It’s all action for Tui at the moment: it’s just released a new Facebook app, it’s put its gnomes on TV for the first time as part of a big promotion, it’s treading a fairly fine line with some of the comments from the lovely ladies competing in the Miss Tui competition and now it’s just released the follow up to the impressive ‘Brewing Legends’ brand ad that was set free before Christmas.
There’s been a fair bit of discussion about the current relationship status of Speight’s and Publicis Mojo after the Aussie branch appeared to take charge on a couple of recent TVCs and Shine nabbed some project work that will see it continuing the Southern Finishing School series. But apparently it’s still business as usual and in some slightly better Speight’s-related news, a four-page ad promoting the Speight’s Coast to Coast has won the February NAB Newspaper Ad of the Month award.
As those who use business quips occasionally say, the topline’s for vanity and the bottom line’s for sanity. And if that’s the case then big Aussie publisher APN is relatively sane at the moment, with the New Zealand business reporting growth in earnings before interest and tax of 10 percent in the year to December 31. And, in what has been classified as a “reasonable investment” for APN Outdoor, it has added OGGI’s billboard assets to its already sizable stable.
We’ve been regularly updating the page of fund/spirit raising initiatives aimed at helping Christchurch residents, but we’ve been in contact with a few Christchurch business owners who want readers—and customers—to know they’re operational again. Of course, cashflow is crucial at this stage to keep the local economy going, so one week on and, while the cordon is still in place, some businesses in the wider marcomms industry are starting to kick back into gear and are eager for work. So if you’re open already, if you’re muddling through in temporary offices, if you know of any businesses that have opened, or you want to let readers know your plans for opening in the future, email [email protected] and we’ll update this page accordingly.
TVNZ corporate affairs’ Megan Richards didn’t want to say much, but told StopPress that there hasn’t been a formal announcement yet and the broadcaster has had no advice from the Government, and right now, all the talk is just speculative. But several media releases and a John Drinnan …
Pitching for any account is a competitive affair but when you’re pitching for a lucrative account that features five big-name, top-end car brands, you better be firing out the big guns. And that’s just what four agencies are currently doing as they muscle it out to win the …
TVNZ is introducing a new service for its vision impaired Coronation Street enthusiasts. The service, called Audio Description, launched on Tuesday this week and is described by TVNZ Corporate Affairs’ Megan Richards as “the visual equivalent of captioning for hearing impaired audiences”. Similar services are already available in the UK and US.
Starcom recently snatched fourth quarter victory at the Yahoo!Xtra Digital Strategy Awards, and its Emirates Luxury campaign was deemed good enough to beat out the the other three quarterly contenders—MEC with its Caltex with Techron campaign, joint team Gladeye and Zed Digital with the House of Travel mixandmatcher and Spark PHDIQ with its Unilever Sunsilk Co-creations campaign—for the overall 2010 title.
…as ACP backs up its recent restructure with a few promotions; Air New Zealand welcomes a new board member; 3d Interactive enlists the services of another human; and The Sweet Shop adds an awarded director to its global ranks.
The Tui gnomes have been an integral part of the beer’s brand activity for the past eight years but they’ve never ventured out of the garden and onto New Zealand’s TV screens. Until now, that is, because DB and Saatchi & Saatchi have put the gnomes on the telly as part of a big on-pack and on-premise competition that’s offering a few lucky Kiwis a chance to win a ‘Tui Super Send Off’. But it’s another Tui promotion that caught our attention, for very different reasons.
The All Blacks are everywhere these days, flogging houses, beer, Coke Zero, undies, national airlines, deodorant, sporting gear and a massive range of other products. And after the consumer votes were tallied by Colmar Brunton for February’s round of the Ad Impact Award, Rexona’s All Black-laden ‘Rituals’ ad by Naked Communications Sydney and Curious Film’s Lance Kelleher has taken out the top spot.
Hypermedia already has the in-store media for the Progressive supermarkets around the country locked down. And it’s hoping to add a few more national retailers to its arsenal with the establishment of demonstration business Demoworks and a new executive team.
The New Zealand Press Association now has fewer mouths to feed after cancelling content contracts with some of the country’s larger media companies. And while those affected by the loss claim it will have limited impact on their news services, it does appear to be an acknowledgment from the print media sector that different mediums are now competing head-on for online traffic—and the advertising revenue that follows.
As part of its Better Business, Better World study, Colmar Brunton probed over 2500 New Zealanders to see what they thought of—or knew about—sustainability. And when it comes to the brands Kiwis perceive as being the most sustainable, ecostore, Toyota, Meridian, Air New Zealand and The Body Shop were named as the top five.
After some lengthy negotiations, Tangible Media has sold Classic Driver and NZ Today to Christchurch-based publisher SW Media, a company associated with the successful online classic car sale website www.simplyclassics.co.nz.
