Browsing: Dean Taylor

News
Polygamous or monogamous? Harmoney appoints Contagion after playing the field with project-based partnerships
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Peer-to-peer lending site Harmoney has appointed Contagion to its advertising account after a pitch understood to have also involved Goodfolk and Problem Child. This news follows on from a period of relative polygamy for Harmoney, with the company taking its marketing business in-house last year and handing out project work to a range of agencies, including True, Goodfolk, JustOne and Latch Digital.

News
In memory of dial-up tones, frozen faces and broken links: Contagion and Chorus put early internet moments on display
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The stuttering dial-up tone of a modem typified the internet experience in the 1990s and early 2000s. And in those early online days, there were no guarantees. The line could be dropped any moment. YouTube clips buffered for longer than they played. And video calls were reduced to an unimaginably awkward series of frozen snapshots of family members. Lest we forget how far we have come since these struggles, Contagion has released a new campaign for Chorus, which shows iconic early internet moments on display in what appears to be a museum.

News
The Harcourts ‘he said, she said’
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While the era of managed corporate communications and non-disclosure agreements means pitching is far less public than the days of clients announcing how much their business was worth and which agencies would be fighting for it, the process is still all about competition. There is a winner (and occasionally winners) and there are losers. And in the recent Harcourts pitch, which was won by Contagion, it seems no-one wanted to be a loser.

News
The rise of fast-casual: Pita Pit launches its first TVC via Contagion
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Pita Pit has launched its first nationwide campaign via a new TVC conceptulised by Contagion, the agency which won the account for the food chain’s cross-Tasman business earlier this year. The 30-second spot, which was shot by Flying Fish and directed by Helena Brooks, features a middle-aged man, dressed in the garb of a stereotypical accountant, dancing awkwardly after having completed a meal from Pita Pit.

News
Gratuitous Kiwiana wins the day as Tasti and Contagion take Colmar Brunton’s August Ad Impact Award
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After a long period of flying under the radar, Auckland-based food company Tasti Products came out all Kiwiana guns blazing with a cliche-filled online and print campaign in September last year. A few months back it took the next logical step down that path, launching its first ever TVC with a very colloquial remix of OMC’s How Bizarre and some completely over the top, almost ironic patriotism. And while some in adland didn’t seem too keen on it, consumers seem to be, because the ad has taken out the August instalment of Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award.

News
Contagion loses a chunk of Telecom—UPDATED
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There are plenty of changes occurring inside Telecom at the moment, and while some significant staff culling has led to an increase in the amount of out-sourcing in some parts of the business, Telecom Retail is relinquishing Contagion of one of its responsibilities.

News
Grabaseat sticks with Contagion
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Contagion’s relationship with Air New Zealand cheeky little brother Grabaseat was enhanced last week after winning a competitive pitch against several other agencies thought to have included Special Group and Young & Shand.

Movings & Shakings
The mutating Contagion: selling out or savvy strategy?
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When Contagion launched a few years back, it was loudly beating the digital and social drum. It still is, but it’s also doing more of what some would call traditional agency work. So is it selling out? Or is getting in on the groundfloor by offering specialist skills that clients seem to be looking for and then gradually taking a bigger chunk of the business a smart strategy?

News
TVNZ shares the love, Contagion steals some thunder
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Colenso was named as TVNZ’s ‘agency of choice’ in October 2009, when the Brent Smart/Jason Paris agency-client combo was in effect. But, judging by some of the national broadcaster’s recent projects, that doesn’t appear to be the case any more.

Movings & Shakings
Movings/Shakings: 27 April
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Contagion welcomes a new, very experienced partner, merger she wrote as Method Studios and Magnet Design join forces, Suzanne Dale says adios to Taste magazine, glossy mag ME adds a new partner, and Let’s Travel editor-at-large Gary Dickson picks up an international writing award.

News
Contagion sweeps through Tourism New Zealand offices
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The unofficial word was out a while back that Dean and Bridget Taylor were heading back to New Zealand with some big plans. And now the official word is out: the couple have taken up the reins as directors of a new outfit called Contagion that will, from October, partner with Vivaki to lead the Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) business won by Razorfish in moderately interesting circumstances back in May.