Telecom has made some big changes this year—both internally and to its agency structure. And there’s time for another big one before Christmas, with general manager of brand, communications and digital Kellie Nathan set to depart in February after taking on the job of general manager of marketing at Pumpkin Patch.
Another week of quality Kiwi TV work, with DB Export, Sky, Steinlager, Trade Me and Telecom getting special ribbons to wear on their blazers.
A fictional blogger who dons unusually large hands is the key figure in Saatchi & Saatchi’s campaign that gives prepaid users a whack around the ears from Telecom.
Telecom has given Fashion Week a digital edge with a new mobile site called Sheek. The HTML site offers a quiz challenge with a chance to win a $5000 wardrobe with choices from Kiwi designers Hailwood, Andrea Moore, Zambesi, Annah Stretton, Huffer, Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester, Cybele and Twentyseven Names.
BNZ, New World, Telecom and Peugeot get a ticker tape parade this week.
Telecom and Vodafone both announced today that Telecom has dropped court proceedings against Vodafone, after the latter’s SuperNet advertising ruffled some feathers.
Kiwibank, Otago Uni and Telecom get a street parade in Hamilton this week.
Snapper chief executive Miki Szikszai noticed an awkward ad placement on the New Zealand Herald’s website this morning.
While Telecom is currently focusing on the advertising of its major competitor, with proceedings lodged today in the High Court over aspects of what it believes are misleading claims in Vodafone’s recent SuperNet campaign, it will be focusing on its own advertising come Sunday night, because it’s launching a new campaign for its Business Hubs, the local (and often locally-owned) business-only locations offering services and products to SME customers.
The people of New Zealand have voted and Telecom and The Warehouse’s latest TVCs do have the X Factor.
Packed full of bullet-time goodness, Telecom’s latest ad campaign for its Ultra Broadband products brings the anticipation of high speed antics, without having to show any of it.
There are plenty of changes occurring inside Telecom at the moment, and while some significant staff culling has led to an increase in the amount of out-sourcing in some parts of the business, Telecom Retail is relinquishing Contagion of one of its responsibilities.
There have been some massive changes inside Telecom recently, with chief executive Simon Moutter announcing a restructure that plans to axe between 930 to 1280 jobs by the middle of this year a few months back. And as a direct result of the decision to reduce the headcount, it has outsourced a few previously internal functions and appointed Clemenger Group-owned Touch/Cast.
The community of tech aficionados who participate on the Geekzone forums are some of the harshest critics of Telecom. It’s interesting to see then the country’s largest telco tap into this pool of switched on geeks to help design a new consumer modem it plans to sell to the wider New Zealand.
Hosts Paul Spain and Sim Ahmed pick the brain of former Telecom social media manager and current New Zealand Cricket online and social manager Richard Irvine about his career as the voice (and face) of the country’s largest telco on Twitter and Facebook.
Demand for mobile data in New Zealand has almost doubled for the second year in a row, as the cost of data decreases and the number of smartphones in Kiwi hands increase.
Amidst news of massive job cuts, Telecom is sprinkling something more positive into the mix with the launch of its new business incubator called Digital Ventures.
Between 930 and 1230 jobs will be cut at Telecom in a round of cost cutting measures, the company has announced to the New Zealand Stock Exchange. This may be a “necessary evil” for a top heavy company with more than 2870 staff earning six-figure salaries.
Roy Morgan Research last night revealed the 24 winners of its 2nd annual Customer Satisfaction Awards at a dinner in Auckland, and SBS Bank, Kiwi Bank, Subway, Kirkcaldie & Stains, Suzuki, 2 degrees, and Paradise retained their crowns from last year.
Vodafone launches 4G internet in New Zealand, leaving Telecom looking rather silly with its 100-person trials. Includes new TVC featuring Boy star James Rolleston, and a time-travelling DeLorean.
The government’s $1.5 billion Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) network is now in reach of 135,000 end users, but less than 4,000 New Zealanders have connected so far, according to ICT minister Amy Adams, and without Telecom and Vodafone to market the benefits, it’s unlikely to go mainstream in the near future.
Telecom wants New Zealanders to be savvier with their technology, starting with viewers of One News. The country’s largest telco is launching a series of new TV spots called Tech in a Sec, to help Kiwis figure out their damn-fangled devices.
Hundreds of jobs at Telecom are being cut, as the company posts a half year profit to December 2012 of $163 million, up by around 58 percent from the previous year.
This industry isn’t renowned for its institutional memory and, when looking for candidates for the Back Then section in NZ Marketing, it’s a surprisingly common occurrence to hear back from agencies and brands who aren’t able to find any of their early advertising work. Online repositories are certainly helping to remedy that situation, and a good example of that is the nostalgia section on the new website of Wellington creative consultancy Doublefish, which is worth a gander for anyone with a passing interest in the craft of advertising—or local popular culture.
There’s been plenty of news about hacking in recent weeks, from local examples like Telecom and Yahoo’s email debacle, to the takeover of Burger King and Jeep’s Twitter accounts, to break-ins to Twitter, Apple and Facebook. It’s a fairly common occurrence these days, and while we might add in an exclamation mark instead of a 1 to our password and feel a bit more secure about our data, a fairly terrifying Wired article from late last year that looked into the world of online security shows that “no matter how complex, no matter how unique, your passwords can no longer protect you.”
Partnership between New Zealand’s two biggest telcos, and Australia’s Telstra, will added almost 300 times our current internet capacity by 2014.
With fewer competitors, a new agency, the departure of some senior staff, a range of marketing initiatives and a new brand campaign, it was a big year for Westpac. Senior brand manager Michael Healy shares his thoughts.
Telecom has reorganised its agency partners and shifted its media business from Starcom to a newly-created, Omnicom-owned ‘integrated data-driven hub’ called Dynamo that will take care of all its media planning, media buying, direct marketing planning and analytics.
2011 wasn’t a particularly memorable year for Saatchi & Saatchi, with the pink fist debacle casting a major pall. But the new executive and creative team has shaken things up and, after winning ASB without a pitch earlier this year and releasing some of the best work of 2012, the confidence—and the quality—appears to have returned. Creative directors Corey Chalmers and Gus Roberts speak up.
It’s been a rough ride, and with the whiff of restructure in the air, there will undoubtedly be a bit more roughness to come. But Telecom has steadied the ship in 2012 and, with Jason Paris at the helm and a resurgent Saatchi & Saatchi helping to create one of the best campaigns of the year, it is starting to get back on the goodfoot from a brand and storytelling point of view. Head of brand and insights Charlotte Findlay takes the stage.