Grand Prix

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nike ‘Write the Future’ by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam and Independent, London.

Golds

Click here to view the embedded video.

Heineken ‘The Entrance’ by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam and Sonny, London.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fosters ‘Slo Mo’ by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Plaza Films.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pepsico ‘Braids’ by BBDO Argentina and Argentinacine.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Unilever ‘Premature Perspiration’, ‘Distance’, ‘Bowling’ and ‘Mother’ by Ponce Buenos Aires and Primo.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Otrivin Nasal ‘Classroom Craft’ and ‘Shoe Laces’ by Saatchi & Saatchi Carouge Switzerland and The Sweet Shop (directed by Sam Holst, Auckland).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Puma ‘After Hours Athlete’ by Droga5 New York and Smuggler.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Volkswagen ‘The Force’ by Deutsch Inc Los Angeles and Park Pictures.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chrysler ‘Born of Fire’ by Wieden + Kennedy Portland and Serial Pictures.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mexican Insurance Institution ‘Office’ by Ogilvy Mexico and Central Films.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Scope ‘See the person’ by Leo Burnett and The Pound.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Deep Silver ‘Dead Island Trailer’ by Deep Silver Planeg Munchen and Axis Animation

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Skittles ‘Cage Cop’, ‘Hitchhiker’ and ‘Cat’ by BBDO Canada and OPC Toronto.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Google ‘Chrome Speed Tests’ by BBH New York and First Ave Machine.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Google ‘Demo Slam: Chubby Bunny’, Demo Slam: Realtime Karaoke’, ‘Demo Slam: Extra Spicy’, ‘Demo Slam: Route 66′ and Demo Slam: Rushmore’ by Johannes Leonardo New York and Rabbit Content.

The AFTA Film and Television Awards stopped in 2003, before being reinstated in 2005. Canon took over sponsorship of the Awards in 2006, but Friesen says there is no naming rights sponsor for the AFTAs this year, just a “family of sponsors”.

“Qantas has decided to not be the naming sponsor this year. Although we had a great relationship with them, we understand their decision to pull back from the sponsorship,” he says. “… You can see all the confirmed sponsors on the website and there are several more that we are working with and hope to announce soon.”

Entries for the awards, which are administered jointly by The Screen Directors’ Guild of New Zealand and (ThinkTV, formerly the New Zealand Television Broadcasters’ Council), are now open now and approximately sixty AFTAs will be awarded between the two separate awards ceremonies for film and TV, including the always hotly contested news and current affairs categories. A complete list of award categories and criteria are available on the AFTA website.

The awards have been moved back by about eight weeks from their normal timing in early September, a one-off change to fit into the Rugby World Cup activities.

There was quite a bit of gushing about the record haul of 25 Lions last year (especially with the addition of the old Kiwi chestnut of ‘per capita’), so 2011 certainly isn’t one to write home about. But the biggest accolade of the six-day ad fest came when Colenso was awarded one of just six obviously rather rare lions in the new creative effectiveness category for TVNZ’s The Pacific.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The award honours creativity that has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business and affected consumer behaviour, brand equity, sales, and where identifiable, profit. Only entries that were either shortlisted or winners at Cannes in 2010 were eligible to enter into and, after 142 entries were received, only ten international campaigns made it through to the shortlist stage.

Colenso’s managing director Nick Garrett and planning director James Hurman, who has just launched a book all about this very topic called The Case For Creativity (buy it here. Or else) and represented New Zealand on the Creative Effectiveness Jury, were in Cannes to accept the award. Then they may have gone and looked for some new boat shoes.

Resn's Andy Williams was on boatshoe recon in Cannes. And he found the motherlode.

The ‘Real Stories’ campaign, which won two bronzes in the outdoor and media categories at last year’s Cannes Lions, sent 346,000 actual letters written by soldiers during World War Two to New Zealand letterboxes and it culminated in an aerial dogfight over Auckland’s Mission Bay. And it worked, apparently, because 24 percent of New Zealanders tuned in to the first episode.

