As it gets set to host the leather-clad man with the big voice and a penchant for very long songs, otherwise known as Meatloaf, the Bay of Plenty’s largest venue Baypark has unveiled a new branding effort that comes complete with a pun. The rebrand features a new and much more colourful logo carrying the new strap line: ‘Where there’s plenty going on’.
We could tell you about the e-gremlins that meant Fairfax failed to deliver some of its papers yesterday, or the bombshell that Tourism New Zealand’s PR company in the US helped get John Key on the David Letterman show. But we decided this supposed world-first from Wellington digital agency Resn, which brought a whole new, ridiculous and very interactive meaning to the term Twitterfeed, was much more important.
The chance to bathe in the Maggies limelight of award-wining cover design is quickly passing with entries closing this Friday 5 August. And, as long as you are in possession of a snazzy cover and can operate a mouse, entering is easy, “just choose a cover, tell us why, and press go”.
Rarely has a client portfolio switched back and forth like this one. After announcing only in March this year it was moving its portfolio from JWT to Ogilvy following a competitive pitch between the two agencies, Pharmacybrands has performed another switch. In a move based on recent strategic shifts combined with an internal review, the company has announced it’s reverting back to JWT.
Who’s it for: Sky by DDB and Prodigy
Why we like it: On first viewing, it seems like just another over earnest rugby ad. Turns out it’s one of the funniest instalments of the Match Fit series so far. Taking rugby advertising cliches and poking some …
The attraction of lower prices, convenience and broader product ranges is swelling the ranks of Kiwi consumers choosing to shop online, both locally and on international websites. And, according to a report on the Australian and New Zealand online shopping market published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Frost & Sullivan, almost half of the New Zealand population will do just that in 2011, with each shopper spending an average of almost $1,400.
Readers might not have been too complimentary when it came to the new packaging design for Bell Original tea, but the company’s marketing attempt to reach the kiddie demographic of tea drinkers has earned Auckland-based digital agency Method Studios a bunch of website-orientated global accolades.
The New Zealand office of Haystac opened for business in 2009 and two years on things are going rather swimmingly for the Aegis-owned PR agency, with TelstraClear, Jetstar, Sonos Electronics, Motorola and Next Generation Clubs recently joining SEEK, DB, GlaxoSmithKline, Mattel and Beehive and Premier bacon on its client list. They grow up so fast.
Ah, the food chain. It’s good to be on top. And .99’s creative interpretation of the marine pecking order in the ‘Predator and Prey’ Babushka doll print ad for Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World has also come out on top in the July NAB Newspaper Advertisement of the Month, with Saatchi & Saatchi’s Women’s Refuge Trade Me ad receiving an Honourable Mention.
… as Countdown’s marketing doyenne departs for the Aussie mothership, MediaWorks looks inside to fill the sales manager role in its integration department, DNA’s Aaron Carson changes tack, Miranda Gregg says goodbye to AJ Park, bcg2 welcomes a New York import, ecostore’s not-for-profit arm Fairground Foundation appoints its first employee, Tourism Australia finds a New Zealand marketing manager, Lily & Louis joins Kim Kardashian after winning the local Skechers business, and online/social media agency VeNa appoints a New Zealand country manager.
Following on from the recent spate of trademark bullying, with DB winning the rights to use the generic term “radler” and Fonterra now trying to claim “vintage”, Moa, which announced its slightly surprising sponsorship of the New Zealand Olympic team last week, recently received a letter from Jean-Luc Barnier, the chief guardian of the Champagne region, telling the brand to cease and desist on the use of the word champagne on its website. As you can imagine, this request went down well with the always well-behaved Moa team, who felt the letter was a particularly French way of going about things. So they sent Jean-Luc a uniquely Kiwi response: a lovely postcard of the Rainbow Warrior with the Te Reo equivalent of “fuck off” written on the back.
It’s hard to promote crap places, which means town branding campaigns often end up smacking of desperation (‘Milton: A Town of Opportunities’, for example). But you would think promoting a city that Monocle magazine recently ranked the world’s 16th most livable would be a much easier task. Sadly, due in part to the fragmented bureaucracy of the past, Auckland’s promotional efforts have been rather disjointed in recent years, especially when compared to the impressive destination marketing work done by the Wellingtonians and New Zealand as a whole. Now, however, after the birth of the Super City and the lure of all those domestic and foreign visitors expected to hit the Auckland streets during the Rugby World Cup, things have been turned up a notch or two.
Media and entertainment organisations need to sort out their digital strategies, according to the inaugural Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2011-2015 report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. But, as always, it’s a matter of figuring out new ways to turn a profit online, something that will require traditional media organisations to ‘shed conservatism’ if they hope to get with the digital times.
In May this year Mike Mizrahi, one half of the world-class, New Zealand-based event and production company, Inside Out Productions, presented an inspirational show reel of contemporary brand engagement to a packed marketing fraternity house at Orams Marine. And, due to popular demand, the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group has brought him back for a breakfast event at the Northern Club where he will enlighten those present about his experiences as a judge on the design jury at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
If you were watching the All Blacks vs South Africa test on Saturday, you may have noticed what appeared to be yet another earnest, borderline homo-erotic rugby-themed ad featuring bulging muscular thighs pumping away in slow-motion as the All Blacks presumably surge to victory. But this brooding, black and white number for Sky by DDB and Prodigy isn’t your typically serious World Cup year effort.
