If you believe the NZ on Air media consumption study, music is moving online faster than other content. But you can still reach 83 percent of the country over a week with radio and approximately one in ten New Zealanders each day across just four stations, RNZ National, The Edge, ZM and Newstalk ZB. As a result, the ad spend figures for radio are holding firm. And two brands have used the medium in interesting ways recently, with World Wide Fund for Nature putting an ad inside a song for its Last 55 campaign and Land Rover going long to celebrate its heritage.
Browsing: Y&R
While the problems at troubled retailer Postie Plus, which is currently searching for a buyer, are causing a few headaches for Y&R at present, it’s continued its winning ways elsewhere after being appointed as the creative lead for the 2015 Sevens Wellington campaign following a competitive tender process involving five Wellington agencies.
In contrast to the major advertising awards shows that are typified by large round tables, three-course meals and formal attire, the ORCA Awards, held last night at the Nathan Club in Auckland, was a stripped down affair that took a tongue-in-cheek look at the ads created by the six finalists. Over the course of the event, the organisers released a series of videos of radio personalities Bryce Casey, Guy Williams and Dave Fane sharing their often hilarious thoughts on the shortlisted ads.
After a couple of years as managing director at Y&R NZ, James Hurman has taken the best bits from his life in advertising and started up an innovation consultancy called Previously Unavailable that aims to help Kiwi companies create better products and services. So why did he do it and what will he be doing?
Whether it’s QR codes aimed at vetting tattoo artists, Goodby Silverstein’s work4rich.com, or BBH’s take on graduate recruitment, those in the persuasive arts often walk their talk and try to create interesting recruitment campaigns. And Y&R Media did just that last night at The Beacons with some WiFi jiggery pokery.
Last week, the Labour Party said the $15 million campaign that aimed to prompt consumers to check out different electricity suppliers and decrease their bills was a failure after a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment report found it had not led to lower retail prices overall and didn’t increase competition. The Electricity Authority’s agency FCB won plenty of awards for the campaign, with 350,000 people visiting the sites and 70,000 people saving $16 million as a result of switching. But that relationship is now over, with Y&R thought to have won the business after FCB declined to pitch.
Season four of Game of Thrones screens in the US today and on SoHo in New Zealand tonight. Sky and DDB have ensured Kiwis know about that with its very well-received, social-media fuelled campaign to bring down a statue of the much-despised King Joffrey. But HRV is also getting in on the act with a tactical spot called ‘Winter is Coming’ that’s set to run in the slot just before the premiere. Plus: Hell Pizza supports the bad guy and other entertaining parodies of the show.
After serving as the managing director of Y&R NZ for fewer than two years, James Hurman is set to bid farewell to the agency.
The tenth and final Axis love letter has been released ahead of the show on March 6, and it’s another doozy, with DDB’s Mark Lorrigan harnessing the immense power of song to showcase his intense and probably illegal devotion to Y&R in ‘It ain’t stalking if I love you’.
The creative oneupmanship is in full effect for the Axis ‘Share the Love’ campaign, with some very entertaining inter-agency love letters being sent. And the penultimate clip from Y&R, which takes a leaf out of Jimmy Kimmel’s Celebrities Read Mean Tweets by getting DDB staff to read mean blog posts about their work—followed by some nice ones at the end—has just been released.
The old Auckland City Council workshops are now home to a much groovier bunch of tenants: ad agency Y&R. Here’s how artist Jason Dempsey overhauled the space.
James Hurman has been in the Y&R hotseat since mid 2012. And there’s been plenty of change since he arrived, with a swanky new office, a number of big hires and, after a few unsuccessful pitches, some wins with the Co-op Bank, Westfield and Interislander last year. Here he is having his way with 2013.
Two entertaining PSAs for HPA and Maritime NZ, shock tactics from EQC and some clever use of video from Burger King get the festive baubles this week.