“The Effectiveness Lions showcase the powerful role that creative advertising can play in business,” Nick Worthington, executive creative director of Colenso BBDO says. “It’s a pretty big deal to be one of only six agencies world-wide awarded an Effectiveness Lion.”

“All of the entries we looked at were examples of campaigns with amazing commercial results,” says Hurman, who abstained from voting on his own campaign. “Our shortlist was made up of campaigns that proved beyond any doubt that the effectiveness result was caused by the creative work.”

Hurman told Fairfax’s BusinessDay that being there while The Pacific work was being considered was “brutal” (he wrote a diary for Campaign Brief here and here), but “he probably learnt more in two days working on a Cannes jury than in two years elsewhere”.

“I don’t know if I’m the youngest but I certainly felt like the baby of the jury because the calibre of all the jurors was frightening, so for me it was kind of an education … Even though we only had a little bit of results information and it was a small campaign, the entry paper really managed to step you through how it attracted a lot of attention then it lifted the brand metrics, then people watched the show, and then because people watched the show TVNZ could charge a higher price for the ads in the show. Therefore the return back to TVNZ in financial terms was a large one.”

Walkers Crisps “Sandwich” by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO London was awarded the Grand Prix.

“One thing I learned was the way it engaged the trade–the retailers and the sales-people of Walkers crisps,” Hurman told BusinessDay. “…If you can get those people feeling great about the campaign and involved in it, they will work hard for the campaign and it stands a much better chance of being effective.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the other awards from the final ceremony, Rear View Girls, a cheeky viral stunt for Levi’s by Colenso and Flying Fish which also made the shortlist of the Titanium and Integrated category, won silver in Film for Other Film Content (Internet Film) and VW’s Milk Run by DDB and Robber’s Dog took a bronze in the product and service category, somewhat surprisingly leaving DDB and Lotto’s Lucky Dog empty-handed.

There were 3,310 entries in the Film category, with 299 entries shortlisted, of which 14 were awarded gold, 30 silver and 57 bronze Lions. The Film Grand Prix was awarded to Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, The Netherlands for Nike’s ‘Write the Future’.

Click here to view the embedded video.

New Zealand production companies managed three shortlistings in Film Craft (Flying Fish for Vodafone ‘New’ via Colenso BBDO Auckland, Thick as Thieves for Sky TV ’60 things in 60 seconds’ via DDB New Zealand and Robber’s Dogs for VW ‘Milk Run’ via DDB New Zealand’) but came away empty handed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The film, film craft, creative effectiveness and titanium and integrated awards will be handed out on Sunday at the ceremony that effectively brings the curtain down on the world’s biggest advertising festival.

Colenso BBDO’s four nominations is the Press category for DB Export didn’t make it any further than shortlist stage. The Grand Prix was won by JWT Shanghai for its Samsonite Heaven and Hell.

Based in Auckland and specialising in commercials for broadcast and online, music promo, TV production and film, the company (so named because yetis are legendary, magical creatures of wonder but are quite hard to track down, unless they’re painted red) has been established by Karl Lear and Alex Lawson, who bring over 20 years combined advertising and filming experience both in New Zealand and the UK.

Lear, in house director and co-owner, comes to RedYeti from Pangaea Television in the UK, the Exeter-based production company he founded in 2000. After ten successful years he decided to immigrate with his family to New Zealand. An award winning UK commercials and digital director, Lear has strong credentials from his work on Mini UK, The Everyman Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Lexus and with leading digital agency Profero, among others (check out some of the work here and the pair’s entry into the recent Moby competition ‘Hello, Future’.

“Getting the most out of every client’s budget is a fantastic feeling, and seeing the client’s appreciation of the final product is what I work for,” says Lear. “Whether it’s working on a major brand commercial at one end of the scale, or shooting an up and coming band’s music promo at the other, getting the client a premium result and experience is what we’re all about here.”

Lawson brings experience in advertising agencies and sales management, both in the UK and New Zealand, and has worked with blue chip and small level clients from both an agency and a sales perspective.

