Controversial sails pitch the big news

By IRENE CHAPPLE

A funny thing happened on the way to a lunch this year.

The media leaped on it after being tipped off by a small article in a Sunday newspaper.

By week's end, a public brouhaha had exploded over what the diners discussed at their waterfront rendezvous.

The Tuesday lunch date was meant to be a private affair, a gathering of some influential and moneyed types who were to be cajoled into donating cash by Whybin TBWA managing director David Walden.

It was the beginnings of BlackHeart, of course, the campaign that made Walden the most ubiquitous advertising name of 2002.

Walden doesn't mind a bit of media profile, and is generally at ease with the press.

But this was very, very different.

Advertising types aren't usually grilled by the media over a product.

Agencies sit well behind the spotlight, churning out the advertising while the clients - or their public relations person - face the press.

Now Walden found himself thrust into the lion's den.

He reckons the first couple of weeks were a nightmare.

"The media can be a bloody pack of bastards at times. My so-called mate Paul Holmes gave me a real thrashing and I couldn't get a word in edgeways.

"Then Brendan Telfer leapt in and then the woman from the Herald put the boot in too ... "

But things got better. "Then, luckily, Martin Devlin said this is a bunch of ass and got on board and then Murray Deaker got in and he was great and suddenly you get balance to the story."

Which was, explains Walden again, simply that a group of people wanted to give Team New Zealand a home advantage, "poke the borax" at defectors and remind New Zealand of the financial importance of the America's Cup.

"You just have to keep fronting up to it and talking honestly about what you're doing ... eventually the story gets through."

And so now, reflecting on 2002, Walden feels a little wiser.

He has learned from the BlackHeart experience and says he can use it to be a better adman.

The extreme speed at which the brand was created astonishes Walden, particularly as it had such a small traditional-media component.

"I wonder if it isn't a bit of a signpost to how brands should behave," he muses.

BlackHeart's brand was created with just a couple of billboards, a website, some public relations and plenty of media coverage.

In hindsight, says Walden, the campaign benefited from the coverage.

Of course the idea captured the imagination far more than a campaign for baked beans could ever hope to.

But even so, says Walden, it shows the strength of underground advertising tactics and the speed at which an online community can be created.

BlackHeart was born into a media frenzy and the public relations backlash from opposing syndicates, he reckons, was astounding.

Accusations that it was a criminal organisation, for example. That story bounced around the world. Britain's Guardian newspaper commented: "Nothing has been found to substantiate the rumours but the link has been planted."

Walden recalls: "For two weeks there was a real question mark over whether we were a bunch of nutters and you have to deal with that. I think if we were of a lesser constitution we would have folded our tents and run for the hills."

Instead, BlackHeart was found to not have criminal intent, its billboards stayed, its media profile dropped and its newsletter now has up to 3000 subscribers.

Walden reckons BlackHeart could have been the fastest-growing brand in New Zealand over 2002.

"It came from nowhere, and in three months 30 per cent of people had spontaneous recognition and over 50 per cent of people had heard about it."

BlackHeart made Walden the best-known advertising name for the year, but it wasn't the only industry issue to snaffle the headlines.

The year, following on from the tightened marketing budgets of 2001, was notable for agency shakeouts.

Saatchi & Saatchi was left bleeding after high-profile brands Lion Red and Steinlager were snatched by former Saatchi high-flyers Roy Meares and Jeremy Taine, now running their own creative shop.

The campaign they created made headlines too. The brand returned to its Lion Red roots and resurrected the 1990s 'Red Blooded' anthem, which, ironically, was created by Meares and Taine when they were at Saatchis.

Meanwhile Saatchis' losses continued through the year, with major accounts ACP and Westpac's direct marketing account also leaving.

Big Saatchi names such as Kim Wicksteed and Mike Hutcheson announced their departures, leaving room for Ian Christie to be promoted to chief executive and young gun Mike Rebelo, snatched from the Vietnam office, to become Wellington boss.

The bad news didn't stop Saatchis' dominance in creative recognition. Its Women's Refuge campaign cleaned up at the AXIS Awards and its creative staffers headed an Australasian top-20 list compiled by industry magazine Campaign Brief.

Young & Rubicam had a tough year too, losing clients such as Mitsubishi, a large chunk of Woolworths because of realignment and Tower Insurance.

Managing director Ross Goldsack, formerly Wellington-based, will move permanently to Auckland in the New Year to steer the agency after the departures of chief executive Peter Scutts and creative director Gordon Clarke.

DDB also had high-profile staff movement, losing its creative director, Jeneal Rohrback, after the promotion of Paul Catmur to executive creative director.

Another agency collapsed altogether under the weight of staff instability and bad business decisions. McCarthy Moon - at one point dubbed "the little agency that could" went into receivership.

In an industry where new agencies appear frequently, the year was notable for its dearth of new ventures.

Says Walden: "This year, post-September 11, everyone became very cautious. If you are sitting in a job in an agency and you are about to jump but then you think the world is getting pretty dodgy, then why would you go and remortgage your house?"

But there was also good news through the year, notably for FCB, which took Best in Show at the inaugural Effie Awards.

The win was seen as significant in a tight economic year.

FCB then closed the year by winning the Australasian account for Cerebos, taking full circle the good news that began in January when it was voted best agency in the Asia Pacific by New York-based magazine Ad Age Global.

Lowe Worldwide also grabbed some Australian business, taking the Australasian accounts for both Burger King and Vodafone, and almost doubling its staff over the year.

WRC's Half Day Off campaign for Smirnoff vodka gathered international recognition and Colenso BBDO's innovative use of cockroaches for its Bug Clothing campaign was also a creative highlight.

Despite the US-led economic recession, New Zealand's advertising industry held up with surprising aplomb.

Figures from AC Nielsen - which do not take into account discounts given to advertisers - show the year's advertising spending will easily eclipse that of 2001.

More than $1.6 billion had been spent to October, the same amount that was spent through all of 2001.

Television has confirmed its dominance of the year, coming in with just over $1.1 billion for the year until October, compared with $985 million over the same period in 2001.

Print advertising rose $5 million to $286 million in that time.

Magazines also rose marginally to around $100 million.

Radio, which had a huge 2001, dropped $2 million to just over $118 million while cinema fell to just over $5 million.

New Zealand's third-quarter advertising spending was encouraged by the America's Cup, and that boost is likely to continue through to the New Year.

Walden reckons this year will be better again.

"We've proved we can get through the tough times, we've proved that creatively we're up there with the best in the world and we've proved we can do it better and cheaper than anyone else."

This year Team New Zealand will battle for the America's Cup, and after that there is the Rugby World Cup. Is BlackHeart likely to post billboards about that?

"You never know," Walden chuckles. "You never know your luck in the big city."