“What's the future of content marketing?”

Three Clients, Four Campaigns, 10 Acceptances into The Work 2021.
2021 acceptances into Campaign Brief&#8217;s The Work are out, and we&#8217;re thrilled to have ten pieces of work accepted this year. Thank you to our clients at Comvita Limited, Oceania Healthcare and Hellers NZ for trusting us to create this lineup of brave, human-led (and bee-led) work.
10 acceptances also puts us in 4th= place in New Zealand. An excellent result for a local independent agency, right up there with DDB and Colenso. 
&#8220;It&#8217;s a thrill to see our independent team consistently producing work that gets noticed and over-performs for our clients, but especially in the year that was 2020. I am immensely proud of the passion and hard work that goes into every piece of work that leaves our agency,&#8221; says Anne Boothroyd, Executive Creative Director 
We know there is a strong relationship between highly creative work and highly effective work. It has been shown that ads that win creative awards are much more efficient at selling stuff*. So that makes it all the better to have four campaigns recognised this year.
The four campaigns recognised by Campaign Brief were:
<a href="https://youngshand.com/work/oceania-believe-in-better">Oceania &#8211; Believe in Better</a> | <a href="https://youngshand.com/work/oceania-believe-in-better">Comvita &#8211; A Rare Moment of Harmony</a> | <a href="https://youngshand.com/work/hellers-daily-meat-up">Hellers &#8211; The Daily Meatup</a>  | <a href="https://youngshand.com/work/international-nurses-day">Oceania &#8211; A Day in our Shoes</a> 
As always, thank you to our talented production partners at Toybox, Finch and Liquid Studios for helping us create the work.
You can see the full results <a href="https://campaignbrief.co.nz/2021/07/12/clemenger-bbdo-wellington-named-nz-agency-of-the-year-in-campaign-briefs-the-work-2021">here</a>.
*How Not to Plan &#8211; Les Binet &amp; Sarah Carter. Peter Field &#8211; &#8216;The link between creativity and effectiveness&#8217;. The research actually showed that ads that win creative awards are 11 times more efficient. Thinkbox and the IPA, June 2011

4th in Campaign Brief's The Work for New Zealand Agencies

ad:tech Auckland

Adtech: How to build brands in a digital world

Agency Innovation and SXSW

Today we announced that Anne Boothroyd has been promoted to Executive Creative Director after two years with the agency.
&#8220;This promotion is recognition of the leadership, creative vision and work that Anne has delivered since joining us two years ago. Anne has that rare creative combination of insight-driven strategic thinking and creative magic that is required to make truly effective and engaging work&#8221; says Duncan Shand, MD.
Anne joined the agency at the end of 2018, and has driven a step-change in the quality of the creative work from day one. 2019 saw YoungShand produce several campaigns that have been recognised locally and globally, elevating the profile of the agency and setting it on a strong growth trajectory.
&#8220;Not only is Anne incredibly talented, but she is also a great mentor to the creative team. Under her leadership, the team has blossomed, and this promotion is a reflection of that and her continued dedication to the work&#8221; says Emma Dalton, Client Service Director.
The promotion is an essential part of YoungShand&#8217;s move to strengthen further its place as a key player in New Zealand&#8217;s indie agency mix. A full-service agency, built on strong digital foundations, which makes them a bit of an anomaly in the market.
&#8220;When I joined the agency two years ago, I was looking for a different kind of offering to the brand agencies I had always worked with, and I saw that opportunity with YoungShand. That for me is exciting – tapping into the digital heritage of the agency, but focusing on combining brave, insight-driven brand thinking with new tech and creative innovation. I can&#8217;t wait to see what the team can deliver moving forward.&#8221; says Anne Boothroyd, ECD.   
Anne will continue to work closely with Creative Director, Scott Maddox, to lead the agency&#8217;s creative output. The promotion is effective immediately.

Anne Boothroyd moves into the newly created ECD role.

Best External Creative 2016

Best in Design 2016

Best of Young+Shand 2016

Best Reads 2016

We’re in Pride month which is something that has been increasingly on-trend for companies and brands to get behind. And we have too. Showing support is as easy as hoisting a flag or whipping up a rainbow logo at the last minute. Meaningful contribution however takes effort, education and an appetite to outgrow your current beliefs. It’s a challenge I’m up for.
I personally believe celebrating Pride Month is very important for our business and the country. Statistically 15-40% of people identify as fitting within the spectrum of the rainbow community – that’s a lot of kiwis. But if you think that the battle for gay rights has been won in Aotearoa, then I’m afraid you’d be sadly mistaken. People are still hiding their sexuality from their families, changing their personalities to try and fit ‘the norm’ and in more extreme cases being subjected to conversion therapy – the abhorrent process of reprogramming someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 
Although the government is finally fast-tracking a ban on conversion therapy, it’s still 100% legal within our fair shores. I can’t tell you what it feels like to be subjected to such an evil practice, but I did show my support along with the other 150,000+ kiwis who <a href="https://t.co/o4YPc3WhfT?amp=1">signed the petition</a>. Why? Because I’m a firm believer in social justice and equality for all. I want to live in a country where people are encouraged to embrace who they are and celebrate what makes them unique, without fear of discrimination. When it comes to engaging with the Pride Movement above all else, I want to engage from a position of respect.
As a straight, cisgender man I can never truly understand the struggle and I would never claim to. What I can do is accept that there’s a privilege in growing up in a country that’s heteronormative. That’s right; it turns out that growing up straight is actually a privilege. When I think about it, my heterosexuality has never been publicly ridiculed or a reason for abuse and physical violence towards me. A fundamental part of who I am has always been encouraged and reinforced by society and the media. Unlike the gay community, my heterosexuality has never been illegal. Sounds like privilege to me. 
So, a little bit about me – recent accepter of straight privilege. I was raised in Napier during the 70s, in a middle-class, white neighbourhood with boomer parents who had ingrained conservative beliefs. When I moved to Auckland for Uni, they pushed me towards Parnell/Remuera, as “Grey Lynn is far too colourful son”. But, when I finally joined ‘The People’s Republic of Grey Lynn’, I had found my tribe. It was a personal revolution. The diversity and sense of community was invigorating – an energy I wanted to recreate when I started my own agency many years later. 
YoungShand began around 11 years ago and grew quite rapidly. Even though I considered myself to be without any prejudices or bias, it took a couple of hard-hitting conversations with women in the team, for me to realise that we’d ended up with an unhealthily white male skew.
So what did we do? Firstly we had to address the situation and rebalance the organisation. It took a few years but we went from a 70/30 Male/Female split to our current 50/50 gender balance; with three of the four biggest roles in the business held by women. Not because they are women but because they were the strongest applicants for the roles. 
Next, we also wanted to create the right environment. We toned down the lad culture, we upped the flexibility and ability for parents to spend more time with their kids. All without losing the energy and passion for the work we do.
Pride however isn’t about gender diversity. Pride is about LGBT+ communities coming together to celebrate the hard-won freedom to be themselves. Pride is, in itself, an act of protest. It’s also about recognising the past decades of struggle and the ongoing prejudice the Rainbow Community still faces in Godzone 202.
It’s tempting to fantasise about the praise you’ll get for flying the flag in the month of February, but actually becoming a ‘Straight Ally’ without being self-serving, condescending or acting like a saviour takes layers of thought, self-reflection and growth. It’s a journey I’m really only scratching the surface of and a practice that needs to be constantly worked on (not just for a month). 
The fact is, I think we all tend to default to hiring people like us. The result of this can be a chronic lack of diversity. And this creates many problems. The bad habits get amplified with no one to hold things in check, the thinking is lazy and doesn’t consider other people&#8217;s realities, and there isn’t any challenge. There is a lack of vigour and a lack of rigour which really are a prereq for great ideas and good decisions.
Life is competitive, and ongoing business success is all about authenticity and evolution. I think RuPaul nailed it when he said “To win at life and to win in this competition, you have to be willing to die a thousand deaths and be reborn a thousand times”. Sure, we don’t all have to learn how to death drop in six-inch heels, but if you want to stay relevant you’ve got to continue to grow. 
So with that said, where does the rubber meet the rainbow road at YoungShand? 
Yes, we currently only have one openly gay person on the payroll, but maybe you can help us change that? We are currently advertising for several new roles and I wholeheartedly encourage people from the full spectrum of our community who have the skills to get in touch and <a href="https://youngshand.com/careers">apply</a>. If you’re reading this and you know any excellent LGBT+ candidates, send them our way. On top of that, we’ll be making sure that our list of interviewees includes some shining lights from the LGBT+ whānau. 
If you’re a rainbow brand, production company, artist or influencer looking to connect with the advertising community – please drop us a line. We’re keen on making new contacts that we might even one-day call friends. 
After all Mum and Dad, who wouldn’t want to live in a world that’s more colourful?

Beyond the Rainbow Bandwagon - Challenge Accepted.

Boring yarns versus quality chat

Catalyst - Hannah Jensen

March 18th marks the 15th Annual World Sleep Day. A day that recognizes the importance of sleep for our mental and physical wellbeing. Good sleep is also key in our ability to be creative, so it’s in our personal (and professional) interest to know how to lock in some good hours. 
The past two years haven&#8217;t exactly created the best environment for optimal circadian rhythm. With this huge increase in the need for better sleep, big tech companies have invested heavily in R&amp;D to tap into the growing $30 billion dollar industry. So what are the latest new tech ideas that will help counteract your late-night Netflix binge? Let&#8217;s have a look at the top ideas for 2022.
&nbsp;

The OOLER Sleep System
Ever wake up early in a sweaty mess? Well, The OOLER sleep system may have the answer. Created by ChiliSleep, this new bed cooling technology automatically prechills the bed to the user’s desired temperature using a connected mattress cover and a connected weighted blanket. The chilled mattress increases REM sleep and improves muscle recovery &#8211; just like an ice bath, only pleasant&#8230;sort of.

The Somnox 2 Sleep Robot
One of the more unusual new pieces of sleep tech to hit the market is the Somnox 2 Sleep Robot. An adaptive pillow that helps people steady and deepen their breathing rate. Here’s the idea: Cuddle the robot pillow and physically feel the calm breathing rhythm, then unconsciously adopt it allowing you to drift off to sleep faster and stay asleep for longer. The insight and technology are really interesting, but it feels like they’ve missed the mark with the execution seeing as it requires consciously doing something that may not feel comfortable for many people.

