March 2009 Archives

Colenso BBDO executive creative director Nick Worthington is in Hawaii judging The One Show, one of only a handful of non Americans on the prestigious jury. Worthington offered to write a daily diary for the blog:

We've whittled the work down to what will become a very long short list, with no guarantees of any of that work making it into the book.
The real judging will be in NYC on the week of the show, but they will release the "finalists" in a couple of weeks, none of us know at this stage what is in and what is out.
We've all learnt that the best way to judge print is to see it on a board in front of you and not projected on to the wall (we judged both ways) and a word of advice to those entering The One Show in future, keep the explanations to a minimum, and then only put them on if you're convinced it'll increase your chances, rather than reducing them.
There were some tough judges and anything that looked like it needed a lengthy explanation (or was remotely scam-like) got scowled upon.
But like I said, none of us know what went through at this stage and pressing "In or Out" was a private and personal thing so we'll see what everyone thought in a week or so.
Trust that the good stuff always comes to the top.
On another note, I was talking to a lot of the judges about what awards they value the most. In America it seems to be The One show, CAA and The Art Director's Club, then there's Cannes and D&AD get's a mention.
Their local awards are the most important.
I can't help thinking that we should make our local awards our most important shows. Be the best in your country. Then get together once a year to see how you stack up against the rest of the world. At Cannes.
For me the thing that muddies those clear waters are the agency and network ranking, The Gunn Report, The Won and of course Campaign Brief's own ranking.
To do well in those rankings you'd be well advised to enter half a dozen shows at the very least, more like a dozen.
I think the rankings are wrong.
Why not rank agencies country by country based exclusively on their local show. Then rank them again based on Cannes. Best in your country, best in the World. Simple. The Brits will always enter D&AD, it's their local show, The American's will always enter The One Show. We'll always enter Axis. Fine. Then we'll all enter our best work in Cannes and see who comes out top.
All I know is we're having our arms twisted to enter too many shows and we can't afford it and I suspect you can't either.
Any thoughts on this matter would be well appreciated.

Nick W, Hawaii.

Colenso BBDO executive creative director Nick Worthington is in Hawaii judging The One Show, one of only a handful of non Americans on the prestigious jury. Worthington offered to write a daily diary for the blog:

Sony headphones looked good in the outdoor, fingers crossed, salad plate was discussed at lunch and everyone seemed to think it was pretty funny, what you do learn is the power of presentation, a good video of the idea is almost an art form in itself and the multi channel ideas and non traditional ideas need a brilliantly told story if they are going to get through. Guess that's what our business is all about but it's hard to rate a campaign if the entrant hasn't taken the time and energy to tell their story well. Salad plate was well told, funny and you could tell they cared, Crispin do it well too, at least I guess they did the burger king sacrifice your friends campaign. It's a new skill we all need to learn of we want our ideas to be rewarded at the big shows. It's not just the ideas it's the presentation. AIM's I-phone jonny for yellow pages looked good too.
Mainly American stuff though, as you'd expect.

This viral was put on youtube a month ago, taken off the Schweppes site.
The spot, created by Publicis Mojo Auckland and @radical.media director Patrick Hughes, has attracted over a million views and is #80 - Top Rated (All Time) and #5 - Top Rated (All Time) - Film & Animation.
It even has its own Facebook club for over 3,400 members.

The top award of Grand AXIS at the 2009 CAANZ AXIS awards tonight was presented to Colenso BBDO for their work on Read a Book at Work for client New Zealand Book Council.
Colenso (with AIM Proximity) also won the 360 AXIS for Yellow Pages 'Treehouse Restaurant' while TBWA\Whybin won the AXIS of Innovation for Preventing Violence New Zealand 'Barcode'. Download the PDF:
00380-barcode.pdf
Of the Gold Awards handed out on the night, Colenso BBDO took home nine (one with AIM Proximity), four each went to Clemenger BBDO Wellington, Saatchi & Saatchi and DDB, two went to Draft FCB, while one apiece went to Saatchi & Saatchi DGS and AIM Proximity.
Creative Business of the Year was awarded to the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Liquidstudios won this year's Production Company of the Year and the Industry Excellence Award was awarded to Kim Thorp, of Assignment.
The Emerging Talent award, which acknowledges those who have recently entered the industry, was presented to Rory McKechnie from DraftFCB New Zealand, whose early work has already begun to gain attention in the industry.
This year's judging panel, made up of 43 local creatives and four international judges - Matt Doman and Ian Heartfield, creative directors at Beattie McGuinness Bungay London, Steve Ayson, director from The Sweet Shop Los Angeles and Jureeporn Thaidumrong, founder & executive creative director of JEH Thailand - were all highly impressed with the quality of work submitted.
For all the results visit the CAANZ website

Colenso BBDO executive creative director Nick Worthington is in Hawaii judging The One Show, one of only a handful of non Americans on the prestigious jury. Worthington offered to write a daily diary for the blog:

The quality of the print is pretty impressive and the level of craft is inspiring, I've seen less than a quarter and already there's a show's worth.
Just gorgeous to see the attention to detail, a campaign for scrabble was a standout for me so far, no idea where it was from but it's good.
The tv has been less inspiring and I'm hoping for some good stuff tomorrow or perhaps all the good work was in one of the other judging groups. But maybe the biggest ideas will be in the integrated and interactive.
It's all pretty secretive and they don't encourage discussion, in fact they actively discourage it, so it's impossible to get a read on the what Aussie and Kiwi work is going through, but the stuff that I have seen has looked good in this company. Salad Plate, Get a Perm, Alzhiemers, but the best stuff is to come. 
It Just feels a bit weird being here and writing this as the awards at Axis are being announced back home in NZ.

