We’re sure many New Zealanders are in disbelief as to how nearly four years have passed since the last Rugby World Cup. Four years since we yelled out to strangers in the street whooping with collective joy after the All Blacks secured the Cup after a nail-biting game with the French and four years since the victory sparked a baby boom across the nation. But this year’s World Cup, which kicks off in September has no doubt been creeping its way into the public consciousness for sometime now, probably due to a few big brands which hope to profit from all the attention, here’s what a few of them are up to.
Browsing: MasterCard
Soon, your face will be useful for more than just looking pretty. MasterCard is developing a new programme that lets you approve online purchases with a simple blink of the eye. And it believes this will cut down on fraud.
Soon the nation will be bombarded with Rugby World Cup-related ads, whether from the tournament’s family of sponsors, the national sponsors, the ambushers or even the teams themselves. And MasterCard is one of the first of the bunch to get in on the act, bringing back its long-time mascot Tim for his fourth run.
With innovations in digital payment methodologies, our society is becoming increasingly cashless. And, according to a new Mastercard survey, Kiwis are slowly becoming okay with that, with many starting to warm up to the idea of digital wallets. The survey of shopping habits showed 75 percent of New Zealanders regularly shop online and two thirds are open to the idea of using a digital wallet.
Good stuff from New World, MasterCard and Air New Zealand this week.
In a world where attention is a currency, the sweet spot sometimes seems to be polarity. Let’s call it the Paul Henry effect, where some watch because of love, and some watch because of hate. That formula often applies to the world of advertising. And MasterCard’s recent efforts starring an over-zealous (and quite lucky) All Blacks fan called Tim are a good example of that in action. Now he’s back in his third appearance for the brand—and he’s as violating as ever.
After taking out last year’s best ad at the Fair Go Ad Awards for ‘Tight on Tour’, MasterCard backed it up last night for the follow-up, ‘Wedding’. And, at the other end of the spectrum, ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi’s bearded bellower Brian Blessed took the booby prize for ‘No biggy. Yes Biggy!’
Give praise for the return of Tim, the rebirth of Hubbards and the arrival of Tip Top’s Nourish Our Kids.
The tenth year of Auckland indie Big Communications has been another solid one, with new clients like Motorcorp, Barfoot & Thompson, ATEED and The Langham, and more good stuff as part of the long-running Vero campaign. Managing director Ant Salmon goes long.
After saying goodbye to BNZ, ‘recalibrating’ the agency and adding a couple of ex-Ogilvy chaps to its creative arsenal, Sugar&Partners had plenty to contend with this year. But it took it in its stride and released some quality campaigns for TAB, new challenger telco Flip and, slightly controversially given its similarity to a popular cat video, Mammoth Insulation. Dave Nash and Damon O’Leary sum up their 2012.
MasterCard is launching a new national direct to consumer (cardholder) privileges programme in the New Zealand market, and it’s putting the call out for agencies with a bit of mana in the travel, loyalty, offer generation, experiential and POS space.
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.