Tag: New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand – Creative agency Colenso BBDO has announced the appointment of three new senior hires in its efforts to bolster its production and account service teams.

Joining Colenso are Jacqui Walker as director of creative production, Charlotte Glennon as EP and head of integrated production, and Keshvi Lal as senior business director.

Walker has previously worked as a senior integrated producer at TBWA\New Zealand and has worked alongside awarded creatives for the last 25 years across ANZ. She has also produced award-winning campaigns across brands such as McDonald’s, Panasonic, Volkswagen, Skoda, Westpac, AFL and more.

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “Working with Angela, Rob, Si and the incredible team at Colenso is definitely a pinch yourself moment. I’m excited to bring my creative production experience to the agency and continue to help create world-class work.”

Meanwhile, Glennon brings her years of experience as a producer for TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Mother London, Host Sydney, and DDB Aotearoa, amongst others. 

“I’m really excited to join the team at ColensoBBDO, who have the same creative ambition as the best agencies I’ve worked at. Selfishly I’m going to lean on the stellar creative department to help my gardening insta account (200ish followers) blow up, follow me for reels of Dahlias mixed to 90s R&B @charlotteinthegarden_ iykyk,” said Glennon.

Lal, on the other hand, will be leading Colenso’s Spark and Skinny accounts, amongst other responsibilities. She has also led work for iconic brands including McDonald’s, ANZ, 2degrees, and Instant Kiwi.

“I’ve long admired the work coming out of Colenso – it’s ambitious, meaningful and effective. I’m thrilled to join the whānau and work alongside the incredibly talented humans at 100 College Hill,” she said.

Angela Watson, managing director at Colenso BBDO, also commented, “Great senior people give everyone around them the momentum they need to succeed. It’s a wonderful thing. Jacqui, Charlotte and Keshvi are real talent who have already made a difference, and we’re lucky to have them.”

Colenso has also previously appointed Maria Devereux and Simon Vicars for creative leadership roles, as well as seven creative hires last June.

New Zealand – Tribal Aotearoa, DDB Group’s digital experience agency, has been named as the new lead digital agency for FMCG firm Fonterra Brands in New Zealand.

Operating within the hotly contested FMCG Dairy category, the agency said Fonterra was looking for a digital partner to service and elevate its digital needs, with the goal of continued growth and brand awareness in the market. 

Tribal Managing Director James Blair said, “Tribal Aotearoa is honoured to have secured the opportunity to work with Fonterra on some of the most loved and iconic Kiwi brands.”

“We initially launched a series of work for Kapiti Yoghurt earlier this year, so we’re looking forward to expanding our work into other Fonterra Brands, with several exciting briefs already in the pipeline for later this year and into 2023,” Bair added. 

As the lead digital agency, Tribal will be working across Fonterra’s hero brands including Anchor, Mainland, Primo, Fresh’n Fruity, and Kapiti.

Mike Boness, marketing director of Fonterra, commented, “We’re thrilled to announce Tribal as the new digital agency for Fonterra Brands and are already seeing that the power of [digital-first] thinking is having a positive impact on our marketing efforts.”

“The world is more connected than ever before, and we’re excited to be working with an agency that can help us achieve our ambition to be leaders in digital,” Boness further said. 

Tribal Aotearoa was established in 2019 and has grown rapidly over the past two years, following several business wins. Clients include international brands ŠKODA, Audi and Samsung as well as local businesses Triton Hearing, Heritage New Zealand and Arataki Honey. 

Australia – Continuing a long-standing tradition of its annual Worldwide Foundation Day, VMLY&R, brand and customer experience agency under WPP, has closed its more than 100 offices across the globe for business last 29 September 2022, to give more than 13,000 employees the opportunity to support worthy causes and non-profit organisations of their choice through volunteer projects.

For this year, the theme for VMLY&R’s Worldwide Foundation Day is ‘Make Your Mark’, which encouraged employees – regardless of whether they engage virtually or in person, individually or with a small group, or with family members – to do something that resonated with them. The day aimed to highlight the collective impact of all employees rolling up their sleeves to give back in meaningful ways over the same 24-hour period. 

