Campaign Overview

In May 2011, in honour of Mother’s Day, East Auckland’s Botany Town Centre gave mothers in the community the permission to think about themselves. By way of tribute to deserving mums, the centre turned each of the 31 days of May into Mother’s Day, and hosted a high tea for some amazing women.

Throughout the month, the centre accepted nominations for its search for Auckland’s best mums. The 10 finalists were invited to enjoy a high tea with a special guest, Nestle New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker winner Paula Midgley. All guests were treated to a decadent Robert Harris afternoon tea, Morton Estate Mimi Methode Traditionnelle and a goodie bag filled with gifts from Nestle, Lush and Simply You Living.

The winner of the overall prize for best mum, mother of five Melany Adams, was presented with a pamper pack containing a $500 Botany Town centre gift card, an Image Oasis treatment voucher valued at $300, and a Hoyts La Premiere gift card valued at $200.

As part of the month-long the Mother’s Day celebrations, lucky mums spotted shopping at Botany Town Centre found themselves on the receiving end of random acts of kindness. More than $5,000 in gift cards was given away to reward mums and encourage them to take time out of their busy schedule and treat themselves.

Results

The Permission to Think About You campaign achieved excellent results in the media, community buzz and the strengthening of new and existing relationships.

The campaign provided good media opportunities across a number of channels, including local community, online and industry media, and social media avenues such as YouTube and Facebook.

Media releases were generated in accordance with the centre’s activities during the campaign, and achieved over $50,000 worth of public relations value for Botany Town Centre.

Prominent local newspapers Howick and Botany Times, Howick and Pakuranga Times and Eastern Courier published stories regarding the search to find the community’s best mums. The Eastern Courier article included the YouTube link to the Botany Town Centre video produced for the campaign.

There was strong online media pick-up from news sites Infonews.co.nz, Scoop.co.nz and Stuff.co.nz, and engagement on Facebook, YouTube and online event diaries. Industry publications Shopping Centre Weekly and NZ Retail also published stories about the Permission To Think About You campaign featuring overall best mum Melany Adams.

Campaign Overview

A new social change enterprise, Be. Institute, was launched at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on 6 May 2011.

Three innovative national campaigns were introduced on the evening: Be. Accessible, Be. Leadership and Be. Welcome. All three are highly significant for New Zealand. Be. Accessible is the country’s first nationwide accessibility programme, and Be. Leadership, New Zealand’s first national disability leadership programme. Be. Welcome is a unique location accessibility assessment programme.

Be. Institute aims to inspire and enable a 100% accessible society for all New Zealanders. The driving force behind the programmes is to improve the accessibility of the physical environment, enable better access to information, promote the inclusion and leadership of disabled people in employment and the community, and change social attitudes and behaviours.

Alexander Communications was briefed to assist with building the profile of Be. Institute and raising awareness of the three programmes and the recent Be. On The Road national tour.

In June, Be. Accessible launched a nationwide tour, Be. On The Road. The three-week roadshow visited the 12 Rugby World Cup host cities to introduce the Be. vision and accompanying programmes, and to discuss the current and future accessibility of each city.

Results

The Be. On The Road tour received a warm welcome from each host city and the Be. team met with passionate advocates who shared and supported the Be. vision.

The news of Be. On The Road caught the attention of local media, which were curious to learn more about the Be. Institute and supporting programmes. Reporters attended the presentations, and face-to-face interviews with Be. Accessible chief executive Minnie Baragwanath were secured.

The regional publications supported the campaign by including stories about Be. Accessible visiting their city to address local accessibility. Articles were featured in the Taranaki Daily News, Southland Express, Manawatu Guardian, Nelson Mail, Waikato Times, Northern Advocate and Manawatu Standard among others.

Local radio stations and television also showed excellent interest in the campaign and several interviews with Minnie Baragwanath were secured. The news of Be. On The Road and the accessible campervan featured on Dunedin’s 9 Local News, and interviews with Ms Baragwanath were broadcast on The Breeze Manawatu, Newstalk ZB New Plymouth, More FM Rotorua and Classic Hits Whangarei.

