The forum will take place on 21 March 2012, 1:30pm – 5:30pm, at the Rendezvous Grand Hotel, Auckland and Paul Head, CAANZ chief executive, says the high-calibre case studies being presented will help prove the value that creative ideas can bring to commercial results by connecting brands to consumers in increasingly relevant ways.

“The forum will offer a rare opportunity for the New Zealand marcomms community, from both client organisations and agencies, to hear from the front-line of international campaigns about the effectiveness of ideas-led PR,” he says.

Kevin Ramsdale, NAB’s general manager brand and Tim McColl Jones of Clemenger BBDO, will discuss the thinking behind the internationally renowned ‘Break Up’ campaign for National Australia Bank.

Matt Bruhn, marketing director of Diageo, will speak about Bundaberg’s dedication to the community as the idea behind the Watermark campaign, which sought to build people’s spirits following the widespread devastation of the Queensland floods, as well as its success from a brand and commercial point of view.

Lastly, bringing an agency perspective to the discussion, Lynne Anne Davis of Fleishman Hillard Asia Pacific, will share her experiences of using integrated strategies to make a business impact, a concept which has guided numerous award-winning campaigns and led to the agency being recognised as 2011 ‘Asia Pacific Agency of the Year’.

“Clients’ needs are more complex as they face unprecedented pressure to manage their reputations and bottom lines in a new world of social influence. As the communications function becomes increasingly strategic, especially at major global firms, the need for interdisciplinary consulting is growing,” she says.

Idealog editor Hazel Philips will MC the forum, which will also offer audience members the opportunity to put questions to the speakers in a panel session chaired by Vincent Heeringa, publisher at Tangible Media. And, of course, there will be some post-forum drinks.

Tickets are $250 for CAANZ members and $290 for non-members. More information and registration details are available at www.caanz.co.nz/re-imaginingpr.

Speaker bios:

Kevin Ramsdale, National Australia Bank’s Group General Manager Brand

Kevin Ramsdale joined NAB in 2010 after five years at Bupa Australia Health and 15 years with Ford Motor Company. Initially General Manager of Marketing & Research for NAB’s Personal Banking business, Kevin took on the brand role for the broader NAB enterprise in 2011 and played a lead role in the strategy development and execution of the much-discussed Break Up campaign.

Tim McColl Jones, Executive Director at Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne

Tim McColl Jones is one of Australia’s leading independent brand communications practitioners with a unique blend of global, regional and domestic experience across a range of industry sectors.

Tim joined Clemenger BBDO/Melbourne as Board Director and Business Director for NAB in December 2010 contributing to the development of Break Up, which has become a hugely successful business and marketing milestone.

Matt Bruhn, Marketing Director at Diageo Australia

A classically trained marketer with over 10 years’ experience at Imperial Tobacco, Kellogg’s and Diageo, Matt currently manages the Diageo Australia marketing team which he says is “blessed with brands such as Bundaberg Rum, Smirnoff Vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky”.

Matt is dedicated to creating work that reflects the legacy of the brands he works on, and to impacting the community in a positive way. He is passionate about marketing brands and products in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Lynne Anne Davis, Regional President and Senior Partner at Fleishman-Hillard Asia Pacific

Based in Hong Kong, Lynne Anne oversees Fleishman Hillard’s Asia Pacific operations. During her time in the role, the business has expanded exponentially, and achieved numerous awards.

Based on the new Nielsen figures, Think TV’s Rick Friesen told us just three percent of the panel’s total viewing last week was time-shifted and 97 percent was watched live. Interestingly, in homes with personal video recorders, time-shifted programming made up about nine percent of total viewing and people with PVRs watched about seven percent more TV in peak time than those in homes without.

• Check out Nielsen’s Top Programmes Jan 1 to Feb 9 201 here.

We asked both broadcasters to provide ratings figures for their new and returning shows and, as expected, it’s a bit of a gloat fest. But perhaps these increases are a continuation of recent ThinkTV figures that show 55,000 more people tuned in to the TV last year, resulting in a two percent increase in total hours viewed.

