Tag: anz

New Zealand – As New Zealand ramps up its vaccination efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic, brands continue to spend aggressively on advertising, enabling the advertising economy in the country to increase by more than 18% in 2021 to reach US$2b (NZ$3.1b), according to a report by IPG’s media investment and intelligence arm, MAGNA.

In this environment, linear advertising revenues also increased by over 8.2%, which do not yet offset the declines suffered for linear ad formats in 2020, and linear advertising spending in 2021 was just 87% of its pre-COVID total. 

Moreover, the same report revealed that television revenues increased by over 15%, completely offsetting the pandemic crisis losses, and is also the strongest growth for television since 2003. Meanwhile, print continued to shrink by more than 6%, while OOH spending grew slightly by over 5%, but it is still just 68% of its pre-COVID total.

According to MAGNA, digital advertising revenues in New Zealand grew by +26% to reach US$1.2bn (NZ$1.9b). The spending was led by campaigns on mobile devices, which grew by +34%, representing 67% of total digital budgets. By format, growth was led by search with over 33%, social with more than 31%, and video with over 21%. 

“Digital will continue to take share compared to linear advertising formats, and by 2026 digital budgets will represent 72% of total advertising budgets,” said MAGNA.

Australia – SIXT, the newest player in the vehicle rental and mobility space, has launched in the Australian market this December, and for its official entry, it rolls out an integrated campaign aimed at leveraging its brand positioning – ‘Above and Beyonding’.

SIXT is a global vehicle rental and mobility provider spanning over 100 countries. SIXT enters the market with over 163 locations in Australia, and an expansive fleet of over 16,000 vehicles including cars, trucks, vans, utes, SUVs, and also premium and electric vehicles.

The campaign, which was created in collaboration with communications agency Bastion Creative and its experiential firm Bastion Experience, includes eight separate film executions, a suite of digital, and extensive print and outdoor components, with specific creative to support the 163 retail locations.

The TVC, directed by Jesse James McElroy, features Australian actress Helen Dallimore.

Kristy Thomas, SIXT’s general manager of marketing for Australia, said that the campaign reflects their focus on raising the bar across the board. 

“The Bastion team, across creative and experience, have been instrumental in crafting our local positioning, showcasing great aptitude in balancing global localization and applying creative flair for our launch as SIXT in Australia,” said Thomas. 

Meanwhile, Georgia Arnott, Bastion’s executive creative director, said, “Vehicle rental is a category that has taken itself too seriously for a while now, and we were delighted with the vision of the SIXT team to deliver a bold message but also one that is refreshingly fun.”

Jack Watts, Bastion’s global CEO, commented, “It’s a rare and exciting opportunity to take a dynamic global brand, localize it in partnership with NRMA and SIXT head office in Germany and launch it with a wide integrated campaign across so many touchpoints.” 

The campaign is now available across TV, digital, print, and OOH.

Australia – As the Christmas countdown begins, beauty brand The Body Shop launches an integrated Christmas campaign to inspire customers to spread joy with purposeful gifts that give back through.

Developed together with Havas Group agencies, the new campaign aims to expand The Body Shop’s global self-love campaign that encourages customers to be ‘kind’ to themselves and to inspire ‘selfless love’ to others. 

Titled ‘Spread the Love, Share the Joy This Christmas’, the positive activism campaign includes strategic media planning and buying through Havas Media Melbourne, earned and influencer via One Green Bean (OGB) with creative by Marilyn & Sons.

The media features high-impact formats on CTV and BVOD across YouTube and Spotify, and sponsorship of brand-aligned podcasts, as well as content partnerships with publishers. A full-funnel social strategy has been put in place to ensure the ‘Spread the Love. The ‘ Share the Joy’ message dominated Instagram and Facebook, while a competition, which invites customers to nominate someone who brought them joy in 2021, was designed to drive audiences to The Body Shop’s Joy Hub platform.

Shannon Chrisp, The Body Shop’s brand and activism director for APAC, shared that since its global ‘Self Love Movement’, the brand has encouraged many people to embark on a journey toward self-love. 

“As an activist brand, we advocate the idea that you must first love and honor yourself in order to give back to the world and create true change. And now, we are asking our joyful collective to channel their self-love into selfless acts of love and kindness – to flip their internal focus outward in order to spark a joy movement this holiday season,” said Chrisp.

The campaign’s creative leads feature a colorful 30-second video that puts a lively spin on the illustrated global creative, using animation over live-action to spotlight acts of kindness and giving from friends, teammates, and strangers.

The multi-faceted earned and influencer approach also saw The Body Shop join forces with ‘Joy Squad’ ambassadors and charity partner Little Dreamers to shine a light on the estimated one in 10 selfless children and young adults in Australia who provide unpaid care to a family member.

Caitlin Huskins, Havas Media’s digital integration director for Melbourne, shared that in creating the work, they needed to ensure that the brand is able to stimulate real connections through the activation plan.

