Love it or loathe it, social media has become an extremely powerful communications force in recent times. And, according to Nielsen’s 2010 Social Media Report, its marketing star continues to rise in New Zealand as users start interacting more with brands online and rely on their social networks to guide purchasing decisions.
The economy seems to be moving slowly in the right direction, the marcomms job market is picking up and judging by figures from the New Zealand Television Broadcasters’ Council (NZTBC) based on returns from TVNZ, MediaWorks TV and Sky (including Prime), the broadcast advertising dollars are following suit.
Catching the eye this week, the wee orange electoral roll man is back for another round in a pretty cool numerical and alphabet-themed campaign; the Doritos ads out of Australia look set to resonate with your typical corn chip eater; the All Blacks get stuck into some Coke Zero (inside word: Dan Carter sucks Coke in the ad but didn’t swallow during the filming); Allison’s Pantry ramps up the cheese; and the new Sorbent ad is a pretty good effort in this category (much like this ad for Sorbent toilet paper in Aussie).
Wonderful pearls of Wammo, Pound and Mash marcomms wisdom that have been carefully harvested from the oyster of ignorance especially for you.
Is it just me, or is this billboard for Haier appliances unintentionally humorous?
A couple of weeks ago, Whittaker’s released its new commercial for Dark Ghana Peppermint into the wild. It featured a naked couple swinging about in the jungle and frolicking in pools of chocolate and, as expected, it led to a few wowsers venting their visual metaphor-hating spleens. Forgetting about the fun-hating crepehanger minority for a moment, the vast majority loved the new ad because it was different, slightly risque and visually compelling. But an interesting aspect of the whole tale is the persistent rumour that the chocolate used in the shoot wasn’t actually of the Whittaker’s variety.
The riches keep rolling in for DDB’s Sky TV Arts Channel campaign, after the Mark Rothko print ad, one of a series of newspaper advertisements promoting subscriptions to the channel, was awarded the Newspaper Advertisement of the Year for 09/10.
As carrots are to stew, news is to the internet.
Ah, the magazine cover. How we love the way you capture the consumer’s attention. How we love critiquing the efforts of our competitors. And how we love the mixture of art and science often required to create a stunner. Well, undercover cover lovers rejoice, for The Maggies have been shipped in from the UK and entries for the inaugural New Zealand competition are now open.
42BELOW is the latest company to jump on the augmented reality bandwagon with a new point of sale project it’s calling Fat-boy. And spokeshuman Jacob Pearson says the vodka gang is pretty proud of its new toy.
Everyone loves the Old Spice guy. His musk is like the bottled essence of man. His rich, dulcet tones have made ladies all around the world instantly fall pregnant. And his ability to be on a horse is unparalleled. The first ad went crazy online and rightfully took the Film Grand Prix at Cannes recently, the second was a reasonable follow up and he’s also done plenty of others, including this moustache spot. But the agency responsible for creating the ‘man your man could smell like’ meme, Wieden + Kennedy, has taken ‘conversations with the brand’ up a big notch with its latest effort.
Wellywood has its WETA, and Auckland may soon have something to match, after the launch of what is slated as New Zealand’s biggest purpose built computer generated (CG) animation studio, Oktobor Animation.
If you believe the hype, big, traditional agencies are on death’s door, the quest for integration is a futile one, TV is dead, and small, nimble, specialist agencies with new ways of thinking are the way of the marketing future. If you don’t, then it seems like the normal circle of business life continues apace as small agencies look for opportunities to expand and eventually become bigger agencies. And, in the case of digital creative and media company Wag The Dog, accredited media planning and buying agency MediaR and creative agency Advocate Advertising, it seems there is still some strength to be found in larger numbers.
One year after US media and marketing company Meredith Corporation took a 20 percent stake in mobile marketing company The Hyperfactory, which was set up by New Zealand brothers Derek, 32, and Geoffrey, 35, Handley in 2001, ‘full alignment’ has been completed. Or, in less corporate US speak, ka-ching.
Kelly Bennett
It’s been a relatively stressful time for TBWA\ of late: around the same time the ASB account left the building, Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand (PlayStation) was also undertaking a thorough competitive review of its PR account. And it would’ve been a pretty bad look to lose that business too, but in news that’s sure to bring comfort to the Mayoral Drive offices, ELEVEN\PR, part of the TBWA\ Group, retained the account.
OMD looks to the future and appoints its first tech-head, Dow’s designs come to fruition and The Pond shores up its arsenal south of the Bombays.
Bakers Delight has released its new long-term brand strategy and it’s decided to focus on the expertise and authenticity of its bakers and baking methods and tap into the “growing consumer demand for fresh, natural and above all real produce”. And how ’bout some simple, pleasurable Mainland butter to go with that crusty loaf?