TV One (where possible, overnight and time-shifted ratings are given)

• Criminal Minds new season launched on 16 January, returning with higher audiences YOY. 2012 season debut delivered 12.3 rating vs. 11.4 rating for 2011 debut, against AP25-54 (consolidated ratings)
• Packed to the Rafters proved an audience favourite in a new timeslot on Sunday at 8.30pm. The season premiere delivered 11.3 rating (28.2% share) against AP 25-54. This is higher than the 2011 season average rating of 10.9 (25.8% share) which aired Wednesday 8.30pm (consolidated).
• Frozen Planet remains the top rating new show for 2012 against AP 25-54 audience, achieving 15.6 rating (consolidated).

TV2:

• Shortland Street’s new season launch was the highest in three years. AP 18-39 average audience 19.3 vs. 16.2 in 2011 and 15.4 in 2010 (consolidated ratings, first week on first week).
• The return (and introduction of Ashton Kutcher) on Two and a Half Men didn’t disappoint. Wednesday night’s new season launch was the highest ever in the show’s nine year history, delivering 20.5 rating (63.2% share) against AP 18-39 (overnight only).
• TV2′s new Comedy ’2 Broke Girls’ was the highest debut share of a comedy in five years—53.1% against AP 18-39 (overnight only)
• The Big Bang Theory returned with 31% growth YOY (AP 18-39, overnight ratings only).

FOUR: 

Four finished its first year on air with a stellar January performance, growing its share of the 18-49 peak audience by 67 percent when compared with C4’s performance in January 2010. And, as a nice birthday present, the channel enjoyed 41 percent year-on-year growth in the 18-49 peak share in the Nov-Jan quarter.

MediaWorks attempted something of an experiment for one of its big new shows for 2012, New Girl, by premiering it online before it was shown on TV. Unlike Fox in the US, which was happy to report that it clocked up two million views when it did the same thing last year, MediaWorks wouldn’t release the numbers of views the show had on its Ondemand channel due to commercial sensitivity, but publicity manager Rachel Lorimer did say that over the week the episode was made available online, it was a top three Video On Demand show, with numbers typical of an established hit show like X Factor USA.

“It is by far the biggest Video On Demand show for FOUR. The previous record was less than half of that and was held by the Glee Project.”

As for the overnight ratings when it did screen, it recorded a 9.6 percent share in the target demo of 18-49, which was well above the channel’s average peak share (5.4 percent), and the 18-49 rating was 3.7.

“What’s interesting is that in the younger and more urban parts of the demo, it did even better, and was second choice for those viewers after TV2,” she says.

In the 18-49 Auckland Urban demographic, New Girl did a 6.4 rating and 19.1 percent share, and in 18-39, it did a 4.4 rating and a 12.4 percent share.

“The Auckland demographic [one third of its almost 100,000 Facebook fans are from the region] is where we’d expect a lot of the awareness we created through the online screenings to be focused, so that’s an especially pleasing result.”

TV3: 

The TV3 shows launched on Tuesday night, including the second season of The Secret Lives of Dancers, had solid performances, Lorimer says. “But it’s too early to get a real sense of new season, especially because we’re currently running X Factor Australia Wed-Sat until the final on Feb 18. We have a staggered new season on TV3 that runs across four weeks.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Smart TVs allow you to watch internet videos on HD or even 3D, check Facebook, and make video calls via Skype. Sony currently offers over 20 channels including Wiggle Time TV, YouTube, Ziln, Golflink, and Wired.

The Stuff Channel on Sony Internet Television extends the video content developed by Fairfax’s journalists around the country right onto internet-enabled TVs. Nigel Tutt, general manager of Fairfax Digital, says that the extension of stuff.co.nz onto the television screen is a no-brainer. “Last year we had on average over one million video views per month on stuff.co.nz. Our customers have a great appetite for video with their news, and as internet-enabled TVs become more prevalent, the ability to access quality local and international content right in their living rooms will be attractive. He points out more and more consumers are scanning news on their mobiles as well as the internet, and Fairfax is all for this multi-screen usage.