“A collaborative effort through Havas Media, OGB and Marilyn & Sons to build a meaningful plan through joyful creative, influencer content and media partnerships has built a true connection with our target audience, encouraging viewers to share joy to more than one through The Body Shop,” said Huskins.

Meanwhile, Hannah Stalder, One Green Bean’s head of creative services, said, “We set up a diverse and creative Joy Squad of ambassadors including media personality Abbie Chatfield, comedian and singer Em Rusciano, LGBTQIA+ activist Deni Todorovic, and Indigenous Healer Allira Potter. Through the content, they share their missions to spark a joy revolution via in-person surprise and delight and online activity, and encourage others to do the same by joining the movement on the online Joy Hub.”

Australia – UM Australia, the media arm of media marketing network Mediabrands, has appointed Mat Rawnsley, former head of strategy of independent advertising agency The Hallway, to assume the newly created role of national head of planning.

Rawnsley brings with him deep experience across communications planning and strategy. Aside from his previous role in The Hallway, Rawnsley also worked as the strategy group head of media firm OMD. He also used to be the head of media and communications planning of advertising company The Monkeys.

Commenting on his appointment, Rawnsley said that the new role represents a fantastic opportunity to invigorate the lost craft of comms planning.

“And to be able to do it in a media agency that I am convinced is consistently the smartest in Australia, and with a remarkable client list, is an irresistible combination,” added Rawnsley.

Rawnsley will start his new role on 10 January 2022, and will report directly to UM’s national chief strategy officer, Raj Gupta. 

Gupta commented, “Our commitment to the craft of planning has led to the creation of the new national head of planning role and we are really excited to have someone of Mat’s experience and expertise to fill the role.”

Sydney, Australia – Global smartphone brand Samsung has unveiled Sabrina Carpenter, American singer-songwriter, actor, and producer, as its newest influencer partner and for a new activation campaign, Samsung aimed to spread cheer for the holiday season by picking three pairs of Carpenter’s fans, and allowing their unique inspiring stories to be the theme of Carpenter’s personally composed songs.

Created in collaboration with socially-led creative agency We Are Social Australia, the heart of the campaign are music videos directed by Gia Coppola, namely ‘The Long-Distance Diners’, ‘Dancing In The Dugout’, and ‘Panic! In The Treehouse’. Carpenter wrote each song using a story from her fans’ lives as inspiration alongside her producer and co-writer Leroy Clampitt. For each surprise as well, Samsung grants the fans with a Samsung Galaxy gift emblematic of their unique stories to inspire further holiday gifting between friends.

‘The Long-Distance Diners’ features best friends Lee and Sofia reuniting for the first time in two years, who have lived 400 miles apart in Sweden. Meanwhile, the ‘Dancing In The Dugout’ film highlights former softball teammates Erin and Ari who will be returning to the field where they forged their close friendship, while ‘Panic! In The Treehouse’ recalls a close encounter shared by sisters Annie and Jamie, reuniting for the first time since leaving for college. 

Edu Pou, We Are Social Australia’s executive creative director, commented, “These are real stories, turned into incredibly rich songs with an artist’s genuine creative team, brought to life with industry-best creatives and gifted back to the fans, who’ve generously shared their authentic, emotional responses with us.”

The campaign is now available globally across Carpenter and Samsung’s social channels.

Sydney, Australia – Customer experience agency The Works has appointed Tim Brothers, former associate creative director at digital marketing firm Digi Agency, to be its new senior creative.

Brothers brings with him over 15 years of experience across Australia and the Middle East. Aside from his previous role in Digi Agency, Brothers also worked as the senior creative at creative company Innocean Worldwide and as creative director at full-service advertising agency TBWA\Raad.

In his new role, Brothers will be leading the agency’s creative output, focusing on social and digital creative for an array of The Works key clients including Goodman Fielder, Aware Super, and Masterpet, as well as H&R Block, and Subaru.

Commenting on his appointment, Brothers said, “It’s a particularly exciting time for The Works, with their new growth, and their vision of creating game-changing media-agnostic campaigns. I look forward to producing the kind of work that really moves the needle for their clients.” 

Meanwhile, Iggy Rodriguez, The Works’ creative partner, commented that Brothers blurs the lines of what creative talent can do, which he feels is perfect for the current industry landscape. 

“I’m really looking forward to Tim helping drive innovative ways to help our clients grow their brands,” said Rodriguez.

In November this year, The Works has also announced the appointment of ex-CEO of independent CX agency MercerBell, Julie Dormand, as its newest managing partner on a contract basis, where she will be responsible for managing the agency’s operations, people, and key clients, as well as driving next year’s business plan initiatives.

Australia – As part of Brighte’s commitment to providing consumers affordable solar, battery, and home improvements, the green financer has launched a new campaign to help Australians bring ‘the sun’ home.

The new campaign, created in collaboration with independent creative agency Paper Moose, aims to boost Brighte’s name among Australian homeowners, building on its new visual identity and brand platform, ‘Bringing Sustainable Home’. 

