You might think the 11 herbs and spices used by Colonel Sanders is a simple calculation of the ingredients required to create the world-famous deep-fried bird. But, according to consultant Greg Rowland from The Semiotics Alliance, you’d be wrong, because in the world of numerical symbolism, 11 supposedly has mystical powers. So which attributes do we ascribe to other numbers? And why?
Although content marketing has become one of the latest buzz phrases uttered at conferences, it has actually been around since 1895, when John Deere started Furrow magazine, a publication dedicated to information for American farmers. Following this in 1932, after seeing value in being associated with well crafted content, Procter and Gamble sponsored a radio programme via one of its soap brands, adding the term soap opera to the vernacular. It’s from this historical standpoint that a Getty Images video recently published on YouTube discusses how content marketing has evolved over the years to eventually give us a range of modern applications that that not only contribute to branding but also entertain viewers.
In recent years, The University of Otago has been trying to move away from what it sees as the negative student stereotypes of binge drinking, couch-burning and filthy flats. Of course, those elements of the student culture tend to be quite a drawcard for many Kiwi young’uns hoping to embark on a journey of mind expansion/erosion and a major reason a large number of them fly over a range of other institutions of learning to live and learn in Dunedin. And Godfrey Hirst and Feltex carpets have embraced some those stereotypes with an experiment that aims show off the qualities of its ‘student proof carpet’.
As the design proponents keep saying, good packaging can make a difference and change the way consumers react to products. And artist Paddy Mergui has proven that by adding some luxury to the quotidian in an exhibition called Wheat is Wheat is Wheat.
Whittaker’s signed up Nigella Lawson as its mascot back in 2012 when she was still the high priestess of euphemistic domesticity. That reputation changed markedly after the domestic abuse saga and the ensuing divorce proceedings that revealed she had used substances slightly more illicit than five roll refined chocolate. But Whittaker’s and its agency Assignment Group have stuck by their woman and just released an ad to promote the Creamy Milk Challenge.
With 150 writers and more than 120 events over five days in and around Auckland’s Aotea Centre, the Auckland Writers Festival offers something for anyone interested in books, stories and ideas. We’ve got three double passes to three different events—Adrian Kinnaird’s ‘From Earth’s End’, Peter Alsop’s ‘An entrepreneurial tale’ and ‘Michael Leunig: exploring the creative process’—to give away, so post a link to some good writing, we’ll print it out, insert it into our prose-judging robot and give the tickets to those who offer up the best suggestions.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Paper? Pffff. Why doodle in 2D on dead trees when you could do it in 3D in the real world with the Lix pen, “the world’s smallest 3D printing pen”.
Whether it’s QR codes aimed at vetting tattoo artists, Goodby Silverstein’s work4rich.com, or BBH’s take on graduate recruitment, those in the persuasive arts often walk their talk and try to create interesting recruitment campaigns. And Y&R Media did just that last night at The Beacons with some WiFi jiggery pokery.
Industry moves and shakes at Y&R Wellington, Whybin\TBWA, Trade Me, Tangible Media, Mango, Mediacell and ADK.
For some, industry awards are about acknowledging excellence. For many others, they’re more of an excuse to get loose. And, to celebrate last night’s inaugural Beacons, the trio from Auckland Daze put that sentiment into song—and used the power of opera to give those who take their jobs a bit too seriously a prod.
Vampires are so hot right now. And so are Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. Combine those ingredients and you’ve got what looks like a very funny movie.
The first-ever Beacon Awards took place last night at the Viaduct Events Centre in front of a capacity crowd, and it was FCB Media that got by far the most exercise, with independent MBM winning agency of the year, MediaWorks TV winning media brand of the year, Maritime New Zealand taking client of the year and Nielsen’s Claire Harris accepting the inspiring individual award.
Hell’s hugely successful Pizza Roulette campaign showed that punters were willing to try something new, even if it burned the crap out of their (or, preferably, their friends’) mouths. And its gourmet (and slightly experimental) Rabbit Pizza proved it again after it sold out in less than three weeks and delivered the business its best week of sales in its 18 year history.
For the first time in the three-year history of the competition, Kiwi and Aussie entrants went head to head as they vied to be selected as one of Yahoo’s Digital Stars. And while our neighbours across the ditch dominated proceedings by taking seven of the nine available spots, employees from two Kiwi agencies placed among the winners. Ikon’s communications planner Meei Chai and OMD Wellington’s senior digital planner Will Innes were both singled out at the competition, which recognise the best up-and-coming talent in the media agency arena.
