fbpx

Year in Review: James Butcher, Pandora

1. Favourite local campaign that isn’t yours

I love what New World continue to do via in-store giveaways – their ‘Little Gardens’ work is something that appealed to all. I also think what lotto has done with ‘Imagine’ is very powerful.

2. Favourite campaign that is yours

Loved the work that we did with Holden and some home-grown music talent around the Holden Spark Sessions. KFC also ran a great campaign around KFC Super Rugby Radio.

3. Favourite international campaign

Burger King’s McWhopper was suitably cheeky – and picked up the awards for it! Always great to see New Zealand work succeeding on the international stage.

4. Least favourite campaign

While it might still be effective, the TV retail ‘shouty’ ad is something I’m looking forward to the industry moving past.

5. Your own biggest success

It’s been a huge year for us at Pandora. We’ve launched a succession of new ad products, built direct relationships with the music industry, which will enable our product to evolve into on-demand and delivered our first event partnering with Bailey Wiley. Commercially, the work we did with the Movember team, TVNZ First Dates, KFC Super Rugby Radio and Nestle’s Coffee Break Adventures are all campaigns we are proud of. We’re set up for a transformational 2017 as we see audio streaming growth accelerate.

6. Most significant launch/innovation/thing of the year

The connected home is becoming increasing closer to reality. Google/Amazon are both producing some interesting products there. Ubiquity is something consumers can and should expect from their services.

7. What should be un-inevented?

Selfie-stick. The internet is full thank you.

8. Lamest trend

The Dab and the Mannequin Challenge – we love a fad.

9. Best brands

Its been a tough year for brands, but the ones that resonate most with me are the ones that clearly stand for something bigger – Coke and their association with Youthline is something genuine and meaningful. New World and their work with Home of Compassion is also making a real difference.

10. Best stoush

Has to be the Trump v Clinton “end of all things decent” political campaign.

11. Heroes

The work the White Helmets do in Aleppo is something we should all keep in perspective when we face our daily ‘challenges’.

12. Villains

The social media platforms need to take more responsibility in the content they enable – the fake news being one element, but the body shaming ‘tag a mate who looks like this’ is something we shouldn’t just accept.

13. What died in 2016?

Taking this literally, we lost some tremendous talent in the music industry, Bowie, Ray Columbus, Prince, Leonard Cohen just to name a few. A very sad year on many levels – some true legends passed away.

14. What’s the biggest mistake marketers will make in 2017?

Fear and lack authenticity. Look to where your audiences are and be there naturally.

15. Will the robots become sentient and kill us all (asking for a friend)?

Yes, but we probably deserve it.

About Author

Avatar photo

One of the talented StopPress Team of Content Producers made this post happen.

Comments are closed.