Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 76 2023 i NZ Marketing

Countdown’s journey back to Woolworths It hasn’t been that long since Woolworths in New Zealand transitioned to the Countdown brand. And now, it’s undergoing a reversal. Bríd Drohan-Stewart, Director of Brand at Woolworths New Zealand, shares the rationale behind this decision to revert to the original name and what this transition actually means for the brand. WHAT IS THE STRATEGY BEHIND THE RETURN TO THE WOOLWORTHS BRAND? We know that there’s a lot to love about Countdown, but there’s also things that our customers, team and communities want us to do even better. Our aim with this transformation is to give our customers the best possible supermarket experience, and as part of that, we’ll be bringing the best of Woolworths to New Zealand and sharing the best of what we…

“Steady.” That’s how Annie McCulloch and Carolyn (Caro) Armstrong of “Steady.” Gather Creative Recruitment describe the recruitment market for the creative sector: while it’s not as buoyant as previous it continues to be steady, with neither a huge number of roles nor candidates available overall. One trend immediately jumps out when you talk to them. “Obviously Covid had a big impact,” Caro says. “The minute the border opened, there was a flurry of people who left. With the recent changes to visa conditions in the UK, this will likely continue. I had a client this morning tell me two of their staff have resigned, to move to Australia, so it is very much still the case.” This trend is having a significant impact particularly on intermediate-level roles, making it more…

With increasing clutter in digital spaces, printed marketing material is making a comeback – and it’s proving to be effective. According to Roy Morgan research 50 percent of mailer readers visit the store’s website to find out more and 47 percent buy the product the next time they are in the store. REACH, a data-driven marketing company, operates under the belief that combining online and offline marketing strategies gets the most effective results for its clients. “The best practice rule of marketing to an audience in multiple channels is not new, and it’s a no brainer as that’s how people live their lives,” says Account Director Harinderpal Singh. “However often it’s aligning the targeting, creative and overall strategy that trips people up and getting those factors working in harmony is…

GLOBAL BRANDS AND INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS: HOW THE UK MARKETING INDUSTRY AND THE NZ ARMY SHAPED MY VALUES AND MY CAREER I feel incredibly fortunate for the path my career has taken and the opportunities that have come my way. In 1997, I crossed paths with an Englishman that led me on a thirteen-year adventure in the UK. During this time, I had the privilege of working with major brand-driven organisations like Vodafone UK, Group, and Sony EMEA, expanding my marketing skills across diverse industries, managing global campaigns across cultures, and collaborating with inspiring leaders. My journey also included partnerships with esteemed agencies like JWT and BBH, as well as exposure to the innovative world of digital agencies. Returning to New Zealand, roles at Vodafone NZ and Westpac NZ enriched my…

Apples are New Zealand’s third-largest fruit export, with just under $900 million worth going overseas in 2022. Within that sector, Rockit has been a standout performer in recent years, with its small apples – ideal for children and for snacks – proving popular with consumers around the world. However, like many other New Zealand horticulture businesses, it has had a bumpy ride recently. Not only did Rockit have to contend with labour shortages caused by Covid border closures, but it was hit by severe weather this past season, compounded by Cyclone Gabrielle in February, which devastated a number of apple orchards in the Hawke’s Bay. Rockit credits it 14-strong marketing team for playing a significant role in the company successfully hurdling this speed bump. One of the team’s achievements has…

Dosh was set up to show Kiwis new, different and better ways to manage their money. As a young challenger brand, this meant bringing innovation, technology and change to the New Zealand market. Internationally there are good examples of tech-led disruptors who have targeted early adopters and unsettled incumbents, and the founders of Dosh felt with the right approach, the opportunity exists in New Zealand to make the same impact. They created a business plan with three stages: • Stage one (2021) was about the launch of Dosh with a peer2peer payments proposition around an innovative everyday, transaction account managed via a “very cool, very funky” app. This new digital account allowed consumers to change the way they send and receive payments amongst friends and family. • Stage two (2022-2023)…