Colenso BBDO executive creative director Nick Worthington is in Hawaii judging The One Show, one of only a handful of non Americans on the prestigious jury. Worthington offered to write a daily diary for the blog:

It’s 8pm NZ time  here in Hawaii and 6pm Aus time and everyone’s gone to bed.
I can’t help thinking that this has to be one of the last junkets.
Just seems weird in the economic climate, when we’re all working out if we can still afford to enter awards, to hop on a plane to a holiday destination to look at ads.
Truth is we’ll see the inside of a hotel room for four days solid but still it seems weird.
Makes me wonder about the proliferation of award shows.
We all admit there are too many, but we still enter them in the hope of receiving recognition.
Fair enough. But it’s got me thinking. I want our agency to be the best in its own country. NZ. And I want to be up against the rest of the world in a global who’s hot.
Colenso doesn’t need to be the best agency in the uk any more than it needs to be the best agency in asia, it just needs to be the best in NZ, that’s the first goal. And maybe the world.
BBDO needs to be the best network, but surely it can do that by all its offices doing great work in their local markets, then getting together for one big global best of the world thing.
Or maybe three.
Let’s get you guys and The Won and the Gunn to rate country by country then have 3 global shows (or one) which we all enter.
I’d say Cannes, D&AD and The One Show and that’s it. You’d have the best networks, the best country by country and the best global agency list and we’d only have to enter four shows.
Why Cannes? Well it really has defined itself as the global show.  
D&AD perhaps as it’s so craft orientated. (But it’s always going to be UK centric, so maybe it should just be a UK show.)
And The One Show, perhaps the writer's favourite, where copy still gets truly recognised, but let’s face it, it’s mostly an American show.
Yes it’s a recession, yes Kyle our finance director is looking at making savings wherever we can and yes there has got to be a better way to celebrate the best work.
Another rant tomorrow.

Furthering their continued growth and expansion, Auckland post house Oktobor has snared award winning international Flame artist Katrina Salicrup has joined their team direct from Method Studios in Los Angeles.
Salicrup's appointment, which is seen as a great coup for Oktobor, was the result of a worldwide search. Says Oktobor General Manager Patrick McAteer: "In a tough market Oktobor are still growing and bringing the best talent in from all over the world. We have made some major positive changes and additions at Oktobor recently, one of which was the decision to further strengthen our Flame team. We have been looking for a top artist who would compliment our unique creative approach for some time, one that had extensive experience with cutting edge TVCs and international work. This was a very big ask and I'm pleased to say that Katrina brings all of the above with her to Oktobor."
Salicrup began her career as a graphic designer quickly moving up through the ranks at Santa Monica based creative house Radium to become one of their leading Flame artists. After considerable success at Radium she was offered the position of Lead Flame Artist at Method, the internationally celebrated visual effects studio based in Los Angeles, where she was responsible for the organization, delivery and completion of shots on over 130 high-end commercial, music video, and feature film projects.
Salicrup quotes Microsoft, Adidas and Sears amongst her client list that reads like a who's who of the advertising and film worlds. Her many awards include being a VES Award Nominee for Outstanding VFX in a Commercial as Lead 2D Artist on the Microsoft Zune "Ballad of Tina Pink" TVC, a Boards Screening Room award for best 2D Artist on Gatorade's "Good Wade, Bad Wade" TVC and winning a Gold Clio for her work as the lead 2D Artist on the recent Sears Tools "Arboretum" commercial.
Says Salicrup: "I am delighted to be working for Oktobor because of their excellent international reputation and unique blend of photo-real and stylised visual effects, in addition to their impressive motion graphics prowess. Oktobor is a very attractive mix of style and execution that I can now contribute to. It really is a unique company and the only one I would have chosen to leave LA for."
Patrick McAteer concluded: "Katrina is a rare talent and we are delighted to have her on board. She has hit the ground running already working on two of the highest profile TVCs of the year for Grey's NYC and Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia, with excellent results."
View Katrina Salicrup's most recent demo reel

The cream of the Auckland ad industry attended the annual CB/Bestads Legendary Dinner at Soul Restaurant last night, kindly sponsored by Declan Cahill from Automatic Films and Tamara O'Neill from Liquid Studios. Thanks to CAANZ, the Axis Awards international judges -  Ian Heartfield and Matt Doman, Creative Directors, Beattie McGuinness Bungay, London; Jureeporn (Judee) Thaidumrong, Founder & Executive Creative Director, JEH Thailand; and Steve Ayson, Director, The Sweet Shop, Los Angeles - also came along.

