Browsing: Advertising

News
School’s out: AUT ends decade-long partnership with Consortium, Unitec pitches its creative account
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AUT University has after ten years ended its partnership with Consortium and will from now on work with a number of agencies on a project basis. The institution has appointed Shine to develop its mid-year marketing campaign, but the director of marketing Shelly Gane says that this is not to be understood as the appointment of the agency beyond this project. PLUS: Unitec reviews its creative account.

News
Forced facelifts
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Sometimes unfortunate or unforseen circumstances arise, which means that brands, for better or for worse, need to change their names. We thought we’d look at a few examples closer to home and further afield.

News
Netflix to become the Netflix of NZ in March next year, plus: Neon unveils some of its lineup
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The last year has seen subscription video on demand (SVOD) become a major talking point, with various players vying to become the Netflix of New Zealand. However, claiming this title will now be difficult now following the recent announcement that the actual Netflix plans to launch in both Australia and New Zealand in March next year. PLUS: we look at Neon’s lineup.

News
Following the audience: big brands collaborating with Facebook
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Every day, around two million Kiwis log onto Facebook to scroll down their newsfeeds to see what is happening in their lives. And according to Stephen Scheeler, the company’s head of New Zealand, these aren’t sporadic single visits because the average user peruses the site around 15 times in a single day. “For those two million Kiwis on Facebook, about 12 percent of their media consumption is Facebook,” says Scheeler. “Remember, eight years ago it was zero. So this has been a massive shift.” The rapid migration of audiences into the digital realm is by no means surprising, but such statistics are increasingly serving as strong impetus for brands to shift their commercial messaging to where the eyes are. So we take a look at how brands are collaborating with the social media juggernaut to spread their commercial messages.

News
Awkward proposals, bizarre doctors and anti-climactic airport reunions
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Slingshot’s decision to open the door to give Kiwis access to geo-locked sites such as Netflix has come under scrutiny for potentially contravening international copyright laws, but this hasn’t dissuaded consumers from visiting the site. According to the Herald, the number of Slingshot customers accessing movie websites like Netflix has quadrupled since the internet company unblocked them several weeks ago. But with the growing popularity of the SVOD site, there comes the possibility of some serious brain warping. As indicated by three clips from the new US-based Netflix campaign, we could essentially be setting ourselves up for a future of awkward (but somehow endearing) proposals, bizarre visits to the doctor and anti-climactic airport reunions.

News
MediaWorks unveils The Edge TV
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The creative team behind The Edge TV were in the MediaWorks offices until the wee hours of Friday morning, putting together the final pieces for the Edge TV, a project that was first announced in April. PLUS: the network stoush continues.

News
Ad rage: the top ten most complained about ads of 2013
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In 2013, the ASA received 792 complaints levelled at 598 advertisements that Kiwis found offensive, misleading or irresponsible. 313 of these complaints were found to have no grounds to proceed while 285 were were referred to the Complaints Board. In total 60 percent of the ads that reached the Complaints Board were either settled or upheld. Here’s a rundown of the 10 ads that angered the highest number of Kiwis last year.

News
Agent Anna punks unsuspecting home viewers in hidden camera stunt via TVNZ Blacksand
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Following on from last year’s elaborate faux real estate campaign for Agent Anna’s first season, TVNZ’s in-house agency Blacksand has again tapped into the fake reality theme for the promotion of the dramedy’s second season. Shot in an actual rental home, the stunt features Robyn Malcolm in character as klutzy Anna Kingston showing real visitors—and potential tenants—around a home, which has been set up with a variety of booby traps that result in some awkward interactions.

News
World Cup fever hits McDonald’s, but should fast-food chains sponsor sporting events?
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As one of the FIFA World Cup sponsors, McDonald’s has released several new menu items themed to specific countries participating in the global spectacle. In addition to this Australasian campaign, the fast-food chain has also launched a Kiwi-based competition that will give one lucky future star the opportunity to attend the World Cup in Brazil. But while such initiatives are getting kids to drop the Xbox controllers and head outside, some commenters still question whether fast-food chains should advertise in ways that appeal to children.

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Doritos ‘Crash the Superbowl’ finalists announced
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Late last year, StopPress covered the efforts of a team of Kiwi creatives who entered the Doritos “Crash the Superbowl’ competition, which invited ad makers the world over to vie for a chance to have their original ad appear during the Superbowl. Although the Kiwis didn’t make the final cut, the five shortlisted entries are definitely worth a watch.

News
Sky and DDB illustrate the wonders—and dangers—of portability
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Sky launched Sky Go, the long-awaited update to its online and catch-up service iSky, in October last year. And, after a fair bit of social media activity to promote the new website and mobile apps, it’s now launched a print and TV campaign via DDB that shows how easy—and potentially perilous—it is for subscribers to ‘Watch On’.

News
Saying it how it is
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In a world of mergers, acquisitions and acronyms, knowing your DDBs from your TBWA\s and Y&Rs can be tough going. And so, it seems, is knowing how to say them. Thankfully, some anonymous cunning linguists have come to the rescue with this slightly ridiculous agency pronunciation guide.

News
Overheard in the agency
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We included a link to a brilliant Irish charity initiative that saw “ad creatives, designers, animators, directors, illustrators and more dress up their favourite worst feedback from clients, transforming quotes that would normally give you a twitch, into a diverse collection of posters” last week. But the depictions of the sometimes fraught agency-client relationship—some of which have presumably used a bit of poetic licence—seem to be universal and we thought they deserved a bit more of a showing, so here’s a few of our favourites.

Awards
AUT offers up some sacrificial lambs to adland’s high priests
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It’s that time of year again, when fresh faced young’uns with dreams of creative greatness prostrate themselves in front of adland’s judgemental powerbrokers and show off the year’s handiwork. So get thee to the end of year show for the AUT Ad Creativity course on Friday 9 November at the Film Construction building in Minnie St if you want to see it.

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