Following a competitive pitch thought to have involved several unknown agencies, the Bauer-owned Autotrader today confirmed that it had selected Y&R as its lead creative agency. And while the brand still enjoys high readership in both the online and print formats, it lags well behind Trade Me, according to Nielsen research.
Last week, after a few months of subscribing to the print version of The Herald, my wife decided to cancel it (despite my initial reservations given we have access to the internet, I actually quite enjoyed getting the paper version). With the circulation declines in recent years, this certainly wouldn’t have been an unusual conversation for those in the subscriptions department, but she said they sounded quite sad when she told them the news. And while there are a few areas of positivity in the latest readership numbers, putting a smiling man on the first page of the Nielsen readership report might have been overly optimistic.
Industry happenings at NZME, MediaWorks, Colenso BBDO/Proximity, Bauer, Chemistry Interaction, JustOne/.99, 2degrees, FutureYou, Ambient Group, Vena, eStar and Adhub.
Yesterday we looked at Tinder’s disruption of the online dating market, today we look at a new dating site promoting itself as a more respectful alternative to the app. Love our loathe Tinder no one can deny it has a reputation for being a less wholesome form of dating. Rather than being matched through similar interests or the calibre of one’s personality, superficially, it’s based on aesthetics in the form of the user’s best selection of Facebook pictures. Three young innovators are looking to change that, with their own matchmaking creation called Do Good Dating, which would see the mutually interested parties getting to know each other by undertaking community work together. And only three days after its launch, the site already has over 600 sign ups.
Mobile dating app, Tinder, famous for right vs. left swipes, bad dates, good dates, the odd marriage proposal and sore thumbs has taken the world by storm since it launched three years ago. Data analysis shows former popular US dating sites are on the decline as Tinder’s popularity soars, and it appears we’re seeing a similar trend here in New Zealand.
The wealth of streaming services now available is proving to be hard on New Zealand’s broadband infrastructure, and, according to the NBR, Chorus, the largest network operator, recently said traffic increased by 40 percent on its network between January and April. Playstation is also getting on the act (in the US, at least) with Vue, and it’s launched an ad showing a number of situations where using new technology is a no brainer.
The top honour at the Facebook Awards is the Blue Award and this year it went to Leo Burnett and Procter & Gamble for the thought-provoking ‘Like a Girl’ campaign produced for the Always brand (it also won a gold award). And the Blue for Good Award (which recognises campaigns created for charitable or not-for-profit organisations) went to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a campaign that Facebook says placed only second to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in terms of how many people it reached (it also raised $220 million dollars for the cause). PLUS: Spencer Bailey, the head of Facebook for New Zealand, identifies key creative trends that have taken shape over the last year.
Virtual reality systems Oculus Rift and Microsoft’s Hololens have been getting plenty of attention recently. And while it remains to be seen whether humans will be happy to strap something to their face (or whether they’ll plug technology straight into their DNA, as is being predicted), what’s clear is that they are willing to give augmented reality a whirl. And retailers from Walmart to Freedom Furniture to New World to Lego are all trialling it.
As Apple gets ready to take on the established streaming services with its new musical moves, Spotify has created a clever feature called Taste Rewind that acts as a musical time machine and shows users how the music of the past has influenced the music of today.
In March, the story broke that Yahoo would be releasing all of its editorial staff as part of a restructuring process that would create five new roles, which these previous staff members could apply for. Until now, the regional executives in charge of this restructure have not commented to the media about what the changes have entailed or why the the website had decided to rethink its business operations. After several requests for interviews, Yahoo 7 chief executive for Australia and New Zealand Ed Harrison recently chatted to StopPress about the changes and what they mean for the company.
The Webby’s celebrate the best digital work done over the past year. And this year, along with Grey Goose, it created a site showing 50 of the best ideas. It also wanted to celebrate the creators, so, as part of that campaign it caught up with the founders of Refinery 29, Vine, Giphy, Cool Hunting and Harry’s. And they had plenty of advice for anyone working in the digital arts.
First coming to prominence with guerrilla advertising campaigns and video jockeys for electronic musicians, projection mapping is now an oft-used method to promote products from major companies such as Porsche, Sony and Nike. Artistic collective, Skullmapping, however, are taking it to a whole new level.
