James Hurman has been in the Y&R hotseat since mid 2012. And there’s been plenty of change since he arrived, with a swanky new office, a number of big hires and, after a few unsuccessful pitches, some wins with the Co-op Bank, Westfield and Interislander last year. Here he is having his way with 2013.
This year, the Clemenger Group made a significant addition to its offering by fusing .99 and direct/CRM/1-to-1 agency justONE. And with Ben Goodale taking the reins as managing director of a team of over 100 people, the move seems to have worked well thus far. In addition to shrinking New World’s merchandise and putting smiles on Kiwi faces everywhere, the collaboration also led the field in terms of nominations at the NZDM Awards. It thus comes as no surprise that Goodale was optimistic when it came to sharing his thoughts on a year fraught with change.
In November, when Volkswagen and George Weston Foods departed DDB for Colenso BBDO, it seemed as though the Auckland-based agency was headed for a subdued Christmas party. But only a matter of weeks later, DDB managed to pull a pair of rabbits out of its hat by adding BMW and Speight’s to the ledger. These two wins capped off an award-filled year, which saw the agency’s planning director, Lucinda Sherborne, walk away with the Austrailia/New Zealand Planner of the Year Award at the Campaign Asia Agency of the Year Awards. And now it’s over to her for some insights on a year of contrasts for the agency.
In a time when every media doomsday prophet is speculating on the eventual expiration of print, News Works has continued to push print-based titles and has retained its belief in traditional forms of media. And to applaud the efforts of writers, editors, publishers and designers for their contributions, News Works again organised the Canon Media Awards, New Zealand’s biggest journalism awards. But rather than simply focusing on the newspaper industry, News Works also used 2013 to commend the creativity of ad agencies via the News Works Agency League. Here’s what executive director Jenny Stiles thought of the year.
Since the ectoplasm of 2011’s ghost chips was starting to wear off, Clemenger BBDO decided to give Kiwis something equally memorable in 2013. The agency put three talented kids into a car, gave them an infectiously creative script and once again proved that serious issues don’t have to be presented in an overly didactic way. Here’s what managing director Andrew Holt thought of the year.
2013 was an eventful year for Pead PR, with a feisty Twitter war over My Food Bag, some quality sharkvertising for Xbox One and its relationship with Samsung coming to an end. Pead PR’s managing director Deborah Pead and her team look back—and forward.
Michael Goldthorpe runs his own consultancy called Hunch and, inbetween doing actual work, he has written some wonderful things for StopPress over the past couple of years, the most wonderful being his extremely well-received piece on how “mad people are attracted to advertising, just as advertising is attracted to us”. So here he is writing some more about the year that was.
For some, a pitch is the most efficient method of choosing an agency partner. For others, it’s an overly expensive, time-consuming beauty parade. CAANZ has conducted two surveys to see how local agencies view the pitching process. And the results show there’s plenty of room for improvement, says chief executive Paul Head.
Mango Communications got Kiwis on their side in 2013 with the ‘Freedom Friday’ campaign that encouraged Kiwis to reduce the work week. But the year wasn’t all about fun in the Bay of Islands sun. It also had a busy year working with a range of clients—around 25 percent of which are aligned to DDB—and helped deal with some big changes to the DDB’s executive team (it also farewelled Bob Glancy for a life in literature). Mango’s managing director and CAANZ marcomms leadership group member Claudia Macdonald reflects on the year and divines on what the future might hold.
With many joining the media diaspora and leaving the couch in favour of online entertainment options, it hasn’t been an easy year for television broadcasters. But instead of simply admitting defeat and watching the viewers head off into the distance, TVNZ’s head of sales and marketing Jeremy O’Brien led an innovative team that pinched popular shows, further developed on-demand streaming options and took quite a few risks. Here’s what O’Brien has to say about 2013.
See what the industry juggernauts, heavy hitters and high rollers had to say about 2013.