At the 31st John Caples Awards for Direct Marketing Excellence held in New York on the weekend, AIM Proximity Auckland won the Sackheim Best In Show award for their interactive ‘Get in on the secret’ Valentine’s Day campaign for client The Warehouse. The campaign also won Gold and Silver. The judges also awarded the AIM Proximity 'iPhone Jonny' campaign for Yellow Pages Group the coveted Courageous Client award, for “innovative advertising an insecure client would never authorise”, as well as a Silver. This is the first time in the Caples’ 31 year history that the one agency has won Caples’ two most prestigious awards.
AIM Proximity, together with their sister agency Colenso BBDO also won a Gold award for Vodafone.
Rapp New Zealand won two Gold and one Silver for their Telecom New Zealand 'No one will know you are gone' campaign, Silver went to DraftFCB, Auckland for their 'BMW X6' campaign, Silver went to Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand for their Toyota Hilux 'Motion Sensor' Screensaver, Silver went to Lowe & Rivet NZ for their Genesis Energy 'Tree People' campaign . Bronze went to AIM Proximity Auckland for their 'Xmas Elves' self promo and Academic Excellence 'Dead End Job',
Speaking about the success AIM Proximity CEO Darryn Melrose said; “This is a fantastic result for our clients The Warehouse, Yellow, Vodafone and for us as an agency. In these recessionary times every dollar of marketing spend really needs to count and be measured. It’s great to be recognised as doing the best in the World at this.
Dave King, Creative Director at AIM Proximity added, “People often complain here about how our lack of broadband speeds stops us competing creatively on the world stage. These awards go to prove that by using Kiwi smarts we can overcome these constraints and lead the World.” 
In 2008, the prestigious London-based Won Report ranked AIM Proximity number two in the world, out of more than 900 direct marketing agencies in 73 countries.
Australian results: Gold went to BMF Sydney for their Wonder Performance Bread 'Not for Ducks' campaign, Gold and Silver for their 'TED 696 Project' , Silver for their BMF 'We've looking for people with heart' self promo, Silver for their Commonwealth Bank 'Free Bee' campaign, Bronze for their Ella Bache 'Ella' campaign and Bronze for their Lion Nathan 'HarvesTED The Trials'. Gold and Silver went to Clemenger BBDO Sydney/Clemenger Proximity Sydney for their Sega 'Offset the Evil' campaign, Clemenger Proximity Melbourne won Gold and Bronze for Mars 'Tongue' plus Silver for Black Dog Institute 'Paint by Numbers', M&C Saatchi, Melbourne won Gold and Silver for their Save the Children 'Lessons in Leadership' campaign and Bronze for their ANZ Bank 'Dress Pattern', Bronze went to Euro RSCG Sydney for their Tangible Financial 'Invisible Brand' campaign as well as their Integral Energy 'Calculator' campaign and Sony 'The crowd's story' campaign, Bronze went to M&C Saatchi/Mark, Sydney for their Chalk Urban Art Festival 'Disappearing Art' campaign and their Sydney Cats & Dogs Home 'Take me home' campaign.

About the Caples Awards
The John Caples International Awards, honoring the best in direct and interactive marketing around the world, was founded in 1978 by Andi Emerson, a direct marketing pioneer, in order to honor well-recognised copywriter John Caples. With international chairs in 53 countries, it is funded by industry agencies, clients and suppliers; is run by industry volunteers and is judged by more than 100 active, senior-level, international creative professionals. Between 200-300 creatives and marketers from around the world attend the annual dinner and presentation.
For more information visit www.caples.org

The Adidas 'This is not a jersey' campaign for Adidas All Blacks, created by TBWA\Whybin, Auckland has won one of only three Innova Lotus awards at Adfest, presented last night.
Other winners from Australasia included Leo Burnett, Melbourne, which took out the Radio Lotus Best of Show for their hilarious 'Non Stop Talking' campaign for Connex. The campaign also won won a Gold and two Silvers. Also in Radio, Grey Melbourne won a Silver Lotus for their TAC 'Pictures of You' campaign.
The Schweppes 'Burst' spot via GPYR Melbourne won a Gold Film Lotus.
DDB Sydney won a Gold Outdoor Lotus for McDonalds bustop.
Euro Sydney won a Silver Cyber Lotus for their Sony 'Quantum of Solace' mobile campaign.
Last but not least, Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne took out Adfest 2009 Direct Agency of the Year.
Download the full list of awards from last night:
ADFEST-WINNER-LIST.pdf
Follow Lynchy at Adfest on Twitter for pics and news.

Revamped website helps industry to better connect with creatives.
Creative collective The Pond has completely revamped its website to help agencies better connect with self-employed creative talent, better showcase members’ skills and make the online experience more intuitive.
The site has been restructured to make searches faster and more focused giving agencies more ways to find the right creative for the job.  This includes:
•    By member name if you have a favourite creative
•    By any combination of discipline, level or medium
•    By keyword
All member portfolios have been expanded to show more work and profile information to make an informed decision.
The site has also been made content manageable meaning new work, more frequently.
The site – interpreted online by Amanda Gould (former digital associate creative director at DraftFCB New York), is part of The Pond’s new brand identity, which flowed from its new brand position: find creative independence. Which really boils down to helping keep creatives in the agency loop while they chase other creative pursuits (which agencies can in turn tap into).
Find creative independence at www.thepond.co.nz

These posters were placed in high visibility areas and in subway stations with the highest flow volume of people in Shanghai. A film version is also being played in People Square, one of the busiest subway stations in the whole of Asia. From a distance these illustrated posters look like beautiful landscape paintings. Look at it closer and the shocking reality is that factories, cars and buildings are polluting and destroying the environment.
Credits:
Agency: JWT Shanghai
CD: Yang Yeo
AD: Lillie Zhong, Yong Liang Yang
CW: Jacqueline Ye, Rafael Freire
Designer: Sean Tang
Print Production: Hester Lim, Liza Law, Joseph Yu, Tao Shen
Phtographer: Yong Liang Yang
Illustrator: Yong Liang Yang

 

McCann Erickson Hong Kong took out the only Gold of the night at the Direct Lotus Awards at AdFest last night. Australian and New Zealand shops also did well.
After going through extremely tough judging, only one Gold, three Silver and six Bronze Lotus were awarded - and there was no Best of Show.
McCann Hong Kong won for their Flirting with Sound Elements campaign which has previously won the grand Kam Fan at the Hong Kong awards held in November 2008.
AIM Proximity, Auckland won Silver for Yellow Pages 'iPhone Jonny' campaign and Bronze for The Warehouse 'The Love Conspiracy'.
Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne won Silver for their Four'N Twenty Meat Pies 'Magic Salad Plate' campaign and Bronze for Starburst 'Leftover Sugar', BMF Sydney won Silver for their Wonder Performance Bread 'Not for Ducks' campaign, and M&C Saatchi/Mark, Sydney won Bronze for Animal Rescue Shelter 'Throw us a bone'. TBWA Singapore won Bronze for their Millennium Development 'Well". Tokyu Agency Inc Quie Comparison Demonstration also won Bronze. As did the COTO-TAMA -Digital Art Advertisement from Hakuhodo Tokyo.