In Aotearoa, New Zealand, VMLY&R Auckland has supported Family Action and cleaned Western Springs Lakeside Park, while VMLY&R Wellington has volunteered with Clean Where You Walk, removing plastic from Wellington’s beaches and contributed to public art installations with the Wellington Sculpture Trust 

Meanwhile, in Australia, VMLY&R Brisbane has volunteered with Conservation Volunteers Australia and Daisy Hill Conservation Park to help rehabilitate local wetlands and enhance the biodiversity of a national park, while VMLY&R Melbourne and Sydney have volunteered with Legacy Australia to reimagine a modern donation box, sorted and packaged clothing for redistribution at UPPAREL Recycling Centre, and organised Bondi, Wollongong, Manly, and St Kilda beach clean-up efforts. 

“The annual VMLY&R Foundation Day is a really special time for our team. Having a positive impact on the societies we live in has always been a core value to VMLY&R since we began,” said Thomas Tearle, VMLY&R’s CEO in Australia and New Zealand. 

He added, “It’s amazing to see our five offices across Australia and New Zealand make their own unique marks in their individual communities. Being a part of this global initiative is such a privilege and demonstrates that this really is the most connected agency network on the planet with over 100 offices doing this in unison.”

Sydney, Australia – Data, creative and performance marketing agency Jaywing has been appointed by sports footwear and apparel brand New Balance to drive customer growth across Australia and New Zealand. 

As part of the mandate, Jaywing will be managing New Balance’s paid search, social, analytics and email, as well as provide creative support for the brand’s extensive range of sneakers and sports clothing.

New Balance said that Jaywing was selected for its audience and creative first approach to paid media and the better use of data to provide more strategic insights across digital channels. 

“With ambitious growth goals, we wanted a digital marketing partner that has a strong strategic focus backed with a deep understanding of audience and data. Jaywing presented us with clear opportunities on how to achieve our targets and we are closely culturally aligned. We look forward to working with them to drive our e-commerce plans,” said Jonathan Clark, international retail director of New Balance. 

Meanwhile, Raimundo Campbell, commercial director of Jaywing and Frank Digital, commented, “We are delighted to welcome New Balance to Jaywing’s portfolio of leading global e-commerce brands. It’s a recognition of the depth of talent and breadth of expertise we have in the agency that we continue to attract major Australian and international brands to Jaywing, and we’re looking forward to delivering on New Balance’s ambitious performance media plans.”

The recent client win follows the integration of Jaywing and user experience agency Frank Digital earlier this year with a unified leadership structure under CEO Tom Geekie and head of digital strategy Ed Raine.

Auckland, New Zealand – Cannabis Clinic, an institution that provides legal medical cannabis, has appointed DDB Group’s Mango Aotearoa and Tribal Aotearoa to raise awareness of the brand and the benefits of medicinal cannabis.

As the company’s agency partners, Tribal and Mango will work together to raise awareness of medicinal cannabis and its use as an effective and legal, as prescribed by a doctor, treatment for a raft of health issues including pain, sleep issues and anxiety. 

Meanwhile, while Mango will provide media relations for the company, Tribal will focus on delivering creative digital solutions that bring the Cannabis Clinic story to life. 

According to Dr. Waseem Alazher of the Cannabis Clinic, the partnership with Mango and Tribal will help them to educate Kiwis about medicinal cannabis which has an integral role to play in modern medicine.

“We know there is a lot of misinformation out there, and we were looking for an agency partner who had the expertise we needed to educate Kiwis. It’s great to have found that under one roof – we’re thrilled to be working with both Mango and Tribal as one integrated agency to help us share these stories and hopefully change the perception and narrative around medicinal cannabis in New Zealand. If we are able to help even more Kiwis who have not had success with conventional treatments, then we’ll consider this a huge success,” Alazher said. 

James Blair, managing director at Tribal Aotearoa, said, “We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver high-quality, thought-provoking digital experiences that really move people to action and we’re looking forward to delivering results for Cannabis Clinic.” 

He added, “Cannabis Clinic is a great solution for Kiwis who have been living with chronic pain, sleep loss and a host of other issues. We’re really excited to be working with them and our friends at Mango to tell the story of this unique brand that is looking to help so many through the power of medicinal cannabis.”

Meanwhile, Sean Brown, managing director at Mango, commented, “We are so excited to take on a new challenge with such a unique client, and to help New Zealanders live a better life with the use of medicinal cannabis.”

He added “The appointment is fantastic for the team; it’s a fascinating topic and we’ve learned so much already. We have quickly hit the ground running and are looking forward to working alongside Tribal to deliver some amazing results for Cannabis Clinic.”

New Zealand – Out-of-Home (OOH) media company JCDecaux in New Zealand and behavioural insights company, NeuroSpot, have released the results of their latest proprietary research project called the ‘Distinctive Creativity’. This study is part of the JCDecaux Intelligence programme, which dedicates funds to annual local research projects to better understand how consumers connect with the company’s OOH touchpoints. 

