bcg2, which already holds the Yates Australia account, has now also added Yates New Zealand to its growing trans-Tasman portfolio of clients.
In the past, the autonomous arms of the gardening products company were serviced by different agencies in each country, but this move brings both under the creative curatorship of Auckland-based bcg2.
“We had been working with the Yates Australia for a while, when we were approached by a pitching agent who offered the New Zealand account to us. From here, things moved very quickly, and we won the account within two months,” says Abe Dew, the bcg2 planning director.
He says that the agency’s recent work for Yates Australia’s spring campaign, which promoted Zero weedkiller, was well received by viewers, who could identify with the garden envy theme depicted.
And bcg2 aims to build on this success in New Zealand with a new TVC that introduces Yates Thrive, a liquid fertiliser, to the Kiwi market.
The similarities between the Thrive commercial and the second Zero commercial give a sense of cross-Tasman brand uniformity to Yates, but Dew concedes that there’s a tricky balance to be met.
“The New Zealand and Australian markets are very different. It’s like drawing a trans-Atlantic comparison between the United States and the United Kingdom. The countries share a common language, but culturally they differ significantly,” he says.
He elaborates on this point by saying that successful trans-Tasman advertising requires the creative team to take cognisance of the nuances that separate the regions, cultures and landscapes.
“You have to make sure that you don’t alienate the consumer with something in the ad. For example, the background for a poster in Melbourne would be very different to one that appears in Auckland or even in Sydney. And, if you get it wrong, the audience will notice.”
But given that the bcg2 has won three (Yates, Moccona and another yet to be unveiled) trans-Tasman accounts in 2013, it’s evident that clients on both sides of the ditch trust that the agency is equipped to get the creative right.
Dew says that bcg2’s first Yates New Zealand test will come in the peak of summer, when a new gardening product is scheduled for release.