Featuring the song ‘Brighte Here Brighte Now’, which is a take on the classic by Fatboy Slim, the campaign explores the energy, excitement, and benefits of getting solar for your home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PqVGk8bJJI&t=1s

Malini Sietaram, Brighte’s chief revenue and marketing officer, points out that while a lot of Australians want to add solar to their home, reducing both their energy bills and CO2 emissions, they don’t know where to begin.

“Brighte helps you get solar sooner by removing the upfront cost through our 0% interest payment plans and our trusted network of tradies means you can start immediately. We love Paper Moose’s thinking with ‘bring the sun home’, as it shows Aussies how they can shift power back to their homes through the sun and start Brighte here, Brighte now,” said Sietaram. 

She added, “The sun is the perfect fit for us. It’s our brand essence and central to our identity, it shines bright. For us at Brighte, we live for the sunrise and sunset. The possibilities of each new day and the optimism that the future is Brighte.”

Meanwhile, Nick Hunter, Paper Moose’s CEO and founding partner, commented “Brighte is a dream partner for Paper Moose and so helping them on their mission to make every home sustainable has been a personal endeavor for the entire team. And props to eco-minded Norman Cook for the perfect tune to help us all bring the sun home.” 

The campaign adds to the growing line of purpose-led work by Paper Moose, which recently repositioned to ‘The change makers’ and launched the ‘Buy One Give One’ initiative to support innovators working to decarbonize the economy.

Australia – Former Executive Digital Producer Sharon Gray and former Senior Digital Creative Jesse McLallen of independent creative group Special Group in Australia have launched a new innovative tech platform called The Spec Sheet.

The Spec Sheet is a centralized online hub for managing and sharing real-time ad specs between media owners, media agencies, and creative agencies. It aims to do all the heavy lifting involved in campaign delivery requirements, such as sourcing, organizing, and managing ad specs across all channels. 

Moreover, the SaaS platform eliminates double handling for media agencies, while simultaneously allowing media owners to stay closely connected to their ad specs. It also stands as a solution to the all-too-common spec-related inconsistencies, delays, and errors across the industry and the knock-on effects for creative production teams and clients.

Gray believes that the platform will bring order and consistency to ad specs via its centralized database. 

“It allows users to access up-to-date ad specs all in one place and to simplify and automate building spec sheets for campaigns. No more incorrect spreadsheets, no more out-of-date spec PDFs. No more spec mistakes,” said Gray. 

Meanwhile, McLallen said, “The development of The Spec Sheet was born from real problems, real experiences, and it’s a real solution that combats the often-over-complicated world of ad specs.”

Australia – With the aim to solve Australia’s tech talent crisis, Swinburne University of Technology has joined the Digital Employment Forum, an initiative by Tech Council of Australia (TCA) and Digital Skills Organization (DSO), to be its new founding employment and training partner.

The partnership will see Digital Employment Forum bringing together major tech employers and educators to transform the country’s approach to attracting and training tech workers.

As part of the initiative, Swinburne will be joining other industry partners, organizations, and educational institutions.

Swinburne’s vice-chancellor and president, Pascale Quester, shared that it has been well established that emerging technologies are essential for tackling Australia’s critical challenges.

“The TCA has set an ambitious goal to reach one million tech jobs by 2025. While it is an ambitious goal, it is also an achievable one that Swinburne believes in. As a university of technology, we are well-positioned to help Australia overcome the tech talent crisis,” said Quester.

As the founding partner, Quester will be advising and leading to help address Australia’s technology opportunities. He will be working as a member of the Digital Employment Forum to produce an innovative, data-driven research program that defines tech employment needs, develop a cross-economy digital employment workforce strategy, and produce the best tech graduates for the new tech workforce, as well as support opportunities for students through work-integrated learning and employment programs.

Australia – In a bid to fill the gap in the market for a more complete service, brand experience agency GHO Sydney has joined a partnership with mid-scale business planning and financial advisory, PKF Sydney/Newcastle, to provide Australian start-ups uniquely designed programs in the areas of both business and creatives. 

The new alliance aims to help new businesses avoid conflicting advice or the steep cost of working with multiple partners. As part of the partnership, PKF and GHO Sydney will be offering start-ups with proven processes and the balance of advice and experience, to enable them to access diverse talent across business, finance, creative, and product, as well as marketing through either a full sweat-equity or part cash/part equity deal. 

James Legge, GHO Sydney’s strategy partner, shared that they have known there is an opportunity to change the model for supporting start-ups and to help them scale rapidly and with a clear purpose.

“By developing our design thinking offering and service-for-equity commercial models, together with PKF, we’re in a position to help deliver a clearer path to profit and growth,” said Legge.

Steve Meyn, PKF Sydney/Newcastle’s managing director, shared, “With existing clients like Grub Lab and AirCamp, PKF has been supporting start-ups for some time, but together with GHO, this new venture enables us to provide a more holistic offering and reduce the risk for the start-ups we back as they go to market and scale.”