Australia and New Zealand shops dominated the Direct Lotus Awards at Adfest, presented last night in Pattaya Beach, Thailand.
After going through extremely tough judging, only one Gold, three Silver and six Bronze Lotus were awarded - and there was no Best of Show.
AIM Proximity, Auckland won Silver for Yellow Pages 'iPhone Jonny' campaign and Bronze for The Warehouse 'The Love Conspiracy'.
Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne won Silver for their Four'N Twenty Meat Pies 'Magic Salad Plate' campaign and Bronze for Starburst 'Leftover Sugar', BMF Sydney won Silver for their Wonder Performance Bread 'Not for Ducks' campaign, and M&C Saatchi/Mark, Sydney won Bronze for Animal Rescue Shelter 'Throw us a bone'.

In the lead up to next week's CAANZ Creative Function, the international judges have been asked to tell us what to expect.
Click here for a brief but illuminating video look at what we're all in for, along with a taste of their work.
If you haven't already booked your tickets to this exclusive event, limited places are still available. Please contact Amanda Watts at CAANZ on 09 303 0435. Or email amanda@caanz.co.nz.

In case you haven’t noticed it’s BrainWeek. Brought to you by DraftFCB, it’s designed to help the nation grow bigger brains in just seven days. Log in your noggin at brainweek.co.nz and you’ll get a daily serving of free, fun brain-growing exercises - quick and easy things you can do in between cranking out Cannes winners. Things like reading this blog for instance, which believe it or not will grow you new brain cells. Or better yet, having an opinion about everything you read here. Proof at last that shredding other people’s work on the blog is good for you...

The www.bestadsontv.com segment is once again back on TV One's breakfast show, now fronted by the debonair Paul Catmur, ECD at Barnes Catmur & Friends, Auckland, who has taken over from Bridget Taylor, now on her way to Singapore.

VIEW MARCH 17, 2009 SEGMENT

This ad for Booksellers ran in a Wellington newspaper today, Friday the 13th, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, Wellington.

Times are tough, sure, but the global economic downturn has merely exacerbated pressures the TVC production industry is under to adapt to changing market conditions, say leading New Zealand producers.
Mike Watkins (pictured above right), general manager of Film Construction, which has offices in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne, says plenty of scripts are coming through and shoots are still going ahead, however, it’s become a lot more competitive.
“There are jobs where you might have traditionally had one or two people quoting on, there’s now three or four,” says Watkins. “As a company we are holding up pretty well. I know some are struggling, but so far we haven’t noticed it too much which is bloody fortunate.”
While clients are redistributing some funds to areas like direct marketing and re-using some of their old executions, he’s confident clients will continue to see that it’s particularly important to advertise during a recession.
“Most of the agencies we deal with are pretty positive. It's as positive in NZ as it is in Australia. There’s more opportunities at the lower end of the market at the moment then there are at the massive budget end, but there’s still a lot of big campaigns out there that are being shot.”
It’s also a good time for overseas productions to shoot in New Zealand because of cost efficiencies and Film Construction is tapping into its international network to entice jobs to New Zealand. The main competition is South America and South Africa.
Paul Prince (pictured above left), managing partner/CEO, of The Sweet Shop, says its business model of having offices in Auckland, London, New York, LA, Chicago and Shanghai, is paying dividends during the economic downturn because they are being approached by agencies in the UK and US to shoot in cheaper markets such as New Zealand and Australia.
The credit crunch is also making agencies play hardball with production companies. Talk of Omnicom, for example, limiting its exposure to debt by enforcing sequential liability language in production companies – which means if agencies are not liable for production payment unless they have been paid and they will no longer pay for productions upfront – is making production companies nervous. The proposal was overturned in the UK following pressure from production agencies via industry bodies, the IPA and the APA.
“It’s innovation really, and it’s being resisted by bodies like the AICP in the States and the ICA in the UK. It’s too early to determine the outcome but you can derive from it that it’s market forces at work,” says Prince.
However, several high profile production companies in Australia say agencies are already putting pressure on them to cover upfront costs – one says two agencies have approached them to fund a production and another says they the day before a shoot, they were told the client couldn’t pay them until May.
“They accepted our terms without any question and we've been asking for the money for a week or so. We are shooting tomorrow, then yesterday morning they tell us they can’t pay for it,” they said.

Could there be trouble for kiwi TVC production companies on the horizon? As the US economy continues to tumble, Omnicom, the world's biggest ad agency holding company - housing networks BBDO, DDB and TBWA - is acting to limit its exposure to debt by enforcing sequential liability language in production contracts that may prove overwhelming for most production companies. Their payment stance, which may be introduced in other markets outside the US (Omnicom backed down in the UK), will hobble production companies, say industry players, in this report from Creativity

A book to launch a new generation of copywriter.
The secret to seductive copy is revealed in Copywriting In Action book.

