Uber, the ultimate disruptor, proven perhaps by the increasingly frequent reference of other tech innovations being dubbed as “The Uber of [insert tech innovation]”. And, it’s easy to see why. Recent results show Uber for business travel is doing extremely well with several companies jumping aboard the Uber bandwagon/cab.
Australian lifestyle brand Urban List is expanding into the Auckland market and is looking to establish partnerships with businesses on this side of the ditch. The website, which was first launched in 2011 and provides content on dining, shopping, health and beauty, has grown quickly in the Australian market, attracting a following of 1.2 million unique visitors per month across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Zane Furtado, the programmatic director at Acquire Online, recently put his skills to good use by bidding on the phrase ‘Best programmatic specialist in New Zealand’ and then serving an ad with his personal details attached.
The Matrix made hackers cool while The Big Bang Theory made neurotic scientists slightly less weird. And now, it’s the coders’ turn, with the rise of the ‘Hackathon’. One guy wants it to go big – so big it’ll be the “sporting” event of the year for tech nerds everywhere. And it could help local businesses find the nerds they need.
Programmatic is on the rise all around the world, and across many different media channels, with a recent Business Insider report saying programmatic transactions will make up 52 percent of non-search digital-ad spend growth in the US this year. Programmatic is growing at 20 percent a year, with real-time bidding growing even faster. And while most of the ad networks claim they have checks and balances in place to ensure no dodgy ads show up and harm publishers’ brands, or no ads show up on dodgy sites, there will always be a few that slip through the cracks.
Internet users’ unbridled—and growing—love of ad blockers is one of the biggest concerns for the advertising and online publishing industry. So Google proposed a new initiative – called Contributor, which launched last year – for internet users who hate ads so much, they would pay to avoid them. So does it have legs?
“Everyone is selling audience,” says Mobile Embrace’s Sarah Kavanagh. And this means that ad tech providers constantly have to tweak what they’re offering in order to make it attractive to advertisers. She recently chatted to StopPress about how the mobile industry is evolving and how ad tech players are responding to that change.
Modern parents are at times ill-equipped to face these challenges—such as cyber bullying, screen addiction, inappropriate selfies and unsavoury browsing—in that they have no prior experience in dealing with issues like these. They are essentially new challenges for a new generation of parents. So, given the treacherousness of the online landscape, Vodafone has in conjunction with NetSafe and The Parenting Place launched a new suite of services that help parents navigate their way through some of these challenges. At a press even hosted at the Vodafone headquarters in Auckland today, Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams unveiled Digi-Parenting.co.nz, an online hub of articles, videos and printable guides offering practical advice for parents in the digital age. PLUS: the new campaign video hits viewers in the feels.
Far gone are the days where we got to the best point in our television show only to hear “cccsssshhhh” and see our screens produce an unnerving display of black and white fuzz as we frantically wrestled our bunny ear aerials into the most awkward and weird positions to get the picture back (only to have missed the best part). Luckily this hasn’t been a problem for a while, and our options for viewing television are always getting better, and today Freeview announced the launch of its new digital TV platform, FreeviewPlus, which allows Kiwis with the right technology to access on-demand video on new smart televisions.
A recent Reuters report of 20,000 people in 12 countries shows the way we digitally source news is continuing to evolve globally, with main findings being an increased use of Smartphones, a decreased use of desktops, a higher number of people looking to social media for news, and digital-born brands rivalling traditional players in domestic markets, sometimes beating them internationally.
In March, the story broke that Yahoo would be releasing all of its editorial staff as part of a restructuring process that would create five new roles, which these previous staff members could apply for. Until now, the regional executives in charge of this restructure have not commented to the media about what the changes have entailed or why the the website had decided to rethink its business operations. After several requests for interviews, Yahoo 7 chief executive for Australia and New Zealand Ed Harrison recently chatted to StopPress about the changes and what they mean for the company.
The Webby’s celebrate the best digital work done over the past year. And this year, along with Grey Goose, it created a site showing 50 of the best ideas. It also wanted to celebrate the creators, so, as part of that campaign it caught up with the founders of Refinery 29, Vine, Giphy, Cool Hunting and Harry’s. And they had plenty of advice for anyone working in the digital arts.
Following on from last launch of its digital app hub for small- to medium-sized businesses, Spark has now confirmed that it will begin offering smarthome security services later this year—adding yet another digital trinket to its growing portfolio of tools for both consumers and business people. The telco—a descriptor that’s becoming increasingly inaccurate—will beta launch the product called Morepork before the end of the week, enabling users to control and monitor their homes remotely via their smartphones.
The entertainment and media industries have seen a huge shift in recent years. Content viewing has gradually shifted to the online world and therefore advertising follows closely in tow while traditional media’s growth rate is slumping. PwC provides some insights and predictions of the movements of these industries closer to home and further afield between 2015 and 2019.
It wasn’t too long ago that Spark was a company to be railed against; a monopolistic monolith using confusion as a marketing tactic to suck money out of consumers. One Spark staffer tells of a focus group attendee from South Auckland before the rebrand saying that if an 027 number came up on their phone they knew it was either telemarketers or debt collectors so they’d just ignore it, which is a good indication of the level of disdain for the brand in that part of the country. But since then, there’s been a lot more openness from those inside the company and a lot more love shown by consumers, and this change in approach manifested itself in the Be Counted campaign, which was created by Touchcast and managed to get over 50,000 New Zealanders interested in regulatory process.