Colenso BBDO has created an ad campaign featuring 64 unique videos that calls out pre-roll ads for being a nuisance. Each ad is linked to the video that the viewer originally searched for and comes with a customised line that mentions the desired content.
To celebrate the end of the academic year and show off the soon-to-be graduates, Media Design School (MDS) will be hosting an end-of-year shindig at Ostro Bar on 12 November from 6 to 8pm. PLUS: read about the tongue-in-cheek invitations sent to the agencies. UPDATE: sweet treats sent to agencies to coax employees into attending.
Another senior hire for Y&R, another big scalp for the Radio Network, a rare expansion at MediaWorks, more volume for Volom and a fashion expert for Pead.
After scanning the nation’s big and small data, the GCSB has decided that The Co-operative Bank’s ode to profits, Pio’s multiple personality disorder and ANZ’s moments of clarity are this week’s worthy winners.
The Co-operative Bank rebranded from PSIS after it got its official bank license last year. And while it kept pretty quiet about the change, it has come out swinging with a new campaign via Y&R that flips the typically negative response to the announcement of record bank profits on its head and aims to show it’s a bank that’s “driven by your prosperity, not our profit”.
The New Zealand advertising scene is always pretty proud of its per capita hauls in the world’s big creative awards. And 2013 appears to be no different, with the combined awards won between Kiwi agencies—a record haul of 32—placing us 9th on the list at the 60th Cannes Festival of Advertising.
There were a record 35,765 entries from 92 countries for the 60th Cannes Lions. Of course, we’re small-minded and patriotic so we’re focusing on the Kiwi contenders and here are the seven agencies in the running after the first shortlists for Creative Effectiveness, PR, Promo & Activation and Direct were announced.
Huzzah! It’s DraftFCB’s entertaining attempt to reduce alcohol-related peer pressure and Y&R’s animated number for Red Cross on the dais this week.
To draw attention to the role Red Cross plays in New Zealand and around the world—and to raise more money so it can keep doing it—Y&R NZ and Flying Fish have created an animated TVC that follows the instantly recognisable white and red box through a range of crises the charity deals with.
Naked’s loss is Y&R’s gain, Jeanette Paine leaves school, VW’s Denise Goodwin swaps cars for floors, Will Radford gets a fresh pair and the MPA welcomes two new board members.
There are plenty of creative ways to sell more booze, but not quite as many to convince punters to drink less of it. So, in an attempt to clear up some confusion around what one standard drink means, Y&R and the Tomorrow Project, a social change initiative run by the country’s beer, wine and spirit producers aimed at educating consumers about responsible drinking, have given it its own special glass.
The real and the online are increasingly mingling and the MetService and Y&R have tried to tap into that by constructing a rather novel billboard that looks like a web browser and was intended to be shared online.
Melissa Fletcher goes it alone, Y&R adds a host of humans and Guy Kawasaki heads for New Zealand.
After coming close in a few big pitches recently, Y&R had cause for celebration when it was named as Westfield’s new partner last week. And it’s backed that up with another win: The Co-operative Bank.
A couple of weeks back, Y&R held one of its Digital Kickstart breakfasts featuring executive creative director Josh Moore, new executive digital producer Bruce Murray, InMobi’s Mark Copplestone and the chairman of global digital agency network VML and Y&R’s global chief digital officer Matt Anthony, who looked at where the world of digital is going and how New Zealand marketers can learn from the best digital strategy and creative work globally.
DraftFCB resigned the Westfield account at the start of the year and took up the Paper Plus business soon after. And after a competitive pitch, it’s thought Y&R has finally put one in the win column and taken over the account.
ZO completes its management team, Clems chief financial officer heads for the rum, Y&R adds to its digital chops, Air New Zealand puts even more emphasis on the customer experience, Dita De Boni heads to PR, The Pond adds a digital heavyweight, Commando gets one back, Southern PR bolsters the line-up, On the Grill takes biscuit and Linda Clark returns to TV.