Most recently, Next Magazine featured Minnie Baragwanath as the Change Maker personality in its August 2011 issue. The full-page spread includes a Q&A session with Ms Baragwanath and references the Be. Institute and its founding origins. In positioning Ms Baragwanath as an industry leader, the article also discussed why a social change enterprise such as the Be. Institute is necessary for our community.

Earlier in the year Simon Collins from the New Zealand Herald sat down with Tony Howe of the Disability Resource Centre. They discussed Be. Accessible and the vision of the campaign for a story which featured in the New Zealand Herald metro section.

To find out more about the Be. Institute and the supporting programmes, visit www.beaccessible.org.nz

Campaign Overview

Challenge Trust is one of many New Zealand charitable trusts invested in paving the way for a brighter future and supporting those in need. A unique not-for-profit organization, Challenge Trust is a recovery-services specialist group which has grown from its initial sole facility to over 20 residential homes providing care to people with a variety of needs relating to addiction, mental illness, physical disability and rehabilitation, intellectual disability, and eating disorders.

Challenge Trust appointed Alexander Communications to assist with raising its profile as a leading recovery services provider and presenting to the public its new initiatives, service centres and programmes.

The AC team has been fortunate to work with CEO Clive Plucknett and his dedicated team at Challenge Trust. The team’s passion and commitment to their work and the people they help was evident from the outset, and this message is reflected in our work.

In September 2010, Challenge Trust and the Auckland DHBs launched Thrive, a much-needed service for the treatment of eating disorders in the upper North Island. The first of its kind in the region, Thrive’s opening in two buildings in Parnell, Auckland was attended by guests including health professionals, DHB board members and select media.

Results
For the official opening and launch of Thrive, our brief was to raise awareness about the centre and bring the service into the public eye.

Tact and sensitivity was crucial in our approach to a widely misunderstood issue. AC worked closely with the Ministry of Health and Challenge Trust to introduce key print and broadcast media to Thrive by arranging private tours of the facility and one-on-one interviews with Clive Plucknett.

AC secured feature stories on TV One News, TV3 News, and Radio New Zealand.

Coverage was also seen in national and community newspapers and in online media, including the Sunday Star Times, New Zealand Herald, Gisborne Herald and Eastern Courier.

The launch of Thrive was a great success, with child advocate Christine Rankin accepting the invitation to officially open the centre. The achievement by Challenge Trust of a substantial brief in a short timeframe was a proud moment for the Challenge Trust team and the many families involved.

The much-needed facility was well received by the community, and several local schools demonstrated support by responding generously to AC’s request for inspirational artwork for permanent display at Thrive. Coverage regarding this school support was seen in Education Today, www.times.co.nz, www.scoop.co.nz and www.infonews.co.nz

Additionally, AC recently secured the cover-page story ‘What business owners can learn from NFPs’ in NZ Business Magazine. Clive Plucknett was the subject of the cover story by Ruth Le Pla.

An inspirational leader with considerable experience across many industries (including a previous career with the NZ Police), Clive says, “The most valuable asset you have is self knowledge,” and advises leaders to figure out when they need to pull in someone else. “A lot of people are so busy being busy that they don’t step back and look around.”

Challenge Trust was profiled for a second time on the evening news, TV3 6PM, when Clive Plucknett was featured as an expert in the area of mental health and recovery. Appearing on two consecutive nights over a weekend, the two stories reinforced Challenge Trust as a leading recovery services and mental health organisation, with direct quotes from Clive.

Clive Plucknett has appeared extensively in the media on other occasions, and was quoted in the National Business Review, in ‘Depression the Silent Epidemic for Executives’. This article has been a valuable profile piece and has generated significant response from other executives direct to Clive.

Earlier in 2010, Clive appeared on TVNZ’s NZI Business with Corin Dann to discuss the topic of mental health treatment for high-level executives. His appearance reinforced the message of Challenge Trust’s leadership in this area of health, and highlighted the programmes available to assist those with depression.

To find out more about Challenge Trust and the services they offer, visit www.challenge.co.nz

Botany Town Centre enlisted the help of Alexander Communications to assist with a secret campaign designed to surprise unsuspecting shoppers and get them talking.