First Ecoya’s sexy billboard on Auckland’s Fanshawe St featuring a naked woman astride a white horse was boldly stolen by mystery assailants. And now the same billboard has been given a slap by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Apparently, 955,300 New Zealand music lovers can’t be wrong (although, judging by the quality of the music in the charts these days, that’s debatable), because that’s how many humans tuned in to Juice TV and 63 TV in the last four week ratings sweep, according to Nielsen’s T.A.M measurements. And, despite the parlous state of the music industry and the media that serves it, Juice TV’s managing director Daniel Wrightson says New Zealand’s music video channels have enjoyed increasing viewership all year.
Questions are hovering over the Telecom account as a result of its planned demerger, and there’s some fresh uncertainty surrounding one of its main rivals, with Colenso BBDO’s hold on the Vodafone account seemingly up in the air.
A quick glance at Fonterra’s media site shows the dairy giant has quite a penchant for talking itself up. Last week it announced it was dropping the price of butter and cheese in line with international price decreases, but its decision to not drop the price of milk as part of a price freeze hasn’t won it any friends. Neither has news this week that it has gone after boutique cheese-makers, asking them to cease using the term “vintage” on their products, because it says it trademarked the term back in the 60s. Can you smell that? Like DB’s Radler, it’s the stench of a corporate attempting to wield its power. But will Fonterra’s case stand up in court?
Last year the PR and Experiential industry—and many from outside it—got into a rather heated debate about the merits of campaign measurement and, specifically, the controversial role of AVE (advertising value equivalents) in PR measurement. Now, after running a local survey, studying global trends and listening to a range of opinions, the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group has developed a guideline that sets out some clear parameters for measurement and offers a list of metrics for consideration, including our old friend AVE.
13 glorious days of advertising fodder for you in this edition of Ads@6. Of note: Vodafone shares a little too much information, split personalities via 2Degrees, Benadryl enlists the help of a creepy miniature monkey puppet and some dodgy special effects from Big Save Furniture.
It was announced yesterday that French group Ipsos has agreed to take global market research company Synovate off the hands of Aegis Group for NZ$987 million. But Synovate’s research director Jonathan Dodd says the change of ownership is unlikely to have much of an effect on Synovate’s New Zealand operations.
When Paul Henry was signed up by MediaWorks to host the drive show on RadioLive, there was an understanding he’d be involved in the occasional TV project as well. But aside from an interview on 60 Minutes, the bespectacled cackling offender has been slightly conspicuous by his absence on the telly. That will all change on Friday night when a self- (and dwarf) deprecating skit about his fictional quest to make the autobiographical potboiler What was I thinking into a movie airs on The Jono Project on TV3.
Out-of-home advertising often relies on purty pictures and/or catchy phrases to capture the attention of passersby as they go about their business. But Adshel and University of Melbourne neuroscientist Dr Phil Harris have compiled a report that demonstrates how merely noticing something is not enough for consumers to recall a campaign.
Telecom and the MED released a document on Tuesday about its plan to ‘demerge’ and split into two separate entities—the network division Chorus and the retail arm at this stage colloquially known as the ‘New Telecom’—as part of the conditions imposed by the government after its successful bid to build the Ultra Fast Broadband network. And the split, which still requires shareholder and bondholder approval, has led to a fresh round of speculation that it could be a catalyst for changes to its agency roster and might spell the end of Kevin Roberts’ position on the Telecom board.
Put yourself in the shoes of a rugby hater for a moment. Almost everywhere you turn you are bombarded by earnest, emotional ads from sponsors of the All Blacks or the Rugby World Cup talking about long-awaited victory, national pride, unwavering support and inner belief, while the ‘cluster ruck’ of domestic broadcasters (Sky, Rugby Channel, TV3, TV One and Maori TV) screening, repeating and analysing the Big Rugby Event (BRE) means it will probably be quite difficult to escape the tournament when it kicks off. No doubt, there is plenty of excitement in the air, but MediaWorks and Special Group have decided to zig while everyone else is zagging with a cheeky, entertaining new campaign for FOUR that references the overkill and positions the channel as ‘The Home of Not Rugby’.
It’s hard to know who to trust these days. Consumers are still being pushed, pulled and prodded every which way with persuasive claims, snazzy ad campaigns and engaging tweets. Thankfully the Reader’s Digest is here to guide them in the right direction with its Most Trusted Brands list and St John has come out on top in 2011.
bcg2 Health and Spitfire have snaffled a couple more Pfizer brands, after the two combined forces to win the haemophilia treatments pitch for the Xyntha and BeneFIX products in the Australian market against two Aussie agencies. This win adds to the New Zealand haemophilia business that was won in November last year.
Yet more wine to give away and this time it’s to celebrate GrabOne’s first birthday. We’ve got a whole case of the Ant Moore sauvignon blanc to dish out (three labels were designed especially for the occasion by Allan Wrath and a public vote on Facebook decided …
Who’s it for: Kiwi bacon by Buffalo Creative and Curious
Why we like it: Firstly, it’s an ad about bacon and everyone likes bacon (except for the militant vegetarians who complained about Idealog’s new meaty and apparently deeply offensive e-newsletter because it was called The …