It seems the print media’s dastardly scheme to get aggrieved companies to take out full page ads is working: after Air New Zealand responded to a Listener editorial with a cheeky video featuring Rob Fyfe, a dedicated website and a few full-pagers, ecostore has decided to follow suit, joining the reactionary party last weekend after an article in the Herald about washing powder ruffled its eco-feathers.
Who it’s for: 2degrees by TBWA\ and Film Construction
Why we like it: Rhys Darby has been the perfect frontman for a challenger brand like 2degrees and his quirky sense of humour certainly seems to have resonated with New Zealanders in the year or so since the mobile network’s launch. The ads are enjoyable in their own right, but they also seem to have had the desired commercial effect, and the company’s goal of gaining double-digit market share (oh, and giving Kiwis cheaper mobile calling) is apparently within sight. And that’s worth a bit of a nudge, a bit of a wink, a bit of self-deprecating laugh and a bit of a celebratory TVC.
Last week we had the pleasure of announcing the launch of the inaugural Creative Challenge, a new event being put on by Adshel, the Auckland Fringe and StopPress that aims to showcase the talents of Kiwi creatives and, at the same time, promote creative excellence in outdoor advertising. We also promised gratuitous publicity for the event, so here it is: registrations have been going very strongly so far, with DraftFCB first out of the gates. And there are also some generous new sponsors on board, with Carlsberg supplying the brown stuff, Stoneleigh providing the red and white stuff and Toto providing the delicious edible stuff.
Social media is still the hottest of marketing topics at the moment (although there are signs a backlash may have begun and Facebook growth in the US seems to have stagnated), and the early-birds were out in force this morning to catch some of the social media worms being dished out at the Marketing Association’s Jericho Brainy Breakfast.
Global trends, macro forces, cool websites and articles that get forwarded around the office and don’t pertain to new-born babies birthed by the chick in accounts generally tend to refer to the latest, coolest and, if the authors are to believed, ‘will change the face of marketing/retail/research/strategic thinking/toasting bread’ theme. But the issue with these wonderful insights is the relevancy to us here in New Zealand.
As broadcasters around the world increasingly focus on the internet to distribute their news and content, as print media invests in additional video and audio assets to enhance its online offerings, and as previously separate mediums seem to become more and more alike, the quest for media convergence means many of these outlets are being forced to cut each other’s lunches and create content that can be used across different platforms. And, despite stellar ratings for its traditional free-to-air news and current affairs shows in recent months, TVNZ is preparing for this new digital frontier with what it says are the biggest changes in 20 years.
Come fly the Wammo, Pound and Mash skies, where you can sit back, relax and marvel at some of the strange and exotic ways ad folk from around the world try to get people to hand over their money.
Global design and marketing staffing company Aquent has released its 2010 Market Eye survey, which offers a snapshot of hiring intentions and salary predictions for the marketing and design industries in Australasia. And the results bode well for continued recovery, with particularly strong signs of recruitment glee in New Zealand.
Television ratings, much like the make up of sausages, are a fairly mysterious realm for those outside the marcomms industry, and, after asking around a bit, it seems they’re also a fairly mysterious realm for many within it.
Of note this week on Ads@6, plenty, really. The nice wee number for the new Mastercard promotion sees the All Blacks getting owned; the phrase ‘cook us some eggs’ gets bandied about by a kid in the Henergy ad; TSB continues to milk its most recommended status; the Benadryl cold monster is awesome; the new Canon campaign is, as they say in Mexico, very muy bien; Hyundai goes epic and cringey; the Furnware spot for Vodafone tickles a little bit of fancy; and the woman in the Big Save commercials with the nigh-on sinister enthusiasm for low prices wins the prize for scariest eyes ever seen on New Zealand television (aside perhaps from Anthony Dixon).
A television campaign that was created for the University of Florida Health System, UF & Shands, by Auckland visualdigianimation studio Oktobor and directed by Tracey Rowe from Robber’s Dog has taken out a Best of Show nod at the 2010 Aster Awards, an annual US contest that recognises excellence in healthcare marketing and advertising.
With the Rugby World Cup only 18 months away, many businesses are thinking about how they can leverage off this event. And the prudent answer is ‘very carefully’, bearing in mind the provisions of the Major Events Management Act 2007 (MEMA).
Back in the mists of time, a journalist asked British prime minister Maurice Harold Macmillan what was most likely to blow governments off course. And his famously witty response was reputed to be: “Events, dear boy, events”. Unfortunately, events can also blow magazines off course from time to time and in the soon-to-be released July/August of NZ Marketing, his quote, ‘events, dear boy, events’ (which is the headline for a feature about the expos and exhibitions industry, in case you were wondering) has somehow managed to slip onto a full-page ad for ad agency Whistle.