The Apollo Wearable Bracelet
Unless we find a way to decompress after a long day’s work, our stress kicks our nervous system into flight or flight mode, which sends our minds into overdrive and plays havoc with our sleeping patterns. The Apollo wearable bracelet addresses the problem by tackling the root of stress and anxiety &#8211; the nervous system. 
It works by emitting soothing vibrations directly into your nervous system through a wearable bracelet. This improves heart rate variability, resilience to stress, and ultimately improves your sleep. We’ve been tracking our biometric data through wearables for some time, but this new tech actively improves your overall health. It does have a bit of a “home detention” vibe though, so hopefully the next edition is a bit smaller. 
&nbsp;

Sunrise Sleep Monitor
This small monitor is a breakthrough device from Belgium-based biotech start-up Sunrise. The device tracks fitful sleeping and can help diagnose sleep apnea using a small sensor that fits on the chin. Previously, someone would have had to visit a sleep center, be connected to four machines, and be observed overnight. But after a few nights’ sleep using this device in your own home, the app will show the analysis and give recommendations. The perfect gift for when you need hard evidence that your partner snores.

Celebrating World Sleep Day with a look at some new sleep tech.

Challenges for 2018

Creative wrap up for 2018

Digital is the future, and it's here now

Today we announced that Emma Dalton has been promoted to General Manager after three and a half years with the agency.
YoungShand Managing Director, Duncan Shand says: &#8220;Over the past three and a half years, Emma has made a significant impact on the business and has driven the transition to fully integrated Creative, Media and Tech Agency. Emma&#8217;s magic is the combination of sound strategic thinking with an instinctive feeling for great creative. She&#8217;s focused on improving our client&#8217;s brands, and that&#8217;s what they love about her.&#8221;
Emma joined the agency at the beginning of 2018 and has challenged what the indie agency could achieve from day one. Since 2019, YoungShand has produced several campaigns that have been recognised locally and globally, elevating the agency&#8217;s profile and setting it on a strong growth trajectory.
Over the past year, we have moved into our new office on Blake Street in Ponsonby. We have brought on five new clients and welcomed ten new team members across Creative, Media, Strategy and Account Service. Emma will still be heading up the Account Service Team, but this new role will see her leading the broader agency&#8217;s day-to-day running.
Anne Boothroyd ECD says, &#8220;It has been an absolute pleasure to work in partnership with Emma to reshape YoungShand and grow it into the exciting indie agency it is today. Emma is a class act who understands what it takes to deliver great creative work that makes a real difference for our client partners.&#8221;
Emma Dalton Says: &#8220;I am incredibly proud of what we have created at YoungShand. Building such a special team that includes all of our brilliant clients has been a career highlight for me. I&#8217;m thrilled to take on this new role as GM. The future for YoungShand in 2021 and beyond is shaping up to be really exciting.&#8221;
The promotion is effective immediately.

Emma Dalton promoted into the newly created General Manager role.

Five of our 'funnest' to wrap up 2017

Five of our best to wrap up 2016

With the recent breaking news of Facebook becoming ‘Meta’, I have to admit that I rolled my eyes. Mark had been rabbiting on about this since June. Realizing I probably needed to get over my cynicism and explore this seemingly game-changing shift, I found myself pleasantly surprised –– intrigued about the future curious approach Zuckerberg is taking with his company.
The next evolution of Social Connection.
Meta, short for Metaverse, takes what was a social &amp; advertising platform and, with the help of new technology, turns it towards an immersive virtual universe for people to “physically” congregate. It’s a cross-pollination of VR &amp; AR; all you need is a pair of glasses.
Inside this digital world, you can game with your mates, have a business meeting, walk your pet lobster, shop in a rainforest; you name it. And with the endless possibilities of environment creation, the world can be quite literally your oyster. In the latest, rather fruity keynote update from our new Meta friends, Mark’s example was of him floating in a space station while playing poker with his buds before transporting to a jungle with flying Koi, all while taking calls. In its simplest terms, Meta is about creating, engaging, and collaborating in infinite worlds that feel both real and surreal. 
And if you think this sounds like an eccentric Mark Zuckerberg having a breakdown, well, it’s certainly a rather<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/25/22745381/facebook-reality-labs-10-billion-metaverse"> expensive</a> mid-life crisis, with a cool $10billion being dropped on it with promises of more to come.
Wait a minute&#8230;
Now, if this is starting to sound familiar, you’d be right. While Roblox scratched the surface of user-created environments, the core of this idea lives in sci-fi stories. <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/metaverse-creator-neal-stephenson-reacts-003241683.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHTtsteUGI94sQ594i3f2bPbuvn1nVZEa_GbbtKhim0DfHAgiElrgtNrBnfcZPEpWYioUEfNj-BMsRekr6lStJkH7safz8_T4Ol8DewQA9UnsT8YcEc7QSZbLK9OzDA7JJSSKXT8q1qEO1U7gkToYHfzGClCxbO-y21gSi1vSN9t">Snow Crash (who originally coined the term ‘Metaverse’)</a>, Gamer, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48">Ready Player One</a>, to name but a few, explore this idea of a virtual full-body experience that people log onto and live in. Cue the ad for the Oculus VR/AR onesie. 
Meta’s vision is in a similar vein. We’ve gone from the telephone that connected the world, to social media, to smaller screens. We’ve dabbled in VR, which the Gaming and Pornographic industry have best embraced. Now Meta is looking to the future, connecting people to reignite the senses once again. And while the technology still needs to be created, the bones are there. 
But is this really such a big shift? We are living a significant portion of our time online right now. Whether it’s consuming video, listening to podcasts, gaming, buying products, chatting with friends, in this context, this shift isn’t that dramatic. 
You, the ‘human’, upgraded.
For social networking and gaming, avatars and personalisation have become key components. And while currently, Zoom calls enable you to change your backgrounds, and Snap Camera has customised filters to allow you to be &#8216;your best you&#8217;, this is not just a &#8216;2D moment&#8217; behind a screen. Meta is proposing a world where you can change outfits, buy new clothes, become something else, change your hair, change your eyes, fly around the room. You could be a vibrant, slick agency person working a business pitch, all while sitting in your underpants. 
And this is not outside the realms of current reality; with companies like 8i leading the way in the capture, transformation, and streaming of holograms, the smarts are already there. And there is some fantastic technology in development which will help further enhance the &#8220;4D experience&#8221;. 
As much as the luddite in me continues to fear cryptocurrency, it will undoubtedly be a central source of value exchange. Businesses will need to rethink their economies in the real and virtual world, and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will become more important as part of this space.
So what does it mean for marketers and agencies?
Of course, none of this is readily available now, and you’re not going to see Facebook disappear just yet.  
“Our hope is that, if we all work at it, then within the next decade the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers.” &#8211; Mark Zuckerberg, Connect 2021
This ambitious mission statement means marketers and agencies alike will need to consider how their customers and themselves will be engaging with social media in the next ten years. Creativity could shift from big brand shoots to swarms of innovative dev teams reimagining your brand in a virtual space. But despite this, story-telling will remain ever-present, with imagination the only way to cut through. 
If you&#8217;re hungry to get a taste of this experience today, the closest you can come right now lies in the Gaming Industry.
“Gaming is how a lot of people are going to step into the metaverse for the first time. It already has some of the most fully built out digital goods and the most active creator and developer communities.”
Personally we all have questions on whether Facebook is the right company to be doing this. Regardless they are investing big and clearly believe in this vision of the future. So while all this pushes us forward, what can we ask ourselves now to prepare for the future?
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">People endlessly seek to be entertained &#8211; whether it&#8217;s in the real or virtual world. What is your brand doing to make someone smile, laugh or feel rewarded just by engaging with you?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The human experience can&#8217;t be forgotten. Meta realized how impersonal and anonymous Facebook has become, so is seeking to bring BACK expression, senses, and replication of being with someone in the physical world. What are you doing to add to the personal experience and connect with your customers? </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What could this future world mean for the consumer journey? If the idea of Meta is frightening you, what are you currently doing with your digital marketing journey? If your agency is still sifting around on GDN, we should talk.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Invest in creativity &#8211; New Zealand has some of the best creative talents globally, and in an ever disruptive digital &amp; virtual world, cutting through by captivating the emotions and imagination of your audience is fundamental.</li>
</ol>
If you&#8217;ve read this far you might find the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&amp;v=561535698440683">90-minute keynote Meta video</a> interesting. It&#8217;s a bit cringe-worthy with overly dramatic gesticulation, but overall, it&#8217;s a visually simplistic overview to help you understand the basics.

For META or worse? The Facebook update in a nutshell

Friday creative wrap up

Indie agency, YoungShand, has bolstered its Creative Team with the addition of Hannah Habgood as Head of Copy and Julie Spedding as Senior Art Director.
YoungShand is adding more depth to their Creative Team on the back of three years of growth as they look forward to an exciting 2021/22.
Hannah Habgood, who is returning to the industry from maternity leave, joins the team as Head of Copy. Hannah brings with her over ten year&#8217;s experience both at home and overseas. Hannah&#8217;s mission is to create impactful work worth leaving her gorgeous wee boy for – a measure of success shared by YoungShand ECD, Anne Boothroyd.
&#8220;As soon as I met Hannah, it was clear that she is passionate about creating insightful, human-centred work and has the skills to deliver it. I am excited to have Hannah on the team contributing to our creative output&#8221;, says Anne Boothroyd.
&#8220;Post-maternity leave, my priorities have become clearer. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m excited that YoungShand is where I&#8217;m heading. An interesting, diverse range of clients who do good for people and look to the future, an empathetic and fun group of talented people, plus close proximity to the Banh Mi at Fusion Cafe &#8211; what more could you ask for, really?&#8221; says Hannah.
Also joining YoungShand&#8217;s creative lineup is Julie Spedding. Jules has been working with the team for a few months in a freelance capacity and joins as a Senior Art Director, adding further depth to the indie agencies creative and craft capabilities.
&#8220;I have had the pleasure of working with Jules for a while now. She is one of those rare creatives who are not only deeply talented but knows how to make great ideas happen. I am thrilled to have Jules on the team full time&#8221;, says Anne.
&#8220;I am really excited to join the YoungShand family. It is always a pleasure working with Anne. She&#8217;s got an incredible vision to create meaningful work that has a purpose and will truly make a difference. That combined with the talent of the rest of the team, who are a brilliant bunch of people, meant it was a no-brainer for me&#8221;, says Julie.
Both roles are effective immediately, adding to YoungShand&#8217;s integrated agency mix.

Hannah Habgood and Julie Spedding join the YoungShand Creative Team.

