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Features . Archive

Best Design Awards sponsors launch design compeition

The sponsors of the Best Design Awards (GEON, MINI, The Pond, BJ Ball and ProDesign) are running a design competition because, well, they can. Design awards - design driven sponsors - design competition. It’s a perfect match!

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Parinto - New Zealand's first collaborative t-shirt design company

Similar to The Pond (proud sponsors of this year's Best Design Awards), new t-shirt company Parinto is also all about supporting the design community. The website features designs by a range of New Zealand and international artists, painters, photographers and designers. But it's more than just a place to buy t-shirts, it's a destination where you can keep up-to-date with your favourite contributors through news blogs and links to their own sites.

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Retoucher Daniel Evans ready to work his magic via The Pond

Daniel’s the first of a select group of independent retouchers we hope to add to our books (much in the same way that we’ve added niche specialists including storyboarders and animators).

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The Pond - Official Sponsors of Best Design Awards 2010

We thought what better way to support our fellow creatives than to get behind this year’s Best Design Awards. So we’ve collaborated with the team at Best and have already begun working hard to make sure this one will be a stunner.

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Master crafter Musonda Katongo returns home

You may remember him from his 3 years at Saatchi & Saatchi. Or his Four ‘N’ Twenty salad plate. Or his undying allegiance to Arsenal Football Club. In any case, senior designer Musonda Katongo is back and already doing top work for The Pond.

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Flamin’ Aussie ready to plug gap in Kiwi market

Jetsetting Australian creative Scott McClelland has joined The Pond, which is great news given the shortage of senior art directors contracting right now.

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Stacey Roper – The Pond’s link to a dying craft

As the world of DM turns more and more toward eDM it’s comforting to know you can now call on the experience of The Pond’s new senior art director, Stacey Roper, for some good old-fashioned ‘DM-in-the-hand’.

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Kiwi creativity steals top tourism award in Las Vegas

John Hancock Observatory, atop the fourth highest building in the world, has won ‘Best in Class Website’ at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions’ (IAAPA) annual awards – all thanks to a kiwi connection or two.

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Raymond McKay joins - boosting team options

Up and coming midweight art director Raymond McKay is now available via The Pond. And he couldn’t have arrived at a better time, given the void of talent contracting at this level.

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Kola Ogundipe: Have pen, will travel.

Digital creative director Kola Ogundine is now available for freelance / consultancy bookings via The Pond.

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Barney McDonald (ex-Pavement) joins The Pond

If you’ve got a story that needs telling look no further than the latest consultant creative/specialist writer to join our team, Barney McDonald.

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Tone of Voice 2.0 - The Big Conversation with Customers

Everyone’s buzzing about social media and Web 2.O. But hang on a minute - you can’t have 5,000 employees starting a conversation with customers without laying down some ground rules. Can you?

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Meet The Pond's first ever strategist - Lew Bentley

The Pond launches new strategic offering. Following huge demand from agencies, we’ve decided to add strategists to our growing list of consultancy services for you to tap into.

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Australian digital designer Alister Coyne joins The Pond

Create possibilities, not limitations says new digital designer. Senior digital designer, Alister Coyne, has arrived at The Pond with a refreshing ‘can do’ attitude that we kind of like.

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Jovial journalists wage war on mediocre marcomms.

Alliteration and titillation - just two of the weapons in penman's arsenal. Four jovial journalists have joined The Pond in a bid to banish mediocre marcomms from the view of consumers, it was reported today.

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The Pond's Idealog Article: Find Creative Independence

They have their own brand reputations. A bunch of international awards. And business brains to boot. Meet 50 creative consultants who have turned their backs on a regular paycheck to contract their services out through The Pond.

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Phil Parsonage 'Creative Genius' makes 2nd Admedia cover in 9 months

Working as a senior writer alongside CD James Blackwood at Blackwood King, Phil Parsonage's work has made the cover of Admedia for the second time in 9 months.