In 2020, nine percent of graduates in New Zealand at bachelor’s level or higher had studied engineering, compared to OECD average of 14 percent. This meant New Zealand was seriously lagging behind. Furthermore, only three percent of the country’s population is an engineer. Women only make up 17 percent of that and Māori and Pasifika make up around six percent. STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is an important industry in New Zealand that promotes and creates innovative solutions for the entire nation, but the industry lacks the representation they serve. To address this, Engineering NZ launched The Wonder Project, in the hope of changing these figures, The Wonder Project is about inspiring young Kiwis to get involved and consider a career in STEM. To do this Engineering NZ needed…

Known for its tagline ‘Delicious Starts Here’, Silver Fern Farms is a leading premium pre-packaged red meat brand. Although Silver Fern Farms (SFF) was enjoying high brand awareness and a strong product range, it faced the challenge of low consideration and conversion to sales as customers were hesitant to pay a premium for packaged meat. To address this, SFF devised an award-winning campaign ‘Cooks on Fire’ which increased consideration and intent while also significantly impacting sales and brand perception. With only one percent of Kiwis claiming to buy meat based on brand, it became clear that ‘Delicious Starts Here’ would only get the brand so far. The campaign addressed the challenge of getting Kiwis to appreciate premium branded fresh meat in packaging, competing against supermarket home-brands. With a clear goal…

The New Plymouth District Council headed into the 2022 local elections with one goal, stop the decline of votes with a budget of $30,000. But it wasn’t going to be easy for the district council which also was faced with a new year of a confusing new single-transferable-vote (STV) electoral system, a complex new ward structure that included the new Māori ward and of course, voter apathy. In order to make this a successful campaign, the district council first needed to target who their audience is. They were residents aged 35 to 54 who were somewhat interested in the issues of their community but also felt that voting was another bit of admin, apathetic, lack familiarity on the running candidates and are engaged and influenced by digital platforms. New Plymouth…

This statistic ignited Fire and Emergency NZ to take matters into its own hands to help the ‘disengaged’ – a young demographic who don’t see unattended cooking as low risk – practise safer cooking. Identifying that this audience were most likely people flatting in a rental property and believe a house fire won’t happen to them, Fire and Emergency NZ knew this demographic often have a ‘here and now’ mindset. The organisation was tasked with the challenge of changing this mindset within the notoriously difficult disengaged audience about leaving cooking unattended, meaning the approach had to be as relatable as possible. ‘Never drink and fry’ and ‘Never get high and fry’ was the approach the organisation came up with in the hopes of seeing an increase in the perceived risk…

The enormous fanfare around the anti-Twitterati and the ‘cage fight’ spat between Zuck and Musk have somewhat distracted us from the launch of a new social media platform, Threads. Built by Meta in response to the flight from Twitter it is a mostly text sharing platform built off the Instagram community. I jumped on the day it launched to see what all the fuss was about. A lot has changed since 5 July 2023 Feature-wise it was definitely Twitterlite. Just text and image sharing, follow your friends, user search and commenting. Initially you could repost but no filtering or timeline from people you follow. All the suggested accounts they thought you should follow were Instagram influencers and celebrities. The notifications are now rather better than other platforms, split into separate…

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising the content marketplace by transforming content discovery, creation, and supply. When we say ‘marketplace,’ you might think of Amazon or Trade Me, but for content it’s a place where people exchange entertainment and information. As with any marketplace, it’s all about supply and demand. How content is being discovered and how it’s being supplied is changing as AI tools advance. These shifts in tool and audience behaviour impact content monetisation and marketing, requiring a combination of SEO, social media, and design knowledge to make content discoverable and appealing, as well as clear goals and platform expertise to target audiences effectively. HOW IS AI CHANGING THE WAY WE DISCOVER CONTENT? AI is like a content DJ, playing the tunes we love based on what we’ve liked in…