“Budget shouldn’t restrict your possibilities” says Lawson. “With careful planning, innovative thinking and today’s technology every client can achieve a million dollar result on a manageable expenditure, and at RedYeti we can show you how.”

• Contact RedYeti on 09 446 0200 or Alex on 021 566808 or email alex@redyeti.co.nz. If you’d like to check out some of their previous work go to www.redyeti.co.nz

BOHICA

E-Quake

Nielsen put its ear up to the internet after the Canterbury earthquake to find out how New Zealanders turned to social media to share their experiences and gain information. And more than 27,000 comments were posted on social networking sites such as Twitter and message boards such as Trade Me, as those affected used social media to connect with family and friends.

New Zealanders also made heavy use of video sites such as YouTube, dailymotion.com and Vimeo and photo sharing sites such as Flickr to upload videos and images of the damage left by the earthquake.

“The dramatic numbers we’ve seen in social media usage demonstrates the platform’s ability to quickly collect and disseminate information. With one quick tweet you can reassure loved-ones that you’re OK,” says Tony Boyte, research director for Nielsen’s online division in New Zealand. “The social media phenomenon has fundamentally shifted not only the way we consume news and information, but also enabled us to be a large part of the news dissemination itself. The volume of social media activity around the Christchurch earthquake highlights that New Zealanders didn’t hesitate to jump online to not only receive the latest updates, but also to add to the spreading of the news through their consumer generated media tools.”

• 27,034 comments were posted on social networking sites and message boards in the six days after the first Christchurch earthquake struck
• Twitter received the highest overall volume of posts to a public forum, with 7,206 comments related to the disaster.
• 8,170 posts were uploaded to local New Zealand message boards and forums, including Trade Me Message Boards (61%), Old School Forums (3%), Geekzone Forums (3%), Oh Baby Forums (2%) and PC World forums (2%).
• Hashtags were widely used to associate posts on Twitter with the earthquake, especially #eqnz (1,741 posts), as well as #christchurch (355 posts) and #christchurchquake (183 posts)

OMG WLG

Positively Wellington Tourism’s experiential WLG restaurant in Sydney has pretty much sold out (apparently it’s been called the fastest-selling ‘Australian’ restaurant ever on the Time Out Sydney website), with two waves of reservation releases seeing over 2000 seats booked for the two-week initiative and a small number of walk-in seats held back to enable Sydneysiders to try their luck on the night.

Four ‘chefs in residence’ are taking control of the WLG kitchen for three to four days each, delivering different seasonal, Wellington-themed menus (a three-courser is just $29). Some of Wellington’s best wait staff and baristas will also be on hand and WLG will also serve wine from New Zealand’s top wine-making regions and 400 litres of Tuatara beer will be on tap.

Positively Wellington Tourism chief executive David Perks says the There’s No Place Like Wellington joint venture brand campaign is seeing some great results through its focus on tactical deals, and research show Wellington’s position as New Zealand’s cultural and culinary capital, combined with its walkability, urban edge and proximity to two of the country’s finest wine regions make it a desirable short break destination for East Coast Australians. But there’s still a long way to go in establishing widespread awareness of what the city and region has to offer.

“We’ve started to build a very positive and influential fan base for Wellington across the ditch, but we’re still some way off that tipping point that will see us reach our full potential,” says Perks.

On Film

The screen production industry contributes around $2.2 billion to Auckland’s economy and there are over 1440 production and post-production businesses. But Auckland City Council wanted to add to those numbers, so, with the help of Film Auckland and industry practitioners, it has released a new protocol for the screen production industry, which is intended to make filming in Auckland even easier and more attractive to international and local producers.

“The Auckland City Council recognises the key role that Film Auckland plays in stimulating growth for the screen production industry. Because of their dedication and diligence, we are confident this new protocol will make Auckland a first-choice competitor in the film industry,” says Cr Aaron Bhatnagar, chairman of the City Development Committee.

The protocol is designed to simplify the consent process and enable quicker turnaround times.

