Browsing: DDB
DDB launched an in-house production unit, appropriately called ‘Maker’, about six months ago and says its ability to quickly create digital content for its clients is resulting in increasing demand.
Land Rover, 2degrees, Westpac, Wendy’s and Eclipse tickle our advertising fancies this week.
There was a fair bit of love for Westpac and DDB’s tale of a comically paranoid man on StopPress last week. And it’s followed that up with another fairly mad ad introducing Captain Destructo, a mad scientist/Kiwi dad/aspiring supervillain called Steve with grand plans—and, of course, the need for some financial assistance.
Following on from Auckland Council’s appointment of DDB as its lead agency, Goodfolk has been appointed the digital communications agency and Alt Group will be responsible for arts and culture communications. This announcement brings the long-running process to an end, and gives the agencies until the next mandatory RFP process to work with the Council. PLUS: Goodfolk wins Fletcher Building account.
Damon Stapleton reckons just 15 percent of the 100 or so Super Bowl ads could be classified as any good. And, given the pressure on agencies and clients to produce great work, that’s not such a good hit rate. But he believes the idea that being weird is a far greater sin than being average is one of the major reasons.
Westpac has unleashed a delightfully awkward, tinfoil-hat-wearing protagonist in a new spot that aims to show that contactless payments are so secure that even the most paranoid person in existence would be okay with using them.
Many believe the answers are out there, somewhere. They are not, says Damon Stapleton. The great answers are still inside us. And they often begin with great mistakes.
In keeping with an ongoing tradition, a few industry players gave us their take on the year for our annual opinion harvest. Here’s what Justin Mowday, chief executive of DDB NZ, thought about 2014.
The final tip of the hat, 21-gun salute and celebratory cheer of the year go to Sky, the Health Promotion Agency and Air New Zealand.
A girl with telekinetic powers didn’t end very well in Stephen King’s novel Carrie, but DDB and the Sweet Shop has given this literary reference a more positive spin in a new spot for Sky, which depicts the young protagonist seemingly controlling the movement of a murmuration of starlings.
Lion and DDB’s Steinlager Deep Dive campaign seemed to get the tick of approval from the marketing community (and a few questions in an interesting piece on MediaWatch). And many also seem fairly taken with the pair’s very literal pun-based ‘That’s Dry’ campaign for Speight’s new alcoholic Ginger Beer, which has charted the journey of Karl Burnett squaring off against a forlorn ginger bear for mascot duties. Now it’s released a few more entertaining clips.
William Trubridge didn’t quite manage to break his own free-diving world record on Wednesday morning. But, with the help of a big push from Steinlager and a live broadcast from TVNZ, he did manage to get plenty of New Zealanders watching the attempt on Breakfast.
Since it launched its ‘Born to Defy’ campaign back in July, Steinlager has done a good job of drawing attention to its new ambassador William Trubridge—and the sport of freediving—through a combination of TV ads, outdoor ads, snazzy websites, special elevators, in-bar activations, PR coverage, social media action, promotion via TVNZ and a bit of content marketing. And as he gets set to submerge 102m and break the world record, Steinlager’s still trying to drum up support and viewership for the live broadcast tomorrow at 7.50am on Breakfast.
Campaign Asia-Pacific magazine has named DDB as New Zealand’s creative agency of the year as well as the runner-up digital agency of the year. Also continuing its winning streak was Colenso BBDO, which picked up the gong for New Zealand’s best digital agency. And OMD also left with silverware picking up the award for the best media agency in New Zealand.
The ALS charity got a whole heap of cash by challenging people to tip a bucket of icy water over their heads. And KidsCan is hoping its challenge—getting people to don a Santa suit and do a short run—will too. So, to help bump up the numbers, DDB has laid down the gauntlet and challenged other ad agencies and corporates to get involved in the event.