Botany Town Centre hosted South Seas Film and Television school student Stijn Van de Velde and a group of dancers who created a flash-mob scene on 27 October 2010, wowing shoppers and drawing crowds of onlookers.

On Sunday afternoon, over 120 strategically-placed students shopped and sipped coffee in the town square before springing into action and getting their jive on to ‘Greased Lightning’ from the film Grease.

Video cameras were set up in advance to capture the event and the reactions of shoppers. A few key media received a tip-off the day before. 

The Flash Mob campaign highlighted Botany Town Centre’s support of the local community’s creative projects. As a first-to-market New Zealand retail initiative, it reaffirmed Botany Town Centre’s position as an innovative retail centre.

Results

The news of the Botany Town Centre Flash Mob spread quickly. It was well-received by local media and made headlines nationwide. The story featured in the Howick & Botany Times and the New Zealand Herald, and was nominated as picture of the week by the Weekend Herald.

 The Flash Mob news spread as far as the Bay of Plenty Times, Hawkes Bay Today, Wanganui Chronicle, Wairarapa Times Age, Daily Post, Northern Advocate and Oamaru Mail.

TVNZ’s Breakfast show mentioned the event and South Sea Film school’s initiative and organization of the ‘Greased Lightning’ dance. 

A video of the Flash Mob in action was uploaded to Youtube.com, receiving over 3,900 views and numerous positive messages. Following the Youtube.com posting, the footage appeared on several other blogs, including retail-blogbiz, fastnews.in and viralvideochart.unruly.media.com.

New Idea magazine ran a double-page spread, ‘I’m a flash mob fanatic’, featuring an interview with Stijn Van de Velde in which he discussed his inspiration and vision of creating a flash mob. 

This summer Morton Estate released Mimi, a young and fresh addition to the company’s now nine-strong range of Methode Traditionnelle wines.

The story of Mimi’s creation has special meaning for the Morton Estate team, particularly general manager Fiona MacDiarmid – it was her daughter Amelia who served as the inspiration for the new sparkling wine. 

Mimi was developed to appeal to an urbane market seeking a light sparkling wine with a hint of France for summer celebrations. Distinctively packaged, the wine’s eye-catching label features a Mimi-inspired portrait and a glamorous gold and black hood.

Alexander Communications was approached by Morton Estate to assist with the launch of Mimi, billed as ‘the new girl in town’, to a select group of wine writers, media and special guests.

On the eve of her release to supermarkets and wine stores, Morton Estate hosted a debut party to celebrate the unveiling of Mimi. 

Results

The launch party was a great success: guests were greeted by Mimi Ambassadors as they walked the red carpet and were offered a glass by glamorous Mimi Girls.

The master of ceremonies John Hawkesby welcomed guests and regaled them with wine-related tales before handing over to Alex Witten-Hannah, who entertained guests with his interpretation of the Mimi story and then performed the tricky act of saubrage.

Guests sampled a variety of sparkling wines from the Morton Estate range. In addition to Mimi, the non-vintage Brut, the Blanc de Blanc and the IQ3 were served. The wines were accompanied by a delicious range of Regal Salmon canapés created by Morton Estate’s cellar door chef Harrie Geraerts.

AC focused on boosting the profile of Morton Estate’s latest sparkling wine to New Zealand’s top wine writers and social trend setters, spreading the word of ‘the new girl in town’.

The Mimi Girls appeared with the Morning Mad House crew on the radio station The Edge, chatting about the debut of Mimi on wine-store shelves that day and participating in the weekly ‘one-minute dance party’.    

Photographs and coverage of the debut party appeared in the Herald on Sunday’s SPY supplement and on TheAList.co.nz.  

Mimi was also featured in NBR Food Industry Week, Sunday Detours, Southland Times, hospitalitymag.co.nz and tizwine.com.

Wine reviewer Jayson Bryant conducted exclusive video interviews with Morton Estate proprietor John Coney and Australian winemaker Jon Reynolds; both interviews are available on winevaulttv.com. 