“As part of making Auckland an internationally renowned film friendly destination, it is imperative there are rules and regulations in place. This protocol guides filmmakers through the consent process enabling them to submit a thorough and complete application from the outset,” says Roimata Macgregor, chairperson, Film Auckland.

My Type

Kris Sowersby, a self-employed font boffin based in Hawkes Bay who started the New Zealand based Klim Type Foundry in 2005, has been acknowledged by New York-based Art Director’s Club.

The ADC announced the 50 young creatives from 14 countries worthy of the ADC Young Guns 8 accolade. Entries were received from 37 countries. Sowersby’s first retail typeface, Feijoa, was released internationally in 2007 and his reputation for typeface design has seen him work with, and for, contemporary typographic luminaries such as Christian Schwartz, Erik Spiekermann, Chester Jenkins, House Industries, DNA Design and Pentagram.

Al dente

Click here to view the embedded video.

Apparently our rather dull netball stars make for good spokeshumans. Or so Clemenger BBDO Adelaide thought.

Fox hunting

No doubt there are a few handsome, charming, debonair and confident old chaps in adland who haven’t been ousted by the digital upstarts quite yet. If so, root them out, because GrownUps.co.nz is calling for nominations for the inaugural Silverfox of the Year competition.

“Everyone knows a ‘Silverfox’ or someone who closely fits the description and we hope they’ll encourage them to enter,” says GrownUps managing director Richard Poole. “We’re expecting some well known names from around the country to enter, including sportsmen, businessmen and some from the entertainment industry, as well as other well-known personalities.”

People can enter via www.grownups.co.nz in one of three age categories, 50-59, 60-69 and 70 plus. But you’ve only got until Sunday, 19 September to enter. And the winner, as is the custom these days, will be chosen via an online voting process.

The cup bubbleth over

New Zealanders have the third highest per-capita consumption of sparkling wine after Italy and Australia. And it’s a market worth around $1 million a week in New Zealand. Lindauer apparently has about 70 percent of that market. So, following the success of previous projects for Lion Nathan, including the relaunch of Coruba, bcg2 were asked to take the lead agency role for the trans-Tasman brand launch of Te Hana, a New Zealand sparkling wine brand available in three varieties that aims to get a slice of that pie. Mediacom, Mango PR and Shift are also involved in the launch.

“Being in on the ground floor of a completely new brand is exciting. We can contribute to the big picture with everything including channel planning and messaging strategies, retail look and feel guidelines, internal sales conference videos, sell-in presentations for key retailers, as well as the more expected stuff like the ad campaign, which is launching right now,” says James Blackwood, bcg2′s chief exec and executive creative director.

Lion Nathan Australia are also adopting the complete brand strategy, media strategy and creative idea to roll out across the Australian market.

The Unmentionables

Skinny Marketing has built a website/social media hub/webcam gimmick for Lingerie Brands, and Anthony Gardiner was the poor chap who had to spend all those hours photographing models in their undies and arduously airbrushing.

“The idea is to attract people with the gimmick and then invoke conversation through the embedded Facebook & Twitter feeds. But mostly, I just thought you might like to have a laugh at yourself wearing sexy lingerie.”

Speaking of sexy lingerie, check out what’s been billed as the UK’s first 3D billboard for Wonderbra.

Data Bullets

Pacific Micro Marketing has been surveying, recording, classifying, segmenting and analysing people for over 15 years. And it has just launched an online consumer database, which gives access to over one million customer records, to help clients find new customers and drive their marketing strategy.

Databases can be created from scratch, existing data can be uploaded and more prospects can be found to match your marketing strategy and maximise customer value. You can get counts, quotes and purchase data and there is no set up fee or minimum orders.

Check out the PMM website for more info.

Seeing Signs

Panasonic New Zealand has taken on the distribution of the PADS (Public Area Display Systems) digital signage software package, which is being used by many of the world’s top brands including Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Toyota, from Dutch company Network Display Systems.

