In this week’s edition, kudos goes to MediaWorks, VW, Honda and Instant Kiwi.
Browsing: Instant Kiwi
Everyone loves a good scratch. And everyone loves winning money. So Lotto NZ by DDB are hoping to show that Instant Kiwi can give you a bit of both, with four spots showing depressing situations being transformed with a wiggle of the finger.
The second and third episodes of the Instant Kiwi campaign by DDB and Luscious give a behind the scenes look at how it found the talent for the ads Double Crossword and Texas Hold Em.
Chins have been stroked, cases have been put, voices have ben raised and chocolate thins have been consumed. Which can mean only one thing: the winners have been chosen for the StopPress/MediaWorks TVC of the Year.
It’s game over for Instant Kiwi’s table top advertising of its Space Invader scratchies. The Advertising Standards Authority’s Complaints Board has ruled it in breach of its Codes of Practice for promoting a gambling product appealing to minors.
One-dimesional welders, trans-Tasman comparisons and enthusiastic old men take the TVC crown this week.
Instant Kiwi is all about giving low-level gamblers a short, sharp thrill. And DDB has brought that idea to life in its latest campaign, one of the first executions to feature New Zealand Lotteries’ new over-arching tagline ‘Winning Happens’.
In an effort to attract a “social, lively and stylish urban audience” to a product not usually associated with such phrases, NZ Lotteries and Running with Scissors have just launched a new range of Instant Kiwi tickets. And marketing manager Robert Saunders says it’s the biggest facelift for the tickets since it started selling them back in 1989.
Paul White regularly opines on ad campaigns as a judge for our Campaign Review section in NZ Marketing, just as he does on his students’ work in his role as course leader at AUT Adschool. Here he goes again.
2011 wasn’t a particularly memorable year for Saatchi & Saatchi, with the pink fist debacle casting a major pall. But the new executive and creative team has shaken things up and, after winning ASB without a pitch earlier this year and releasing some of the best work of 2012, the confidence—and the quality—appears to have returned. Creative directors Corey Chalmers and Gus Roberts speak up.
Instant Kiwi’s instore luck pushing and ASB’s retro vibes take the biscuit this week.
Here in the expansive and luxurious StopPress towers, Instant Kiwi’s ‘It Pays to Push Your Luck’ campaigns ranks as one of the funniest of the year, which isn’t entirely surprising given the comedy-loving combination of NZ Lotteries, DDB, Jesse Griffin and The Sweet Shop’s Stuart McDonald, he of Summer Height’s High fame, was involved in its creation. And after the first instalment, which saw the Alibi spot make it into the good bit of the Fair Go Ad Awards, it’s followed up with some entertaining/violating instore luck pushing that could almost be likened to the advertising equivalent of Trigger Happy TV.
There are some brilliant ads that bring joy to viewers and add to the pop-cultural landscape. And there are many more horrible ads that do the exact opposite. Either way, there’s no doubt humans have a love/hate relationship with advertising, as evidenced by the continuing popularity of Fair Go’s Ad Awards, which increased its audience from last year and crowned MasterCard’s All Blacks ‘Tight on Tour’ ad as the best and Lumino The Dentist’s ‘Love Your Smile’ ad as the worst.
Photo: Paul Statham
Wendy Rayner, head of marketing at NZ Lotteries and reigning Marketer of the Year, has resigned after around nine years with the organisation and seven years in the top marketing role.
This time last year Instant Kiwi was losing relevance, players were lapsing out of the category and sales were going backwards. Unlike NZ Lotteries’ jackpot games like Lotto, Strike, Powerball and Big Wednesday, which had all been rejigged, Instant Kiwi wasn’t selling the dream very well.
While Skyline’s animated ode to garages took out our TVC of the Year award, it’s clear the ad won because of a concerted effort from the company’s staff and suppliers. Some felt it was a tribute to the passion and pride the employees have in the small company, but others felt the ‘win by any means necessary’ approach was slightly embarrassing, wasn’t in the spirit in which the award was set up and didn’t accurately reflect the best, most popular ad of the year. It was within the rules, but if you’re in the latter camp, then it’s fair to say Lotto’s ‘Lucky Dog’ by DDB and The Sweet Shop was the ‘pseudo-winner’, as it was leading the polling by a fairly large margin up until the last couple of days. And with five other DDB creations also making it into the top ten, DDB had an impressive overall showing, something executive creative director Toby Talbot says can be put down to the power of solid client relationships.
Instant Kiwi’s ‘Believe it or Not’ and Lotto’s ‘Lucky Dog’ (which is close to reaching the 500,000 views mark on YouTube) were two of the year’s favourite campaigns. And the Scratchy Bus was pretty damn cool too. Thanks DDB and Wendy Rayner, NZ Lotteries’ head of marketing.
… as Yellow wins some more awards, the wheels on the Instant Kiwi scratchie bus go round and round, Fresh PR slips into something more comfortable, the University of Auckland School of Business reaches a big milestone with its 40,000th Short Course attendant, TVNZ ups its streaming, TV3 spruces up its website, the crowd goes wild for Microsoft Kinect and Sealegs is endorsed by scientists.
There seems to be an underlying disdain for the persuasive arts among the masses, something that can presumably be put down to a combination of outright envy and the (slightly) misguided belief that you dastardly marcomms schemers are somehow able to trick them into parting with their cash through the wonder of advertising. But there’s certainly no shortage of interest from the aforementioned masses in the commercial messages that grace their screens and, much like Paul Henry, this strange love-hate formula creates TV gold, as evidenced by the continuing popularity of the Fair Go Ad Awards.
Get your read on with a host of entrancing tales about new RWC sponsorships, BIG moves, renaissance buses, the power of cinema, Pauline Hanton, photography, cool new campaigns, the Effies, online pre-research shopping tools, MINI art, sustainable business accolades, rock paper, the branding success of the Smokefree Rockquest and so much more.
Who it’s for: New Zealand Lotteries/Instant Kiwi by DDB NZ, Good Oil and Images and Sound
Why we like it: Exploding old people, mediocre dancing, a moonwalking cameo from Mexi-Doug, the funny dolphin noise, huge amounts of unbridled joy and the promotion of gambling makes for …
This newsy concoction is light and frothy on the nose, with undercurrents of naivete, overcurrents of aniseed, cassis and forest floor and aftercurrents of squash changing room. Can be served either brucewarm or lukewarm.
In strange things for sale on TradeMe news, committed Mexi-Dougophiles can bid to get their hands on the authentic and presumably extremely valuable Mexi-Doug Instant Kiwi costume, with the proceeds from the auction going towards WWF’s Earth Hour.
Name: Sandy Moore, CEOCompany: DDB Group NZ Ltd (DDB, Rapp, Mango, Interbrand, Tribal DDB)Staff: 180Offices in NZ: Auckland and Wellington Notable clients: NZ Lotteries, McDonald’s, SKY TV, Cadbury, The Warehouse, Lion Nathan, Volkswagen, Telecom, ANZ/National, AMI Insurance, STIHL, Clorox, Tasman Insulation, Heinz Watties, George Weston …
Congrats to the little Kiwi that could – Instant Kiwi scratchies turn 20 years old this month. Interbrand has been the design company responsible for all the Instant Kiwi designs since the very first scratchie in 1989. Two new IKs have been released to celebrate the birthday – a collector’s edition …