On Monday the 9th of August, New Zealand Blood Service, with the help of agency YoungShand, took over the 1 News hour. The series of &#8216;live&#8217; films were placed strategically throughout the ad breaks, counting down to a dramatic finale as five Kiwis faced an unseen emergency. 
Since its launch, the campaign has driven much debate and over 100,000 bookings (an +11% uplift in bookings since the campaign launched and a +17% increase in bookings year on year). But the question posed to the agency is how did they pull the media off?
The new brand platform resulted from a compelling insight and audience behaviour data, brought to life by YoungShand&#8217;s strategy, creative and media teams working side by side with production and media partners to deliver the launch – a showcase on the power of integration.
Research showed that most Kiwis know about NZ Blood Service, but a range of barriers stop them from becoming a donor. However, donor behaviour also showed that all of these barriers are overcome by a National Emergency, such as the Whakaari White Island eruption or the Christchurch mosque shootings. If the need seems urgent enough, often driven by wide-scale media coverage, New Zealand Blood Service is inundated with generous offers to donate.
&#8220;Our challenge was to shine a light on the emergencies that happen every day that rarely make the news. Most of these stories are small and personal. Still, they result in a life-threatening situation, so for the people impacted, they&#8217;re an emergency&#8221;, says Marie-Claire Manson, YoungShand Senior Planner.
To communicate the urgency, YoungShand had to build moments of impact. So they took over the news hour to shine a light on just a handful of the 83 stories that don&#8217;t make the news every day. Inspired by real medical emergencies, the series of short films brought viewers into the centre of five unseen emergencies as they took place across Aotearoa in real-time, ending with the rallying cry for support – Don&#8217;t wait to save a life. Orchestrating the event took a lot of careful planning with media partners.
&#8220;The campaign required considerable collaboration across YoungShand&#8217;s integrated strategy, creative, and media teams.&#8221;, says Andrea Long, Head of Media, YoungShand.
&#8220;Those collaborative relationships extend to our incredible partners that see the big picture. Here, we invited media suppliers for a hui; brainstorming and problem-solving the messaging, timings and break fixing to ensure the story-telling worked. We ensured every partner had a bespoke creative solution, bringing the idea to life in a way that truly celebrated the media channel. Landing the perfect timing on one of Aotearoa’s biggest news nights was one of those rare tingly moments when we knew we’d done something really special.&#8221;
The agency created executions designed to disrupt in each channel to maximise the impact and communicate the scale and regularity of these unseen emergencies. On TV, that was real-time storytelling. Outdoor used compelling statistics to tap into the number of emergencies in the area. Radio utilised the unmistakable voices of the news &#8211; Mike McRoberts, Samantha Hayes, Simon Dallow and Amanda Gillies &#8211; to give the unseen emergencies the presence of breaking news. And in Social, a live countdown and short-form videos brought viewers into the centre of the unseen emergencies. Every execution is hyper-relevant to the context in which it is played.
The final challenge was exposure. As a not-for-profit crown entity that needs a constant presence in people&#8217;s minds and regular donations every week, a key element of success was a data-driven content strategy. The always-on content was carefully structured to identify and break down specific barriers to booking. And performance and sentiment analysis helped optimize the delivery of the content and drive stronger intent audiences returning to book their donation. 
&#8220;Throughout the year, as Kiwis are exposed to the campaign, they&#8217;ll start to see more donors, more recipients, and more time-specific reminders to donate blood and plasma, a testament to the creative platform that pulls each layer together. Through this approach, we hope to leave a stronger impression in people&#8217;s minds until the idea of donating is normalised. And the results we&#8217;re seeing are already really positive, including a +19% uplift in website bookings since the campaign launched and over 11,000 more app bookings than the same time last year.&#8221;, says Marie-Claire Manson.
&#8220;Our agency encourages true collaboration between all departments, and this allows us to deliver innovative approaches and better results for our clients. Our full-service agency offering is unique for an indie, and our size makes us agile and able to respond quickly, which was so important for this campaign&#8221;, says Emma Dalton, YoungShand General Manager.
With at least 30,000 more donors needed in the next year to meet the demand for blood and plasma, the campaign is asking all eligible Kiwis to show up for the unseen emergencies, as well as the highly visible ones, because 83 Kiwis need our help every single day.
&#8220;We have some challenging donor targets to meet the growing demand for blood and plasma across Aotearoa&#8221;, says Asuka Burge, NZ Blood Service National Marketing and Communications Manager.
&#8220;We needed a bold creative platform that could help us galvanise New Zealand, and the Unseen Emergencies campaign does just that. The campaign&#8217;s success to date is a testament to the collaboration across YoungShand, their external partners and with us as clients. We are incredibly proud of what we have created together.&#8221;

How a bold idea and challenging media approach has mobilised donors for New Zealand Blood Service.

How media and creative tension can drive new thinking.

How to deal with adwords trademark issues

Perspective is an interesting beast. For most Kiwis, our perspective on life has been drastically altered in the last few weeks due to COVID-19. Given our physical isolation as a nation, we are often in the fortunate situation of watching major global crises as a five-minute slot on the 6pm news. This has given us limited context when it comes to the actual impact these events can have emotionally and behaviourally for people, communities, brands and businesses.  
Now that the threat is on our doorstep, it’s an important time to first look after each other, whilst also observing how these uncertain times will continue to change the way we live, work and consume. The ability to draw lessons from these changing times and allow ourselves and our businesses to respond accordingly will help in the weeks and months ahead.
There is no doubt that today is a time of uncertainty, but it is also one of opportunity. Right now, understanding how human behaviour is shifting in relation to your brand, services or products should be at the forefront of your marketing strategy. Without this knowledge, it will become increasingly difficult to make decisions about how to respond.
So what are some of the things that are going on for people today? 
Physical, behavioural changes – The lockdown has reduced our social contact and freedom of movement down considerably, as we grapple with the shift to working from home and living almost exclusively in our local community. 
Psychological challenges – Fear, collective social anxiety and concern for loved ones are dominating our thoughts. Also, the pressure on family units is maxed out, with kids at home and the uncertainty of the current or future financial impacts of the global pandemic.
Right now is the time to be sensitive to the needs of people, first and foremost, with a focus on what your brand or business can do to help. This is a time for action, not vacuous statements (your audience knows the difference). Brands need to determine what value they can add in the current climate, while also looking to the future. 
So how do you do that? 
Focus on your business model – Looking at how you can adapt your services or products to digital formats will not only help your customers access what they need right now, but will also prepare your business for the potential change in consumer behaviour post lockdown. Level 4 restrictions have fundamentally changed how people are interacting with brands. Unable to physically go shopping, people who once were uncomfortable with exclusively shopping online may be quite happy to continue to purchase and interact online. So how can you sell, teach, and deliver your product, service or experience digitally?  
Don’t go dark &#8211; Why is going dark with your comms a bad idea? Because it is a panic response (although one that may feel natural) to these uncertain times, and if your audience is anxious, ‘keeping going’ signals a semblance of normality and control over the situation. In 1939, the British government launched the comms proposition &#8220;Keep calm and carry on”. This was intended to raise the morale of the British public, facing predicted air attacks. This wouldn’t work on many levels today (mainly due to our access to information), but the sentiment was right for the time. In the same way, you need to keep your brand’s communication going, while ensuring you get the message right for your audience and what they are facing.
It has also been shown that strong brands recover faster after a recession than weak ones. Millward Brown’s <a href="http://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz/rankings-and-reports/top-global-brands/2017/overview">Strong Brand Index</a> tracks performance against the US sharemarket. This portfolio of brands consistently outperforms the sharemarket, and during the GFC it clearly demonstrated that the brands on its index recovered faster. In fact, they recovered in 6-12 months, while it took the general sharemarket 3 to 4 years to recover the ground lost. Mark Ritson also summarised this research in his recent article for <a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/mark-ritson-marketing-spend-recession-coronavirus/">Marketing Week</a>.
<img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-1982" src="https://api.ys17.production.beingbui.lt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/brandz-global-2017_overview-chart-300x166.jpg" alt="" width="502" height="278" srcset="https://api.ys17.production.beingbui.lt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/brandz-global-2017_overview-chart-300x166.jpg 300w, https://api.ys17.production.beingbui.lt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/brandz-global-2017_overview-chart-768x424.jpg 768w, https://api.ys17.production.beingbui.lt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/brandz-global-2017_overview-chart.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px" />
Build your Community Online &#8211; Using digital platforms to build community, and give something back to your audience, addresses some of the real human issues they are facing, such as isolation. People are finding themselves with more time on their hands and are returning to social networks for information, distraction and entertainment. Think about how you can open up the channels of communication to reassure and connect with your audience, helping them to build new healthy habits, access information, adapt to the changes in their working environment or cope with having kids at home.
We have also seen brands pivot from their core products and services to help solve more immediate problems, like alcohol brands producing hand sanitiser to meet the overwhelming demand. This reassures your audience that you are there and care about what they are facing. Looking to the future, a new behavioural context will emerge out of our current challenges. If the cycle of outbreaks continues, we may be in this scenario for an extended period. Brands can become a consistent platform for escapism, creativity and self-improvement for their audience. 
So remember, now more than ever, it is essential that you listen to your audience and adapt your brand strategy in response. They still want your brand in their lives, but you need to be aware of their current and future needs. And as demonstrated by Millward Brown’s Strong Brand Index, investment in your brand right now will minimise your recovery time as New Zealand, and the world emerges from COVID-19. 
For more from the YoungShand Team, look out for the upcoming posts in our COVID-19 Series, as we delve into the new media landscape and why necessity is the mother of invention.
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Claire Backhouse has over 17 years of international strategic marketing and campaign planning experience, both client and agency side. She has worked on brands such as Red Bull, Universal Pictures, Sony PlayStation, Cadbury and Air New Zealand.