With a rumoured marketing budget of $150 million, $5 million more than the movie itself, the movie has built hype across the world thanks to countless collaborations, with everything from Airbnb to burgers. Head of Marketing at brand tracking platform Tracksuit, Mikayla Hopkins, says though Barbie is a legacy brand that has built its brand awareness across 64 years, this new marketing strategy has revived the brand “unlike anything we’ve ever seen before”. This strategy has placed Barbie in the pop culture conversation, especially after years of the brand ranking low in terms of relevance and relatability across all the core markets against competitors such as Hot Wheels and Lego. Currently the data skews towards the older generation who grew up with the brand, but following the movie, data is…

Alex Hirini Co-Founder of Mura Creative on bringing advertising practises into te ao Māori Phoebe Smith Head of Design and Partner at Previously Unavailable on creating pathways for rangitahi to enter the ad industry Emily Scovell Stanley St Chief Media Officer on getting the right media channel mix James Hurman Advertising effectiveness expert on why marketers need to prioritise marketing marketing Rufus Chuter Managing Partner at Together on the opportunities ahead for media agencies James Davidson PHD Media GM Planning on taking a ‘channel agnostic’ approach to media buying strategy Juanita Neville-Te Rito CX & Retail Strategy Expert on the benefits of syncing your CX and MarTech strategies Soraya Cottin Whittaker’s CMO on a new life in NZ and nurturing a much-loved iconic Kiwi brand Rebekah Gierlinska Hearts & Science…

“There’s all this love and admiration for the culture and there’s so much support and energy around it, yet a lot of the work that’s being made has not been made by Māori. It’s for Māori but it’s not by Māori.” This sentiment, expressed by John Marshall (Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Maniapoto) General Manager of Special, was echoed time and time again during interviews for this article. Instead of simply focusing on how businesses can incorporate te ao Māori into their branding and marketing in a culturally appropriate manner, it quickly became clear that a deeper examination of the underrepresentation of Māori in this field altogether is needed first. According to the Commercial Communications Council Diversity Research Report released in October 2021 there is much work to be done to increase…

It’s hard not to be taken by marketing’s turn toward purpose. Along with the Marketing Association’s Marketing For Good initiatives, there are any number of publications and consultants arguing that only brands with a clear social purpose will thrive in the future. The success of campaigns like Nike’s ‘Find Your Greatness’ and Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ have led others to double-down on what’s now known as ‘meaningful marketing’. But even before we all went wild for purpose, marketers have long been focused on positive traits. Think of the energy spent on understanding customer loyalty, or affinity for our campaigns, or even, god help us all, ‘brand love’. What do these two things – the clamour for purpose and the pursuit of positive traits – tell us about how we think about…

Spearheading an ambitious brand transformation and coordinating a complete repositioning of Aotearoa’s largest New Zealand-owned bank is no mean feat. But under the guidance of General Manager of Brand and Marketing at Kiwibank Simon Hofmann, the organisation underwent a significant change. Recognising the competitive landscape dominated by the ‘Big Four’ Australian-owned banks, Simon understood that Kiwibank had fallen behind as New Zealand progressed, and his relentless efforts positioned Kiwibank for the future and generations of Kiwis to come. Today, the bank is well on its way to equalling its competitors and becoming customers’ top choice. Drawing on his experience working on major brands like IBM, National Australia Bank, Mercedes-Benz, and Hyundai, and a background in data driven and customer marketing space, Simon encouraged his team to think outside the box.…

To achieve these goals as well as increase the sales of SMB, grow SMB and Managed Print Services, and increase overall awareness, consideration and preference, Brother set out to align with its business audience using on-demand video platforms, and billboards with a wider audience to capture retail audience as well. Previously perceived as a retail printer business, two recent developments presented the brand with the chance expand into the business world. These included becoming the authorised distributor for Konica Minolta’s A3 office equipment enabling Brother to widen its product offering, especially in the corporate sector. Brother was also appointed a member of the All-of-Government Print Technology and Associated Services panel which helped with expanding into the public sector. These developments signalled the beginning of a new chapter for Brother and…

