Who it’s for: Freeview
Why we like it: Half the office said they vomited in their mouth and changed the channel when this chirpy old duck and her grumpy old curmudgeon husband graced their screens to tell everyone about Freeview, and the other half said they quite …
We all know the marcomms community thrives under pressure. As a result, entries tend to come in at the last minute (that was certainly the case for entries into this year’s Marketing Awards). And time is running out to get your name in the hat for the Creative Challenge—and get your hands on the $125,000 prize—with registrations for the inaugural event set to close tomorrow.
DDB NZ has added three new team members to its creative department, but it’s still on the hunt for a creative director to replace Adam Kanzer, who left in mid May. And Clemenger BBDO is in a similar position, with former creative director Paul Nagy yet to be replaced and a new managing director still to be found to replace Lesley Brown, who departed about 18 months ago to have a baby and chose not to come back.
For the second year in a row, DDB walked away with a cool $10,000 after the Sky Arts Channel Mark Rothco spot took out the Newspaper Ad of the Year prize last week (this Throaties spot won the 2009 edition). And the highlight of the night—aside, of course, from the big grand finale announcement, the delectable nibbles and the burly guard who was keeping watch over the silver briefcase on the table that was filled with $10,000 cash—had to be the Q+A video with Chuck Porter, the convenor of judges at this year’s event and co-founder of award-hogging US ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
The pioneering approach taken by the Ministry of Health for its National Depression Initiative proved to be something of a watershed for online social messaging and health communications in New Zealand. And the efforts of Wellington-based agency Resn have shown that the interactivity offered by the online realm is also proving to be an effective way of spreading the Smokefree/Auahi Kore message to Kiwi yoof.
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.