There’s an indisputable trend towards New Zealand-owned creative agencies thriving, despite the dominance of global networks. Local agencies tend to be more agile and adaptable, allowing them to quickly respond to client needs and changing market tre

Ad Net Zero launched in New Zealand in August last year with a five-point action plan designed to support the decarbonisation of developing, producing and running advertising in Aotearoa: 1. Reduce operational carbon emissions.2. Reduce emissions fro

It was 1974 – the year ABBA released Waterloo, President Nixon resigned and Muhammad Ali won the Rumble in the Jungle. In New Zealand, 18-yearolds won the right to vote, a Committee for Women was established and we were all singing along to Cheryl Mo

In 2024, Federation is an agency that’s leading transformation and defying downturn trends. One of New Zealand’s most wellestablished independent advertising agencies, it’s a company that’s built a reputation for continually zigging in a zagging indu

Content Director at Digitas New Zealand, Chris Brunner, addresses the power of content-first thinking in the era of information technology. Content has long been the engine powering businesses to succeed in the information age. As we enter the ‘intel

WHAT IS INSIDERS? Insiders was founded by myself and Craig Whitehead, two of New Zealand’s most experienced advertising leaders, with an unparalleled specialism in the world of retail communications. Over our – ahem – 25-plus years in the industry, w

There’s an element of ‘back to the future’ in the growth of New Zealand’s Out of Home (OOH) market in 2024. In a world of pop-up ads, AIgenerated content and a vast array of social media platforms, the old-fashioned stick-an-ad-where-people-willsee-i

I feel positive about the opportunities that’ll be presented to agencies like Charm in the coming months. Charm continues to remain steadfast in its dedication to excellence for our clients, and each other. We’re not unique in the challenges we face

It was March 2020, in the midst of the first lockdown. Like a lot of agency folk, I was feeling the grind of being too stretched, under-resourced and racked with guilt that I wasn’t doing my best work. Then Covid hit and shit hit the fan, creating ex

As we go to print, the industry’s still reeling from the dramatic developments of Warner Bros Discovery’s proposed Newshub closure and TVNZ’s axing of beloved and profitable shows like Fair Go and Sunday. It’s a tough time for the media industry in N

The breaking news on an otherwise uneventful Wednesday morning was that Three’s parent company Warner Bros Discovery was breaking the news. Staff had been drafted to an 11am meeting, where they were given the unholy word that Newshub’s newsroom would

Warner Bros Discovery rocked the media industry in late February, when it announced that its news service Newshub is set to close as part of a proposed restructure of its free-to-air business in Aotearoa. The 6pm Newshub bulletin has been a nightly s

Headquartered in Hamilton, with more than 1,300 employees in 15 countries and selling to nearly 160, Gallagher Group is one of Aotearoa’s largest privately held companies. Ask the average New Zealander about it and they might mention the electric fen

To truly obsess about your customers, you need to design your business around them. Businesses are beginning to understand the benefits of a customer-centric model and realising how this differs from being customer-focused (designing products, servic

John Wanamaker (1838-1922) is regarded as a marketing pioneer. A hugely successful Philadelphia-based retail merchant, he’s lauded by marketers both for developing the modern concept of the department store and for his prodigious use of advertising t

So how did TE&M come about? Martin Yeoman: Having long-standing careers in the local advertising industry, we’ve bumped into and worked with each other in different capacities over the years. We’ve partnered on numerous client projects and realised t

Like many businesses, the catalyst for reinvention at Bastion Shine came in 2020, when Covid shut down the country. Realising the post-pandemic world would look quite different to the one before it, successful indie ad agency Shine made some bets. To

How would you describe your creative process when coming up with fresh ideas for clients? Nothing beats the excitement of a new brief, because you’re about to embark on a mini act of discovery, but you need to be clear on the problem, level of ambiti

Providing an integrated strategy for clients differs from agency to agency. Digital and creative agencies are increasingly partnering up to unlock the full potential of both, with clients seeing streamlined processes and improved bottom lines. Direct

With the world at our fingertips, agencies across the motu are tasked with competing for people’s attention on not only a local level, but also a global scale. Today’s creatives must come up with innovations that are several steps ahead of the intern

These days, creativity alone just isn’t enough. Clients need to see ideas lined up alongside a commercial strategy, but not in the way some agencies are thinking. “Yeah, yeah,” they say, “the effectiveness guys are all over the ECD.” That sounds like

Instagram is dead! Zucks has killed Meta. These were the comments coming in everywhere in late 2021, after Mark announced Facebook would be renamed Meta. Its stock price plummeted and confidence in its ability to turn things around was waning. At the