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How to navigate the new media world

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Today we announced that Ryan Sproull has joined to head up our strategy team.
&#8220;Strategy is a key role in the agency and we&#8217;ve been working on filling this role for a while. Good things take time, so we’re very excited to now have Ryan on the team. The great thing about Ryan is his blend of Brand and Customer Experience thinking. Coming from Shift and VML, he’s well suited to leading the smart integrated creative, media and digi work we do,&#8221; says Duncan Shand, MD.
“Over the last 12 months we have made a considerable investment in senior roles after bucking the trend and winning a number of new clients,” adds Duncan. “We recognised we needed more serious strategic leadership capability to guide them. Ryan joins Marie-Claire Mason who started as a Senior Strategist late last year. And together with Andrea Long (who leads the media team) we can deliver a really nice integrated strategic approach covering brand, media and digital experience.”
Ryan’s had an unusual career. After dropping out of high school, he went on to study comparative religion and philosophy at University. With some early experience in publishing, he found himself drawn into digital strategy at Shift and TBWA\Tequila.
He later spent five years with VML in Sydney and VMLY&amp;R in Auckland, including leading brand strategy for Microsoft Office, Slingshot and Ryman Healthcare; CX strategy for ASB Bank; digital strategy for Hyundai and Lion Beer Australia; gamification strategy for McDonald’s; and creative strategy for Netflix Asia-Pacific.
“I like a lot about YoungShand,” says Ryan. “As people, they’re all lovely with lots of energy and talent. As an agency, they’re already doing good work and have a range of interesting clients. The New Zealand business and non-profit focus is another plus for me, along with being independent and free to grow and improve quickly. And they’re integrated across creative, dev and media – from a strategy perspective, there’s little in the way of ensuring that all of the moving parts are working together.
“So it’s going to be about helping the team direct all the YS talent to create more effective business results for our clients. MC’s a very sharp planner, and (ECD) Anne and (head of media) Andrea are both strategic as fuck in terms of creative and media. We’ll grow the strategy team a bit across UX/CX while skilling up the broader team too. It’ll be fun.”

Ryan Sproull announced as Strategy & Experience Director as we expands the strategy team.

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The Digital Eye of the Storm

Early last year, the share market dropped about 30% in the space of four weeks. For many of those Kiwis who pay close attention to their KiwiSaver balances, this was somewhat alarming. What to do?
One friend told me about his swift and severe action – &#8220;I switched from a growth fund to a conservative fund before it went down any further!&#8221; On the face of it, that makes perfect sense, so he just kind of blinked when I told him that I&#8217;d topped up my growth fund with a voluntary payment at around the same time.
17 months later, every dollar of my top-up is now worth $1.50, while my friend locked in his losses. Not only did he miss an opportunity, but ironically his attempts to save money cost him.
It&#8217;s not difficult to imagine a similar exchange between two competing CMOs in March/April last year. &#8220;I cancelled all of my ads just in the nick of time!&#8221; says one, dusting off his hands.
&#8220;Oh, I know,&#8221; says the other CMO. &#8220;I just bought all of your TV slots.&#8221;
Covid and lockdowns have had big impacts on sales, no question. There are a few winners in streaming video, dietary supplements, Big Toilet Paper, etc., but most categories have taken a hit – notably travel, accommodation, retail and hospo.
For many, the rationale for pulling ad spend was simple – it won&#8217;t make any difference to sales, so it&#8217;s just money down the drain. Especially for businesses facing revenue slumps and even staff cuts, apparently pointless ad budgets were an obvious option to cut costs and improve profits.
But like your KiwiSaver, brand is a years-long asset built through regular investments. And like with KiwiSaver, smart marketers hold the course or even increase their investment during downturns. In April last year, Mark Ritson made this point in his column: &#8220;<a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/mark-ritson-marketing-spend-recession-coronavirus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best marketers will be upping, not cutting, their budgets</a>&#8220;.
The recently published <a href="https://www.marketingscience.info/when-brands-stop-advertising/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ehrenberg-Bass Institute study</a> of 57 instances of brands stopping mass-media spending for at least a year supports Ritson&#8217;s argument. The study examined data over 20 years, a period ending before Covid began. <a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/mark-ritson-pg-coke-dont-cut-ad-spend/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commenting recently on the study</a>, Ritson also highlighted a Covid-specific lesson comparing apples with apples: Coca-Cola and PepsiCo&#8217;s different approaches to the pandemic.
Coke dropped their advertising budgets by 35%, while PepsiCo stayed the course. The result? Coke&#8217;s loss was Pepsi&#8217;s (relative) gain, with Pepsi reporting net revenue growth of 5% while Coke&#8217;s was down 11% for the same period. So much for short-term results, but the EBI study findings suggest that the impacts will continue even if Coke revs back up to a share of voice in parity with its share of market.
Of course, the Coca-Cola brand is a monster. No one&#8217;s going to forget it just because there&#8217;s a third less advertising for a year – and no one is suggesting that anyone will. But the impacts of relative brand investment (that is, of excess share of voice) on longer-term market share are well documented. Those incremental shifts may sound small, a per cent here or there, but those are small percentages of some big numbers.
So, what&#8217;s the explanation? Why does brand-building in a downturn yield particularly good longer-term results? There are a few factors in play.
Your category competitors are more likely to cut their spend, which means your mass-media spend has a greater impact on your relative share of voice. 
Players in other categories are also more likely to cut their spend, dropping demand for media placements, which lowers the prices, meaning you get more absolute reach and frequency for your media buck. 
Larger brands tend to coast by on sheer momentum for a while before the effects of cutting advertising start to appear, leaving their managers unaware of their impending decline – and too slow to defend their mental turf in time.
Interestingly, our original analogy to KiwiSaver and the share market still holds. One of the reasons that shares drop in price (&#8220;go on sale&#8221;, as Mr Money Moustache would say) is because other people are selling them, or at least not buying them, precisely when they should buy. The whole opportunity is predicated on the assumption that most others will make the wrong move while you make the right one.
Here are a few tips for being the smug bastard 17 months later.
Pay attention to competitor share of voice. Your media agency can help with that. And if that&#8217;s a separate lot from your brand agency, get the media team to share that info with them. 
Measure your brand&#8217;s business impact on relative market share, not absolute YOY sales revenue. Category-impacting factors like pandemics and recessions are outside of your control, but your performance within that category is not. 
Evaluate today&#8217;s brand-building decisions on their projected impacts six months from now, not on tomorrow&#8217;s sales figures. Accurate predictions aren&#8217;t the point; thinking long-term is.
Hidden bonus tip: actually have a brand strategy and brand-building assets. Maybe this point should have come at the top of the list (or perhaps it should have come a few years ago). Businesses that have only sales-promotional tactics in their toolbox just aren&#8217;t prepared to take advantage of market downturns in this way.
So be prepared. Stay the course. Take advantage of competitors going quiet. And, you know, hope that none of them are reading this article.
Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@nickrbolton?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nick Bolton</a>

The Long Covid and the Short of It.

The NZ marketers guide to GDPR

This Pride Month, in collaboration with our client partners, NZAF, we didn&#8217;t just want to celebrate Pride Month but create a resource to help marketers do better by rainbow communities all year round.
As advertisers, we have a responsibility to represent and celebrate rainbow communities in ways that are right for them. And the only way to do this is for them to speak and for us to listen.
Thanks to Blaise Clotworthy (they/them) from NZAF, the Pride Series explores how we can all do better in authentic allyship through honest and open discussions &#8211; as marketers and everyday Kiwis. Explore the series below, with new videos posted every week.
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The Pride Series in collaboration with NZAF - Exploring how we can all do better in authentic allyship with the Rainbow communities.

The role of a branding agency in the post-advertising age.

For the past few weeks, the nation has been tuning in daily to discover the latest updates on COVID-19. The global ones make for uncomfortable viewing, but our local statistics have thankfully started to follow a much more encouraging trajectory, as a result of our enormous efforts to stay at home in our bubbles. Well done, New Zealand.
But this achievement has come at a cost (albeit a more acceptable one than the loss of more life), due to the unprecedented impact the lockdown has had on businesses and the broader economy, the effects of which will likely last for years, not months or quarters. So as we prepare to enter Level 3, there are trends and changes that we need to accept and adapt to quickly if we want to ensure the survival of our brands and businesses, and hopefully see growth in the months to come.
Something that has seen an immediate impact is the media we’re consuming. To help, we have had a close look at what is happening (coupled with our collective experience from the GFC) and have put together a media cheat sheet to help you ensure your media spend is working through a period where not much is.
Recently we shared some learnings from the GFC in our article, <a style="display: inline;" href="https://youngshand.com/articles/marketing-in-a-recession">‘What we learnt from the GFC and how to apply it in times of uncertainty.’</a> This article laid out several core principles that we believe should help govern your approach right now:
<ul style="margin-top: 30px!important; padding-left: 3%!important;">
<li>Focus</li>
<li>Innovate and challenge everything</li>
<li>Don’t forget to focus on your brand</li>
<li>Deliver performance</li>
</ul>

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">With these things in mind, what does the new media landscape look like?</h6>
Well, we’re all at home, so of course, we see changes in the areas you would expect, but there are a few surprises:
<ul style="margin-top: 30px!important; padding-left: 3%!important;">
<li>Internet consumption is going through the roof. Luckily, as a nation, we have a strong broadband and fibre network, delivering unlimited internet data in a lot of cases. And our network was recently upgraded for the Rugby World Cup, so despite the increase in consumption, we’re not having the Netflix issues that Europe is experiencing.</li>
<li>We’re using all that internet for making, listening and watching. Around 20% of Gen Z and Millennials are creating and sharing videos. 40 to 60% are streaming more music, and everyone is watching more old fashioned broadcast TV.</li>
<li>The news has made a comeback. Unsurprisingly, our consumption of news has increased. This has led to a resurgence in the use of social media platforms – Facebook in particular. The rise of the ‘Power News Consumers’ and ‘Power News Discussers’ is driving how media is being spread. Across the board, all generations are reading the news 30 to 40% more often.</li>
<li>Mobile consumption is on the move, even if we aren’t. Even while people are unable to leave their homes, mobile is the device of choice, with usage up 75%. But we are spending more time on other devices as well – 40% more on laptops and 33% more on desktops – most likely down to our move to ‘working from home’. Surprisingly, even in lockdown, being mobile-first is more crucial than ever.</li>
<li>Search volumes are up. We are seeking information, solutions and distraction at a much higher rate than normal. A review of the top search terms shows that there is a focus on the necessities &#8211; the top three ‘shopping category’ search terms were for thermometers and freezers. (Source: <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&amp;objectid=12319433">Search volume</a>)</li>
</ul>

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">The NZ Media Landscape</h6>
The changes to the local traditional media landscape have been mixed:
<ul style="margin-top: 30px!important; padding-left: 3%!important;">
<li>Newspapers and TV are enjoying substantial audience gains; however, there have been some declines in advertiser support.</li>
<li>Overall, the TV audience has grown by 6-10%.</li>
<li>News has grown by 20%, with strong growth of 36% in Auckland for One News at 6pm.</li>
<li>OOH (out of home) is struggling. With the lockdown in force, people aren’t in cars or on public transport, so billboards and bus shelters are not getting the eyeballs. This will slowly correct itself as our freedom of movement returns.</li>
</ul>

