has picked up an account double, and they’re at opposite ends of the ad spectrum: the Tongan tourism business and Pfizer’s Avigra from Viagra incumbents M&C Saatchi.
…as TBWA\ makes a couple more significant hires; Radio New Zealand splits up its Morning Report hosts; Clemenger Group continues to nurture youngsters after its inaugural Graduate Programme proved a success; Carat hunts for a new general manager; another old hand joins The Pond’s freelance ranks; Mango adds a trio to its events team; and the Ministry of Economic Development signs up an event advisor.
Last year’s domestic box office haul of $177 million was the highest ever. Cinema ad spend also increased by $2 million in 2010. And there are plenty more big blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides (3D), The Hangover Part 2, Green Lantern (3D), Cars 2 (3D) and Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (3D) set to lure the punters—and advertisers—to the movies this year. If you want to get a taste of what’s on offer, Val Morgan is extending an invite to a special cinema presentation featuring films being released from July to December, followed by some relevant trailers and the best examples of local and global 3D cinema advertising for some inspiration.
When you think of the things you’re likely to see in Albany, a violent tornado would be a very long way down the list. But it just happened and the Perceptive team recorded it destroying buildings and picking up trampolines from their office. As the description in the video says: “The Perceptive team a little rattled as a tornado rips past our office in Albany on Auckland’s North Shore. Pardon the language!!”
A virtual cornucopia of new work to choose from this week, with a double for Robber’s Dog.
Who’s it for: V by Colenso and The Sweet Shop
Why we like it: It was always going to be tough to beat V Pomparkour in the coolness stakes …
Fairtrade products are going off at the moment, with sales increasing by more than 100 percent in Australia and New Zealand in 2010. And to draw more attention to the benefits these more ethical products can provide, both for the well-being of the growers in the developing world and the inner glow of those buying them, The Sustainable Business Network, Heart of the City, Café L’affare, Kokako, All Good, Tangible Media, Oxfam NZ and Fairtrade NZ are holding a Breakfast in the City at Britomart Country Club next Thursday during Fairtrade Fortnight. Attendees will get to sample delights from All Good bananas, Caffe L’affare, and Kokako, Michele A’Court and Jeremy Elwood are on hosting duties, a Fairtrade tea producer from Sri Lanka will speak about the impact of Fairtrade on his community and everyone gets a free Keepcup. We’ve got a double pass to give away and all you have to do to win it is name a part of on orang-utan. If it’s the part we’re thinking of, you’ll get to partake. For all those who are unfamiliar with orang-utans, tickets are going for $15 from here.
The world of the consumer is an ever-evolving one and for business it presents many an opportunity, though it is certainly not without its challenges. And that commercial intimacy is something design agency DNA is keen to tap into with the re-launch of its Open website this week.
Despite the prevalence of screens in our lives, just two percent of retailers use digital signage to promote their wares. Enter n.gage, a conference in Auckland on 31 May that aims to educate marketers in the dark but increasingly important arts of retail digital signage.
TVNZ and MediaWorks are always competitive, as the rather confrontational comparative promo TV3 ran after the Japanese earthquake showed very clearly. But this was taken to a new level on Sunday when TVNZ sent out a press release saying 60 Minutes had “lost almost half its audience since March and almost 300,000 viewers per week since February”. Embarrassingly, the figures TVNZ used were wrong and, understandably, MediaWorks is none too pleased.
Given we published a story in January about the Radio Network winning the rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup, it was slightly surprising to get another release from its arch enemy MediaWorks Radio today saying it too had won broadcasting rights for the tournament.
It seems there’s an app for almost everything now and, combined with people’s apparent fondness for sharing details about what’s going on in their lives, New Zealand Post-run directory and social media service Localist has launched what its chief executive Blair Glubb describes as a “visual Twitter stream”.
NZ Post has taken its sweet time choosing a new agency to replace long-time partner Saatchi & Saatchi, which decided not to repitch for the business when the expressions of interest were called for in December. The pitch was thought to have finished more than six weeks ago and it seems a decision on its new agency has been made. But no formal announcement has been released and the lips of the Posties and the two agencies thought to be battling it out for the win—Clemenger BBDO and DraftFCB—are staying sealed.
When it rains it pours. After a brief dry spell on the new ad front, numerous newbies have recently been set free. So, for your viewing—and possibly even critiquing—pleasure, a selection of the freshest TV cuts, including Mitsubishi’s new brand ad by Clemenger BBDO, Meridian and Assignment Group’s polar expedition, TVNZ’s new patriotic promo for its news and current affairs offering, State Insurance and Colenso’s fireproof box promo, Sealord and Saatchi & Saatchi’s wonderous condiment contraptions, DraftFCB’s latest work for Genesis Energy and Gregg’s and Lumino and Wag the Dog’s extended, nationwide tonsil hockey tour.
DDB’s powerful water safety message for the Coastguard has taken out the NAB’s April Newspaper Ad of the Month, with M&C Saatchi’s ‘Spilt Coffee’, the latest in its series for Warehouse Stationery, receiving a Highly Commended to add to wins in the March and September rounds.
There’s no denying the print sector has suffered at the hands of the digital revolution and recession double whammy. But as everyone goes gaga over new technology and predictions about the death of anything that isn’t the internet continue to spew forth, it’s easy to forget that good old-fashioned paper-based publications are still holding on and, in many cases, going great guns. Promoting the vitality of magazines as a medium was the basis of a huge ‘Power of Print’ campaign in the US. And now the Magazine Publishers Association and Y&R have just launched a localised version of this message with a new trade campaign called ‘Magazines Add. Add Magazines’.