The study revealed that OOH creative incorporating distinctive brand codes – including logo, colour, shape, tone of voice and style of imagery – averaged a 13% uplift in category mental availability versus weakly coded ads.

Moreover, the study also found that ads with strong brand codes are liked 31% more than weakly coded ads, while liked ads drive uplifts in category mental availability by 18% because strongly coded ads are easier to cognitively process, which leads to perceived preference. 

Victoria Parsons, senior insights and strategy specialist at JCDecaux New Zealand, noted that the first looked at format, and this study extends to creative. 

“At JCDecaux, we subscribe to the view that advertising ‘works’ through building memory structures that consumers call on in a buying situation. This study puts specific numbers around our knowledge that strongly coded Out-of-Home advertising can influence decision making and drive a sales effect,” said Parsons.

The study aims to examine how using distinctive brand codes in OOH creative influences mental availability. Mental availability is one of the most important metrics for brands and is often under-measured compared with awareness or consideration. Mental availability predicts the propensity for a brand to come to mind in a buying situation versus simply being known.

Cole Armstrong, NeuroSpot’s managing director, shared that there are points for showing up, but if brands really want to impact their customers, it’s the way they surface their brand via OOH advertising that will make the difference. 

“If you ensure your ads are strongly coded with distinctive brand codes, the potential for you to leave a lasting impression in the minds of consumers is significantly increased,” said Armstrong.

Meanwhile, Gary Rosewarne, sales director at JCDecaux New Zealand, said, “Our role as a leader in Out-of-Home is to help advertisers create the best Out-of-Home campaigns. We know that creativity drives effective outcomes for brands, but we can now validate that creative using strong brand codes delivers a sales effect. It is not about one or the other but ensuring Out-of-Home campaigns deliver both.”

Auckland, New Zealand – DDB Aotearoa has welcomed two new members to its strategy team, namely Charlotte Marks and Laura Davies as joint heads of planning. 

Both experienced strategists, Davies and Marks say they are excited to be working together to help take DDB’s planning team to new heights. 

Previously the strategy director at DDB Aotearoa, Marks joined the team two years ago and immediately made an impact, delivering strong results across a vast client portfolio.

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “DDB has a special knack for developing both longstanding, emotive brand campaigns and timely, innovative creative solutions. The planning team play an important role in the process, identifying powerful insights that go on to strike a chord with New Zealanders and produce a positive outcome for our clients. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Laura and Rupe to strengthen and grow DDB’s planning team.”

Meanwhile, Davies was previously the strategy director at Saatchi & Saatchi, and she brings in over a decade of experience working across telecommunications, government, FMCG and retail in both New Zealand and abroad. 

“Rupert and Charlotte are both brilliant strategic minds but also genuinely wonderful people. When Rupert reached out, I was only weeks away from having my daughter and while many agencies would have ended discussions there, Rupert and the team at DDB didn’t even blink. They have waited patiently for me to finish my maternity leave and their flexi policies have made it so easy for me to step into this role as a new mum – it’s wonderful to finally be here,” Davies said.

DDB Aotearoa Chief Strategy Officer Rupert Price said, “Charlotte has proven herself to be an incredible strategic mind and her promotion is well-deserved. I’m looking forward to working with Charlotte in running the Planning team and ensuring our strategic product continues to go from strength to strength.”

He added, “Charlotte and Laura are already proving themselves to be a formidable double act and I’m excited to see what we do together as we continue to build New Zealand’s biggest and best agency strategy team.”

Auckland, New Zealand – As the cost of living rises and household budgets are put under pressure, necessities drive consumer spending in New Zealand, according to JCDecaux New Zealand’s IRIS audience research.

According to the research, 58% of respondents are planning to stop buying everyday luxury items, and 47% of respondents plan to adopt more home brands. In addition, 40% of respondents will only buy trusted brands, and 77% of respondents claim price is the main consideration when choosing between similar products.

In terms of shopping behaviours, online grocery shopping is growing: it’s also more considered and less impulsive than in-store shopping. FMCG marketers must consider how they reach and influence online shoppers, who typically tend to be younger. In addition, People are thinking about upcoming meals while they are driving, and that large format OOH impacts audiences on obligatory journeys, when they are making mental shopping lists of the things they need.

For Victoria Parsons, senior strategy and insights manager at JCDecaux New Zealand said: they noted that 91% of respondents have their household budgets being stretched and a quarter of respondents reporting that they are actively cutting back. 