Successful alcohol business Lion New Zealand understood that to stay successful long-term in the beer industry – often considered much like a battleground – it needed to retain a large market share. Unlike Speight’s and Corona, Steinlager didn’t appeal to those between the ages of 18 to 34 as it understood its classic taste was “polarising” compared to the “refreshing” and “easy-drinking beer” of its competitors. Lion New Zealand understood that Steinlager had perceptions of being the drink for “dad’s”, creating a disconnect that was resulting in the beer losing relevancy. This prompted the brand to make a bold change to broaden its appeal to the targeted audience the company considered most likely to grow the business. So, how did Lion New Zealand do this? Insights showed that the drinking…

As a brand that has been around since 1951, TAB New Zealand has been able to garner a loyal following within the age group of 55-year-olds and over who used the platform for horse racing. But as time has gone by, betting has further evolved to include sports, something this younger demographic of 18 to 34-year-olds are more inclined towards and TAB’s competitor BET365 has taken over as a market. In order to meet that younger demographic and take back the market share from BET365, TAB New Zealand needed to shift the brand perceptions from just a betting brand to an entertainment brand. The main consumers it wanted to approach is the 18 to 34-year-old male sports bettors who see sports betting as a “legitimate form of entertainment”, with 37…

Understanding that around 79 percent of its customers care highly about climate change but are hesitant about making sustainable choices in times where the cost-of-living is rising, ANZ wanted to help. To combat both of these issues, ANZ set about to empower Kiwi homeowners to make sustainable home upgrades, that are both good for the environment and good for the pocket. ANZ introduced the Good Energy Home Loan, a finance solution at a discounted interest rate, allowing Kiwis to make energy efficient upgrades, prompting them to take their first steps to sustainability. Through this new loan, ANZ hoped to tackle the 30 percent of Kiwi homes that are poorly insulated and the 20 percent that are damp. With this, ANZ hoped to help Kiwis upgrade their homes to be warmer…

The popular New Zealand marketplace has long been a leader in the property space, but has faced stiff competition in recent years as the market boomed. It launched a ‘Hijack the Headlines’ campaign to reinforce its position as the go-to for property market expertise. In the lead-up to 2021 the New Zealand housing market had reached record new heights, with housing affordability the number one topic. In 2022 however, for the first time in over a decade, the housing market began to shift in favour of the buyer. The market dropped 12.4 percent in a year alone. This sudden shift caused anxiety for both buyers and sellers – they didn’t know who to trust for accurate information. Not only were New Zealanders living in the wake of a misinformation and…

For years, brands have been following the same effectiveness rule book and ended up with a sea of sameness. Codified advertising. Box-ticking campaigns. Bleeding into each other and stymieing growth due to a lack of differentiation and a wealth of misattribution. By sticking to tried-and-true formulas and playing it safe with messaging, the pressure to conform can be overwhelming. In today’s crowded and competitive marketplace, it takes more than simply following the status quo to capture the attention of consumers. The brands that have come out on top in effectiveness awards do so because they recognised that playing it safe came at the cost of standing out. They found effectiveness by breaking the rules – by being brave. Alongside the DDB Planning Team, we trawled through hundreds of 2022 Effie…

Your Data is F**ked: Mark McKenzie unveils harsh truth for marketers Founder of Absolute Analytics Ltd and Director and Consultant at McKTui Consulting and Ventures, Mark McKenzie speaks to NZ Marketing about his recently released book titled Your Data is F**ked: For Marketers. He explains his motivation for writing the book and the research that went into it. Scan the QR code to read more: Welcome our newest sponsor A leading independent media, data and technology agency in Aotearoa, Together, is built for where media is heading, not where it’s been. The Auckland-based agency helps marketers create growth by engineering more valuable media experiences that bring people and brands closer together. The talented team at Together combines award-winning full-funnel strategic and digital thinking with leading edge technology, data science and…

