Tag: New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand – The privacy-first location-powered programmatic advertising partner Blis has announced the launch of its new product suite, Audience Explorer, into New Zealand, enabling brands and agencies to target their customers to drive key outcomes in the post-cookie world. Launched in 2021 in response to privacy changes by major tech companies, Audience Explorer is made available in the UK, US, Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, and now New Zealand.

Audience Explorer is a visual, real-world planning tool that combines precise location data with hundreds of rich and anonymised third-party signals, ranging from lifestyle characteristics and affinities to browsing and shopping habits, giving brands and media agencies the most holistic view of their customers. Using Audience Explorer, brands are able to discover richer audience insights, ready for activation at scale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W_iWK7Q70A&t=29s

Emma-Jayne Owens, managing director APAC of Blis, commented, “With market challenges around reach, relevance and measurement set to continue, there is no better time for brands to look to partners who can still deliver the audiences they would otherwise miss. We are delighted to bring Audience Explorer to New Zealand, enabling privacy-first audience insights and campaign scale without the reliance on personal data.”

As the industry pivots away from targeting based on IDs and personal data, brands need to find new ways to drive key business outcomes through personalised and high-performing digital advertising. To address this, Audience Explorer combines data from Blis’ global panel of 370 million opted-in consumers with precise location data and anonymized rich third-party signals.

Based on a deep consumer understanding, brands can serve up relevant ads to customers by understanding consumers’ needs, lifestyles, spending habits, competitor landscape and interests based on privacy-first, anonymized data – what Blis dubs as ‘Dynamic Audience Targeting’.

This new Dynamic Audience Targeting enables Blis to continue developing highly accurate, targeted campaigns for some of New Zealand’s biggest brands without reliance on personal data. Programmatic traders at agencies and brands can also activate these audiences via our self-serve platform or work with Blis on a managed service basis.

Auckland, New Zealand – Digital out-of-home (DOOH) provider LUMO Digital Outdoor has forged a partnership with visual communications platform Canva to launch ‘Billboards For Good’, an initiative that supplies New Zealand-based charities with free outdoor campaign activation.

The Canva design team will supply creative and design support and LUMO has provided inventory across LED screens in Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Christchurch and Wellington.

To kickstart said initiative, LUMO and Canva’s first beneficiary will be Voices of Hope, a charity breaking the stigma around mental illness to decrease suicide rates, the first to benefit from the partnership. The initiative will officially start at the end of February.

Hamish Smith, chief marketing officer at LUMO says he hopes this initiative inspires others in the ad industry to use the power of media for good by making the important work of not-for-profit organisations more visible. 

“We are approached on an almost daily basis by charities and non-for-profits at LUMO.Through our own recent charity initiatives we’ve come to realise how valuable and powerful billboards are when it comes to making a difference,” Smith said.

He added, “These organisations are often understaffed and lack resources; as such they struggle to deliver great creative to make these campaigns effective. So, it was only natural Canva got on board to help these groups deliver great creative and get in front of wider audiences. For us it’s about being able to help raise awareness and provide support to the community how we can, and this partnership gives us another opportunity to do that.”

The partnership is the latest initiative from LUMO Digital Outdoor, a long-time supporter of-not-for-profit organisations. The outdoor media company has supported over 30 charities over the last 12 months promoting messages of awareness and fundraising drives across their nationwide network of 41 screens. 

Robyn King, head of social impact at Canva, commented, “We’re excited to partner with LUMO to support some amazing, yet under-resourced, local non-profits by leveraging Canva’s unique design skills to create campaign assets for the Billboards for Good initiative. One of Canva’s guiding values is ‘to be a force for good’ and we hope this is the first of many collaborations to help shine a light on a range of worthy causes and amplify the impact of nonprofits.”

New Zealand – Out-of-home media company JCDecaux New Zealand today announced the launch of programmatic trading across its roadside digital large format network, nationally across New Zealand. The new offering is in partnership with VIOOH, the premium global digital out-of-home (DOOH) marketplace.

