Pitched as the lighter and more indulgent counterpart to the original Moro, Cadbury’s Moro Gold tackled the dilemma of launching an international product into the marketplace without cannibalising the brand’s existing business. And the hugely successful campaign earned Cadbury the 2007 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Award in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods category.
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.
There are many differences between New Zealand and Italy. We’re more likely to have milk with our coffee, our menfolk generally only wear budgie smugglers at the beach if they’re triathletes or surf lifesavers, and our prime minister’s parties are pretty tame in comparison to Silvio’s. But as Publicis Mojo’s latest campaign for Subway’s Italiana range shows, there are a few similarities between the two laid-back countries, including a striking upside down geographical resemblance.
Two Auckland-based digital creative agencies have flown the Kiwi flag at the 2012 Communicator Awards, with Gladeye taking home three golds for Moa Beer, Collette Dinnigan and the agency’s own portfolio website as well as another two silvers, and Method Studios winning gold for a custom Xbox Kinect Game for Smith&Smith that was aimed at insurance brokers.
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.
Sparks are already flying over TVNZ’s decision to replace TVNZ7 with a ‘plus one’ time-shifted channel that repeats TV One content, with United Future leader Peter Dunne calling it an insult to the intelligence of New Zealand viewers. And he may have something else to complain about because Greg Partington’s The Shopping Channel has, after two years of planning and a few hiccups along the way, finally got the green light and will feature on Sky channel 18 from 1 October.
Long before it sat on the shelves of the world’s swankiest bars, watered private parties at hipster music festival SXSW, ran a cocktail world cup on Coronet Peak, even before that one-time international film competition with 42 directors making 42 films each lasting 42 seconds, and almost a decade before that shifty circus bar with the small bearded lady opened up for 42 days in Auckland during the RWC, 42 Below vodka took out the 2003 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards Small Business title.
May the fourth be with you as Contagion announces a creative promotion and a new piece of business, McDonald’s adds two to the grill, Rawdon Christie makes it an English breakfast, nzgirl finds its new general manager, Datamine welcomes a new geek, Sir Dryden Spring steps down and Phantom Billstickers crows about a new Auckland site.
Ogilvy has retained the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority account, beating out regular Wellington combatants Saatchi & Saatchi and Clemenger BBDO for the spoils.
Aside from being a perennial favourite in the most hated jobs list, another peril of being a journalist is what some may call ‘income disparity syndrome’. Those from the fourth estate often liaise with successful types who earn too much, eat at nice restaurants and drive nice cars, before heading home to eat gruel for dinner, keep warm by hovering around the fire in the 40 gallon drum and wrap up lumps of coal in newspaper to give to their children for birthday presents. So it was with a mix of excitement and depression that I ventured out to Hampton Downs last week to test my driving skills in an array of magnificent German machines that I will probably never be able to afford. And in a new move for Audi, it’s opening up its Driver Experience Days to corporates and individuals.
Independent Liquor’s craft beer division Boundary Road Brewery, along with the creative assistance of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, has done a stellar job of spreading the word since its launch—and all with a pretty miniscule budget. And now, in addition to welcoming new US brewer Spike Buckowski to the fold to whip up a a few new variants, it’s also welcoming two new brews into the family: the Mumbo Jumbo, a 5.2 percent ABV India Pale Ale that was selected by 500 tasters recruited to try two variants, and the Chocolate Moose, a 4.5 percent ABV full-bodied chocolate porter. We’ve got four prize packs to give away, so conjure up some beer-related punmanship and tell us what Boundary Road Brewery should call its next version.
Many of the world’s award shows require client approval, the dates campaigns ran and minimum media spend to ensure scam ads aren’t honoured. But The Chip Shop Awards are “about fostering and recognising creativity with no boundaries and no rules”. The work does not need to have been broadcast, printed or mailed, the clients don’t have to be yours, and you can even make up your own categories. So, since its launch in 2002, the website claims the awards “have produced some of the cleverest, funniest, worst taste advertising and design ever seen”. Some, like M&C Saatchi’s Dave King think they’re grubby and worthless; a blight on the industry. Others like Leo Burnett’s John Jessup embrace the unrestrained creativity on display. Here’s a collection of this year’s finalists (including .99’s Safe Distance), so you can make up your own mind.
Too many brands have been severely punished for failing to do their homework. So tread carefully and learn to navigate the maze of ever-changing Facebook page rules.
The Simpsons is celebrating the screening of the 500th show and Special Group is doing a bit of celebrating itself because the newspaper ad to promote the milestone that was filled with famous moments from the show has been awarded the NAB ad of the month.
The Commerce Commission’s 2011 telecommunications annual monitoring report shows competition among telcos is heating up—and consumers, who doubled their consumption of mobile data since last year, are getting better and more diverse deals as a result.
