Although the majority of Kiwis are still buying from locally-based web sellers, international merchants are outpacing their Kiwi counterparts in attracting New Zealand buyers. But that doesn’t mean we can’t fight back, the Interactive Advertising Bureau of New Zealand says.
The creative use of statistics is fairly common in this industry, from the recent misleading Dove ad claiming 90 percent of New Zealand women would recommend it, to a current spot for Head & Shoulders that claims you’ll be “up to 100 percent dandruff free forever”, whatever the hell that means, to any number of other ASA complaints. So we appreciate a bit of truthiness from time to time, and Lipton (which is owned by Unilever, a company well-versed in the art of sneaky number usage) has taken the proverbial out of tenuous marketing claims with its latest campaign for sparkling iced tea. Plus: one of our favourite campaigns of the year shows why honesty is the best policy.
Michel Gondry, the French director best known for his work on the ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, animated his conversation with Noam Chomsky for a new documentary titled ‘Is the Man who is Tall Happy?’. And the result is a colourful reimagining of information viewers would normally find boring.
A new addition all but cements the new Fairfax executive team, Facebook hunts for a head of sales in New Zealand, Network’s Dennis Lynch passes the baton, Twenty plus one, Toni Knowles heads up VeNa, Stacey Perillo takes on Facilitate Digital role, PPR lauded for innovation, Hunter names a new general manager, 18 pyars get accrediatation, TV3 inspires a new generation of reporters and Metro Recruitment aims digital.
By selling its Switch Kites brand direct to consumers online, Inverno Trading has disrupted the industry’s traditional distributor/retailer model. And it’s gained legions of fans in the process.
In a sea of sameness and functional claims, NZ Tax Refunds rose above the rabble by giving the feeling a name.
David Bell, ex-creative director at Media Design School’s creative advertising course and the recipient of the 2011 lifetime achievement award at Axis, has been on a mission to get his book The Dog Hunters in front of as many people as possible since it was published in July. Sales are building slowly as word spreads, he says, and so far he’s been spreading it via social media and at shows like Armageddon. And now he’s harnessing the power of Kickstarter to help fund an illustrated version.
Earlier this month, DraftFCB sent Dr Who fans’ voices to moon, and now, to continue the 50th birthday celebrations of the popular TV show, the agency has launched an online time machine that sends viewers spiralling through the history of the interwebs.
Last night’s last minute win over Ireland meant the All Blacks finished the season undefeated, the only team in the 18-year professional era to achieve that feat. And to celebrate, Adidas, which, as Gregor Paul wrote in a great piece about the creeping commercial influence on the game, might be trying to up its game after the arrival of fellow main sponsor AIG, created a new website (sort of).
The old creative writing adage goes “show, don’t tell,” and this is clearly an axiom that Getty Images aims to tap into with a new infographic that details why companies should use transmedia storytelling to market their offerings.
We had a bit of fun last week detailing some typos we’d come across recently. But this one from New Zealand Farmers Weekly that was sent in to us by an eagle-eyed reader takes the cake.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Heineken is giving two lucky people the chance of enjoying the 2014 Heineken Open tennis action from a specially designed pop-up apartment overlooking centre court at ASB Tennis Arena. The competition has been launched on the Heineken Live website as part of an eight-week promotional campaign that will lead into the tournament’s 6 January commencement date. PLUS: read which brands have come onboard to sponsor the Heineken Open and the ASB Classic this year.
Auckland’s ‘A’ brand has ushered in a new look with what it says is a cleaner, sharper logo. The refreshed sign was introduced as part of Auckland’s new domestic tourism marketing campaign ‘The Show Never Stops’.
A range of media owners are trying to find the sweet spot between ads and editorial. And the likes of MasterChef NZ and The Block NZ have been able to appeal to commercial interests without alienating the viewers. TVNZ’s latest effort in this regard is Purina Pound Pups to Dogstars, which arose from its million dollar branded content initiative and is currently in production. Plus: TVNZ’s new logo.
