Browsing: Spark

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Exit interview: Kym Niblock
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As Lightbox chief executive Kym Niblock prepares to bid farewell to the SVOD industry, we sit down with her for a long chat about her stint at the centre of one of the fastest changing industries in New Zealand.

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Idealog launches New Zealand’s first VR cover
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For Idealog’s technology issue, we wanted to find a way to use contemporary technological processes to create a cover that embodied the kinds of technologies that would be covered within its pages. Could we code a cover? Automate the design with an algorithm? Get readers to download an app and make it come to life? Could we make it a hologram?

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The Boroughs: should people be annoyed about the delays?
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There are so many ads that just slip right by us, in fact, most of them do. But when a giant campaign is launched featuring NBA star Steven Adams and promising the build of five basketball courts in your city, it’s hard not to notice. And to notice is to anticipate and when there are hold ups, people get annoyed. We talk to Spark’s Clive Ormerod about the latest on The Boroughs’ roll-out and what the telco might do differently when launching the next courts.

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Who shared the love on Mother’s Day?
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While many Kiwi mums appreciate breakfast in bed, being taken out for a meal, or watching the kids take over the meaning duties, we check out some of the brands that stepped up the game with some creative campaigns for Mother’s Day.

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What makes a good brand partnership? Spark’s experience
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Finding commercial partners is a cost-effective way to reach a wider, or desired audience. When a brand pairing works well, it can garner great results and high engagement. But what makes a good partnership? One brand that has paired wisely and has the results to show for it is Spark. Spark’s general manager of marketing Clive Ormerod talks us through some of the thinking behind its brand alignments.

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Spark and NZME aim to help out the little guys in latest multimedia branded content project
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In today’s multi-channel climate, brands need to be very shrewd about how they get through to their audience. Traditional advertising just ain’t cutting as much mustard as it once did, particularly with the young’uns. Spark has recognised this, and following on from its last collaboration with NZME, which focused on what life might be like in 2025, it’s again enlisted the publisher to bring a second piece of content marketing to life, this time targeted at small business owners.

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We grammin’—and Spark wants to gram it with you
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Spark is continuing to utilise its younger, cooler post-rebrand persona by venturing into target market territory. Its most recent effort is its summer Instagram campaign, developed with its PR agency Sherson Willis, which rewards the most creative fans with credit (or as Spark calls it, ‘social currency’) if they capture and share Instagram shots (based on trending images on the platform) with the correct hashtag. And halfway through the campaign, the telco has already given away thousands of dollars of credit, increased sign ups and seen a growth in its Instagram following.

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Spark’s ‘North Star’ brings its vision of the future to life, as NZME embarks on one of its biggest branded content projects yet
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Visions of the future are fertile territory for psychics, science fiction writers and highly paid consultants. And as Spark attempts to move from dumb pipes to digital services, it’s joined in the fun and created Spark Life 2025 to show what life might be like ten years from now. And NZME has helped bring its vision to life online.

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Spark shares the love with Shine and Colenso BBDO
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It’s no secret Spark is on a mission to transform its business and as part of that it’s transforming its agency model, with Shine confirmed as a key strategic partner and, as widely expected, Clemenger Group rounding out its previous wins after Colenso BBDO was appointed as its above-the-line brand agency.

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Spark thought to have given Shine a juicy strategic bone
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When we asked Spark back in September if its creative account was up for pitch, a spokesperson said no, but said a group of agencies was working on a brand project and they were asked to come back with ideas on a specific problem. But it’s thought that pitch process was much bigger than a project, and Shine appears to be the first to benefit from it.

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A bird in the house is worth two in the bush: Spark’s Morepork smart home technology hits the market
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To own a smartphone is one thing, but as technology becomes more advanced, it also becomes more pervasive, edging itself further into the household. Soon it seems we’ll have a smart everything: smart beds (yes that’s a thing), smart watches, smart thermostats, smart bikes. The list goes on. Yesterday Spark released its Morepork smart home technology, but it’s not using the native owl of which it’s named after to market the product, but rather a family of emojis. We spoke to Spark’s Gemma Croombs to find out more on how the telco is pushing the product and her insights on smart technology. PLUS: a few examples of the latest in home smart tech.