Whether it’s ‘natural’, ‘supports’, ‘may’, ‘favourite’, ‘leading’ or ‘from’, the wording in ads is often suitably vague, makes claims that can’t really be disproven and regularly embraces the art of omission. Guaranteed is generally not a word placed in that category, so we couldn’t help but notice a fairly bold claim in a Vodafone ad in the business section of today’s Herald that talked up the benefits of getting a new phone.
Samsung has released its Samsung Galaxy Note5 and teamed up with designer menswear brand Working Style to promote the product in New Zealand, creating an analogy between the streamlined design of the device and the fine workmanship of a tailored suit via a TVC by Augusto.
Earlier this year, Vodafone changed creative direction with the introduction of an adorable porcine character named Piggy Sue, whose heartfelt story relayed the point that ‘life’s better together’. And now, the red telco has built on the positioning with a new ad that shows the value of mobile technology in keeping people connected through a brief story about a grandfather playing a game of chess with his grandson.
There was intellectual dissection, there were furrowed brows, there were plates of calamari (hopefully the kind from the sea), there were big jugs of beer, there were raised voices, there were occasional bouts of physical violence and, eventually, there was quorum as a panel of esteemed judges chose New World and Colenso BBDO’s rather fruity Fruit and Vege Pro as the victor in the StopPress/MediaWorks TVC of the Year, with Vodafone’s Piggy Sue and Sky’s Murmuration second and third. PLUS: other category winners for craft, degree of difficulty and clever use of TV.
The undeniably adorable Piggy Sue has returned to screens once again in a continuation of Vodafone’s brand campaign developed by FCB, this time she’s been recruited as a flanker.
Snapchat has fast become a popular way for brands to reach out to a younger audience. ASB, Vodafone, Spark the NZTA and a number of other brands and organisations have seen merit in using the platform and have reported successful results. And while a little late in the game, Stuff has just jumped on the Snapchat bandwagon and only three days since launching its account, it already has a few thousand ‘friends’, and counting.
Modern parents are at times ill-equipped to face these challenges—such as cyber bullying, screen addiction, inappropriate selfies and unsavoury browsing—in that they have no prior experience in dealing with issues like these. They are essentially new challenges for a new generation of parents. So, given the treacherousness of the online landscape, Vodafone has in conjunction with NetSafe and The Parenting Place launched a new suite of services that help parents navigate their way through some of these challenges. At a press even hosted at the Vodafone headquarters in Auckland today, Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams unveiled Digi-Parenting.co.nz, an online hub of articles, videos and printable guides offering practical advice for parents in the digital age. PLUS: the new campaign video hits viewers in the feels.
When BP released its lost bunny ad shortly after Vodafone launched its Piggy-Sue spot, various media outlets quickly pointed out that there were some striking similarities between the two spots. And now, to show just how similar the two spots are, Dan News has posted a YouTube clip that has the two spots playing simultaneously, showing how similar the narrative progression is in both spots. This is likely just an unfortunate coincidence for both brands, but it does provide something of a reminder that even in the creative industry ideas are often not as original as they might seem at first. PLUS: a parody of the Vodafone spot.
A solemn nod of the head for Gregg’s, Tip Top Bread, Vodafone and Burger King.
Recently, the One Weather sponsorship served as a pre-roll battleground for major car brands, as Ford touted the superiority of the Ranger over the Hilux through a faux weather reporter moulded on the lovable pie-eater from Toyota’s advertising. The car brands have since put away their monobrows, and Vodafone has now stepped into the One Weather slot—and the telco is also hoping to give its sponsorship a distinctly Kiwi feel (hopefully, without the monobrows).
If two recent additions to the Kiwi advertising canon are anything to go by, then it would appear that New Zealanders have difficulty keeping track of the whereabouts of their four-legged co-habitants. Following on from Vodafone’s recent spot chronicling the struggles of a courier driver trying to locate the owner of a piglet named Piggy-Sue, BP is now also pulling at the heartstrings with a 90-second spot (by Ogilvy and Waitemata Films) that shows a motorcyclist going to extreme measures to reunite a bunny with its owner.
A piglet named Piggy Sue and a Southern Mail courier driver Keith will replace James Rolleston as the face of Vodafone on Sunday night when the telco launches a new brand campaign developed by FCB.
After a year of judging new brand ads in New Zealand, Colmar Brunton has announced that Vodafone and FCB’s festive ad ‘Dinner for two’ has taken out the award for 2014’s Most Impactful Ad, with Samsung’s G5 Days and Nestle Purina’s ‘Herding Cats’ also claiming big fist trophies for the most persuasive and most enjoyable awards respectively.
Industry happenings at Adhub, NZTE, NZME, Vodafone, Socialites, Anthem, Beat Communications and Contiki.
Yup, it’s that time of year again (already?), when FOMO-suffering tech lovers get all wound up about another new gadget. And this time it’s Samsung’s turn, with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge released in New Zealand over the weekend. Here’s how Samsung and the main telcos are ensuring the upgrades continue. PLUS: the environmental perils of obsolescence and the idea of modular phones.