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">So what are the new rules you need to know?</h6>
A lot of the lessons aren’t new, but are perhaps more critical to get right than they were in a pre-COVID world:
<ul style="margin-top: 30px!important; padding-left: 3%!important;">
<li>Understand your audience</li>
<li>Think broad and always on</li>
<li>Drive brand salience</li>
</ul>
These core marketing principles haven’t shifted, but where your audience is has. Once you understand that shift, it is critical that you can effectively measure how your media is performing. It has been proven time and time again that investments in your brand will drive results over the long term. Still, it’s essential to be able to demonstrate the value to key stakeholders and departments within your business now.
<ol style="margin-top: 30px!important; padding-left: 3%!important;">
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Measure Performance &#8211; Ensure you have a robust measurement process that translates media performance into business performance. This shouldn’t just rely on reported clicks or tarps; you need to show how your media spend is driving meaningful performance. Tracking conversions, brand metrics, and the business impact will help you demonstrate how your media is working today.</li>
<li>Return to Community – There is an opportunity to do meaningful social communications right now. The audience is engaged and looking to be entertained and informed, but you need to read the room. If you get your message right and promote it to the right audience, a focus on social could pay off right now.</li>
<li>Digital Presence First – At a minimum, we would recommend maintaining your investment across digital. Make sure this is spread across awareness and consideration layers, and don’t just focus on search. Driving brand through video channels (OnDemand, YouTube, Facebook), supporting this with display, and being there when people are searching, is vital.</li>
<li>Focus Around the News &#8211; If it’s right for your brand, we know people are consuming more news, so look to target your audiences around this content in a meaningful way.</li>
<li>Don’t Forget Traditional Channels &#8211; There are opportunities to get some excellent value media buys right now, so look for the ones that are right for your brand and make the most of the opportunity.</li>
<li>Brand Safety &#8211; During this time of heightened public anxiety and social change, you need to get your messaging right. You can read more about these changes here – <a style="display: inline;" href="https://youngshand.com/articles/guide-brand-emotional-behavioural-impacts-covid-19-today-future">‘How to guide your brand through the emotional and behavioural impacts of COVID-19, today and into the future.’</a></li>
</ol>
As detailed in the article above, now more than ever, it is essential to listen to your audience and adapt your strategy, your messaging and your media mix in response. Operating strategically, and being smart about how you plan your media to drive both brand and business results has never been more critical than it is right now.
For more from the YoungShand Team, look out for the upcoming posts in our Future-Curious Series. Next up – ‘Why necessity is the mother of invention’.
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Chris Kalkandis studied Communication Theory and Psychology at Western Sydney University and has worked in the media advertising industry for over ten years. Previous to Chris leading the Media Team at YoungShand, he held specialist lead roles at OMG, Publicis &amp; Dentsu Aegis.

The surprising ways that staying home is reshaping the media landscape

There are some undeniable challenges that brands and businesses have faced in 2020, thanks to COVID-19. But before it became a global pandemic impacting most of the world, we kicked off The Marketing Challenges Project. The project aimed to understand better the significant issues that marketing teams are facing in 2020. So over the first quarter of the year, we sat down with 21 senior marketing executives (both clients and non-clients of YS) to get an idea of what was going on from their point of view.
The goal was to reset and zero in on the challenges in front of us at the beginning of this new decade &#8211; new opportunities, new hope and exciting new projects. Well, it didn’t entirely turn out like that. Instead, we’ve got the new COVID-19 world – a locked-down, disrupted and alternate reality – but change does bring with it new opportunities as well.
The project also got disrupted for a while, as we reconfigured YS to a remote agency. However, as we neared the end of Level 4, we dusted off the interviews and went back to clarify a few things in light of what we were all facing. The result is a view of the key marketing challenges that lie ahead, from those living them every day.

<h4 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">Summary</h4>
We interviewed 21 senior marketing professionals across different sectors. Overall, we covered finance, food &amp; beverages, supplements, fashion, retail, services, fitness, auto, utilities, manufacturing, and education. Each contributor was asked to detail their three most significant challenges. We have then used this first-hand intel to pull out the consistent themes. This has then enabled us to develop the overview of challenges that we have below.

Overall, it’s clear that we’re all needing to find our way through this new world. However, we were already in the midst of a period of uncertainty. As a result, the biggest challenges noted focussed on how to deal with change and how to respond strategically (both before and during COVID-19). Following that, the next challenges centred around implementation &#8211; ‘how do I develop my digital and online capabilities and strengthen my brand.

<h4 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">The Big Challenges</h4>
<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">1.  Change and Innovation</h6>
One of the most significant themes to come out of the conversations was the need to better manage change. There was a recognition, even pre-COVID-19, that we are moving into a period where culture and technology are rapidly changing business and how we connect with customers.
There was a desire for more innovation, to be agile, faster and not bound by process. On the other hand, there was an acknowledgement that we haven’t embraced some of the new tech and tools that have promised so much, but haven’t delivered the step change we expected.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">02.  Strategy</h6>
There is a clear desire for change. But there is also the challenge of how to create clarity around the strategy to move forward. This was combined with a desire to understand customers better, to change business models to adjust to new market realities (very top of mind now) and to develop better value to avoid category-wide discounting.
Also noted by a quarter of the participants, was that they were attempting to do too much. They discussed needing to focus more on what was important, to move the dial. However, a lack of clear agreed strategic thinking was holding them back.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">03. Digital and Tech</h6>
There were three key themes within this category. Overall, nearly two thirds (62%) of the participants listed at least one of these challenges.
<ul style="margin-top: 28px;">
<li>There was an overall acknowledgement that marketers need to improve their digital capabilities. While we have seen a significant improvement over the last five years, there is a realisation that this is about constantly upskilling to meet the demands of new tech.</li>
<li>A need to improve the customer experience, and COVID-19 has only made this more important.</li>
<li>Challenges around how to use data to develop more personalised experiences that result in strong loyalty and drive better acquisition and retention programmes.</li>
</ul>

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">04.  Brand</h6>
40% of the participants identified a brand issue. They ranged from long term erosion from years of under-investment, to developing a robust, distinctive brand in the top ten global brands for their category. There was a real desire to prioritise brand issues, as the group recognised just how critical a strong brand was for the long term health of the business.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">05.  Capability</h6>
Although only specifically mentioned by three people, this came up as a theme throughout many of the conversations. While some people were talking about specific marketing skills, there was also an underlying need for more capability around commercial and strategic marketing. Several participants recognised that their team needed better skills to handle conversations around return on investment and performance, to credibly help others in the business understand the long term investment benefits, while delivering on short term objectives.

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After analysing the results, the overarching key message from the interviews is that marketers have a real desire to get stuck in, create change, innovate and make a difference. However, perhaps that needs to be tempered by slowing down and deciding what is strategically essential first. We need to ensure our plans support the broader business goals and address underlying issues that are holding the brand back. If we can do that, then we might also address the busyness that creeps in while we’re not paying attention.
Slowing down and focusing on the strategic priorities may also help build credibility and get the CFO on side, creating the space to establish long term digital and brand projects that will deliver real value.

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Duncan is the Managing Director at YoungShand. Before starting YoungShand, Duncan worked client-side in finance and marketing roles across technology, telco, travel and biotech businesses.

The YoungShand Marketing Challenges Project

Upping the digital-ante for an unpredictable world

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There was a quote floating around after lockdown that asked: “Who was finally responsible for kickstarting the company’s digital transformation – the CEO, CMO, CIO or COVID-19?”. The latter has undoubtedly played a part in forcing the hand of many companies to implement a digitally-focused customer experience.
The companies that had already laid some foundations, or adapted quickly, benefitted in the changing and challenging environment of 2020. They had a clear advantage that helped them navigate Lockdown, and those same companies continue to benefit today, as people become used to and even enjoy the benefits of working and shopping from home. 
Covid highlighted the importance of having a strong digital capability, this was a lifesaver for many marketing teams. Embracing future-thinking has never been more relevant than it is today. So, how do you develop a digital strategy for this ever-changing new world? Here are four things you should be considering right now:

<h6>01.  How do you connect with people in a way that feels intuitive online?</h6>
Consider how you want your communication to be received. For example, think about <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/03/26/jacinda-ardern-facebook-live-lon-orig-tp.cnn">Jacinda&#8217;s Instagram live stories</a> – she knew that when people were escaping to Instagram, they were still bombarded with overwhelming news articles. So she decided to cut through the corona news clutter to comfort people. Another example is Les Mills, which had to close their doors entirely and embrace their digital channels to continue to be connected to their fitness-loving members. How? By offering their members free online subscriptions to Les Mills OnDemand (a platform they had already spent time developing) and using Instagram live to host daily classes. A strategy that they were able to implement again during Auckland&#8217;s Lockdown 2.0.
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<h6>02.  How do you help people make decisions?</h6>
With less money and more job uncertainty, the pandemic not only changed consumers’ buying methods but also caused them to challenge their purchasing behaviours. In response, we saw companies like Harrisons offering three years interest-free. They knew people had lots of time to work on their house but not the same cash certainty, so they provided a solution. If you look at the hospitality sector, local coffee shops quickly began offering text-to-order services and posting daily updates on their social channels of the food they had available. A simple way to ensure they maintained some ongoing custom. Going digital for many businesses was simply about understanding the new barriers customers are facing and helping them get over those hurdles – genuinely and authentically.
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<h6>03.  Consider the whole purchase journey, and how you can use automation to keep customers informed.</h6>
As Mark Twain said, “Write what you know,” the same could be said when it comes to creating a digital consumer experience. Think about the last time you bought something online and how many tracking updates you got before your package landed on your front door. Making sure your customers are informed will reduce any online shopping anxiety they may have. A great example of digital-transparency is from Sharesies, who send you an email every time an investment goes through. That way, you always feel informed about where your money is and in turn, it ensures first-time investors that their money is safe.
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<h6>04.  Tracking the impact effectively</h6>
One of the key benefits of digital is that you can track and measure results at speed – the trap is not knowing which measures to focus on. Consider what each metric is telling you so that you can diagnose symptoms and success accordingly. For example, if sales aren&#8217;t firing, it&#8217;s best to start with the foundations by doing a media measures check-up. Are you hitting reach goals? If so, move on to a content check-up. Are people engaging with your message? If so, perhaps look at a brand measure, and so on.
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Critically, before you commit to your digital journey, take a step back and think about who you&#8217;re trying to help and what you want to achieve. Once you know what makes your consumers tick, you can develop a plan that will ensure they engage and interact with your business and digital experience in a meaningful way.
The key watch out here is thinking that humans are &#8216;rational beings.&#8217; Therefore, when we want to buy a car, we&#8217;re going to do a lot of research, compare specs and come to a logical conclusion. That is not how it usually works. Your consumers are undoubtedly time-poor and are more likely to unconsciously act (and purchase) on gut instincts and deep-seated beliefs. To develop a brand and digital experience that interrupts this inbuilt behaviour, first, you need to embrace your curiosity and get under the skin of your consumers, developing a deep understanding of what is important to them.
To help you develop a digitally-focused customer experience that will prepare your business for a changing world, we have developed a downloadable guide to help you kick start your company&#8217;s digital transformation.
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Download the Digital Transformation Guide here

