With digital spaces opening up new ways for magazine brands to extend beyond the page, we take a look at which titles are best utilising social media to engage audiences.
Bambi Boutique is the latest venture by Auckland business tycoon, Iyia Liu, proving time and time again that influencer marketing is the key to quick growth. The Bambi Boutique launch went off without a hitch, while Liu’s influence saw the launch almost completely subsidised by the vendors involved.
Like a drug dealer cutting off supply to its addicted clients, Facebook once again pulled the rug out from underneath publishers and brands as part of its ongoing mission to ‘make the world a better place’. The main shift, which has been happening in various forms for a few years, is a newsfeed tweak that will prioritise engaging content from friends and family, rather than news from media companies or brands. So what does it mean for publishers, brands, agencies and the world in general? Here are some of the best takes on the issue.
Zavy, a company created by insights agency TRA, is tracking how Kiwis are reacting and responding to political parties via an interactive tracking tool that shows public sentiment lift and drop in response to events taking place.
We have a lot to talk about in 2017, but is this reflected in the conversations we’re having on social media? Zavy CEO David Bowes finds out what Kiwis talk about when they go online.
You know it’s mayoral election time when your street, mailbox and favourite cafes become flooded with images of smiling candidates. It’s usually not long until someone puts spray paint to billboard, which often solidifies the images even more in one’s memory. But, having your face plastered over different types of media isn’t cheap and this is a luxury Auckland mayoral candidate Chloe Swarbrick, who has next-to-no funding, doesn’t have. We chat to Swarbrick about what it’s like running a campaign with little money and if this would have been possible at all ten years ago.
TRA’s Colleen Ryan on what Shakespeare can teach brands about breaching the fourth wall through social, where a new set of rules apply.
The third annual SMCAKLs were held last night, celebrating the best use of social media in the country, which saw NZ Police come away with the most coveted award of the night.
In a world of clogged up newsfeeds, sometimes the best content is bogged down by the biggest content. David Thomason uses Philip Simon, a down-to-earth, anti-smoking advocate and infectious personality as a gleaming but under-exposed example of social media gold, and wonders how marketers can use more holistic examples like this in their approach to social change, all while keeping it real.
The social media team behind the Waikato Civil Defence account need an honoury medal of some sort. And if a suitable hunk of metal does not exist for them, one should promptly be created. The reason being that these brave folks perform a great public service every day, providing life-saving weather updates.
When we last caught up with Attitude Group, which creates documentaries telling the stories of Kiwis living with disabilities in October last year, it had reached 16,000 fans on Facebook, and less than six months later it’s now reached 100,000 followers, quickly growing its audience by spreading its inspiring stories far and wide. We chat to Attitude Group’s Hamish Smith about the $8 trillion disability market, opening corporate doors and misconceptions about people with disabilities.
Isentia’s Richard Spencer with some tips on how to tap into China’s enormous digital economy through social media.
Sarah Pearce on humans’ insatiable need to be listened to, and how if brands use social media effectively, this need can be used to their advantage.
To connect with the growing Chinese community in New Zealand, some major brands are delving into Chinese social media by starting accounts on Weibo or WeChat, which combined have 800 million active accounts. The opportunity that exists in this cannot be overstated. However, in the same way that simply starting a Facebook business page offers no guarantee of success, placing your brand onto a social Chinese social media channel isn’t necessarily going to result in instant stream of new revenue. So to better understand the role WeChat and Weibo play in Chinese social media, StopPress chatted to James Shi of Bananaworks, a cross-cultural communications agency specialising in helping kiwi companies to engage with the Chinese community in New Zealand and abroad.
The StopPress editorial team recently took a tour of the new NZME offices and chatted to the NZ Herald’s managing editor Shayne Currie, editor Murray Kirkness and NZME digital audience engagement general manager Lauren Hopwood about why the move made sense.
DB and Toyota recently pulled ads in social media commenters expressing concerns that the creative was inappropriate. And while this is a nod to the effectiveness of self-regulation, it’s worrying that ASA board played no part in the decision to pull these spots.
ASB has announced that it will be launching a new account on the popular Chinese social media website Sina Weibo (Weibo) in a move aimed at diversifying ASB’s means of communication with one of New Zealand’s fastest growing demographics.
Whittaker’s is showing its support for our national bird, and Kiwis (mostly of the human persuasion) across the nation are spreading the word by ‘beaking’ themselves for the cause and posting the images to social media.
With Facebook poised to give the world a range of emoticon options, Jacqui Copas ponders whether this poses new social risks
for brands.
When life gives you lemons, take them on fun adventures. That’s what a Marlborough schoolgirl did with the lid of a Karma Cola ‘Lemmy’ drink, which she shared on a dedicated Instagram page. Lemmy has been surfing, singing, gone on a safari, cycled and made art, and all this happened with no prompts or knowledge (initially) from Karma Cola; but, as to be expected, the brand is pretty stoked Lemmy’s living the good life.
With users logging into their social accounts on mobile multiple times a day and scanning the newsfeed for anything that might interest them, the smartphone has become a key battleground for the publishers vying for consumer eyeballs. And with NZME data showing that 50-58 percent of all the traffic to the Herald’s mobile site came from social media channels over the last few months, we look at how news publishers are becoming increasingly dependent on social media channels.
Kiwi menswear brand I Love Ugly launched its new men’s jewellery range yesterday with a lookbook that many social media users accused of objectifying women. And it’s the latest brand to feel the ire of the angry mob—and, potentially, the perverse benefits of being slammed in an era where attention has become a currency.
A new public health campaign is asking young people to creatively and anonymously condemn those who smoke by sending images through Snapchat.
While it’s tough to top Whittaker’s when it comes to socially savvy FMCG brands, Griffin’s has also had a fair bit of success in that field, with its Choco-ade campaign from a few years back the stand out. And to capitalise on the festive I-need-to-get-them-a-generic-gift-but-it-can’t-be-too-expensive biscuit rush (which is closely related to the chocolate gift giving Cadbury has been promoting for a few years), Griffin’s and its agency Assignment Group are asking Kiwis to provide some rules around appropriate summer Sampler consumption.
The Warehouse is getting into the Christmas spirit by jumping on the bandwagon of random acts of kindness campaigns.
Depending on your viewpoint, Facebook is set to get either creepier or more effective because the social media giant has announced the introduction of photo recognition to its popular Messenger app.
When a bunch of Jaguar Facebook fans signed up for a “virtual reality” ride at the Big Boys Toys expo in Auckland earlier this month, they didn’t expect to get the real deal. But when they watched the video after the event, they realised they’d been duped. And, much like Y&R NZ’s trick campaign for Land Rover earlier this year, it caught a fair bit of attention.
For the latest season of MKR NZ, TVNZ played the regional card pretty hard in an effort to drum up some parochial support for the contenders. And it seems to be a successful strategy, because Sugar & Partners, Carat and NZ Rugby are claiming victory after its outdoor and social media campaign got the punters talking about the ITM Cup.
Speaking at the TNS Connected Life conference, Air New Zealand’s senior social media manager Cassie Roma advised brands to take the bait if the online community is urging them to have a bit of fun. The moral of this story, says Roma, is that if somebody is begging you to be sassy with them, be sassy.
Ogilvy & Mather’s executive director reckons not-for-profit organisations don’t necessarily need massive budgets to reach broad audiences. They just need to be smart when it comes to using digital channels.