There are a few old devastated cultural icons the Christchurch community wants to see rebuilt and the Court Theatre is one of those places. And The Press, whose own building was brought down recently, is getting behind the rebuild by tapping into the New Zealand agencies’ creative power to help with the launch of The Press Long Lunch Competition, a challenge that aims to showcase creativity in newspaper advertising while highlighting The Court Theatre’s upcoming fundraising appeal. 

At a time when consumers are increasingly gravitating towards environmentally and socially responsible products, brands are increasingly ramping up their efforts to show their green stripes. Some of them are legit and based around a very real desire to create a better world, while many others appear to be indulging in a spot of greenwashing. But whatever the motivation, it’s a reaction to a definite and growing consumer trend and APN has responded with Element, “the country’s largest mass-reach social marketing magazine”. 

” class=”oembed” >

” class=”oembed” > Advertising is a funny old game. One minute you’re winning global creative accolades for clients, the next you’re wiping away salty tears after being cast aside. That’s pretty much what happened after Orcon dropped Special Group late last year and shacked up with DraftFCB and the new pairing have come up with their first major piece of work, a rather retro, extremely bright and entertainingly self-aware retail campaign to sell its flash new hero product, Genius. 

Out-of-home advertising aims to be where the most eyeballs are. But that’s often not quite enough these days and, increasingly, outdoor media owners and agencies are getting creative in an effort to get cut-through and consumer engagement, as evidenced by Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ recent ‘Fiji Me, Please’ Adshel campaign. 

A smaller group of Ads@6  this time round. Of note: The overly excited bacon-seeking dog that wishes it had opposable thumbs; Charting the evolution of television through Sony’s new Internet TV; some fine tic tac balancing skills and why wolf-whistling is never really a good look.

The ideal scenario for any ad is that it will leave a memorable impression on the viewer and, probably because of its “soap drama” format, most of us clearly remember Sam and her separated parents from the mini Anchor family drama that made its debut in 1989. That was more than 20 years ago, but anchor has plans to tap into the nostalgia with a new campaign to celebrate its 125th birthday in September.

Tourism is one of Aotearoa’s biggest earners, so when volcanoes erupt halfway around the world, it tends to cast a bit of a pall over our pulling power.

Air New Zealand’s recent marketing win at the Airline Strategy Awards had some of you questioning the actual value of the campaign in regards to the airline’s bottom line. But it has continued its wit-inspired, celebrity-clad Rico videos and, much like Richard Simmons’ in-flight video appearance made some cringe, the latest celebrity to fly the online video skies with Air New Zealand could well have a similar shuddering effect. The latest online campaign sees Rico get Skycouch-cozy with a number of celebrities, first up, David Hasselhoff. That’s two seedy characters in one video folks.

A decision to focus on the tourism sector is the main motivation behind publisher People Media Group’s decision to bid farewell to its Exporter magazine, announcing it has been sold to Adrenalin Publishing.

One glance down the toilet paper aisle reveals that, well, there’s a lot of toilet paper to be had. And so in a bid to stand out from its competition, two years ago Kleenex took its toilet paper and enlisted the help of some would-be fashion designers, asking them to make dresses out of the paper—dresses that were then modelled on the runway of New Zealand Fashion Week. And in 2011, it’s at it again.

That little man with the frizzy brown hair, squeaky voice and bright-coloured lycra might have agitated some, but he’s been part of a marketing recipe for success that has earned Air New Zealand a prestigious global win at the 10th annual Airline Strategy Awards held in London.

This edition of Ads@6 takes a step back to mid-late June. Of note: The Electricity Authority takes creative liberty on the celebrity heads game; Westpac shows us how ambitious babies can be with their well crafted Gen W commercial; The Aussie’s continue to do their best to reel us over the Tasman for a holiday—this time with a spot of snorkeling; and MasterCard commences with its nostalgic rugby campaign.

Young person’s cancer support organisation CanTeen has named M&C Saatchi as its marketing partner and, just yesterday, it launched the first of its new fundraising concepts. 

Common sense would have it that, with just about everything moving online, the role of online video advertising too will only get bigger. MSN decided to find out and conducted some modestly sized local industry research, with results indicating that the majority (87 percent) of local agencies are expecting to see bigger online video advertising budgets over the next 12 months.

Playing around with some of the nastiest dictators to have ever set foot on earth might seem a touch risky, but for online electricity upstart Powershop, it’s hoping a new campaign by DoubleFish, staring the likes of North Korea’s Kim Jong II and Saddam Hussein, will give the company a point of difference against its larger competitors.

If you want to sway the discerning public’s attention to your product, there’s nothing quite like involving them in the development of the product, risky as it may be. And, in a bid to celebrate its first year of business, that’s exactly what daily deal site GrabOne did. Harnessing the pull of its GrabOne Bottle site, Facebook fans were invited to vote on three designs by Media Design School graduate Allan Wrath, the top design earning itself prime position on an anniversary edition wine bottle.

In an effort to create a snapshot of New Zealand through the eyes of social media, Vodafone recently asked Kiwis to share their Tweets, Txts, status updates, videos, and pictures as part of Share Everything Day on 8 July. And the end result of all that sharing, a short-film created by Satellite Media, was released on Vodafone’s Facebook page today. 

Labour’s political big wigs gathered together yesterday to fire the first election salvo and spell out the party’s intention to impose a capital gains tax if it wins power in November. And the campaign, which is being led by Image Centre Group and String Theory, hopes to persuade Kiwis to vote for the reds by playing on the ideas of fairness and ownership of the future. 

We’re venturing back into May and early June for this edition of Ads@6. Of note in this bunch: Classic Hits might be trying to reposition itself as hip and contemporary, but it endorses a rather cheesy CD of soppy ballads; Mainland and Werther’s Original tap into some nostalgia; Ford’s All Blacks designed car delves into the interior aspects; some bogus surfing action for internet protection software; NZTA takes the humorous route; and the Electoral Commission does its best to get you vote savvy.

2011 Corporate Reputation Index

Reputation is everything, someone may have once said. And Air New Zealand has the best one, according to the second annual New Zealand Corporate Reputation Index.