Author Nicolas Di Tempora takes the reader on a journey to discover the process of creating a compelling piece of communication, from the development of a single-minded concept to the completion of the final draft.
From get go, the reader takes front seat in a master class taught with an energetic, challenging and stimulating dialogue between Teacher and Student. “I loved it,” says Jane Caro, copywriter and panellist on the Gruen Transfer. "I used to think there were no really good textbooks about copywriting, but I've changed my mind.”
The act of copywriting for print, screen, radio and the web are demonstrated in five compelling, page-turning chapters, making this the bible for the new generation of students and practitioners of marketing, advertising, professional writing and graphic design.
“By the time you get to the end of this book, you will be equipped with all the skills, disciplines and knowledge that are necessary if you want to become a successful copywriter,” says creative legend Ron Mather.
World renowned copywriter John Bevins agrees: “If I’d had this book when I first started, and read it attentively, I could have discovered the Holy Grail in 15 minutes. It’s there in six words, but I’ll not give It away.”
Copywriter and teacher, Nicolas Di Tempora, has been working for 28 years as a copywriter and art director in the advertising business for agencies such as JWT International, Saatchi & Saatchi and DDB, collecting awards along the way.
Copies of Copywriting In Action is available from www.ditempora.com.au
Email: info@ditempora.com.au

The 2009 Grande Orca for the TRB's best radio campaign of the year has been won by Colenso BBDO for their series of spots for TV3 'Outrageous Fortune'.
The spots were written by Karl Fleet and then temp team Ashwin Gopal and Tim Yates, who somehow will have to work out who gets the trip for two to Cannes. The spots will also be entered by TRB into the Radio Lions.
The People’s Choice was won by DraftFCB - creatives Rory McKechnie and Smeta Chhotu-Patel share the $1000 cash prize.
The winning spots can be seen at www.trb.co.nz

Sir John Hegarty, chairman and worldwide creative director, BBH, London, warns that scam advertising is a very serious problem, and if it continues, will undermine completely the value of awards and end up destroying them.
Hegarty, who received a knighthood in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2007, is heading to Asia as the film jury president at AdFest 2009, taking place next week (March 19-21) in Thailand.
In an exclusive interview with Campaign Brief Asia, Hegarty likens scams to drugs at the Olympics as well as gives his views on the value of creativity in these hard economic times. Read the whole story on the CB Asia website.

Simon McQuoid, who is currently ranked number 3 director in the world, according to the latest Gunn Report, has joined Revolver.
A native Australian, McQuoid (pictured in short sleeves on the Halo 3 shoot) began his career in Perth where he worked as an art director for various agencies. In 1995, he made the move to the US, where he worked his way to a Group Creative Director position for TBWA/Chiat/Day in New York. In 2003, he transitioned into directing, and since this time, he has won pretty much
every award there is.  
In 2006, among a slew of awards, his spot for Drug Free America, ‘The Talk’, was selected to be a part of the permanent collection in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Most recently McQuoid’s X-Box Halo 3 launch films, picked up the coveted Film Grand Prix at Cannes, together with the Film Grand Clio, a D&AD Gold Pencil, and several Gold One Show pencils. So that pretty much speaks for itself, really.....
Says McQuoid: “The thing that appealed to me about Revolver first and foremost was the body of work across many directors, which was intelligent and well crafted, it had a sense of style as well as substance. There was a high regard for the quality of the idea in the scripts and that is something that is very important to me. There was an uncomplicated direct approach to the way they seem to go about their business, plus everyone I met there I just seemed to connect with, it just felt right”.
Executive Producer of Revolver, Michael Ritchie says: “Simon's Grand Prix win at Cannes was such impressive work.  I remember thinking that he nailed that stuff so well. Perfection.   We were introduced through a mutual friend in London, and it felt right straight away (to work together that is).  We are really incredibly excited to have him with us”. 
McQuoid is represented in Australia, New Zealand and Asia by Revolver and in the US by Imperial Woodpecker.

Cannes has extended the deadline for all entries in all categories to March 27th.
For details go to the entry website.

1:1 communications the way forward for Kiwi marketers in tough times, new study shows
Research shows overwhelming majority of New Zealand marketers plan to maintain or increase mail and email spends in 2009

New Zealand businesses may be facing tough times but marketers won’t be cutting their 1:1 communications spend, the results of a new Nielsen and New Zealand Post direct marketing study show.
New Zealand Post commissioned Nielsen Media Research to conduct a qualitative and quantitative survey of New Zealand’s top marketers. The study covers the Addressed Direct Mail, Email, SMS/Mobile, Unaddressed Mail and Telemarketing channels. Researchers canvassed marketers’ opinions and experiences of direct and digital marketing and new media, including where they will be placing their spend in 2009.
The results show that New Zealand marketers overwhelmingly intend to maintain or increase their spend on email and mail over the next 12 months. However, new media such as blogs/vlogs, social networking, podcasting, in-game advertising and virtual-world advertising are not yet on the radar for most respondents.
For Customer Retention, 55% of participants say they plan to increase their Addressed Direct Mail spend, with 32% planning to maintain. 57% plan to increase their spend on Email, with 30% planning to maintain. When it comes to Customer Acquisition, 45% of participants say they plan to increase their Email spend, with 40% planning to maintain. For Addressed Direct Mail, 32% plan to increase their spend and 48% plan to maintain.
Respondents were also asked to rate each channel on overall effectiveness. For Customer Acquisition, respondents rate Addressed Direct Mail as being the most effective, closely followed by Telemarketing (though this was a much smaller sample size due to less participants using the channel), and Email. For Customer Retention, Telemarketing is ranked most effective, followed by Addressed Direct Mail, and Email.
Sonya Crosby, National Manager for the Mail Marketing Service of New Zealand Post, says the research shows that New Zealand marketers are well aware of the importance of 1:1 communications to their business in a challenging environment: “Rather than speculating, we thought to ask top marketers responsible for advertising budgets where they will spend their money in 2009. It’s clear from their responses that effectiveness is driving media choice and that both email and mail have equal billing as an integrated media opportunity, rather than being siloed or substituted,” says Crosby.
The research comes on the back of a separate New Zealand Post report  that shows significant growth in the direct mail channel in 2008, with the addressed direct mail revenue figure estimated to be $56.1m, up from $35m in 2007.
Says Crosby: “The direct marketing channel is increasingly being recognised as an effective means of communicating with consumers and is becoming a critical cornerstone of the marketing mix, especially with the current economic downturn. This is unlikely to change as marketers realise the benefits of fact driven communications.”
 