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From Kelly Browne to Woodstock: meet Tom Hennah

With many years at DDB and recently six more at Colenso BBDO, The Pond’s new creative copywriter, Tom Hennah, has worked for and learnt from the best. CDs Simon Winterflood, Mike O’Sullivan and Richard Maddocks have all embraced Tom’s way with words.

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Digital writers – saving the world one website at a time

We’ve introduced you to what a digital writer is and how he or she can make mincemeat of your toughest digital content problems. Now digital writer Donald Holder lifts the lid on three recent digital projects to, well, show off, really.

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The Pond launches social media and networking team

Wondering where your customers have gone? Chances are they aren’t in their living room reading the paper or watching TV; they’re out and about on Twitter, on Facebook, blogging or on their phones texting.

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dinz site launch caps year-long journey for The Pond

If creating a new website from scratch can be likened to climbing a mountain, then creating a new website for DINZ must feel more like climbing a mountain with 3000 designers on your back, waiting to point out where you’ve gone wrong.

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Pond member's 15 minutes of fame

Co-author and specialist writer, Mario McMillan's latest book caught the attention of TVNZ's breakfast show. Click here to find out more.

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Why web writers are the new rock stars

Now that everything is digital and the world is rushing to hell in a hand basket, every word counts more than ever. To give your clients the full noise, you need someone on your team who can kick the whole content thing up a notch.

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The Pond creates a clearer picture for AIPA members

Pond Director, Leighton Howl, was asked by the Advertising and Illustrative Photographers Association to help organise a panel style discussion on the current state of the photography industry in New Zealand.

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Writer 2.0: a hybrid professional for a digital age.

Writer 2.0 is here to take the struggle out of getting usable digital content from your clients, says Pond digital writer Donald Holder.

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Telecom XT project proves Pond appetite for deep websites

Last month we talked about solving your content conundrums, following the launch of our specialist writing service. Now here's proof! Read about how a Pond team of five delivered a large website that was layers deep - with a non-negotiable deadline.

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Where there's mystery there's margin: Specialisation

The recession is making communication companies re-evaluate their processes, resources and offer. They're now looking to retain clients, and increase loyalty, by widening their service offering. As a consequence, there's been a growth in demand for creatives with specialist skills. Sue Worthington talks more in-depth to Marketing Magazine about the changing marketing and advertising landscape.

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Exceed Online uses digital copywriters to make websites that sell, sell, sell

One of only 40 companies worldwide that has achieved Google Analytics certification, Exceed Online doesn’t just build websites – it specialises in ongoing strategic marketing for websites.

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Award winning writer and journalist joins The Pond

Well-known Wellington journalist Keri Welham has joined The Pond as a senior specialist writer with extensive experience in business, science and research, health, education, ethnic affairs and sport.

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BKA Interactive gets digital writers in early to achieve ‘bang-on’ results

At digital design company BKA Interactive, Senior Account Manager Leah Edwards believes in getting a digital writer engaged in most new projects from the get-go.

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Australian Creative Magazine Review

Hook, line & sinker. Only a few years old and this baby can swim. Kiwi creative collective The Pond has quickly grown in less than three years to represent more than 30 creative directors, art directors, copywriters, specialist writers, designers and digital creatives who work with agencies and design companies.

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The Pond launches unique ‘Specialist Writers’ service

Meet 15 writers who can transform a jungle of technical jargon into a garden of perfect prose, prune your word count to just the right length, and intuitively plant the correct terms to appeal to your industry.

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Quadruple Cannes Lion winner joins The Pond

What do you get when you combine award-winning ideas (4 Cannes Lions), business nouse (co-partner of Agency of the Year) and Amsterdam edge? Arjan van Woensel, CD/Art director and now Pond consultant.

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Sergio Guida joins The Pond

Max Fashion, Trelise Cooper, Bendon, Servilles, Overland, Les Mills, Mi Piaci – some of New Zealand’s top image brands bear the mark of Sergio Guida, creative director, art director and designer.

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Actually…it’s no joke

All good stories are based on a truism. A reliable source has, in fact, told us that all government briefings must now have a two-page executive summary preceding the full report.

