Special Group won the NZ Tax Refunds account following a competitive pitch late last year. And it’s relaunched the brand with a campaign that celebrates the joy of an unexpected windfall and aims to differentiate it from the crowd of “me too” brands that now clutter the category. Read more »
Wellington is pretty proud of itself. And rightly so. But in a nod to its incessant capitalisation of things–and also to April Fool’s—the Positively Wellington Tourism folk decided to laugh at its own expense and the expense of some of its regional rivals by claiming a few more titles. Read more »
In February, TVNZ and NZ on Air announced they would be adding to the cacophony of reality talent competitions on TV with a multi-million dollar production of New Zealand’s Got Talent. NZ On Air committed $1.6 million in funding and TVNZ went hunting for commercial partners to add to its own $1.6 million contribution. And the first major sponsor has been announced, with Toyota signing up as a key commercial partner. Read more »
Yesterday, the Fijian government banned inbound tourists as flash flooding wreaked havoc. But, after a global pitch thought to have received more than 60 submissions, it’s thought Colenso BBDO will now be responsible for trying to get more of them to visit after beating out agencies from New Zealand, Australia and the US to become the new global agency for Tourism Fiji.
The retirement industry isn’t the most glamorous, but with our ageing population and the ‘pig in the python’ that is the baby boomer generation, there’s plenty of brass to be found in the muck. Typically, the big sell is all about the facilities on offer. But Summerset Group, which listed on the stock exchange in November, has taken a slightly different approach with its first national marketing campaign and is buttering up its residents instead. Read more »
Social media means friends appear to have turned into a commodity to be crowed about these days. And, thanks to an original 1974 Volkswagen Kombi van, Fly Buys managed to increase its Facebook fan base ten-fold in December, with a total of 55,000 likes in three weeks (up from 5,500) through its ‘Dream Machine’ promotion, a finalist in the 2012 CAANZ Media Awards. Read more »
Last year outdoor apparel brand Patagonia took out a full-page ad in the New York Times and other papers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday—the days around Thanksgiving that get the tills ringing loudest for US retailers—with the bold headline ‘DON’T BUY THIS JACKET’. Urging consumers to buy only after making a considered choice was obviously a risky move, but despite this, its sales were still up 28 percent on Cyber Monday. And, according to chief executive Casey Sheahan, who was speaking at the Better By Design CEO summit in Auckland today, this bold attitude permeates the brand. Read more »
Moa recently caused a bit of a hubbub in the brewing community after pinning its craft beer manifesto to the wall. And it soon might be creating hubbubs in America after securing some big US distribution deals. Read more »
One of the perennial bug-bears of the marketing industry is the fact that it’s often seen by the bean counters as a cost to be cut in times of economic hardship, rather than an investment that will pay off when things pick up. And, according to the research of a top marketing professor who’ll be speaking in Hamilton on Friday March 30 as part of the Excellence in Practice seminar series offered by Corporate and Executive Education at Waikato Management School, billions of dollars of shareholder value are destroyed each year by companies that tie their marketing budgets to the business cycle. Read more »
After BNZ’s parent bank NAB recently shoulder-tapped Clemenger Group and asked Colenso BBDO to hop into bed with BNZ, Westpac was pushed out onto the floor and swiftly put its account up for pitch. At present, the Clemenger-owned .99, which recently had to show around 15 staff the door after the loss of Air New Zealand and Vodafone to DraftFCB, is Westpac’s retail agency but this new regional alignment and other agency changes for BNZ means it might be pretty tough to keep it that way. Read more »
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Who’s it for: Rexona by Generator United and Curious.
Why we like it: Depending on your viewpoint, the last Rexona spot that aired around the Rugby World Cup was either overwrought and overly earnest or powerful and beautifully shot. The follow up is fairly earnest as well, but Darryl Ward’s made it look purty in black and white and the slightly more casual approach works for us.
Who’s it for: Telecom by Saatchi & Saatchi and Prodigy
Why we like it: A simple idea, well executed—and there’s even a dose of sexy vampire-related humour. Extra points for the lead character’s rapid line spitting and the numerous attempts it probably took to get it right.
Who’s it for: National Bank by DraftFCB and Robber’s Dog
Why we like it: There’s a rich heritage of city slicker agencies claiming to know how to talk to the rural audience. But DraftFCB nailed it with this one (which we completely missed when it was launched ages ago as part of the ‘For the Places You’ll Go’ campaign).
Mio changes everything, apparently.
VW tugs on the heartstrings.
Samsung’s take on the spinning ball of death.
Intel’s big budget Ultrabook campaign takes us to the movies.
The invisible Mercedes.
Google’s Story of the Send.
Amnesty International’s graphic new ad shows that money can hide terrible things (depending on your workplace’s severed head policy, possibly NSFW).
Two-and-a-bit minutes of beautiful outdoorsiness for Decathlon’s in-house brand Quechua.
Cute kids review Skrillex.
Pumpers gotta pump, Quiky gets violated, Yahoo’s digital struggles explained, Skechers gets a smack, the QR code that requires beer and how did General Aladeen convince John Key to hold a machine gun in Cannes?
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