29 of the world advertising industry's most influential and respected professionals have been selected to judge the One Show, including Nick Worthington, ECD of Colenso BBDO, Auckland, Campaign Brief NZ Agency of the Year.
The One Show, One Show Design and One Show Interactive honors the year's best creative advertising, design and interactive achievements worldwide. The complete international jury for the One Show will meet in New York City to select winners of the coveted Gold, Silver and Bronze Pencils. Winners will be announced at the One Show awards presentation ceremony on May 6, 2009 at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Winners in One Show Design will be honored at a ceremony on May 4 at the IAC Building in Lower Manhattan, and the One Show Festival week will conclude with One Show Interactive on May 8 at Terminal 5. Prior to the final One Show judging in New York on May 1-3, there will be two preliminary judging sessions in Hawaii and the Dominican Republic as part of the extensive selection process the judges participate in to determine the Pencil winners.
“An international talent pool of top creative directors make up the One Show jury for 2009,” said Mary Warlick, Chief Executive Officer of The One Club. “The One Show judges have a reputation of setting trends in their own respective countries and for upholding the quality of creative work around the world.”
The One Show, now in its 34th year, is produced by The One Club, the New York-based non-profit organization founded in 1975, which recognizes excellence in creative advertising. This year, The One Show has received entries from 60 countries.
Judges for The One Show 2009 are:
·         Sue Anderson – Wieden + Kennedy (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
·         David Angelo – David&Goliath (Los Angeles, USA)
·         Rafa Anton – Leo Burnett (Madrid, Spain)
·         Joaquin Bascunan – BBDO (Santiago, Chile)
·         Greg Bell – Venables Bell & Partners (San Francisco, USA)
·         John Boiler – 72&Sunny (Los Angeles, USA)
·         John Boone – BooneOakley (Charlotte, USA)
·         Susan Corbo – BBH (New York, USA)
·         Court Crandall – Ground Zero (Los Angeles, USA)
·         Susan Credle – BBDO (New York, USA)
·         Agnello Dias – JWT ( India)
·         Cecilia Dufils – Scholz & Friends (Stockholm, Sweden)
·         Scott Duchon – McCann, T.A.G. (San Francisco, USA)
·         Rob Feakins – Publicis (New York, USA)
·         Mark Figliulo – TBWA\Chiat\Day (New York, USA)
·         Gerry Graf – Saatchi & Saatchi NY (New York, USA)
·         Ian Grais – Rethink (Vancouver, British Columbia)
·         Mark Harricks – DDB (Sydney, Australia)
·         Fredrik Jansson – Forsman & Bodenfors (Goteborg, Sweden)
·         Tina Johnson – The Richards Group (Dallas, USA)
·         Margaret Keene – TBWA\Chiat\Day (Los Angeles, USA)
·         Steve Mykolyn – Taxi (Toronto, Canada)
·         Paul Renner – Arnold (Boston, USA)
·         Tim Roper – Crispin Porter + Bogusky (Boulder, USA)
·         Thirasak Tanapatanakul – Creative Justice (Bangkok, Thailand)
·         Goetz Ulmer - Jung von Matt  (Hamburg, Germany)
·         Chris Wall – Ogilvy & Mather (New York, USA)
·         Ari Weiss – Goodby Silverstein & Partners (San Francisco, USA)
·         Nick Worthington – Colenso BBDO (Auckland, New Zealand)

DraftFCB has announced that it is offering 1000 free hours of advertising expertise to help maintain and create jobs in the challenging economic environment the country is facing.
DraftFCB CEO, Bryan Crawford says of the commitment: “We feel that NZ businesses have a collective responsibility to do what they can to help each other weather the current economic downturn and this is our contribution. Our staff wanted to take action and do something constructive. As a result we have decided to focus our pro-bono efforts, this year to help protect or create jobs in New Zealand. Because it’s during times like this that we reckon Kiwis should dig deep to help each other".
DraftFCB aims to create or maintain at least 20 jobs as a result of this initiative. Says Crawford: “While it may seem that our efforts are a drop in the ocean as a solution to the country’s current economic challenges, we hope to see many other Kiwi businesses roll up their sleeves and take similar positive steps over the next weeks and months”.
The '1000 Hours Fund' will cover skills and services from DraftFCB including strategic planning, creative development, media planning and buying, and account management.
By selecting applicants that can demonstrate strong new-job potential the fund will significantly reduce the costs of creating a communications campaign, therefore allowing a company to invest in other areas of their business that will make a difference. Past evidence has shown that companies that marketed their way through the 1980s recession faired better than those who cut back on advertising and communications.
DraftFCB services are best suited for medium to large enterprises. However, the '1000 Hours Fund' is open to any company whose business case demonstrates the potential to create new jobs, including start-up enterprises and exporters.
DraftFCB has been contributing to the growth of New Zealand business via longstanding partnerships with iconic Kiwi companies Mitre 10, Whitcoulls, Noel Leeming Group, Cerebos Gregg’s, Prime TV and Foodstuffs. The agency’s clients also include BMW, MINI and the Ministry of Health for whom they created the successful National Depression Initiative TV commercials that feature John Kirwan.

