PlayStation’s latest console is coming here this month and hype has reached frenzied heights worldwide. In Europe Sony is celebrating with a tribute to the players who will no doubt be ringing cash registers once the PS4 is out.
An AUT researcher and developers who graduated from the university have created an app to find out if you’re at risk of having a stroke or developing other major health problems.
As part of The Project 2013, which was delivered by AUT, the US Embassy Wellington and Social Media NZ, media/tech expert Dr Jeffrey Cole spoke to an audience of around 200 people about the death of laptops, how Amazon might soon rule the world and why online communities are like nightclubs.
Fedex USA and BBDO NY have embraced the Christmas spirit by showing what Santa Claus does to those who are naughty rather than nice. PLUS: see what special package Mr Scrooge can expect this year.
Saatchi & Saatchi’s crowd-sourced action shots, Cirkus’ fantastical motorbike mission, Kiwibank’s take on box living and safe.org.nz’s star studded PSA wear the crown this week.
The second instalment of Lindauer’s “national girls’ night out” took place on 15 November at various nightspots across the country. And to ensure that the blokes didn’t feel too abandoned on this night of feminine revelry, Lindauer and BBD arranged a few celebrity man-sitters to entertain the sullen couch dwellers at home.
They say anyone who lives inside glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. But what would ‘they’ know. So, in honour of petty pedants everywhere—and with a healthy dose of there but for the grace of God go us—here are a few entertaining/head smacking typos we’ve noticed recently.
Ad awards season is pretty much over for another year, but there were a few more announcements over the weekend, and once again Kiwi agencies and clients did very well, with DraftFCB’s Driving Dogs taking Best in Show at the Caples and Colenso BBDO taking most awarded agency at both Caples and Digital Asia Awrds.
Getty showcases New Zealand’s beauty in a compilation that could easily double as a tourism TVC.
See the world from the perspective of our feathered friends with Getty’s compilation of the best aerial footage from 2013.
Humans are simple creatures. Put their name on a Coke and they go crazy. Put their kid on the cover of a magazine and mums will clog up the internet. And now Unitec, Special Group, Open and Bauer are attempting to tap into that feverish narcissism once again with U Mag, a personalised magazine that doubles as a customised prospectus and is thought to be a world first.
To promote the global release of the new Xbox One console, the folk at Microsoft and Pead PR dropped one into the shark tank at Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium. Until the official release date at midnight on 21 November, the highly coveted device will be protected by the ocean’s apex predator. And this publicity stunt continues a long tradition of using sharks in marketing.
The launch of Kickstarter in New Zealand has attracted a range of creative and kooky projects, including recreating a cooked onion and a retro game in which a drag queen apparently searched for her alien-abducted mother.
On 17 November, Saatchi & Saatchi NZ and Coca Cola Amatil (NZ) launched Pump’s ‘grab life by the bottle’ TVC, which showcased a host of Kiwis having a good time with a Pump bottle in hand. PLUS: read how adventurous Kiwis can send in entries to become part of the next commercial.
It’s not easy squeezing a life-size footballer into a web browser, but Wellington digital agency Resn and creative partner Wieden and Kennedy Amsterdam have done just that — in avatar form — to push EA Sports FIFA 14.
Kiwibank has released a new promotional video to show prospective homebuyers that they still have options in spite of the recent legislative limits that increased the minimum deposit to 20%. The hilarious video, which features a quirky script and home made out of cardboard boxes, could easily double as a parody of a Campbell Live case study.
There’s been plenty of pomp, ceremony and brio in recent weeks at the new season launch announcements for MediaWorks and TVNZ. But behind-the-scenes, all is not quite so rosy, with a sharp drop in TV viewership since the middle of the year creating some concern.
AUT Adschool students are getting ready to present their portfolios to prospective employers at the annual end-of-year show, which will be held on 19 November from 5.30 to 8.30pm.
What sorcery is this? Six of the country’s most experienced admen—Mike Hutcheson, Ross Goldsack, David Walden, Peter Cullinane, Sandy Moore and Roger MacDonnell—were spotted feasting at renowned advertising haunt Cibo on Friday. This gathering certainly wouldn’t have happened a few years back. So what’s brought them together? The only logical explanation is the launch of a new advertising agency.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, DraftFCB has came up with a campaign for Prime that enabled fans of the show to send an audio transmission of their voices on a voyage to the moon. UPDATE: feedback from DraftFCB about the campaign.
David Walden used to say that those working in advertising were paid danger money because you never knew when clients would walk out the door. And, after losing a couple of accounts recently, DDB NZ has felt the burn.
Chairman of Ideaworks Jon Bird discusses what Kiwis can expect to learn about the future of retail from Steve Brown and David Roth at the Westfield Breakfast Seminar that is scheduled to run at the Langham on 19 November. In addition to discussing the speakers’ areas of expertise, Bird also touches on some of the innovations that are going to be unleashed on the retail world in the next few years.
The phrase ‘print is dead’ has become ubiquitous in the industry, but there is still an argument to be made for region- and industry-specific publications that target certain groups of people. And in the last few months, four new titles have appeared on the market, and the teams working on these projects are optimistic about the future of print in New Zealand.
Michael Goldthorpe went along to TVNZ’s new season launch at the Viaduct Events Centre. And he got inspired about the potential for New Zealand to become a branded content powerhouse.
We posted a whole host of fancy, often fantastical and fairly big budget Christmas ads from overseas a few days ago. Now Sainsbury’s has joined the fray, and it’s knocked it out of the park with its emotional, user-generated festive film.
New generic top level domains mean a range of new choices for businesses and brands, but it’s important to get the application process right to secure the name you want, says Tim Newman.
After taking out last year’s best ad at the Fair Go Ad Awards for ‘Tight on Tour’, MasterCard backed it up last night for the follow-up, ‘Wedding’. And, at the other end of the spectrum, ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi’s bearded bellower Brian Blessed took the booby prize for ‘No biggy. Yes Biggy!’
Developing a video that’s representative of an entire country is difficult, because it has to include as many people as possible while simultaneously not upsetting those who have been excluded due to time constraints. This unenviable task was handed over to Assignment Group and Designworks, and they responded with a collaborative effort that Government was proud enough of to release on 6 November.
Brands are pretty keen to get themselves on the big screen these days. And, as Dodge has shown with Ron Burgundy, fictional characters make for pretty good spokespeople. So what do you say L’Oréal? It’s a match made in heaven—literally.