An Achilles’ Heel of the outdoor industry is its perceived lack of measureability and targeting. But iSite Media has taken a big step to remedying that, with the launch of a suite of products that claim to deliver highly targeted outdoor media solutions and offer media agencies better campaign planning tools. Plus: Andrew Renholds gets his spy on.
There’s been plenty happening in the digital signage space recently. Prices for screens are coming down, big global players are making big orders and digital-out-of-home is responsible for a lot of the growth in outdoor sector around the world. APN Outdoor just launched the country’s first digital billboards in Auckland. And Ngage is also riding that wave, with a recent roll-out of digital signage across the BP network and some big projects on the go.
Jaguar drivers seem like they’d probably be more familiar with ‘tally ho old chap’ than ‘OMG! LOL!’. But that hasn’t stopped the premium car brand and its agency Big from using the line ‘WTXF?’ in a new campaign for its XF model that’s appearing on super-sized billboards in the main centres and on extra large online banners.
APN Outdoor and Auckland Council are taking the first step towards transforming Auckland’s CBD into the Times Square of the South Pacific, unveiling the first of six digital billboards to be placed across the city.
Gina’s restaurant certainly isn’t averse to a bit of saucy advertising (its radio ads are filled with innuendo and good-natured male objectification). And its latest billboard, which features a shirtless Italian stallion with his jeans unbuttoned, the line ‘mozzarella with balls’ and two extra letters that change everything, continues this trend.
In November last year, 16 creative teams were given a brief, some sustenance and one hour to come up with an outdoor campaign for Surf Life Saving New Zealand as part of Adshel’s Creative Challenge. Colenso BBDO’s Ben Polkinghorne, Scott Kelly and Salah Ben-Brahim came out on top, and their concept has now migrated into the real world and forms the basis of the charity’s winter campaign.
Land Rover started off not long after World War II when a farmer in the UK stripped a battered army jeep and decided to build something more appropriate. 65 years on and the cars are certainly a whole heap more luxurious, but the brand hasn’t forgotten its roots, and Big Communications is showcasing this evolution with a new campaign that has given the international creative a local twist.
IBM has been beating its smarter data drum for a while now. And that philosophy has made its way into the real world, with a series of ads for its ‘Smarter Cities’ campaign that double as functional street furniture.
It’s certainly not the best of times for mainstream beer, with volumes generally decreasing due to changing tastes and the proliferation of other booze options. But there are still strong loyalties to certain drops. And Lion’s Waikato Draught and Hamilton agency King St have devised a regional outdoor and radio campaign to tap into that.
Tui is breaking years of tradition by adding some colour to its usually stoic black and orange billboards, in honour of duck shooting blokes everywhere.
Kiwi digital signage company Ngage is taking its wares across the ditch, after securing a 165-screen deal with Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Powershop has got plenty of marketing mileage out of showing dictators, warlords and hard nosed politicians in oxymoronic situations as part of its long-running and at-times controversial ‘Same Power, Different Attitude’ campaign. Given recent global events, many wondered why its last ad chose to show Mao Tse Tung dancing to Gangnam Style rather than North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un. But it has now obliged, with another image by Doublefish showing the portly ‘Supreme Successor’ embracing his inner MAMIL, squeezing in to some lycra and going for a pedal.
Outdoor is enjoying a bit of a resurgence at the moment, with an increase in revenue and creative campaigns like the MetService see-through billboard and Fly Buys’ ‘Little Bit Good’ using the medium to good effect and capturing a fair swag of attention, both in the real world and online. And now Ogilvy & Mather has come to the party with its campaign for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, which shows exactly how much consumers could save if they owned an appliance bearing the Energy Star mark.
We at StopPress are strong believers in the power of confectioneries as a marketing tool and it seems Fly Buys agrees with us. The loyalty rewards company has installed a giant vending machine in the Britomart Transportation Centre providing Auckland commuters with 60,000 Jaffas.
Outdoor advertising has bounced back after a slow and difficult 2012 to post first quarter revenues of $15.4 million – up by 16 percent from the same period in 2012, according to the Outdoor Media Association of New Zealand (OMANZ).
The real and the online are increasingly mingling and the MetService and Y&R have tried to tap into that by constructing a rather novel billboard that looks like a web browser and was intended to be shared online.
