Remember on planes when tea was served in porcelain instead of polystyrene? Well, if you don’t, Air New Zealand and True have offered a snapshot by delving into the airline’s past and taking News Works’ Newspaper Ad of the Month award for January with it.

With more local competition from Jetstar and more international competition from the likes of Qantas and American Airlines, Air New Zealand has been working the local angle pretty hard this year, with a new brand campaign, plenty of All Blacks action, an impressive 75th anniversary effort and a recent focus on its partnership with DoC. And now it’s aiming to top off what’s been a very good year, both in terms of marketing output and financial results, by delivering a bit of Christmas magic.

In this age of instant gratification, less is supposed to be more, but creative agency True contradicted that notion with a verbose ad for Air New Zealand, which won them the Newspaper Ad of the month for November.

Air New Zealand has released a new brand campaign, called ‘Where to next?’ with quite a different, more emotive approach from its safety videos, online content and recent TVCs. The airline says this campaign will be around for “several years” and this is merely phase one.

Air New Zealand has run the full marketing gamut for its 75th anniversary celebrations, from the Te Papa exhibition (and associated travelling plane nose), quirky inflight experiences, social media giveaways, big discounts and plenty of archival footage put to very good use in its advertising (although, disappointingly, it’s removed its 50 Cent tribute video). Much of that has been quite whimsical, which is in keeping with the brand values. But it’s wrapped all that activity up and tried to hit the audience right in the feels with a 60 second brand ad that shows how the history of the airline is inextricably linked to the history of the nation.

The Air New Zealand lollies are something of an institution in this country and many a Kiwi kid has had the pleasure of delivering them at the end of a flight. Now it’s planning on adding a new rugby-themed flavour to the roster so it played a bit of an early April Fool’s day prank on a few All Blacks in the form of a taste test.

2014 was a good year for True, with its business growing to four times that of the previous year after developing new working relationships with Vodafone, ANZ (including the current Dream Big campaign), Four Square and Mission Estate Wineries. And now it’s added another client: AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand.

The three-year epic journey of collaboration that Air New Zealand and The Hobbit series have undertaken is finally being concluded with a blockbuster of a safety video filmed by Taika Waititi that features cameos from Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Dean O’Gorman (Fili the Dwarf), Sylvester McCoy (Radagast) and Sir Peter Jackson. PLUS: how the campaign has impacted visitor arrivals.

Vodafone and True have brought together two passionate groups the telco sponsors – the Vodafone Warriors and the Crescendo Trust of Aotearoa – to create a new anthem for the Warriors.

As part of our series dedicated to celebrating good work and inspiring a bit more generosity, Mark Easterbrook, executive creative director at Goodfolk, plumps for Vodafone’s Mother’s Day tear-jerker at a Warriors game.

True opened its doors in 2011 after a few senior protagonists from .99 felt the need to go it alone and break away from the nurturing bosom of The Clemenger Group. Like any new business, the first few years were tough going and it focused on growth rather than profit, but it’s gaining momentum, it’s working with big brands like Air New Zealand and Vodafone, it’s moving into areas outside traditional advertising and it currently employs 25 staff. Managing director Matt Dickinson spills the beans on its philosophy.

The creative agency True has collaborated with Adshel and the mobile application business StQry (pronounced story) to turn Britomart concourse into an ad-hoc gallery for World of WearableArt (WOW) by putting up 22 large, photographic artworks, which have been carefully chosen from ‘WearableArt,’ a new book that celebrates the WOW Awards Show.

Directories group Yellow’s first foray into augmented reality in its app is all about entertainment, but it has plans to get serious with the technology as part of its transition from print to digital.

Air New Zealand has created an expectation that its safety videos won’t be boring. But travellers can only handle seeing a fake plastic fish bouncing around in Bear Grylls’ backpack, Lord of the Rings gags, or a lycra-clad maniac so many times before the novelty wears off. So Air New Zealand and True have launched another new—but old—safety video starring ex-Golden Girl Betty White and a cast of oldies.

Aside from the arrival of Jeremy Wells’ column in the Herald, 2012 hasn’t been a particularly memorable one for New Zealand Cricket. But things can only get better (right?) and, after a short competitive pitch process, it’s chosen indie agency True to help out.