1. Favourite local campaign that isn’t yours
It’s a toss-up between Speight’s ‘The Dance’ from DDB and Stirling Sports’ ‘Our Heritage’ from Motion Sickness.
Speight’s for the nailing a piece of work that does justice to the legacy of the brand along with beautiful cinematography from Steve Ayson.
The Stirling Sports piece, although a touch too long, has authenticity and a genuine feel for a younger, new-New Zealand.
2. Favourite campaign that is yours
The new feature film we’re producing about suicide, The Silence Film (working title), releasing September 2019. It’s a powerful and affecting story, and a conversation Augusto believes should be had. The Augusto produced web series, Jessica’s Tree, directed by Jazz Thornton who is the subject of the film, will release via NZME in March.
And brandwise I couldn’t go past our Maps campaign for Tourism NZ.
3. Favourite international campaign
We’re loving Yeti Coolers content work. Beautifully constructed and authentic work. One of those brands driving value back into a boring and commoditised category.
4. Least favourite campaign
The Air New Zealand Antarctica safety video. Love or hate their safety videos, you have to appreciate their appetite for doing it differently. But Erebeus? Our single worst aviation disaster? On a safety video? Not ironic – just a really bad call.
5. Your own biggest success
Augusto making a go of it in New York with a bunch of new clients like H&M, Phivida and NBA team the Brooklyn Nets. Plus our New Zealand clients – Tourism NZ, Adidas, Mitre 10, Fonterra, AIG, HelloFresh and Wendy’s – all of whom are great collaborators.
6. Most significant launch/innovation/thing of the year
Lime Scooters. Making Auckland a better place to live.
7. What should be un-invented?
Sugar-free hot chocolate. Undrinkable.
8. Lamest trend
Fanny packs.
9. Best brands
The All Blacks right?! And Pic’s Peanut Butter. Which apparently the All Blacks use in their training shakes.
10. Best stoush
Simon Bridges and Jamie-Lee Ross. Ouch. Hard to watch, harder to look away.
11. Heroes
The recently departed Geoff Murphy, director of the original and iconic Goodbye Pork Pie film. We were honoured to help with the remake, directed by his son Matt Murphy.
12. Villains
Harvey Weinstein. Still.
13. What died in 2018?
Can someone kill the fanny pack by the end of the year?
14. What’s the biggest mistake marketers will make in 2019?
Confusing themselves and their customers. A strong content strategy, essentially an editorial vision for brands, is vital in this increasingly wild media landscape.
15. How far in our future do you think The Handmaid’s Tale is?
There’s a huge power shift in women’s favour at the moment with #metoo, but for every trend there’s a counter-cyclical one. Trump and the puritan right swing is frightening. Let The Handmaid’s Tale be a warning about not being complacent!
