NZ Marketing July 2017

In 2014, City University of London professor Paolo Aversa and his pit crew of data geeks published a report tracing every innovation in Formula One over a 30-year period. What the report found was that innovation in Formula One technology didn’t always result in success on the racetrack. On the contrary, in certain circumstances, the less innovative cars performed far better than the spruced-up vehicles of their opponents. An anecdote Aversa recently told the Harvard Business Review recounts the 2009 season when Jenson Button, who had finished 18th the previous year, ended up winning the Drivers’ Championship in a basic, albeit solid, Mercedes-Brawn car. Racing against a field of innovative hybrid speedsters, Button’s modest single-person-mover whizzed past the competition all season long. Only a year later, by which time the…

STOPPRESS COMMENTS The best of the bunch May was a busy month for industry awards but the hangovers didn’t stop people taking to the StopPress comment section to have their point heard, and when ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi confirmed they were ending their partnership, things really heated up. We pick out some of the best comments from the thread: “The reality is Goldstein remains more impactful than anything they’ve done since. Clever Kash etc is nice, but nothing like a proper brand positioning that gets consistently built over time. Saatchi tried to save it with an old-school ECD ... too late. ” - FAIR CALL “They have produced some bloody great work for them! Snap Scholarships and Clever Kash were some of the strongest campaigns to hit the market.…

During your career did you ever experience ‘ageism’? No, I can honestly say it never arose. Occasionally, I heard words like ‘there he goes again’ referring to some hobby horse, but certainly nothing like ‘he’s too old so what does he know!’ Are there any risks of getting rid of experienced thinkers in favour of ‘young hot things’? Experience in every industry is very valuable but so is new thinking. For most managers, getting a balance is incredibly important. Constantly having to go over the same ground is costly and time-consuming and this is where the experience comes in. It’s worth remembering in the FMCG industry that the brand leaders 50 years ago are still mainly the brand leaders today. A few examples are Nescafé, Coca-Cola, Heinz Wattie’s, Milo, Dettol,…

How long have you worked in the industry? I started as a junior copywriter at Aim Direct as a fresh faced 22-year-old. That was 20 years ago. Has your gender ever been a hindrance to your career in the advertising industry? In New Zealand, I don’t think being female has got in the way of my professional progression. Although once you hit your 30s and find yourself in more senior roles, there is certainly an undercurrent of worry that you’ll disappear and have children. The other interesting thing is that looks can be both a help and a hindrance. I remember the MD of one of the agencies I worked at rushing into the creative department one day and saying he needed me in a new business meeting. I was…

What is it like to be an ethnic minority woman working in New Zealand? On the whole it’s very good. I believe we’re more advanced here in New Zealand than certain other markets. I think New Zealanders in general are open minded, forward thinking and more accepting of diversity than our Australian and American counterparts, for example. How would you rate the New Zealand media industry when it comes to diversity? Is it doing well or is there room for improvement? It has improved a lot over the last 10 years since I first started out in the industry. There is still room to improve though. In particular, I would like to see more diversity in senior management roles. From what I can see, there’s currently none to very little…

Jonathan Cotton: Why do you think Adshel stood out among the finalists at the Beacons? Nick Vile: We were obviously pretty chuffed to win Media Business of the Year and receive that recognition from a group of our peers, and it is a great reward for the hard work that the team have been putting in over the last few years. The entry itself was explicit in what was required – a sound strategy and demonstrable evidence that strategy leads to results. Our entry focused on 2016 being the escalation year of a strategic plan, which is underpinned by our company purpose, ‘creating smarter connections for communities’. Smarter connections? Smarter in what way? That’s smarter connections through technology, smarter connections for advertisers with their consumer communities, smarter connections with our…