Browsing: experiential

News
Republik kicks off Unitec partnership with virtual reality installation
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In October, Republik won the Unitec account, inheriting a brand that has over the last few years outspent both the University of Auckland and AUT University in its bid to attract new students to its classrooms. And despite having a new agency, the educational institution has continued this trend of investing in marketing by hosting an elaborate experiential activation at Auckland’s Britomart just over a week ago.

News
Virtual reality? Pffffff. Jaguar and Y&R NZ stunt shows you can’t beat actual reality
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When a bunch of Jaguar Facebook fans signed up for a “virtual reality” ride at the Big Boys Toys expo in Auckland earlier this month, they didn’t expect to get the real deal. But when they watched the video after the event, they realised they’d been duped. And, much like Y&R NZ’s trick campaign for Land Rover earlier this year, it caught a fair bit of attention.

News
Colenso BBDO dabbles in telekinesis for latest V Energy stunt
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Colenso BBDO recently deployed a bit of telekinesis in a teaser campaign for V Energy. And from the outset, there were hints that V Energy (the brand that brought us the V Motion Project) was going to deliver another experiential marvel. The references to telekinesis and the chords sticking out the can seemed to allude to technology that enables users to move items with their minds. And the energy drink company lived up to promise of the teaser campaign by hosting an experiential campaign that gave Kiwis an opportunity to levitate a ship container.

News
Room with a view: NZ Rugby and Airbnb put special Eden Park box up for rent
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Whether it’s a tipi, a treehouse or a big boot, there are plenty of strange Airbnb rentals available. But a spot in a stadium is one we haven’t seen before. That’s what Airbnb and NZ Rugby have done to celebrate the Bledisloe Cup Match on August 15, with a competition offering four people the chance to win an overnight stay in a remodelled, All Blacks-themed box. PLUS: Airbnb’s new ad and the ensuing parodies.

News
Red Bull’s cardboard creativity looks to inspire more lunatics to laugh in the face of gravity
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For four years, the Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix has drawn the crowds and the competitors to the Auckland Domain with its heady brew of speed, creativity, dubious engineering and, ideally, low-level injury resulting from spectacular crashes. The gravity-fuelled competition is back for its fifth run on November 22 and Red Bull and Special Group have created a clever ‘interactive’ call for entries campaign to get more teams interested in competing (and, presumably, more sadists interested in watching them).

News
Tasti draws attention to kiwi preservation with human reunification
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Where brands used to simply advertise, now they’re regularly ‘creating content’—and often hoping to inspire warm fuzzies. Vodafone and True nailed it, Air New Zealand did it over Christmas, Samsung made a very special delivery in Australia and to show how it is helping to preserve our national icon, Tasti has got in on the act with ‘Project Nest’.

News
Fluxx creates sustainable garden activation for SCA at Volvo Ocean Race
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Throughout the month of March, Auckland was host to an international fleet of racing yachts and their crews taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race. After winning a three-way competitive pitch, experiential agency Fluxx was asked to come up with activation and sponsorship concepts for the SCA (known as Asaleo are in NZ) all-female racing team. In response to this brief, Fluxx worked with the global SCA and local Asaleo Care teams to bring their activation ideas to life.

News
Spark and Auckland Council break ground on the first of ‘The Boroughs’
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Last year, Spark announced it was teaming up with Kiwi NBA player Steven Adams on a project dubbed ‘The Boroughs’ which would see it partner up with Auckland City Council to open five high-tech basketball courts. And today Spark and the Ōtara-Papatoetoe local board started construction on the first court at Otamariki Park in South Auckland.

News
They’ve got the whole bridge in their hands: 2degrees and Special Group get set to light up Auckland
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2degrees is attempting a fairly difficult telco trick at the moment as it tries to morph from a challenger brand with lots of low value customers into a grown-up company that’s more appealing to the high-rollers—and it could be argued its agency Special Group is on a similar trajectory as it evolves from a small indie with small clients into a serious multi-national network that’s competing with the bigg’uns. And now the pair are set to launch a very grown-up stunt to celebrate Auckland’s 175th anniversary, its new phone plans and the launch of Samsung’s new Galaxy S6 by turning the Auckland Harbour Bridge into an interactive light show.

