DraftFCB saw its creative director Chris Schofield take up a role with DDB in October last year, following on from Justin Mowday’s shift there a year or so before. And, in the latest example of the ongoing inter-agency hostage swapping saga, DDB’s deputy creative director Regan Grafton has joined the fray as joint executive creative director with Tony Clewett. Executive creative director James Mok will become group ECD of Australasia. 

DDB’s executive creative director Toby Talbot had a bit of a leaving do last night. And, to acknowledge his departure, a couple of his cheeky cohorts decided to create a rather unique farewell card that was strategically placed across the road from SPQR on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road and referenced a long-standing agency in-joke about his oft-misspelled name. 

It was announced a couple of months ago that DDB NZ’s creative sage Toby Talbot was leaving to take up a role within the DDB Network based in London where he would be working on global clients like Volkswagen and McDonald’s and doing a creative MBA. Everyone was assured it was a short-term thing and he’d be back to take up his position after his year-long overseas sabbatical. But he’s “made the most difficult decision of his business life” and instead made a clean break from the DDB Network to take up a role as executive creative director with one of the UK’s top agencies, RKCR/Y&R.

RappTribal, part of the DDB Group NZ, win the November BollyAward for their client, SkyTV. The banner/takeover ad encouraged users to click to their hearts content with comments from the drill sergeant egging them on.

Marcomms folk chatted, the huddled masses voted, a fair amount of live broadcast awkwardness ensued at Tyler St Garage and common sense eventually prevailed at the always extremely popular Fair Go Ad Awards, with DDB, Lotto and The Sweet Shop’s ‘Lucky Dog’ epic taking out Best Ad and ‘Kerrrazeee Lily Salter’ from Big Save Furniture fronting up to accept Worst Ad honours. 

From a marketing perspective, the battle between All Blacks sponsors Steinlager and RWC sponsors Heineken was one of the most enthralling. Steinlager played the local card very well with its savvy ‘We Believe’ and Heineken played the international card with ‘This is the Game’. And both parties are keeping the marketing momentum going.

The last time 180 Amsterdam’s creative sage Andy Fackrell visited New Zealand, it was as one of the fancy international judges wheeled in to decide who wins the Axis Awards. And soon he’ll be returning for a bit longer after taking up a one-year contract as executive creative director of DDB Group New Zealand. 

If you were ranking car brands on the quality of their ads, VW would certainly be near the the top of the pile. And here are a couple of newbies, one a creative retail spot from DDB NZ and Robber’s Dog that follows on from the darkly humorous ‘Wedding Day’ and the other from DDB Singapore, which employed the services of Yukfoo Animation and director Julian Stokoe for a cool, crayon-heavy, 60 second spot to promote the new Jetta.

DDB has been on the hunt for a creative director since Adam Kanzer departed in mid-2010 and, just as it did when Justin Mowday shifted from DraftFCB to take up the managing director role, the Death Star has managed to secure the services of another senior DraftFCBer: creative director Chris Schofield.

Whether it be at the urinal, in the elevator, at the pharmacy, at the adult concept store or even when someone is shown on the big screen for too long, ‘uncomfortable time’ is an enduring comedic device. And Sky, DDB and Flying Fish have embraced this concept wholeheartedly with a new, entertainingly awkward ad that celebrates the fact its customers don’t need to do anything when the digital switchover arrives next year—and, at the same time, parodies the prevalence of ‘non-threatening brand spokespeople’ on our TV screens. 

Almost like the Dan Carter of advertising, DDB New Zealand’s creative sage Toby Talbot is set to depart Kiwi shores temporarily after arranging a 12-month secondment to DDB London. 

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.