The One Show shortlist was announced last week and, for the Kiwi agencies, it was a big improvement on the previous year. And it’s the same story for another big New York award show, Clio, with 12 New Zealand entries making the cut, up from five in 2010. DDB managed three, JWT, Colenso and The Sweet Shop got two and Clemenger BBDO, DraftFCB and Strategy received one each. There were no Kiwi nominations in the interactive, direct, integrated, print or student categories. The awards will be handed out on 19 May.
Ever since New York ad agency Doyle, Dane and Bernbach started promoting ‘Hitler’s car’ to the Americans in the 50s and 60s with what is widely regarded as some of the best advertising the world has seen, Volkswagen’s marketing, much like its cars, has developed a reputation for reliability. As a large global brand, the work seen in New Zealand usually comes from overseas, but DDB NZ has joined in the fun from time to time, with the recent ‘Milk Run’ TVC and the award-winning ‘Finance Director’. Now it’s had another hoon on the German car behemoth and come up with another entertaining retail spot that plays on a truth universally acknowledged: weddings cost too much.
Starburst!® Time is running out to ensure eternal glory at this year’s TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. But wait there’s more!™ Avoid a lifetime of bitter regret and get your work in front of the judges by Friday 20 May. Entry forms and a full list of all categories are available for ten easy payments of www.nzmarketingawards.co.nz.
Even Ads@6 gets an Easter break. Minus a couple of days, this week’s offering includes a really long Countdown ad about pears (both hard and soft), Hammer Hardware still going strong, the IRD make an attempt at humour, Genesis Energy continue to gather the troops to help in the Christchurch neighbourhood muck in, Freeview gets animated, Dilmah maintains its ethical stance and the Topp Twins develop multiple personalities.
APN has been focusing on upping the Herald’s game in the digital and mobile space of late, and it’s done a very good job, with a well-received and award-winning iPad App and mobile site and more on the way soon. As a result of this focus, some brands in its stable have been left behind in this regard and The Listener is a prime example of that. Well, now the website has been completely redesigned by the in-house team to bring it into the modern media era. But the advertiser-funded strategy remains—for the moment, at least.
Small Wellington-based commercial production company HoverLion, which specialises in animation, motion graphics and a touch of live action, has been creating a bit of an online buzz with a viral video that features a unique type of animation created by company co-founder Ned Wenlock.
GrabOne first offered $4 tickets to Event Cinemas in Auckland in July 2010 and, just ten months later, it sold its one millionth coupon (a 61 percent off Canvas Print in the Northland region, in case you were wondering). To celebrate this milestone, it’s giving away two $50 GrabOne credits to lucky, bargain loving StopPressers. Like social media platforms, daily deals sites all seem to require a strange, suitably catchy name. So all you have to do is come up with a ridiculous name for a fictional new entrant to this crowded market and all your discount dreams could come true. Extra credit given for ridiculous slogans.
Subway has just been given a creative spruce up by its recently appointed agency Publicis Mojo and, for a fast food brand that’s generally played it pretty straight with its marketing in the past, the new ‘You Rule!’ direction is rather surreal and of the times, with a big nod to video game culture, crude but popular YouTube animation and possibly even robot unicorns.
It’s coming into winter and the Christchurch rebuild will be kicking into gear soon, which means the heatpump advertising battle is, ahem, heating up. There’s already Stephen Fleming for Fujitsu, the bald guy holding a cat for Mitsubishi, the anthropomorphic door snakes for Toshiba and, recently, a creepy Dan Carter hanging on the wall for Daikin. Now, after Panasonic embarked on something of a spiritual journey with its agency Publicis Mojo to find out what core brand attributes and values it wanted to convey, there’s a new frontman to add to that list: stubby-wearing, bum-scratching Gerry.
There’s a stack of digital marketing surveys coming out of the United States and Europe these days. But what’s happening in our own backyard? Well, here’s your chance to find out. If you want to gauge how your digital approach compares to that of your marketing countryfolk, complete this quick survey from the Kookmeyer Institute and you’ll get sent the full results. Click here to get amongst it.
We told you about New Zealand’s Webby Awards finalists and official honorees a while back. But we missed one out: local graphic design and interactive design studio Supply, which was nominated in the IT Hardware/Software category for the Netsafe Scam Machine.
Back in November, Smirnoff and Special Group launched a campaign to get people to come up with kerrrazzeee ideas for events, with the winning concepts brought to life and the highs and lows of the lead-up and execution filmed for an unscripted reality show that would screen on FOUR. Well, that show kicks off tonight at 10.30 and Special Group creative director Tony Bradbourne is pretty damn excited about it.
First Brent Smart left his managing director role at Colenso BBDO for a plum posting at the BBDO mothership in San Fran. Now Adam Good is following suit, with the AIM Proximity Auckland chief executive and Clemenger Group Australasian director of digital innovation resigning from his posts to take up the role of executive vice president of Proximity Worldwide.
Finalists for the One Show have been announced and 24 Kiwi entries made the cut, up from nine last year. Colenso leads the Kiwi pack with seven contenders and more recognition for both Yellow Chocolate and TVNZ’s The Pacific campaign; DDB is just one back on six, with the good old reliable Sky Arts Channel work again finding plenty of favour; and Alt Group got three shortlistings in the design category. Clemenger BBDO and DraftFCB got two, while JWT, Special Group, Saatchi & Saatchi, AIM Proximity Wellington and TBWA\ all got one each. There were no finalists in the College section.
Yukfoo Animation’s first short film Preferably Blue, which tells the story of an embittered, reprobate Easter Bunny, made its rather appropriate New York premiere at the 10th Tribeca Film Festival on Easter Sunday. And it’s also off to Germany after being chosen to screen at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film in May.