In what will be a big blow to incumbent agency .99, Air New Zealand has chosen DrafFCB to be its lead agency after a competitive pitch, starting in March. But there is still some mystery surrounding the set-up of the account because Saatchi & Saatchi, which a few industry big mouths had thought was looking good to take the win, has also been included on the airline’s agency roster. Read more »
2011 was another good year for the indies, which are often playing in the same sandpit as the big boys and occasionally stealing their spades and buckets. And, with a range of experienced big agency campaigners now plying their trade outside the walls of the multinationals, this trend looks set to continue. Running With Scissors’ two main brains Friday O’Flaherty and Andy Mitchell get their freak on. Read more »
2011 was a fairly challenging year for MediaWorks, with management restructures, debt problems and tax bills. But there were plenty of positives too, with the new dual-channel approach that saw TV3 trying to snatch away some of TVNZ’s wrinklier viewers and FOUR becoming a mainstream entertainment channel seemingly starting to pay dividends. Amanda Wilson, head of marketing at TV3 and FOUR, lets her opinions on 2011 be known. Read more »
Through a series of huge product relaunches and lotteries innovations, as well as great campaigns for Lotto, Instant Kiwi and Big Wednesday, NZ Lotteries has increased its sales by more than $250 million in recent years, an increase bigger than the total chocolate confectionary category in New Zealand. And head of marketing Wendy Rayner has played an integral role in that rise. As a result, she won the prestigious TVNZ-NZ Marketing Marketer of the Year award this year. Here’s what caught her attention in 2011. Read more »
There was both joy and despair when Air New Zealand announced it had killed off Rico. And whether or not you liked the fur and fang, the digital trickery employed by .99 and the cute tie-in with Cluedo was a clever way of sending the non-specific spokebeast off. Now his murderer has been found and in a merging of mascots, Richard Simmons is back in front of the camera for Air New Zealand, along with the very talented puppeteer behind/inside Rico, Tyler Bunch. Read more »
Rico, the furry, double entendre-loving puppet, was a polarising mascot for Air New Zealand. Some felt his lewd conduct was ‘off’brand’ and a bad look for a premium airline that had lost its marketing way. Others felt it wasn’t aimed at New Zealanders and was a smart, fun way of gaining a heap of international attention via the airline’s social media channels. He was cerainly one of the most talked-about marketing things of the year, but now, in typically dramatic fashion—and with a smart digital tie-in to the boardgame Cluedo—Rico has been killed off. Read more »
The WLG pop-up restaurant in Fitzroy, Melbourne, is now into its second week and it’s proving fairly popular with the locals, just as the first incarnation did in Sydney. And Air New Zealand has jumped on the bandwagon by getting a few of its cabin crew to perform an in-restaurant safety video and dishing out free return flights to Welly to 60 lucky diners. Read more »
There’s been a lot of chatter about the benefits of sponsorship and the threat of ambush marketing over the past few months. Some believed the All Blacks were a more valuable property to be associated with, others believed the Rugby World Cup was worth the sizable investment. So we were interested to see this Nielsen data showing which brands the hoi polloi perceived as sponsors of the event in June and then again in October. Read more »
The Air New Zealand business is thought to be up for pitch, with a rumoured list of Saatchi & Saatchi, DraftFCB, Special Group and the incumbent .99/Colenso all gunning for one of the country’s best-loved brands. Read more »
As the nation shrugs off its collective hangover and tries to return to normality, many are struggling to remember life before the World Cup… What did we care about? What do I do? But at Air New Zealand it was straight back to business as usual, and first up was ensuring the airline’s continuing support for the All Blacks. Read more »
Win a trip to the ultimate crack Continue reading »
Write sweet nothings on billboard, win bling Continue reading »
SodaStream fights the plastic with The Cage project Continue reading »Advertisement
Advertisement
Brought to you by
Who’s it for: Meridian by Assignment Group and Perendale
Why we like it: Wells works very well as a quirky Meridian mascot and manages to spread its renewable gospel in a non-preachy, sensible and entertaining way. Plus, it shows off some of the best bits of New Zealand and there’s a pretty good story behind the ad too.
Who’s it for: NZ Book Council by Colenso BBDO and Octane Digital
Why we like it: Much like the previous powerful effort for NZ Book Council, Going West, the time-consuming paper artistry on display for the follow up well and truly captures the attention and shows how books can shape lives.
Who’s it for: Shapes Roadies by Y&R Auckland and Finch
Why we like it: Many New Zealanders didn’t take too kindly to the glut of manvertising that was foisted upon us last year. But, judging by the response to the absurd and very entertaining campaign for Roadies, they seem to like manchildvertising. Some bravura performances in the backseat on display here.
The two winners of the Doritos Crash the Superbowl competition (both creators got a million dollar bonus, apparently).
Surely the best ad ever made for a tattoo parlour (and check out how life imitates art at the end).
All this year’s Superbowl ads in two minutes.
Ghost Steve Jobs will come back to haunt you, Action Electronics.
It’s not particularly Woopy, but this is a cool idea for a modern business. Art goes digital—and social.
How cereal boxes have changed over time, Mad Men posters greatly improved, The Herald on Sunday tows the cow, sheep are inheriting Middle Earth, Hipster Hitler, Rickrolling in a report on a field trip, all you need to be an evil overlord, and this is definitely not a set-up for a movie.
List of important industry bodies
Delivered free to your inbox twice a week
Honouring the ads—and the agencies responsible for them—that make the biggest impact on consumers and get more bang for the client’s buck
Honouring the ads and the people responsible for producing the best ads published in New Zealand Magazines
Use the Tangible Media network of magazines, blogs, newsletters, video and content creation services to reach the new New Zealand.
