The ‘Spark Should’ page Telecom set up to take feedback on its name change later this year has seen customers complaining about a range of product and service issues as well as the new brand. The company says the page could become a permanent feedback mechanism.
Telecom continues to search for ways to reach a mobile-savvy audience beyond the traditional landline. Hard on the heels of announcing a name change to Spark and its planned internet TV and movie service ShowmeTV, it’s partnering with Spotify to offer the Premium version on certain mobile plans.
Unsurprisingly, last week’s news that Telecom would be changing its name to Spark led to much opining, some of it based around the fact that the rebrand is estimated to cost $20 million. And MacGregor Media has taken the opportunity to point out its cost-effectiveness, just in case they decide to do it again in a few years.
Just as the intertubes lit up with opinions when Telecom launched its spark logo back in 2009, so the intertubes are again abuzz with today’s news that Telecom was planning on changing its name change to Spark. Here’s what chief operating officer Jason Paris had to say about it.
Ever since Telecom did the splits back in 2011, there have been rumours that the ‘New Telecom’ might not stick with its name, which carries with it a fair bit of equity but also a fair bit of monopolistic baggage. And where there’s smoke, there’s fire, because Telecom has announced that it will change its name to Spark later in the year.
The company credit cards are out in force this week for Spikes Asia and most of the shortlists have been announced, with, unsurprisingly, many of the campaigns that featured at Cannes also featuring in Singapore.
Unilever’s Rexona brand has made pretty good use of its All Black sponsorship, from the earnest rituals spot for the Rugby World Cup to some friendly training banter and even a bit of French farce. But the latest work from Naked Communications Sydney is taking things a bit further and demanding some sweat.
Independent media strategy and management agency MBM, which was started in 2010 by Sean McCready and Matt Bale, has been quietly—and fairly successfully—going about its business for the past few years. But it’s got something to shout about now, with ex Sparkie Alysha Delany signing on to become managing partner and shareholder.
Spark Group’s silo-breaking, DDB to welcome some senior muscle, Dow Design adds a senior (and musical) creative, Nikki Walker joins Finch, Yukfoo looks overseas, Air New Zealand honoured (again) and Social Media Club gets a jolt.
TBWA\ welcomes more new blood, Brendan Hewitt gets the nod as a rising media star, Marlen Smith pushes the CAANZ advertising barrow, Beat gets growing and Hotwire launches new analytics tool.
Planking, owling, batting, breading, milking, Tebowing, horsemanning … There’s certainly no shortage of ridiculous participatory memes these days. And, to launch its new Beetle, Volkswagen and DDB have tried to create another one: Beetling.
Marcomms folk are a competitive bunch. Always fighting over clients/awards/staff. And, in many cases, that competition is often a good thing for the quality of ideas, which is why PHD and its local outpost Spark Group are set to launch a new global operating system that taps into elements of gamification and crowd-sourcing to “encourage participation and collaboration” among the 2,500 staff across the Omnicom-owned group.
DraftFCB took a couple of .99’s biggest accounts last year in the form of Vodafone and Air New Zealand, but it looks likes .99 has got some retribution as it’s won the Genesis Energy pitch along with justONE. And there’s also a change in media, with Starcom taking over from the incumbent Spark.
Cameron Slater takes on The Truth, OMDepartures and arrivals, digital developments at Colenso, McComms, Orange Group’s mission gets underway, a good Choice, Komli buzzes out, and another Bright Spark.
Given Genesis Energy is the biggest spender in the electricity sector, clocking in with a very specific $4,408,317 in the year to July according to Nielsen’s AIS data, the news it was up for pitch whipped up a bit of excitement in agency land. From what we’ve heard, pretty much every non-conflicted man and his dog was in the room at the RFP stage, which could either be seen as an indication Genesis was testing the whole market to find the best partner or it didn’t know what kind of agency it actually wanted. But reliable sources have informed us the shortlist has now been decided on, with .99, Y&R, M&C Saatchi and DraftFCB thought to be getting set to fight it out for creative duties and Spark and Naked thought to be in the running for media.
…as Image Centre Group fills up some space with a few newbies, The Research Agency appoints an associate director direct from London, Pead PR prints out four new swipe cards, Interbrand adds an exotic foreigner to the mix and Spark PR & Activate wins the Dermalogica account.
Between them they’ve worked under the Spark PHD roof for over 20 years and Nikki Grafton and Stuart Rutherford have been rewarded for their loyalty after being appointed as joint managing directors.