Media spend figures from Standard Media Index (SMI), which launched in the New Zealand market last year, show a five percent increase in total spend in 2013, with big increases for cinema, digital and radio. So how does that compare to Nielsen’s AIS ad spend figures?
In a new series, we talk to Kiwi keyboard tappers that have managed to shift from the personal realm of blogging to create online media brands that are widely read (and in some cases profitable). In the second segment, we chat to Dan Lake, the founder of Dan News.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
It’s the height of TV promo season, as evidenced by the recent launch of campaigns for The Great Food Race and MasterChef NZ. And, as the major news and current affairs shows return to air for 2013—and one new show announces its arrival—here’s what they’re doing to drum up some interest.
In order to ameliorate cricket’s image as the boring cousin of other sports and make it more accessible to a younger generation, the creative agency True has collaborated with OMD, New Zealand Cricket, ANZ, iHeart Radio, Radio Sport and several Kiwi celebrities to give the sport a new voice through an initiative called the Alternative Commentary Collective (ACC). Updated with cricket and rugby viewership numbers from Nielsen.
An eagle-eyed, schadenfreude-loving reader sent us this house ad promoting APN’s special recruitment feature, Career14. Can you spot the issue?
Advertisers releasing teaser spots for their Super Bowl ads could be seen by some as prime evidence that The Rapture will soon be upon us and it’s likely the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will be coming for those in this industry first. Thankfully, Newcastle Brown Ale is here to be the voice of reason—and, in its quintessential ‘No Bollocks’ style, skewer the marketing tactics of other brands—by creating a hypothetical ad for the S**** B***.
Bauer Media has, as most expected, been given Commerce Commission approval to proceed with its purchase of APN magazine titles the NZ Listener, NZ Woman’s Weekly, Simply You, Simply You Living and Creme. Updated with more comments from chief executive Paul Dykzeul.
In the words of Chuck Palahniuk’s Tyler Durden in Fight Club, “advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.” And while this remains true for the most part, there are times when advertisers also use their skills to encourage people to make the world a better place.
Online video is a big feature of the 2104 season campaign developed for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra by its agency The Church. The campaign stars the orchestra’s first app and a new microsite.
Media Titles Group has sold its holding in Rugby News to Mark Calverley of Auckland in a move that sees the six directors, which comprised the largely Australian-based group, relinquishing their control of the publication.
Beer and reptiles might not have much in common, but Carl Vasta, founder and owner of Tuatara, one of the country’s most successful craft beer brands, has combined these two things to great effect.
Mobile device owners are worth marketers’ attention when it comes to promoting messages through outdoor advertising, according to new research from Roy Morgan.
Cisco has marked its Tomorrow Starts Here campaign with a TVC about the internet of things, shot in New Zealand. The ad shows some of Auckland’s best sides and the possibility and reality of internet-connected devices making our lives easier.
Generally speaking, humans try to steer clear of anything related to exploding number twos. But TVNZ has fully embraced them in a series of new channel idents for TV2 via Blacksand.
Rather than simply asking this question, Australian creative agency Flickering Wall hypothesised the possible result with a sensational short film for Denham Jeans.
Following on from the success of Meat, the Image Centre publishing group has now launched Toast! magazine in collaboration with Liquorland. The first edition of the quarterly content marketing magazine was released in early January, and over 105,000 issues have already been distributed throughout New Zealand.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone’s app jelly changes the way we get answers by letting us send pictures with questions to our social network. Simone McCallum notes brands are asking and answering on Jelly, but wonders what its purpose really is.
Web company Squarespace is tapping into Superbowl hype with a trailer that shows us everything that’s wrong with the internet. That includes too many things to squeeze into 15 seconds, but Squarespace has managed to get in epic fails, cheesy contests and online dating.
Google’s new TVC for its entertainment store Google Play is a celebration of everything related to the heart — and alert viewers will notice a quick grab of Kiwi songstress Lorde among the artists gracing the service’s play arrow icon.
A US law firm has got creative with two of life’s not-so-good things: divorce and non-existent YouTube videos. And the videos wouldn’t be complete without a hint of celebrity.
On 27 January a new-look Seven Sharp will see Mike Hosking and Toni Street joining the sole survivor of last year’s Christmas shuffle, Jesse Mulligan, as they take to Kiwi televisions for the first time. But Mulligan isn’t the only one returning to the Seven Sharp fray, because TVNZ has also announced that RaboDirect, the online bank, has re-signed its sponsorship agreement with the show.
In an age where social media offers a platform where consumers can talk about anything they want, to virtually whoever they want, listening to (and acting on) the responses—the good, the bad and the ugly—is key to upping your customer retention rates, reducing churn and getting better bang for your marketing buck, says Mat Wylie.
QR codes do their best to connect consumers to content with a mobile phone and a bunch of squares and shapes. But Nick Butler reckons they’re an artefact only a motherboard could love.
The Christmas shopping season saw more Kiwis go online for purchases, but the rate of online spending growth by New Zealanders on Christmas Day was higher for retailers whose sites are based offshore than for locals, according to BNZ and Marketview’s latest provisional figures.
It was all hands on deck at Vend’s recently-opened Auckland office as it made its new introductory video. The point of sale company was at pains to avoid startup video cliches like happy hipsters and clever cartoons.
Rather than adopting the shock-inspired approach, DraftFCB has instead chosen to use a PR stunt to show off the utility of the new Sony waterproof MP3 player. The Auckland-based agency dropped the product into a bottle of water and then placed it in vending machines located in areas where the target market would be likely to pass them.
Changes at Saatchi & Saatchi, Tourism Malaysia, Fairfax, The Edge and Hanmer Springs, new business for Sputnik and Pead PR, Fonterra’s rumoured new sponsorship, RIP Richard Clark, kudos for Belowtheline and Award School returns.
Tip Top has made new promotional posters that use artificial food colourings discarded in its move to natural ingredients. It’s also wooing communities outside Auckland with virtual reality games designed to draw the crowds over summer.
For most New Zealanders, there’s been a high rate of food consumption over the past few months. And the nation’s broadcasters are hoping there will be plenty of food-related TV consumed this year as well, with TVNZ’s MasterChef NZ making a few changes to its format and MediaWorks hoping for big things with its new show The Great Food Race.