Air New Zealand has announced an update to its mPass mobile application that now allows users to book flights using their smartphones or tablet devices, getting people one step closer to never needing to sit on their computers again.
After a competitive pitch, it’s thought Shine has won the Goodman Fielder dairy business, which means it has said goodbye to Fonterra.
Music magazine Rip It Up has been sold to Groove Guide publisher Grant Hislop.
The latest readership and circulation numbers are out and they have continued to go in the wrong direction for newspapers, with every major paper down on both counts when compared to last year and to the last survey result three months ago.
Animating app Toon Hero, created by Auckland-based startup Trigger Happy, launched on the app store for iPad and iPad mini on Friday.
Looking for that special something for the ad man/woman that has everything? Then you can’t go past Creative Miscellaneous Materials, a website that offers a vast array of remarkable products to help those working in the persuasive arts.
There’s plenty of excitement about craft beer at the moment. And plenty of debate about what that term actually means. But, after a big few days for the sector in Wellingtion, John Baker asks if it is the big boys making ‘faux craft’ or the new players making average product that are likely to do more damage.
The good cutlery is being shined, the wait staff are being put through a rigorous training regime and the country’s top marketers are getting out their lint rollers in preparation for the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards at The Langham on 29 August. Tickets have been selling like hotcakes (or, to bring that phrase into the modern era, like iPhones) and there are only a few seats remaining before we put up the ‘full’ sign. So if you want to secure your spot, click here to get yourself a ticket.
Another senior hire for Y&R, another big scalp for the Radio Network, a rare expansion at MediaWorks, more volume for Volom and a fashion expert for Pead.
Ogilvy & Mather has taken out this month’s Newspaper Ad of the Month with its topical ad for Beneful that responded in canine style to an article claiming playing with sticks was no good for dogs. The win takes them to six points and sees them join DDB at the top of the Agency League table.
Apparently New Zealand hasn’t run out of talent just yet, because not long after MediaWorks’ big talent show wound up, TVNZ’s big talent show gets set to start.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Jennifer Duval-Smith wrote about the importance of having a digital crisis management plan a few months back. Here she details four steps you need to heed.
NZ Actors Equity’s Anna Majavu responds to a piece from DraftFCB’s Pip Mayne about the need for anachronistic talent contracts to evolve.
Marmite has been a huge topic of interest in New Zealand over the past few years, with the closure of Sanitarium’s Christchurch factory after the earthquake leading to ‘Marmageddon’. But the Marmite brand has a different problem in the UK: people keep forgetting to use it. So it’s spoofed the current crop of animal welfare reality shows with an ad showing some horrible cases of yeast-based neglect.
Since it was switched on around 23 years ago, Sky has grown into the country’s biggest media company, with almost half the country signed up to its services. For the past few years, its default brand statement has been ‘Your Happy Place’ and DDB’s comms around that idea have been top notch. But it’s started to roll out its new brand identity, which features the tagline ‘Come With Us’ and aims to bring the work of the broadcaster to the fore.
There’s been plenty happening in the digital signage space recently. Prices for screens are coming down, big global players are making big orders and digital-out-of-home is responsible for a lot of the growth in outdoor sector around the world. APN Outdoor just launched the country’s first digital billboards in Auckland. And Ngage is also riding that wave, with a recent roll-out of digital signage across the BP network and some big projects on the go.
Kiwi internet entrepreneur Richard MacManus has always had the dream of writing a book. Ever since selling his technology blog ReadWriteWeb (RWW), which he started back in 2003, to US-based media company Say Media in 2011, that is exactly what he has been working on.
Richard Branson wasn’t always the suave, successful mogul he is today. In its latest ad, Virgin Mobile shows Branson’s life story in exactly one minute and three seconds. And yes, he always sported that beard, even at two years old.
Is it just us, or is $379 not that much money to spend for an action figure that looks just like you?
Jaguar drivers seem like they’d probably be more familiar with ‘tally ho old chap’ than ‘OMG! LOL!’. But that hasn’t stopped the premium car brand and its agency Big from using the line ‘WTXF?’ in a new campaign for its XF model that’s appearing on super-sized billboards in the main centres and on extra large online banners.
If you’re an Android user, you may already be familiar with an app that comes integrated into some devices, called Swype. SwiftKey for Android works almost exactly the same way.
There’s been a lot of talk about football rights in New Zealand recently, with online offering Coliseum unexpectedly snatching that trophy off Sky and Sky then raining on its parade slightly by signing deals directly with four English major clubs to show delayed coverage of their games. But as newspapers embrace video, and as humans embrace mobile, it’s not just broadcasters looking for content anymore, as evidenced by this great ad for Sun+ Goals that features football fans watching when they shouldn’t be.
The stock market is not a lumbering beast. It’s fast-moving and things can change very quickly, and many people may not want to wait for the morning paper to come out to see how their investments are faring.
Creative types can be a bit precious about their image. But not Mumford & Sons. The beardy folk rockers aren’t above taking the piss out of themselves and, with the help of four funny men—Ed Helms, Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, and Will Forte—the band has created what Buzzfeed calls the best music video of the year.
Dr Who nerds have been all aflutter this week after Peter Capaldi was named as the new 1000-year-old time-traveller. He’s renowned for his role as the potty-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the brilliant show The Thick of It. And this guy has decided to combine the two roles and create a trailer that gives fans a glimpse at what the upcoming series might be like (block your ears children, salty language ahoy).
EY, which until recently was Ernst & Young, has announced the finalists of this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
Kiwibank, Otago Uni and Telecom get a street parade in Hamilton this week.
Youth-targeted telco Skinny Mobile has found an inventive new way of reaching its customers, using mobile app Snapchat.
Neuroscience provides us with deeper insights into how consumers think, feel and make decisions than ever available before and these insights have the potential to revolutionise traditional marketing practice. But its application to this industry—something known as neuromarketing—is not always understood.