Wednesday, June 24
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News
Clemenger BBDO and Senate enlisted to sell the asset sales
By

When Treasury sent out a note on December 15 last year asking for interested parties to put their hands up if they wanted a piece of the ‘extension of the mixed ownership model’ account, everyone with dreams of festive cheer died a little inside. And, while the Greens are complaining that the tender process broke the rules, the list of winners was released recently—and fairly silently—and Clemenger BBDO and PR company Senate Communications have taken the big prizes in the comms space.

Opinion
The pros and cons of anonymity
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Given the attitude of ‘the normals’ towards marketing and advertising, it’s fair to say the industry has a few perception issues. Before I started this job, I envisaged being in the eye of the wankery storm in Auckland, surrounded by people who wore shiny shirts, drove ridiculous cars and used business jargon with absolutely no sense of irony. That’s occasionally true, of course, and my Invercargill-based parents are obviously deeply ashamed at what I’ve become, but, in my relatively short time spent writing about the industry, I’ve found it to be, by and large, full of exceptionally smart, talented, creative, hard-working, hard-playing, competitive and often very opinionated businesspeople. For some, the fact that it attracts extroverts is part of the industry’s appeal. For others, however, some these extroverts—and their often anonymous views posted on websites like this—give the industry an air of unprofessionalism. So, as we get set to relaunch StopPress, we thought it was a good time to delve into the thorny issue of online opinions.

News
Fairfax looks on the bright side, prepares for the future with continuation of intern scheme
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There’s been plenty of press lately about media companies being forced to adjust the way they did business in fast-changing circumstances, chief among them Fairfax, which announced the cutting of 1,900 jobs in Australia and host of other big changes (check out this anonymous opinion piece by a Fairfax journalist in Australia that painted a rather vivid picture of the current situation at the company). But according to Fairfax Media’s group executive editor in New Zealand Paul Thompson—and as evidenced in Oriella’s global study—journalism remains a career of huge variety, opportunity and importance and the company says its continuation of the intern scheme in 2012 is “a sign of its belief in itself, its journalism and the future”. And, given that future will likely be digital, this year applicants will have to upload a video clip of no more than 90 seconds about themselves to YouTube as part of the process to show they’re up to the task.

Opinion
The gender agenda: is it time for Kiwi brands to stop perpetuating stereotypes?
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This weekend my mailbox was inundated with catalogues from big retailers telling me about their current toy sale. Apparently ‘tis the season. As I flicked through one of the catalogues I began to notice just how gender-specific it was. In the “play and pretend” section (it is a sea of pink) there are little girls playing with Barbie glam pools and day spas, or wheeling around a shopping trolley (with food no less). Or, they can take their pick from one of the kitchen, supermarket, pots and pans or laundry playsets. Flick a few more pages, and you’ll find the pink ‘craft and creativity’ section, or the blue ‘action and adventure’ section. You get the picture.

News
Alt Group keeps cookin’ in the Social Kitchen
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All the Kiwi design shops missed out in Cannes, but Alt Group has been awarded five red dots, including a sought-after red dot: best of the best in the red dot awards in Berlin for The Social Kitchen, a project created for Fisher & Paykel in collaboration with The Engine Room restaurant and furniture design company IMO, following on from the silver Clio award it won in New York.

Opinion
Marketing Gods appeased with July/August edition of NZ Marketing—and a few virgin sacrifices
By

Some cultures celebrate the release of a new edition of NZ Marketing by throwing three virgins into a volcano and dancing for days on end. But in New Zealand we simply write something on StopPress and alert readers to the fact that by picking up a copy of a magazine that recently won all four of the big gongs in the trade/professional category at the 2012 Magazine Awards *awww shucks* you can fill your brain with stories about how the senior management team at Saatchi & Saatchi is trying to rediscover the agency’s lost mojo; the intriguing brand wars playing out in the local automotive sector; the state of New Zealand’s radio industry in an increasingly digital world; how to choose an agency without losing your shirt; the massive changes currently being dealt with by the retail sector; and David Bell’s take on why we might currently be going through this generation’s equivalent of the Mad Men era. 

News
Special Group pours magic design sauce over OOB’s fruity wares
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Just as restaurants often find it difficult to operate successfully as bars, it’s tough for ad agencies to succeed as design shops—and vice versa. That’s partially because there seems to be an element of patch protection at play on both sides of the fence, perhaps as evidenced by some of the comments in the article about Designworks’ foray into advertising with the University of Canterbury’s latest campaign. But, as one of the few agencies that’s won both Best Awards for the likes of the ecostore rebrand and Four’s big yellow duck as well as a whole host of prestigious creative awards, Special Group seems to be doing a pretty good job of striking a balance. And its latest effort is the creation of a new brand identity for Omaha Organic Blueberries (OOB).

News
Belowtheline and Apollo NZ reach for the APMA Stars
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The APMA Star Awards, which celebrate the past year’s finest promotional efforts, took place last week in Oz, with New Zealand marketing agency Belowtheline the only Kiwi agency to take home a gold, winning the top award in the ‘best sponsorship leverage’ category for its ‘Game Plan’ promotion for Sanitarium’s sponsorship of the All Blacks before and during the Rugby World Cup.

News
Carat gets a grip on Bendon’s unmentionables, wedgies GI Media
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Following on from the recent news that Carat took the Sovereign Insurance account off OMD without a pitch, the agency has further bolstered its client list after being appointed to manage strategy and media buying for Bendon brands like Lovable, Elle MacPherson Intimates, MacPherson Men, Davenport, Pleasure State and Stella McCartney Lingerie across New Zealand.