Wanaka is a place well renowned for its beauty, with its crystal blue lake, mountainous terrain and great slopes. And while stunning promotional imagery for the town is common to see, it’s not as often we get to see a hyper-fast compilation of the township through 4,000 images carefully stitched together by an experienced videographer, here’s Lake Wanaka Tourism’s latest marketing approach.
After Joseph Parker dominated the German champ last weekend and won in the second round, Burger King had to honour the pledge it made to its new mascot (under duress) and sell Whoppers for $2. And Parker’s thunder face has returned.
An Interactive Advertising Bureau survey of mobile video viewers in 24 countries shows we are now watching longer-form videos on our mobiles, we regularly stream video on our mobiles while watching TV and the majority surveyed in each country favour the tailoring of mobile advertising. The report also shows New Zealand and Australia prefer ‘comedy’ clips, which we think is in direct correlation with our great sense of humour.
People love to complain, particularly when it comes to ads. “Why does it always become louder during the ads?”, “I hate this ad”, “I swear they screen ads longer than they used to” – are all common complaints heard around the endangered television set. The Advertising Standards Authority has released a report on the top 10 most complained about ads from last year, here’s the rundown.
Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to take advice from advertising. And especially not alcohol advertising. But you can make an exception for this ad for Finlandia Vodka.
Having a local to show you around always makes a city more enjoyable. And, following on from various ads showing urbane men having urban adventures, Heineken’s latest campaign via Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam shows how crucial a knowledgeable insider can be.
Big data is a massively over-used term and, for many, too abstract to be useful. But “customer engagement provider” Thunderhead, which is set to launch in this part of the world soon, decided to create a very literal version of the term for its brand ad and, unlike any other research company ever, it’s embraced man-on-man breastfeeding to attract chief marketing officers.
Nielsen and the ABC have recently released their respective breakdown of the readership and circulation figures. As has come to be expected, the downward decline has continued for the weekly publications, with each of the publications surveyed in this category suffering year-on-year dips in readership. However, there was also good news for some of the publications included within the survey.
We’ve had Vegemite and Cadbury, and L&P and Whittaker’s. And now we’ve got Red Bull and the Vodafone Warriors, with the pair coming together to produce a specially-designed Red Bull can.
We humans like to think we’re rational creatures. But we’re not, says Paul Catmur. And marketers need to remember that.
Social media marketing agency Socialites released its ‘SnapAuckland’ compilation today as part of its revolt against Snapchat’s ‘Auckland Life’, which it says failed to do the city justice. News of Socialite’s endeavor to remedy the situation and Aucklanders’ disgruntled reaction to Snapchat’s previous attempt blew up, with Snapchat Miami catching wind of the story and pushing word out through its own channels.
Rebel Sport has released the latest iteration of its winter campaign via Ogilvy & Mather which features a mysterious graffiti artist bringing a sports club’s motto to life at its clubhouse.
The Health Promotion Agency for alcohol and pregnancy and FCB have released a campaign called ‘Don’t know? Don’t drink’ produced by Flying Fish, highlighting the fact that there is no known safe amount and no known safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy.
McDonald’s seems to be a little obsessed with sauce at the moment. Following on from the spot featuring a man dancing underneath a downpour of McRib sauce, McDonald’s is now trumpeting the potential of Big Mac sauce to make everything better.
Kleenex has released a TVC via Ogilvy & Mather called the “We’re behind bums” manifesto featuring comedian Madeleine Sami spinning an impassioned rhyme about our forgotten behinds.
Amid some major changes in the radio industry as NZME and MediaWorks embarked on their new multi-platform strategies, Gill Stewart stepped down as general manager of The Radio Bureau in February after around ten years in the role. And she’s now stepped up to the position of chief executive of the Marketing Association, replacing Michael Pryor.
For the first time Stuff.co.nz has overtaken Trade Me in audience numbers, reaching a new record of 1,849,000 further increasing its audience over rival news sites like NZHerald and Yahoo. The news comes off the back of recent changes in Fairfax’s editorial strategy which has seen roles disestablished and reshuffled as well as a clear overall drive to towards the digital.
