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.

Last night, following a story that had appeared in the Herald, Pepsi posted this note on the Facebook page: “Good debate guys! We understand Running with the Bulls isn’t for everyone. And we respect that many of you are bromitted to animal welfare. So here are some suggestions if ya want to make a stand against this (approx) 700 year-old festival: (a). Select one of the other fantastic (no bull) Bromitment experiences on offer. (b). Choose ‘Running with the Bulls’ and if you win… take your protest to Pamplona. (c). If you and ya mates win the ‘Running with Bulls’ prize but would rather donate the money to an animal welfare cause, we Pepsi Max, bromit to do that. Thanks for being passionate. And best of luck with whatever bromitment ya make.”

161 comments later, many of them claiming the company was shooting itself in the foot by endorsing a cruel pursuit like bull fighting, others saying it shouldn’t listen to the complaining wowsers, Aisha Daji Punga, Pepsi’s commercial director at Frucor New Zealand released this statement today.

At Frucor, we set ourselves the highest possible standards. We take social responsibility seriously. We’ve been running a promotion in New Zealand for Pepsi entitled “Bromitment” targeted at Kiwi guys. We were offering a chance to win an epic adventure, with one prize option being running with the bulls in Pamplona.

We now recognise that a proportion of our target market is offended by this type of activity, which they perceive as cruel to animals. For this we wholeheartedly apologise. Frucor and Pepsi in no way support animal cruelty.

We apologise unreservedly for our misjudgement. As a result we have pulled the option to run with the bulls completely from the competition.

We became increasingly aware of the issue via feedback from customers and via social media over the last few days. Our initial response yesterday evening via social media did not include withdrawing from the competition. We now recognise that withdrawing is the right thing to do.

No doubt the ghosts of social media firestorms past like Qantas and Cadbury were ringing. But, once again, it shows that the consumers are runnin’ tings. And if you get into social media, you’ve got to be prepared to take the good with the bad.

As a replacement prize, we suggest a trip to India, where the winners will be forced to revere the sacred rubbish-eating cows for days on end. And, in the spirit of tenuous connections, here’s a funny gaffe made recently by the Herald on Sunday.

For two years Phantom’s Jim Wilson travelled to cities and towns throughout the USA and put poem posters by Kiwi poets on poles, walls and in cafes and stores. Then a group of verse-loving volunteers also put these poem posters up in cities from London, Glasgow, Paris and Vienna through to Sydney, Australia. Meanwhile, back here in New Zealand, Wilson’s company Phantom Billstickers Ltd put up thousands of Kiwi poems on walls and poster bollards from Invercargill to Whangarei. Now eight of New Zealand’s finest poets bring their voices, hearts, and words to a live performance poetry event in New York City.

The Phantom Billstickers Poems on Posters initiative has attracted international media interest, but more importantly the poems themselves have been read on the streets.  So who are these self-proclaimed Band of Bards hoping to wow the iambic pentameters off New York’s finest literati?

Poem by Chris Knox

They are Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, David Eggleton, Hinemoana Baker, Sandra Bell, Jay Clarkson, Pamela Gordon (reading Janet Frame), Otis Mace and Tusiata Avia.

The inspiration 
Printing poems on posters is largely about hope. This world is sometimes hard and is often a painful and ugly place. (!) The goal of the Poems on Posters Project is to give poets a hearing and bring a softer voice into the streets. This is what has been missing: the heart and voice of the poet which is something that everyone can understand. Poem posters are “Flora for the Concrete Jungle” and they are uplifting.

Jim Wilson founded Phantom Billstickers, New Zealand’s biggest poster and street-media company in 1982, to give musicians, the arts, and creative people in New Zealand a voice, and to use posters on walls to put bums on seats. Now his aim is to use posters to share the heart of the Kiwi poet with people outside of New Zealand.

On Jim’s mission to spread the word, he spent two years traveling across the United States putting up poem posters in the streets. Many large cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans, Seattle, Memphis and San Francisco got a “good pasting” but venues off the beaten track were not immune. Jim also traveled the back alleys off of Highway 61, braved the mid-summer heat in the rural south (Tennessee and Mississippi are particularly close to his heart), and chipped ice off of some telephone poles and notice boards in Central Vermont and Northern New Hampshire to put up poem posters.

Poets from New Zealand and the United States who have had their work featured on poem posters as a part of this project include: Aroha Harris, Becky Woodall, Ben Brown, Bernadette Hall, Bill Direen, Bill Manhire, Brett Lupton, Brian Turner, Campbell McKay, Chris Price, Chris Knox, David Eggleton, Dylan Kemp, Elizabeth Smither, Frankie McMillan, Gary Langford, Gary McCormick, Geoff Cochrane, Gerald Stern, Hilaire Campbell, Hinemoana Baker, Hone Tuwhare, Jackie Steincamp, James K Baxter, James Milne (aka Lawrence Arabia), Janet Frame, Jay Clarkson, Jeffery McCaleb, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, Jody Lloyd, Joe Treceno, Jordan Luck, Josie McQuail, Keri Hulme, Laurence Arabia, Marcie Sims, Marty Smith, Michael White, Michele Leggott, Nicholas Thomas, Otis Mace, Pablo Nova, Patrick Connors, Rhian Gallagher, Robert Creeley, Robert Pinsky, Roger Hickin, Sam Hunt, Sandra Bell, Selina Marsh, Serie Barford, Sonja Yelich, Stephen Oliver and Tusiata Avia

For more about the Phantom Billstickers Poems on Posters project click here.

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.

The PM hosted ‘The Prime Minister’s Hour’ less than two months before the general election. During it Key repeatedly claimed it was “an election-free zone”. However, the Electoral Commission obviously weren’t convinced. Despite the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) outright dismissing a complaint from the Labour Party, the EC has decided it in fact an election programme, which was prohibited at the time.

