As commercial director of Mi9 and chair of the IAB, Dan Robertson is at the business end of digital (and as a board member of the Advertising Standards Authority, he’s sometimes at the arse end of advertising). Here’s what caught his eye in 2013.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
This industry generally isn’t backward in coming forward about its achievements and there are many opportunities for those achievements to be acknowledged. But we’re sick of writing about you, so, as we often do on the last day of our publishing year, we’re taking the opportunity to talk about what we’ve done this year and what we’ve got planned for the next.
Vodafone has made the most of Adshel’s Immerse product, which uses EL (electroluminscent) paper to give the impression of a Christmas tree lit with neon. The campaign with Spark PHD and DraftFCB saw the poster illuminate in different parts, with an animation sequence creating the neon sign effect.
America’s Cup support ultimately proved futile, but the sporting event rated among Kiwis top Google searches of 2013 alongside the royal baby, pop darling Lorde and fallen stars Cory Monteith and Paul Walker. And according to the trends, we’re into Bitstrips, Grumpy Cat and finding out how to kiss.
Dish magazine has a new website to satisfy readers’ appetites for news and tips in between its bi-monthly print editions. The responsive website will include more hospitality news and content previously only offered via its Facebook page.
Bill Peake is renowned as a marketing visionary, a team man, a great leader, and a successful entrepreneur. Now he can add marketing hall of famer to the list.
Mike O’Sullivan, 64, has never been one for following rules. He’s more about making new ones. His 40-year career has been forged on the ability to think differently and innovate in a way that drives sales. And this has allowed him to become a veritable legend in the industry.
Kiwi film-maker Jonathan King has transformed The Wolf of Wall Street’s trailer, imagining John Key in the dizzying world of money making and dwarf throwing. It’s a “brand new New Zealand biopic success story of ambition, fortune and being pretty relaxed about things”.
Mike Hosking and Toni Street will be joining Jesse Mulligan as the presenters of Seven Sharp in 2014. To make way for the new pair of faces, current presenter Ali Mau and stand-in presenter Tamati Coffey will accompany Seven Sharp producer Mauricio Olmedo-Perez as they exit the TVNZ offices for the last time on 20 December. PLUS: Willie Jackson to return to RadioLive.
Vodafone has launched a kit with activities for kids and tips for parents after research that showed a large proportion of children accessing the internet using mobile devices by the time they turned six. The Digital Facts of Life was made with Vodafone in the UK and games company Moshi Monsters.
The August highlight reel from Getty Images is a visual celebration of creativity, natural beauty and special effects mastery that stands as a testament of the power of the camera lens.
Blank stares, awkward comments, misread names, gaffes and broken umbrellas all feature in the Dan News compilation of news bloopers for 2013.
ASB and ANZ are the latest banks to add to their portfolio of technology-based services for businesses, with ANZ joining the group offering a mobile payments app and ASB developing a service to streamline the accounts receivable process.
TVNZ will air an apology to Colin Craig on Seven Sharp tomorrow night after an item about Conservative Party leader Colin Craig was judged to have breached the fairness standard. The Broadcasting Standards Authority says some remarks in the Jesse Mulligan-presented “Guide to Making Fun of Colin Craig” were legitimate satire, but some were “personal abuse masquerading as satire”.
Orcon has appealed an Advertising Standards Authority ruling that upheld a complaint about its TV ad which featured Kim Dotcom saying, “join today and start living with truly unlimited broadband”. The telco says it’s got rid of the Fair Use policy that was the bone of contention.
In an effort to maintain viewers’ curiosity levels while Shortland Street is on hiatus, TVNZ has devised an interactive crime mystery that will give fans a daily fix until the show returns on 13 January. The campaign is based on the premise that one of the characters died during the 11 December finale. And since the identity of the deceased is still unknown, TVNZ aims to keep fans interested by posting one revealing clue each day before the premiere of the 2014 season. PLUS: see Jono and Ben’s parody.
Saatchi & Saatchi, Blacksand and Trade Tested clink eggnog glasses in the last round of 2013.
As the spirit of Christmas giving takes hold, Kiwi corporates are highlighting the sponsorship efforts that give them a good name and worthy causes a helping hand. Telcos and banks are among those stumping up dollars and resources for charitable campaigns.
There’s been plenty of sadness at the passing of Nelson Mandela. And plenty of coat-tail riding by corporations, like South African energy drink company Turbovite, which is feeling the social media burn after its heartfelt tribute/plea for likes mistakenly used a picture of Morgan Freeman.
Changes at Seven Sharp, OMD loses an experienced campaigner to MBM, Bruce Matchett leaves his Singaporean post, another Fairfax shift and the NBR announces its new front page tenant.
The best way to embrace Christmas is to accept the unbridled commercialism of it all with open arms. So sit back, relax and enjoy some of the creative efforts that the capitalist machine used this year to convince shoppers to part with their cash.
As someone, somewhere, once said, if the marketing department is the ass end of business, ad agencies are the pimple on that ass. But if you’re questioning your worth and wondering what you’re doing to make this world a better place, then you need to watch the marketers’ anthem, which celebrates the profession by showing how ridiculous it is.
Just over a month after officially lodging a Commerce Commission application to acquire several magazine titles from APN, Bauer Media has confirmed that there will be job cuts as part of a restructuring process.
It’s been a busy end-of-year for DDB NZ, with some big losses and a few big wins. And it’s got some more news to share because executive creative director Andy Fackrell has decided to take up a new role within the DDB Group as regional creative director for Asia Pacific and will move to Sydney in the new year.
With little awareness, a tight budget and a whole range of complexities, MediaWorks TV tapped into the country’s passion for DIY and created a nation of ‘Block-a-holics’.
A complete overhaul of the Heart Foundation’s brand and fundraising initiatives led to increased donations and donor engagement.
In an effort to remind passers-by that no one is perfect, Pro Infirmis, a Swiss organisation that campaigns for the disabled, cast a series of mannequins from moulds based on the bodies of a selection of people with physical disabilities. And although the video was made to draw attention to those who suffer from disabilities, it could just as easily be applied to representations of women in the fashion industry in general.
Some days just don’t go as intended. And, in this brilliant 90-second spot for Verizon by Mcgarrybown and MJZ, Edward Norton unwittingly gets himself into a…
The classic ‘work first, play later’ incentive strategy works. But in this industry, Michael Goldthorpe thinks fun works better.