New Zealand

Advertising

Schick Got You to Look

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Schick_1
Is the fact that an ad is memorable the same as it being effective? This is a discussion that I had with the young designer who works with me on this blog. He loved this Schick razor print ad, created by Y&R in Auckland, New Zealand. I found the furry creatures clinging to the models’ chins kinda creepy.

Young hip male designer argued: “It’s very effective; it’s gone viral.”

Old female editor said: Who are the target customers? Lumberjacks, mountain men and Arctic explorers? The average guy in an office doesn’t have that much facial growth. In fact, they like to have a little stubble like they were out partying all night and didn’t go home to shave.

Young design argued: It got you to look. It drew eyeballs to this ad.

Old female editor said: Show me what the men look like after they have shaved and I’ll tell you whether I like the product or not. Show me the sales spike.

And so it went. Here it is. The vote here is a tie. Is an ad that lots of people look at and tweet about better than one that shows the effectiveness of the product? The jury is out on our end. Decide for yourself.
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Advertising

Carlton – The Big Ad

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Since the Super Bowl puts most sports fans in the mood for beer, we thought we’d bring back an old beer ad favorite — The Carlton Big Ad, created by George Patterson and Partners (Young & Rubicam) of Melbourne in 2005. An epic parody of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” battle sequence, the commercial, also filmed in New Zealand, shows men in maroon and yellow choir robes rushing and leaping across a sweeping rugged terrain, while resolutely singing new lyrics set to the medieval tune “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s cantata “Carmina Burana.” Although the commercial looks like it was made with a cast of thousands, it actually only used 350 people, with the crowd replication software, Massive, filling in the rest of the extras in post-production. “The Big Ad” went on to win numerous awards, and undoubtedly paid for its production costs and then some through the millions of times it has been viewed on the Internet.

Technology

Telecom’s Interactive Light Show

By Delphine Hirasuna |

New Zealand’s iconic Auckland Ferry Building, an Edwardian Baroque-style structure built in 1912, has become the site of spectacular 21st century light shows, using architectural mapping and interactive projection technology.

A creative collaboration of Inside Out Productions, YesYesNo, The Church and Electric Canvas, the Ferry Building light show turned the audience into the performers by taking their body movements and amplifying them five stories high. The installation used three different types of interactions – body interaction on the two stages, hand interaction above a light table, and phone interaction with the tracking of waving phones. Six scenes were cycled every hour for the public.

Produced with the support of Telecom and the Auckland City Council, the four-night event was a great way for Telecom to position itself at the cutting-edge of technology and a great way for the city to bolster tourism and civic spirit.

Motion Graphics

Inspiring New Zealanders to Read

By Delphine Hirasuna |

A national not-for-profit organization, the New Zealand Book Council promotes reading in general, but with a particular emphasis on New Zealand writing and writers – “our own artists, stories, and point of view.” In this video, the Council brings the printed page to life by turning the paper itself into stop action animation art to move the story forward. For the video, it chose one of the nation’s most celebrated books, Going West, by New Zealand literary giant Maurice Gee. The book, published in 1992, describes a steam train journey across the country, and the title was adopted as the name of the Auckland region’s first writers’ festival in 1996. The Going West festival now draws over 350 writers and performers to Waitakere City for the annual literary event. We couldn’t find anything on the Internet about the creative team behind this video. If anyone knows, please share it with us in the Comments box.