In the latest edition of the ‘Rise of the machines’ series, we chat to Vodafone’s general manager of digital and social media Geri Ellis on how the rapid progression in digital technology is impacting the teams that sit on the client side of the industry.
Since December, Vodafone and Spark have been at each others throats in an ongoing battle about which telco has New Zealand’s largest 4G network. And Vodafone’s announcement that it has referred the issue to the Commerce Commission has coincided with some fresh blows.
In the lead up to the release of Netflix on 24 March, Vodafone has become the exclusive communications launch partner for the company in New Zealand and is trumpeting the arrival via a promotion that will give Vodafone subscribers on one of the available 24-month Red+ mobile plans six months’ access to the subscription video on-demand (SVOD) platform.
Just over 30 years ago, on 1 January 1985, while standing in London’s Parliament Square, Michael Harrison called his father Sir Ernest Harrison, the founder of Vodafone, using the (barely) portable Vodafone VT1—a moment that would go down as Britain’s first commercial mobile phone. Over the next three decades mobile phone technology would progress and proliferate and become a ubiquitous part of the modern landscape.
According to TVNZ’s Lyndsey Francis, Tech in a Sec is the only piece of communication that crossed over from the Telecom rebrand into Spark. And, as evidence of its popularity, it’s into year three and has added a few new mascots. Vodafone also wants to help customers ‘Do their thing better’ so it has released a clip online promoting a digital activation that lets users pick their top three interests from the Top 30 Things Kiwis most love to do and then delivers a selection of the best smartphone apps and online articles. But it’s not of the quality you’d expect from one of the world’s biggest telcos.
New Zealand’s main telco superpowers are butting heads after a billboard war, with both companies claiming to have the country’s largest 4G network. The skirmish has resulted in lawyers’ letters, threats of ASA complaints and general back-and-forth bickering, and a resolution still isn’t on the cards.
Plenty of good stuff to choose from this week, so we’re embracing the festive season and giving everyone props.
After Vodafone made the decision to move its global media business to MEC earlier this year, it was expected that Vodafone New Zealand would eventually follow suit and, as reported last week in a story about the arrival of GroupM in this market, it was widely known that the handover had already begun. For some strange reason, Vodafone was at pains to point out that nothing had been signed, but it sent through official confirmation today that it is indeed swapping SparkPHD for MEC as its media buying and planning agency in this market.
Sam Finnigan, a polite accountant hailing from Kohimarama, has won back at least some of the nation’s pride by defeating super villain and defending America’s Cup winner Jimmy Spithill in a Samsung smartphone-controlled sailing race.
Unlike the UK, where marketers still seem quite partial to launching a massive festive campaign, New Zealand brands tend to keep things slightly more understated. In the UK, Vodafone got the entire country to sing ‘Let it Go’ from the movie Frozen. But the New Zealand outpost has taken a more lovey dovey approach, with a classic telco ad that focuses on the emotional power of the Christmas connection.
Since Vine launched in January 2013 it’s fair to say the six-second video app has taken off. According to Vine, every month now more than 100 million people watch Vines across the web. Owned by Twitter, the social media platform boasts 1 billion views or ‘loops’ of videos every day, with the majority of users being teens. The largest age group on Vine is 18 – 20 year olds. But are Kiwi brands slower on the uptake than our global counterparts?
Advances in technology have rapidly changed the way we pay for things. Whether it’s tap and go credit cards, in-app payments or mobile wallets, the benefits for consumers are endless. But on the other side of the coin, charities dependent on real currency and street collections fighting against a huge range of other organisations for the donated dollar are starting to suffer as cash carrying declines. So what are the options to prise open increasingly electronic wallets?
On 25 September 2013, skipper Jimmy Spithill led Oracle Team USA to victory in the final race of the America’s Cup, orchestrating one of the unlikeliest comebacks in sporting history while simultaneously breaking the hearts of every Kiwi that had stopped working to watch the race. Undoubtedly, there are more than a few sailing fans who would go to great lengths to take on Spithill and reclaim New Zealand’s honour. So, in a new mobile campaign launched on 14 October, Vodafone is giving Kiwis a chance to do just that. But to take on Spithill in a live race, Kiwis first need to show their thumb-tapping prowess by playing Vodafone’s new America’s Cup-themed sailing game hosted on the microsite Vodafonesailing.co.nz.
“Orcon is shining the spotlight on bandwidth throttling used by big telcos, including Vodafone and Spark, in a new campaign that encourages Kiwis to look at the fine print before signing up to broadband plans that could unnecessarily be slowing then down,” touts the media release from Orcon that accompanies the launch of its new campaign featuring a plum-dressed dictator of ambigious origin removing the wig of what is meant to be the chief executive of a major telco (seemingly Spark, if the colour scheme of the faux promotional material is anything to go by). UPDATE: ASA confirms that complaints have been lodged.