The YS Digital Transformation Guide

In recent years, we&#8217;ve endured many high-profile emergencies as a nation, from the Christchurch Mosque attacks to the more recent Whakaari White Island eruption. With up-to-the-minute updates across local and international news platforms, these emergencies galvanise us to take action.
In the face of tragedy, Kiwis are overwhelmingly responsive, inundating the NZ Blood Service with offers to donate blood or plasma. But, the reality is 83 New Zealanders per day will experience an unseen emergency and need lifesaving donations. A trip to the dentist, pregnancy and giving birth, or a nosebleed can all end in a life-threatening emergency.
&#8220;New Zealanders are amazing at coming together during a national crisis,&#8221; says Asuka Burge, National Marketing and Communications Manager, NZ Blood Service. 
&#8220;During times like Whakaari White Island or the Christchurch Mosque attacks, we&#8217;re always amazed by the offers to donate blood or plasma. But the reality is, we need people to commit to ongoing, regular donations to meet demands.&#8221;
The new brand campaign &#8211; Unseen Emergencies &#8211; focuses on life-threatening scenarios faced by Kiwis, each story inspired by a real medical emergency. Launching during the most-watched hour of television – One News at 6pm – the series of short films bring viewers into the centre of five unseen emergencies as they take place across Aotearoa, ending with the rallying cry for support – Don&#8217;t wait to save a life.
At some point in their lifetime, every New Zealander may need blood or plasma, but less than 4% of eligible Kiwi adults actively donate. Research has shown that we understand the need, but the evidence shows that it has to feel closer to home. To turn apathy into action, the new campaign aims to shine a light on unseen emergencies, inspiring New Zealanders to donate regardless of whether an emergency makes the news.
&#8220;Through the use of real unseen emergencies, we want to reiterate the importance of donors committing to ongoing, regular donations, not just when a story hits the news,” says Anne Boothroyd, ECD, YoungShand.
“Because when we face our own unseen emergency, we&#8217;re relying on the generosity of someone else to save our life – it could happen to any of us.”
With at least 30,000 more donors needed in the next year to meet the demand for blood and plasma, the campaign is asking all eligible Kiwis to show up for the unseen emergencies, as well as the highly visible ones, because 83 Kiwis need our help every single day.
&#8220;Our long-standing partners, NZ Blood Service, helped us to unearth the data and real stories that inspired the campaign. Delivered through our integrated Strategy, Creative, Media and Tech teams, the news takeover is supported by a mix of outdoor, digital, social, radio and ongoing TV. The whole project was made possible with the help of production partners, Film Construction and Radiate&#8221;, says Emma Dalton, GM, YoungShand.
Experience the full campaign <a href="https://youngshand.com/work/nzblood-unseen-emergencies">here</a>.
To book an appointment to donate download the app, visit <a href="http://www.nzblood.co.nz">nzblood.co.nz</a> or call 0800 448 325 (0800 GIVE BLOOD).

Unseen Emergencies focus of new campaign for NZ Blood Service

Using Artificial Intelligence to do what you do, smarter

What does great website design look like today?

There’s been quite a lot of noise lately about Facebook and whether you should continue to invest your media there. It’s a tough question as Facebook has delivered great results for businesses for almost a decade. To help you make a decision about what’s right for you, we’ve compiled what we know and our thoughts below.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">Background</h6>
The Facebook boycott appears to be driven by Civil rights groups within America to encourage marketers to Stop Hate Speech for Profit. A lot of these issues stem back to the refusal from Facebook to fact-check posts by US president Donald Trump, who has frequently been accused of using the platform to incite division and violence.
This sensitive situation generally relates to US based businesses, with larger brands including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Ford, Adidas and Starbucks taking a stance. Obviously after the Christchurch Mosque shootings a number of local brands stopped advertising on Facebook for a period. But since then Stuff is the first NZ based news publication to trial a position of boycott &#8211; no other NZ based brand has joined them just yet.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">Impact</h6>
In the US the #stophateforprofit movement is significant with more than 750 companies participating, which represents $250 million dollars worth of advertising. This includes Adidas, Coca Cola, Ford, Walgreens, and Best Buys amongst others. As a result Facebook stock is down more than 8%.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 -20px;">What is Facebook doing?</h6>
<ul>
<li>Facebook is attaching labels on politicians posts to warn viewers.</li>
<li>They are taking down any posts that incite violence or suppressed voting rights.</li>
<li>They assessed more hate speech reports in 24 hours than both YouTube and Twitter combined.</li>
<li>Facebook has banned 250 white supremacist organisations from Facebook/Instagram and will continue to do so.</li>
</ul>

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">Stuff’s decision locally</h6>
There’s no doubt the decision to cease all activity on Facebook-owned networks, pages and groups will almost inevitably cause a decline in Stuff’s website traffic. While the exact proportion of the site’s traffic that comes from Facebook-owned platforms is unknown, according to a report from SimilarWeb, 10% of Stuff’s traffic comes from social platforms. However, Stuff sells traditional and digital advertising and will no doubt hope the decision will encourage other NZ companies away from advertising on US/Social platforms and move more spend to local media publishers, which will be positive for them.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">Big or small?</h6>
One important thing to note is that a lot of the brands that are boycotting Facebook are big brands. It&#8217;s a much easier decision for them. They are not under the same day to day pressure as smaller brands. They have other easy media options &#8211; they can just increase their TV, Outdoor, Radio budgets or simply move their social spend into other online channels.
For small businesses, often their media channels are just email, Google, or Facebook. So stopping one of these key channels and one that has also delivered good results, is a much tougher call for small businesses. On top of that the pressure to drive results is much more immediate so any change presents more of a business risk.

<h6 style="margin: 84px 0 28px;">So, what should we do?</h6>
Ultimately, the decision to join the Facebook Group Ad Boycott should come down to your own brand’s political stance. Or you could simply choose to forget the political decision and instead choose to support local publishers as an alternative media strategy.
Then, the decision will come down to whether other options will work as well as Facebook for your business. To answer that you really need to look hard at the audience you want to attract, and make a new media plan to shift your spend to places that target them. You may need to change your creative formats for new different channels. There will be alternatives, but it will be a little harder to manage and probably cost a little more.
Will they work as well though? Honestly it’s hard to know, but a well designed experimental or test campaign should help you understand the impact better.
Lastly you can always choose to do nothing and just keep running Facebook ads and make your decisions based on performance. If you do this and you start to see a decline in social engagement metrics due to a general boycott of the platform, then you will need to do something!

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Chris studied Communication Theory and Psychology at Western Sydney University and has worked in the media advertising industry for over ten years. Previous to Chris leading the Media Team at YoungShand, he held specialist lead roles at OMG, Publicis &amp; Dentsu Aegis.

What does the Facebook boycott mean for your business?

What the success of Pokémon Go means for digital marketing.

The news headlines are full of updates on Covid-19, and quite rightly so, as we focus on how best to deal with the human impacts of the virus. And while China appears to be making some headway, new international hotspots are causing uncertainty. This, understandably, is having an impact on businesses and the broader economy, which is now forecast to continue for the remainder of 2020. While our collective focus should remain on the immediate challenges in front of us, Kiwi companies have an essential role to play in keeping our economy improving.
For businesses, that means a clear focus on the health and well-being of their employees first and foremost, while also looking at how they can act proactively and apply some of the lessons learnt during the GFC, to help navigate a way forward in today’s uncertain times. 
The research and learnings from the GFC, more than a decade ago, coupled with the ensuing recession, show that many of the businesses who cut back on their marketing spend ultimately suffered over the long term. So what may have felt like a natural reaction to a financial crisis actually compounded the negative impacts in the long run.
This is something that Samuel Scotts, a columnist at the Drum who writes about integrated traditional and digital marketing details in his article, <a href="https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2019/01/21/if-there-s-recession-2019-here-s-what-marketers-should-do">Marketing in a recession</a>. Scotts lays out all the research, and the message is clear – “Marketing encompasses everything that brings money into a business. Everything else is essentially finance or operations”. 
In contrast, the companies that grew during the recession increased their investments in advertising, R&amp;D and new products. They also held pricing relative to their competition and reduced administration, fixed costs and working capital. Essentially, continuing to invest in growth while reducing other business costs where possible. 
So on a practical level, how do you apply these lessons to your company to create an advantage in the weeks and months ahead, given the situation many companies currently find themselves in? This is essential under the prevailing pressure to cut back spending, with marketing often one of the first budgets to be considered. 
Here are some things to consider:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Focus &#8211; I&#8217;ve spent the last month interviewing Marketing Directors around the country to help uncover the big things they&#8217;re worried about right now. One of the key themes from these interviews was &#8216;focus&#8217;. They mentioned being too stretched to achieve everything that was being asked of them. This is an important moment to step back and refocus on the key things that will drive brand affinity and therefore, sales and business growth. Getting the right mix between long-term strategic thinking and targeted short term tactics is critical for ongoing brand health.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Innovate and challenge everything &#8211; Today is the perfect opportunity to look at everything with fresh eyes. Think about your customer experience and what you should reconsider, and potentially alter, to make sure it’s best in class. Now could be a great time to develop new approaches, products and services or experiences that will bring in new customers and grow loyalty with your existing audiences.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Don’t forget to focus on your brand – Is it positioned correctly in the market? Is your brand well defined? Are you telling a compelling story? Experience (and all the best case studies around the world) tells us that you’ll be rewarded for producing relevant, engaging ideas (and content) that drive brand affinity. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Ensure you’re delivering performance – Ensure you have a robust framework in place that can clearly demonstrate that you’re driving optimal value from your marketing spend. We know the importance of brand building and the damage that can be done when you stop, but it’s important to be able to demonstrate it’s value to other key stakeholders and departments within your business.</li>
</ol>
The 2009 GFC may feel like a distant memory, but it shouldn’t. If we can draw on the research from that uncertain time, it’ll help us navigate a way forward in the current environment, which is starting to feel like a similar moment of societal and economic upheaval. These learnings can help us deliver both brand health and support for the broader New Zealand economy at large.
This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120119892/what-the-global-financial-crisis-taught-business-about-surviving-the-coronavirus">Stuff</a>