The awfully shouty Gunnery Sgt Cleaver is still on a mission to get SKY cameramen ‘Match Fit’ for the Rugby World Cup 2011. And DDB New Zealand and Prodigy Films have maintained the quality—and the self-reflexive humour—for the third instalment of the series with ‘Shooting Practice’. Sadly for many red-blooded rugby fans, however, it seems streakers are still off limits.
Emirates appears to have gone on a bit of a media spending spree recently and it’s been rewarded with more than just additional passengers after Starcom’s online campaign took out Yahoo!Xtra’s fourth quarter Digital Strategy Award.
How things have changed over the past few years. New Zealand is now punching way over its weight in the ad business. For decades, New Zealand creatives simply didn’t have the budgets that the bigger markets had. But, as the best ad people do, they have turned this negative into a positive and worked out how to use these small budgets to make big, world beating campaigns.
There was plenty of StopPress discussion after Designworks’ chief executive Sven Baker offered some suggestions for ways the design industry could help Christchurch recover from the quake—and not long after he narrowly avoided falling victim to it himself. Now Designworks and Jay Wester, owner of plumbing and heating supplier Leap Australasia Ltd, have launched the first initiative to come out of those discussions, a registered trust called letsfixit.org.nz that aims to get Christchurch’s in-home domestic water services re-connected pronto. And according to Baker, it’s already working, with the first volunteer plumbers expected to be on the ground in Christchurch in the next few days.
Who’s it for: Skyline Garages by Barnes, Catmur & Friends and Cirkus
Why we like it: It’s hinged on an insight that garages have been put to a range of inventive uses in New Zealand over the years, whether it be making rocket packs, boats, motorbikes or …
Image: stuff.co.nz
The historic Press building was badly damaged in last week’s earthquake and, sadly, Fairfax lost one of its staff members in the disaster. But, as The Press editor Andrew Holden’s story details, even when surrounded by death and destruction, journalistic duty kicked in and, with the help of the other Fairfax hubs, the team somehow managed to get a paper out the next day. And as the rest of New Zealand watched and listened to the broadcasts, many Christchurch residents were still without power, which meant the local papers became the main source of information. Sandra King, group sales and marketing manager, Fairfax Media, sent this note to agency partners and clients about the state of the Christchurch paper, which is set to celebrate its 150th anniversary in May.
An earthquake influenced five metre print
Everyone from the Adgraphix team in Christchurch made it through the earthquake safely and the large-format printers are once again fully operational. But company director Scott Shore says it’s time for businesses—both in Canterbury and around New Zealand—to stay positive and support each other.
New Zealanders are well-accustomed to seeing foreign magazines on the shelves. But New Zealand mags being published overseas? Surely not. Well, after a very successful run in Australasia, the Healthy Food Guide is heading to the UK after publishing company Eye to Eye Media licensed the mag from its Kiwi owners Healthy Life Media.
MediaWorks has been under a huge amount of financial pressure recently as its private equity paymasters Ironbridge attempt to cut costs and squeeze out some much-needed cash. And while the losses reported in 2009 were massive, things appear to be looking up slightly, with figures for the year ended August 2010 showing earnings before interest and tax of $50 million, an 11 percent improvement on the previous year’s total of $45 million. Consolidated revenue across the group was $258 million for the year, up one percent from $256 million the year before.
A sense of humour and some design prowess can get you a long way. In fact, for Kiwi-founded and now London-based designer chocolate bar company Bloomsberry & Co, it can take you all the way from New Zealand to the UK, and beyond.
Greetings from the remains of The Media Dept. Appreciate you advising that Stacey and I are safe and well and trucking on. Our building at Ground Zero was actually a damn good place to be. Whilst it may be very old, the complete refurbishment two years ago has meant it is as strong a place as any and stood up well enough for me to (stupidly?) race back in and get mobiles and the laptop! But the devastation in our area at High/Lichfield/Manchester is massive and unfortunately a lot of people will have perished around us.
It has been said that AWARD golds are rarer than both hen’s teeth and fish lips and that was proven once again on Friday night, when just six were handed out and some Cannes Gold winners left with only bronzes. But in news that’s sure to further warm the cockles of New Zealand’s ad scene, half of them went to Kiwi agencies.
There are a number of companies, both small and large, trying to do their bit to help Christchurch. So if you’ve got something planned, if you’re giving a donation, or if you need to get a message out, let us know and we’ll update this page regularly and try to spread the word. The Ministry of Civil Defence says the best way to help people affected by the quake is through cash donations so if you haven’t already, visit Red Cross.
It felt wrong to be celebrating anything on Friday night, let alone excellence in response-driven marketing, but DraftFCB and The Ministry of Health’s ‘The Journal’ campaign absolutely dominated the RSVP and Nexus awards, taking home the RSVP Grand Prix and the Nexus Supreme Awards—the first time this has been achieved in the 23 year history of the awards—and eight other golds.
We have to mobilise the New Zealand design community around the relief and rebuild efforts in Christchurch. This means we have to coordinate our own meaningful industry response. We have an important role to play in assisting both now and throughout the rebuilding of a shattered city. And I think this can work at two levels.