Designworks has just completed work to reposition the University of Canterbury and help attract prospective students, which has been a bit of struggle since the earthquakes. And it is urging Canterbury businesses to follow the university’s lead and take a fresh look at their positioning if they want to grow in the future.
Les Mills International (LMI) is one of the country’s biggest under-the-radar business success stories, and its fitness products can be found in more than 14,000 gyms in 80 countries. And to help keep in touch with them all—and reach some fairly ambitious goals for growth—it has appointed Contagion as its new global media social media partner, effective immediately.
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.
Auckland-based dairy producer The Collective has embraced social media as its major marketing channel in an effort to better connect with its ‘herd’ and, in many cases, get them to assist with product creation. And that strategy has been vindicated, not just because it is one of the fastest growing companies in New Zealand, but because it was also named as the first and only New Zealand brand to feature in The Social Brands 100 list—”the authoritative ranking of brands leading the way in the social age”—coming in at number 57 ahead of brands like Dell, Groupon and Intel.
A handful of Kiwi agencies have made it into the finals of the APMA Star Awards, celebrating the year’s finest promotional and experiential marketing across Australasia.
Apollo Marketing NZ, Loyalty NZ and Below the Line (the only indie Kiwi agency) are among the 31 finalists shortlisted from a pool …
The {insert thing here} is dead theme is a very common one in an industry that’s enamoured with the new. Newspapers are dead, magazines are dead, TV is dead, retail is dead, radio is dead, full-service agencies are dead .. and the list goes on. Typically, these rather evangelical assertions come from those with a barrow to push, not from those who are part of the ‘establishment’. So we were surprised to read a story about Saatchi & Saatchi’s global chief executive Kevin Roberts claiming marketing is dead, strategy is dead, management is dead and big ideas are dead in a presentation he gave at The IoD’s Annual Convention.
One year after choosing to get rid of one of the world’s biggest brands and replace it with an “entirely Kiwi” identity, Z Energy says its commitment to the Shell-less strategy is already paying dividends and offering it a competitive advantage. And the new brand is tracking very well with New Zealanders.
With the seemingly imminent move to a tabloid format on weekdays for The New Zealand Herald, the recent appointment of Deutsche Bank to undertake a strategic review of its media assets in New Zealand (and presumably ready some of them for sale) and the decision to upgrade its stake in GrabOne to 100 percent and buy out Shane Bradley, there are some big things happening at APN at the moment. And while times are pretty tough in the newspaper business, there’s plenty of courage being shown under fire and The New Zealand Herald has been rewarded for its efforts by scoring a hat-trick of wins at the 2012 International Newsmedia Marketing Association.
Countdown has been going hammer and tong on the marketing front recently. But New World has come steaming back into view. And its new brand campaign is about as far as you can get from animated shopping baskets and fruit and vegetable musicals.
It’s 2009 and we’re in the depths of recession. Damn those bankers! But one company is booming. Les Mills International is quietly taking over the fitness world with its new suite of products under the Bodyvive brand. The new, baby-boomer fitness regime is sold to gyms around the world and includes music, routines, training, equipment and a marketing pack and hits $1.2 million in sales in just one year. But wait, is this a marketing story? Where are the ads?
You’ve only got one week left to tell your marketing story and get your entry in for the 2012 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. Entries close 5pm Friday 18 May 2012 and hopefully you’ve noticed that there are eight new categories to enter. Time waits for no man, of course, but if you’re unable to submit your entry on time for whatever reason (laziness, inebriation, unreliable minions etc), all is not lost. You can extend the deadline by a week by applying for an extension here and forking over $50.
May not be a picture of painting spiderbots
Robots, social media, spray cans and three of the world’s leading design creatives are coming together in Auckland this month at design conference Semi-Permanent as part of Orcon’s Spider Art, which is believed to be the world’s first art painted by Twitter-controlled ‘spiderbots’.
Smartphone penetration is now thought to be around 30 percent in New Zealand, and that number is increasing rapidly. So Countdown has jumped on the mobile bandwagon and upped the ante in terms of customer experience by launching what it’s calling a New Zealand-first iPhone app that features a digital shopping list and barcode scanning technology, as well as the ability to check prices, find recipe ingredients, collect loyalty points and shop online.
You might recall the sound of your first PC; the distinct hum of the hard drive powering up and whirring away as you perused Encarta or had the smiley-faced paperclip teach you to use Clip Art. Or at least that’s what they told you made all that noise. But was there really a little motor inside the big grey box? No, it was a very clever little mouse, because in 1996 homegrown computer manufacturer PC Direct pitched itself as the small but powerful Kiwi PC company who took on the big multinationals, becoming an iconic Kiwi brand of the tech era and winning the 1997 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Award for Consumer Products – Durable.
There’s just ten days left to get your entries in for the 21st TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards, and the elite team of senior marketers, chief executives and all-round business juggernauts who will be casting their eyes over the entries and deciding who gets to walk home with a Big M has been announced.