The New Zealand outdoor marketplace now has a big new name in its midst, with the biggest player in the Australian outdoor market rebranding nearly one thousand poster and billboard sites across New Zealand’s shopping centres, universities and Auckland airport from Eye to Ooh! Media.
Over 600 media and advertising movers and shakers attended the third annual Friends in High Places party last night at Mantells on the Water in Westhaven, Auckland to see Funkommunity, Latin Aotearoa, David Dallas, PNC and Aaradhna take to the stage. And here’s what they got up to.
In an effort to “be in the right place with the right inventory”, APN Outdoor has reached an agreement with the sole remaining principle of JAM Billboards, Vanessa Bryce, to acquire its three remaining billboard licenses in Auckland, effective from 1 February.
AA Insurance and Special Group took the opportunity to remind the nation about the positive aspects of insurance with the launch of its big 90 second brand ad a few weeks back. And now it’s following that up with a series of 30 and 15 second product ads—once again nicely crafted by Special Problems—and an attention-grabbing outdoor campaign that aims to communicate the new ‘Let’s get things sorted’ positioning and showcase the various facets of the business, from tailored car insurance to personal case managers.
TBWA\ has been cranking out the work for ANZ since ‘The Announcement’ of the new—and, if you believe the ads, improved—bank. And, with plenty at stake, it’s no surprise that no expense has been spared and the doctor has been well and truly gone for. And now it has moved into the final phase of the campaign to show what products and services it can now offer its customers.
The air was thick with the smell of creativity at the Hopetoun Alpha on 8 November for Adshel’s Creative Challenge (turns out creativity smells a little bit like a combination of cigarette smoke, ironic t-shirts, Sal’s Pizza and desperation), and after 60 minutes of furious jotting and pressurised thinking to come up with a campaign that would raise awareness—and funds—for Surf Life Saving New Zealand next winter, it was Colenso BBDO’s team that took the top prize.
Those with a penchant for posteriors may have noticed the outdoor campaign for StepOut Nature’s new range of bamboo socks and tights. And one of our dear readers had his morning brightened today when he saw this perfectly timed lamp-post shadow on Ponsonby Rd. Perhaps a caption competition is in order.
Fly Buys’ new motto ‘Every time you swipe, something good happens’ became quite literal recently, with some interactive Adshels in Auckland and Wellington injecting some fun into the city streets.
Some of the best ads in the world have been simple out-of-home advertising propositions, such as the 1994 ‘Hello Boys’ Wonderbra ad featuring Eva Herzigova, the Economist ‘Light Bulb’ ad which illuminated as pedestrians walked past, or perhaps even Tui’s long-serving ‘yeah right’ campaign, which has recently enlisted the services of a mobile billboard that will travel to renowned Ridge habitats in Auckland. So, in an effort to promote more of this outdoor magic and give both marketers and agency folk the opportunity to have some fun with the medium, The Outdoor Media Association of NZ is launching the Out There Challenge.
Observant souls—and lovers of teaser campaigns—may have noticed a few unbranded billboards around Auckland featuring phrases like ‘money is bad’ and ‘money is good’. So what gives?
In an effort to better understand modern consumers and their media consumption habits, and at the same time facilitate a rethink about outoor media among media agencies, Adshel recently conducted an in-depth study combining quantitative data and ethnographic insights. And, according to marketing manager Emma Barnes, the results of the ‘Inside Outdoor Lives’ study “really backed up our beliefs and strengthened our case of the benefits of Adshel”.
The outdoor sector had a pretty good 2011, not just in terms of the sizeable revenue increase of $13 million over 2010 to reach its highest total yet of $83 million, but also because the industry body OMANZ was given a bit more love. The brand was overhauled, the website was redone, it is hoping to resurrect the Outdoor Awards, and this month it has taken to the streets to spread the outdoor gospel with an out-of-home advertising campaign.
Adshel recently gave Nick Vile the call-up to run the more localised ship and it’s also announced two new additions to the local family, with Jo Caira joining as production manager and Emma Barnes joining as marketing manager.
Otis Frizzell recently put his hand to the wall to brighten up Ponsonby’s Sohole and promote the new Samsung Galaxy Note, a very cool piece of kit that sits somewhere between a phone and a tablet and harks back to the golden age of cellular technology by being massive and rocking a stylus. And now some other talented Kiwi artists are using their skills to help launch another fancy gadget, with Cut Collective transforming a couple of billboards in Auckland and Wellington for Nokia’s new Lumia.