Brand Spanking director and creative strategist Mark Pickering and Z Energy creative technologist Spencer Willis wrap up their SXSW experience with what’s on the rise, what was impressive, things that need to stop and things marketers need to do more of.
Browsing: Mark Pickering
Brand Spanking director and creative strategist Mark Pickering shares his experience at SXSW and what he’s learned from sessions and seminars as well as the people he’s met. To round off the week, he and Z Energy creative technologist Spencer Willis share five takeaways.
With rebates, questionable digital dealings and measurement issues plaguing media agencies over the last year, Damien Venuto delves into the murky world of media buying to find out if local clients know what they’re paying for.
EMANZ (the Experiential Marketing Association of New Zealand) is set to merge with CAANZ PREScom (PR, Social and Experiential Committee) after six months of discussions. Bringing together the industry bodies will focus resources to help future-proof the experiential industry.
Experiential players Brand Spanking and Fluxx this week announced a merger, which will see the companies trade under the Brand Spanking banner at the Eden Terrace office from now on.
Following this week’s announcement that NZME had established events and experiential divisions and since Fairfax made a similar move last July, StopPress contacted Mark Pickering, the chair of the Experiential Marketing Association of New Zealand (EMANZ), to share his thoughts on how these moves might impact the Kiwi experiential market.
Brand ambassadors remain an effective experiential marketing tool by which brands can connect with consumers, says EMANZ chair Mark Pickering. But more so than ever before, these representatives on the ground need to be trained properly.
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.
Lisa Carrington adds another healthy endorsement to her list, Fluxx gets it on with Get! Communications, Mark Copplestone takes the reins at the IAB’s mobile advertising council, Pead PR rearranges the troops, mediaR feels the warmth with Bradford Gold, Duncan Stuart returns to the land of indie, Media3 stays up late and Arielle Tai joins Datamine.
As another busy summer of brand activation looms in New Zealand, EMANZ chair Mark Pickering reflects on the state of experiential marketing in New Zealand.
For the first time in a long time, Jack Daniel’s has launched a new product: a combination of its whiskey and a “proprietary honey liqueur”. And what better way to get the new Tennessee Honey variety some attention than by inviting Kiwi revelers to rummage around in a bee hive.
Anna Gervai joins JWT, a couple of changes at DB, Sarah Fenton moves up the Yahoo! chain, Vodafone gives Jane Wilson a call, Stephen Williams joins Adcorp, Senate adds a pair, Hypermedia adds Hobday, Terabyte Interactive gets the nod in AUT Excellence in Business Support Awards and the EMANZ crew wag chins.
With summer suddenly upon us brands are turning to the experiential space to engage with consumers who are out enjoying environments ideally suited for building brand awareness and loyalty. Beaches, zoos, parks, waterfronts and city streets are about to provide a tableau of (hopefully) meaningful and engaging brand activity to provide some ‘surprise and delight’ moments to make your summer more fun and enjoyable.
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.
… as Dean Howie heads for Hawaii, EMANZ passes the executive baton, Next looks for a new editor, Waxeye launches a new surf-related loyalty scheme, Supply picks up a Dieline award and Belkin makes some changes at the top.
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.
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?
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.