New(ish) kid on the block, Flick Electric, has launched a quirky new campaign highlighting its point of difference from other power companies, which features a few familiar faces.
Another current affairs personality has departed from MediaWorks, with David Farrier confirming via Twitter today that he will be leaving Newsworthy. In contrast to last year’s high profile departure of John Campbell and axing of 3D, the departure of Farrier was not an executive decision but rather a case of him deciding to leave the network of his own volition to focus on other projects.
We’ve all felt that sense of unbridled joy and freedom on holiday and revelled in the escape from soul-crushing reality. And thinking about it now, when most have just returned from their summer break is particularly painful. Well, here’s something to rub your nose in it, because Thomas Cook is focusing on that feeling for a big campaign that was shot by The Sweet Shop’s Mark Albiston and features a shark boy who dances like nobody’s watching.
To celebrate the year that was we asked you to vote for your industry favourites. From ideas, to big balls, to stoushes and moves these are your top picks from 2015.
John Baker looks at whether the over-abundance of content available online might lead to a return to a traditional media approach of prioritising the trusted relationship between reader and content producer.
Henry Oliver enjoys a profanity-laden chat with author Sarah Knight about her new book ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck: How to stop spending time you don’t have doing things you don’t want to do with people you don’t like’, published in New Zealand by Hachette this week.
In a bid to ensure that FIFA players take full advantage of its Ultimate Team playing option, FIFA recently sent comedian Llyod Griffith on journey to seek advice on assembling the best team possible on the game. And the resulting 24-minute webisode is surprisingly entertaining for a clip based entirely on one man’s attempt to play a video game.
Although Homer Simpson is best known for his work as a nuclear safety adviser at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he recently moonlighted as Mr Plow in new ad campaign for YouTube.
Roy Morgan has revealed that Kiwi media habits in the morning are shifting online, with a recent study showing that the proportion of New Zealanders accessing online media channels has surpassed those reading the newspaper or watching television. However, radio still remains comfortably at the top of the pile in terms of the preferred media channel, with 40.2 percent of Kiwis still tuning into the airwaves every day.
Taking advantage of the ever increasing consumer presence in the online world, and following on from its previous successes in the content marketing space, Mitre 10 is continuing to take DIY digital, this time by locking up a few punters in one of its stores with UK TV presenter and celebrity architect George Clarke and filming the results for a new web series called the “Mitre 10 Lock In”. PLUS: How Mitre 10 is linking social media and TV to inspire more DIY projects.
To paywall or not to paywall? That is the question bouncing around many-a-publisher’s head. Of course, if it works, extra revenue is brought in, great. But, what if the audience doesn’t go for it? And the product ends up in a worse state financially than pre-paywall, with dwindling advertisers to boot. Surf forecast website Surf2Surf has decided to take the risk, and though it’s very early days yet, results so far are promising.
In 2015, the Getty Images’ editorial team of photographers snapped away at many of the key news stories and events, covering more than 130,000 news, sport and entertainment events at home and around the globe: over 70,000 in entertainment, 30,000 in sport and 30,000 in news. Here’s a collection of some of the most memorable moments.
The vast majority of Christmas-themed advertising that flooded onto media channels during November and December featured the rotund imagery of Santa Claus smiling and handing out gifts. However, when challenged by philanthropist and scientist Ray Avery to develop a campaign encouraging Kiwis to support the development of his LifePod technology through donations, Young & Shand veered away from Santa Claus and instead used more traditional imagery to get its point across.
This year, Reporter without Borders will be releasing its 50th photography book promoting the freedom of information. And alongside the release of the book, the organisation has also released a short online film that juxtaposes how governments want us to see wars to how they actually are.
SATC and Sugar & Partners bank on Kiwis’ curiosity with a mysterious set of ads, which attempt to lure inquisitive viewers online (and to South Australia).
A New York City-based prank collective Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places, and this year its motive was achieved by urging people to ride the subway pantless, which they did, in 60 cities across 25 countries for the annual No Pants Subway Ride.
Every year, StopPress asks players in the local industry for their reflections on the marketing year that was. Here’s what Regan Grafton, executive creative director at Ogilvy & Mather has to say.
Paywalls are the future for professional journalism says former CEO of News UK, Mike Darcey.
Yesterday David Bowie accomplished the impossible, and proved through death that he is immortal. The world has refused to let him die and his many faces have been scattered across the web, while his name and memory are on everyone’s lips. And while he has been well covered in the media already, we just couldn’t help but write a little something on him. So here’s a few examples of Bowie’s foray into the world of advertising and business, as well his strangely accurate predictions around the future state of music.
An Australia Day campaign has gone viral for all the wrong reasons, and it’s dividing the nation along the carnivorous line.
It’s no secret that MediaWorks had a tough year in 2015, with major changes in its current affairs lineup provoking ire among both industry commentators and viewers and declining ratings for some of its big reality TV shows making things tough commercially. But it’s hoping a new year signals new beginnings, and the media company is kicking off 2016 with a new logo.
ASB is taking advantage of the holiday period—and new interactive camera technology—with its upgraded sponsorship of the ASB Classic tennis tournaments.
Tui has ended its creative partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi, appointing Colenso BBDO as its new agency.
There are so many little things we take for granted every day that make our lives so much easier. From the humble wheel to the flush of a toilet. Exxon Mobile points out a few of them in this clever cluster of ads which encourage youngsters to become engineers by showing the ways they have improved our lives.
Kapiti, String Theory and the Health Promotion Agency take the cake this week.
Spark is continuing to utilise its younger, cooler post-rebrand persona by venturing into target market territory. Its most recent effort is its summer Instagram campaign, developed with its PR agency Sherson Willis, which rewards the most creative fans with credit (or as Spark calls it, ‘social currency’) if they capture and share Instagram shots (based on trending images on the platform) with the correct hashtag. And halfway through the campaign, the telco has already given away thousands of dollars of credit, increased sign ups and seen a growth in its Instagram following.
In 2014, the Ford Ranger outsold the Toyota Hilux, ending the Japanese car brand’s 32-year run as the top-selling ute in New Zealand. And Ford has now gone on to show this wasn’t just a fluke by retaining its position at the top of the ute pile in 2015 and also outselling the Corolla.
While there has been a long-held perception that beer increases confidence, wit and the attractiveness of other people (okay, maybe this part is still true), the comforting alcohol blanket has gradually been pulled away over the years to reveal the sobering truth, that too much beer is more likely to make the drinker stumbly, belchy and obnoxious. The Health Promotion Agency and FCB have played on this with the year-old campaign ‘Not Beersies’, which champions the benefits of switching that beer for a water, launching a new ad to coincide with the beer-heavy summer period.
This week, people across the country will be trading beach sands for office chairs as they return to the daily slog at work. And while we all chew on air-conditioned air together, StopPress would like to welcome all our contributors, industry experts and snitches back to the real world. Here’s to doing it all over again for another year.
You didn’t ask. But we answered anyway. So, to celebrate the last day of the StopPress season for 2015, we’ve looked back on the year and compiled an extremely definitive list of the big pitches, the big ideas, the big balls, the big stoushes, the big moves and the big whoopsies. So long, and thanks for all the clicks dear readers. We’ll be back destroying lies and spreading truth on January 11. May your leisure be unbridled.