Stuart Ogden, bcg2 Health’s general manager, says it was a full-blown creative pitch against two incumbents, and he says they took out the top prize because of a “very innovative, creative idea” (that they obviously can’t talk about yet).

The win ”again demonstrates how well positioned bcg2 Health is as a leading partner in developing world-class digital healthcare solutions”, which he says is an increasing area of focus for the industry as patients are matched up with providers via digital channels.

This big win follows up from the recent award-winning digital work bcg2 Health and Spitfire undertook for Pfizer in Australia/NZ with its FACTORy programme, which won a commercial excellence and innovation award and is currently being looked at for release in other markets.

Ogden says the project is set to run for around three months, and will again involve its partner agency Spitfire, but he’s confident it will blossom into a full agency relationship.

New

Old

Tait Electronics was formed by Sir Angus Tait in 1969 in Christchurch and it focused on designing and assembling mobile radios. And while radio remains a core element of the company’s offerings, James Kyd, Tait’s chief marketing officer, says the solutions today include much more than just radios, which is why it made the decision to change the name from Tait Radio Communications to Tait Communications.

“This signals the beginning of a very exciting time for Tait and our global customers,” says Kyd. “The new identity represents an ongoing business transformation that we have been involved in for the past two years, and better reflects the business we are now in and the ways we are delivering value to our customers around the world…Today, our customers turn to us for the complete communications system, sourced, deployed, supported and managed in a fully integrated way.”

In 2011, Tait’s revenue exceeded US$150 million, of which 95 percent was earned in the 150 countries it exports to (recent successes include securing a $19 million contract to install a communications system for the London bus network and a deal with the emergency services in New South Wales) and the company has seen record revenues and profits in the last three years, perhaps partly because it invests more than 14 percent of its revenue in R&D.

“The new identity captures the very essence of Tait’s culture—our customers—who at the heart of everything we do as a company,” Kyd says. “Our customers’ needs drive every decision, and this is reflected in Tait’s new brand statement: ‘Devoted to your cause’.”

Company spokesman James Richardson says the internal and external rollouts of the new brand, which was almost a year in the making, have been hugely successful so far and there’s been lots of positive feedback about it.

The new brand will continue to be rolled out gradually so that all the other aspects of the business align with the new visual identity.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Search New Zealand advertising on Facebook and this is what you get, this old chap should’ve gone to Specsavers, great pics of the Tough Guy challenge, search Google Images by drawing, and a great way to put sandwich thieves off the scent.

Media strategist Nathan Pilkington says the agency was looking for a way to launch the product outside of the conventional heavyweights of TV (although it has once again employed the services of long-serving meaty mascot Leigh Hart to spruik the product), while also demonstrating the great—and, this year for many, mostly mythical—Kiwi summer isn’t complete without Hellers. So it partnered with the Metservice, the country’s most-viewed weather website by a country mile, for a unique sponsorship that aimed to connect sun with patties.

Ideally, he says Hellers would benefit most by advertising on hot days that were appropriate for barbecuing (the constant rain in the north this summer has resulted in a significant decline in sales of sausages), but lead times–and cost—for traditional media made this virtually impossible. With the Metservice site, however, they were able to show a barbecue icon next to the sun icon when there was a good forecast. Visitors could then scroll over the BBQ icon and a message that read “summer ain’t summer in [the specific town] without Hellers” appeared. This was also supported with a takeover of all homepage advertising and a custom ad unit under the weather warnings.

“Integrating the BBQ and customised pop-up within the map has enabled Hellers to achieve some very unique consumer cut through and even emails from the public to the Metservice about how much they liked the advertising.

Credits

Agency: Simpatico

Client: Hellers

Client Contacts: Brydon Heller

Product: Hellers Burgers

Master Mind & Media Strategist: Nathan Pilkington

Senior Media Planner: Sarah Henderson

Creative Development: John Arrillaga

Account Manager: Alex Prince

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Cheaper smartphones and data plans, as well as consumers who have come to expect—and often brag about—discounts (as discussed in the latest Trendwatching briefing Point-Know-Buy) means deals are increasingly going mobile. Last month GrabOne, which receives 55,000 daily visits on its mobile app, announced 12 percent of its sales were via mobile and it set a target of reaching 25 percent of all sales through mobile by September 2012. And this initiative, which was launched in Auckland today, goes live in Wellington next week and allows customers to view deals (mainly food & beverage and entertainment deals) for nearby businesses on the move, is a big part of that strategy.

“GrabOne Instant allows Grabbies to explore new real-time deals which are close to where they live, work or play,” says GrabOne marketing director, Campbell Brown. “There are many businesses, particularly eateries, that could pack in a few extra customers over the lunch period. For example, Instant allows merchants to attract customers who are in the neighbourhood looking for dining inspiration and gives our customers great deals wherever they are.”

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One very smart move from GrabOne was handing out Android tablets to 2000 of its major merchants, thereby enabling them to upload deals themselves should they have capacity for more customers during quiet times, as the video featuring one of GrabOne’s major deal-givers Mexicali Fresh that was made by Small Town Media explains. And for those frustrated at having to print a coupon out and show it to the archaic merchants (in my case, Fullers), the tablet redemption system allows buyers to redeem coupons by scanning their mobile. This system will be expanded across New Zealand this year, and, in more good news, the average 20 percent of customers who forget to use their voucher before the cut-off date will be pleased to know that they only pay for the Instant deal once the voucher is redeemed.

