In this issue of Michael Carney’s Marketing Week, Apple’s iCloud and the apparent quest to create online gated communities, Groupon quickly ensconces itself on New Zealand’s e-commerce scene, what Australia’s daily deal code of conduct says about the maturing of this new commercial phenomenon, Google’s attempt at sharing and a cautionary tourism tale New Zealand would be wise to take heed of.
The Fairtrade movement has become a huge marketing force in recent years, with a massive increase in sales and a few big corporates starting to sign up to this more ethical approach to business. And Harriet Lamb, who helped kick off the UK Fairtrade Association about 10 years ago, is one of the women responsible for making this change happen. So, if you want to hear from an inspiring speaker, eat a few nibbles and drink a few Fairtrade cocktails, buy your tickets here for an event being hosted by Good magazine at Image Centre’s swanky new premises on Wednesday 22 June.
Here’s the latest sprinkling of TVCs for your Friday afternoon delight. We’re quite impressed with NZTA’s latest humorous effort, and Bacardi pipes up with a fancy animated offering about togetherness. Pams meanwhile presents its latest human sausage offering for winter and the All Blacks sell more stuff, this time for Weet-bix.
The judges have judged and 140 entries from 42 titles and 22 different companies are in the running for a Magazine Award on 23 June at the Pullman Hotel.
Ordinarily, there’s not too much to get excited when you’re talking about standard black tea. But the folks at Bell Tea & Coffee Company seem pretty chuffed with the new Bell Original tea packaging.
…as Les Mills welcomes a charitable soul to the fold, Kraft says goodbye to a couple of its senior marketers, the Marketing Association announces a few newbies, Crossmark gets a new managing director and office in New Zealand, CGI gurus Lightfarm Studios and animation house Cirkus both snap up a double, and OMANZ temporarily loses a stalwart.
Putting an account up for pitch soon after the launch of a big repositioning campaign is fairly unusual, but Massey University, which recently used successful alumni like Kate Sylvester to announce the institution’s position as ‘the engine of the new New Zealand’, has done just that. And Napier-based agency Tracta has claimed victory after a seven-way pitch, beating out the Foundry, The Church, Buffalo, Ogilvy and TBWA with its heartland agency proposition.
If there is one ‘new wave’ trend engaging retailers and businesses at the moment, it’s the burgeoning pool of knowledge, insight and digital tools that shoppers are now drawing on to shop smarter and save more. And while it’s often claimed New Zealand is 12 to 18 months behind global trends, it was staggering to learn at the recent eTail Conference in Palm Springs that retailers in the USA have more like a three to five year lead on their Kiwi counterparts.
The entry deadline has now passed, a new record has been set for most entries and an impressive collection of game changers have been secured to decide who will take their place amongst the marketing greats at the 2011 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards.
When Bluebird launched its ‘Do us a flavour’ campaign last year, in which it sought the tastebud insights of Kiwis to come up with a new chip flavour for its range, it seemed pretty obvious that this wouldn’t be the last endeavour into customer engagement territory. Enter the ‘Dear Griffin’s’ campaign, which allows you, the discerning viewing public and biscuit lover, to submit your ideal biscuit concoction.
Everyone loves a good a laugh, especially those in the rural sector. At least that’s what the creative buffs behind the new advertising campaign for the launch of Altum (previously known as Summit-Quinphos) are hoping for. As part of the rebranding and repositioning exercise, Hamilton-based agency King St has employed the use of a humorous, tongue-in-cheek campaign that likens Altum sales consultants to specialist forensics experts referred to as Farm Scene Investigators (F.S.I). And there’s a bit of swearing thrown in for good measure, even if it is muted out.
Who’s it for: Mountain Dew by Colenso BBDO and Satin & Lace
Why we like it: For many years, Frucor has been giving Colenso heaps of cash so it can bring cool ideas to life. Then people start talking about it, Frucor sells truckloads more of its stuff …
It’s been an unusually exciting few months in the world of magazine distribution, and the 2011 tit-for-tat has continued apace, after Netlink re-signed its agreement with Tangible Media, New Zealand’s largest independent magazine publisher.
The newly refreshed New Zealand Innovators Awards launches today and, in addition to the awe and jealousy you will inspire in your colleagues and competitors if you win, clever and inventive types will also have the chance to win a diamond encrusted, platinum-plated, gold-infused oversized paperclip.
It’s obviously a day to celebrate the peddling of sugary beverages. Colenso’s latest V campaign for Frucor just took out the May edition of Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award and, to welcome three new flavours of Mountain Dew to the Frucor stable, the agency also just launched what its managing director Nick Garrett believes is the best thing they’ve done in years: skate pinball.
