Every year, StopPress asks players in the local industry for their reflections on the marketing year that was. Here’s what Elaine Koller, chief executive of PRINZ, had to say.
1. Favourite local campaign
This morning I saw FCB’s Syphilis campaign for NZ AIDS Foundation and Durex. ‘Upeth to?’, now that’s a booty call! Runner-up was my son’s daily ‘dear diary’ campaign to get a puppy for his birthday – kids intuitively understand how to manipulate use emotion to get results.
2. Favourite international campaign
There were a couple of standouts at this year’s Cannes Lions. The Grand Prix winner ‘The Tampon Book: A Book Against Tax Discrimination’ for the Female Company won by Scholz & Friends, and the ‘Harmless Guns’ campaign by TBWAParis France for Dagoma that won Gold.
3. Least favourite campaign
It’s not you it’s me – maybe I’m just not the audience.
4. Your own biggest success
PRINZ winning the bid to host the World PR Forum in Auckland next year. Buy your ticket now at worldprforum.com!
5. Most significant launch/innovation/thing of the year
Yip, it looks like a five-year-old designed it but Telsa’s Cybertruck is pretty cool.
6. What should be un-invented?
Facebook.
7. Lamest trend
Tie-die, again. And yes, I’m adding it to my wishlist, again.
8. Best brands
Dr Feelgood frozen pops, Garage Project… it’s clearly a sunny afternoon here.
9. Best stoush
The impending British and US elections.
10. Heroes
Jacinda Ardern – clichéd I know but I’d like to think that 2019 has been a year where no matter our political persuasion we’ve thought about how we could all be kinder.
11. Villains
Disingenuous politicians. Australia’s banking industry. The British royal family – despite the best efforts of ‘The Crown’ (is this possibly the best unofficial PR campaign?) the reputation of the royal family is in tatters thanks to Andrew, Megan, and Harry.
12. What died in 2019?
Homogenisation. As the decade draws to a close, I think that one of the biggest changes in the past ten years is that we don’t feel the need to blunt our differences to fit nicely into a box. Things that make us different are celebrated.
13. What’s the biggest mistake marketers will make in 2020?
Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE). A flawed formula that doesn’t take into consideration the quality of media coverage, only attempts to measure the result of editorial coverage not the breadth of PR activities and is simply an output. Effective evaluation should encompass outtakes, outcomes and business impact.
14. If there were no laws for 24 hours, what would you do?
Defy the laws of physics… fly, time travel, teleport.
