The awards honour excellence in every form of packaging design and there were a total of four Kiwi winners this year, with Designworks standing up to take the biggest bow after securing a Gold Pentaward in the Beverages category for its Monteiths Single Source packaging. Single Source was launched in December last year, the most unusual feature being the black glass bottle, picked by Monteiths for its “premium, sophisticated appearance”.

Single Source’s packaging design focuses on the story behind the beer. Designworks Michael Crampin said Single Source is the first beer in New Zealand to really champion the process and philosophy of beer origin. Each bottle is equipped with QR code that tells the story of the beer.

But Designworks wasn’t the only award winner in the Beverage category. Insight Creative picked up a bronze for its 1Above Aerotonic Flight Beverage.

1Above bottle creator Jamie McLellan, of Insight Creative, said the design was all about balancing “form and function”.

“As well as looking terrific the design needed to cater to the audience of air travelers and describe the benefits through the packaging. It also needed to function on route and be easily stored on the plane. The team worked hard to ensure the needs of this particular group were met,” he said.

Elsewhere, dairy packaging design served us well. Shine took out a bronze in the Food category for hearty yoghurt brand Mammoth Supply Co, with pHd3 also picking up a bronze in the same category for fellow yoghurt brand, The Collective.

Award finalists came from over 25 countries and a total of 40 Gold Pentawards were dished out. The most prestigious award of the night however was the Diamond Pentaward or ‘Best of Show’. That honour went to Swedish agency NINE for its Ramlösa natural mineral water project.

Here’s a selection of other winners:

Platinum Pentaward 2011

Best the Beverage Category

Brand: Heineken—STR bottle

Entrant: dBOD

Country: The Netherlands

Platinum Pentaward 2011

Best the Body Category

Brand: Görtz 17—Shoelace Box

Entrant: Kempertrautmann gmbh

Country: Germany

Gold 

Beverages, Coffee & tea (dry and capsules)

Brand: Level Ground Trading

Entrant: Subplot Design

Country: Canada

Gold 

Beverages, Wines

Brand: Blasted Church Vineyards

Entrant: Brandever

Country: Canada

Gold

Luxury, Perfumes

Brand: Davidoff—Champion

Entrant: Objets de Convoitises/Alnoor Design

Country: France

Gold 

Body, Health care

Brand: Kleenex—Divine Dessert Wedges

Entrant: Kimberly-Clark

Country: USA

This story originally appeared on Idealog.co.nz. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Running With Scissors was behind the successful launch of Single Source and commissioned the documentary that was filmed by Zoe McIntosh (the new TVC is edited footage of that). But, as is often the case in advertising, sometimes a good job isn’t quite good enough and Colenso, which also recently won Les Mills International, has hopped on for a hoon.

“Working on beer is awesome and we are thrilled to get a chance to work on another great DB brand with Monteith’s,” says Colenso’s managing director Nick Garrett. “Just in case people thought the black bottle was an act of patriotism we thought we had better explain it was all about protecting an incredible beer. Lots more exciting stuff to come.”

Rene de Monchy, DB’s consumer marketing manager, was full of praise for Running With Scissors’ creative approach after the launch. But Colenso, which already handles the DB Export account and gave the brand a big refresh with ‘Beer: The Untold Story’ last year, is obviously on the hunt for new business after the departure of Vodafone and there have also been some changes in the DB marketing ranks, with DB Export’s Dave Shoemack heading to Amsterdam, past-Monteith’s marketing manager Russell Browne replacing him and ex-Heineken brand manager Jennie Macindoe taking over Monteiths.

Added to that, it was always the plan to move the brand to TV this year and Colenso has more of a strength in that area.

Away from the agency changes, Monteith’s is also dipping its toes in the waters of branded content with a new television series called the ‘Monteith’s Wild Food Challenge’, which starts next Thursday on TV One at 9:30pm.