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Winner of the Illinois Governor's Tourism Best of Show award

Congrats to Daniel Thomas (ex-kiwi Sky Tower GM) and Carey Randall for taking out Best of Show at the Illinois Governor's Tourism awards for their marketing campaign which transformed John Hancock Observatory top to bottom and upped sales significantly last year.

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Glenn Jameson helps put Generation Homes on the map

Glenn Jameson created the new TVC campaign for Tauranga based Generation Homes, late last year, which recently aired in regional centres. The ad features a dinner party, a port-a-loo and an angry possum – the rest, as they say, is ‘legend’.

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Now even more designers to choose from!

Three international designers join The Pond. In case you haven't met them they are: Vanessa-Gaye Schiff, Glenn Chapman and Stephen Richardson.

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Trades Make More

Did you know carpenters earn $100k after 3 years in the job? Neither did we until we got the brief for Unitec's latest integrated campaign for Applied Technology courses. It's a great story and one worth telling.

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Writer's Block picks up bronze at AWARD

Again, full credit to everyone who worked on this DM piece (you know... the one with the lacquered block and 12 different pens). Leighton actually went over to the event, catching up with Badger in the process. (He's all good and living in Sydney, if you're wondering.) In case you missed the results, Mojo won NZ's only Gold for Speight's Great Beer Delivery. Cool concept that.

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New Export Gold TVC long time in the brewing

The latest Export Gold TVC, created by Pond creatives Phil and Badger, launched earlier this summer and is now a regular on AdMedia's Top 10 commercials list. The guys were on contract at Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland at the time and got a look at the brief in between Telecom doodles...

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Writing for youth. What's uncouth

Lil Cameron, The Pond's youngest writer, shares her opinion on how to engage youth audiences. What better person to give you her top tips than Lil, who has 25 years experience in, well, growing up.

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An American landmark uses Pond travel writers to talk to the world

Out of the ashes of fire, Chicago built a city with amazing architecture. The dreams were big and the architects enjoyed unrivalled freedom. Perhaps the most ambitious project was to build the world’s tallest building in 1970, John Hancock Center.

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National Party win marks end of sleepless nights

The National Party's election win marked the end of an intense ad campaign led by party campaign manager Steven Joyce and Pond creative consultant Glenn Jameson. Taking a long-term view to re-building the National Party brand…

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Meet Auckland's most experienced freelancer

He's Richard Gourley, a new face to The Pond who has been out there and doing it for himself since 1995. Richard found his own brand of creative independence after quitting life as Creative Group Head of Mattingly at the age of 30…

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Headhunting in the U S of A

When we say we'll hunt high and low to find you the right creatives, we're not kidding! That's why we've sponsored the visa of native New Yorker, Amanda Gould, into New Zealand. Senior digital creatives from strong DM backgrounds...

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Guerilla specialist Hadleigh Averill joins The Pond

Guerilla specialist Hadleigh Averill – previously resident at creative hot shops BlueberryFrog and Cunning Stunts in Europe – has joined The Pond. Overseas, 'guerilla' has become much less 'scambient' and more strategically sound ambient media…

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DINZ pro bono work part of big design push

Here at The Pond we LOVE design. Which is why Leighton has put Sue's hand up to help DINZ on its re-branding journey. Right now, she's helping Grant Alexander, from Studio Alexander, to flesh out the new DINZ strategy document. Apparently, it's all about creating the right environment for New Zealanders to pursue design excellence (more on this in the months to come).

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Republikan leader moves to consulting role with The Pond

Former Republik creative director Glenn Jameson has joined The Pond. Most famous for his Budweiser 'Whassup Jersey Guys' campaign, which won 'Best of Show' at One Show, Glen is more excited about the first beer campaign to ever air during the Academy Awards (something to do with Kathy Bates wetting her pants).

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Writer's Block keeps on winning

Full credit to everyone involved in putting together the Writer's Block, which recently won Bronze at AWARD. This follows on from two medals at the BeST Design Awards: a Gold for Self-promotion and Silver in Visual Communication.

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