JCDecaux PROGRAMMATIC is DSP agnostic and, through VIOOH, is currently integrated with Vistar, Yahoo and Hivestack. The entire suite of JCDecaux’s digital large format portfolio – over 40 sites nationally – will be available to trade programmatically. 

Furthermore, to ensure that every potential advertiser can access JCDecaux’s full suite of inventory, JCDecaux is guaranteeing supply for programmatic advertisers by setting aside five per cent of the share of time on every digital screen to programmatic campaigns published via the VIOOH platform. The company said that this allocated share of time is expected to increase as demand for the offering grows.

Kurt Malcolm, trading and innovations director at JCDecaux, shared that they’ve had considerable interest in the roadside portfolio being made available to trade programmatically and are seeing huge potential in this product. 

“Our programmatic offering will deliver increased campaign flexibility and measurability, and make JCDecaux’s Digital Large Format network accessible to more advertisers than ever before,” said Malcom. 

JCDecaux’s roadside programmatic offering follows the launch of JCDecaux PROGRAMMATIC in airports in New Zealand in November 2021. In the same period, the company has also won the tender to be the exclusive OOH advertising partner for the Adelaide Railway Station in Australia. 

Auckland, New Zealand – When we fill out a form on a website, most of the time we get asked about our gender. But sadly, the large majority of sites use the same two classifications: male or female. For many people across all gender spectrums, they feel unrepresented and are forced to choose an identity that they know is not theirs.

In a bid to promote gender inclusiveness across websites, New Zealand telco Spark has worked with rainbow mental health organisation OutLine Aotearoa and creative agency Colenso BBDO to create a campaign where they developed a code that websites can adopt to their platforms to feature more gender-friendly options in their forms online.

This code revises the way organisations collect gender data by updating website forms and fields with gender-inclusive options so everyone can feel seen. In addition, the code comes with helpful materials to support businesses on their beyond binary journey, including guides on data privacy principles, how to get stakeholder buy-in and how to create safer spaces both on and offline for their customers and employees.

Claire Black, general manager at OutLine Aotearoa, said, “Often businesses default to asking for gender without considering why they need that information and how it might impact the people on the other end of the form. When trans and non-binary people are excluded, misgendered, or discriminated against during daily interactions with businesses, that contributes to an environment that is hostile to their wellbeing.”

However, the organisation pointed out that the code, known as ‘Beyond Binary Code’, is not just code, but rather a full tool that helps businesses understand, first and foremost, whether they truly need to collect gender data from their customers at all. If they do, an HTML code is generated based on their unique business needs, so they can ask in an inclusive way.

“OutLine sees this code, and its supporting resources, as a catalyst for creating better experiences that support and affirm the wellbeing of both non-binary people and rainbow communities more broadly in Aotearoa,” Black added.

Meanwhile, Matt Bain, marketing director at Spark New Zealand, notes that this campaign intersects two key ambitions at Spark – helping Kiwis have a better relationship with their data, and to champion diversity and inclusion within Spark and Aotearoa. He also added that in time and with the help of businesses adopting the code, they hope to build an internet with richer, more sophisticated datascapes that represent the true diversity of New Zealand.

“Ultimately, through publishing the code, we want to encourage digital equity at an enterprise level. By influencing big data systems in businesses to evaluate whether they need to collect gender data at all and if it is required, that they do so in a way that helps people from all genders feel valued and visible online,” Brian said.

Simon Vicars, CCO for Colenso BBDO added, “For lots of people, filling in an online form is a simple box-ticking exercise. But for people who identify beyond male or female, it can reinforce the feeling that society doesn’t acknowledge them. Beyond Binary Code has the power to rectify this – to help rewrite the internet to see more than two genders. We’re proud to finally see the idea out in the world, and excited to see the difference it can make.” 

Beyond Binary Code launched 21st February with a powerful film and digital campaign to support the website. 

Sydney, Australia — Paris-based AI programmatic marketing firm Scibids has announced that it has launched in Australia and New Zealand. Scibids, which builds artificial intelligence for marketing, has appointed former JAPAC sales director for Flashtalking by Mediaocean, James Whitbread, as country manager for ANZ and has also elevated its former commercial director for India, Mansi Garg, to be the commercial director for ANZ.