Former DDB New Zealand digital creative Chris Jones, who was tempted back to the UK last year by Tom Eslinger to work at Saatchi London, will be running the London Marathon in April and is seeking our help raising funds for charity.
Jones explains: "On the 26th of April I will be joining the crowd of some 40,000 others taking part in the Flora London Marathon. Putting my body through 26.2 miles or 42.195 km of chaffing, sore muscles, bleeding nipples and blistered feet wasn't particularly at the top of my to do list. But when I returned to London last year I was given an opportunity to run to raise money for a charity that is rather close to my heart.
PhabKids bring together youngsters with and without physical disabilities through sport and activities. Their line 'See the Ability not the Disability' pretty much says it. Phab's work helping and giving support to children with physical and mental disabilities is awesome and second to none. Their Clubs, where the money I raise will be used, provide valuable support to families, and carers helping them overcome feelings of isolation through events and activities together and with others.
To help my fund raising the exceptionally kind people at Contagious have generously donated one year's full subscription to their magazine. You get everything that contagious offers in a subscription - not only will you receive the quarterly magazine and the dvds that come with it but access to a comprehensive online resource of 3,500 ‘non-traditional media’ assets dating back to 2004. It's a must have subscription to any agency and that fact that 100% of the money I raise from its auction will go to my charity makes it a sweeter deal.
Further to this Rob Ford of the truly must use website www.TheFWA.com has added into the mix a signed copy of his book Guidelines for Online Success  
So visit the auction on EBay. Its a great auction and I urge you to go have a look and, if you feel inclined, please place a bid. 
If you would like to sponsor me directly you can do so @ www.justgiving.com/chrisjones09
I thank you for your time and I apologise for interrupting the regular posts.

Cheers

Chris Jones

The Advertising Standards Authority today reported that advertising revenue across all main media was 2.317 billion dollars for the 12 months ended 31 December 2008. This compares with the 2007 total of 2.335 billion. 
The turnover includes data from newspapers, television, radio, magazines, outdoor, cinema, addressed mail, unaddressed mail and interactive media.
The Advertising Standards Authority collects and publishes the annual advertising turnover statistics on behalf of the advertising industry. The members of the ASA are: Association of New Zealand Advertisers, Communication Agencies Association of New Zealand, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Letterbox Media, Magazine Publishers' Association (Inc), Newspaper Publishers' Association of New Zealand (Inc), New Zealand Cinema, New Zealand Community Newspapers Association, New Zealand Marketing Association (Inc), New Zealand Post, New Zealand Television Broadcasters’ Council,  Outdoor Media Association of New Zealand, Pay TV Group and Radio Broadcasters’ Association (Inc).

AKA 'Advertising at the Speed of Culture', (Stolen from Colleen DeCourcy, Chief Digital Officer, TBWA Worldwide.):
"On March 1st a young man called Paul Smith departed England for thirty days. His sole stated aim is to travel as much as the globe as possible with the help of the people on Twitter. Thus ‘Twitchhiker’ was born.
 'Twitchhiker' is on the cusp of becoming an on-line phenomena. He has got over 5ooo followers and is growing.
He doesn’t want his trip paid for-that would completely nullify the idea. But some help would be fine and Dandy.
To coincide with the global launch of the new Visa campaign, we give him a pre loaded Visa card with US$1000 on it, and he liked that idea. Enough to know he can eat on a daily basis. (He would put half towards the charity benefiting from the trip. "Charity: Water")
So he set sail on Sunday from Newcastle to Amsterdam, the Brussels, then Paris, then wherever...
Adds TBWA\Whybin, Auckland ECD, Andy Blood: "And I just found out he wore our agency T shirt for the first two legs, and in the photostream on Flickr you'll see he also packed the Visa cards."
His progress can be followed on Twitter, google maps, Flickr, etc

Wellington Zoo’s Adults Only Valentine’s Day ad, via Saatchi & Saatchi, Wellington, was the winner of NAB’s February Newspaper Ad of the Month. The ad was also a Top 6 of the Week pick in early February on www.bestadsontv.com
"What could be so disgusting to get a chimpanzee embarrassed?" said judges Regan Grafton of DDB, Justin Wood of .99 and Mark Lorigan of Team Saatchi.
 
Client: Wellington Zoo
Agency: Saatchi and Saatchi, Wellington
Writer: Tim Hall
Art Director: Scott Henderson
Retoucher: Geoff Francis
Account Service: Mel Bowker
 
The winning creative team will receive $250 cash and the ad will be entered into 2010 Axis Awards.
The ad will appear in the “What’s New” section of March AdMedia.
Special mention also went to The Warehouse Valentine’s Day promotion created by Aim Proximity.  A simple and mysterious newspaper ad assisted in driving males online to create a personal Valentine’s message using some pretty cool technology.  “Great idea but pity it didn’t have any tie back to the brand,” agreed the judges.
View all these ads and the other finalists at www.nabs.co.nz (Inspiration/Ad of the Month).
There are just three more opportunities remaining to win Ad of the Month and receive automatic entry
into The Newspaper Ad of Year and its $10,000 cash prize.  Competition round ends May 31st.
 

Two Massey University students were named the 2008 New Zealand Post Mail Marketing Service Student Marketers of the Year on Friday night, for an initiative centred on the Vodafone Warriors, designed to encourage Kiwi children to read more.
Phoebe Smith and Nicole Yeoman created a small folder containing collectible reading cards, each featuring a short story about a Vodafone Warriors player, player profiles and photos.  The ‘Field Folder’ will be distributed in May to around 2000 students at 20 participating schools, with each student receiving weekly reading cards.  Tips for parents will also be sent out and the participating students and schools can win prizes by earning points for cards read.
The Student Marketer of The Year Awards honour excellence in marketing strategy, creativity and innovative thinking in tertiary students and, along with prizes including a $1,000 travel allowance and trophy, offer students the chance to work on live briefs and have their name in lights in front of a room of prospective employers. The 2008 winners were announced at the 2008 RSVP and Nexus Awards on Friday night.
Entrants were given a brief from the Vodafone Warriors to develop a direct marketing programme to bring to life a One Community initiative, “Rugby League Reads”, which aims to increase literacy in primary schools by positioning reading as a fun and cool thing to do.
The winning duo said the motivation for the entry was to make reading interactive, innovative and fun.  “We made sure that the ‘Field Folder’ and reading cards used the tactile qualities of a book in a fresh way, to make reading exciting to students through a new medium.  We also created a challenge for parents to become involved with their children’s learning by providing them tips to give them confidence,” Nicole Yeoman says.
New Zealand Post Mail Marketing Service Education Manager Jo Murphy says, “The finalists produced an array of thoughtful and creative ways to help improve literacy in New Zealand schools - the judges were very impressed with the calibre of entries.
“We look forward to seeing the ‘Field Folder’ concept come to life and hope it will make a real difference to youth reading levels of New Zealand children.” 
Other entries ranged from an innovative “book bags” programme where players and children are supplied the same book bags, a comic book series that brings to life the Vodafone Warriors NRL Mascot ‘Toki’, and a campaign utilising interactive mediums including playground art.
 