Pitched as the lighter and more indulgent counterpart to the original Moro, Cadbury’s Moro Gold tackled the dilemma of launching an international product into the marketplace without cannibalising the brand’s existing business. And the hugely successful campaign earned Cadbury the 2007 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Award in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods category.
Long before it sat on the shelves of the world’s swankiest bars, watered private parties at hipster music festival SXSW, ran a cocktail world cup on Coronet Peak, even before that one-time international film competition with 42 directors making 42 films each lasting 42 seconds, and almost a decade before that shifty circus bar with the small bearded lady opened up for 42 days in Auckland during the RWC, 42 Below vodka took out the 2003 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards Small Business title.
Ogilvy has retained the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority account, beating out regular Wellington combatants Saatchi & Saatchi and Clemenger BBDO for the spoils.
Aside from being a perennial favourite in the most hated jobs list, another peril of being a journalist is what some may call ‘income disparity syndrome’. Those from the fourth estate often liaise with successful types who earn too much, eat at nice restaurants and drive nice cars, before heading home to eat gruel for dinner, keep warm by hovering around the fire in the 40 gallon drum and wrap up lumps of coal in newspaper to give to their children for birthday presents. So it was with a mix of excitement and depression that I ventured out to Hampton Downs last week to test my driving skills in an array of magnificent German machines that I will probably never be able to afford. And in a new move for Audi, it’s opening up its Driver Experience Days to corporates and individuals.
Why, isn’t that Sarah Kennedy, now chief executive of Fonterra retailer RD1? Yes it is, but who is she with?
In keeping with the burgeoning–and some would say, worrying—trend for the Department of Conservation to align itself with corporate benefactors (as outlined in a story about ‘Conservation for Prosperity’ in a recent issue of North & South), and in keeping with Air New Zealand’s environmental push, the national airline has signed up for a three year partnership with DoC worth the equivalent of $1 million annually.
We’ve got a long way to go in New Zealand when it comes to managing B2B customer relationships. Overseas, particularly in the UK, Joe Public won’t settle for substandard service and is typically very vocal when it comes to dishing out feedback. Whilst being on the receiving end of this is never a pleasant experience, it comes with two extra lifelines. First, a second chance to do right by that one customer and, secondly, the opportunity to spare future customers from a similar experience.
When Kiwibank was launched in 2002, there were plenty of doubters. But, according to its new website, 804,221 customers have signed up to the bank in its first ten years and to celebrate the milestone it’s launched a new campaign featuring a few other adventurous and industrious Kiwi ten-year-olds.
The TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards turn 21 this year. And like all good 21-year-olds, it’s received an oversized key, downed a yardie, taken a good hard look at itself and emerged into adulthood with a snazzy new ‘Everything Marketing’ brand and eight new categories.
An old Minties ad featured in the Otago Daily Times
The New Zealand ad landscape is littered with interesting stories (and interesting storytellers). But the industry’s institutional memory often leaves a lot to be desired. So, in an effort to remedy that, Idealog editor and ex-NBR AdMedia reporter Hazel Phllips is currently writing a book charting the history of New Zealand advertising. The book will be published by Penguin next year and Phillips (email her here) is looking for interviews and information from people who worked in advertising and marketing back in the mists of time. She’s also looking to make contact with the marketing departments of major New Zealand brands that have iconic campaigns in their archives and would be willing to have the imagery used in the book or have information about the timelines of campaigns and their brands’ general history. To grease the wheels of history—and possibly dredge up a few classic local ads of yore—we have a D&AD 11 book to give away, so add your favorite New Zealand ad to the comment wall and it could be yours.
In its first new work since Clemenger BBDO bolstered its social marketing portfolio by winning its creative account late last year, Quitline is launching a major new TV, outdoor and online campaign tonight.
Following a three-way pitch, the Wellington agency was appointed to position Quitline as the most …
Special Group won the NZ Tax Refunds account following a competitive pitch late last year. And it’s relaunched the brand with a campaign that celebrates the joy of an unexpected windfall and aims to differentiate it from the crowd of “me too” brands that now clutter the category.
Wellington is pretty proud of itself. And rightly so. But in a nod to its incessant capitalisation of things–and also to April Fool’s—the Positively Wellington Tourism folk decided to laugh at its own expense and the expense of some of its regional rivals by claiming a few more titles.
In February, TVNZ and NZ on Air announced they would be adding to the cacophony of reality talent competitions on TV with a multi-million dollar production of New Zealand’s Got Talent. NZ On Air committed $1.6 million in funding and TVNZ went hunting for commercial partners to add to its own $1.6 million contribution. And the first major sponsor has been announced, with Toyota signing up as a key commercial partner.
Yesterday, the Fijian government banned inbound tourists as flash flooding wreaked havoc. But, after a global pitch thought to have received more than 60 submissions, it’s thought Colenso BBDO will now be responsible for trying to get more of them to visit after beating out agencies from New Zealand, Australia and the US to become the new global agency for Tourism Fiji.