Every year, StopPress asks players in the local industry for their reflections on the marketing year that was. Here’s what TVNZ’s general manager of marketing Sarah Finnie thought about 2015.
1. Favourite local campaign that isn’t yours
In part because it’s recent, in part because it’s kittens: UberKITTENS.
2. Favourite campaign that is yours
It would have to be this year’s Shortland Street campaign www.thelivingmoment.co.nz. The campaign picks up from the season finale where several major characters die and continues the conversation across the summer break. It’s my favourite campaign for two reasons. Firstly the TVC is beautiful; it literally stops time and has incredible cut-through. It’s also our first interactive video campaign. The longer online versions have interactive hot spots which allow Shorty viewers to explore the character and events with exclusive content, which I’m incredibly excited about. It’s live now so check it out!
3. Favourite international campaign
I loved the #MissingType campaign led by NHS Blood and Transplant in the UK. A smart, clever campaign for a serious cause. The disappearance of letters A, O and B from sign boards, landmarks and newspaper mastheads highlighted the dwindling supplies of those blood groups.
The Irish Examiner’s tribute to Jonah Lomu was simple and poignant, and a stunning example of a picture worth a thousand words.
4. Least favourite campaign
I’ve used all my cards on the good stuff!
5. Your own biggest success
We launched TVNZ OnDemand Shorts with Better Together, an online series about creative collaborations in partnership with Microsoft Surface. It tells the story of creative types coming together to create something better than the sum of their parts. In a lot of ways it reflects what happened among our own commissioning, content solutions and Blacksand teams to create this series. For the Blacksand team it was our first Shorts production. Having the steerage and support of Tina McLaren from our commissioning team has delivered a fantastic success story.
6. Favourite magazine/website/TV show/radio show/podcast/news service/app/song/other
Happy Valley: gritty, real, uncomfortable and brilliant – the best series of the year. More brilliant telly from 2015: Fortitude, the final of The Mentalist, The Tunnel, 800 Words, The Blacklist, MasterChef Australia. More brilliant stuff: ONE News Now, The Listener, Your Home & Garden, BBC Radio 2 podcasts, Radio Hauraki in the mornings, the Fox and Sheep apps for kids, and our new Sonos system.
7. Most ridiculous buzzword
‘Reach out’ is back this year. It’s faintly annoying rather than ridiculous but I have been reached out to far too often to be comfortable.
8. Best innovation
Niceblocks and wine. Summer is sorted.
9. Most over-hyped ‘innovation’
Salted caramel.
10. Best brands
Kiwibank, Lewis Road Creamery, Pak’n’Save, Air New Zealand, Netflix.
11. Best stoush of the year
Red Peak versus the rest.