I really feel for marketers. I’ve never worked in a marketing department, nor been a CMO. I live the luxurious life of telling them what I think and leaving all the actual work to them. But what I’ve observed is that marketing, especially in large organisations, appears to comprise of about 90 percent politics and 10 percent actually doing marketing. I’m always amazed, when I’m inside an organisation, at the perplexing amount of time marketers spend on what is kindly referred to as ‘stakeholder management’ – the process of getting permission to do their job from an army of people who have zero experience in marketing and zero understanding of how brands or marketing or advertising work, but a fabulously ironic level of confidence that they’re a worthy judge of…

In 2017 StopPress published an article from market research company, Ipsos, about the growing implementation of CX programmes, in which the authors highlighted the issue that many customers hadn’t seen great improvements in their experiences as a result of all the CX investment, with many C-Suite executives admitting they had not seen a significant return on CX investments estimated to grow to $11 billion globally by 2020. With Covid in between and the subsequent economic fallout, the customer experience of 2023 appears to have suffered rather than being the panacea it was predicted to become. The advice given then remains relevant today: Without engagement, there is no traction; leadership and CEO/senior management is essential; know where you’ve been and where you’re going; engage the right people in the right way;…

Supreme Marketing Excellence Award, Excellence in Data Insights Strategy, Excellence in MarTech Strategy, Excellence in Marketing Communication Strategy & Excellence in Utilities/Communications Marketing Strategy As the largest telecommunications company in New Zealand, Spark has the most to lose when it came to competitors looking to grow their market share. So, it was clear the brand needed a strategy that would help build up customer trust and offer real value. Enter Made For You Review – a campaign built on using data held internally by Spark to help customers get the most out of their plans. Businesses with extensive data often know more about how customers use their products and services than their customers do. But large scale, siloed, disparate data sets make this difficult to access and complex to analyse.…

NZ post has remained heavily associated with envelopers, stamps, mailboxes and letterboxes, but following the rise in online shopping during the pandemic, the brand knew it had to change. As its most important consumers have now shifted to being online retailers and their customers, NZ Post decided to shift its approach to focus on courier delivery. But in order to meet this focus, NZ Post needed to increase prices by six percent for three years consecutively to meet its EBIT margin and that left a bad taste with key consumers. To combat this, the marketing team believed they needed to work on strong brand salience and great customer service to unlock that growth and brand alignment without creating a disconnect. Creating a more unified brand, NZ Post needed to look…

Pet treats is a booming industry, with the sale of dog treats increasing by 28 percent and cat treats jumping 40 percent between 2015 and 2022. Looking at these statistics, it is no surprise that Zuru’s next target was this market. Unlike the existing brands under the Zuru umbrella, such as Zuru Toys or Nood, this time it wanted to tap into a new generation of customers – Millennials and Gen Z – a group that represented nearly half of pet owners globally. BONKERZ is a brand that aims to get these generations’ tails wagging while also being disruptive, distinctive and relevant, focusing on creating better quality, better priced pet treats and “a better-for-your-pets treats brand” that ultimately drove impulse at point of purchase. Tapping into this demographic was vital…

Kiwis love their meat. We’re a nation of BBQ fanatics and carnivores; hardly surprising, given farming is the backbone of our economy. However, over the last 17 years, New Zealanders’ red meat consumption has dropped by 25kg per capita, while chicken consumption has increased by 8kg per capita (source: PIANZ). Consumers’ evolving appetites are being driven by a number of factors including environmental consciousness, ethical concerns, health, and ever-tightening wallets. This has been great news for McDonald’s biggest competitor in New Zealand, KFC. While McDonald’s overall market share in the QSR (quick-service restaurant) category is around three times that of KFC’s (50 percent vs 16 percent), the Colonel was well ahead in chicken sales, at 52 percent vs 32 per cent for McDonald’s. KFC was beating McDonald’s not only in…