“Extending to the television screen is the next step in our strategy of providing our customers the news and information they want in the medium to suit each moment of their day. While the print medium is still of crucial importance, we have seen significant growth in our customers accessing our content on a variety of screens – from smartphones to computers to tablets, and now televisions.”

The chief executive of TUANZ, Paul Brislen agrees that IPTV is a no-brainer and a service set only to grow. “IPTV is not a future technology. With more than 100,000 internet-enabled TVs in homes across the country already, and all the major manufacturers now selling IPTV sets, easily accessible online content is in easy reach, and will be the game changer in driving TV on demand – it puts the power back in the hands of the viewer.”

Matt Walton-Smith, general manager of channel and product marketing at Sony New Zealand, welcomes Fairfax Digital to Sony’s growing range of channels. “Fairfax Digital has embraced the possibility of what IPTV can provide, enabling New Zealanders to watch local and international news videos from Stuff, whenever they want it.”

Competition from all angles

In a move sure to send chills up the spines of major broadcasters, Fairfax has also signed on the dotted line with ABC as part of its IPTV. This allows Fairfax access to ABC’s long play content, striking a painful blow to major broadcasters. Nigel Tutt expects television viewing to continue to converge onto multiple platforms.

“Fairfax is very well placed right now. It has the advantage of already having an audience to deliver video to, and we are planning to expand the amount content we deliver. We have the advantage of no time restraints. We can publish what the audience want, when they want it. We don’t have to wait ‘til 6pm,” he says.

Operating since September 2009, online television network Ziln beat Fairfax to the IPTV punch. Anyone can set up a channel on it, it is free to access for those with broadband and it hosts 25 niche channels of Kiwi-only content including docos, comedy, and fishing shows. Ziln also recently signed a major deal with Sony securing its availability on all Sony internet capable televisions (smart TVs), which effectively moves PC-based internet channels to the big screen lounge television. And, as Manning says, it has never been easier or cheaper to make your own TV shows and it is no longer the preserve of big companies.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Xero, which was founded in 2006 by tech entrepreneur Rod Drury and small business accountant Hamish Edwards and now has 60,000 customers, was the only New Zealand company to be nominated for and win an IxDA award. Stimulant/Sifteo’s pretty frickin’ amazing Loop Loop took out the best in show.

“It’s awesome to see our team get recognised alongside some of the most innovative designers in the business,” says Xero’s head of design, Philip Fierlinger. “You wouldn’t expect to see an accounting system sitting in the company of some of the world’s sexiest, most ground breaking products.”

IxDA president Janna DeVylder said: 
“Great interaction design does not suddenly appear; it’s through a considered design process, understanding of behavior, and clear intent that these projects shine.”

And while Xero is still waiting to break even, a recent filing to the stock market shows it hopes to double revenue in 2012 (the 2011 financial year saw revenue of $9.3 million and a loss of $7.5 million).

Rhys Darby launches 2degrees business

2degrees’ chief executive Eric Hertz says it’s the launch into business services, and products such as the $149 plan and CarryOver Minutes that are behind the company’s success. So where are they defecting from? The NBR says they are mainly ex Telecom, which has posted the massive loss of 95,000 customers in one quarter, followed by Vodafone, reportedly down 50,000 in six months according to their most recent customer number updates.

The team at 2degrees has also grown – to more than 545 humans, with the most expansion in customer service and sales staff.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the year ahead, 2degrees hopes to poach even more customers with the promise of more plans like the recently announced $19 Data Combo, the $149 plan, and CarryOver Minutes. Of course, having national treasure Rhys Darby as brand ambassador, starring in some of the funniest ads around won’t do any harm either. Check out the latest Darbulous effort above.

NBR’s TOTAL NZ MOBILE CONNECTIONS

Vodafone: 2,434,000
Telecom:  2,079,000
2degrees: 875,656
MVNOs: 50,000

The numbers clearly show a large number of the population have more than one mobile phone account and/or data devices with SIM cards.

