Browsing: Olympics

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Are Sky’s Olympic restrictions justifiable or is it fighting against the future?
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This week, Sky provoked ire in the nation’s news publishers by applying a range of conditions on those wanting to use highlights as part of their reportage. Sky is, of course, within its rights to limit the use of footage, which it paid handsomely for. But in an era of rampant live streaming and social media use, is this an example of sticking their finger in the dyke? And what can we learn from the NFL and the NBA?

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VW dips into the Olympic athlete pool again as it promotes ‘the most powerful GTI of all time’
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Volkswagen has released a new spot via FCB that shows New Zealand hockey captain Simon Child toying with the features of his Golf GTI after arriving to the hockey turf a little early. This spot follows on from VW’s recent pulled ad, which invited criticism for showing unsafe practices. And while the new spot doesn’t show any slipping and falling, it does tread into risky territory by focusing on the speed of the new vehicle.

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The chosen one: MediaWorks names Mark Weldon as new group chief executive
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The industry has been buzzing with speculation as to who would replace outgoing MediaWorks group chief executive Sussan Turner, following the announcement of her resignation at the beginning of July. The rumour mill has however been brought to a halt by a MediaWorks release, which has confirmed that Mark Weldon would step into Turner’s role on 11 August.

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Twists and turns, reggae style
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A crazy mash of retro style game graphics and actual bobsled footage is the Jamaica Tourist Board’s attempt to get fans during the Sochi Olympics. We can’t help but point the finger at Cool Runnings.

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McCann gets a ten for the dismount
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By pretty much every measure—New Zealand’s medal haul, design and branding, entertaining memes, social media hijinks, overall awesomeness of the host city—the London Olympics were a success. And McCann Worldgroup, the agency chosen in 2009 as the official marketing services provider for the Games, thinks so too, as evidenced by this cheeky print ad proudly announcing that it had lost a client that ran in some of the UK papers.

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Unexpected frontmen! Bondi Hipsters! John Cleese! Muhammad Ali! Hate! Leap! Puppets! Entertaining linkage!
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The strong, silent, comfortable, Speedo-wearing type, another unexpected frontman, the Bondi Hipsters take fashion to the next level in London, DirectTV channels Monty Python, Louis Vuitton’s tribute to Muhammad Ali, the kings of hate are actually quite nice, wonderous technology, sexy puppets, a brilliant Olympic live-blog, the mini Olympic MINIS, even Charlie Brooker likes the Olympics, toilet divers, a sad way for Michael Phelps to go, Bane wearing a Bain, something for the gland downunder, the best Olympics commentary ever recorded, Dougie Howser wins gold, mountain confusion for the Waikato Times and Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell debate children.

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Prime cuts other channels’ lunches with big Olympic numbers
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Prime didn’t quite manage to beat TV One’s 2008 ratings for the Olympic opening ceremony, but, not surprisingly, broadcasting the Games has certainly helped steal some eyeballs off the other channels, with Prime’s share and time spent watching numbers increasing substantially over the previous four weeks and all channels except for Prime and Sky losing share.

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A gold for design
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If you’re anything like us, you’re wondering how Tom Selleck got involved in shot put coaching, why staying on your bike while waiting for the lights to change isn’t an Olympic sport yet, whether the Sunday Star Times cover was a casualty of coincidence or something more sinister, and what happened to Charlie Brooker to make him think the Olympics are better than they looked on the tin. You might also be wondering how an event like the Olympics develops its visual identity. Luckily, Design Boom has detailed the whole massive process to come up with a cohesive look for the games—and the pretty bloody impressive results.

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Missing greatness! Food babies! Value! Britain! Goog! Sexy lollies! Death! Underground Korean hip-hop! Down under! Vocal locals! Other things!
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We can’t all be great, what could be the next logical brand extension of MasterChef, shopping like you’ve never seen it, the great David Mitchell on the not so great British public, Amstel’s nicely told tale of the tape, another stunner from the Goog, lollies are sexy, the best death scene ever, a song so addictive it is “certain to penetrate the foundations of modern philosophy”, Telstra’s Olympics promo, a man of many talents, turns out advertising is like S&M, novel greeting cards, the rather comical faces of Olympic diving, all you ever wanted to know about beards, a very bad idea, celebrating the sports Brits are good at, and something for those who love bacon to death.