Further coverage of Morton Estate’s Mimi will soon be seen in DrinksBiz and in special promotions in My Weddings, Let’s Travel and GetFrank.co.nz and on Easy Mix.

In June 2010, Konica Minolta and the Vodafone Warriors launched the third annual League in Libraries programme in Auckland.

The Alexander Communications team was challenged to show kids that ‘reading and writing is cool’, and to encourage them to learn that reading is a valuable life skill whether they dream of becoming a rugby league player, doctor, firefighter or dancer.

Children were invited to write a short story or poem about their favourite Vodafone Warriors player for the chance to win a reading and writing session at an Auckland library with some of the team’s players. The four selected libraries that hosted League in Libraries 2010 were Pakuranga Library, Waitakere City Library, Glenfield Library and Manurewa Library.

Konica Minolta has received an overwhelming response from Auckland schools since the programme began in 2008. From just two schools, the programme grew to 50 schools (more than 500 entries) in 2009.

Each year, Konica Minolta has the tough job of choosing eight winning schools from the many entries. Not only do the students get to meet their favourite Vodafone Warriors players, but each of the eight schools receives two Canterbury of New Zealand rugby league balls and tickets to a Vodafone Warriors home game.

In addition to the library literacy sessions, League in Libraries 2010 included a surprise school visit from Vodafone Warriors NRL Reading Captain Jerome Ropati. Dropping by Northcote Primary School, Ropati presented overall winner Finn Nicholson with a signed Vodafone Warriors shirt, and tickets to a Vodafone Warriors home game for his entire class. Finn’s winning entry was a brilliant short story about the Warriors hat-trick win against the Brisbane Broncos which included colourful descriptions like ‘fighting over the ball like lions’.

Because League in Libraries Auckland received such a great response, there is consideration for a national campaign. To get the ball rolling, some of the Vodafone Warriors took the programme to one lucky Christchurch school – Central New Brighton School. Two classes were selected to meet some of the Vodafone Warriors players and take part in a League in Libraries activity afternoon. 

Results

The local community newspapers were very supportive and super-keen on the involvement of the Vodafone Warriors. We achieved excellent coverage in the Eastern Courier, Howick and Pakuranga Times, North Shore Times, Upstart Magazine, Christchurch Mail and Pegasus Bay News.

Popular children’s television show Studio 2 Live (TVNZ) were most interested in this initiative and sent host Matt Gibb along with his television crew to capture the action at Pakuranga Library. 

The clip included interviews with Vodafone Warriors NRL Reading Captain Jerome Ropati, team mate Michael Luck and stories read by participating students from Oranga School and Sunnyhills Primary School.

TVNZ's ONE News Breakfast host Tamati Coffey with children at the Kids Cook at LynnMall kitchen

Inspired by the huge popularity of MasterChef, LynnMall Shopping Centre briefed the Alexander Communications team with a creative cooking concept to encourage kids to embrace healthy eating and learn basic cooking skills.

During the July school holidays, kids were invited to don their chef’s apron and hat and come down to the Kids Cook kitchen at LynnMall. For $5 per class, children got the chance to create a delicious and nutritious 5+ A Day approved recipe with all proceeds going to the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD).

More than 370 children participated in the cooking classes over the two-week period, creating pizza, fruit parfait, oaty pancakes and pizza kebabs in the Fisher and Paykel kitchen. Fresh produce and products were supplied by Countdown and Healtheries.

Kids Cook at LynnMall was an event for the whole family to take part in, and with the Family Cook-Off challenge, several families took up the opportunity to submit their favourite family recipe online. Team Madison and Team Hannah took out the top two spots and were challenged to a cook-off on Sunday 18 July. 

The special guest judges – Nestle Hottest Home Baker winner Toni Causley, Deputy Mayor of Waitakere City Penny Hulse, and TV personality Trudi Nelson – had a difficult time deciding between the two dishes created by Team Madison and Team Hannah. In the end, Team Madison won the overall prize for their chicken pesto wrapped in bacon, while Team Hannah received a runner-up prize.

