Twitter’s Vine app is groaning under the weight of over 13 million humans sharing absolutely everything about their lives, no matter how banal and uninteresting, via six-second snippets (Facebook is competing with the launch of video for Instagram, which launched last week). And while some creative types believe restrictions lead to better solutions, this Funny or Die clip shows the short-format approach isn’t too well-suited to making ads.
The marcomms sector is renowned more for its competitiveness than its collegiality. But it’s nice to see The Radio Network’s ZM can still appreciate MediaWorks’ George FM.
Holden’s latest TVC for the Commodore is part black tie dinner and part bogan romp – showing the new VF Commodore’s classier side, while paying homage to Holden’s bogan roots and fan base.
Video content is still something of a teacher’s pet in the world of marketing and, in an age of sharing, the best of it lives on online. So drink in the ads and brand-funded video deemed to be the world’s best: the main winners from the Film and Film Craft categories at Cannes.
The final Cannes medals were handed out over the weekend, bringing the Dumb Ways to Die-dominated show to an end. But it was slim pickings for the Kiwis, with just one bronze to DDB in the final stages.
Technology magazines Computerworld, Reseller News and PC World live to report another day, the publications’ licenses are being returned by Fairfax Media to IDG Australia next month.
Condom-based promotions, racist ads for brownies, accusations of franchisee bullying, awarding sex crimes with prizes on social media … Hell Pizza has often been on the wrong side of the authorities over the years for its controversial marketing stunts. But the shoe is on the other foot now and, in quintessentially cheeky Hell style, it’s sent a “cease, desist and go sit in the corner” letter to one of its major competitors, Pizza Hut.
Our weekly wrap of good things, funny things, weird things and other things seen on the intertubes.
There are few things more annoying than sitting at a bar with someone who seems more interested in playing with their phone than in interacting with an actual human across the table. Thankfully, Salve Jorge Bar has come up with a clever way to pry phones away from its patrons: ‘The Offline Glass’.
DraftFCB’s having a brilliant Cannes Lions, DDB’s doing better than expected and took out one of the biggest awards on the roster, and usual top performer Colenso BBDO hasn’t had much to write home about. Now DDB’s in line for three more awards after the release of the Film shortlist.
Thick as Thieves’ Zoe McIntosh and Film Construction’s Hugh Mitton win directing gongs at Cannes Lions.
Jae Morrison shifts to Finch, farewelling Nick Coombe, more gold for Kim Hill, Spark PR picks up Pacific Brands, Trio shacks up with Tourism Malaysia, changes at Positively Wellington Tourism, the arrival of AAANZ, and Tourism Fiji welcomes a new regional director.
As the illustration above demonstrates, it seems The New Zealand Herald has become a bit formulaic with its photography – so much so that a new(ish) Tumblr blog has sprung up to seize the frowny-faced opportunity for laughs.
In November last year, 16 creative teams were given a brief, some sustenance and one hour to come up with an outdoor campaign for Surf Life Saving New Zealand as part of Adshel’s Creative Challenge. Colenso BBDO’s Ben Polkinghorne, Scott Kelly and Salah Ben-Brahim came out on top, and their concept has now migrated into the real world and forms the basis of the charity’s winter campaign.
New Zealand loves a good weather event. And Wellington felt the full force of natu… Hang on a minute, it seems as though the mainstream media has neglected to tell the people that the city was actually ‘attacked by a ravenous yellow goat’. Now that would make for a great Japanese monster movie.
According to a study in the UK, more than a third of 16 to 23-year-olds didn’t know that bacon came from pigs and four in ten failed to link milk with an image of a dairy cow. That lack of understanding around provenance is quite concerning, but Silver Fern Farms and Colenso BBDO embraced the farm to show consumers how easy they’ve made their lives with the ‘Going to Great Lengths’ campaign. And, with a win in the April round of Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award, it seems to have worked.
There’s crazy and then there’s John McAfee crazy. The millionaire founder of McAfee Antivirus gives the world’s craziest how to video on uninstalling the software that long ago made him crazy rich (keyword being crazy).
BNZ Bank is putting the call out for New Zealand’s best short story writers, with a Facebook app that turns prose into art.
He’s been on the wall for Daikin, he’s been on a bike for Rexona, he’s been in a video with his dad for Adidas, and he’s been in his undies for Jockey, but brands just can’t get enough of the commercial dream that is Dan Carter, so now he is trying to keep up with a working mum in a new spot for Healtheries.
Orcon has released an app for iOS and Android (developed by Kiwi dev shop Sush) which lets its users take their homes phones with them, where ever they are in the world.
DraftFCB has continued its golden run at Cannes, with Prime TV’s Call Girl winning two golds in Radio, while Alt Group takes two silvers in Design.
Fisher & Paykel has just kicked off the global launch of 70 new locally-designed products with a roadshow in New Zealand and one of its first TV campaigns in a while. But while progress and innovation is laudable, some old features deserve to stay. And this little patriotic easter egg is one of them.
Telecommunications upstart 2degrees is preparing to take on Vodafone and Telecom on the 4G battlefront, rolling out a high speed mobile data network in early 2014 with the help of a $165 million cash injection from BNZ Bank.
Beer drinkers who want to take a step towards becoming beer connoisseurs can now look forward to Lion’s latest content marketing campaign on TVNZ.
The Depot took out Metro’s supreme restaurant of the year award in 2012, and it’s a popular haunt for marcomms power lunchers. And now Al Brown has produced a skite film courtesy of Alex McVinnie Photography and Reel Good that aims to capture the essence of the place.
We’ve featured Crown Range Drifting, bike races with Peregrine Falcons, men jumping from the edge of space, Rube Goldberg antics and plenty more Red Bull tomfoolery on this site in the past. And you can add another work of extreme art to the list with Danny MacAskill’s Imaginate, which sees the freakishly talented bike artist play with a few toys.
Day two was a good one from a New Zealand perspective. And Day 3 wasn’t too bad either, with one silver, a few bronzes and plenty of shortlistings.
Contagion’s relationship with Air New Zealand cheeky little brother Grabaseat was enhanced last week after winning a competitive pitch against several other agencies thought to have included Special Group and Young & Shand.
Mitre 10 Dream Home returns to Kiwi screens on 2 July at 7.30pm after a few year hiatus. And, along with the naming rights sponsor, TVNZ has signed up a host of other commercial partners who will spruik their wares in the TV2 show, including ASB, EECA Energywise and plenty more.
Switching power companies is easy. Dealing with wild beasts, not so much.