Scibids AI supports strategic business outcomes for brands by building customizable algorithms for powerful ad decision making that don’t rely on user tracking and profiling to deliver immediate and measurable results.

Scibids AI is enabled within leading Demand Side Platforms, and helps unify the ad stack between planning and measurement and delivers measurable ROI for a long-lasting competitive advantage.

Rahul Vasudev, managing director for Scibids APAC, said that Australia is a market leader in the adoption of new technology, and given the market dynamics around media costs, desire for transparency and talent, an Artificial Intelligence solution like Scibids is a perfect fit.

“We are excited to be able to officially launch in Australia and New Zealand with two highly passionate and experienced individuals like James and Mansi,” Vasudev said.

Whitbread has more than 17 years of media experience across various ad tech, digital and programmatic businesses including DoubleVerify and most recently at Flashtalking. In those roles, Whitbread has been working with high-value brands and agencies plus collaborating with various DSP’s, SSP’s, and ad server partners.

Meanwhile, Garg holds extensive experience in the marketing and advertising industry. Most recently, Garg worked with Scibids in India and also worked for multiple years for the media company GroupM in Australia.

The hiring of Whitbread and Garg comes at a time of quick expansion for Scibids, who recently announced the hiring of in-market teams in Japan as well as India.

Whitbread commented on his appointment, saying, “Both Mansi and I are very excited to be joining Scibids at such a crucial time for the company’s expansion globally and regionally. Scibids is a unique proposition in the fact that it removes the guesswork. Programmatic businesses get an upfront view of the likelihood of AI improving their results. But in addition to improving media efficiency, Scibids brings a huge amount of automation benefits to the trading units as well. Given the shortage of Programmatic Traders in the AUNZ market, this brings massive efficiency to the operations as well.’’

Auckland, New Zealand – When we say something about sports, majority of us just think of the gameplays and tournaments that happen. However, there is much more about sports, ranging from making history and milestones to being a part of our modern culture. This is the message that Spark Sport, the on-demand sports streaming service of New Zealand telco Spark, shows in its newest brand campaign.

Conceptualised alongside creative agency Colenso BBDO, the new campaign shows the broadcaster positioning themselves as the entertainment provider that ‘sees sport differently’. Where in-match moments affect more than just the game, they change culture.

Moreover, the campaign’s 30-second TVC shows users how they can watch the cause and effect sport has on the identity of a single family, lived primarily through the eyes of its youngest son.

Speaking about the campaign, Chae Blewitt, marketing lead at Spark Sport, remarked that sports fandom and consumption is constantly evolving and as a broadcaster, it’s their responsibility to evolve with it.

“‘See Sport Differently’ represents our commitment to all New Zealand sports fans, to provide a platform to see sport on their terms. We’re really excited to continue to build on this brand position during a huge year of sport in 2022,” Blewitt said.

Meanwhile, James Tucker, strategy director at Colenso BBDO, commented, “Sport is so much bigger than just what happens on the field or during the game. Its influence on identity, connection and culture is undeniable. It’s exciting to see Spark Sport capture this and bring it to life.”

Spark Sport’s campaign launched 16 January on TV and rolls out across social, digital and online channels, where viewers can ask themselves how they see sports.

Sydney, Australia – As basketball grew exponentially worldwide, only the professional players got the chance to have their own signature logo. With this in mind, House of Hoops, the basketball brand of sportswear and footwear retailer Foot Locker, has launched its interactive player logo tool, aimed at allowing fans to design and generate their logo just like the pros.

Developed in collaboration with dentsu’s BWM Isobar and Merkle, the ‘House of Hoops Mark of Greatness’ campaign is a mobile-first, interactive design tool that lets basketball fans create their own, personalised ‘player logo’ in a few simple steps. This also gives them a chance to score their own player edition shoe.