The series follows two locally-based chefs, Englishman Mark Southon and Kiwi Wylie Dean, as they embark on a road trip to sample entrants’ wild food dishes and beer matches in the 14th annual Monteith’s restaurant competition. Along the way the pair try catching and cooking wild food alongside 14 of the 80 entrants that took part in the Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge this year. They also encounter local suppliers and identities in the towns and cities they visit.

“Taking part in the show is a huge opportunity for the chefs involved in our annual wild food challenge but it also demonstrates just how exciting and easy it can be to match great but interesting food alongside our beer,” says Macindoe. “I hope the series inspires more people to try their hand at combining beer with food, especially over summer when a cold beer over a barbecue is the iconic Kiwi dish.”

For more information visit www.tvnz.co.nz or www.monteiths.co.nz.

Apollo took home two golds at last year’s Star Awards and this year it won gold in Best Cause of Charity campaign for Nestle’s Milo Sports Cash, silver in the B2B category and a bronze for Best Small Budget for DB Breweries’ A Taste of Monteith’s Summer Cookbook and a silver in the Best Use of Social Media for Hancocks Wine and Spirits’ Jack’s World Tour.

Integer took the Grand Prix for its ‘My Car is Your Car’ campaign for NRMA, an activation idea that saw Integer launch a campaign sharing a car with Australia in order to illustrate NRMA’s policy of covering anybody driving the car.

1) Favourite campaign that isn’t yours

Click here to view the embedded video.

2) Favourite campaign that is yours

Monteith’s Apple vs. Pear Cider. We launched the new pear cider, showcased the incumbent apple cider, and showed why each was better than the other.

3) Least favourite campaign

Click here to view the embedded video.

4) Best brand

Monteith’s. OK, so maybe we’re a little biased, but you’ve got admire a brand that goes to the trouble of making Monteith’s Single Source and then heroes the people who are responsible for making it.

5) Best stoush

Listener vs Rob Fyfe. Quick, witty, interesting, aggressive and topped with the most intellectual ending.

6) Heroes

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ian Thorn, Bill Davey and Tony Mercer. They make beer.

7) Villains

It was a tough year for financial institutions. Call me a conspiracy theorist but the public fall of Hubbard and Goldstein in the same year is too much of a coincidence to ignore. Are there any investigative journalists left to uncover the truth?

8) Most memorable marketing moment

Amnesia awareness day.

Bill Davey

Kiwi beer drinkers aren’t really renowned for their refined palates. But that’s slowly changing, as evidenced by the decline in the mainstream category and growth in premium (at present, craft beer, which includes Macs and Monteiths, has around 10 percent of the total beer market and there was an 11 percent increase in the number of craft brewers last year). The wine industry has done a good job of telling consumers what different regions and grape varieties bring to the table, so to speak. But according to Monteith’s head brewer Tony Mercer, the story of beer hasn’t really been told, something he and the team hope to change with this beer and its focus on the suppliers, Charmay barley grower Bill Davey and Ngatamoti hop grower Ian Thorn, whose family have been growing hops in the Nelson region since 1928 (interesting beer fact alert: hops only grow at certain latitudes).

Tony Mercer

Ian Thorn

Steinlager Pure was hugely successful because it focused on nature and ramped up the New Zealand connection. Single Source seems to have taken that trend even further by zeroing in on the region, not just the country, and adding traceability to the mix. In some ways, it could be seen as the alcoholic equivalent of Icebreaker’s Baacode, which allows wearers to find out what farm their garment came from.

“It’s important to understand the source of ingredients before making a top quality craft beer. If you don’t understand the source, you’re not going to understand the finished beer,” says Mercer. “We’ve looked at every single aspect of the beer; we figured if we did what we’ve always done we’d end up with the same results. We wanted to create something with real interest that reflected the influence of our unique land and climate. We wanted to be able to almost taste the locations the crops were grown in.”