As the largest telecommunications company in New Zealand, Spark had a lot to lose from competitors battling to grow its market share. Unlike other businesses that use data insights solely for their benefit, Spark flipped this dynamic and used data insights to deliver a better customer experience. The goal was to empower customers with their own data insights, checking their plan inclusions and value-added services to ensure they suit their needs. This personalised approach aimed to build trust in the brand and lay the foundations for long-lasting customer relationships. This thinking was influenced by research commissioned by Spark which revealed that New Zealanders needed help in ensuring their services were ‘right-for-them’ as customers’ top reasons for switching included plans not suiting their needs, lack of proactive suggestions for better offers,…

While insights revealed the previous Safe Nights campaign had been highly successful, it required substantial resources and effort to sustain, meaning the fundraising team needed to find a more manageable yet engaging approach to fundraising. The marketing campaign aligned perfectly with the organisation’s brand strategy. The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges overarching aim is to create a society where all women and children live free from family violence. By adopting a positive and empowering narrative, the campaign reframed the organisation as an accommodation provider, enabling people to make a difference in the lives of others. The campaign communicated the transparency and impact of the donations, building trust and engagement with prospective donors. The Great Night In introduced a unique concept that resonated with the public, introducing them to the…

Selecting the right channels for a campaign is always dependent on the brief, client and product at stake, but Hearts & Science Managing Director Rebekah Gierlinska says finding the balance starts with the core purpose: audience. “You have to understand where the audience is and what kind of journey you want to influence,” she says. “Most of the time we will use more than one channel and a mix of online and offline because we use an audience-led approach. We work with our audience in the moments of the journey we can have the most impact.” Hearts & Science recently onboarded Animates as a client, and while the pet supplies store has largely retail and performance-led requirements, it also wants to cement itself as a brand that cares for all…

Posing a prominent figure on Drake Street, Special’s New Zealand headquarters are hard to miss. Pushing open the heavy front door, it is clear those in charge of the design wanted visitors to know they were stepping into something…well… special. While those outside the realms of adland may not know what lies behind this formidable door, informed individuals will be acutely aware this office is an incubator of unparalleled creativity, and the birthplace of some of the nation’s, and even world’s, most groundbreaking campaigns. Only just over two years old, Special PR was founded in April 2021 by General Manager Kelly Grindle and has already received a steady stream of international and national recognition. From humble beginnings tucked away under the stairs of Special’s grand office, “much akin to Harry…

Tina from Turners is, and continues to be, a very effective campaign. Since launching in 2021, it has picked up the Marketing Supreme Award, won two gold Effies, and delivered record profits to the business. Impressively, the campaign started working straight away – paying itself off within just one month. “The Tina from Turners campaign has capped off several years of retail transformation for us,” says Greg Hedgepeth, CEO, Turners Auto Retail. “I think it’s a great example of when you create a marketing programme that’s 100 percent aligned with your business strategy and ties in nicely with your organisational culture. We are pretty pleased with the results: big improvements in both our business results and brand metrics.” “Tina has become a loved personality in her own right.” Tina from…

HAVING WORKED ALL OVER THE WORLD, IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEW ZEALAND’S CREATIVE INDUSTRY AND THE GLOBAL CREATIVE INDUSTRY? We punch above our weight. We’re quite good at being collaborative whereas in Australia, it’s a bit more adversarial at an executive level. That’s true in the States sometimes too. I really enjoy working with clients, and understanding their story, and bringing them on the process of understanding how to tell an emotional story. You feel like you can do that more here, because there’s a bit more smallness, and we can reach across. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ASPECT OF WORKING WITH NEW ZEALAND BRANDS? I have a deep cultural connection to this place, so I really enjoy that. And sometimes when you’re working in foreign markets, there’s a specificity…