Shopping is one of the country’s favourite leisure activities. But for certain, usually non-female, demographics, the thrill of consumerism quickly wears thin. In response to this, Ikea has just developed a male creche in Australia called Manland. And, in New Zealand, as part of a programme to keep the kids entertained, Westfield BrandSpace, Persil and DNA have joined forces to create a series of new branded indoor playgrounds.
New Zealand is getting set to put on a bloody good show for our RWC visitors in the coming months. And there’s plenty on the menu to keep them all entertained, from the REAL NZ Festival to the Taste of New Zealand to trade and innovation shows and a whole heap inbetween. But some guests require a bit more impressing and the local events and activation scene is buzzing as official sponsors and plenty of other businesses hoping to use the tournament as a chance to butter up guests and potential clients look to roll out the branded red carpet.
When co-founder and creative director of AmbientX Mark Pickering bought the company from Australian-owned Ambient Advertising Group, he announced he’d be re-branding the company to Fluxx and focusing on making it “the best agency in New Zealand dedicated specifically to experiential marketing”. But now it looks as if Pickering has another competitor in the Kiwi market, none other than Ambient Advertising itself. The company has decided it’s not quite ready to part with experiential and managing director of Ambient Advertising NZ Chris Monaghan has announced the launch of a new experiential and events arm of the agency.
Last year the PR and Experiential industry—and many from outside it—got into a rather heated debate about the merits of campaign measurement and, specifically, the controversial role of AVE (advertising value equivalents) in PR measurement. Now, after running a local survey, studying global trends and listening to a range of opinions, the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group has developed a guideline that sets out some clear parameters for measurement and offers a list of metrics for consideration, including our old friend AVE.
As the recent CAANZ research shows, experiential marketing is so hot right now. And AmbientX, which is part of the Australian-owned Ambient Advertising Group, has long been at the forefront of that scene in New Zealand. Now, in an effort to distance itself from the obvious associations with ‘ambient’ and specialise in experiential, co-founder and creative director Mark Pickering has bought the business and will be re-branding the company as Fluxx beginning in June.
More than 240 agency staff and marketers came together to hear the ‘New Rules of Brand Engagement’ from an impressive list of speakers in Auckland on Tuesday. And with marketers increasingly trying to create memorable experiences for consumers and get the humans talking about their brands, PR and experiential are increasingly being employed to achieve those goals, as the results of the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group survey shows.
DDB New Zealand is the only agency in the country with an experiential creative director. And with brands increasingly looking to create more memorable experiences for consumers, you only have to look at recent campaigns like Cadbury’s Billboards to Bags campaign, ANZ’s Rugby World Cup promotion and Cadbury’s ‘Share the Joy’ Kiwi roadtrip to see this events mentality is infusing itself into more and more of the agency’s advertising. And the ‘Snow Globe’ it created in Auckland just before Christmas for Kraft Foods NZ was deemed to be one of the best examples of that, taking out gold in the PR/Experiential category. Colenso and Yellow also took gold in this category for Yellow Chocolate, as well as two more bronzes, one for ‘A Rubbish Idea’ for Heart of the City and the other for ‘Beer: The Untold Story’ for DB Export’.
Sarah Robb O’Hagan, the president of Gatorade North America and global chief marketing officer, sports nutrition, PepsiCo, is one of the country’s most successful marketers and she’s heading back to New Zealand to speak at a half-day forum jointly presented by the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group and the Marketing Association on 5 April at the Crowne Plaza in Auckland. So to celebrate we thought we’d send her a few generic questions.
Based on a survey of 147 of the country’s leading marketers, New Zealand businesses are planning to spend more on marketing this year. And PR and experiential came out as the big winners over more ‘traditional’ forms of advertising. But difficulties around ensuring accurate measurement are still hampering the sector’s growth.
As a practitioner of a new form of marketing I am faced with the question we all confront in this industry: can I convince clients that experiential marketing can be measured effectively and deliver meaningful ROI and value for spend?
PR and experiential marketing have long been valuable tools for marketers. But are these disciplines gaining prominence in the marketing mix? And if so, how is this affecting more traditional channels? The CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group and the Marketing Association, with the help of online research company Buzz Channel, decided to find out. But they need the help of New Zealand’s marketers.
After delving into the murky waters of PR measurement earlier this year, the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group, along with the Marketing Association and New Zealand online research company Buzz Channel, is now aiming to find out how much of the marketing pie the PR and Experiential realm has by conducting a nationwide survey.
The Yellow Treehouse and Tourism New Zealand’s Giant Rugby Ball campaigns have been identified by the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group as two of ten examples from around the world that best show the value of PR and experiential marketing as part of the marcomms arsenal.
As interactions and events rather than the old school spray and pray approach are increasingly being utilised to rise above the rabble and capture the jaded consumer’s attention, experiential marketing’s star continues to rise. And the good news keeps coming for local experiential agency AmbientX: after its double medal haul at this year’s Australasian Promotional Marketing Association Star Awards for the Arnott’s Velish campaign, it has managed to pick up a couple more significant client wins recently.
Global trends, macro forces, cool websites and articles that get forwarded around the office and don’t pertain to new-born babies birthed by the chick in accounts generally tend to refer to the latest, coolest and, if the authors are to believed, ‘will change the face of marketing/retail/research/strategic thinking/toasting bread’ theme. But the issue with these wonderful insights is the relevancy to us here in New Zealand.
In this week’s instalment of Wammo Pound and Mash, come with us on a spiritual journey as we delve into the murky yet increasingly popular realm of experiential advertising.
Kapiti Ice Cream is jumping on the pop-up ‘brandwagon’ this week and opening three temporary exhibitions around Auckland to showcase the best of New Zealand design and dish out a few of their creamy ‘pop-upsicles’ to wandering freegans.