How’s New Zealand doing when it comes to corporate social responsibility? Must try harder, says Interbrand’s managing director James Bickford.
As a popular source for journos writing branding stories and the local head of one of the world’s biggest branding agencies, Interbrand, which releases its annual report of the world’s best brands, James Bickford knows his stuff—and is never short of opinions. Here are a few more.
2012 marks the 21st anniversary of the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. And, in keeping with the traditions of the land, it emerged into adulthood this year with a new central theme of Everything Marketing and eight new categories, including financial, technology, automotive, utilities/communications, lifestyle/travel/leisure and sponsorship. And coming out at the head of the field with the supreme award was Volkswagen, with ex-Westpac and soon-to-be BNZ head of brand Ian Moody named as marketer of the year, Whittaker’s Jasmine Griffin named as rookie marketer of the year, Air New Zealand taking the marketing excellence award and Pfizer, Z Energy and Red Witch both picking up multiple awards.
Toyota has held onto its number spot in the 2012 rankings of Interbrand’s second Best Global Green Brands report, but Johnson & Johnson isn’t far behind and Danone (#9), Ford (#15), and Starbucks (#36) are rising fast, with tech and automotive brands dominating.
The retail industry has been crying into its cornflakes for the past few years as the perfect storm of recession, the rise of e-commerce and, more recently, massive natural disasters, has battered the sector. But according to brand consultancy Interbrand, which has just released its inaugural Best Retail Brands report, there are “true and measurable signs of optimism” in what is likely to be a fragile recovery.
Lorenz Perry co-founded the small indie agency Splinter Group two years ago following stints with a few of the big boys. But he has decided bigger is actually better and started as the creative director at Interbrand this week, replacing Debbie Hyde.