The Saxon Twins Olivia and Hayley with a variety of pizza toppings

In addition to the funds raised from the children’s cooking classes, LynnMall Shopping Centre was proud to present an even bigger cheque to the Foundation for Youth Development, with money raised from a charity auction that took place after Family Cook-Off.

The celebrity guest visits by Sticky TV’s Sam Wallace and Auckland Blues players caught the attention and interest of shoppers who passed by the Kids Cook kitchen.   

The concept received great reviews. Kids Cook at LynnMall was an unforgettable learning experience for everyone who participated.  
 

Results

TV1’s Breakfast programme broadcast live from the Kids Cook at LynnMall kitchen on Friday 2 July 2010. The five weather segments were presented by Tamati Coffey outside LynnMall Shopping Centre and around the Fisher and Paykel kitchen. 

The community papers and children’s publications were also supportive and keen to find out what the children created. We achieved front-page coverage in Education Weekly, a feature in the Western Leader and coverage in the Titirangi Tatler.

We were also supported radio stations The Edge, Easy Mix and The Breeze also supported Kids Cook at LynnMall by giving ad-lib mentions about the programme.

There was an excellent response from online media with posts at Eduvac.co.nz, Freshinthekitchen.co.nz, whatnow.co.nz, familytimes.co.nz and on various event-listing pages – Eventfinder.co.nz, whatsonmsn.co.nz and eventsyahoo.co.nz, among others.

Auckland Blues Communications Assistant James Rigby filmed the players’ visit to LynnMall and as a result, the footage is now featured on Youtube.com, Aucklandrugby.co.nz and worldcuprugbynewzealand.com.

Business execution specialists Results.com were in the SME spotlight on 24 June, when CEO Rod Hill appeared on TVNZ’s NZI Business to discuss how the company helps businesses grow in New Zealand and overseas.

Rod spoke with Corin Dann about their success in working with business owners who are ambitious enough to seek outside help to scale their business. Something he says has happend more often since the recession. He says businesses often struggle to balance the different conflicting goals internally and a qualified team that can independently help them define a clear plan and an executable strategy for implementation has been a recipe for success for many of their clients.

Founded in New Zealand, Results.com has set up offices in Calgary and is now expanding into Los Angeles with a growing portfolio of international clients.The worldwide expansion of Results.com was a strategic goal of the founding directors, who bought the url last year in anticipation of the establishment of a global brand.

Its operation as part of a global network has assisted business growth in New Zealand by providing ready access to world class research, case studies and top shelf business speakers such as Tom Peters, Jim Collins and Jack Daly.

Results.com also hosted Jack Daly, sponsored by Telecom for his Winning Sales Strategies full day seminar on 30 July 2010.The event attracted over 430 business leaders and recieved exceptional reviews.  View images from the seminar here.

The event was held at the Ellerslie Racecourse Event Centre in Auckland ran from 8am to 5pm, with a morning session from 8am to 12:30pm on winning sales strategies, and an afternoon workshop from 1:30pm to 5pm on sales management. Auckland Mayor John Banks delivered a keynote speech to open the afternoon session.

Click here to view the full interview of Rod Hill, CEO of Results.com

Here are a few photo’s to give you a feel for the event:

Rod Hill was also interviewed by Michael Wilson for TV3 News . Click here to see what he had to say:

“While small and medium enterprises – SMEs – are experiencing some positive flow on from the economic recovery, cashflow is still a major problem. Business advisor Rod Hill of Results.com says some tax incentives might be needed to get more investment into SMEs.

Campaign Overview

International engineering consultants GHD have been making in-roads in New Zealand – both literally and figuratively. While paving the way for a brighter future in infrastructure, GHD wanted to share both great news about a new certificate qualification and an international perspective on public-private partnerships in the sector. 

By introducing a Vocational Graduate certificate course, GHD has invested in the future development and maintenance of asset management as a skilled profession. Recognizing this particular gap in the market, GHD has created both solution and opportunity that supports the industry and its budding minds.