Don't miss your chance to hear some of the world's most creative minds speaking their minds. 
The AXIS Creative Function is an entertaining and enlightening event that showcases the talents and opinions of our international AXIS judges.
Hosted by comedian Dai Henwood, the informal interview style format lends itself to some pretty honest and open discussion, and encourages interaction and involvement from the audience.

Don't miss your chance to listen to and speak with:
Ian Heartfield & Matt Doman (pictured),
Creative Directors, Beattie McGuinness Bungay, London.
Jureeporn (Judee) Thaidumrong (pictured),
Founder & Executive Creative Director, JEH Thailand
Steve Ayson (pictured),
Director, The Sweet Shop, Los Angeles
 
When: Thursday 26th March
2:45pm - 6.00pm
Presentation starts at 3.00pm sharp followed by drinks and nibbles at 5.00pm.
Where: Maritime Room, National Maritime Museum, Hobson Wharf, Viaduct Harbour
Cost: $85.00 +GST (CAANZ members), $95.00 + GST (non-CAANZ members)

To purchase tickets download the ticket form:
CAANZ_Creative_Function_2009_Ticket_Order_Form.doc or contact Desiree Doyle on 09 303 0435 or desiree@caanz.co.nz

Fairfax Media, official New Zealand representative for the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, has announced the New Zealand jurors for the 2009 festival, including Andy Blood, ECD of TBWA\Whybin being picked as the only creative from Australasia on the exclusive 9 person Titanium jury.
NZ has gained six jury members this year, testimony to the outstanding creative talent that exists here.
This year’s New Zealand jury members are:
Titanium Lions: Andy Blood, TBWA\Whybin (pictured top right)
Promo Lions: Guy Roberts, TBWA\Whybin (pictured top left)
Cyber Lions: Greg wood, Publicis Mojo/Digital
Direct Lions: Wayne Pick, Rapp NZ
Radio Lions: James Mok, Draft FCB
Media Lions: Rebecca Houston, OMD

The results for YGAward - January YoungGun of the Month are in, as judged by Galen Graham from DDB Chicago.
Professional YoungGuns of the Month are Lisa Fedyszyn and Jonathan McMahon from Colenso BBDO New Zealand for Alzheimer's 'Blank Photos'.
The Student YoungGuns of the Month are Hallvard Fjeldbraaten and Morten Halvorsen from Westerdal's School of Communication, Norway for their Discovery Channel idea - Fake Box.
CLICK HERE to see their work showcased. Graham has also picked a professional and student runner up, and provided a commentary on all the selected work. This can all been seen on the YoungGun of the Month Showcase.

justONE took home the highly coveted RSVP Grand Prix Award at the NZ Marketing Association's 2008 RSVP and Nexus Awards, held Friday night at SkyCity, Auckland. Their ‘SUBCARD™ Loyalty Programme’ campaign for SUBWAY Restaurants proving to be the best of the 2008 RSVP gold winners.  justONE also scooped up a gold and a bronze RSVP Award and two bronze Nexus Awards.
Once again Proximity iD took out the NEXUS Supreme Award for their hugely successful ‘Onecard Insights on Demand’ campaign for Progressive Enterprises.  Jointly, they also collected 3 golds, 5 silvers and a bronze Award before the night was over.
DraftFCB were perhaps the surprise of the night, coming home with 6 golds and one silver, awarded the most top metal of the night: RSVP Golds for The Lowdown, SPCA, BMW X6 and Genesis Energy Kustom Konnections, RSVP Silver for Cluster Munition Coalition and RSVP Craft Winners for The Lowdown and SPCA.
MC Mark Ferguson hosted the ceremony from a circular stage centred in the room, enabling him to interact with the audience throughout the event.  With the focus on showcasing the very best of response-driven marketing campaigns, the finalists’ campaigns were displayed around the room on 52 TV screens suspended from the ceiling.
Nicole Yeoman and Phoebe Smith from Massey University School of Visual Communications were announced the winners of The New Zealand Post Student Marketer of the Year Award. This Award honours the top tertiary marketing campaigns, giving finalists the invaluable opportunity to have their name in lights in front of a room of prospective employers.
At this truly interactive evening, TVNZ engaged the audience with a live TV quiz, the winner receiving a Sony Bravia LCD TV, while New Zealand Post presented awards for the best dressed man and best dressed woman.  The best dressed winners and one lucky voter received New Zealand Post Prezzy Cards.
The virtual world of www.responseiseverything.co.nz was brought to life at the After Party, following the wrap up of the Awards ceremony.  Partygoers found themselves amidst the ultimate virtual reality experience with the recreation of the Awards website lounge.  After months of dancing in the online ballroom, many of the avatars met their virtual world equivalents, bringing the two worlds together.
A full list of winners is available at www.responseiseverything.co.nz.