The agri-technology sector doesn’t ordinarily conjure up associations of top brand design, but Dow Design is feeling pretty chuffed with its efforts to rebrand argi-technology brand, Stafix. It’s out with the bright yellow lettering on a green background of old and in with a simpler green on white look that creates “in-store standout”. And, following research into what farmers deem to be a universal symbol of power and strength, apparently you can’t go past  ‘High Noon’ the red Angus bull.

During the Rugby World Cup, close to 100,000 visitors are expected to grace our shores and, if the throng of diners at the new Wynyard Quarter is any guide, they’ll be spending plenty of time and money sampling our food and beverages inbetween games. It’s a great opportunity to show tourists what we can do and, as part of its in-restaurant marketing push, Fly the Flag, Silver Fern Farms and Bidvest are doing everything they can to get Kiwi meat into visitor’s gullets by supplying New Zealand grown lamb, venison and beef to 138 leading restaurants around the country, including Logan Brown and Pravda in Wellington, the Hilton in Auckland and Tatler and Millbrook in Queenstown.

Marketing for $5 a day? As young Kiwi campervan rental company Lucky Rentals has shown, it’s not impossible – if you’re willing to crowdsource. 

In what appears to be yet another instalment of Attack of the RWC Loopholes, we received a rather excited email the other day with a photo of the newly repainted KFC Balmoral in Auckland that showed what they thought was evidence of KFC supporting the All Blacks. And while this would be the logical conclusion to jump to, the official line is that it has nothing at all to do with rugby. It’s simply to promote a new variety of Mountain Dew called Pitch Black. 

The cold snap in August that brought snow to much of the country—and brought many Aucklanders to the office windows as the first snow fell in the city for 72 years—proved a perfect topical foil for creatives. And two of them were acknowledged in the August round of the NAB’s Newspaper Ad of the Month, with Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ ‘Road Open’ ad for Subaru winning top spot and DDB’s Powerball ad receiving an Honourable Mention.

Child birth can be a brutal, primal and rather harrowing experience, especially for the men. But it’s also beautiful. And, for the first time in Australia, an ad for newly rebranded fertility clinic Genea that was shot by Kiwi director Zia Mandviwalla from Curious Film and features an original score by composer Don McGlashan, has shown a real birth as part of a commercial. 

When it comes to making successful branded apps, there are generally two rules: either make it useful or give it some novelty value. And, if possible, combine elements of both. And Heineken and &some have done just that with a new smartphone app that shows locals and visitors where to find official RWC bars, as well as their mates, their rivals, a taxi home and, if they’re lucky, even some tickets to the final. 

…as the industry says goodbye to Brian Milnes, MediaWorks finds its PR man, ASB’s Deborah Simpson creates a new future, Radio New Zealand finds a voice of the Pacific, and Terabyte Interactive helps out the Aussies. 

If you’re the outdoorsy, travel-type, any day now you should start noticing some changes at clothing and equipment retail chain Kathmandu. Over the past year the folks at Strategy Advertising and Design have been working on a re-brand for the company, after Kathmandu asked it to help deliver its brand forward. Gone is the green, yellow and red-framed logo with numerous peaks underneath. The multi-coloured arrangement of the past has been replaced with a block-lettered white logo featuring two small mountain-like shapes on top.

Designing furniture, creating photography books and making documentaries about the world’s worst football teams. Not the most obvious definition of a communications agency but for Engin Celikbas, a former DDB international and now partner of Amsterdam start-up agency Kesselskramer, it’s all about tapping into the wide depth of talent within the company and experimenting. Celikbas recently made an appearance at We Can Create and in this video interview, he tells us why he admires Steinlager and Droga 5, shares his thoughts on Telecom’s failed All Blacks campaign, and explains how the agency managed to position the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel as the world’s worst hotel that has been “proudly disappointing travellers for forty years”. The hotel has never been so full. 

Intersections are dangerous places (and, with news that the give way rule is going to be changed next year, they could soon become even more dangerous). So to reinforce that message Ogilvy created a billboard campaign for Road Safe Hawke’s Bay placed at major intersections in the region that features new—and entirely unwanted—car brands Nissbaru, Toyazda and Volksubishi.  

First Orcon and DraftFCB got a serve from HeyDay for getting the date the internet was born in New Zealand wrong in its recent TVC. And now it’s in the eye of a social media storm after its new Genius all-in-one broadband/home phone product proved too popular for its own good, leading to a host of jilted customers venting their displeasure with the telco.

In this round of advertising goodness, you just can’t beat the Mad Butcher’s meat, Z Energy gets matey with the nation, Localist shares the love, Sky TV gets Match Fit, Bell Tea puts out a groaner and Telecom decides to ‘change the way they do things’. 

New Zealand is getting set to put on a bloody good show for our RWC visitors in the coming months. And there’s plenty on the menu to keep them all entertained, from the REAL NZ Festival to the Taste of New Zealand to trade and innovation shows and a whole heap inbetween. But some guests require a bit more impressing and the local events and activation scene is buzzing as official sponsors and plenty of other businesses hoping to use the tournament as a chance to butter up guests and potential clients look to roll out the branded red carpet. 

Dads are busy creatures and require much sustenance to continue functioning at their optimum performance level. So instead of getting him a novelty tie or a Cliff Richard CD for Father’s Day, Subway thinks you should get him a gift card so he can fuel up on its array of delectable sandwiches—without the need for that pesky cash. For the design savvy dad, you can even choose from a range of different giftcards in store. We’ve got two cards loaded with $50 to give away. And, because we love dad jokes so much, all you need to do is add a dadly groaner to the comment wall. 

It’s hard to get advertisers and journalists to lie. Just kidding. It’s the easiest thing in the world. Hell, it’s pretty much what you all get paid to do. So what better way to drum up excitement for the CAANZ Battle of the Ad Bands than with completely fabricated news.