Crikey... they're even beating us at sheep herding

By IRENE CHAPPLE


It was a transtasman advertising battle, of sorts ... and the Aussies waltzed off with the honours yet again.

There was a game of touch rugby (the Aussies won - let's hope that's not a foretaste of things to come), some sheep herding (the Aussies won that too, but then they do like to sing about sheep), some beers and kiwi sauvignon blanc, then back on the plane to Sydney.

The brief visit to Auckland by the 175 Australian Saatchi & Saatchi staffers was, says Sydney general manager Mike Rebelo, a great treat after a good year.

The entire Sydney staff flew over on Emirates, a new Saatchi & Saatchi client, for a creative pow-wow, some sport and some beers.

Yesterday, as a result of the day's exertions, Auckland executive creative director Mike O'Sullivan admitted to feeling "pretty shabby", Rebelo declined all photo requests and the arrival of existing photos took hours longer than expected due to hangover forgetfulness.

The trip began at 7.30am and, for most of the advertising folk, ended at 6pm that night.

The rugby game began almost on arrival and was played on a field just 10 minutes from the airport. Then there was the sheep-herding, a buffet lunch and plenty of beer. The rugby was close, Rebelo couldn't remember the score, but said it was "just like the Bledisloe Cup". But he could have been kidding.

He said the company had gained A$60 million ($64 million) more in billings on top of an existing A$250 million.