If you believe the presser, the hops have “a delicate aroma of lemon peel and pine needles, layered beneath a clean spiciness and soft herbaceous undertone”. And the bottom fermented batch brewed pilsner itself? “Inside the pale, straw coloured lager is a flavour that begins with a soft bitterness building delicately with an aromatic balance of citrus and spice, ending with a sharp, dry finish” (it’s fair to say Colin Meads, the go-to spokesman on the simplistic joys of the past and avowed hater of change and modernity, would presumably be rolling in his grave if he heard a beer described like this. Or, given that he’s still alive, might be best to say he would probably be quoted as saying ‘Wouldn’t have been like that in my day’).

To increase the personalisation of the beer, the signatures of the three main men also grace the good lookin’, black, double kilned and apparently quite expensive bottles, which were chosen because light, both from the sun and from fluorescent sources, is the enemy of beer (apparently Steinlager Pure also toyed with the idea of a black bottle, but it was too pricey).

“I guess what makes this beer different, is that nothing is left to chance,” Mercer says. “It’s a bottle full of interest—the best ingredients, the most meticulous and passionate craftsmen producing it, and the best brewing processes. After a long, hard journey I’m pleased to release a beer that tastes of the land and the people [hopefully after they've showered] that helped produce it.”

Typically, breweries buy their core ingredients from co-operative organisations (Malt Europe for the malted barley and NZ Hop for the hops), which means the provenance of the beer is largely unknown. So Grant Caunter, DB’s innovations guy, believes this level of traceability in a beer is a world-first.

It’s certainly a very good lager. But to me and a few other early tasters, it wasn’t blow your socks off material. The selling point is the scarcity, the story behind it and the beautiful bottle/packaging courtesy of Designworks. And there should be enough consumer curiosity to ensure a successful launch, but whether New Zealanders will continue to pay $35 a dozen or around $10 a bottle on-premise when there are similar beers on offer for much less or more interesting tasting beers from smaller craft brewers remains to be seen (surprisingly, our suggested slogan ‘Single Source, Double Kilned, Triple Price’ didn’t tickle any DB fancies). Still, it does lay a good platform for other varieties that could be made in the same way.

For most drinkers—and for many food purchasers in general—there is still a large disconnect between the product and the process it needs to go through to get in the gullet. Interestingly, even some of the DB marketing folk admitted they didn’t really know how beer was made until the idea for Single Source was tabled and the journey to find the best suppliers began.

“Premium isn’t enough. It’s about transparency, about origins, about giving the complete picture to the consumer,” Gaunter says. “There’s a space for this. No-one’s talking about beer in this kind of way. And [during research] consumers asked if there was a product that could explain the process because they didn’t know anything about it.”

Peter Gordon is also a believer in this local ethos and, in a tie-in with his own Beehive Craft range, which is being PRed by Haystac, the PR agency for Single Source, he agreed to design the menu for the Rakaia launch lunch.

The whole project was another example of  agency co-operation, with Running With Scissors as the central hub, Designworks creating the visual identity, Terabyte on digital duties, as well as Haystac, Events Direct, Apollo, Static Communicate and copywriters Bob Moore, Simon Pound and Rachel Wallis.

“Everyone has had to adapt, to think more about every detail, to ensure we’re being true to the beer and the people who have made it,” says Monteith’s marketing manager Russell Browne. “If we’ve done our job right then people will take an extra moment, as they take their first sip, to see if they can taste the land, climate, craft and ingredients that make Monteith’s Single Source unique.”

There won’t be any big TV campaign for the beer, primarily because it’s such a niche, top end product. And, as Friday O’Flaherty from Running With Scissors says, they’re not really making ads, they’re just telling the story. And cinema is the perfect place to tell those stories, he says. As such, Zoe McIntosh, a talented New Zealand film and documentary maker, was enlisted to capture the making of the beer and the stories of the people involved.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In what could be seen as something of an indictment of the marketing fraternity, more than a few mentioned that not having to make anything up for a new product launch was quite a novelty. As O’Flaherty says: “We just had to make sure we shared it exactly as it was, and Zoe has an incredible talent for making people feel comfortable in front of a camera and presenting their stories in an honest and natural way. You can’t help but feel like you really know Bill, Ian and Tony after watching Zoe’s documentary.”