News
Better, stronger, faster and more ridiculous: a look at brands and their penchant for oft-strange world record attempts
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When traditional advertising isn’t quite enough to get the attention brands so desperately crave, they sometimes take extreme measures and attempt to get themselves a Guinness World Record. So, as GSK’s oral health brand Sensodyne gets set to embark on the worthy mission to create the world’s largest model tooth, here are a few other strange record attempts from brands.

News
Corona lends a fundraising hand to Piha lifesavers
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Corona is supporting the Piha Surf Life Saving Club in a bid to raise funds for the redevelopment of the facilities located at the popular, and unquestionably dangerous, beach on Auckland’s West Coast. To assist the fundraising efforts, Corona has arranged an auction of surf photography as well as launching a pop-up bar to quench beachgoers’ thirst during the summer months.

News
Smirnoff takes its #PurePotential campaign on the road, finds novel use for concrete truck
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Smirnoff’s #PurePotential campaign via Special Group was pretty slick, with some good lookin’ billboards and a clever Instagram Bar that saw ‘mixologist’ Dickie Cullimore creating bespoke beverages based on pictures of punters’ fridges. The Lion-distributed vodka brand claims to see the potential in everything around us, “from sidewalks as dance floors, paint cans as drum kits and now a concrete truck as a drinks mixer”, which it wheeled out to a few festivals over summer.

News
Fly Buys gives the gift of free parking—UPDATED
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There aren’t many things more tedious than trying to find a park around Lambton Quay, Wellington, even on a good day. But if there is one thing that can quell how harrowing it is driving around in circles just to be pipped at every post by aggressive drivers with sharp parallel parking skills, it’s free parking.

News
‘An open door for open minds’: Spark continues its hunt for the young’uns with dedicated events space
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Aside from one small and entertaining Cupertino Effect-related glitch and some criticism of the Thanks reward scheme, most would agree the Spark rebrand went extremely smoothly given how big it was. And it’s continuing its quest for the hearts and minds of younger Aucklanders—and keeping with the trend towards creating experiences rather than just running ads—with the launch of Spark Lab, a new innovation and ideas workshop in Britomart.

News
Modern cubism: Samsung shows off its smart appliances with moveable home
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The next big battleground for the major tech players seems to be the home. Google has its eyes on that prize with the purchase of Nest, ​companies like GE and Cisco are betting big on the internet of things and, closer to home, Spark’s Digilife offer is gunning for the early adopters. And Samsung is also hoping to capitalise on this evolution, with a clever experiential activation called Home Smart Home set to launch in Auckland soon that aims to show how some of its products can fit into the homes of the future—and help make life easier.

News
Spark launches its new reward scheme with Automated Thanking Machine roadtrip
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As Spark’s Jason Paris said in this story, the biggest part the rebrand “is valuing our existing customer base and turning them in to advocates so they become an acquisition channel in their own right”. So before the launch of the new brand, Spark set a series of Automatic Thanking Machines loose on the nation to do just that. And while it calls it a world first, perhaps there’s some morphic resonance/independent multiple discovery at play, because just this week TD Canada Trust had a hit on its hands with its own benevolent machine.

News
Inside: Spur
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After 14 years, the New Zealand Sponsorship Agency recently rebranded as Spur. And, as more brands see the benefits of creating experiences for customers that can then be amplified online, it seems the planets are coming into alignment for this small but growing agency.

Opinion
Winning in real-life: Mark Pickering’s experiential entry tips
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As the gongs from the recent Cannes award nights get cleaned of their champagne and finally take their place in agency and client boardrooms across the country and a new round of New Zealand awards begins, Mark Pickering offers some tips on putting together an award-winning experiential entry. PLUS: three of his favourite experiential campaigns.

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