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Movings/shakings/comings/goings

News: now in one easily digestible tablet.

The Ministry of Tourism has released new domestic segmentation research that sheds light on the the typical domestic traveller, a strange beast that little was apparently known about. And on the back of this research, AA Tourism is getting tactical, with its first initiative to help drive and stimulate domestic tourism.

Great Kiwi Road Trips is all about motivating consumers to pack the boot, fill their tank and hit the domestic roads. And Rebecca Cherry, general manager of marketing at AA Tourism, says getting out and about and seeing and doing new things along the way (or even rediscovering old favourite spots, many of which were referenced in the AA’s 101 Must-Do’s for Kiwis) is “a great way to engage every-day Kiwis with your brand”.

The research showed that of the eight segments identified, all are receptive to increasing the frequency with which they take short domestic breaks. And Great Kiwi Road Trips is doing its best to promote some of the best options for short breaks or weekends away.

Youtube Video

For those looking for consumer brand engagement, the AA still has partnership opportunities available. For specific details or to learn more please contact Rebecca Cherry, [email protected], 09 966 8607.

Booze addled

Following the release of the Law Commission’s 500-page report on the sale and supply of alcohol in Kiwiland and the suggested tightening up of laws around advertising and sponsorship, there’s been plenty written about how the changes might affect marketers (check out this from Dan Winfield of AJ Park for a good summation).

Not surprisingly, Jeremy Irwin, chief executive of the Association of New Zealand Advertisers (ANZA), says it’s surprised and disappointed the recommendations propose severe limitations on advertising, promotions and sponsorship.

“If the proposed restrictions on liquor advertising and promotion were introduced, consumers would have restricted product choice and the community would suffer from withdrawal of sponsorships which financially underpin many sporting and cultural events. Industry recognises that New Zealand has a problem with excessive consumption of liquor by a minority of consumers. This can be addressed by other recommendations within the report, without draconian restrictions on advertising and promotion.”

He says the vast majority of liquor consumers act responsibly with their purchasing, consumption and ultimate enjoyment of alcohol. And in ANZA’s opinion, the promotion of alcohol does not need the heavy hand of Government regulation.

“ANZA will continue to argue strongly for the retention of the self-regulated liquor advertising system which has been proven to be highly effective in ensuring responsible advertising in this country”.

DB Breweries’ managing director Brian Blake isn’t too keen on the suggestions either, saying the Law Commission missed an unprecedented opportunity to change problem drinking in New Zealand. He says it’s disappointing that after more than a year of working with the Commission on practical solutions to reduce alcohol related harm, there are few initiatives that tackle the misuse and abuse of alcohol.

“While we support some of the report’s recommendations such as an alcohol regulatory authority and improved systems for the treatment of people with alcohol problems, the real focus should be on personal responsibility and accountability. Law change should target individuals who harm themselves or others. This includes irresponsible licensees and recidivist alcohol offenders who should be held accountable for their actions. We therefore expect the Government to introduce changes that focus on individuals, and the reduction of alcohol related harm, as opposed to penalising the majority with increased costs and further regulations.”

So long Saatchis

After three years as creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington, Tim Hall is leaving the agency. He has won a host of awards for the likes of NZ Post, the NZ Army and Wellington Zoo in that time. And he told Campaign Brief: “Wellington has always been a creative powerhouse, and I’ve relished being part of that. I’ve enjoyed working with a great mix of talented and dedicated people throughout the agency. That makes it a very difficult decision to leave, but it’s time to move on.”

Saatchi & Saatchi national executive creative director Dylan Harrison added: “We wish him the very best for his future endeavours. Wellington has a base of outstanding creative talent which Livia [Esterhazy], Nicky [Bell] and I are looking forward to building upon over the coming months as our plans develop.”

Modelling New Zealand

New Zealand was beamed into the homes of millions of Americans last week for the latest series of America’s Next Top Model. Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand jointly hosted the Top Model crew for three episodes of filming in November and December last year, making it one of the first major results to come out of a new US marketing partnership between the two organisations, which aims increase US arrivals from just under 200,000 to around 320,000 by 2014.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler says: “By bringing television shows like America’s Next Top Model out here to film, we are enriching the ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ campaign and showing Americans what they can actually do when they come to New Zealand.”

The new partnership will be the single largest investment in one market that the two organisations have made, with several million committed over the next 12 months. Activity will cover PR, online marketing and advertising, as well as efforts to build the cruise and incentive markets out of the US, and increase positive word-of-mouth from US travellers visiting New Zealand.

