MYOB’s chief technology officer Simon Raik-Allen has in his publication, Future of Business Report – New Zealand 2040, speculated on what the future will look like—and, apparently, there are quite a few surprise on the horizon.
This week it has been reported on the NBR and Stuff that Vodafone would be offering its broadband subscribers six months’ of free Neon as part of an extension of its deal with Sky, which sees the internet service provider offering reduced Sky subscription rates to its broadband customers. And while Sky’s director of corporate comms Kirsty Way has confirmed to StopPress that these initial reports are true, she would not provide information on new launch date of Neon.
Arran Birchenough, the country manager for Getty Images in New Zealand, shares some insights on how brands can find that stock image sweet spot that lies somewhere between the generic and the overly contrived.
Conventional knowledge will tell you that the Super Bowl involves an esoteric American game in which an egg-shaped ball is thrown around for a ridiculously long period of time. But everyone in the advertising industry knows that this isn’t what it’s about. It’s actually about the ads.
Chromesthesia describes situations in which hearing certain sounds automatically evokes—in the words of Wikipedia—an experience of a colour. This is one of the rare examples in which a person is able to see a sound, giving something that is intangible to the eye a corporeal representation. But the isolation of the senses also goes the other way, in that the concept of sounds—in particular music—is not necessarily easy to capture in the visual form. For companies in the music industry, this limitation has until now meant that their logos could not necessarily embody the sounds that they sell. Wireless audio company Sonos has however managed to bridge the gap with its new logo.
Karen Walker’s campaign for her new season range of eyewear features the obligatory stunning model. But it’s a lot hairier and toothless than usual and it marks the first time the brand has used a ‘celebrity’.
From March, Prime News, which airs on Sky-owned Prime, will be produced by the MediaWorks news division at their Auckland Flower Street Studios as part of a new deal between the two networks. And the deal comes with additional revenue potential for MediaWorks, because the network will also be selling advertising and sponsorship associated with the show. PLUS: Top Gear heads to TV3.
Did you know that theres a guy that specialises in capturing your gnarly C.O.D deaths? How else did you think they got that awesome footage?
New World has been in fine marketing fettle in recent months, with two delightfully insane adverts involving bread-based real estate and vegetable-based romance and one mad ad for its netball sponsorship. And while its Christmas campaign wasn’t quite so surreal, the ads featuring Santa Claus hiding in plain sight as a supermarket employee named Noel also caught viewers’ attention and managed to take out Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact award for November.
Milk consumption is declining in a number of developed markets, with the Washington Post stating that the average American drinks 37 percent less milk today than they did in 1970. Similar trends are evident in New Zealand, with the Herald estimating that it has decreased from 139 litres a head a year in 1974 to about 81 litres a head last year. There are a number of reasons for that, including rising prices, a proliferation of other beverage options and one recent study that appeared to turn the received wisdom of milk’s health benefits on its head. But, following on from Fonterra’s Milk in Schools Initiative, Anchor and Colenso BBDO are continuing their mission to get cow juice into the gullets of more New Zealanders by convincing parents that milk helps grow healthy kids.
Moa Beer launched its new pioneer-focused packaging late last year. And its latest marketing initiative continues down that patriotic road by trying to bind us together through the sharing of stories of everyday New Zealanders, something it’s calling ‘How to Brew a Country’.
Anchor’s charming tale and Bigpipe’s random instances of coffee chaos get the nod of approval this week.
Following the news that Clemenger BBDO’s long-serving executive creative director Philip Andrew has handed over the reins, we’ve decided to republish a sidebar from an agency profile in NZ Marketing that talked about the formative days of the Wellington agency.
Industry happenings at Spark, NZME, Dentsu Aegis, MediaWorks, Icebreaker, Pure SEO and Vega.
After around 25 years spent working with various agencies under the Clemenger Group, Clemenger BBDO’s executive creative director Philip Andrew has decided the time is right to pass the baton.
To be fair it’s not an ad for themselves, but rather for Friskies and is the latest addition to the ‘Dear Kitten’ series.
Breaking the rules is a standard trope used to encourage consumers to make an extravagant purchase. And while it doesn’t necessarily redefine this oft-used premise, Audi’s new spot via Venables Bell & Partners is an entertaining and far-fetched look at the consequences that could follow on from breaking the simple rule of not waiting at least an hour after eating.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
To highlight the fact they have over 2000 domestic flights each week, Air New Zealand enlisted the help of some local celebrities for their latest spot.
Sky has kicked off its promotional efforts in the lead up to the 2015 Cricket World Cup with an outdoor campaign that features the visages of real fans supporting their teams.
MediaWorks Radio and Radio Tarana (which has been broadcasting in New Zealand since 1996) have formed a new partnership in an effort to create fresh commercial opportunities for their respective clients. And the move makes sense for both the network and radio station, given the demographic changes in New Zealand over the last two decades.
International business success comes with a huge amount of blood, sweat and tears but that doesn’t deter some of New Zealand’s most innovative companies from breaking down business barriers offshore. Their hard work gets recognised in the much-coveted New Zealand International Business Awards.
Corona is supporting the Piha Surf Life Saving Club in a bid to raise funds for the redevelopment of the facilities located at the popular, and unquestionably dangerous, beach on Auckland’s West Coast. To assist the fundraising efforts, Corona has arranged an auction of surf photography as well as launching a pop-up bar to quench beachgoers’ thirst during the summer months.
Realestate.co.nz has coupled a stereotypically nerdy middle-aged man with an annoyingly talkative woman in a new spot that aims to show that the company has options for house hunters of all persuasions.
Founded 25 years ago and based in Melbourne, retail design specialist Greater Group recently crossed the Tasman to open an office here at the Steelworks Building in Mount Eden in Auckland. This is the fourth arm of the business to open and follows on from the opening of the branches in Hong Kong and Shanghai. And to lead this latest addition to its operation, Greater Group has sent across its general manager of global brand and strategy, Danielle Barclay, someone who is quite familiar with working in New Zealand, having worked her for several years earlier in her career. So StopPress asked her a few questions about what she hopes to acheive now that she’s back on this side of the ditch.
Happenings in the digital industry at Spark Digital, BKA Interactive and Yellow.
Nike has been one of the leading proponents of the quantified self trend with its suite of Nike+ products and Fuelband. Now, with the help of AKQA, it’s put some of that data to good use with the Your Year app and has created over 100,000 personalised animated films based on the activities of some of its more active users. And as well as celebrating the athletic achievements of its users, the videos also aim to inspire them to outdo their 2014 accomplishments.
An app a day keeps everything away, so why interact with the real world?
Facebook has appointed experienced media man Spencer Bailey as the head of the New Zealand arm of the business. The appointment of Bailey brings an end to Stephen Scheeler’s stint as the acting head of Facebook New Zealand, and this sees Scheeler return to his previous role of head of retail and automotive for both Australia and New Zealand.
Fairfax has updated the entire Stuff platform by migrating it to Adobe’s cloud-based content management system called Adobe Experience Manager. And the media company’s product development director Robert Hutchinson says that the company aims to become as flexible as BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post in terms of its digital storytelling capabilities.