It is the first of eight short documentaries. It will also screen in selected Rialto and Event Cinemas, The Academy Cinema and The Embassy Cinema, from Thursday 25 November, in conjunction with cinema tastings.

Those attending Taste Auckland will find the new beer alongside the full range of craft beers and the public launch is taking place in the 29 Monteith’s Craft Bars around the country from 5pm -7pm on Friday. It’s also available for purchase online at www.singlesource.co.nz.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As DB staff arrived at work on 23 August, they were greeted by a mob of seemingly heated protesters, humorous placards in hand, in support of apples as protestors pleaded with the staff to avoid ‘pear-shaped lies’. Initiated by Monteith’s agency Running with Scissors, the ‘protest’ was the first iteration of the tongue in cheek, pun-filled campaign to launch its new pear cider, which sees the new variant claim superiority and take on its slightly older apple-based stablemate.

2009 was a bit of a watershed year for cider in New Zealand, and particularly for Monteith’s crushed apple cider, which managed to snaffle nearly 30 percent of the total category. 131,513 more litres were sold in December 2009 than the year previous, which was a massive 139 percent increase, but consumption is still in its infancy here and it is still not that widely known versus other alcohol categories.

So the challenge was to launch Monteith’s new pear variety, bestow its many virtues and ensure it was clearly differentiated from a product that is still relatively new to the market. And the answer Running With Scissors came up with was to take comparative advertising, usually the preserve of mortal enemies, and use it in an unexpected, light-hearted way.

“The idea has enabled us to promote two products at the same time and talk about the product benefits in an engaging and refreshing way,” says Friday O’Flaherty, easily the most facially hirsute of the Running with Scissors leaders. “…We selected a few members of our eclectic creative team, including an orchardist for the initial idea generation and we then handpicked diverse and interesting specialists for development and implementation. Quality of implementation is as important as the idea itself and, as we don’t carry fixed overheads for delivery, we’re able to engage the best individuals or agencies to deliver in their specialist area.”

Russell Browne, Monteith’s marketing manager says Monteith’s is a brand aimed at savvy drinkers and it’s great to be able to create a campaign that’s full of wry humour and breaks a few rules.

“And believe me, we broke a few rules with the staged protest, but it certainly made everyone internally stop and pay attention. The staff here are still talking about it now.”

Apparently, no-one from DB, aside from the brand manager, knew the fake protest was taking place. So confusion reigned. And, because the actors, as actors are wont to do, fully got into their roles, it was fairly realistic (and at times fairly heated).

“We’re really pleased with the way the core [ahem] idea has been translated into so many mediums and how well Running with Scissors has collaborated with our partner agencies, especially Apollo [which did the instore promotions], on this project,” Browne says. “We have a campaign we’re really pleased with and it has been executed with a refreshing amount of ease.”

The campaign began last weekend and will be portrayed in print, radio (for example MTH013-15-P1 and MTH013-15-A1), online, in bars and liquor outlets and a few other unexpected places that are yet to be revealed.

If you feel like piping up with your opinion on this bitter stoush, visit www.monteiths.co.nz/applevpear (and if you’re keen to see a filmic piece de resistance, check out the rather entertaining Running With Scissors ‘corporate video’).

1. Augmented Reality

The first one I looked at was Augmented Reality (AR). By way of background, I’ll refer you back to two previous blogs I’ve done. The first was commenting on some useful applications we had seen at the time, and suggesting that AR is finally being put to good uses (though there are still lots of examples I’d put in the “hype” category). The second I did at the start of this year, bravely backing other forecasters that its time had indeed come (and showing off a wee prototype called Smart Pack we have done for NZ Post).

That post really sums up the opportunities I see on the rise, as AR has shifted from 90 percent technology, 10 percent audience, to the other way around. Technology should ALWAYS come second to the audience, in my books.