In the digital world, there are many who talk a good game or have a different digital world-view, says Andrew Hawley. And it’s not until they’re under extreme pressure that you discover the true extent of their capabilities, or lack thereof.
For many, it was disappointing to see the Auckland Harbour Bridge return to its standard gun-metal grey hue after 2degrees, Special Group and Gladeye added some colour—and musical interactivity—to the landmark during the seven week Play The Bridge campaign. And bringing “New Zealand’s largest lightshow” to life was an impressive feat of digital production problem solving and creativity.
The local car industry had its best year ever last year, with a 12 percent increase in new car sales. And the growth looks set to continue, with 750,000 New Zealanders planning to buy a car over the next year. But the way they’re buying them has changed significantly in recent years and, according to Nielsen data, 78 percent are reaching for their keyboards to help them make a purchase decision. PLUS: what the rise of mobile search means for advertisers.
DSP, SSP, DMP, pixel, impression, ad network, ad exchange, API, SDK. There’s no shortage of buzzwords in digital advertising. So, in the first edition of a new series, Adroll managing director for Australia and New Zealand Ben Sharp demystifies some of the words that make things seem more complicated than they really are.
After an eight-year partnership, Spark has parted ways with its direct marketing agency Rapp and appointed Clemenger-owned Proximity to the account “following a review of agency requirements”. PLUS: ASB general manager of marketing Ana Curzon to start her new role as Spark’s general manager of digital first on 18 May. UPDATE: Air New Zealand Airpoints has appointed Rapp to its account following a competitve pitch.
The Pew Research Center in the United States has released its 12th edition of the annual State of the News Media report, which examines the landscape of American journalism and tracks trends related to readership, revenue and device usage. And while the publication doesn’t include a Kiwi perspective, it does provide an in-depth glimpse at many of the changes and challenges that the local media also faces due to digital disruption. One of the most telling findings from the study was that 39 of the top 50 news sites now receive more traffic to their sites on mobile phones than from desktops.
Whenever large entities merge, there is generally an expectation from those outside the business—and often from those investing in it—that things will change faster than they practically can. NZME’s group director digital Laura Maxwell-Hansen says that’s certainly the case at the moment as it attempts to bring “three businesses [APN, TRN and GrabOne] that have three different everythings” together, but she says its digital strategy is beginning to bear fruit, with audience numbers on the up and revenue growing ahead of the market.
Four-person Swedish agency Dogwash has released a quirky campaign that allows ad folk to accurately express their thoughts through a catalogue of emojis that can be downloaded from the app store. And since most agencies always have one eye on the gong, the emoji suite includes Cannes Lions, Clios, D&D Pencils and a host of other award-themed options.
The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) has launched a new campaign with the aim of recruiting 5,000 new apprentices. And it’s doing it by focusing on the pros of working in construction, such as not racking up a huge student loan, being fit and muscular, spending time outdoors and being a total babe magnet.
The Campbell Live saga has shown that commerce and current affairs often make uneasy bedfellows. But across on a different medium, the publicly funded Radio New Zealand and the commercially minded NZME are jumping into bed, with iHeartRadio now streaming Radio New Zealand National, Radio New Zealand Concert and Radio New Zealand International. And both sides think it’s a win-win.
Digital innovations might be proliferating and making communication easier, but Chemistry Interaction’s Joseph Silk argues that how we use these new tools will determine how successful they are in marketing.
In the lead up to the official release of his book Private Vegas, James Patterson made available a single edition of the book that would self-destruct after 24 hours. But it came with a pricetag of $300,000, making it exclusive one super rich fan. So, to appease his equally faithful but poorer fans, he commissioned the digital wizards at Resn to develop a website that provided 1,000 electronic copies of the book, each of which also self-destructed after 24 hours.
ANZ has teamed up with the RSA to launch an online campaign that gives Kiwis the opportunity to publicly honour the heroes who were part of the troops that landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Hosted online on a microsite dubbed called Shadow Battalion, the campaign allows visitors to select a hero and then provide a reason for remembering this person.
The Whittaker’s Big Egg Hunt NZ in support of The Starship Foundation ran again this Easter and saw 100 giant eggs created by leading and emerging artists hidden in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The public had to scramble the streets for the artworks and download the app for a chance win four gold Whittaker’s Wabbit necklaces crafted by Partridge Jewellers. And of course, there were several brands involved.
Over the last month, much of the attention attributed to iHeartRadio has rather unsurprisingly been centred on the motley crew of beer-drinking funnymen who comprise the Alternative Commentary Collective. When news emerged of the now well-recognised caravan being banned from the stadium, it was almost disappointing to discover that something as innocuous as a Gatorade promotion venturing into a prohibited space caused the expulsion of the crew. And while this has done little to stop the ACC from adding a little flavour to cricket commentary, it did highlight the important commercial role that iHeartRadio is starting to play for NZME. So, StopPress recently chatted to iHeartRadio head Carolyn Luey to find out how the platform generates revenue for NZME. PLUS: iHeartRadio partners with 2degrees to bring Charli XCX to Auckland for a single show.