In this week’s round of News Munchies: creative heads quitting – how to protect your agency from this highly contagious disease. You’ll need face masks and hand sanitizer. Plus, we show you how to make a bird house out of Play-Doh!
Another one bites the dust
Going, going … gone. Y&R CD Vaughn Davis is the latest creative head to head out the door, after Ogilvy’s Basil Christensen and Saatchi & Saatchi’s Dylan Harrison. It's also not long since newly-minted Mojo CD Rebecca Carrasco quit. Hop to Campaign Brief for more.
Kiwi screenies
Tequila creative director Ross Howard took note of the Digital Agencies of the Future list at Narrow Design, and Australian Digital Agencies of the Future list at Reactive, indicative of which agencies have their iCrap sorted. He got to wondering how New Zealand agencies would fare – so he got one of the Tequila team to pull screenies for local agencies. The results? Somewhat dire! Naturally, the Backslash has everything under control. However, DDB, Clemenger, and Barnes, Catmur & Friends come up blank, while Colenso, Ogilvy and Tribal DDB want Flash. The likes of DraftFCB, DNA, M&C Saatchi, Shine, Special and Y&R don’t have to stay in for detention after school, though. “I think that on the whole New Zealand actually does pretty well, and comparatively better than the US and Australian results,” Mr Howard writes. “Our specialist digital shops look particularly good (with a few notable exceptions), demonstrating a solid understanding of how deliver the right experience across multiple devices and platforms.”
No bonus for Bonus Bonds
A sharp-eyed Ad Hoc reader has been on the Bonus Bonds case. “It’s one of my pet peeves,” writes Mr X. “And seeing as no one at the company is able to be contacted I thought I would let you know.” Mr X got an email recently to announce Bonus Bonds’ online presence. The email came with two “register here” icons that weren’t clickable. Then the site kept coming up with an error. So Mr X, patient as ever, called the 0800 number – only to be told the server is down but it’ll be up in half an hour. That was at 6.30pm, and by the time 8pm rolled around, the error was still occurring. Our persistent Mr X called the number again and got an ANZ bloke. “Sorry,” Mr ANZ said. “We’ve been getting loads of calls about this. We’ve tried to talk to the Bonus Bonds guys but they’ve all left. Try again tomorrow.” Mr X asked for someone to talk to to give them some feedback, but Mr ANZ said there’s nobody. “Call back tomorrow and try then.” Says Mr X: “ANZ seems to live up to its customer service results again and Bonus Bonds wastes and frustrates everyone with what should be a great new step for them. It’s like spending money on a big sales retail promotion and locking the shop doors so no one can get in.”
Steamy business
Those sneaky pumpkins at DDB have launched what is suspected to be the first ever steaming Adshel. Located in Britomart this week, it was to launch McCafe’s new darker roast coffee. The Adshel was custom-designed and punters were treated to free coffee vouchers on selected mornings during the campaign. “We’ve provided the opportunity to take a static poster and develop it into a ‘steaming coffee cup’ that interacts with the public and drives them into their local McDonald’s,” Adshel sales director Pauline Hanton said. “It’s another example of pushing creative boundaries with Adshel and stimulating public interest to achieve a call to action for the client – that’s real ROI.”
Marketing action
It’s all go at the Marketing Association for its various upcoming Auckland events, held at the Crowne Plaza. There’s the Brainy Breakfast (Digital on Every Screen) on October 12, 7am-9am; the Northern Regional Event (Pressure Creates Diamonds) on October 13, 12pm-2pm; and the DAN Dialogue (Disaster Data) on October 21, 8am-9am. DAN Dialogue will also be held in Wellington on October 22. Hop to the MA website for more.
Sweet, sweet sugar
Here’s a couple of candy ads you may have noticed recently if you’ve had eyeballs to the screen. There’s the Mentos ad where the girl who screams at the spider has the right idea. And the Starburst “Contradiction” ad where the living dead tells an Asian Scot, “You’re boring me to death – and I’m already dead!” Check out the Cucumber version of the Starburst ad. And watch as they take the Contradictions idea on the road. If you thought Snowplanet was cool – it’s got nothing on Ski Dubai!