News
100% Pure Waititi
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We wrote about Steinlager Pure, DDB and Taika Waititi’s new campaign on Friday, but had to wait until Sunday to see the ad, sandwiched as it was between Tom Scott and Plaza director Paul Middleditch’s very good Separation City on Sunday Theatre. Now, for your viewing pleasure, here it is, in all its zany, self-reflexive, patriotic cliche-busting and Waititi-esque glory. And we likey. Suggestions for the next local Steinlager Pure frontman welcomed.

Features
Hot shots from the Magazine Awards
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The flappers were flapping, the pin stripes were thick, the feather boas were ticklish and the awards were plentiful at the Great Gatsby-themed Magazine Awards at The Pullman last night, especially for the big winners Good and Cuisine. And don’t you word and picture lovers scrub up nicely. Photos by Simon Watts from Getty.

News
Westpac and .99 put their best sock forward for The Sir Peter Blake Trust
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This year’s Red Socks Day falls nearly 11 years since Kiwi legend Sir Peter Blake was killed by pirates on the Amazon. Today, the Sir Peter Blake Trust continues to honour not only the man himself, but also his leadership, love for the environment, and his dedication to New Zealand youth. And to help raise awareness for this year’s Red Socks Day, Westpac, which is the foundation sponsor for the trust and has supported it since it formed in 2004, and .99 worked with street artist Sparrow ‘Component’ Philips (co-founder of the Cut Collective) to create a one of a kind stencil-art styled image of Sir Peter’s face made from almost 3,000 red, white and black socks.

News
Predict the future, win Velocity
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Put the over-achieving founder of digital agency AKQA Ajaz Ahmed and the vice president of digital sport at Nike Stefan Olander in a room to talk about the possibilities—and challenges—of the digital realm and you end up with Velocity: Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital. We’ve got one copy to give away, and all you have to do is tell us what we might be doing, how we might be doing it and what we might be doing it with in the future. As John Elfreth Watkins showed, though the suggestions may sound wacky at the time, they often have a habit of coming true.

News
Steinlager Pure and DDB catch a Taika by the tail
By

Since Steinlager Pure was launched in 2007, Lion has used big name American actors to endorse the brand, with the likes of Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe and Vincent Gallo gracing our screens and stroking our egos in the past campaigns made by Publicis Mojo. But after a hiatus from Kiwi TV screens as its big brother’s white cans took over during the RWC—and with DDB now as its lead agency—it’s ready to launch its next campaign on Sunday. And for the first time the new mascot is a Kiwi: successful director, actor and all-round funny man Taika Waititi.

News
All-powerful Sarahs dominate Magazine Awards as Good and Cuisine clean up
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It’s the night the magazine industry comes together to, as ACP head honcho Paul Dykzeul might say, indulge in a bit of gratuitous back patting. Or, as the MPA might say, reward the publications, publishers, editors, designers, sales folk and contributors who toil away on their various titles. And it was Good and Cuisine’s Sarah Nicholson that reigned supreme on the night, winning the top magazine and editor of the year prizes respectively.

News
A case of bubbles: JWT pushes the golden envelope for Viva’s 15th birthday
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The New Zealand Herald’s Viva magazine turned 15 recently, and, as part of the celebrations, APN offered agencies an opportunity to submit a creative concept for a chance to win a spot on the front cover and inside front cover of the birthday issue. And JWT’s idea for Pernod Ricard’s G.H. Mumm champagne brand took the top prize, with the birthday edition of the magazine coming enclosed in golden bubble wrap and the phrase ‘enjoy the bubbles’.

News
Nathan hangs up her Yellow boots
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She’s been behind some of the country’s most creative—and creatively awarded—marketing campaigns, but after four years with the embattled Yellow Pages Group, business transformation director and former marketing director Kellie Nathan has decided it’s time for a change.

News
Call me loyal: likely local lads mix it with the big boys in international awards—UPDATED
By

justONE clients Farmers and Subway have respectively seen Farmers Club and the Subcard loyalty programme announced as finalists in the retail category of the prestigious Colloquy Loyalty Awards, which salute “the most transformative, customer-focused enterprise loyalty initiatives internationally”, with .99 and New World for its wine sale eDM the only other finalist in that category. And Fly Buys and Air New Zealand’s co-branded card is a finalist in the innovation in loyalty marketing.

Movings & Shakings
Movings/Shakings: 27 June
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The Research Agency welcomes an international research heavyweight, Eleven\PR snatches a couple from PPR, Ambient Group ramps up its experiential and talent offering, Firebrand does some of its own recruiting, Rob Fyfe wraps up warm with Icebreaker, Komli NZ wins About.com, In Motion Post gets a slice of Bunnings, JOOB announces one of its regional big dogs and a couple of Auckland dining hotspots get some international attention.

News
Meet the chosen ones: finalists announced for 2012 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards, rejigged programme receives record entries
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To celebrate its 21st anniversary, the TVNZ/NZ Marketing Awards were given a proper spruce up this year with the launch of the ’Everything Marketing’ platform and the announcement of eight new categories. And the changes have been met with approval, because a record number of entries and new entrants were received for the 2012 edition, with a total of 45 entries in the running for the top spots.

News
The Press’ Holden steps into the Aussie breach as new Age editor
By

The Australian division of Fairfax has announced some massive changes to its business recently, including a plan to cut 1,900 jobs, erect paywalls, outsource subbing for some of its titles to New Zealand and take some of its broadsheets tabloid. Fairfax NZ boss Allen Williams has said it’s a case of two markets and two time frames and the shifts won’t affect the New Zealand business, but they have affected the local industry in one way because Andrew Holden, the editor of The Press in Christchurch, has been named as editor in chief of The Age in Melbourne, replacing Paul Ramadge, who resigned yesterday.

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