After a record 3647 entries, the 55 jury members for Spikes Asia have released the shortlists for Print, Outdoor, Media, Direct, Promo & Activation, Design, PR, Radio, Digital, Mobile and Film. And DDB NZ is at the front of the Kiwi pack with 15 nominations, with Colenso BBDO close behind on eight.
It’s tough to make a buck in the music industry these days. But those creative types can sometimes make a pretty penny if they sell their soul and head into advertising. And it seems a few musos have left their instruments behind for scamp pads and sharpies of late, with Dave Gibson joining DraftFCB, the Kids of 88 starting at Barnes, Catmur & Friends and P-Money coming on-board at TBWA\.
Back in June, UK’s Campaign magazine published a Ltd Edition Emerging Talent Portfolio that showcased “the world’s best young creative talent, as chosen by the world’s best, er, old talent” and sold it at Cannes this year for 20p a copy. And two Kiwi entries made the top 50, TBWA\’s Agency Plankton and North Shore animation house Cirkus.
Life insurance is often seen as something of a morbid necessity and insurance companies often tap into the guilt factor to sell it. But Sovereign’s new campaign ‘Choose Life. Choose Sovereign’, which was developed by Whybin\TBWA and Tequila\ and continues a rebranding journey that began three years ago, aims to take a new, more positive stance on the role insurance plays in Kiwis’ lives with “a message of light-hearted empowerment”.
It’s not always be a pretty sight, but you’ll struggle to pull your eyes and ears away nevertheless. Battle of the Ad Bands 2011 is quickly approaching and if you fancy repeating the success of last year’s winner, TBWA’s ‘Backslash’, you best get registering.
Who’s it for: Telecom by Saatchi & Saatchi and Prodigy
Why we like it: It’s a fairly earnest, emotional affair, but it’s beautifully shot, well written and it uses a range of scenes and an accurate insight to show why so many different people are so …
MediaWorks has been in the news a bit recently, with the unexpected departure of its TV wunderkind Jason Paris and continuing discussion about the sizable debts of its owner Ironbridge. But it’s not all bad: its two-channel strategy appears to be paying off in terms of share, ad revenue is up and general manager of integration Melanie Reece says the “sleeping giant” of branded content and product placement is starting to wake up, as evidenced by the success of New Zealand’s Next Top Model and the inclusion of new sponsors like 2degrees into the show.
After the drama of the recent ANZ pitch, where Whybin\TBWA\ Melbourne took ownership of the account and ousted Kiwi incumbent DDB, everyone was interested to see what the big creative idea that supposedly won the day was. Now you can judge for yourself, because the bank’s first global ad campaign, which features Aussie actor Simon Baker in character as The Mentalist’s Patrick Jane, has been launched in Australia and Asia, with New Zealand soon to follow.
2degrees came out in March saying it had gained 11 percent of the consumer market since its launch around two years ago. Now it’s gunning for New Zealand’s business customers with new plans, a new TBWA\ TV campaign featuring a dizzying array of Rhys Darbys and a man strapped to a billboard.
Over the past 18 months adult contemporary music radio station Classic Hits has been the subject of a significant shake up in terms of its musical, advertising and dj line-up. And with those changes now firmly in place, the station has rounded off its makeover with a new logo that’s actually a significant departure from the green and red logo that’s been in place since 1993.
…as TBWA\ makes a couple more significant hires; Radio New Zealand splits up its Morning Report hosts; Clemenger Group continues to nurture youngsters after its inaugural Graduate Programme proved a success; Carat hunts for a new general manager; another old hand joins The Pond’s freelance ranks; Mango adds a trio to its events team; and the Ministry of Economic Development signs up an event advisor.
You can rely on the rather liberal St Matthew in the City church in Auckland to ruffle the feathers of the puritans and zealots with its ‘progressive’ billboards. And, as history has shown, you can also rely on Hell Pizza to stoke a few offensive coals with its advertising. Well, this Easter, the two of them have become surprising bedfellows.
…as Kerry Smith is farewelled; Tequila finds its new general manager after a lengthy search; Mango adds three new fruits; and one of The Sweet Shop’s directors gets the nod for his film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Who’s it for: Whittaker’s Peanut Slab by Assignment Group
Why we like it: Good honest chocolate. Very good entertaining montage. And there are plenty more very funny ‘swear by the slab’ moments here.
Who’s it for: Persil and Curious Film
Why we like …
After taking out the big one at the Marketing Awards last year, selling its wares to over 580,000 customers and bringing home a few other weighty accolades in its 18 month history, 2degrees and TBWA\ are already well-accustomed to winning. And it can add another trophy to the box sitting in Rhys Darby’s attic after the new Bruce and Brian spot was judged the winner of the March edition of Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Awards.
No golds were handed out in the Radio Single category, but DDB walked away with the next best thing, a silver for its ‘Van Gogh’ commercial, which was part of the Arts Channel radio campaign for Sky TV. It was the only award handed out in the category and adds to the Silver Lion Scriptwriting award picked up by DDB last year at Cannes. Listen to it here. No golds or silvers were handed out in the Radio Campaign category, but DDB won bronze for the Arts Channel campaign (Van Gogh, Rothco and Pollock) and TBWA\Tequila followed suit with a bronze for the 2degrees campaign. Anne Boothroyd and Bigid Alkema’s Sliding Doors was voted the best radio ad of the decade for the Radio Bureau’s Grandest Orca.