Only available in Japan, it is to be released as a special Valentine’s Day edition smartphone, in a colour scheme called ‘Bitter Choco’. The device even comes complete with a recharging station designed to resemble a chocolate box. Only 30,000 of the models will be produced by Sharp, running Android 2.3.

He’s a firestarter

After three years at Sugar, Glenn Jameson has decided the time is right to rejoin freelance collective The Pond.

“It really is a sweet shop, but Iʼm a problem solver and theyʼre in great shape,” says Jameson. “[Jeremy Johnston] has built a smart indie agency that punches well above its weight. We raised a few eyebrows when we won the BNZ, and silenced the critics when we launched BNZ Stories, which re-established their position as the bank for New Zealand.”

Working closely with Mike Knowles, and the Jeffs-Toon dream team, they lured legendary adman Len Potts out of the hills to reprise his role as the voice of BNZ. “I wrote them for Len, and gave him license to change the scripts as he saw fit. He changed one word and said good job. High praise indeed.” But the biggest compliments came from a surprising peerage. “The bank received letters from three rival banks congratulating us on the campaign. Canʼt buy that kind of endorsement.”

Jameson started at Sugar on a contract from The Pond (view his portfolio here and his in-depth bio here), sent in with Sergio Guida to take the wheel on Honda. “Took us a while to gain their trust, but we finally convinced them to go on TV for first time in over a decade. Our persistence and their confidence were well rewarded. We sold more Honda Insights than Australia—actual cars, not per capita—and picked up an Effie.”

Off the Raydar

Martin Sawbridge, the long-serving creative director at Clemenger-owned retail agency Raydar, has decided to step down from the role after 13 years in the hotseat.

“Martin has played a huge part in the growth of Raydar and his fine work is evident throughout New Zealand’s retail landscape,” says managing director Darryl McClay. “Everyone here wishes him the very best for his next step and are greatly appreciative of his contribution to Raydar, and the success of many campaigns for our clients’ brands over the years. On a personal note, Martin’s a great guy and a talented man.”

McClay said the agency would review the creative director role in a couple of months. But for now he was happy to have welcomed Aaron Taylor, a senior art director with 15 years experience in the industry, including time spent in Europe and London. He had been working for Raydar as a freelancer for the past three months.

“Aaron offers a fresh approach to our clients’ brands and we are thrilled to have someone of his calibre ready to step in with Martin’s departure,” McClay says.

It’s Coleman in the morning

Radio Live launched a new morning show today for the early risers that runs between 5-6am. And it’s welcomed back James Coleman (who has also just launched his new music sharing website themixtape.co.nz) to the mic.

Radio Live First at Five will feature everything you’d expect from a radio show in the morning and ”is aimed at the growing numbers of New Zealanders, from all walks of life, who are up before 6am,” says Jana Rangooni, general manager – talk brands. ”We see this as an opportunity to provide something our competitors are not doing.”

More Traffic 

Following the move to a new office at the start of this year, Traffic has announced a new account manager: Antonella Sacconi.

Sacconi has extensive domestic and international experience in marketing communications, including advertising and design, brand management, promotional strategies, market research and sales. She also speaks a number of languages including Spanish, Italian and French.

She has worked with a number of organisations, including Intercim, AACSB International, Cott Beverages and Mattel. She has worked with iconic brands such as EADS, Airbus, Sanofi Aventis and Royal Crown International.

From papers to houses

Bayleys Realty Group has appointed brand and marketing specialist Greg Hornblow as its new general manager. He was previously with APN New Zealand as general manager of advertising sales, with responsibility for three of its biggest newspaper titles. He was also involved with the integration of digital and new media channels.

Bayleys Realty Group is the support services company for Bayleys Real Estate nationwide, and encompasses marketing, research, communications, training, web support, recruitment, event management, and auction divisions

Hornblow replaces David Poole as general manager. Poole remains on the board of directors with Bayleys, and is taking on a newly-created strategic role as franchise business development consultant, growing the business and commercial activities of Bayleys’ franchise operations throughout the country from Kaitaia to Invercargill.

