2012 was a comeback year for the Whybin\TBWA Group after something of an annus horribilis in 2011. It put Middle-earth into New Zealand, oversaw the biggest thing in banking with the surprisingly smooth National Bank/ANZ fusion, launched the Digital Arts Network by merging Shift and Tequila\, and its PR arm Eleven won a couple of PR agency of year awards. So chief executive David Walden, who sold a few shares and began the hunt for a successor, ended the year a pretty happy chappy.
Browsing: Tourism New Zealand
Tourism New Zealand and Whybin\TBWA’s 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign has been the subject of much discussion recently, plenty of it based around the perceived gap between the fantasy of the slogan and the reality of the country’s environmental situation. But after some negative media coverage, it’s put one in the plus column by winning the World’s Leading Destination Marketing Campaign in the World Travel Awards 2012.
Haven’t had your daily dose of The Hobbit? Then head on over to newzealand.com and take a look at New Zealand redrawn in the spirit of Tolkien thanks to WHYBIN\TBWA and Weta Workshops.
Amid the controversy that seems to have attached itself to the release of the first Hobbit film, Wellingtonians in particular will be hard-pressed to forget the premiere is taking place in their city, not least thanks to the two-storey Middle Earth wrap that’s been attached to the side of Clemenger BBDO’s Wellington office. That’s one more Hobbit-themed gesture to add to a growing list that also includes DraftFCB’s baggage carousel at Wellington airport, Air New Zealand’s Hobbit aircraft and, of course, Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Middle-earth.
Tourism New Zealand’s marketing strategy is all about convincing ‘active considerers’ to give New Zealand a go. And almost all of its budget is now spent on digital marketing to communicate directly with consumers, with the award-winning newzealand.com website acting as the central hub to convert them to travel. And, with the help of TBWA\’s Digital Arts Network (DAN), the latest iteration of the site has been launched.
From the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign to the launch of the Honda City, George Hickton has proven time and time again that marketing is a philosophy that underpins a business, rather than just a function within it.
TBWA’s ‘The Mission Continues’ for 2degrees took the annual Colmar Brunton Ad Impact award, and it’s continued its winning streak by claiming victory in the August round for its 100% Middle-earth campaign for Tourism New Zealand.
Tourism New Zealand has just launched its 100% Middle-earth campaign in an effort to bask in the reflected glow of The Hobbit trilogy. Here’s what general manager of marketing and communications Justin Watson had to say about it.
The 100% Pure New Zealand campaign is now in its 13th year, is held up as a master-class in tourism marketing and has helped turn New Zealand into one of the strongest country brands in the world. And Tourism New Zealand is aiming to replicate the international influx of visitors following The Lord of the Rings trilogy with the release of a new global campaign by the Sydney and Auckland offices of Whybin\TBWA and Curious Film that “invokes the magic of Middle-earth”.
Eight of New Zealand’s top advertising photographers are revealing a little of themselves to the public. Renowned for their world-class commercial work, this group of internationally awarded photographers is showcasing personal work in an exhibition to launch 1 December.
Tourism New Zealand has signed a $9 million marketing deal with Jetstar that will combine the airline’s low fares with the tourism organisation’s strong destination branding to encourage more international visitors from Australia, Singapore, Japan and across the Asia region.
Tourism New Zealand has appointed Whybin/TBWA and reappointed Mindshare to service its Australian creative, media, digital requirements and global brand strategy, beating out rumoured fellow pitchers Clemenger Group, Droga5 and Publicis Mojo.
Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) has announced its intention to review its Australasian creative and media agency support to manage its Australian advertising and global brand work.
For over ten years now, Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Pure New Zealand campaign has been a staple brand for marketing New Zealand to the world. But whether we ought to be laying such a pure claim at all has come under fire on many occasions, most recently on BBC programme Hardtalk where John Key was left sweating after host Stephen Sackur put some tough questions to the Prime Minister about the clean and green image on which New Zealand prides itself.
In the wake of the Christchurch quake and the intense international media coverage that followed, many businesses—and plenty of individuals—have been trying to let the world know that New Zealand is still able to be toured and explored. As you’d expect, Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) has been leading that charge and has launched a campaign called New Zealand is Open, which saw ads run in Australian and United Kingdom national Sunday papers last weekend.
Following a fairly good showing from the Kiwi agencies in the last batch of AWARD finalists, only Colenso BBDO, DDB, TBWA\, Clemenger BBDO and Tourism New Zealand made the cut in the film and video categories. Behold the finalists.
… as RadioLIVE’s Maggie Barry throws in the towel, Sarah Stuart takes over as editor of Woman’s Weekly, Rapp Tribal welcomes two new deputy creative directors, MediaWorks says goodbye to some experienced journalistic campaigners, Chris Rudd leaves ACP Magazines and Tourism New Zealand fills its boots with five new hires.
As the well-known Queenstown saying goes: “It’s tourist season, but, sadly, you can’t shoot them”. And to try and further increase visitors over the upcoming summer boom time, Tourism New Zealand has launched a fresh marketing offensive in China and expanded its digital campaigns in Japan, USA, Canada, UK and Germany, all of which signify a marked change of strategy following the addition of digital specialists Amnesia Razorfish to its agency roster.
Speaking at the Inbound Tour Operators’ Council (ITOC) annual conference in Blenheim recently, Doug Chapman, executive director of client services at specialist digital agency Amnesia Razorfish, told delegates marketing was in the midst of a revolution thanks to the internet. And, with a raft of new technologies and hundreds of new social sites to take New Zealand to a travel-hungry world, it is a revolution Tourism New Zealand is well-positioned to take advantage of to reach potential travellers in a cost-effective way.
Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) has enlisted the services of Australian digital and social media specialists Razorfish Amnesia following a review of its digital marketing strategy. But no-one from either party wants to talk about the new relationship, what the relationship will entail, what the job is, how much the budget is or who else was asked to pitch.
Hung Huang
Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) has teamed up with two Chinese VIPs, film-maker Lu Chuan and media personality/celebrity blogger Hung Huang, to try and boost New Zealand’s profile as a destination with the massive Chinese populous.
Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand have paired up and found a couple of clever ways to use the word ‘shout’. The two organisations have just launched another round of the ‘New Zealand Big Shout’ campaign in Australia.
Some of New Zealand’s top young musos have donned their promotional caps for a tourism campaign that shows off a few of their favourite Kiwi haunts in an effort to entice young Aussies to come for a visit.
Last week we posted a story announcing the five finalists in Tourism New Zealand’s ‘Your Big Break’ competition, in which budding film makers from around the world were asked to submit a three minute video that best captures New Zealand’s youthfulness.
Joint venture campaign activity has kicked off in Australia and is set to give New Zealand a high profile over the next few months.
…By getting the rest of the world to promote it for you, of course.
Social media is proving its worth for the organisers of the 2011 Rugby World Cup: with more than 250,000 fans, the RWC 2011 Facebook page is now the biggest in New Zealand.
Tourism New Zealand is kicking off another early-bird ski campaign on Sunday to try and lure Australians back to the slopes in 2010.
Venture capitalist and philanthropist Sam Morgan and marketer and bike lover Richard Leggat are the latest additions to the board of Tourism New Zealand.
Two New Zealand film-makers, Tim McLachlan and Rajneel Singh, have made it through to the top five in 100% Pure ‘Your Big Break’ short film competition. And Tourism New Zealand is pretty chuffed with the campaign’s success.