“For New Zealanders noting reduced disposable incomes, grocery shopping is an easy place to make cuts. Shoppers are increasingly paying close attention to what goes onto lists and intro trolleys. It is interesting to understand consumer perceptions as to what is a necessity and what is a luxury; we see consumers justifying brand purchases as necessary for quite personal reasons,” Parsons said.

She added, “Out-of-home can be a powerful platform to impact and influence in-store and online shoppers throughout the day while they are mentally planning their shopping lists. 83% of survey participants agree that brands that advertise on Large Format are quality brands, which is key for consumers to overcome price sensitivity and avoid replacement by home brands.”

Meanwhile, Gary Rosewarne, sales director at JCDecaux New Zealand, commented, “What consumers deem an everyday luxury is interesting. Respondents told us items such as coffee and tea, bread, self-care and dairy are non-negotiable in terms of buying favourite or quality brands, whereas for canned and frozen goods, and cleaning products, people are shopping the category based on price. Luxury does not mean premium, it means moments where you expect quality FMCG experiences and won’t trade down – you justify the price premium.

New Zealand – Tourism New Zealand, the agency that promotes the country’s tourism around the world, has launched a new campaign, which is an underground network of Secret (Travel) Agents, with a mission to encourage Australians to book a holiday in Aotearoa New Zealand.

With successfully executed missions like introducing the flat white to Australian culture or reminding Australians of how New Zealand does winter with its longer snow season, the Secret (Travel) Agents’ network of approximately 600,000 has been infiltrating Australians’ minds, hearts and mouths for years.

In a new campaign, which was done in collaboration with creative agency TBWA\Sydney and PR agency Eleven, the identities of some of the agents have been revealed in a recorded video conference. The secret agents are Kiwi comedian Melanie Bracewell, Australian popstar Ricki-Lee, TV presenter Richard Wilkins, Kiwi popstar Stan Walker, and drag performer Kita Mean, as well as Twitch streamer Broxh, and Kiwi character, the Beached Az Whale. They have been working to remind the world what is unique and special about Aotearoa New Zealand.

The brief is simple yet effective. Find ways to include New Zealand in regular chat, social media feeds, or general conversation. For example, posting a throwback picture from Waitomo Glowworm Caves, sharing their love of a Central Otago Pinot Noir, or simply reminding Australians that New Zealand scallops are just a bit bigger than theirs.

Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt, executive creative director at TBWA\Sydney, noted, “Anyone who knows a New Zealander, knows we just can’t shut up about how unique and beautiful our country is. Turns out, this behaviour is not random. It’s highly choreographed by an undercover society of Secret (Travel) Agents acting to encourage Australians to take a holiday in New Zealand.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Waddel, Tourism New Zealand’s general manager for Australia, said, “While some of our Secret (Travel) Agents have been revealed, this only means we need to find more for the cause – which is easily done by welcoming more Australians to New Zealand, and into our Agent whānau. It’s time for Australians to travel to Aotearoa and immerse themselves in a place filled with unmissable experiences and unmistakable Manaakitanga.”

Evan Roberts, chief creative officer at TBWA\Sydney, commented, “While this campaign is delivered in a Kiwi tongue-in-cheek manner, the marketing implications are huge. From an earned media moment, we are mobilising every advocate they have ever had in the history of social media, capturing first-party data and then rewarding them for their behaviour.”

Sydney, Australia – Global sporting apparel and equipment brands Wilson and Salomon has appointed performance agency Alley to drive its customer growth in Australia and New Zealand.

Through the mandate, Alley will manage all performance media strategy, planning and execution to drive new and existing customers to the Wilson and Salomon e-commerce platform.

Nicholas Dion, head of digital for ANZ at Amer Sports and owner of Wilson and Salomon said, “We have ambitious growth plans for the Wilson and Salomon brands across Australia and New Zealand and thus we needed the top partner in customer acquisition to drive revenue growth amongst our e-Commerce stores. Throughout the competitive pitch process it was clear that Alley’s skillset not only in performance media, but also media attribution, has put them at the top of the game.”

Meanwhile, Nick Lavidge, CEO of Alley Group, commented, “In the current environment, many brands and agencies are struggling with customer acquisition, but we have developed a strong capability in using data modelling for attribution that is paired with agile testing strategies to uncover profitable audiences that keep customer acquisition cost low and customer lifetime value high. We look forward to working with the teams at Wilson and Salomon to bring that expertise and meet their growth targets.”