Social Media NZ co-founder John Lai has confirmed that he has sold his website to independent advertising and social media marketing agency Catalyst90. Established in 2009 by Lai and Leonardo Law, Social Media NZ serves as blog-styled platform that provides information and news stories related to the digital sphere in New Zealand. Updated with comments from Catalyst90 general manager Jess Bovey. (Image: Catalyst90’s founder Tom Reidy and general manager Jess Bovey)
The www.inthehouse.co.nz website, which hosts the video record of every session from the New Zealand Parliament since 2009, has been upgraded ready for this year’s general election by Christchurch-based company Tandem Studios.
Creating content that goes viral isn’t just about creating good content. It’s also about knowing how to fan the flames, writes Joanna James.
If we were told that there would come a time when we would long for the awkward pout of an incongruously placed duck-face, we wouldn’t have believed it. But, that day might well have arrived. The proliferation of drone ownership has led to a new means of unapologetic self-promotion called the taking of dronies (a portmanteu of drone and selfie). And while the lip pouts of teenage girls were certainly annoying, they pale in comparison to seeing grown men squinting into the sun as they try to capture footage of themselves with the drone flying overhead.
In an increasingly connected world, it’s not just about big data. It’s about big, useful, responsibly-collected data that can be used to make customers’ lives easier. And brands that don’t start earning their data will eventually lose out to those that do, says Christopher Dawson.
The wait for mobile viewing is over for Sky subscribers who don’t own iPads, as the broadcaster has just announced the launch of a new version of the Sky Go app that’s compatible on certain versions of Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Since launching in December last year, the Sky Go app has only been available to subscribers via Apple’s products—and the popularity of this initial release has led Sky to increase the inclusivity of its offering. Updated with statistics from Nielsen and with comments from TVNZ’s general manager of on-demand Jason Foden.
The spinning wheel of death, the buffering bar, ‘waiting for’ [insert website name here], that sickening modem dial-up sound. Humans really don’t like waiting these days. And Swedish broadband provider Ume.net has showed just annoying delays are in the real world with an entertaining experiment called ‘Living with lag’.
Beck’s and Shine just launched some pretty cool Playable Posters to celebrate the start of NZ Music Month. And if you liked that musical contraption, then check out Play House, a ridiculously complex music maker made of Lego Technic.
Last year, Beck’s and Shine created the playable Edison bottle—and they were nominated for a One Show pencil in the Intellectual Property and Products category for their trouble. And, to celebrate NZ Music Month and the Lion brand’s sponsorship of it, they’ve taken that idea one step further with what they’re calling “the world’s first Playable Posters”.
There are plenty of rules around the advertising of cigarettes in New Zealand. And this one breaks them all. At least it would if it was a real ad and not a joke based on a fellatio pun.
New Zealand lingerie brand Rose & Thorne is on a mission to get its products on more New Zealand bodies—and, in time, more international bodies. And it has appointed Special Group to help define its brand and grow the business.
As in 2013, Facebook again only handed out two of its coveted Blue Awards at this year’s edition of the Studio Awards. The difference this year, however, was that one of the Blue Awards—the Facebook for Good award— was awarded to an agency for work done for a not-for-profit organisation. And the emergence of this change came with good news for Colenso BBDO/Proximity, as the agency won the first gong in the newly created category for the ‘Trial by Timeline’ campaign, which was executed for Amnesty International. PLUS: Facebook’s chief creative officer Mark D’Arcy chats to us about why Kiwi agencies are so good at advertising on digital platforms.
If you’re a fan of Women Laughing Alone with Salad, Completely Unusable Stock Photos and other pisstakes of generic stock imagery, then you’ll probably like this campaign from the Cannes Lions aimed at drawing attention to the upcoming festival, which hopes to get attendees to ‘fall in love again with what they do for a living’. And to do this, McCann London and photographer Max Oppenheim embraced stock photo cliches and shot various creative stars from around the world doing their best impression of over-excited, fist-pumping office workers.
Last week, DDB announced that Damon Stapleton would become the agency’s first chief creative officer. So we chatted to him about winning awards, the challenges of working in different countries and what he hopes to achieve in New Zealand.
Kiwi entrepreneur Derek Handley is on a mission to change the world—and the world of business—through his involvement with The B Team and his own charitable foundation. So he’s asking Kiwis to help find someone who can straddle the worlds of venture capital, investment, innovation and sustainability through #theshouldertap campaign.