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Twitter tracker shows Coca-Cola leading Olympic sponsor race, McDonald’s languishing in last
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During the Rugby World Cup, the off-field battles between sponsors—and, often, non-sponsors—made for fairly interesting viewing. And the same is certainly true with the Olympics. Thankfully, MediaCom has its finger on the pulse with its Twitter Tracker, which ranks sponsors by a unique Olympic Twitter Score that includes total volume of mentions, engagement and reach metrics and, importantly, positive or negative sentiment.

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Let the light games begin: Resn shines with ‘Olympic first’ online gaming experience
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The interactive smarty-pants at Wellington agency Resn have forged a global reputation for awesomeness with its work for a range of big global clients including Puma, Domino’s and Toyota. And now, as the London Olympics get set for blast off, it is claiming an ‘Olympic first’, with an online experience created with Paris agency CLM BBDO for French energy company EDF that claims to have reinvented the way the humble computer mouse is used for gaming.

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Which brands will take Olympic Games gold?
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Come this Friday, over 8000 athletes from around the world will be seeking medal glory, but they’re not the only ones in the running for top-placed rankings. The Olympic Games, of course, seems to be as much about athletic prowess as it is about getting brand messages across to the masses of captive viewers. And MediaCom Sport, together with Brandwatch, have created a nifty interactive data visualisation tool and Twitter tracker to keep track of how well the 25 Olympic sponsors are faring.

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Moa shouts Olympics from the rooftops
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Of all the NZ Olympic sponsors, Moa is perhaps the most unlikely, given its oft-controversial approach to marketing and the fact that it’s, well, beer, a substance not particularly well-renowned for improving athletic performance. But even though the NZOC is an organisation renowned for taking things pretty seriously, Moa, which celebrated a solid medal haul of its own recently, has still been able to have a bit of fun with its sponsorship activity.

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Powerade Challenge expands its reach to Wellington, taps into Olympic elite
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Kiwis have quite the penchant for running and even in the colder months it’s not uncommon to see many a dedicated runner pounding the Winter pavement. But while it’s all too easy to snigger as you drive past in your heated car whilst stuffing a bag of chips down your throat, Powerade is hoping to lure in these avid runners with its Powerade Challenge after a successful debut of the event last year saw over 2000 runners take part.

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Sky and DDB’s Olympic campaign takes us inside the athletes’ minds
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When we interviewed Andy Fackrell, DDB’s new executive creative director, in the latest edition of NZ Marketing, he said we could probably expect fewer gags and more visual storytelling to come out of the agency in the next few months. And its impressive campaign to promote the Olympic coverage on Sky, a brand that’s well-renowned for taking a humorous approach to its marketing efforts, ticks both of those boxes.

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ANZ adds to its high-profile sponsorship medal haul with three-year OIympics deal
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The cover story in the latest NZ Marketing discusses ANZ Group’s mission to win the hearts and minds of New Zealanders and mitigate the effects of inevitably sending the well-liked National Bank brand to the glue factory. It’s one mother of a marketing challenge. And the financial vultures are circling. But ANZ, a brand that’s long been at or near the bottom on the customer service/satisfaction league tables when compared to its competitors, is doing everything in its power to better connect with Kiwis by spending up large on above the line advertising, dropping rates, supporting communities, raising funds and snapping up a host of high-profile sponsorships. And it’s added another big one to the list by announcing a three-year deal with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

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Sochi 2014: a portal to ‘the future’
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Sochi 2014 recently launched its new brand, emblem and tagline (‘Gateway to the Future’) for the winter Olympics, introducing the first ever Olympic Games emblem that also forms a web address.