Nielsen’s All National Radio survey showed that the weekly cumulative radio audience for RNZ National and Concert was 564,000 people aged 15 and over, a decent year-on-year lift when compared to the 503, 000 listeners recorded in the previous survey. We talk to Paul Thompson some of the moves that led to this uptick in weekly listener numbers.
Kiwi menswear brand I Love Ugly launched its new men’s jewellery range yesterday with a lookbook that many social media users accused of objectifying women. And it’s the latest brand to feel the ire of the angry mob—and, potentially, the perverse benefits of being slammed in an era where attention has become a currency.
‘Tis the season to be commercial, and Kiwi brands are certainly embracing the opportunity with Lotto New Zealand, Pak n Save and New World all recently releasing Christmas-themed spots.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
New Zealand’s Asian population is growing in both the main centres and the regions, but are retailers and marketers missing their opportunity to turn them into customers due to a lack of understanding, stereotyping and homogenisation? Nick Siu and Peter Doyle offer some advice.
The MediaWeb debacle has concluded with a jail term for former director John Clark, who was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment earlier today at the Auckland District Court.
V energy are sparking interest yet again with their latest promotional campaign asking people to use letters on cans and bottles of V to spell out their heart’s desire then share it on social media for the possibility of winning their wish as a prize.
With the annual slam of Christmas commercial messaging hitting us from all sides, it comes as little surprise that 59 percent of Kiwis feel that Christmas has become too commercial. So are brands doing themselves a disservice by focusing on sales rather than more authentic Christmas messaging?
Are you afraid of the dark? Lynx Pitch Black has taken its campaign all the way by turning out the lights at a Seekae concert.
AA Insurance, which has been with Special Group for around three and a half years, has put the creative business up for pitch, with the incumbent, DDB and one other agency thought to be among the contenders.
Former MediaWorks TV chief executive Paul Maher will be joining Ogilvy & Mather early next year in an executive capacity that will see him working closely alongside managing director Greg Partington.
WestJet asks people to complete 12,000 “mini-miracles” and share on social media.
It’s no secret that 2015 has been punctuated by some horrific moments, with the Nepal Earthquake, the Paris attacks, the refugee crisis and the Charleston Shooting standing out as some of the more harrowing examples. But interspersed alongside these events, there were also many positive moments that saw people celebrate and express their creativity online. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter look back at the moments that defined the year.
The upcoming New Year’s resolutions may be easier to achieve thanks to athletic polar bears, vibrating belts, smart socks and maybe even wearable bananas.
Those who blurt out spoilers without considering the consequences of their actions have become widely reviled species that are simply met with groans and sighs of disgust from those in their company. And the new Netflix spot educates viewers on the etiquette that viewers must exercise when in the company of fans of particular shows.
Facebook appears to be steadily eating the internet and, in August this year, it took over from Google as the biggest driver of web traffic to news sites. It’s a bit of a love/hate relationship, however, with many publishers relying on the network for traffic, ad revenue and validation/stimulation, but also fearing that they are vulnerable to a tweak of the algorithm or demands for more money to reach its audience. Earlier this year, Facebook announced the arrival of Instant Articles, which let selected media brands publish content directly to Facebook and display it in newsfeeds without requiring users to leave. And, as part of a regional deal with Fairfax, stuff.co.nz will be the first local brand that gets to play with it in New Zealand.
Alongside the recent announcement of Vodafone Xone, the telco released a short video clip explaining the story and motivations behind Vodafone Xone. What was interesting about this clip was that it wasn’t presented as a conventional PR spiel, filled with grandiose commentary on how amazing the business was. Admittedly, the clip was still promotional, but it felt and looked much more akin to a news segment that wouldn’t be out of place on any of the news shows of any of the mainstream television broadcasters. We chat to Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams about how Vodafone tapped into the journalistic credentials of Libby Middlebrook to produce the clip.
Videos shot with 360-degree capabilities are becoming more popular, giving viewers the ability to twist around and see the action unfolding in a clip from myriad angles. Both YouTube and Facebook have released launched 360-degree video capabilities, and various brands have already tapped into the immersive opportunity this offers. As is to be expected, Go Pro has been one of the early adopters, releasing an incredible clip that shows a surfer in Tahiti catching a wave and tucking into a barrel.
McDonald’s is currently showing that it knows how to be boring by running a campaign that simply live-streams footage of the new bacon and egg pies baking in the oven. But while others take their live-streaming and slow TV very seriously, McDonald’s is clearly taking a more tongue-in-cheek approach, calling the live stream Baking News and treating it like a TV news show.
As the year hurtles toward a deadline-driven close, top ten lists of things Kiwis did the most during the year will inevitably stream in. And in keeping with its tradition of breaking down the most popular videos into regions, YouTube has again provided a list of the ten clips that Kiwis were most drawn to over the last year.
A picture tells a thousand words but how will brands tell their visual stories in 2016? Getty images predicts visual trends.
In October, Republik won the Unitec account, inheriting a brand that has over the last few years outspent both the University of Auckland and AUT University in its bid to attract new students to its classrooms. And despite having a new agency, the educational institution has continued this trend of investing in marketing by hosting an elaborate experiential activation at Auckland’s Britomart just over a week ago.
The robots might be taking over, but Alex Lawson argues there’s still an important role for the human mind to play
in media.
Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson and countless travel bloggers might have you believe that “life is a journey, not a destination”, but a new campaign from Fullers by Motion Sickness Studio shows that sometimes the destination matters a little more than the journey—and this is especially true when it comes to the Waiheke and Tiritiri Matangi Islands.
Visions of the future are fertile territory for psychics, science fiction writers and highly paid consultants. And as Spark attempts to move from dumb pipes to digital services, it’s joined in the fun and created Spark Life 2025 to show what life might be like ten years from now. And NZME has helped bring its vision to life online.
Corey Chalmers recently attended a Creative Leaders’ Retreat run by the One Club. And he quickly learned that there’s no quick fix to future-proofing creative businesses.
We bow humbly before DB Breweries, Toyota, Hunter Furniture and SBS Bank this week.
Cantabrians Brooke and Mitch took out the latest edition of the Block NZ Villa Wars selling their renovated property for $1,350,000 netting them a windfall of $290,000 but the big winners for The Block NZ Villa Wars were MediaWorks, which returned very high rating numbers for the Sunday evening finale.
Industry happenings at Ogilvy, Spark PHD, Spark, The Edge, Yellow, The Sound.
