Special Group

Special Group, Salt Interactive and Orcon took the humble web banner to places the web banner has never been before in New Zealand and took gold in Online Advertising for their efforts with Orcon. And, by adding Twitter and Facebook functions, it became a rare beast: a banner that was actually shared among friends, showing that interactive utility shows its stripes when impressive content is created to suit the medium. Special Group also won bronze in the branded content for the Volvo ‘Blindfold’ campaign.

Special Group and Salt Interactive’s ‘Orcon Business Banner’ was a hit with the StopPress punters when it launched and it also tickled the fancy of the judges of the Digital Craft section. Oktobor, which recently announced it would be moving out of the advertising sandpit to concentrate on its new cash cow animation, also picked up gold in Digital Craft for Shihad’s ‘Sleepeater’, which was a fitting way for a production house that has performed very well at Axis over the years to say farewell.

After a competitive pitch, the Royal New Zealand Ballet has appointed Special Group as its design and communications agency.

To celebrate the launch of MediaWorks’ new channel FOUR this weekend, Special Group decided to create a massive inflatable duck and, after filming it for a channel ident, berthed it in the Auckland viaduct for passersby to marvel at (puntastic kudos to Tim Newman for coining the phrase ViaDuck). Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s oversized aquatic birds have been deployed in cities in Europe, Asia and South America, so no-one ever claimed it was an original idea. But not only has the giant yellow duck been done overseas, it’s also been done in New Zealand—and not too long ago either.

New Zealand has a nigh-on unhealthy obsession with oversized novelty items. Carrots, L&P bottles, trout,  salmon, sheep, kiwifruit… the list goes on. So what better way to celebrate the arrival of MediaWorks’ new mainstream entertainment channel FOUR this weekend than to set a 12 metre high, 14 metre wide inflatable duck loose on Auckland harbour.

FOUR, TVWorks’ great mainstream entertainment hope for 2011, launches in February and, with a 15 percent boost in ad revenue since the changes were rung to C4 last year, chief executive Jason Paris is pretty excited about what the year might hold for the network. Much to the relief of those who pleaded with MediaWorks to enlist the services of an agency instead of doing its creative inhouse, Special Group got the nod last year and proceeded to get stuck into the promotional work for the launch. And this is what the talented gang have come up with (yes, that is the real number for the BSA).

You’ve probably heard of a blind taste test. But a blind test drive?

Greedy old DraftFCB has won another one, this time getting the nod for the Orcon business and taking over from Special Group.

It was fun while it lasted, but it seems Orcon and Special Group have split up.

The local ad fraternity, the global cognoscenti and plenty of actual New Zealanders were all smitten with Orcon and Special Group’s ‘Orcon + Iggy’ campaign. But, as cliche-loving rugby players always say, you’re only as good as your last match. And despite the fact the trophies have flowed fairly freely for the pairing in 2010, the Orcon business is currently up for pitch.

Special Group has continued its hot run of form in 2010 by nabbing a slice of the MediaWorks TV business. And the first task has been to rebrand and relaunch the youth-focused music channel C4 and turn it into a slightly less youth focused mainstream entertainment channel called FOUR.

A spoonful of appointments news always makes the medicine go down.

The good ship Special Group continues to steam ahead, taking home yet another Grand Prix (and US$10,000) for its greedy ‘Orcon + Iggy’ campaign at the AdStars gala awards at Busan in Korea.