After five years operating successfully in the Kiwi market, TBWA\’s consumer PR and experiential agency Eleven PR is opening its doors in Sydney, with Rob Lowe, former senior account director at One Green Bean in Sydney, enlisted to lead the charge.
…as the ASA announces its new chair; TBWA\ shuffles the management and says goodbye to its general manager; Affinity ID nails a hat-trick; Kate Alexander takes over from dad at Studio Alexander; Christina Force sells her stake in the “first dedicated photographers agency in New Zealand”; Envy Studios add two to the staff roster; and DNA welcomes a large man from Northampton.
The tongues have been wagging fairly violently in agency land about the possibility of ANZ shifting agencies. And the speculation has now been confirmed, after Whybin TBWA was officially appointed as its global creative agency after a four month pitch.
Who’s it for: 2degrees by TBWA\ and Digital Post
Why we like it: Once again, 2degrees has managed to entertain and inform simultaneously with its new Pay Monthly spots. As we’ve all come to expect, they’re funny, quirky, easily understood and also quite …
It worked last year when TBWA\ creatives Iain Neallie and Tara McKenty somehow managed to scavenge their way to Cannes by selling fictional stocks in themselves. And the disease is obviously catching at the Auckland agency, because another fledgling creative pair are hoping to get themselves a free trip to Adfest in Thailand by buttering up the nation’s muscliest silver fox through the power of song.
The radio, design, digital, creative innovation and integrated finalists for AWARD have been announced, with Clemenger BBDO, Colenso, DDB, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA\, Publicis Mojo, Rapp/Tribal, AIM Proximity and Special Group all making the cut. But coming out on top for the Kiwis in terms of overall finalist nods are DraftFCB, DDB NZ and Special Group. The awards will be handed out on Friday.
Churches, by nature, are fairly conservative beasts. Understandably, they’re trying valiantly to cling to the power they once held before many modern folk decided a big breakfast at the local cafe was a better way to spend a Sunday morning. As a result, they’re not regarded as the biggest embracers of change or difference, which makes the unashamedly progressive and inclusive Anglican church St Matthew in the City in Auckland such an interesting–and polarising—case. The church has well and truly bucked the conservative old school trend and established a reputation for controversial, attention grabbing marketing ploys that aim get people of all shapes, sizes, persuasions and beliefs interested in the offerings of the big man. The zealots certainly don’t seem to like what they generally deem to be blasphemy (the media does, however) and St Matthew in the City’s latest effort, a blessed billboard made with the help of TBWA\, certainly fits the brief.
2010’s been a mixed bag for TBWA\, losing the massive ASB account to Droga5 yet doing very well with 2degrees. To his credit, chief executive Dave Walden held his tongue and acted very professionally following what he calls the “ASB debacle” (and he also takes the prize for year’s best quote with “you’ve got to look at the silver lining in every fucking cloud”). As for the future, the agency has some big plans to bring digital to the centre of the agency offering and, given it seems to have missed out on a couple of pitches recently, it will be gunning for some more business next year. So, take it away Devo.
This year’s Effies tagline was ‘the best ad for advertising’. And it was certainly a pretty good advertisement for Colenso BBDO, which won 12 awards and became the only agency to ever win Most Effective Agency of the Year two years in a row, as well as the only agency to win Most Effective Agency of the Year and Best in Show in the same year. It was a close run thing, however, with DraftFCB nipping effectively at its heels with nine.
He’s been a fixture of the New Zealand advertising landscape for 11 years, but all good things must come to an end and, after TBWA\ lost the ASB account to Droga5 a few months back, the axe was always likely to come down on Ira Goldstein, New Zealand’s best-loved bumbling fictional American banking spy.
It was a night that had almost everything: surprisingly loud and seemingly dangerous explosions; a fair bit of rowdiness from the 2degrees/TBWA tables; a hilarious mad scientist poking fun at everyone; strange glowing beakers; an array of confusing acronyms; polite clapping; attentive listening; and prodigious amounts of inter-company sexy dancing as big names from big and small Kiwi companies got dolled up for last night’s TVNZ-NZ Marketing awards at the Langham Hotel in Auckland. And the general consensus was that the quality of the winning work was world-class and that the awards themselves just keep on improving.
Forget your EFFIEs and Axis Awards, this was the one that really counted: the 2010 Battle of the Ad Bands.
There will undoubtedly be a few bottles of Montana (or is that Brancott Estate?) consumed in the TBWA\ towers in the coming months after it disrupted Pernod Ricard New Zealand into handing over its business. And, once again, TBWA\ will be working closely with Mitchell Communication Group on the account, which won the media business from ZenithOptimedia.
The strife in Thailand had its wicked way with Adfest, the Asia Pacific advertising awards. But the dates were changed a few times and, instead of the usual Thai beach resort location, it was decided the big name judges would converge on Tokyo this week to make their decisions. And it’s fairly slim pickings on the finalist front for Kiwi agencies.