The RadioLive interview and 3 News clip featuring John Banks make for rather comical, cringe-worthy viewing. And, as the anonymous donation saga continues to unfold, the contextual humourists at Saatchi & Saatchi and Tui have jumped on board the Banksy train with a new billboard.
Fresh from its gobbledeegook-heavy global brand relaunch, the local branch of ZenithOptimedia has announced it has won the Puma New Zealand media account from incumbent Lassoo, which will continue to work with the brand in a PR capacity.
For 150 years, New Zealand’s Merino fibre was largely invisible, as it was sold into a world commodity market that was dominated by high-volume producers and then diluted into blends. But in 1995, the growers decided to take a stand and Merino New Zealand was set up. And in 1999, it was awarded the Supreme Marketing Award and Business-to-Business award for lifting the fibre out of the commodity basket and positioning local merino at the highest end of the international market.
The National Business Review is shaking up its online subscription model by offering individual companies and all their staff a flat-rate fee of of $249+GST per quarter to gain access to its online content.
Television viewing in New Zealand is at its highest ever level and television advertising took the top spot off newspapers for the first time ever last year according to the ASA ad revenue figures. So reports of its death appear to be, as the saying goes, greatly exaggerated. Of course, recording technology means interruptive advertising ain’t what it used to be and you can’t just buy attention like you used to, but despite the many digital distractions that are now available to brands and agencies, the power of a good TV ad is still unquestionable, primarily because it is one of the best ways for brands to convey emotion, tell stories and, in most cases, get their messages in front of as many humans as possible.
It’s 1994 and punching your wife was not so much a crime as ‘just a domestic’. Times have changed—kind of. There’s just as much punching these days but at least it’s called what it is: family violence. And a multichannel, multiple partner campaign by The Police which won the Supreme Award and the not-for-profit category at the 1995 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards helped lay the foundations for what it hoped would be a better, safer country.
First they gave the All Blacks a sausage and now Brandspank has brought a new meaning to the term digital marketing with a campaign to launch Sky’s new Android mobile app.
Who’s it for: RaboDirect by Shine and String Theory
Why we like it: It’s a common trick for challenger brands in the banking space to target the big boys, but this spot communicates the savings message and it’s very well made (take a bow, String …
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a church billboard proclaiming “Jesus Heals Cancer” that was erected by the Equippers’ Church in Napier and an ad for Waikato Draught that linked itself with the Chiefs in a Waikato Times supplement have crossed the line.
In late 2010, FMG shacked up with Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington, embarked on a bit of a brand refresh and ramped up its advertising, both to position itself as risk advice specialists with an in-depth understanding of the unique issues New Zealand farmers face, but also to try and move it further into the mainstream insurance market. And it’s taken a fairly novel, and some might say fairly un-rural approach to attract customers: a YouTube channel that was launched mid last year.
Droga5 appoints bcg2’s Chris Long, production house 8com opens up in New Zealand, three agencies fly Kiwi flag at Asian Marketing Effectiveness awards, APN announces its new motoring editor, The Sweet Shop welcomes award-winning UK director to the family, Yahoo! adds two to its sales stable and Aegis Media appoints a shopper marketing specialist.
When it comes to comedy, the Kiwi cultural cringe seems to have steadily departed and many of our local humour mongers are now popular drawcards, both on TV and in person. MediaWorks has focused heavily on comedy with its programming on both 3 and Four, and it continues to sponsor and broadcast the New Zealand International Comedy Festival (it is showing last week’s sold-out comedy gala tonight from 8.30pm-10:30pm). To celebrate this year’s edition, it’s put a few of its seductive stars in front of a well-vaselined camera and created some channel idents around the theme ‘Comedy is Sexy’. But if that’s not enough comedy for you, we’ve got a 7 Days VIP Prize Pack to give away, which includes 2 x tickets to 7 Days LIVE at SkyCity Theatre on Thursday 3 May. So tell us a joke and we’ll give the funniest one the booty.
APN launched its weekly street-zine Volume on September 6, 2011 and started competing head-on with Groove Guide and a host of other online outlets. But the tough music/youth/pop culture media market has claimed another victim, because APN has decided to discontinue the print edition after just 33 issues—and on the first day of NZ Music Month.
In a world where political correctness often seems to rule, taboos are plentiful. Thankfully, busting them is still an integral part of good comedy. But there’s still potential for embarrassing social mishaps with every attempt at edgy humour. So, to help provide some guidance as to what is and what isn’t appropriate, the NZ International Comedy Festival gathered together an elite team of stand-up comedians, sit-down mathematicians and Colenso BBDO digital folk to try and solve a riddle that has plagued mankind for centuries: when is it too soon to joke about something?