As we wrote last week, DDB is on the hunt for a tinge of ginge to spruik Speight’s new alcoholic ginger beer. An excited and then dejected Karl Burnett featured in the first spot and now, in what could be seen as the exact opposite of Sky’s Casting Tapes campaign, it’s released a second clip showing off the auditions.
DDB and Dynamo were recently appointed as the lead agencies for Beaurepaires after a pitch, relieving Clemenger BBDO of its duties. The company’s new owners, Beau Ideal, promised the brand would move in a different creative direction, meaning the long-serving Vince Martin would be put out to pasture. And that’s exactly what it’s done, with a canine mascot talking up—literally—its offer and categorising different types of New Zealanders based on their vehicle choices.
DDB’s ads for Volkswagen back in the 1960s are regarded as some of the best ever made, as evidenced by Think Small’s first place on Ad Age’s top 100 campaigns of the last century. And, as this parody called ‘nine ways to improve an ad’ from 1963 shows, it pays to remember that simplicity is still the best approach.
William Trubridge is probably not sipping on a Steinlager Pure at the moment, given he’s preparing to break his own freediving world record on Wednesday morning New Zealand time and descend 102m into the Caribbean. But there will undoubtedly be a few waiting for him on the boat if he returns to the surface victorious. And, in addition to a number of billboards, plenty of in-bar activation and a special elevator, Lion and DDB are aiming to get more Kiwis watching the record attempt live on TV One’s Breakfast with the help of another moody TVC.
While most in this industry take their roles very seriously and firmly believe in the commercial value of creativity, there is also a self-awareness that allows them to poke fun at themselves from time to time, as evidenced by last year’s brilliant Axis campaign. And to celebrate Strategy magazine’s Agency of the Year Awards in Canada, it asked some of the finalists to show off their creativity—and, in doing so, many of them decided to take aim at the ridiculousness of their own realm.
Car coffee, dancing ingredients, shadowy rugby players, military surprises, underwear-clad acrobats and a money bunny get the nod of approval this week.
Colenso BBDO and DDB continued their award-winning streaks by each picking up a pair of gongs at this year’s edition of Mashable’s annual awards show, the Mashies.
The Warehouse Group has been bringing the real world and the online world closer together recently, with its recent rebrand of R&R Sport to the ‘omni-channel’ Torpedo 7, its Click Madness promotion, free wifi in the newly refurbished stores and an app that lets shoppers compare prices. Now it’s launching its Christmas campaign with a five minute online video that puts the decision-making in the hands of the experts: kids.
Garden emperors, tomorrow’s basketball stars, Hobbit pilots, and regular Kiwis make an appearance in the latest edition of the weekly TVC rundown.
On 19 October, the NZ Herald ran a story promising Kiwis a long, hot summer Labour weekend. And if the modern art of divination known as weather reporting is anything to go by, then this could signal the start of the warmer months to come. And given that Kiwis are likely to spend more time outside over the next few months, Stihl, Ryobi and AEG have launched campaigns on the range of products that Kiwis might be inclined to use during their gardening endeavours under the summer sun.
To celebrate the world’s ‘Universal Pen’, Bic has sought to discover the world’s ‘Universal Typeface’ .
DDB and Dynamo will lead the new creative strategy for Beaurepaires after winning the automotive repair company’s advertising and media planning account, following a competitive pitch thought to have involved several unnamed agencies. And this announcement also coincided with news that Vince Martin, the face of Beaurepaires for the last 30 years, would no longer be the brand ambassador.
The ninth edition of the annual awards show was hosted at AUT and again organised by the industry body News Works. And this year, the attendees from DDB left with the biggest smiles as the agency picked up the most coveted award: the Newspaper Ad of the Year. Illustrating that the greatest ideas don’t always have to be complicated, the judges awarded the gong to DDB for its simple VW print ad that drew attention to a Beetle sale.
Copper’s Megan Clark recently judged the promo & activation and direct categories at Spikes Asia. And here’s what she learned.