Browsing: Curious

News
TBWA\ stamps its fantastical mark on New Zealand with 100% Middle-earth
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The 100% Pure New Zealand campaign is now in its 13th year, is held up as a master-class in tourism marketing and has helped turn New Zealand into one of the strongest country brands in the world. And Tourism New Zealand is aiming to replicate the international influx of visitors following The Lord of the Rings trilogy with the release of a new global campaign by the Sydney and Auckland offices of Whybin\TBWA and Curious Film that “invokes the magic of Middle-earth”.

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Sacré bleu! Rexona embraces French farce
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In the lead up to the Rugby World Cup, All Blacks sponsor Rexona went for the rather earnest, clenched fist on heart approach with its ‘rituals’ ad. But things are a bit more relaxed after the win, with a recent black and white spot by Aussie agency Naked and Curious showing some of the lads laughing together as friends (and hugging mum). And the same team, with Tammy Davis on directorial duties, have followed that up with something of a French farce showing “never seen before footage from the opposition dressing room after THAT game last year.”

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Steinlager Pure and DDB catch a Taika by the tail
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Since Steinlager Pure was launched in 2007, Lion has used big name American actors to endorse the brand, with the likes of Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe and Vincent Gallo gracing our screens and stroking our egos in the past campaigns made by Publicis Mojo. But after a hiatus from Kiwi TV screens as its big brother’s white cans took over during the RWC—and with DDB now as its lead agency—it’s ready to launch its next campaign on Sunday. And for the first time the new mascot is a Kiwi: successful director, actor and all-round funny man Taika Waititi.

News
Confidence, couches and cockies
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Who’s it for: Rexona by Naked and Curious.

Why we like it: Depending on your viewpoint, the last Rexona spot that aired around the Rugby World Cup was either overwrought and overly earnest or powerful and beautifully shot. The follow up is fairly earnest as well …

Movings & Shakings
Movings/Shakings: 20 April
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Malcolm Boyle hangs up the boots, Zia Mandviwalla gets the Cannes call up, Corin Dann gets a sleep in, TNS completes its merger with Research International, Tangible adds to the sales flock, 3d Interactive takes a study break, and PriceMe launches a new financial comparison tool. 

News
In the house, on the roof, with a hammer, atop a Pegasus
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Who’s it for: HRV by Y&R Auckland and Curious Film

Why we like it: Comparing the quality of New Zealand with the poor quality of New Zealand’s housing stock is smart idea and offers a nice combination of pride and shame. Beautifully shot, a great song and …

News
Zephyr brings out the big guns in new McKenna campaign
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In an effort to get St Paddy’s Day in the Guinness Book of World Records, Zephyr recently enlisted the help of Irish comedian Jimeoin for its outstanding Guinness campaign. And it’s kept the star-studded momentum flowing with the launch of a new campaign for McKenna starring David Duchovny. 

News
Vegas vs Roto-Vegas in Cody’s first ever TVC
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Think neon-filled skylines, The Strip, epic experiences, and of course a wedding chapel. Cody’s new TVC, made by Barnes, Catmur & Friends and Curious, marks Cody’s first foray into television commercials, and takes three good mates on a man-cation to Sin City… so, will it measure up to the real Vegas, back home?

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Sky and DDB promote rooms with a view
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Things are looking pretty rosy for Sky at the moment. Huge demand saw it briefly run out of MySky HD recorders in the lead-up the RWC and, judging by recent revenue and subscription figures, one could argue that it’s actually the national broadcaster. But, as this typically entertaining new ad from DDB and Curious Films shows, the company’s not content with its lot just yet and is adding to its product offering with ‘Guest Select’, which gives its hotel and motel customers the opportunity to put a decoder in every room. 

