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News
Studies have shown: ASB and Saatchi talk to the kids the old-fashioned way
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At this time of year, many university students are looking forward to heading back to the family ranch, regularly opening the fridge to marvel at all the food inside and, possibly, attempting to dry out after a torrid year of mind expansion/erosion. They—and their secondary school friends who are about to embark on the next phase of education—probably aren’t thinking too much about banking. But ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi are dangling a few carrots with a new 50’s-inspired online video campaign to promote its tertiary accounts.

News
Experienced campaigners don new marketing lab coats as Chemistry blasts off
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One fairly accurate definition of a brand is the sum of all conversations it has with its customers, from the advertising to the call centre and everything in between. And Chemistry, a new agency launched by Joseph Silk from Silk Communications, Andrew Mitchell from Magnet Customer Attraction and Mike Larmer, formerly head of marketing at Mercury Energy and before that managing director of Whybin\TBWA’s direct and digital arm Tequila, thinks there’s a gap in the landscape for an agency that understands the confluence of creativity and technology and can help clients take customer experience marketing to the next level.

News
TVNZ grabs the branded content bull by the horns, courts partners with new scheme
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As consumers continue to find ways to avoid commercial messages, TV networks, brands and agencies are increasingly trying to make them unmissable by putting them inside some of their most popular programmes rather than inbetween, with the likes of MasterChef, The Block or the raft of talent shows all aiming to take things much further than a traditional sponsorship. And, as TVNZ’s head of sales Jeremy O’Brien announced at the network’s new season launch last week, TVNZ is trying to become more pro-active about cementing these relationships with brands with the creation of a new branded content initiative set to launch in 2014.

News
TVCs of the Week: 20 November
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Father Time gets with the programme, John Lewis and the Kiwi connection, AA Insurance keeps on sorting, Dulux channels Muto, Mountain Dew goes 3D, and Freeview shares some love.

News
News Works restructure ups the commercial focus
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As news of APN NZ’s decision to sell off a few of its regional assets surfaced yesterday, news also surfaced about changes at News Works New Zealand, the umbrella organisation responsible for profiling the industry’s print and digital brands, which has restructured to “better serve the changing needs of the newspaper industry as it gears up for 2013” and create a more commercial focus to better promote its 30 national and regional news brands across the country.

News
AA Insurance and the Specials keep righting wrongs in next phase of ‘Let’s Get Things Sorted’
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AA Insurance and Special Group took the opportunity to remind the nation about the positive aspects of insurance with the launch of its big 90 second brand ad a few weeks back. And now it’s following that up with a series of 30 and 15 second product ads—once again nicely crafted by Special Problems—and an attention-grabbing outdoor campaign that aims to communicate the new ‘Let’s get things sorted’ positioning and showcase the various facets of the business, from tailored car insurance to personal case managers.

Movings & Shakings
Walden begins hunt for successor, but he’ll ‘be around for a few Christmas parties yet’
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When David Walden left the relative safety of the multinationals to set up the Auckland office of Whybin\TBWA back in 1997, there were more than a few doubters predicting its swift demise or claiming it would simply be a postbox for the international network. Those doubters were wrong, of course, and the agency has become firmly ensconced in the upper echelons. But he’s not going to be around forever, and Walden, one of the most enigmatic characters in the ad industry, is making preparations to hand over the reins. PLUS: Vincent Heeringa’s NZ Marketing profile republished.

News
Kiwi developers release charades app, promise it’s ‘the most fun you can have online with one hand’
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There’s gold in them thar mobile hills. And a rare few developers have been able to mine it, with The Angry Birds brand estimated to be worth over $1 billion, and OMGPOP, the makers of the hugely popular Draw Something app, bought by Zynga earlier this year for US$185 million (it’s a fickle world, however, and, as is often the case, both Zynga and OMGPOP have failed to rediscover the magic recently). And now, inspired by the gameplay of Draw Something, Kiwi entrepreneurs Tristan Holman, who runs a consultancy called Flashgun in the UK, and Brett Hancock, who heads up Born Digital, are hoping they might follow in their footsteps with their own game called Act a Word.

News
Attack of the mores: ANZ zeroes in on customer benefits as transition campaign reaches its conclusion
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TBWA\ has been cranking out the work for ANZ since ‘The Announcement’ of the new—and, if you believe the ads, improved—bank. And, with plenty at stake, it’s no surprise that no expense has been spared and the doctor has been well and truly gone for. And now it has moved into the final phase of the campaign to show what products and services it can now offer its customers.

News
Colenso keeps it simple, takes Adshel Creative Challenge prize
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The air was thick with the smell of creativity at the Hopetoun Alpha on 8 November for Adshel’s Creative Challenge (turns out creativity smells a little bit like a combination of cigarette smoke, ironic t-shirts, Sal’s Pizza and desperation), and after 60 minutes of furious jotting and pressurised thinking to come up with a campaign that would raise awareness—and funds—for Surf Life Saving New Zealand next winter, it was Colenso BBDO’s team that took the top prize.

Opinion
Magazines and the virtuous circle of value
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There is little value in reminding agency folk that magazines are well targeted and engaging, says MPA’s commercial director Katrina Horton, as a recent survey shows everyone’s pretty much in agreement there. But there is value in talking about why magazines are well targeted, how readers are engaged and what this means for advertisers.