DraftFCB ended 2012 with the much–loved Driving Dogs campaign, and in 2013 the agency continued in this good vein of creative form by producing a range of memorable ads. In addition to sending voices to the moon for Dr Who’s 50th, DraftFCB also encouraged Kiwis to say “no more beersies,” introduced us to the cringey cool dad and revisited the over-the-top antics that pervaded ’80s action films. Given that it’s been a good year for the team at DraftFCB, it comes as no surprise the executive creative directors Regan Grafton and Tony Clewett had a bit of fun when sharing their thoughts on the last 12 months.
The Research Agency has continued to grow rapidly this year, with big clients like ASB, VW, Vodafone, IAG, Fonterra and NZ Lotteries entrusting it with their research needs and a number of new staff added to the roster to help deal with the new business. Managing director Andrew Lewis, who has penned a host of great columns for NZ Marketing, and the team opine on 2013.
David Bell, ex-creative director at Media Design School’s creative advertising course and the recipient of the 2011 lifetime achievement award at Axis, is still helping to mould, shape and nurture young ad brains. But he has been spending most of his time spreading the word about his book The Dog Hunters and, after a successful fundraising drive on Kickstarter, he’ll be spending more of it creating an illustrated version.
A 60th anniversary, a little promotion that went large, a series of new infomercial style ads, another consistently cheeky performance from Stickman and the end of Real magazine made it a big year in the Foodstuffs corner. Here’s what Steve Bayliss made of it.
As the numbers of obese New Zealanders increase, the heat on drink manufacturers increases with it. And, whether you see it as lip service or legitimate, Coca-Cola responded with a campaign showing the steps it was taking to address the issue and, more recently, the launch of Move60, which aims to get Kiwis exercising. Wendy Rayner, who’s been in the role of general manager of marketing at Coca-Cola Amatil for just over a year, shares her thoughts on 2013.
In the spirit of past heretics, ranters and agitators, our resident angry outsider Claxton tells you what’s getting his goat about this industry.
After leaving DDB for a stint in the UK, Toby Talbot stayed true to his word and returned to New Zealand, where he and Todd McLeay had the industry frothing at the mouth when they took over the Whybin\TBWA reins from David Walden and Andy Blood. Here’s what it loo
John Baker has helped bring a degree of collegiality and a sense of purpose to the Magazine Publishers Association in his role as chair and he’s riding the content marketing wave as a publisher at Tangible Media. Here’s his take on the year.
It’s been a stonker of a year for Colenso BBDO, with eight out of nine pitch wins, a record year in terms of revenue and a number of big award wins. Nick Garrett and Nick Worthington share their thoughts.
Sharing is caring in the world of social media. So Nick Ferry tapped into that sentiment and started Smile Dealers, a Facebook-enabled photo booth aimed at amplifying brands’ experiential events.
Those in this industry often suffer from the ‘Curse of Knowledge’, says Andrew Lewis. So it’s important to get outside ourselves to understand the everyday consumer.
After Naked pulled out of New Zealand, Matt O’Sullivan started his own shop, bringing on Jacquie Pierson as a partner and taking a few clients with him. Here’s what he made of 2013.
Any year that includes a receivership is going to be difficult for a broadcaster. Add to this a breakup with a principal programming provider, gaffe-prone radio hosts and a steep decline in viewership, and things start to look increasingly bleak. Yet, despite these uneasy times, MediaWorks still managed to produce a few hit shows, increase its revenue and hold onto key audiences. So, here’s what Liz Fraser, the director of sales and marketing, thought of a topsy-turvy 2013.
Saatchi & Saatchi has been steadily regaining its confidence under Nicky Bell, Antonio Navas and Murray Streets. And while Brian Blessed was quietly put out to pasture and its Telecom business continues to be chipped away, it did catch plenty of eyeballs with Tui’s Beer plumber stunt and took out our TVC of the Year for Toyota’s ‘Feels Good Inside’. Plus, as Colenso BBDO’s Axis love letter shows, taxi drivers still think the agency is synonymous with advertising. Creative directors Guy Roberts and Corey Chalmers spill their beans all over 2013.
Malcolm Rands has been fighting the good fight for almost 20 years with Ecostore—and the charity the company helps to fund, Fairground Foundation. He released a book telling the story of his journey a few months back. So how is Ecoman planning on saving the world?
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.