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Pure and simple
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Who’s it for: Smirnoff by Leo Burnett Sydney and Curious Film

Why we like it: It was a bit of a coup for Darryl Ward to get this shoot. But, as you’d expect from a chap who won two Cannes Grand Prix awards in one year …

News
Jingles, tingles and… Stickman
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Who’s it for: Fresh ‘n Fruity by Colenso BBDO and Robber’s Dog

Why we like it: Perhaps inspired by the stirring renditions of classic advertising tunes at BOTAB last week, Fresh ‘n Fruity and Colenso decided to take it old school and enlisted the help of …

News
When a child is born (on TV)
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Child birth can be a brutal, primal and rather harrowing experience, especially for the men. But it’s also beautiful. And, for the first time in Australia, an ad for newly rebranded fertility clinic Genea that was shot by Kiwi director Zia Mandviwalla from Curious Film and features an original score by composer Don McGlashan, has shown a real birth as part of a commercial. 

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Kiwi as Kiwi ad brings home Ad Impact bacon
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With a whole stack of newbies that were well-liked by respondents and strong on their branding, it was a tough job picking this month’s Colmar Brunton Ad Impact Award winner. But it seems we enjoy having a bit of laugh at ourselves, because Goodman Fielder’s Kiwi Bacon ad by Buffalo Creative and Curious came out on top with its quirky celebration of our local importation traditions—and, by extension, our local pigs.

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Have a break, have an Ad Impact Award
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The questions have been asked, the consumers’ votes have been tallied and Nestle’s Kit Kat Chunky ‘3’ campaign by JWT Sydney and Flying Fish’s Joe Lonie has come out on top in the June edition of Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award.

News
Editing, Visual Craft & Direction (on any screen): Capital City Films, Curious, Robber’s Dog, Flying Fish, Film Construction + The Sweet Shop
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In the Editing category, Capital City Films took a silver for Frucor’s ‘Ladders’, Robber’s Dog took bronze for DDB and Volkswagen’s ‘Milk Run’, while Curious came away with two bronzes, one for Liam Finn’s Guide to New Zealand for Tourism New Zealand and the other for Nike’s ‘The Tomic Incident’; in Visual Craft, Capital City Films and Sky took gold for ‘Leafblower’ and silver for Frucor’s Ladders, while Flying Fish picked up a bronze for Vodafone’s ‘In With the New’; and in the Direction section, Capital City Films took another gold with ‘Leafblower’ and three other bronzes were handed out, one for Capital City Films and Frucor’s ‘Ladders’, one for The Sweet Shop and Lotto’s ‘Lucky Dog’ and one for Film Construction’s ‘ALAC Sam’. 

News
When rituals collide: from garages to changing rooms
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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 …

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Charity, chicken, ice cream and carbonation
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This is the last round of TVC of the week for 2010. We’re planning on putting all the TVCs that featured in this section into one place and running a poll early next year to find out which ad was the best of the year. So keep your eyes …

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Sweet Shop and DDB best of Kiwi bunch at Adfest
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The strife in Thailand had its wicked way with Adfest, the Asia Pacific advertising awards. But the dates were changed a few times and, instead of the usual Thai beach resort location, it was decided the big name judges would converge on Tokyo this week to make their decisions. And it’s fairly slim pickings on the finalist front for Kiwi agencies.

News
Wowsers whinge about Whittaker’s, chocolate switcheroo ‘not true’
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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.

News
Battle of the butters: cow and cocoa face off
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An embarrassment of riches this week, so it’s a tie.

Who it’s for: Fonterra/Mainland by Colenso BBDO and Prodigy.

Why we like it: Keepin’ it real, keepin’ it quirky and keepin’ it simple. There are no bells and whistles required for a piece …

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Whittaker’s embraces bums and boobs for some sexy chocolate lovin’
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Cadbury has its weird, slightly creepy dancing cow, which, for some, is an all-too direct connection with the source of its chocolate. And, as history has shown, when Cadbury zigs, you can expect Whittaker’s to zag, so Andrew, Brian, Assignment and Curious Film have taken a much more artistic, evocative and slightly more mature approach for a new TVC.