It seems we can chalk up yet another win for .99, with the retail specialist thought to have taken the Warehouse Stationery business in a competitive pitch, beating out incumbent M&C Saatchi and rumoured contenders of Y&R and DDB.
Warehouse Stationery has put its creative account up for pitch. And it’s pretty close to a must-win for the incumbent M&C Saatchi.
There still seem to be a few holiday tumbleweeds out there in marcomms land, but we managed to find a few contenders, with TVNZ’s colourful Seven Sharp promo, Animates’ accurate Doomsday prediction and nzgirl’s raunchy ‘regretgasm’ spot featuring in the year’s first round.
With some quality work, a fresh management team, an amazing new office in the Cityworks Depot in central Auckland and an almost but not quite moment in the recent Genesis pitch, a few agencies might be looking over their shoulder at Y&R next year. James Hurman and Josh Moore go for a hoon on 2012.
The air was thick with the smell of creativity at the Hopetoun Alpha on 8 November for Adshel’s Creative Challenge (turns out creativity smells a little bit like a combination of cigarette smoke, ironic t-shirts, Sal’s Pizza and desperation), and after 60 minutes of furious jotting and pressurised thinking to come up with a campaign that would raise awareness—and funds—for Surf Life Saving New Zealand next winter, it was Colenso BBDO’s team that took the top prize.
During the annual hirsute pilgrimage that is Movember, many participants become quite attached to their new lip slugs. So, to ensure that the memory lives on, Schick and Y&R have created a Facebook campaign called Mount your Mo to not only reward the dedicated men of New Zealand for their efforts, but, through the wonder of taxidermy, to “allow them to keep their pride without prejudice”.
Esquires Coffee Houses is moving on to its third different agency in as many years, with Y&R picking up the business following a review of several local creative agencies. Media buying will be retained by Mediacom.
It’s pretty tough out there in retail at the moment, with the internet affecting bricks and mortar and economic malaise affecting everyone. But there are plenty of savvy retailers making it work and a couple of international retail gurus—Jon Bird, IdeaWorks’ chief executive based in Sydney, and UK retail expert Martin Butler—are visiting next week to share some of their secrets.
Auckland indie agency Shine doesn’t really play the show-offy PR game like many of its contemporaries and tends to focus on doing good work for some pretty big clients like Fonterra, Speight’s and Hyundai. And it’s thought it has added another two scalps to that list, taking House of Travel off Saatchi & Saatchi and GE Capital off Y&R.
Shopper marketing is very du jour at the moment. And, given the importance of the last stages of the purchase cycle, rightly so. But James Hurman thinks it works better when the strategic thinking is done inside the customer experience.
By mobilising apathetic New Zealanders to see if they could get a better deal on their power, the What’s My Number campaign changed the electricity retail landscape.
A few months back, .99 was awarded the Sunday Star Times business after a competitive pitch that involved Simpatico and Y&R Auckland. But that decision doesn’t seem to have gone down too well with Y&R, which has decided to resign the Fairfax Network trade account it held.
After extensive drug testing, Telecom, Quickflix and Pink Batts take this week’s medals.
There’s been plenty of action at Y&R recently, with Jon Ramage departing and James Hurman cutting short his OE to join executive creative director Josh Moore at the top table alongside non-executive director Ross Goldsack. It also won the the ASX-listed Quickflix business for Australia and New Zealand in March and, with the help of Finch, it’s just launched a campaign starring two aspiring actors/film buffs discussing the merits of the streaming service between takes.
When Colenso BBDO’s head of planning James Hurman decided to expand his horizons and take a role as planning partner at Ogilvy Shangahi, he said he’d probably be back in the homeland eventually. But he’s returned much sooner than expected, with the bearded one cutting short his OE to take up the role of managing director at Y&R, where he will be working alongside one of his old cohorts Josh Moore.
IdeaWorks closed its New Zealand doors in 2009 and said goodbye to eight staff and all of its clients, including the big Warehouse Stationery account. But it was officially reborn in March this year with Y&R Group as the new owner. And after a solid campaign to launch the new FCO retail brand in New Zealand, it has also been appointed as creative agency for Beds R Us after a three way pitch.
Ross Goldsack re-joins Y&R as non-executive chairman, Trent Harnett joins Malcolm Phillipps at the head of 2degrees’ marketing table, Leonie Collins leaves her post at Eye and Carolyn Enting joins Mindfood.
Who’s it for: HRV by Y&R Auckland and Curious Film
Why we like it: Comparing the quality of New Zealand with the poor quality of New Zealand’s housing stock is smart idea and offers a nice combination of pride and shame. Beautifully shot, a great song and …
New Zealanders are well accustomed to seeing ads extolling the virtues of our country—and our character. And while the first piece of work for HRV by Y&R certainly shows its fair share of majestic landscapes and quintessentially Kiwi scenarios, there’s a darker, more honest side to the new campaign that references the fact the quality of our housing stock leaves a lot to be desired and aims “to reinvent the New Zealand home invironment”.
The holy grail of accounts is up for pitch. With an estimated budget of about $1 million, the Government’s two major public information programmes are again up for grabs; but this time, the current Electricity Authority’s agency, DraftFCB, will be leading on the creative side of one of the programmes, as well as pitching for the account.
After a few years of quiet on the Y&R NZ front, it’s been pretty much all good news recently, with a host of new accounts locked in and some big creative hires to brag about. And it’s continued down that positive track by naming Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington’s associate creative director Scott Henderson as its creative director in Wellington.
Y&R has won a large proportion of LG Electronics business including strategy, creative, media, digital, social, and sponsorship, effective immediately. The incumbent was Punch.
Y&R has won the total HRV business including strategy, creative, media, digital, and direct after a competitive tender process. The incumbents were the Brand Group and Hunter Media.
A partnership between Y&R and Ocean Design has been appointed by ACC. The pair tendered jointly for brand, advertising and direct elements in the recent ACC Marketing Communications RFP process, after successfully implementing a number of campaigns together in recent years, from both the public and private sectors.
Last week it was GE Capital, this week it’s Cigna Insurance in New Zealand… what will Y&R pull out of the box next week?
GE Capital, the mothership for brands such as GE Money, Gem Visa, Custom Fleet, Equipment Finance, Pacific Premium Funding and Distribution Finance, has appointed Y&R as its creative agency for New Zealand after a comprehensive pitch.
Kiwibank has just released its own movie trailer. And now Fairfax Media, with the help of Y&R and Fracture, has followed suit, evolving the ‘Arm Yourself’ trade campaign into a graphic-novel inspired movie trailer you can view online—and feature in—at www.fairfaxlookamazing.co.nz.
Who’s it for: Purex by Colenso BBDO and Partizan UK
Why we like it: We’re suckers for origami. We’re suckers for stop motion. We’re suckers for soft toilet paper. And we’re suckers for ruffle-faced shar-peis. So imagine how excited we were when all …
The awards extravaganzas are finally over for another year, as Cannes comes to a close and agencies around the world tot up their Lions and add them to their 2010/11 haul. And to celebrate the start of brand new awards year, a brand new, interactive product to ensure agencies and creatives need never miss an awards deadline called T-Minus that was created by Steve Moss and Jo Finch at RKCR/Y&R in London in collaboration with digital hotshop B-Reel has been launched.
Y&R has been on the hunt for a replacement executive creative director since Vaughn Davis departed in September last year. And it’s managed to lure one of our boys back home, with Josh Moore, a Kiwi lad who has been working in Sydney for the past five years as executive creative director and partner in US Sydney, taking up the role.