Elsewhere in deal land, the relaunch of Flossie.com was nearly two years in the planning and the e-commerce platform offers members a chance to fill quiet-time appointments and in return receive discounts, products and other incentives.

“As a result of the GFC we saw a significant decline in discretionary spending in the hair and beauty category,” chief executive Jenene Crossan (AKA Freer) says. “Women have simply not been able to justify heading back in for treatments with the same frequency.  Things that were clear ‘needs’ before have been relegated to ‘wants’.  Our site will enable women to feel guilt-free about re-prioritising their hair and beauty needs, by making appointment times affordable.”

Along the lines of the wotif.com model or Aussie site Unbooked.com, Crossan says the focus on the ‘quiet-time’ appointments will clearly differentiate the site from mainstream deal websites.

“What we have launched today is only phase one. Our first job is to earn trust with salons and spas and prove to them that we can put bums on seats, and we can also get them returning regularly. We’ve basically ‘poked the eyes’ out of the deal sites, taking the good bits of them—like making it really easy to purchase—and then adding a flavour of our own, like an extremely limited number of vouchers just in the quiet-times focusing on really high-end salons and spas. This limited exposure coupled with low commission rates and realistic prices will not leave retailers out of pocket. Our next phase is system integration, meaning we can offer the ability to book and buy a real time appointment.”

Of course, whether consumers actually do return at full-price when they’re becoming increasingly accustomed to distressed rates and deals is a matter of debate and was one of the reasons 1-Day Out shut up shop last year. But, for many merchants in this economic client, a little is better than nothing at all.

From today a major marketing drive kicks off using partner site nzgirl.co.nz, Facebook targeted advertising and email marketing. Radio, TV and newspaper partnerships have been formed and will round out the sales funnel.

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The booze laws are in for a bit of a tune-up this year, with a yet-to-be-announced, Government appointed panel set to bang heads over things like the role of alcohol sponsorship, price controls and industry self-regulation of advertising. Of all the beer brands, Tui is probably the one most often singled out for pushing the envelope, both for its controversial, long-running, PC-busting billboards and for supposedly using sex to sell beer with the Tui brewery girls. But the numerous complainers haven’t stopped it from continuing to use cheekiness and humour in its ads and, carrying on the popular tradition of using brewery raids, elaborate disguises and gnomes—Saatchi & Saatchi and The Sweet Shop have launched another entertaining brand ad for Tui Blond lager. 

Slightly ironically, given Tui’s marketing over the years, DB sent out a press release following the recent news that a female brewer was barred from entering the Lake Hayes homebrew competition because she was a woman, with managing director Brian Blake lambasting the organisers’ archaic attitude. And, as it turns out, it seems there is an element of truth to the ads.

“Women have been making a huge contribution to the New Zealand brewing industry for decades and DB has many women working in senior brewing and management roles. I will be getting in touch with Rachel personally to invite her to work alongside one of our brewers, female and male, at our Timaru or Auckland breweries just to reiterate that it doesn’t matter to DB whether she is female or not. What matters is her passion for brewing, something Rachel has clearly demonstrated she has plenty of.”

DB currently employs several females in senior brewing roles including Kylie Harris who manages the iconic Tui Brewery in Mangatainoka and senior brewer Natasha O’Brien, who works at Waitemata Brewery and who recently joined an elite invite-only panel of judges at the Brewing Industry International Awards in the UK. She has also been invited to judge at the 2012 World Beer Cup in San Diego in May. Former ‘baby brewer’ Beth Park also works for DB in Timaru as a beer quality manager and has more than 15 years brewing experience.

Credits:

Clients: Tui Beer: Jarrod Bear, William Papesch, Clare Morgan

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi

Executive Creative Director: Antonio Navas

Creatives: Matt Sellers, Cory Bellringer

Producer: Jane Oak

Group Account Director: Mark Cochrane

Account Director: Natalie Downes

Film Company: The Sweet Shop

Director: Stuart McDonald

Producer: Larissa Tiffin

The company was recently launched by creator James Oliver, who says it took five years to get to this point, and the inspiration for its playful, almost Ben & Jerry’s-esque branding spawned from simply tossing ideas around about the group’s feelings towards ice cream. Resident copywriter and business manager Tony Reardon says they were lucky, because Holy Moly handed over complete creative control and, as an added bonus, allowed them to create a couple of flavours.

“We understand retail and the consumer so we needed to create something that worked for the product, consumers and was different yet had the legs to grow and build,” says Reardon. ”We had a number of other ideas, as you do, but this was the strongest and most flexible. And it’s fun.”

2010 was a busy year for the company, which was behind the 2010 re-launch of Eden Park, designing everything from the park’s sign to its sandwich wrappers.

It also developed the branding for Partners Life, an insurance company, and managed everything from the corporate vision to claim forms.

Lemonade has been in partnership with Burger Fuel’s marketing team over the last 14 years, managing the chain’s branding. Its recent work for the company ranged from creating POS menus for their Middle East stores and editing the BurgerVision in-store video loop.

New ventures for Lemonade include working with The Turkish Bread Company to tweak its packaging and market positioning, achieved by poking fun at the company’s roots with a bunch of tongue-in-cheek sayings.

The company is made up of six staff, including lead designer and owner Andrea Fowler.

• This story originally appeared on idealog.co.nz

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A great cat-related text prank, a toad gets its own back on a smartphone-wielding owner, the best unintentionally sexual church signs, and Beef Nek Minute Steak.