There’s perhaps no item more symbolic of an owner’s personality than the car they drive. Creative types seem pretty keen on interesting cars. So every few weeks we ask someone in the biz to tell us about their steed. Last time it was TBWA\’s chief creative officer Toby Talbot and his Volvo P1800 and this time it’s DraftFCB Media’s general manager Simon Teagle and his 1966 Ford Mustang GT.
Conveniently enough, there are more than a few creative types who tend to believe the best ideas happen outside of work. Ben Crawford, past The Block NZ winner, co-owner of ad agency Libby & Ben, Herald design columnist and committed coffee drinker is one of them, so he decided to write a book—Built for Caffeine—that tells the design stories behind 20 of New Zealand’s coolest cafes.
Google has commemorated the 50th anniversary of Dr Who by creating a doodle in honour of the popular television show. In addition to featuring cartoon versions of 11 of the characters, the doodle also has an interactive element in the form of a vintage video game.
It’s been a busy week for Air New Zealand with asset sales and a dip in shares value. But somewhere in all that chaos, the airline still managed to find time to release a commercial that aims to remind everyone that the company has a distinctly Kiwi flavour. The TVC forms part of the ‘Middle-earth is closer than you think’ campaign, which also includes a competition that gives entrants a chance of winning a trip to Los Angeles to watch the premiere of The Hobbit: the desolation of Smaug. PLUS: Google also gets in on the Hobbit action with an interactive journey through Middle-earth.
Vodafone’s new music app, launched to capitalise on hype around its sponsored New Zealand Music Awards event last night, offers Kiwi music fans a subscription model for getting new tracks. The app offers a constantly updated Official Top 40, emerging songs, a playlist of top 10 Kiwi artists and other event-specific playlists.
Music videos have shifted onto the next step of their evolutionary progression to give us a new interactive experience. Earlier this week, Interlude’s Bob Dylan video was making the rounds, and now attention has shifted to Pharrell Williams’ 24 Hours of Happy.
BMW’s promotion of the new X5 is a case study in why there’s no substitute for local — and for getting hands on in our country air, complete with a whiff of dung.
This is the story of Lee Reid, a neuroscientist who overcame a debilitating pain disorder to write an app that makes it easier for people to compose music. Following on from the success of this original app, he has once again defied the odds by releasing a pro version that offers a range of new features.
BrandWorld’s Mike O’Sullivan pioneered the masthead format in New Zealand, he’s been inducted into the TVNZ Marketing Hall of Fame and, as this video created by his loving team shows, it turns out he’s also a dead ringer for Peter Griffin.
Localist has refreshed its business and consumer platforms with a new window on business performance and lists of likeable things to make and share.
Redwood Cider Co, which was purchased by DB Breweries last year, recently approached Running with Scissors to assist in the creation of a new product for the premium cider market, which is growing like topsy at the moment. And it responded to this challenge by creating the branding for Orchard Thieves, a fruit cider that’s available in either mandarin and lime or raspberry and vanilla. PLUS: is Rekorderlig actually a cider?
Orcon is bidding for awesome with a new dashboard that stitches together what it thinks are the internet’s most fun, frivolous and factual things. The Awesome dashboard was the winning idea out of several from Auckland digital and social agency Us and Co.
Potato chips and penguins are not a particularly natural partnership. But the power of advertising has made it so. And now, in Bluebird’s 60th year, our Antarctic friends are back in a rehashed ad to promote a co-branding initiative with Tegel and Wattie’s that sees the release of some new ‘Kiwi As’ flavours.
TVNZ’s loss is Orion Health’s gain as Annemarie Browne moves on, more changes at Fairfax, Aegis welcomes a new digital media guru, Octane rekindles old flame, 19-year-old entrepreneurial hot shot heads to the US and Iain Nealie shacks up with Google.
Forty-seven years after Bob Dylan’s song Like A Rolling Stone was released, it’s got a video to go with it. The clever work by digital media specialists Interlude in the US means viewers of the video can skip between channels as the song continues.