May not be a picture of painting spiderbots

Robots, social media, spray cans and three of the world’s leading design creatives are coming together in Auckland this month at design conference Semi-Permanent as part of Orcon’s Spider Art, which is believed to be the world’s first art painted by Twitter-controlled ‘spiderbots’.

Public broadcasting is getting a pretty rough ride at the moment. Radio New Zealand has had its funding frozen for five years, TVNZ6 has been axed and TVNZ7 is on the chopping block, while The GC, New Zealand’s Got Talent and possibly even Sally and Jaime Ridge get the government’s cash. But there is a group doing its best to ensure there remains an appropriate balance between commercial and public broadcasting in New Zealand and Save 7 is hoping to enlist some creative assistance from those in the marcomms community who believe in the cause and can help spread the message about the need for a government U-turn.

Professional designers may groan at the news that logo design has once again been commoditised, but Auckland branding design agency Rare is claiming a New Zealand-first by launching a digital marketplace called logoorchard.com where businesses can browse for and buy ready-to-use, exclusive, locally-created logos—and the associated generic business names. 

The cover story in the latest NZ Marketing discusses ANZ Group’s mission to win the hearts and minds of New Zealanders and mitigate the effects of inevitably sending the well-liked National Bank brand to the glue factory. It’s one mother of a marketing challenge. And the financial vultures are circling. But ANZ, a brand that’s long been at or near the bottom on the customer service/satisfaction league tables when compared to its competitors, is doing everything in its power to better connect with Kiwis by spending up large on above the line advertising, dropping rates, supporting communities, raising funds and snapping up a host of high-profile sponsorships. And it’s added another big one to the list by announcing a three-year deal with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

Smartphone penetration is now thought to be around 30 percent in New Zealand, and that number is increasing rapidly. So Countdown has jumped on the mobile bandwagon and upped the ante in terms of customer experience by launching what it’s calling a New Zealand-first iPhone app that features a digital shopping list and barcode scanning technology, as well as the ability to check prices, find recipe ingredients, collect loyalty points and shop online.

Given YouTube’s current pervasiveness, it’s hard to believe it didn’t exist until February 2005. And back then, the expensive tools of the trade meant high-quality video was largely inaccessible to the hoi polloi. Now, recording technology is cheap and ubiquitous and broadband means consumption is rising rapidly. The seemingly insatiable desire for online video means it is a huge area of focus for brands and marketers and how to tap into some of the possibilities this exciting realm affords was the topic of discussion at the Marketing Association’s Brainy Breakfast last week.

As David MacGregor wrote in Idealog recently, stuff is dead but print smells nice. And as well as sniffing the May/June edition of NZ Marketing, you can also put some of your other senses to use by delving into stories about the seemingly imminent departure of The National Bank from the local banking scene, Peter Cullinane’s old media/new media manifesto, how DraftFCB has quickly gone from middle-of-the-pack to top of its game, how best to target the gold in them thar New Zealand hills with rural media, the ins, outs, ups and downs of mobile marketing and a technology showcase that looks at some of the bells and whistles to make your marketing work smarter.

FMG has been on a mission to cement its place as a key player in the rural insurance sector. And it’s hoping a new print campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington that launched over the weekend will help raise the awareness even further—and tell the FMG story to even more New Zealanders.

An Auckland start-up is combining digital advertising and charitable causes to help improve the world—one desktop at a time. And the founders of DonateYourDesktop.co.nz hope they can soon put the screens of many millions of computers around the world to better use.

Yahoo! New Zealand has announced the arrival of a new awards baby called the Digital Stars, an initiative that aims to find and reward the best young media planners and buyers in New Zealand.

Just four Kiwi agencies were in the running for Clio Awards, one of America’s most prestigious ad industry awards ceremonies, and only one ended up taking anything home, with Alt Group winning a silver for Fisher & Paykel’s Social Kitchen in the environmental design section.