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Movings/Shakings: 22 November

Flying the coop 

Following in the footsteps of Guy Roberts and Corey Chalmers, who left Droga5 to join the fray at Saatchi & Saatchi, Nathan Cooper has taken a role as digital creative director. 

“His official role is digital creative director, but that belies the contribution he’s already making across the business,” says chief executive Nicky Bell. “He’s a lovely bloke and we’re really pleased he’s joined us. As an agency, we are taking another leap forward in how we engage with our clients’ brands. Hiring Nathan is a very purposeful step in that direction.” 

Cooper joined the Droga5 team earlier this year, coming from Anomaly London where he was executive creative director and creative partner to Walter Campbell. Prior to that he worked at R/GA, St Lukes, Wieden + Kennedy, Poke, Mother and Riot 180 Amsterdam.

He has worked extensively across a number of disciplines spanning creative, production and strategy and has created comms, mobile, retail and digital work for clients like Nokia, Nike, Adidas, BMW, BBC, IKEA, Playstation and Google. His digital portfolio has been awarded numerous times, including recent Gold Lion and Webby honours.

Cooper is also the founder of rubbishcorp.com, a widely read technology and communications blog, a contributor to Anorak magazine, an advertising tutor and self proclaimed hardcore gamer. He’s also married to a Kiwi.

And as for a rather persistent rumour we’ve been hearing for a few weeks about Toby Talbot returning home to join Saatchi & Saatchi, Bell says that’s “obviously not true”.  

The Sponsorship Factor 

McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have joined broadcast sponsor Ford New Zealand as key partners for The X Factor NZ.

The X Factor NZ is true event television,” says MediaWorks TV chief executive Paul Maher. “The commercial partners are an essential part of The X Factor format. These will be multi-platform partnerships that celebrate excellence and Kiwi creativity, while engaging our audience right across the MediaWorks assets. Broadcast sponsor Ford worked with TV3 on the network’s first big format series, the highly successful New Zealand’s Next Top Model, and it’s great to have them on board as we shift up a gear to The X Factor NZ. MediaWorks TV has long-standing relationships with McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. I want to welcome them both to this exciting project.” 

Chris Masterson, marketing manager, Ford New Zealand, says it’s a big step up for New Zealand programming and a great opportunity for Ford (Ford has a long-running sponsorship deal with American Idol in the US, while GM sponsors The X-Factor).

The X Factor is all about finding that special talent that stands above the crowd, which is what we strive for in everything we do—from building smart vehicles to customer service at the dealerships [check out this Wired story about why things fail and Ford’s testing lab]. The X Factor NZ is a good fit for us and we’re proud to be supporting it in New Zealand.”

The show, which is minority funded by NZ on Air, will be hosted by Dominic Bowden. Multi-platinum recording artist Stan Walker is the first announced member of what will be a four-person judging panel. 

The kids are alright 

This week DDB Group New Zealand has welcomed the winners of the DDB Scholarship Placement that sees two young guns from Auckland’s Media Design School win a spot at the agency.

Following the successful employment of their scholarship team from last year, Jake Barnes and Liz Richards, DDB has chosen Lizzie Baird and Arizona Doolan from this year’s crop. 

The award, which consists of a three month paid placement at DDB, is “the ultimate foot-up for young creatives looking to break into the industry,” according to Media Design School course leader Kate Humphries. 

Executive creative director Andy Fackrell and creative director Chris Schofield selected the winning team after a review of this year’s Media Design School books. 

“Lizzie and Arizona had the most mature book you could imagine for their tender years. They are going to be real talents, and I’m stoked they are at DDB,” says Fackrell.

DDB chief executive Sandy Moore says the scholarship was put in place to nurture new talent and give budding creatives a real opportunity to make their mark in the industry.

“What better place for a young creative to be trained than at DDB,” he says. “Working with award-winning creatives and on top tier clients, it’s an enviable position to be in. This incentive holds great value for both the winners and for DDB, as this is an industry that always needs fresh thinking.”

Also on the scholarship list after 40 weeks of hard graft are Anna Paine and Owen Bryson, who won the Marsden Inch Scholarship for the most promising creative team.

“It’s no surprise that Anna and Owen’s book has already landed them a brilliant placement, but we reckon they were always destined for the ad world, as it’s in their blood,” says Jeneal Rohrback, Marsden Inch director. “Owen’s uncle is John McCabe, former ECD of the Campaign Palace, and now ECD at Einstein’s Hairdresser, and Anna’s brother is Tom Paine, senior writer Y&R.”

The directors of Marsden Inch Recruitment, Cindy Mitchener, Rob Roydhouse and Jeneal Rohrback, based their decision on the superb quality of Bryson and Paine’s ideas. The scholarship was awarded at the end of the course. 

