Click here to view the embedded video.

The first mythological, rocket powered TVC has just gone live and David Herrick, head of marketing at Subway, says the new campaign is about showing customers they’re “the master of their own Sub”.

Mojo’s Lachlan McPherson says the client is very happy with the response so far, both from the 220 franchisees around the country and from the digerati.

“It’s basically the first part in a campaign that’s rolling out over the next weeks and months,” McPherson says. “But there’s a total rebrand in store, too [it even stretches as far as the bathroom mirrors]. The ‘You Rule!’ thinking is about having more choice and more control, and we’ve tried to bring that to life.”

As well as this rebrand, Subway and its direct agency justONE recently launched the Subcard App, the first national loyalty card available on mobile in New Zealand, and also added Facebook to its social media portfolio.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The end result of the months-long brand identity project is a cool new TVC, which was created by Finch Company and Australian visual effects house Robot and saw the product taken apart and graphically rendered in layers over four weeks, and a new tagline, ‘Clever, made easy’.

Panasonic is still using ‘Ideas for life’ for some branding, but the focus will be on the new slogan from now on.

“Panasonic’s philosophy is to serve society through innovation,” says Mojo’s reasonably fresh executive creative director Mike Barnwell. “Not just through developing advanced technology, but by creating products that make our lives more comfortable, more fun and much easier. All you have to do is enjoy them. ‘Clever, made easy’ is a logical articulation of that philosophy and we just wanted to bring it to life in an accessible and light-hearted way.”

Sandra King, sales and marketing manager for Fairfax Media Group, the official media partner of the Cannes Lions, says the selected jurors represent the country’s leading talent.

“These New Zealand representatives will join an exclusive team of international industry heavyweights to determine the advertising campaigns that will be named the best in the world at Cannes in June. The selection process involves choosing the best in the business while weighing up a fair cross-section of representatives from agency groups and regions.”

And the selected jurors are:

MEDIA LIONS JURY: Barry Williamson, media director – Mediaedge:cia

DIRECT LIONS JURY: Vaughn Davis, creative director – Y&R

CYBER LIONS JURY: Lachlan McPherson, executive creative director – Publicis Mojo

RADIO LIONS JURY: Chris Schofield, creative director – Draft FCB

PROMO LIONS JURY: Guy Roberts, creative director – TBWA/Tequila

In addition, Nick Worthington, executive creative director at ColensoBBDO, was chosen as a member of the festival’s elite Titanium and Integrated Jury.

“It’s testament to the creative strength of the New Zealand advertising industry that we have representation on six of the twelve juries at the festival. We are one of the most awarded countries in the world for our size when it comes to advertising accolades and no doubt our performance at this year’s Cannes Lions festival will prove that once again,” says Ms King.

Entries are now open in all categories of the 57th Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. Entry forms can be completed online at www.canneslions.com

Deadlines:

Film, Film Craft, Outdoor and Press Lions Entries: 5 March 2010
Design, Direct, Media, PR, Promo & Activation and Radio Lions Entries: 12 March 2010
Cyber, Titanium and Integrated Lions Entries: 19 March 2010

The launch campaign of Sweet Nothings, a new low-fat ice cream from Much Moore, was created by Lachlan McPherson, creative director of Publicis Loft (his new arm of Publicis Mojo), and revolves around the idea that women find it difficult to resist temptation.

“We wanted to find out whether New Zealand women could trust themselves around things that they desire, like shoes, earrings and ice cream,” he says. “We thought it would be interesting to start that conversation.”

So, to test the theory, a billboard that said ‘Manolo Blahniks. Size 8′ was erected on College Hill road on Monday morning and a real pair of US$850 Manolos were placed on a plinth, ready to be snatched away.

The opportunists at the Media Counsel hauled their own ladder over and the very practical ladies then sent up one of their men-folk to collect the shoes, just three hours after they were put up (the shoes are now on Trade Me and the money will go to charity).

So it shows that women definitely can’t be trusted, but as McPherson says, it also shows that men can be trusted to do whatever women tell them to do.

The theory was tested again this morning when a pair of Tiffany & Co. diamond earrings went up on the plinth. And suspicions were confirmed once again: the ladies from the Media Counsel were waiting, swooping in and getting their mits on the earrings just 20 minutes after they went up.

McPherson says he was taken by surprise with how quickly the shoes and earrings were nabbed. He expected them to stay up on the plinth for a week or so, which has meant the whole process has had to be sped up.

In fact, the tradesman responsible for setting up the security cameras in the billboard called him on Monday morning and said there were already a group of people milling around the billboard prodding the shoes with sticks soon after they were put up. As a result, the security cameras that were meant to capture the daring heist weren’t installed in the billboard until later that day.

But he’s been pleasantly surprised with the public response to the social experiment, particularly from the blogging community.

Sweet Nothings ice-cream will be the next offering on the ‘interactive’ billboard, but there will also be plenty of giveaways.