According to House of Hoops, the new tool, which is spread not only in Australia and New Zealand, but all around the world, has already been featured on some of the world’s most popular basketball news sites, including NBA.com. It simply requires users to enter their initials to have a monogram automatically created to form a symbol. From there, the tool integrates hundreds of font, colourway, icon, and shape iterations to let fans personalise their logos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMRqjDudUu0

Brendan Graham, Foot Locker’s senior director of marketing for APAC, shared that the impact of the pandemic accelerated their need to bring the innovative experience House of Hoops is known for at a physical retail level, into digital touchpoints. 

“This idea embraced the culture of the modern game and gave our customers a truly engaging House of Hoops brand experience online and on mobile,” said Graham.

House of Hoops said that upon the launch of the new tool, the promo film hit almost one million views on YouTube. Over 32,000 fans experimented with designs, with the very best winners’ designs featured on out-of-home media across the country.

The overall winner was given the full pro athlete treatment. Powerful stills of the winner pulling iconic basketball poses were captured and plastered everywhere on high impact billboards and large format digital OOH – just like the NBA superstars.

Auckland, New Zealand – Public relations firm Mango Aotearoa has appointed three new agency members, namely Jullian Liang, who joins the digital and social team as an account manager, and Seren Cameron and Krystal Warren as account coordinators.

Skilled in multimedia design art direction and digital marketing, Liang was previously an event production coordinator and digital content developer at Auckland Unlimited. Meanwhile, Cameron and Warren are recent communications graduates.

Liang comes from Jakarta, Indonesia where he spent more than 10 years working across PR and event management for premium global brands, including H&M, Chanel and Coach.

For Claudia Macdonald, managing director at Mango Aotearoa, the agency is always looking to extend its digital and social capabilities.

“[Liang] brings an impressive mixture of digital expertise which will help us continue to deliver exceptional work for clients. He has already made a significant impact in his short time here demonstrating an ability to wear multiple hats, from photographer and video editor to social media expert and graphic designer. We’re thrilled to have him on board helping grow our integrated communications abilities,” Macdonald said.

She added, “Mango prides itself on supporting and nurturing fresh talent, particularly graduates and those new to the industry. We’re looking forward to helping Seren and Krystal kickstart their career.”

New Zealand – DairyNZ, the industry organisation that represents all dairy farmers in New Zealand, has launched a new campaign with the aim to give Kiwis a better understanding of what it means to be a dairy farmer.

The new campaign, which was created in collaboration with creative agency Proximity New Zealand, looks into the daily life on a farm, from working with machinery and technology to caring for animals and the land. 

Titled ‘Join Us’, the campaign is fronted by Eastern Bay of Plenty dairy farmer Shannon Munro, who has been dairy farming for about 10 years. With her husband and three children, Munro moved away from urban city life to provide a different upbringing for her young family. They moved from Te Puke to Ngakuru, a rural community in Rotorua Lakes, where her husband found a job as a farm assistant, and over the next decade, as their family expanded, they progressed into farm manager and 2IC roles, and then into contract milking, moving around the country as opportunities came up which include farming in Canterbury and the Waikato.

Munro said that as a young Māori woman, she is proud to be presenting a different face to dairy farming and to be associated with the campaign to show people what dairy farming has to offer as a career.

“Dairy farming offers really great opportunities and a great lifestyle. There are lots of opportunities for people to progress quickly and it’s very rewarding,” said Munro.

Meanwhile, Tim Mackle, DairyNZ’s CEO, shared that the ‘Join Us’ campaign is part of a wider project – ‘Here for the Long Game’ – aiming to help communities understand what drives dairy farmers, and how they are working to provide a better future for their farms, the land, their families, and their communities, as well as New Zealand.

“Our wider ‘Here For the Long Game’ campaign is a platform for dairy farmers to share with other Kiwis who they are and what they do in a way that’s open and fun. It’s about showing young Kiwis that, for those keen to get stuck in, dairying offers a truly rewarding career and lifestyle. By joining us, you’re not only securing your own future but becoming part of creating a better one for all New Zealanders,” said Mackle.