Mergers and acquisitions have been fairly rare throughout These Difficult Times, but the Clemenger Group has made a significant addition to its communications coterie and is hoping to create a formidable advertising force by fusing .99 and direct/CRM/1-to-1 agency justONE.
The X Factor New Zealand, the latest of many popstar search programmes, debuted on New Zealand screens on Sunday to much publicity in the form of TVC campaigns, billboards and online advertising. The ratings coming out in the wake of the first two episodes haven’t blown any ratings records to shreds, but X Factor NZ is providing MediaWorks with a solid opening act.
Monopoly – the game that destroyed a thousand families – is launching a new set based on Auckland. In a fine piece of democratic consultation, the city planners for Monopoly Auckland Edition asked the public for idea suggestions through Facebook and email. As with all things internet, if it can be #hashtag mocked, it will be – as was the case yesterday and today with the #AucklandMonopolyCards hashtag.
Strategy makes a few changes in Christchurch, Mango adds some fresh fruit, Ideas Shop promotes from within, L’Oréal’s cosmetic kismet, Mulligan readies his quill, Snakk Media names new group chief executive, Reachmedia ups it reach, and Blockhead welcomes a few new troops.
Last week we posted a story about TVNZ’s On Demand service hitting the three million streams per month milestone in March. And, in the interests of fairness—and comparison—we asked for MediaWorks’ figures as well. That’s when the fun started.
News Works NZ revamped its newspaper ad of the year awards programme last year, and it’s continued to innovate with the arrival of the Agency League, a points-based scoring system for the newspaper ad of the month award that aims to tap into the competitive nature of creative agencies.
Seasoned news man and former APN New Zealand regional chief operating officer Rick Neville is stepping into a part-time advisory role at the Newspaper Publishers’ Association (NPA).
Lynda Brendish wrote a piece about Dove’s Real Beauty campaign celebrating the sentiment of empowerment but criticising the parent company Unilever. Plenty of others have found reasons to criticise, too (for example, featuring traditionally attractive white women and showing women as their own worst enemy rather than the sexist society they live in). But what about the men, you ask? Well, here’s a brilliant parody of the campaign showing how they have a very different problem.
If you get to know your customers, keep them engaged and talk to them occasionally without a hard sell, Michael Goldthorpe believes it will pay off in the long run.
DB Export’s twisted love story, Genesis Energy’s comparative number and a slightly frustrated Dan Carter get a back pat and a bum slap.
The virgins have been sacrificed, the entrails have been sorted through and the creative oracle has spoken in the form of the Axis finalists lists, with Colenso BBDO on top with 57, followed by DDB on 31 and DraftFCB on 28.
To celebrate the passing of the Marriage Equality bill last week, New Zealand candle manufacturer Ecoya has put up a billboard showing two candle wax-covered men embracing with the words “Just Add Equality” beneath.
Online tax refund company MyTax.co.nz has kept its advertising strictly to the radio waves instead of jumping onto the moving pictures with sound bandwagon. This month it’s launched its first TVC campaign highlighting the weird and wonderful jobs some Kiwis have.
Tampons are difficult to advertise without offending some people. The Advertising Standards Authority’s 2012 annual report shows two feminine hygiene products in its top ten most complained about ads list for last year.
Only last year Samsung was mocking those waiting in line for the iPhone 5, but it seems the Korean tech giant has had a change of heart when it comes to queues with its Galaxy S 4 launch campaign in New Zealand (via Colenso BBDO).
DB Breweries’ latest Export 33 TVC celebrates the hard work men put in to looking good for their significant others by drinking low carb beer.
Outdoor advertising has bounced back after a slow and difficult 2012 to post first quarter revenues of $15.4 million – up by 16 percent from the same period in 2012, according to the Outdoor Media Association of New Zealand (OMANZ).
Twitter has launched its new music service in New Zealand (and some other non-consequential countries), called Twitter #Music. Unlike Google Music or iTunes, #Music is right now purely a music discovery tool – helping users find new and popular artists using its millions-strong network.
Commercials for soft drinks often show that by drinking them, you’re likely to splash around in the water laughing with your attractive young friends or engage in some kind of impressive athletic pursuit at a very high level. Very rarely do they show visual representations of masturbation, use the phrase dry hump or generally “reveal the truth behind the facade and bravado of misspent youth” in a humorous fashion. But you get all that and much more in three new quasi-music videos for Sprite Europe that were made by JWT Denmark and Yukfoo’s Anders Schroder.
Twitter’s ad platform works by targeting users with interest signals (such as who they follow), with its new feature for advertisers Twitter hopes to tap into what people are talking about.
In becoming only the 13th country in the world to legalise same sex marriage, New Zealand’s garnering a lot of attention from around the world. PLUS: Video of Parliament spontaneously bursting into song.
It may never be the best Steve Jobs movie, but at least it’s the first.
Rural Press and Fairfax Media merged in late 2006 – giving Fairfax a considerable portfolio of rural and farming mastheads. The news company this week launched a new web portal to house this content called NZ Farmer, built inside of its venerable Stuff.co.nz system.
Creative folk are always coming up with ideas and finding ways to execute them during the day and then going home and doing the same thing at night, whether it’s a business, an app, a film or some other diversion. Saatchi & Saatchi’s digital creative director Nathan Cooper is certainly in that category, and, with the help of a few industry friends, he has just released his first short film about “a perilous journey across the gulf of booze-induced amnesia” called The Beer Scooter.
Like the name suggests, Triage is designed to be the first step towards taking the knife towards your email bloat.
The Sony Cybershot RX1 is a small camera that’s all about the big picture. Inside its compact body beats the heart of a full format sensor, giving image quality you won’t see in any other camera this size. However, all good things come with compromises and there were plenty made to create the RX1. With one hand Sony giveth and the other it taketh away.
If you’re going to write a “hardcore propaganda manual”, then use propaganda to promote said manual – it’s probably a good idea to make sure your campaign works. Goodness knows, no dictator (whether politician or ad executive) wants to buy propaganda manuals that can’t deliver.
As part of its “Lounge of the Future” concept for Milan Design Week, Heineken recently debuted Ignite, a new, more interactive twist on the simple beer bottle that uses LEDs and wireless sensors to light up when bottles are clinked together, to flicker when taking a swig, or even to be remotely controlled.
Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ campaign has hit the mark, says Lynda Brendish. But Dove’s parent company Unilever still has some improving to do.
New dad Dan Carter is looking to get his home nice and toasty before Winter, naturally the heat pump spokesman gets his friends from Daikin to help him out. Dan the rugby player meets Dan the installer, it’s a buddy comedy for all ages.