A website – www.gonewzealand.com – was set up and America’s Next Top Model content and travel deals will be rolled out as each episode goes to air.

Opinions were mixed after the first instalment, however. This from a story about the first episode in the NZ Herald:

Writing for the Baltimore Sun, one fashionista scathingly asked: “The models were jet-setting to the fashion capital of New Zealand? (Seriously Tyra? How much did that country’s tourism office pay you to visit this country and put it in the same sentence as haute couture?)”

Another, on tv.com, said: “I’m no fashion expert, and I don’t want to make generalisations, but all of New Zealand’s fashion is terrible.”

Flossie gets tossed

Following the merger in March 2010 between Flossie Media Group and New Zealand email software specialists Digital Dialogue, the company has announced more details on the strategic changes and product offering.

Flossie Media is now Actual Dialogue Pty Ltd and the business is focused on building customer engagement and loyalty through newsletter communications, with two core products driving that: Actual Mail, a custom-built email platform that companies can use to send out email newsletter communications to their customers, and Actual Ads, a proprietary ad system which companies can use to monetise their email newsletter communications through advertising.

Director Jenene Freer says the uniqueness of the model is the merging of the two systems to access actual data and deliver segmented advertising. Using a unique code embedded in the email newsletter template and employing smart ad-serving technology the system “calls-up” the ad relevant to that person and inserts it in the newsletter. The ad is only embedded when the recipient opens their email.

Perhaps it’s a sign of the these modern cold-hearted Google knock-off times. But it’s a little bit sad: the humans are all being replaced by machines.

“Self-service performance media is changing the way we buy our media,” says Freer. “The pressure is on for marketers to deliver greater value and ‘bang for their buck’.

She says the Flossie brand is still relevant to the business, as it has become a a vertical consumer channel within the Actual Ads system and it helps women connect with deals online.

Brand new

Mary Davy, co-founder and creative director of design company Maxim Group, has opened a new creative branding and design agency called ellen&ellen with long-time associate and account director Simone Lennane. And the pair hope to celebrate “the process of design and brand building” (a difficult job, you might think, given the recent devaluing of the design profession).

“After 15 years at Maxim, I wanted to develop a new way of doing the business of design,” Davy says. “The result is ellen&ellen, a small, nimble company with a fresh approach, totally focused on achieving memorable solutions through collaborative effort. The power of ‘&’ is key to our vision, reflected in the ampersand in our logo, which will evolve as a major part of our new brand.”

Davy, Lenane and their team of designers, Malcolm White, Libby Sinclair and Matt Scarlet, are based in Mt Eden and are already working with foundation clients Kiwibank, NZ Defence Force, NZ Army, Air Force and MySight.

Private parts

Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff released a report entitled ‘Individual Privacy and Personal Information’ a few days ago, and it reviews New Zealander’s attitudes towards the use of their personal information by businesses and government agencies. Blogger and social media gurette Courtney Lambert supports the extensive work carried out by the Privacy Commission, but she says it has some challenging decisions to make.

From a public safety and privacy perspective, she says the results were very positive for New Zealand businesses and government agencies. But says the data shows there is still a core misunderstanding among the public.

“There has been a lot of scare-mongering around social media websites, especially their use by children. Collecting accurate data so that people can come up with practical strategies to protect at risk groups such as children is the best way forward. People need to understand that social media websites are not ‘free’. Users are engaged in a transaction with the service providers to share their personal information for loyalty schemes and advertising.”

Lambert was surprised to see that 57 percent of respondents thought their information on social networking sites was private.

“It’s not the case—it’s not how the business model sitting behind sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube works. You get use of their online tools, you share your user data. “

The report also indicates that 78 percent of under 3-year-olds are using social networking sites, compared with 56 percent of 30-44 year olds.

“We aren’t talking about early-adopters any more and can only expect usage to increase. I am pleased to see the Privacy Commissioner doing work in this area to ensure that new media tools are safe for all New Zealanders.”

Search and destroy

Statistics New Zealand’s three-yearly Household Use of Information and Communication Technology Survey showed that Kiwi internet usage is soaring. But it is also a timely reminder to business that their performance, or even their survival, will be increasingly determined by search engine rankings.

Managing director of online business directory Gopher.co.nz, says business owners need to be mindful that they are now in a tightening race for favourable rankings on a remote server somewhere. Which means price, service and value are no longer enough if nobody can find them.

“Unfortunately for many companies, search engine rankings are having an increasing impact on a business’s viability. The continuing influence of the internet on consumer and business behaviour means the importance of your ranking online is only going to increase. These days, consumers want more information faster. Businesses who wait too long to embrace the internet simply won’t be in business.”