With the monster truck, rocket man and ladders campaigns, Colenso BBDO’s marketing initiatives for V have gained a well-deserved reputation as attention-grabbers and conversation starters. And its latest push, which features a large paintball truck splattering humpty dumpty on a wall, has done it again, tickling consumers pink in May’s Colmar Brunton Ad Impact Awards.
…as a ‘hostage drama’ unfolds between DDB and Colenso, Waxeye gets Carter, Aegis names its regional big cheese, King St advertising’s Chris Williams gets some media traction with his Rugby World Cup song, Wellington’s soon-to-open Le Cordon Bleu school finds its main man and Donovan Boyd adds an account manager.
When news of Osama bin Laden’s demise was beamed around the world, it didn’t take long for Hell Pizza to capitalise on the news in its typical controversial style, unveiling its ‘Come in, Osama, we’ve been expecting you’ ad. And the creative culprits behind the ad, Barnes, Catmur & Friends, have been rewarded for their efforts by taking out NAB’s May Newspaper Ad of the Month award.
There were 730 media folk in their gladrags, a couple of unfortunate but highly comical stage mishaps, some well-received self-deprecating humour from Martin Devlin, some cheeky on-stage planking hijinks and a large sumo wrestler dishing out gongs—quite literally—at the CAANZ Media Awards last night at the Langham in Auckland. And it was DraftFCB Media and OMD that left with the biggest smiles.
North Shore-based printer Benefitz has sold its significant interest in publishing business Mediaweb to major shareholder Toni Myers after managing director Aidan Bennett decided it was time to move away from offset printing and focus on some of the other, more exciting aspects of the business.
Bureaucrats have been suffering in their jocks for the past couple of days after the Government announced plans to cut $1 billion off the public services bill. And one of the suggestions is for the Advertising Standards Authority to be folded in with the Press Council, the Broadcasting Standards Authority and the Office of Film and Literature Classification.
Design agency Designworks looks to be going from strength to strength. Its Skycouch for Air New Zealand has picked up a finalist nomination at the Australian International Design Awards and, in line with Australian-orientated news, the agency has just announced it will open its first Australian office. With offices already in Auckland and Wellington, the agency last year also expanded to set up shop in Christchurch.
Last year New Plymouth-based manufacturer Howard Wright’s M8 Intensive Care bed took out the top nod at the Australian International Design Awards, and with the finalist list for the 2011 awards recently revealed, Kiwi products have once again made the prestigious design cut.
Facebook seems to have stumbled upon the perfect mix of narcissism and voyeurism. But in an effort to promote its new Core i5 processor, Intel has taken that to new, very impressive extremes with one of the coolest online branding efforts we’ve ever seen: The Museum of Me.
In just five-and-a-half years, Facebook has morphed from a network of four or five million college students in the US into a massive social network of over 500 million. It’s also gone from banner ads and text links to an advertising medium that’s completely transformed the way brands talk to their customers. Now Facebook has taken another big step in its social marketing journey with the launch of Facebook Check-in Deals in New Zealand, a geo-location innovation that allows users to look for relevant offers and discounts on the fly—and tell their friends about it in the process.
Apparently, if you read those preachy books by internet evangelists, the crowd has great wisdom. If you’ve ever met anyone from ‘the crowd’, you’ll know that’s highly debatable, but there’s no doubt they like having their say these days. And, in the latest incarnation of the burgeoning trend to get consumers to help decide on the product that actually ends up on the shelves, Barnes, Catmur & Friends and the Boundary Road Brewery, a division of Independent Liquor, have set out to find 999 Kiwi beer tasters.
Who’s it for: Foundation of Youth Development by Ogilvy, Robber’s Dog and the kids from FYD
Why we like it: It stands up on its own as a great TV ad, but it also has a cool backstory, because the kids who feature in it are …
Yellow has just pinned its new digital, hyperlocal colours to the mast with the launch of Yellow Local. As has been the case for around three years, Colenso was responsible for coming up with the creative and wooing the users, while Rapp/Tribal, which has been working with Yellow for almost two years, took care of the direct and digital grunt work. But there’s been a new, albeit rather small development in Yellow’s advertising mix, after DDB was handed some project work.
Melanie Palmer
The comms response to the outbreak of bacterial vine disease Psa in New Zealand kiwifruit has won Melanie Palmer from ZESPRI International Limited and Andrea Brady from Catalyst Communication Consulting Limited the supreme award at the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand’s PRINZ Awards.
After a fairly long period of relative austerity when it comes to the outdoor sector’s trade marketing efforts, it seems things are starting to brighten up, with the Adshel Rally making a welcome return a few weeks back and APN Outdoor ready to celebrate the first birthday of its ‘Friends in High Places’ series by hosting the after party of the CAANZ Media Awards.