“The PADS product ticked the two most important boxes for any software: simplicity and power,” says Rick Haywood, Panasonic’s manager of broadcast and display systems. “We have been involved in digital signage for over ten years now and were looking for a product to move us forward in this market… PADS is a perfect companion to our display technology and allows us to provide a turnkey or scalable solution to our existing suite of products.”

Released in 2005, TWFI took 46 weeks to reach the same level.

However, the New Zealand Film Commission admits the lifetime box office number is not adjusted for the inflation of movie ticket prices – not to mention population growth – and simply reflects the total receipts the distributor receives. With the cost of a movie ticket at Sky City Queen St now at $15.50, plus numerous multiplexes showing films all times of the day and night, a film released today will reach monetary milestones much quicker than those made back when the moonwalk wasn’t ironic.

Perhaps a ‘bums on seats’ rating might be a more representative way of finding New Zealand’s number one film. In 1987, when New Zealand’s 7th highest grossing film Footrot Flats was released, 15 bucks would have likely taken the whole family to the movies.

Still, accounting quibbles aside, Boy’s success makes a refreshing change from the Avatarisation of the cinema.

Boy’s makers expect to add a further $1 million to the box office total by the end of its cinema run.

Meanwhile, the film’s theme tune, Poi E, the 1984 hit song by the Patea Maori Club, is making a fresh assault on the New Zealand charts, driven by a new Waititi-directed music video and online campaigns through Facebook and Twitter to push the song to number one. Entering the charts at number 20 earlier this month, the song is now sitting at number whitu .

THE TOP 10 NZ FILMS

1. $7,050,000 – Boy (2010).
2. $7,047,000 – The World’s Fastest Indian (2005)
3. $6,795,000 – Once Were Warriors (1994)
4. $6,400,000 – Whale Rider (2002).
5. $4,075,000 – Sione’s Wedding (2006).
6. $3,200,991 – What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted (1999).
7. $2,420,000 – Footrot Flats (1987).
8. $1,642,508 – Second-Hand Wedding (2008).
9. $1,600,000 – Goodbye Pork Pie (1981).
10. $1,506,195 – In My Father’s Den (2004).

Late last year Tourism New Zealand launched a unique campaign called ‘Your Big Break’, asking budding film makers from around the world to submit a script for a 3-minute film that captured the essence of New Zealand as the youngest country on Earth.

With the top five finalists selected, you now have the opportunity to check out their creative entries by heading to the competition website.

The competition proved popular with around 1,100 directors from 30 countries capturing their take on New Zealand’s youthfulness.

While the competition was global, two of the five finalists are Kiwis. The remainder of the group is made up of two Americans and an Argentinean.

The final five were brought to New Zealand and have been making their films in the Queenstown region since late January, with Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne taking the reigns as executive producer.

The finished products are currently in Peter Jackson’s hot little hands. He will choose his favourite of the five over the next few days, with the winner to be announced in the US on March 5.

The winning film will premier on the US Independent Film Channel just before the 2010 Film Independent Spirit Awards.

The chattering classes (and the killjoys) often claim not to like advertising, but the film’s protagonists feel there’s a simple way to change that: make better advertising.

Apparently, it all comes down to the power of creativity, which, the say, can solve anything. ANYTHING! It may be slightly idealistic, but there’s no doubting the pop-cultural power of some of the campaigns that feature in the doco, which was an official selection at the 2009 Sundance film festival. And with quotes like “advertising makes food taste better; it makes cars run better; it changes the perceptions of everything”, there’s also no doubt what side of the debate they’re on.

Here’s the spiel: “Art & Copy reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time — people who’ve profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising’s ‘creative revolution’ of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation.”

The Documentary Edge Auckland season runs from 27 February –14 March. And Art & Copy will screen at Rialto Newmarket on 3, 7 and 14 March.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The film (most commonly used adjective to describe it: inspirational) follows the people who used to be paid to be creative for a living as they get creative with their own lives. It is about to be released on Hulu.com and the DVD will also be on sale soon. But, subscribe for the email updates on Lemonademovie.com in the next 48 hours and you can watch it for free online. Just make sure you buy the book when it comes out.

Click here to view the embedded video.