We at StopPress HQ are big fans of sandwiches. Footlongs, six-inchers, club, cucumber, PB&J and even the occasional Marmite one. Putting things between two layers of bread is the best way to eat them. Which is why we’re frothing at the mouth to be giving away two $50 Subway SubCards to our readers.
When it comes to calculating media spend, the elephant in the room might just be a mammoth. And it’s the traditional media agencies that have the most to lose, says John Baker.
Old Spice has gained a reputation for entertaining hyperbole. But an architect who gets his hands dirty? That’s taking things too far.
Direct mail doesn’t tend to get the same level of attention that other ‘sexier’ channels like online or TV get. But according to the ASA ad spend figures for 2012, it’s on the rise, with addressed mail up 16 percent to $58 million. So why the increase? And is it effective? NZ Post and Key Research attempted to find out.
Burrito connoisseur Ben Polkinghorne is tackling the appalling gaps in New Zealand’s education system by teaching untaught (but ever important) skills, such as opening beer bottles with seat belts and how to get free parking (note: this one might be illegal).
Since the closure of Publicis Mojo at the end of last year, Goodman Fielder has been working with Joy, the agency set up by ex-Mojo chair and chief executive Graeme Wills. And, according to Goodman Fielder’s PR and communications manager Ra Fletcher, it continues to do so. But it also appears to be looking at its agency options.
The people of New Zealand have voted and Telecom and The Warehouse’s latest TVCs do have the X Factor.
Packed full of bullet-time goodness, Telecom’s latest ad campaign for its Ultra Broadband products brings the anticipation of high speed antics, without having to show any of it.
At first glance it’s a photo so incredible it must have been made up. A Whittaker’s van crashed into Paeroa’s iconic L&P bottle monument. The positioning of the two iconic New Zealand food brands’ logos seem to be right out of a Hollywood movie product placement. It turns out it is too good to be true.
Lawyers are scary, especially for young startups looking to make it big in the world. Buddle Findlay’s simple lead generation tool helps it get infront of the next wave of Kiwi world-beaters.
Showing good looking human specimens in their undies is a well-proven advertising strategy. Often it’s all a bit OTT, with ridiculous smell the fart acting and liberal photoshopping. But Bonds has kept it casual, upbeat and slightly self-aware with its latest campaign, leading to a win in the May round of the Colmar Brunton Ad Impact Award.
Music streaming service Spotify recently conducted a dubious survey in a few different markets to find out the most misquoted song lyrics. Surprisingly, AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, which definitely features the words ‘I was caught in the middle of a rhino attack’, or the Aussie anthem, which definitely features the words ‘Australians all let us ring Joyce’, didn’t make any of the lists.
There are plenty of changes occurring inside Telecom at the moment, and while some significant staff culling has led to an increase in the amount of out-sourcing in some parts of the business, Telecom Retail is relinquishing Contagion of one of its responsibilities.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
How’s New Zealand doing when it comes to corporate social responsibility? Must try harder, says Interbrand’s managing director James Bickford.
ZO moves up the road, Bauer moves up the hill, The Sweet Shop’s new tech head, Robert Munro goes back to his agency roots, Justin Flitter joins Aamplify, Shaun Pettigrew joins Collective Force, new hire for Heyrex, NZ Reseller News is reborn online and Mi9 adds one to the pile.
When he was alive, Bruce Lee was a fighting machine. But for a Chinese ad, Johnnie Walker and BBH have managed to turn the CGI version into a boring, overly earnest, self-help guru who runs his hands through water slowly and says things like ‘do you have the guts to follow your gut’. Where are the flying kicks?
Ogilvy & Mather has already got the Auckland Council business. And it’s happily suckling from the bureaucratic teat once again, after being chosen as the full-service agency for the 2017 World Masters Games, which is “likely to be the largest event hosted in New Zealand in the next decade”.
When the New Zealand Herald ran a story last week about the dangers of dogs playing fetch with sticks, Ogilvy & Mather jumped at the chance to produce some timely print advertising for its client Beneful.
Do you know a business or marketing department that could benefit from real-time reassurances of their supposed awesomeness? You might want to treat them to a ‘fliike’ Facebook like counter.
Offices are great. Free envelopes, unlimited instant coffee, beautiful fluorescent light, increased chances of early death. But how do you accurately portray this scene? Getty Images has collated a series of strange images from its collection. And we’re sure everyone (especially those who find life-size parrots attractive) will be able to relate.
There have been plenty of column inches dedicated to matters of online security and data collection in recent months. So how easy is it for ‘freaks to take over your life?’ by stealing someone’s identity? Duval Guillaume Modem, the Belgian agency behind the fantastic ‘Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square’, decided to find out by scaring the bejesus out of one Tom Degroote in an effort to draw attention to safe internet banking behaviour.
Today’s Best Thing on the Internet award goes to this little gem from UK pop culture blog Us vs Th3m, which produces rather convincing plot lines for Doctor Who using only six lines of JavaScript.
Dumb TVs are out. Smart TVs are in, although several studies show very few actually use the TVs for their intended purpose or even connect them to the internet because, as Wired says, “Smart TVs are the literal, biblical devil.” According to NPD, “fewer than 15 percent of smart-TV owners are listening to music, surfing the internet or shopping on their TVs.” But BGH is trying to change all that with a new campaign via Del Campo Saatchi & Saatchi and Primo that shows a man with an annoying erection, a man getting punched in the face and a man looking for a prostitute—and all of them like to send emails to actors from their TV.
Fizzy orange vitamin manufacturer Berocca is taking a rather unique approach to mobile advertising by targeting an underutilised feature of the iPhone (at least by advertisers) – the Calendar App.
Turning the humble desktop wallpaper into an advertising channel in its own right has landed Nelson Rayner, founder of Kiwi startup Donate Your Desktop (DYD), the Advertising Club of New York’s Google Young Innovator Award.
A few weeks back DDB launched a campaign for Instant Kiwi that featured streetwalkers in starring roles. And its latest effort for The Warehouse has taken a similar, but far cuter, approach by filming a bunch of Kiwi kids applying for a job as a toy tester.
On the latest NZ Digital Podcast, host Paul Spain talks to ASB Bank’s online marketing team about its digital campaigns and social media activities, including #LikeLoan.
According to the latest Paymark figures, DIY action as a result of the buoyant Auckland housing market and the Christchurch rebuild have helped boost overall year on year retail spending in New Zealand by 4.3 percent. And there’s also been a boost in the number of TV shows aiming to tap into this domestic fever, with Mitre 10 Dream Home returning to TV2’s screens last week after a four year hiatus and Aussie powerhouse House Rules starting on TV3 last night. But it’s the homegrown effort that’s so far luring the most Kiwi DIY lovers.