Jumping the tank

Fresh from its swallowing of Mitchell’s, Aegis Media Pacific has launched a new business unit called Jumptank and made a key appointment with Justin Baird joining the company as group innovation director from his role as innovationist with Google. He has over 15 years experience in product management, technology development and digital media.

Jumptank will consult to all Aegis Media Pacific businesses to drive innovation within the group and create sustainable value for clients through collaboration across its diverse marketing businesses. It will be led by chief commercial officer Kristian Barnes.

“Jumptank will bring a new depth of thinking to our clients’ products and marketing, incumbent and new pitches, as well as lifting the bar internally,” Barnes says. “We believe no other marketing group in this region has a core team committed to constantly finding new and better ways to deliver innovation, from our business practices to the strategies and campaigns that we develop for our clients, in this constantly changing market.”

Other Aegis Media Pacific executives in the foundation Jumptank team are Richard Chapman, founder of PR agency Spark and experiential agency Impact in Australia as group integration director and former MPG strategist Ben Cunnington as group strategy director. Jon White will be part of Jumptank as group business development director, with a dedicated creative director and graphic designer also part of the core team.

“With Jumptank we are bringing together a team of people with a diverse array of skills and experience, with the common goal of applying innovative thinking to media and marketing solutions for our clients,” says Aegis Media Pacific chief executive Luke Littlefield. ”Jumptank will be a catalyst for innovation.”

Stores are becoming advertisements for their brands as much as they are becoming the knowledge centre. And yes, that does mean customers try instore before they buy online so you better be ready to get them at both touchpoints. But what if stores were designed to exploit the desire to try stuff out rather than purely to push the sale? They would then invariably remain as part of the consumer shopping experience and work to help people make their buying decision. A casual browsing environment with convenient points of purchase rather than a barrage of high-pressured sales people and a line of cash registers can lure people in to browse even when they are not intending to purchase.

The sale may be converted now or later, either online or instore, as long as they buy your brand then you have them hooked. When retailing multiple brands the challenge becomes one of building trust with consumers at store level, offering after-sales services or added value services that may not be available online. Repairs and product warranties are a good place to start the customer relationship and build strength against online shopping.

Most companies think they need to be part of the social media landscape—and in some cases this is a good idea. There are good and bad ways of doing this and we’ve all seen it backfire. The interesting part of social media is how much we listen to each other. Recent information shows that eight out of ten people trust peer reviews over all other sources. Peer reviews from people they do not, and never will, meet or know. A clear opportunity exists here to stop trying to beat staff into the perfect walking product info expert and engage customers who have already purchased the product and are happy with what they have. Even better, if they are happy with the service they receive from the store then it will speak volumes more than any TVC or glossy advertisement.

This is not rocket science. Treat your customer well, honestly and give them a good deal and they will come back and tell others. Educate them, have instore trials and drive membership experiences to win your customers over. Marketing, promoting and advertising on price-slashing or bargains only leads to bargain hunters and drives the market down. Price can only go down so far. Then where do you go?

The successful retailers of the next generation will be the ones that create and develop an open, two-way relationship with their customers. They will value their customers opinions and know what to do with that information. They will recommend products that are of value to their customers and admit when they got it wrong. But they will be doing it by proxy through their customers’ recommendations and reviews with brand ambassadors online. Some of these will be paid, some will not. Some already are.

Retail still has one major drawcard over any online experience: face time with customers. This is the opportunity to build the relationship and take it to the next level. Creating a community feel and space for shoppers to linger without feeling like prey might add to their feeling of being welcome and wanting to explore. Having staff that are well-versed in striking up conversations and can relate to the customer will mean they can gather insights from them as to why they are there or what they want. It’s human-centric design thinking.

Gathering intelligence on the shop floor about the wants and needs of your customer is not something that’s easy to emulate online, not even in the latest e-shops.

• Tony Reardon is resident copywriter and business manager at Lemonade.

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.

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