NZ Marketing Issue 85 - December 2025

Thousands of decisions go into making a magazine. Not just obvious ones like which topics we include, the people we speak to or the pictures we’ll use, but tiny ones too: that headline should go two clicks to the left and up one… yep, perfect. We weigh each word and sweat over everything: the mix of content, the commas, the number of lists we put in consecutive paragraphs. There are many plates to spin. It’s a lot, but it’s also thrilling. Following an idea from a spitballing session through interviews, writing, design – hurdling all the practical constraints and considerations along the way – to actually making it a physical product is incredibly cool. One of my favourite things about it is seeing how colleagues and collaborators interpret the brief,…

Hannah Bay Brand experience chapter area lead, Spark NZ: “We had gamers who spoke about the importance of Tetris on the way to work.” Charlotte Lobo Senior activation director, Together: “We see GEO as a test-and-learn environment, not a quick instant win today.” Colleen Ryan Partner at TRA: “We often prefer having control – even when the outcomes might be worse than if we let others decide.” Frankie Coulter Head of marketing, Goodman Fielder: “New Zealand’s media sector is like the Great Barrier Reef.” Cassidy Meredith General manager, Hearts and Sciences Content: “Guests were handed shopping baskets to ‘shop the shelves’ of the konbini.” Fraser Shrimpton Marketing manager, DB Breweries: “I think maybe as an industry we’ve got a little bit worthy, a little bit safe.” David Farrier Journalist and…

In issue 84 of NZ Marketing, we told the story of how The Rocky Horror Picture Show film changed its trajectory, going from flop to famous via clever marketing. The pivotal moment was switching the film screenings to a midnight session. This started a cult following that no one expected – and now it has the longest theatrical release of any movie, ever. But whose idea was it and why? As we reported, Linus O’Brien, son of Rocky Horror writer Richard O’Brien and a documentarian in his own right, said the time flip was the brainchild of film producer Lou Adler and advertising executive Tim Deegan. So, imagine our delight when, not long after publishing the article online, we got an email from Deegan. He’s still based in LA and…

Marketers have poured so much money into social marketing campaigns aimed at Māori communities. This industry has set out to impact diet, smoking, driving, immunisation, drug use, cancer screening… the list goes on. Yet the improvements in outcomes often don’t match the investment. There’s a reason. The frameworks don’t fit. In October 2025, we published research in the Journal of Social Marketing that spells out the problem and offers a genuine alternative. We call it ‘Tiriti-dynamic social marketing’ – and no, it’s not another cultural competency training exercise or a mandate to sprinkle te reo through your campaign. It’s a fundamentally different approach. Beware cultural adaptation Most social marketing in Aotearoa starts with Western behaviour change models. These models pretty much ignore nine out of 10 of the world’s population…

If you’ve scrolled LinkedIn lately, you’ve probably seen bold claims that SEO is dead, Google is finished, or ChatGPT has become the new homepage. They make great headlines, but the reality is more nuanced. Search isn’t dead. In fact, it’s more alive and complex than ever. What is changing is how people search and how answers are delivered. With AI-powered generative engine optimisation (GEO) in play, SEO has outgrown its “10 blue links” roots. The new question for marketers is: will AI cite your brand in its answer? At Together, we’re seeing this shift in the data we track for New Zealand brands. Search queries are surging, up 74% year-on-year across our clients, with longer, more conversational queries rising 66%. At the same time, discovery platforms are fragmenting. Nearly 40%…

PSA: “I’ll just ring the agency” shouldn’t be the extent of your plan when reputational risk comes knocking. Brands that perform the best are the ones that plan for impact before it lands. The risk landscape is intensifying and optimism is scarce, thanks to the recession. Our collective doldrums are raising the stakes for brands and the cost of mismanaging an issue has never been greater. ‘She’ll be right’ doesn’t cut it in a world where every brand interaction can shape reputation in the speed of a post. One badly handled misstep can unravel trust, dent sales and fracture internal culture. Whether it’s a frustrated customer publicly airing their grievances, a cyber breach or product recalls, today’s misinformation spreads faster than facts and generative AI is breathing life into old…