Labour deputy leader Grant Robertson told Fairfax the show gave Key an advantage in the election campaign.”What this gave the Prime Minister was an unfettered hour of radio in which he could put across himself, align himself with the people he called his friends and be in a situation close to the election where he had that hour when he was in an unfettered environment, that gave him a lot of power at that time.

“At the time that the BSA decision came out we disagreed with it, we felt that this was a clear breach of election broadcasting law and that it was unfair.”

Although Robertson admits one good thing to have come out of the whole shenanigans is that “Coronation St is back at 7.30pm.”

RadioLive  had sought advice from the Electoral Commission about the programme, and had been warned to be very careful. It may mount a legal defence against the ruling. RadioLive station manager  Jana Rangooni says the company would go over the decision in detail today, telling 3News she was surprised by the decision, “especially in light of the fact the BSA decision last year about the PM’s Hour was contradictory to this one.

“We are surprised at the decision, and will fully cooperate with the police if and when they take the matter up.”

The Prime Minister has not yet commented on the issue. Stay tuned for the next exciting installment…

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).

It’s thought Sky, which will control 51 percent of the new digital TV product aimed at the 50-ish percent of New Zealanders that haven’t shelled out for the grown-up version of Sky due to value, price or commitment, wanted to divorce itself from the new company, which is being led by 31-year-old ex-Sky marketing man Chaz Savage, and give the account to a different agency.

A few eyebrows were raised when it was announced Interbrand Australia had done all the initial branding and design work, apparently because it has a long-standing relationship with Sky, but it seems the responsibility for the creative and launch campaign has now been handed over to Sugar (Interbrand Oz created Igloo’s intro video below).

Click here to view the embedded video.

UPDATE:

Sugar’s managing director Jeremy Johnston got back to us, but, given no specific launch date has been given (the rather general ‘first half of this year’ is still being used), he was obviously keeping his powder dry and couldn’t tell us too much about the creative strategy.

“It’s great to be contributing to what is a significant change in the media landscape in New Zealand. From my perspective, it’s a genuinely innovative product and we’re one of the first markets in the world to bring this kind of offering. We’re really pleased to be entrusted to handle the launch. And we’ve been really impressed with the Igloo team. Chaz [Savage] has been given a pretty exciting role.”

Given the complexity and flexibility of the Igloo offering compared to free-to-air TV, Johnston says the major comms challenge is getting across how the viewer can benefit through the use of these new technologies.

As the countdown to the Digital Switchover begins, Johnston says the campaign will certainly be aimed at the many thousands Kiwis who haven’t done anything about it yet and hopes to give them a reason to fork out a bit more.

“There’s no doubt this product is coming along at the perfect time for anyone who’s in the DSO dilemma. There’s really no point in going out and buying a Freeview box because this is better.”

According to the NZ Herald, the new broadcasting frenemies are hoping for 50,000 subscribers to sign up within two years and aiming to get around $10 million in one-off revenue from sales of the set-top box (much to some commentators’ chagrin, the first $200 iteration doesn’t feature a hard-drive capable of recording but does have a USB drive to enable live-pause) and $15 million from monthly fees, ondemand movies and pay-per-view sports matches.

A six month market research project was undertaken to see if this product woud fly and, on the surface, it looks a hell of a lot more appealing—and less confusing—than TVNZ’s last effort in the pay TV space. Still, with the ghost of the $18 million TiVo failure lurking in the background, everyone will be watching very closely to see how Igloo fares when Sugar’s campaign hits the streets.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The WilliamsWarn is aimed squarely at what the founders call the ‘beer thinker’ market and it produces commercial quality beer that’s chilled and flows from the tap in just seven days. The company received over 200 offers of distribution from over 50 countries in the first five months and while it was available only in New Zealand initially, the breweries are now being distributed internationally.

“We’re delighted to have been selected by Graphis from the many thousands of entries submitted by agencies internationally,” Studio Alexander managing director Kate Alexander says. “It’s also great that it’s a brand for a truly innovative product, developed by New Zealanders in New Zealand.”

Alexander, who took over as MD from her father in March last year, says it was clear they would be taking an outstanding product to export markets so they wanted a quality of branding and design that would stand up around the world. And, between 2009 and its launch in 2011, Studio Alexander developed naming, positioning, marketing strategy, identity design and graphic system.

The use of the makers’ signatures across collateral shows the personal involvement of the directors/inventors and the WilliamsWarn brand reflects the hand-built, premium feel of the machine with its numbered makers’ plate and stainless steel finish. The ‘W’ shows the coming together of two beer glasses in that ‘cheers’ moment and the circular housing device references beer mats.

A simple and classic colour palette of black and silver references the materials used on the product alongside typography utilising Trade Gothic and applied across stationery, packaging, collateral, website, video and product graphics.

“I was expecting bright colours and a complicated design,” WilliamsWarn director Ian Williams says. “But when I saw the brand work Studio Alexander came up with, I knew immediately it was perfect. It was one of those moments when you know something is right. There was nothing to change and we’ve had a huge amount of very positive feedback.”

Studio Alexander’s WilliamsWarn brand work will feature in Graphis’s 2012 edition of the International Journal of Visual Communication.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Grand Canyon competition – win a trip to the ultimate crack.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Credits:

Group ECD

Toby Talbot
Copywriter
Jay Hunt/Pete Gosselin

Art Director
Jay Hunt/Pete Gosselin

Producer
Kim Baldwinson

Managing Partner

Scott Wallace

Executive TV Producer

Judy Thompson
Account Director
Danielle Richards

Account Manager
Victoria Meo

Planner
David McIndoe

Mike Watson
SKY – Marketing Director

Tam Smith
SKY – Digital Product Marketing Manager