National infrastructure strategy group manager Sara Dennis believes New Zealand’s skills shortage in this area has potential long-term implications for our economic development. To help address this, the course caters to a range of different disciplines and the syllabus takes a broad approach to infrastructure topics. Already highly successful in Australia, the certificate qualification in Physical Asset is offered in conjunction with the Chifley Business School in Melbourne and will be introduced here in September.  

GHD facilitated two major infrastructure forums in March, with key decision-makers and international stakeholders in attendance. The AC team was briefed to raise awareness of GHD’s involvement in infrastructure projects, and bring to light the topic of public-private partnerships, without compromising the confidentiality of the first forum, held privately in Wellington on 8 March and attended by New Zealand and Australian government policy-makers and key private sector representatives.

The second infrastructure event was the NZ Trade and Enterprise New Zealand-Australia Investment Forum on 10 and 11 March in Auckland. GHD was a sponsor, facilitator and presenter at the forum. 

Both AC and GHD acknowledged how important the direction, progress and impact of New Zealand’s infrastructure is on the wider public. With infrastructure announcements coming from the government in recent weeks, we agreed that topics of discussion, in particular public-private partnerships should be delivered directly to the public.

Results

The Vocational Graduate Certificate in Physical Asset Management announcement was received with great interest.

Sara Dennis appeared on TVNZ’s NZI Business with Corin Dann to discuss the opportunities and philosophy behind the course and explain its key objectives.

In addition, a full-page article was published in New Zealand Management magazine. The piece, titled ‘A Focus on Asset Management’ outlines the course disciplines and what it sets out to achieve. It positions GHD as an industry leader, highlighting the organization’s foresight and commitment to the future of infrastructure.

AC secured a second GHD television appearance in early March, this time on TV3’s ASB Business with Michael Wilson. Addressing a hot topic at the infrastructure forums in Wellington and Auckland, international economist Steve Kanowski discussed the pros and cons of public-private partnerships (PPP). 

In the same week, the National Business Review covered the issue in the article ‘Public private partnerships needed to drive infrastructure’.  The article was selected as an editor’s choice piece and was of significance to government and key stakeholders; it included quotes from Bill English, Anne Tolley and Steve Kanowski.

Along with the television interviews, the strategically-placed print articles have helped raise awareness of GHD’s investment and positioning in relation to the development and future of infrastructure. These results reaffirm GHD as an industry authority able to communicate with an independent voice on a range of industry subjects to different audiences.

Campaign Overview

Auckland-based commercial cleaning company Clean Planet redefined the meaning of green-washing when it launched as New Zealand’s first truly environmentally-friendly cleaning company in 2008.

It grew exponentially in its first 18 months of operation, from an initial three franchisees to more than 25 throughout Auckland by the end of 2009.

In this formative stage, in addition to winning contracts with clients such as Fletcher Steel, Bear Park Childcare Centres and healthcare provider Labtests, the innovative start-up also began manufacturing its own range of eco-friendly cleaning products. The products are specially formulated to meet Clean Planet’s high standards of environmental integrity, and are independently certified by Environmental Choice.

“There’s huge demand for truly environmentally friendly services, not just tokenism, and companies are paying attention to what’s going down their sink for both the health of their staff and the health of our environment,” said Clean Planet co-director Mark Houghton Brown.

AC’s main brief was to build the brand’s profile within the business community, particularly among SMEs, and to articulate the cold hard truth about what chemicals people are exposed to in the office and the impact that has on their health and that of the environment.

Results

A story titled ‘Green cleaner trades on environmental health’ featured in the NBR’s Executive Health section in December. The reporter interviewed Mark Houghton Brown and highlighted some of the health implications for office workers, such as asthma and other respiratory ailments, commenting on the alternative service provided by Clean Planet for businesses looking for a more sustainable option.

The SME-focused publication Business to Business ran a story titled ‘Green cleaning business walks the talk’, featuring Clean Planet as the lead story in their online email newsletter and on their website in November.

Clean Planet co-director Chris Morrison was interviewed for the Unlimited Lives series.   In addition, the story was picked up in trade publications NZ Retail and NZ Franchise magazine and online on scoop.co.nz, voxy.co.nz and infonews.co.nz