What we learnt from the GFC and how to apply it in times of uncertainty

When is a Facebook post not a Facebook post? (When it’s a 360° video, microsite or live video stream)

You will have heard the phrase coined by Greek Philosopher Plato &#8211; &#8216;Necessity is the mother of invention&#8217;. Or in other words, when the need for something becomes essential, we are forced to find ways of achieving it.
As history shows, rapid change and advancement are almost always linked to a catalyst of necessity, be that a World War or the global financial crisis. So, as Covid-19 has swept across the world and forced us to retreat to the safety of our bubbles, the necessity for rapid change has risen again.
It is during these global events, that rock our economy and our patterns of life, that new tech innovations are adopted en masse. This rise in communal necessity also invariably drives a wave of increased funding from governments and investors, enabling these innovations to be brought to market at an accelerated pace. Most recently, the global recessions of 2001 and 2008 saw technical disruption across multiple sectors, including entertainment, transport, travelling, and banking.
The innovations we will see due to Covid-19 will be different, yet will follow the same rules. And while innovation takes many forms – from a product that leads to market disruption, rapid execution of a service, business model innovation or changes to our ways of working &#8211; necessity will be the driving force behind the success of this new wave of innovation.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">But how new are they really?</h6>
Our experience leading digital projects over the past ten years has shown time and time again that great tech solutions take years, or if you&#8217;re lucky, many months, to create and launch. What we know is that the significant innovations of recent times were already in the pipeline when the urgent need arose. And it was the necessity for them that made their adoption relevant and unquestionable.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">So what should you be doing right now to respond to the current crisis?</h6>
According to Mosas Ma – the co-author of Agile Innovation and partner at FutureLab Consulting &amp; Ventures – the most relevant type of innovation right now &#8220;may not be the perfect idea, but rapidly executed, it&#8217;s the one that saves your bacon&#8230;emergency innovation.&#8221; 
&#8216;Emergency Innovation&#8217; is the quick adoption of solutions that allow your business to respond, or in the case of Covid-19, continue to operate in a time of significant change. For this, you need to look to existing or emerging digital solutions, which offer the opportunity to rapidly overhaul your service offering and open up new avenues of communication. We&#8217;ve already seen that businesses built digital-first, or those traditional businesses who have invested in digital adoption, have been more rapidly able to respond to the unprecedented changes created by Covid-19.
You can read more about the changes in consumer behaviour here &#8211; ‘<a style="display: inline;" href="https://youngshand.com/articles/guide-brand-emotional-behavioural-impacts-covid-19-today-future" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guiding your brand through the emotional and behavioural impacts of COVID-19</a>’.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">Opportunities and trends that are emerging from Covid-19:</h6>
Below are just a few of the trends that are emerging as we adjust to a new way of living. It’s important to consider if any of your services or products align with these themes, or if they could. 
<ul>
<li>Greater access to APIs (data made publicly available) for tech projects that can be used for social good.</li>
<li>The rapid shift to working for home and the adoption of new technologies that allow for better remote communication between colleagues and clients.</li>
<li>A rise in online shopping, contactless delivery, and click and collect.</li>
<li>The adoption of digital consults across health care to reduce the person to person contact and ultimately improve service delivery.</li>
<li>The revival of social media for the dissemination of information and social connection, reversing the downward trend of these platforms.</li>
<li>The evolution of entertainment and events as restrictions on large gatherings impact our access to live events, festivals and conferences.</li>
<li>With global economies at a standstill, the opportunity to rebuild with a focus on the future health and sustainability of our planet.</li>
<li>A resurgence in support for local brands and products, and the need to diversify supply chains away from China to avoid future disruption.</li>
</ul>

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">Here are some of the tech innovations that have piqued our interest so far:</h6>
<ul style="margin-top: 30px!important; padding-left: 3%!important;">
<li>Quick access to public APIs has helped developers build websites that show everything from peak times at supermarkets, to clusters of Covid-19 cases. This data is helping us all navigate these unusual times with a little more confidence.</li>
<li>South Korea drove rapid testing of over 200,000 of its citizens. They then used smartphones to tag the movement of the infected, alerting the non-infected of those movements via real-time updates. Admittedly, there are some privacy concerns with this one.</li>
<li>Voice assistants, Siri and Alexa, have been updated to provide symptom-based guidance. Now, when users ask Siri a question like &#8220;How do I know whether I have Coronavirus?&#8221;, Siri initiates a new conversation tree to determine the user&#8217;s current symptoms.</li>
<li>CNN reported that medical teams utilised robots to care for the first person diagnosed with the virus in the US. The robot was used to take vitals and communicate with the medical team outside of the isolation area. This prevented the virus from being transmitted to the medical staff.</li>
<li>And closer to home, Kiwi company <a href="https://shop.servicefoodshome.co.nz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Service Foods</a>, have pivoted their business to respond to our changing needs as a nation. For 35 years they have provided wholesale produce to our restaurants, hotels and caterers, but with most of these businesses closed their new initiative, Service Foods Home, is set to deliver restaurant-quality ingredients at wholesale prices to our doors.</li>
</ul>

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">So what can you do now to ensure your business is ready for future waves of innovation?</h6>
<ul>
<li>Look to previous global events, analyse the impacts and review case studies from companies who innovated well during that time.</li>
<li>Set aside a budget for R&amp;D. Staying ready means you never have to get ready.</li>
<li>Ensure you have a multi-faceted team – &#8220;In times of innovation, product people must lead&#8221; – Nick Law, SXSW 2019. Use this team to develop a customer experience map to identify the gaps, what’s needed and the opportunities.</li>
<li>To start, think about creating easy to churn out &#8216;bread and butter&#8217; products or service lines to secure your bottom line, and then innovate around them.</li>
<li>Fail fast. Focus on the minimum viable product (MVP) and launch to market quickly. Be prepared to fail, listen, modify and try again.</li>
<li>Launch online. It&#8217;s cost-effective, and you can utilise existing technology where millions have already been spent to refine the platform and experience &#8211; i.e. Shopify stores, Snapchat and Instagram M-Commerce.</li>
<li>Build a culture of curiosity across all levels of your business. You can read more about the importance of it here – &#8216;<a style="display: none;" href="https://youngshand.com/articles/curiosity-antidote-todays-uncertain-times" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why curiosity is the antidote to today&#8217;s uncertain times</a>&#8216;.</li>
<li>Look for public and private funding opportunities, because when the money moves, inevitably everything else does too.</li>
</ul>
The most important lesson here is while necessity is undoubtedly the mother of invention, it&#8217;s hard to predict precisely when it&#8217;s going to hit. So, to be prepared you need to build a culture of innovation and curiosity into the fabric of your business. Because the only real constant in the world is change &#8211; the difference during a crisis like Covid-19 is simply the speed that it happens.
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As Executive Producer, Kat manages the Digital Production Team at YoungShand. She is responsible for the delivery of engaging online experiences for our clients. Kat has spent the last fourteen years crafting solutions and driving digital forward across creative, not-for-profit, education and commercial sectors, picking up various awards along the way.

Why a culture of innovation helps your business respond to moments of crisis

Today, as thousands of aeroplanes sit dormant on deserted runways, and the world&#8217;s busiest tourist destinations lay silent, it is easy to succumb to anxiety about what lays ahead for the world we once knew. Media outlets around the world are pumping out a constant stream of COVID-19 statistics, and phrases that were unknown to most of us just a few short weeks ago, now effortlessly roll off the tongue. Everything about this &#8216;new normal&#8217; is anything but normal for most of us. And it only takes a casual stroll through the comment sections of social media to see that fear and anxiety is taking its toll.
Amongst this heady mix of information overload, social anxiety and the very real worries we have for our health and the financial security of our families and businesses, staying curious may be the furthest thing from your mind. But here&#8217;s why it might help you to not only cope with the current situation, but to come out the other side better placed for the world that emerges from COVID-19.
As the Harvard Business Review&#8217;s Series, <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/09/curiosity">Why Curiosity Matters</a>, states, &#8220;Most of the breakthrough discoveries and remarkable inventions throughout history, from flints for starting a fire to self-driving cars, have something in common: They are the result of curiosity.&#8221; So, before we can respond to what comes next, first, we have to allow ourselves to be open to what tomorrow might look like. And, what role businesses and brands will play in the inevitably changed mindsets and habits of consumers.
Philosopher and psychologist William James (1899) called curiosity &#8220;the impulse towards better cognition,&#8221; or in other words, our innate desire to understand what we know we do not. With such a fundamental shift in human behaviour, movement, socialisation and consumption, it is inevitable that some of the changes we have been forced to make for the collective good, will stick and become a normal part of how we live in the not so distant future.
Just one example of this change is the move to working from home on mass, for any business that is able. Telecommunication companies have been producing ads for well over a decade that profess the benefits of technology for remote working – remember the one where the lady was having her toes painted while on a video call to the office. And while there is no doubt that technology has advanced in ways we could only have imagined back then, it is the shift in human and business behaviour that has been far slower to come.
So how can we ensure that we apply a healthy dose of curiosity to our current thinking and conversations to help ourselves, our businesses and our employees better adapt to these uncertain times?
Firstly, we need to put it on the agenda, helping to cultivate a curious mindset for both leaders and employees. Research detailed by Francesca Gino, a behavioural scientist and the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, in &#8216;The Business Case for Curiosity&#8217;, shows that &#8220;when our curiosity is triggered, we think more deeply and rationally about decisions and come up with more creative solutions.&#8221; We need to challenge ourselves to look at our organisations at every level to help curiosity thrive. As Gino detailed, simply by making small changes to an organisation&#8217;s design and how we manage our employees, can help encourage curiosity, no matter what industry we are in.
And lastly, but perhaps most crucially, we need to be open to it, because nothing stifles curiosity more than fear, and we don&#8217;t have to look far to find ourselves surrounded by that right now. 
To help, over the next few weeks, the YoungShand team will be sharing our collective thoughts on what brands and businesses should be thinking about and doing, now, and in the future, as we all move forward into our changing world. We will be looking at everything from the changing media landscape to why necessity really is the mother of invention.
Until then, stay home, stay safe, but stay curious.
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Anne Boothroyd is a Creative Director at <a href="http://www.youngshand.com">YoungShand</a>. She has 17 years of experience working across some of New Zealand’s most iconic brands and creating work that has been recognised globally for its creativity and effectiveness. 
This article was originally published in <a href="https://stoppress.co.nz/opinion/why-curiosity-is-the-antidote-to-todays-uncertain-times/">StopPress.</a>