News
Content is king as .99 launches first major work for The Sunday Star Times
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New Zealand’s largest national newspaper, The Sunday Star Times, has had a pretty rough time of it recently, with some fairly concerning readership and circulation results. But an editorial rejig is in process to, as Fairfax chief executive Allen Williams says, improve the newspaper and make it more appealing and authoritative, and it’s also launched a new campaign with its new agency .99 that aims to draw attention to the great content it provides.

News
Colenso gets charitable with St John
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Colenso BBDO has earned a reputation for its cause-related communications, from its multi-award winning Doggelganger campaign for Pedigree to the brilliant Trial by Timeline for Amnesty International. And now it’s aiming to help St John, New Zealand’s primary frontline medical response organisation and the main provider of ambulance services. It takes over from Work Communications.

News
O’Connor’s purple lip slug and soul patch combo wows judges
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Coloured facial hair is usually reserved for those who drive housebuses, members of hair metal bands or Billy Connolly. It’s certainly not too common in this biz, but Carat’s business director Gareth ‘Connolly of the South’ O’Connor has used colour to great effect and been rewarded with the mo of the week title.

Awards
Cutting through the digital landscape
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The growth in the outdoor industry is largely being driven by digital media, both ‘place-based’, like shopping malls, oil chains and airports, and large format. In the Asia/Pacific region, ad spend in digital out-of-home has grown 19 percent on average every year from 2006 to 2011 and global spend in the sector last year was $US7 billion, which is forecast to grow almost 20 percent this year. So local digital signage network nGage is bringing together a few smart cookies at an event that aims to showcase the digital signage ecosystem and offer a glimpse into the future.

Movings & Shakings
Movings/Shakings: 16 November
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Westpac’s Martine Jager heads back to Oz, Colenso shares the account management love, CAANZ announces four new board members, indies band together to create new agency forum, Orangebox makes a big Wellington hire, Fairfax goes Peat mining and Alexander Communications goes global.

News
Father Time marches on into obsolescence in Sky’s latest epic
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More than half of Kiwi households with televisions fork out for Sky, which is thought to be one of the highest per capita rates in the world. And, according to a recent PwC study, 40 percent of these subscribers have taken up MySky, an increase of 45 percent since last year. It’s where most of the growth is coming from for Sky, much to the chagrin of poor old father time, who, as a great new, almost Wes Anderson-esque 90 second spot by DDB and The Sweet Shop shows, has been rendered obsolete by the wonderous technology.

News
Movember’s hairy memories to live on as Schick and Y&R immortalise the mo
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During the annual hirsute pilgrimage that is Movember, many participants become quite attached to their new lip slugs. So, to ensure that the memory lives on, Schick and Y&R have created a Facebook campaign called Mount your Mo to not only reward the dedicated men of New Zealand for their efforts, but, through the wonder of taxidermy, to “allow them to keep their pride without prejudice”.

News
TVNZ goes large, local and mobile for 2013
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It aims to put on good shows all year, and, with a selection of its stars wheeled in (including a performance from the biggest of them all, Billy’s Big Brass Brand), a few branded ice sculptures (rumour has it new chief executive Kevin Kenrick fashioned them with his bare hands), lots of bass, some slick production and plenty of delicious things in spoons, TVNZ certainly put on a good one last night to launch its 2013 season.

News
JWT flicks Contact’s switch
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As we wrote a few weeks back, Contact Energy put the feelers out for some new agency partners and JWT New Zealand has been chosen as the company’s sole creative agency across brand, digital and retail.

News
Attention-seeking MDS ad students block out sun on day of show
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Marsden Inch have chucked a generous sum behind the bar so there are drinks, there are nibbles, there are students, and there are portfolios. All that’s required to complete the equation are lots of creatives to wander along between 5.30 and 8pm tonight to The Nathan Club on the ground floor of the Nathan Building at
 51 Galway Street,
 Britomart. There’s also been a suggestion to bring along a few more of the shit idea bins to the show. So to encourage everyone to be at their biting and incisive best, MDS will have a special limited run of 20 shit idea bins on offer.

News
ASA hauls Hakanoa and M&C Saatchi over the coals for offensive ginger campaign
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Hakanoa Ginger Beer and M&C Saatchi got into a bit of PR strife a few months back after a campaign asking for parents to swap their red-haired kids for a six pack of ginger beer received a public scalding. After the public response—and despite claims about it being an attempt to raise awareness of the discrimination of ginger haired children—the campaign was pulled early. But the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint about it, saying the posters were socially irresponsible and discriminatory.

News
Online advertising hits high water mark, but challenges loom
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Interactive ad revenue figures have been steadily heading upwards over the past few years in New Zealand and in the latest round of figures, the sector hit its highest ever level, with total advertising spend in Q3, 2012 of $94 million, an increase of three percent from the last quarter and an increase of five percent year-on-year. But, as you’d expect in such a rapidly developing industry, there are still a few issues to contend with, including a fall in display advertising, the use of ad blocking software and discussions around the appropriate methodology for collecting revenue data.

News
Absolut and Ogilvy inspire more uniqueness by opening the Facebook floodgates
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Absolut’s latest artistic innovation is, as per usual, pretty impressive, with the company rejigging its entire production process in an effort to create unique patterns on four million bottles. There are only 4,800 of them available in New Zealand and, judging by the number of co-workers fawning over the bottle sitting on the StopPress desk, they might not be around for too long. But fans of the brand and its creative MO have an opportunity to get the next best thing by creating their own personalised bottle online.

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