Whether it’s a door-to-door salesperson or a multi-national retail firm with an intricate online store, the basic principle of selling remains the same: you show people something that you have and ask them to buy it. However, with the advent of virtual reality, it’s becoming increasingly common to sell things that don’t yet exist.
The print industry has been through tumultuous times lately, so to most, it might seem like an unwise idea to start up a magazine. Together Journal founder Greta Kenyon thought it was a risk worth taking, and the gamble paid off – the design-driven publication created in New Zealand is now stocked in stores globally, including over 300 Barnes & Nobles stores in the US.
StopPress sits down with the recent import that 99 managing director Paul Manning described as the most important appointment he’ll make this year.
Katie Mills, the former head of brand and marketing at MediaWorks, has followed some of her previous crew to private tertiary education conglomerate Aspire2.
Wellington agency EightyOne rounded off 2016 with two account wins; LifeDirect by Trade Me and David Reid Homes.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things, inspiring things and other things from inside the intertubes.
After spending the early part of the summer weathering an onslaught of anger from the Lewis Road Creamery army (along with the wider dairy industry getting a smackdown after unsuccessfully complaining about a provocative Greenpeace campaign), Fonterra is trying its best to get past the white noise and get back to the facts. Not ‘alternative facts’, to borrow a Kellyanne Conway-ism, but the cold, hard, scientific ones.
Contagion’s Dean Taylor reckons it’s time for advertising to catch up with the men and women who have been marching around the world.
To promote the new film Rings, set to hit the big screen in February, a US TV store pranked its customers by bringing one of the characters to life.
While many around the world watched in fear as Donald Trump was sworn in as president, The Netherlands—well it’s satirical news show Zondag met Lubach—decided it was best for both countries to get along, so it made an introductory video that speaks to Trump in his own language.
Paper Plus has launched a sarcastic new ad campaign, via FCB, that’s a dramatic shift from its previous marketing. With no blobby green alien mascot in sight, the stationery retailer is engaging with the millennial market by taking a shot at their addiction to social media sharing.
Warehouse Stationery has placed 99 in charge of its CRM and business-to-business loyalty programme, BizRewards, and has also appointed 99PHD (an integrated service between 99 and PHD) as its agency in charge of digital media and search. PLUS: find out who the incumbents were.
In this bout, our contenders bob and weave around the ever-present question of whether research or creativity is more important. Chemistry Interaction director Joseph Silk takes on Y&R planner Craig McLeod.
What at first starts as a standard celebrity endorsement video for a new product quickly descends into one man’s—completely unhinged—obsession with running in Nike’s new video series, featuring comedian Kevin Hart (and his glorious beard). The series is introduced via a short clip, showing Hart excitedly unboxing the new product. From there, the madness ensues, with Hart putting on his best impersonation of Forrest Gump crossed with the protagonist from Into the Wild.
Raise a glass to Subaru, Auckland Transport, Toyota, Holden and Tower.
Anyone who has crawled along one of Auckland’s motorways in bumper-to-bumper traffic will know the confused—albeit elated—feeling that comes when the traffic just starts moving again. As you accelerate out of the jam, a few questions are invariably left unanswered: What was the hold-up? Where was the accident? And why did the traffic just start moving again? Well, Work Communications creative Marco Ermerins took it upon himself to find a few answers to these pressing questions.
Breaking two decades of advertising silence, Jif has released a humorous new campaign urging Aussies (and Kiwis) to end the grease and grime of BBQ neglect.
After joining Airpoints last year, Tower has come out with a new ad, via Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu, urging customers to insure their things—then leave it all behind.
Industry happenings at MediaWorks, Young & Shand, NZME, SoundCloud and EditMate.
YouTube reveals the five most popular ads of 2016.
Our relationship with money is typically something of an afterthought, generally restricted to advice columns and finance pages. However, Kiwibank is taking it mainstream in a new series called Mind Over Money with Nigel Latta, a fully funded series centred on the psychology of money. We talk to general manager of marketing Regan Savage and TVNZ general manager of content solutions Lyndsey Francis about the series and Kiwibank’s decision to take a leap.
Breaking into a well-established market is no easy task. But by coupling a strong product with the some-might-say mad decision to front his own advertising, Doug Hastie has made Chanui one of the more recognisable brands on the supermarket shelves. And for him, this is only the start of much bigger things.
Subaru might hail from Japan, but the car brand has done a pretty solid job of integrating itself into the local landscape over the last few decades. Whether it’s on the rally track, in suburban Auckland or on some desolate beach up north, you don’t need to look far to see the blue and silver insignia pasted onto a vehicle. It’s this connection to the local market that Barnes, Catmur & Friends was looking to tap into in a new 60-second spot for the brand.
Take a first look at Toyota’s new Hilux ad by Saatchi & Saatchi.
With the finalists announced today, this year’s edition of the Direct Marketing Awards will again see the nation’s agencies slog it out on awards night for metal.
Dentsu Aegis Network’s global media investment arm, Amplifi, has expanded into the local market with Richard Pook taking the reins.
Xero’s global director of media Patrick MacFie doesn’t hide under a PR blanket, openly admitting that Xero has made some content screw-ups along the way. But none of these have yet dissuaded the company from taking the DIY approach to producing its creative campaign. So what makes this added—some might say unnecessary—risk worth it?
Sick of Trump but love kittens? A new Chrome extension allows users to ‘Make America Kittens Again’ by replacing images of Trump with some furry alternatives.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Last year, StopPress collated some of the standout moments of 2016 in the annual ‘Year in the Rear’. Voting kicked off with our final newsletter and you went hard to make sure your opinions were heard. We returned from sun-soaking and surfing to find over 2,500 completed surveys, which were then meticulously analysed by our team of voter fraud analysts to ensure there was no rigging. While some categories saw a standout winner others were tight, and with that, Spark deserves a special shout-out for being pipped at the post in all three of its nominated categories.