“A big thank you to each and every person who attended our end of year portfolio show,” says Humphries. “The students were genuinely pleased that so many people not only turned up, but also generously took the time to go through and critique their portfolios. Half the class have already secured placements, with two teams signing up for a four-month trial on junior wage salaries … Truckloads of good karma to The Nathan Club for letting us have our show in such a cool venue, and a gigantic thank-you card to Marsden Inch for helping out with the bar tab. We’ll leave you now to ponder on the question as to whether or not being a dickhead is cool with the video below.” 

https://vimeo.com/53544657

Dev n’ Ops 

Adshel has announced the appointment of Christine Leslie to the role of New Zealand operations and development manager. 

Leslie, who will report to Adshel general manager Nick Vile, will be responsible for budgeting and reporting, workplace health and safety, driving efficiencies and processes and harnessing the company’s strong council relationships. 

Leslie has a strong background in media, having worked for one of Adshel’s owners APN News Media for the past ten years. And her last role there was as logistics distribution manager, where she was responsible for the daily delivery of the NZ Herald.

“She has great energy and a fantastic can-do attitude, and we are looking forward to having her as part of the senior management team,” says Vile.

She will be based in the Auckland office and can be contacted on [email protected].

I want to Blake free

One of New Zealand’s longest standing business leaders, Brian Blake, has announced he is stepping down as managing director of DB Breweries but will remain with the company in the capacity as chairman.

A respected veteran of the New Zealand beer industry, Blake has been the chief executive/managing director of DB for the past 20 years since originally joining the company in 1983 as finance director to DB’s central region based in Wellington.

Blake says he feels the time is right to move on, especially as he leaves DB in an extremely strong financial position. Despite a declining beer market and tough economic conditions, DB has achieved three consecutive years of double digit profit growth.

“I am extremely pleased with our results over the past three years. Besides the performance of key brands like Heineken, Tui, Monteith’s and Export, DB has achieved success through developing new business opportunities. Our investment in gastro pubs has been very successful, as has our foray into the competitive Australian market, where our beer and cider sales are growing quickly.”

“Naturally I have mixed feelings as I step aside as DB is really an extended family of committed and passionate people who have built an iconic New Zealand company. DB has developed an amazing culture and it’s been a real privilege to have been part of the DB Team,” says Blake.

Roland Pirmez, chief executive for Asia Pacific Breweries Limited (APB), the parent company of DB Breweries, says Blake is a distinguished managing director who is highly regarded throughout the company.

“Naturally I am sad to see Brian relinquish his role, but I am pleased that his expertise can be kept within DB as a chairman and that he can offer business continuity and stewardship to DB in New Zealand.”

Blake’s successor will be appointed in the coming months.

Into the burrow

Kane Stanford has joined digital advertising technology company Gopher as group marketing and communications manager, bringing a wealth of agency experience to his new client-side role. 

Most recently he was New Zealand sales director for an Australian head-quartered brand marketing business, Powersource Global, working with Steinlager and Woodstock to leverage their respective All Black and motorsport sponsorships. 

The University of Auckland commerce alumni previously gained experience in roles with Rapport and Apollo, working on clients including the Department of Labour and Philips. Prior to this, he started his career client-side, with marketing roles at Independent Liquor and Reckitt Benckiser.

“I’ve enjoyed my recent agency experience,” says Kane, “but I’m looking forward to getting back to my client roots. Being a part of a Kiwi company succeeding on the global stage is a hugely appealing proposition. With Gopher ranking as the 4th fastest growing technology company in New Zealand at the Deloitte Fast 50 Awards last month, and 17th overall, it’s an exciting place to work.”

John Campbell, co-founder and CEO of Gopher Group, says Stanford’s diverse business experience is a valuable addition to the Gopher team. 

“His energy and expertise will help drive our continued success as we further extend our operations off-shore. We’ve seen a huge expansion at Gopher. We started 2011 with 20 staff in our New Zealand headquarters, and now have over 150 staff servicing New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia.”

Gopher Group works with tens of thousands of small businesses looking for internet leads in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, and was recently selected as a Google AdWords Premier SME Partner, alongside Localist and Yellow. In 2013, Gopher is expanding its presence in the Asian market, with new offices opening in Thailand. 

Stanford takes the marketing manager reins from Jen Campbell, who is leaving to have a baby. 

Lindsay does a swapsie

The Radio Network has announced that Murray Lindsay, who has hosted the Classic Hits morning show for twenty years, is moving to host the Coast morning show.

“Murray has had a great 20 years with Classic Hits and has been a major part of the success of the brand over this time,” says Classic Hits content director Jason Winstanley “… Peter [Daikin] is a great addition to the Classic Hits team and I know he will continue in Murray’s footsteps and deliver a great show from 9am-12 noon weekdays.”

For Lindsay, it’s been “a wonderful privilege to be part of the Classic Hits family and now I am looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities of my role at Coast”. 

“I am thrilled to be working with one of the most experienced radio announcers in the country. Murray will bring a very down to earth approach to Coast, which is perfect for daytime listening,” says Coast content director Raylene Ramsay.

Lindsay’s last show on Classic Hits will be Friday 21 December 2012. Both men will begin their new shows on January 14. 

 

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