Spotify recently admitted that YouTube is the world’s biggest music streaming service. And many of the most popular music videos can be found on the Vevo channel. So, as is the custom at this time of year, it’s crunched its annual numbers and released a top ten list of the most-watched music videos across Australia and New Zealand in 2014.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Our weekly collection of good things, funny things, weird things and other things from inside the intertubes.
“The average human goes from 0 to 60 in less than two billion seconds,” says the narrator in the new BMW spot via Ogilvy’s Gurgaon branch in India. And during the 44 seconds of the ad, this premise is visually represented through a series of photographs and short video clips showing the progression of a person moving from youth to old age in only a few seconds, and tying in perfectly to the ‘Don’t postpone joy’ positioning of the new campaign.
Architectural design firm Jasmax is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and, in keeping with the marketing zeitgeist, it asked punters to join in the fun by creating a short video showing “how architecture impacts and facilitates our everyday lives” (and at least one Jasmax project). And Jason Dobbs and his skateboarding son Cato took the $5,000 prize with a clip called A2B.
Snow in May never stays. Snow in June still too soon. Snow in July, it will lie. That old adage seems to have been true this year, and the snow lovers are getting their wish this week with some big dumps around the country. So Air New Zealand, Host Sydney and content creators Diaries Downunder have decided to celebrate the welcome arrival of the white stuff with a spot of synchronised snow sliding on Isobel Glacier. Plus: Tourism New Zealand’s snow-related efforts to tempt the Aussies.
Last week, shortly after the release of Telecom’s Lightbox offering, Quickflix announced an agreement with South Pacific Pictures that gave the veteran in New Zealand’s SVOD market rights to over 120 hours of local content via Go Girls and Outrageous Fortune. And given that Lightbox’s head of programming and local content Maria Mahony admitted to StopPress that she was currently in talks with local film distributors to secure a deal to screen several local shows, this announcement by Quickflix will no doubt be competitive blow to the newcomer.
Last month, StopPress covered the ‘Beef with Bullies’ campaign that the Mad Butcher had launched in an effort to raise awareness about the blight of bullying in New Zealand schools. As part of the campaign, the Mad Butcher also launched a competition that invited New Zealand schools to send in video clips that relay an anti-bullying message. These entries have trickled in over the last few weeks, and the Mad Butcher’s social media team started posting them onto the company’s Facebook page this morning.
Vend’s startup introduction video was a fun take on the world of cloud point of sale systems, involving nearly all its staff, a customer and even a baby. So it’s not surprising the behind the scenes clip reveals even more fun, from mattress dives to communal cheers.
A Kiwi DJ is among the lineup of ambassadors with strong social media presences tapped by Contiki to show off possiblities for the big OE. The #noregrets Adventure Challenge has a contest each week for the target audience of 18-35 year olds thinking about travel destinations.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
A US law firm has got creative with two of life’s not-so-good things: divorce and non-existent YouTube videos. And the videos wouldn’t be complete without a hint of celebrity.
It was all hands on deck at Vend’s recently-opened Auckland office as it made its new introductory video. The point of sale company was at pains to avoid startup video cliches like happy hipsters and clever cartoons.
The August highlight reel from Getty Images is a visual celebration of creativity, natural beauty and special effects mastery that stands as a testament of the power of the camera lens.
It’s been a busy week for Air New Zealand with asset sales and a dip in shares value. But somewhere in all that chaos, the airline still managed to find time to release a commercial that aims to remind everyone that the company has a distinctly Kiwi flavour. The TVC forms part of the ‘Middle-earth is closer than you think’ campaign, which also includes a competition that gives entrants a chance of winning a trip to Los Angeles to watch the premiere of The Hobbit: the desolation of Smaug. PLUS: Google also gets in on the Hobbit action with an interactive journey through Middle-earth.
While the newspaper industry is currently facing up to a range of concerning statistics, one of the positive consequences of the digital era is that newspaper brands and media companies have been forced to innovate and experiment with new forms of storytelling. APN NZ did a great job of bringing all of the various strands of its modern business together for its 150th birthday celebrations last week, from the printed paper to the special editorial projects to the parallax scrolling website to the live blog of the newsroom to Dick Frizzell’s commissioned artworks of Kiwi legends to the 15-day promotion. And at the cocktail function at the Auckland Art Gallery, they showed a clip created by Leon Sefton of Perendale Productions that showed what the current crop of editors and journalists thought about the milestone—and what the company will need to do if it hopes to be around for the next 150 years.
Getty showcases New Zealand’s beauty in a compilation that could easily double as a tourism TVC.
On 17 November, Saatchi & Saatchi NZ and Coca Cola Amatil (NZ) launched Pump’s ‘grab life by the bottle’ TVC, which showcased a host of Kiwis having a good time with a Pump bottle in hand. PLUS: read how adventurous Kiwis can send in entries to become part of the next commercial.
Kiwibank has released a new promotional video to show prospective homebuyers that they still have options in spite of the recent legislative limits that increased the minimum deposit to 20%. The hilarious video, which features a quirky script and home made out of cardboard boxes, could easily double as a parody of a Campbell Live case study.
Dominic Corry sits down with Jeremy O’Brien, the TVNZ head of sales, to discuss the scale of branded content and how it goes beyond programme integration. They place emphasis on the different forms of branded content and give tips on how to effectively incorporate a brand into a programme.
We’ve seen some interesting methods employed to promote responsible drinking behaviour in recent times, with the likes of NZTA’s Ghost Chips, Steinlager’s marker pens and the Health Promotion Agency’s ‘No More Beersies’. Now Nathan Cooper, he of rubbishcorp and Saatchi & Saatchi NZ fame, is once again using the power of video to encourage drinkers across the internet to consider the consequences of their boozing.
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
It’s often said people browsing the web have little appetite for long videos, but Tui’s proved that wrong with its viral beer prank. The beer plumber stunt created by Saatchi and Saatchi, featuring a builder and his tradie mates launched on 17 September. The 90 second version has had about 2.65 million views while the seven minute version has had more than 3.5 million.
Humans seem to have an innate fascination with slo-mo, as evidenced by the eight million or so clips on YouTube. And, judging by the photo booth tomfoolery at various awards evenings, they’re also quite narcissistic, so Dunedin-based design and production shop Motion Sickness Studio has combined those two things and set its slo-mo station loose on the nation.
Online sports broadcast service Premier League Pass streamed its first games on 17 August, and there have been one or two teething problems. No big deal, says chief executive Tim Martin.
Got 12 seconds? Then you’ve got time to check out a time lapse of Nespresso’s new billboard, printed and installed by Boston Digital.
Cyber security isn’t always as exciting as watching Angelina Jolie “hack” into a mainframe, a la the 1995 hit movie Hackers. Getting the public interested and aware of online best practice is a difficult task, but one that NetSafe has tackled well with a series of videos tying in with Cyber Security Awareness Week.
After trekking through remote New Zealand with five Nikon D800 cameras, 16 lenses, 30 batteries, and four tripods and bespoke rigs, photographer and artist Joe Michael and his crew were able to shoot parts of New Zealand that many never see. And the end result is Dark Cloud: White Light, a new media arts project showing at Pataka Art + Museumfrom July 14—October 13.
Online video is booming. And businesses are seeing dollar signs. Here’s how to avoid getting it wrong.
TV3’s On Demand video service for mobile has been suspended while the broadcaster investigates a breach which allowed an undisclosed number of users to download content to their mobile devices.