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The best of StopPress 2017

With an election this year, the best and worst of campaigning was on display and certainly made for a big talking point across the industry. And while no election-themed pieces made it into StopPress’ top 10 stories of 2017, the theme of best and worst was apparent with the annual TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards as well as the inaugural Hot List and Stoppies, drawing the most attention.

In an industry with competition at its core, it’s no surprise that’s where the eyes went and we watched on as agencies and brands pulled in staff to get clicking and boost the votes.

Meanwhile, numerous stories of industry moves were told and of those, 2degrees’ pick of agency and Dentsu Aegis’ expansion proved the most popular. On the advertising side, it was Spark’s Father’s Day spot and Mercury’s rebrand that stood out from the crowd.

So let’s get to it, here are your favourite stories from the year:

10: 2degrees and Special Group part ways


Roy Ong

Only seven months after retaining Special Group as its lead creative agency, 2degrees parted ways with the independent shop in July. Marketing officer Roy Ong told StopPress it wanted to take a different approach to continue to accelerate the success of the fast-growing business. Like with many big moves, industry folk took to the comment section to express their views and question the decision.

DDB has since been appointed as 2degree’s brand agency.

9: Dentsu Aegis empire expands with acquisition of Little Giant

Back in August, Dentsu Aegis Network announced the acquisition of digital shop Little Giant, which is linked with digital marketing agency Isobar.

Little Giant founder Mark Hurley told StopPress the move would enhance its ability to offer world-class creativity and digital innovation to existing and new clients within the New Zealand market.

Meanwhile, Dentsu New Zealand boss Rob Harvey said the acquisition was an important part of its own strategy and would bring transformational digital creative capability to its New Zealand business.

8: The attention agency: inside Motion Sickness 

Earlier in the year, StopPress went inside Motion Sickness to tell the story of how the agency began as an ambitious idea in a student flat that has since gained momentum and attracted a stack of innovative brands.

From a few videos for Otago University to work for Dunedin Tourism and creating collaborations for Blunt Umbrellas, founder Sam Stuchbury talked us through the agency’s journey.

7: RNZ National on verge of being number one station in the country

RNZ National has enjoyed a year of momentum as all but one of the for GfK Radio Surveys has shown its audience growing and growing. By the third survey of the year, that growth had it set to take over The Edge to be number one in the country and it appears StopPress readers were eager to read about why it’s doing so well.

6: Volkswagen pulls FCB ad after a complaint to ASA

Volkswagen’s pulling of an FCB ad after complaints to the ASA that it promoted bad and unsafe practices—by showing a man slipping over while his friends laugh—may have made headlines in March of 2016, but it appears StopPress readers can’t get enough of stories about advertising that goes awry.

5: Spark aims for the feels ad as it gives a nod to single mums for Father’s Day

Spark’s unconventional Father’s Day spot brought a tear to the eyes of many in the StopPress team and with the story of a boy coming to terms with Father’s Day because he lives in a single-parent home with his mum generating such attention, we’re sure there were a few tears in adland to be wiped away too.

4: Ch-ch-changes: TSB unveils its new look via Special Group and Finch

TSB underwent a major brand makeover in October that saw it drop ‘Bank’ from its name, unveil a new logo and announce it all in a new campaign by Special Group and Finch. Fitting to the bank’s 167 years in business, the campaign called ‘Life changes. We’ll be there’, looks at a family go through the highs and lows of life.

3: The Hot List: vote for the best thinkers, brands and shows in New Zealand media

We asked you to pick your favourite magazines, TV shows, radio brands, thinkers, brands and news reporters among other categories from the media industry for StopPress and NZ Marketing‘s Hot List and you came out in droves to have your say. We then added in our editorial perspective to chose winners that were published in the magazine and online.

2: The Stoppies: The Great StopPress Year in the Rear 2017

Another listicle, and this time you took to your mouses to click and vote for your favourite campaigns, moves, brands, whoopsies, stoushes and humans of adland. With an opportunity to call out brands for mistakes while also voting for your own work or that of your colleagues, over nearly 10,000 votes were cast. Similar to The Hot List, we added our editorial perspective into the mix and crowned the winners at the Stoppies event.

1: TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards 2017: Mercury and Lion emerge as the biggest winners


The Mercury Team

The 26th TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards uncovered the marketing strategies that lie beneath impressive results and it was Mercury that put on the best performance to win the coveted Supreme Award. StopPress winners were eager to see who took home what, with the winners’ story quickly rocketing to the top of the site’s popular section. Much deserved attention was also given to the individual winners as their award-winning strategies were explained in a series of features.

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