Campbell says online directories are investing heavily in making sure their listings get found and, once found, that the companies featured present a strong sales case.

“Gone are the days of passive volumes of listings. Directories worth their salt must work proactively to generate leads and increase conversions. Directories also remain a good search engine optimisation strategy.”

Media plaudits

MediaCom has been named Media Agency Network of The Year at the Festival of Media 2010 Awards, which celebrate the best in media thinking and communications strategy from around the world.

At the ceremony in Valencia, MediaCom worldwide chief operating officer Harvey Goldhersz picked up the award, as well as two awards for individual campaigns in the UK for T-Mobile ‘Dance’ and in the US for Glaxo Smith Kline.

In total, 16 MediaCom entries were short listed across seven categories, the highest amount by a single agency network. MediaCom also topped the short-listed entries in the Creative Use of Media, The Award for Media Bravery and the Best Communications Strategy categories.

Stephen Allan, chairman and chief executive of MediaCom Worldwide, says he was especially pleased with the dominance in the Creative Use of Media and Media Bravery categories, as it has been its mission to empower the network to encourage and develop innovation and creativity on behalf of our clients.

Master crafter

Senior designer Musonda Katongo is back and has signed on with The Pond. Katongo was most recently head of design at Clemenger BBDO (Melbourne), agency of the year in Australia two years running, where he led the design process across advertising, branding, packaging and in-house projects. He also spent three years at Saatchi & Saatchi on The Strand and has an undying allegiance to Arsenal.

“The quality and quantity of great work that I was lucky enough to contribute to meant leaving was a very difficult decision, but parenthood was the catalyst that brought us home again – and I love being back!”

He’s got plenty of metal and has also had stints at BBH and Mind the Gap in London. His skills stretch right across the design spectrum, but he specialises in branding, packaging and digital. And you can see some of his work here.

Appetite for APPIES

The inaugural APPIES, a marketing and advertising congress for marketers, advertisers and decision-makers that is organised by Instiutute of Advertising in Singapore has announced its distinguished panel of experts. And organisers estimate the awards will attract 100 submissions from 16 Asia Pacific countries and up to 1,000 delegates from around the region, with the end goal being to develop the congress into a Cannes-equivalent and focus on education.

Patrick Mowe, IAS advisor, says the event will be a melting pot of ideas and a launch pad for new ones as the industry adapts and evolves to meet the sophistication of the target markets and the diversity that prevails in Asia Pacific.

The congress and awards will take place on 3 and 4 June in Singapore and will be led by a panel of representatives from international brands, including Goh Shu Fen from R3 Asia Pacific, Huang Cheng Eng from Singapore Airlines, Dee Dutta from Visa Worldwide, Ken Low Oon Kean from Singapore Tourism Board, Shakir Moin from Coca-Cola Pacific, Francesco Lagutaine from Citigroup and Rajev Shukla from Unilever.

The event will culminate in an award ceremony for the top marketing campaign for which the entries are presented live in front of the judging panel in an unique format including a four minute video clip followed by a six minute verbal presentation and a 10 minute question and answer session.

Promotional promotions

The Australasian Promotional Marketing Association (APMA), which represents leading Australian and New Zealand agencies whose core offering lies in the area of marketing activation, has launched a new positioning statement in order to better define its role.

And that statement is: “Leaders in getting people to act, APMA member agencies use tactical marketing techniques to change behaviour, build brands and deliver results.”

“Announcing our new positioning statement helps us to further assert our broader industry association to include experiential marketing. The statement brings us in line with the way the market engages agencies in our area of expertise. Already on board as APMA members are experiential agencies One Partners in Sydney and AmbientX out of New Zealand. We are seeing many more inquires coming through and we have had an impressive number of entries for our certificate course in experiential marketing,” says David Lo, APMA chairman. “With the vast number of industry bodies in our area we want to ensure the increasing importance of the APMA and provide our members with a singular clear and consistent voice”

VTV

Keep an eye out for some future Kiwi film-making talent this week on V48TV, a series of 10 half-hour episodes on C4 that showcase three of the best short films from each genre from the V48HOURS film-making competition. The series will conclude on 20 May when the winner is announced live on C4.

17-18 May will showcase the City Winning shorts and Peter Jackson will reveal his wildcard selection on 19 May.

All episodes will air at 10:30pm except for the Grand Final episode which will air at 9:30pm. And the films will also be available the following day on the C4 website.

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