Last year, Wellington digital agency Heyday embarked on a big project to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the nation’s connection to the internet with www.downtothewire.co.nz. And the boffins are baying for blood after DraftFCB got its facts wrong for the latest Orcon campaign, which claims the internet arrived in New Zealand 18 years ago.
“It’s not like Down to the Wire is unheard of in New Zealand,” says Hey Day’s Nick Allan. “After all, the site was judged Most Outstanding Website and Best Content (Corporate) in this year’s ONYAs; its launch provoked a Top 1000 trending tweet worldwide; and the site has welcomed thousands of visitors over the last ten months. The site even included a video interview with a certain Duncan Blair, ex-head of brand and communications at Orcon.”
DraftFCB’s executive creative director James Mok said: “Damn it, what a bugger. In this case it seems as though the internet let us down. We Googled it, but clearly should have Googled a bit more. I guess it’s a thank you to Heyday for pointing out it should be 1989, but it’s a shame the search optimisation on Down To The Wire wasn’t as flash as the site when we went looking for the history. Nevertheless, our mistake.”