AR is also becoming well integrated in the mobile space where data is superimposed over a real scene to add real time information (tweets that have come from there, real estate prices, opening/closing hours, etc) and that is helping its adoption.

2. Clever ideas using existing tools

We’ve all been through tough times, and they can help make us think smarter. Here’s two examples that I thought would be great inspiration for others:

Alec Brownstein was looking for a job. Not just any job, but a job at a top New York ad agency. He spent $6 to make contact with five  creative directors. He got interviews with four of them, had two job offers and now works at Y&R NY. A brilliant demonstration of knowing your (narcissistic) audience:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The second example was from IKEA in Sweden. Here, the store manager put photos of this season’s in-store showrooms onto his Facebook page. He then invited people to tag the photos. Correctly identifying an item from the catalogue, adding your name and your desire to own it and, voila, it was yours. All you had to do was come in to the store and collect it (and of course buy the lounge suite that went with that lamp!).

These are both examples of thinking smarter, spending (virtually) nothing, and using what’s already out there. I think we’re going to see a lot more of these. If you have an example, do let me know!

3. Less SHOUTING!

I think we’re all over having brands shout at us; competing for our attention. Instead of yelling at consumers, I think we’re going to see more examples of brands creating experiences, experiences that intrigue and draw you into a brand, to let me engage in my terms.

Don’t you want to know what’s inside here? This is from an exhibition at the Museum for Contemporary Art in Berlin (there’s more about it on the Cool Hunter website, if you want to see more).

As we work a lot in the experiential space, we do see more interesting things coming from museums and even from digital artists which are proving to be inspiring for the corporate sector. As we see brands looking for new ways to stand out, be talked about and connect, these inspirations are becoming more and more relevant.

Quietly engage me. There’s no need to yell.

4. Brand Butlers

Building from the previous theme, this trend is all about brands providing a genuine service to their customers. It’s not about you, it’s about them. What do they need? Are there skills, knowledge or services which you can help your customers with? Can you genuinely add value? (authenticity is key here).

I recommend reading this report from trendwatching, to learn more about it and see many fabulous examples of brands helping their customers find the best gigs, taxis, pet friendly places and even restrooms. That said, I think it is moving towards being a crowded market. New Zealand is a small market. Could you partner with another brand to offer a combined service that could be a killer app for customers?

5. Letting people’s voices be heard

I’ve spoken before about installations we’ve made that allow people to contribute, either by texting, or through mining what they’re saying already in social media channels. Our latest installation is currently being trialled in its first Monteith’s Bar (at the Tasting Room in Wellington). It takes data from the ‘Worth Talking Over’ campaign website, and ambiently displays it in the bar, as a conversation starter over three screens behind the bar.

Showing the most talked about topics in New Zealand and then showing the last comment made on a popular topic is a really effective way to get a conversation started (as we were trialling it on our office for several weeks, I can vouch for its effectiveness). Another layer is the fact that there is a background animation of bubbles that responds to the level of noise in the bar. so the more conversation, the bubblier it is.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A great example of taking user generated content off the web was this HUGE signpost that Nokia created in London. Using the built-in geo features of a Nokia phone, users could contribute their favourite spots in London to the sign, and the sign would then update with that spot and its location (eg: best Indian restaurant – 100mtrs this way). It also showed the contributor’s name which would appeal to many (“that’s me on the world’s largest sign!”).

So, I think we’re going to see more of the voice of the people being used to demonstrate the connection that brands have with real people, and thus make a brand feel more real and more connected as a result.

6. The audience is winning the technology race.

For the 16 years we’ve been making interactive media, we have had to constantly educate our audiences on how to interact. It began way back when with ‘touch the screen’ type instructions. But, when we did our first public multi-touch interactive early last year, we were amazed at how people picked up how to use two hands and zoom with NO instruction!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why? Because they’ve seen in it in action: on their iPhones; on someone else’s iPhone; on TV; in the movies; on the web. It’s in their consciousness. I am aware of several examples of people expecting to interact with screens that are not interactive;  screens they wouldn’t have gone up to in the past, that they now gesture in front of or touch and expect interaction.

Panasonic recently did a big display of their amazing large format screens in Wellington Airport. The first time I saw the display, I saw a woman walk up to a screen and touch it. Next time I went by, a barrier had been put up to keep the audience away.

Shouldn’t Panasonic be going where their audience is and adding a little interactivity to help sell the screens? Imagine having a gestural interface on each one, to allow users to change out content to see content they like on the big screen. Each gesture could act like a simple channel changer. Then, you’d have crowds of people standing in front of the screens “changing channels” and experiencing their product, in their terms, for a lot longer than the current quick walk by affords.

Come on people, for the first time I can think of, the audience is actually ahead of you. Time to play catch-up.

7. The final ta-dah!

Finally, I talked about an exciting new medium coming soon. What is it? Can’t tell you (yet). It was only revealed to the actual audience, so you had to be a Marketing Association member to hear that one.

• For more soothsaying, trend spotting and digital enlightenment, check out the Click Suite blog.

Monteith’s drew its inspiration for the new varietal from the annual harvesting of beer’s two key ingredients, hops and barley. And, just like those two ingredients, First Harvest has a limited time-span and will only be offered on tap at Monteith’s bars for two months.

Monteith’s marketing manager, Russell Browne says brews that are ‘hoppy’, like First Harvest ale, are best enjoyed fresh to ensure the hop aromas or ‘top notes’ are not lost. He also uses words like flavoursome, complexity, soft malt characters, spicy, fruity, yeasty, slightly dry and perfectly balanced to describe it’s many-faceted features.

“It’s a good match with most foods,” says Browne. “The fruity and spicy notes can lift a simple char-grilled dish but it’s equally able to enhance the flavours of any hot or peppery meal.”

• Tebe face products
• Eco-store soap
• A few six-packs of Monteith’s beer
• Media magnate Harold Mitchell’s book Living Large
• A Finding Flavour foodie discovery tour of Auckland
• Two $20 vouchers for the new Shortland St-based fruit stall The Honesty Box (they’re also doing custom made ‘corporate boxes’ of fruit, glorious fruit)
• A diary from 2009

Send in your best efforts to editor@stoppress.co.nz. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Brent Kennedy, left; Ricky Gervais, right

Deirdre Robert, left; Jess Tovey, right

Cartoon man from old DB ad, left; Paul Holmes, right

Ben Fahy, media juggernaut, left; small boy from National Bank ad, right

Alinghi 5, left; Romulan Warbird, right

Paul Burnaby, left; Shane Watson, right

Charlotte Allan, left; National Geographic covergirl, right

Mumford the Magician, left; Dr Phil McGraw, right

Annabel McAleer, left; The People's Princess, right

Kim Cattrall, left: Vernene Medcalf, right

Kate Hudson, left; Kristin Uyl, right

Italian actor Raoul Bova, left; Jurgens, part Italian non-actor, right

Colin Mathura Jeffree, host of NZ's weirdest TV show, Hottest Home Baker, left; Captain Jack Sparrow, right

Kate Chapman, left; Julia Roberts, right

Telecom logo, left; Kurt Vonnegut's drawing of an asshole in 'Breakfast of Champions', right

Cover star of the latest Consumer, left; Ja'mie King, from Summer Heights High, right

Scott Milligan, left; Benjamin McKenzie from the OC, right

Andy Jaquet, left; Dudley Moore, right

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, top; Annabel and Elton McAleer, bottom

Vincent Heeringa, left; Rhys Darby, right

Martin Bell, left; Ben Stiller, right

Vincent Heeringa, left; Legolas, right

Anna Kournikova, left; Cherie Anslow, right

Joel McHale, left; Martin Bell, right

Ben Fahy, left; Matthew Hoggard, right

Jason Eaton, left; He-man, right