Why curiosity is the antidote to today's uncertain times

We’re excited to welcome three new stars to the YoungShand team. Each of these women bring their own signature style and expertise, and we are pumped to have them and their brains in the building.
Esther Watkins is joining our team in a newly created Head of Production role. Bringing her 30 years’ experience working across agency, and production companies. ‘I’m excited to be heading up the production team for YoungShand. We’ve done some brilliant work together in the past few years and taking on the Head of Production role felt like a natural fit for me.  I’m looking forward to producing more great work with the team and fun times at Blake Street.” 
Emma Dalton, General Manager at YoungShand adds, “I’m thrilled to have Esther join the team and head up our integrated production offering. We have worked with her over the past two years to help create some of our best work. Her experience partnered with the fact she is already adored by our team and the industry alike meant she was a natural choice for the role”.
Kim Mueller, joining our team as our new Integrated Producer, says she is “Super excited about joining the beautiful team at YoungShand.” Kim comes to us from Saatchi &amp; Saatchi, bringing over 5 years of expertise. Scott Maddox, Creative Director at YoungShand adds, “From Kim&#8217;s first day, I could see her passion for creating great ideas was going to have a huge impact on our integrated offering here at YoungShand. She’s a great addition to the team.” 
Also joining YoungShand is Beatriz Carbonilla, our new Intermediate Designer. Beatriz has been at TVNZ for the last four years. Her bicultural identity as a Filipina in Aotearoa gives her a refreshing and necessary perspective that any agency would be lucky to have in house. “My identity fuels my desire to challenge social norms and celebrate diversity which includes the marginalised QTBIPOC and BIPOC. I&#8217;m excited to see where this new journey with YoungShand takes me, I&#8217;m ready to learn and grow.” 
Scott Maddox adds “Beatriz brings such a great energy to the design department, she’s made a great impact on the work already.”

YoungShand bolsters production offering

The very healthy weighted pair of boys, Jake Siddall and Sokpart Pao, have joined the family as Creative Group Heads, adding creative firepower, cat snaps and fresh dad-jokes to the team.
Says Sokpart: &#8220;I&#8217;ve read somewhere that you&#8217;re supposed to surround yourself with clever people. And there&#8217;s a lot of clever and talented people here, passionate about doing brave, meaningful work. I also don&#8217;t mind the Friday balcony barbeques overlooking the Waitakere Ranges.&#8221; 
Humbly bragging as the unofficially longest-running active, creative team in NZ of 12 years and counting, the duo brings a wealth of experience, award-winning flair and creative prowess with them. Coming from a big agency-network background, Jake and Sokpart have leapt in, boots&#8217; n&#8217; all, to the new unexplored world of the indie agency lifestyle at YoungShand. 
&#8220;We&#8217;re thrilled to announce the arrival of Jake and Sok to our tight-knit team,&#8221; says Anne Boothroyd, ECD. &#8220;They have that sought-after creative combination of talent, diligence and a drive to craft work for our client partners that taps into the unreasonable power of a brilliant idea. They&#8217;re also just good humans.&#8221;
The pair, who joined the YoungShand team at the end of 2020, has been welcomed with open arms. And they&#8217;re already making a big impact.

YoungShand is delighted to announce the arrival of two healthy creatives.

After a competitive pitch process, integrated indie agency, YoungShand, has been appointed by New Zealand AIDS Foundations to manage their ongoing creative and media needs.
&#8220;We&#8217;re thrilled to be partnering with the team at NZAF&#8221;, says Emma Dalton, GM, YoungShand.
&#8220;They&#8217;re a bold organisation who have made significant strides in the reduction of HIV transmission in New Zealand, along with their work across broader discrimination issues. We&#8217;re proud to be able to help them continue this important work&#8221;.
The YoungShand and NZAF teams are already well underway with their first project, to be released in 2022.
&#8220;Throughout the pitch process, YoungShand showed deep insight into the challenges faced by NZAF. They&#8217;re a talented team with a uniquely integrated approach to marketing and business solutions that made us feel confident they were the right partner for us. They&#8217;re also just a good bunch of people&#8221;, says Mickey Power, NZAF Marketing, Communications and Fundraising Manager.
&#8220;We have already experienced YoungShand&#8217;s difference in developing truly collaborative partnerships with both the NZAF team and our wider community and look forward to what we can do together from here&#8221;.

YoungShand picks up creative and media for New Zealand AIDS Foundation.

YoungShand has been awarded the creative and media business of Flick Electric in a competitive pitch. 
Flick, the Kiwi power company with a conscience, has always been an activist within the power sector, known for its excellent customer service &amp; competitive, innovative pricing models. 
Following a challenging period in which the power sector has allowed prices to rise due to the dominance of gentailers, Flick is holding firm, challenging for fairness and transparency for every Kiwi.
YoungShand GM Emma Dalton says, “Flick has always been an activist brand; that’s what excited us about this new partnership. We’re looking forward to partnering with Sunil and the team to make a difference for all Kiwi’s.”
This approach was part of the reason Flick recently won Best Electricity Retailer of the Year at the Energy Excellence Awards. Flick is also Aotearoa’s only Consumer Trusted Retailer (5 years running), also picking up the Canstar Most Satisfied Customers award.
Sunil Unka, CMO Flick Electric, says, &#8220;We were really impressed with the strategic rigour and mix of media strategy and bold creative thinking that YoungShand displayed throughout the pitch process. The team have already immersed themselves in our business and don&#8217;t hold back from challenging us, so we&#8217;re excited about what we can do together.&#8221; 
YoungShand is set to deliver brand activity, product and seasonal campaigns, and media services. Effective immediately.

YoungShand picks up Flick Electric Co.

The Best Awards are Aotearoa&#8217;s leading design awards, and this year we&#8217;ve picked up six finalists across three different clients.
These award nods are a reflection of YoungShand today. A proudly independent, Integrated Creative Agency. Our Strategy, Creative, Tech and Media teams work together from client brief to post-campaign optimisation to deliver the best possible results for our client partners, creating work we&#8217;re all incredibly proud of.
We love working with ambitious New Zealand brands. These partnerships have seen us produce a range of strategically led work from new brand platforms to packaging, customer experience work, large-scale digital experiences, and corporate websites.
&#8220;Having six finalists in the running at this year&#8217;s Best Awards is an acknowledgment of the hard work of our team&#8221;, Scott Maddox, Creative Director heading up the YoungShand Design and Tech Teams notes. &#8220;This is a reflection of their talent and experience, the integrated way we work together across the business and the brilliant partnerships we have with our clients. We&#8217;re looking forward to seeing what we can bring home on the night.&#8221;
The three pieces of work are:
Comvita &#8211; Our interactive campaign for Comvita Special Reserve UMF 25+ Mānuka Honey picked up three finalists for Digital Campaign, Design Craft and Interactive.
With only 9000 pots of Special Reserve available, it&#8217;s incredibly rare. Our challenge was to use the limited release to re-cement Comvita as a market leader focused on quality and guardianship. 
To resonate with a global audience, we focused on a critical ingredient of Special Reserve that anyone could connect with – time – one of the world&#8217;s rarest commodities. We invited people from all over the world who were lucky enough to secure a pot, to pause and relax with a rare moment of harmony inspired by Aotearoa, and enjoy a world-first Mānuka Honey taste-along meditation. 
<a href="https://bestawards.co.nz/graphic/design-craft/youngshand/special-reserve-manuka-honey-a-rare-moment/">Design Craft</a>  |  <a href="https://bestawards.co.nz/digital/digital-campaigns/youngshand/special-reserve-manuka-honey-a-rare-moment-1/">Digital Campaign</a>  |  <a href="https://bestawards.co.nz/moving-image/interactive/youngshand/special-reserve-manuka-honey-taste-along/">Interactive</a> 
Unconditional Skin &#8211; Our design and packaging work for Unconditional Skincare by Blis Technologies secured two finalists for Design Communication and Packaging.
Fifteen years of research into skin probiotics by Blis Technologies – global probiotic pioneers – has proven that the solution to healthy skin lies in the microbiome. This goes against how women have been conditioned to think about their skin as a problem to be fixed. 
So when we took on the challenge of launching the new brand, we knew there was an opportunity to kickstart a conversation with women about more than just their choice of skincare products. Our team developed everything from the name to the packaging design and copy to encourage women to look at their skin differently – as the solution, not the problem. 
<a href="https://bestawards.co.nz/graphic/design-communication/youngshand/unconditional-skincare-co/">Design Communication</a>  |  <a href="https://bestawards.co.nz/graphic/packaging/youngshand/unconditional-skincare-co-2/">Packaging</a>  
Oceania &#8211; Our website for Oceania is a finalist for Large Scale Websites.
Oceania believes that no one should be left behind, especially when it comes to technology and information. So, informed by a new visual identity and bold new brand platform – Believe in Better – we developed a people-centric website to meet the needs of our core 65+ audience. 
The user-friendly site seamlessly moves from Oceania&#8217;s mission and values to information about independent living, aged care and the 40+ villages across the country. Putting the audience at the heart of every decision resulted in a 35% increase in enquiries and an 85% increase in sessions for our core 65+ audience.
<a href="https://bestawards.co.nz/digital/large-scale-websites/youngshand/oceania-website-2/">Large Scale Websites</a>

YoungShand picks up six finalists at this year's Best Awards.

Recently, I shared the stage with Dr Jessica Vredenburg, an expert in services marketing and a lecturer at AUT, to talk about “viral CSR”. It got me thinking about the role business should play in driving a positive change in society.
In the past century, corporations were dominated by a capitalist mindset. At the worst end of the spectrum business was about maximising value for their shareholders with little regard for the environment, employees or even their customers. If something sold, that was all that mattered.
The revolution brought on by the introduction of the internet and then the rise of social media has resulted in a dramatic shift in power. The connected world we live in now is much more transparent and has introduced a different type of accountability that never existed before.
This change has resulted in some big brands being ‘found out’ and some new smaller brands, with loyal fans, growing faster than ever &#8211; think Dollar Shave Club, the Kiwi shoe brand or All Birds. However, this was just the start of what we are now seeing as the new marketing landscape.
Consumers are demanding more transparency; they expect to see and understand how companies source materials, manage their teams and care for the environment and the communities that they operate in. In an HBR and EY study, they found that 87% of consumers want brands to have a purpose beyond financial profit. Those that do, experience significant benefits in terms of better staff retention, customer recommendations and financial returns.
Today we look to big brands as having the power and duty to be positive contributors to society. Consumers are increasingly favouring brands that align with their beliefs and values and becoming fiercely loyal to them as a result.
So how can businesses ensure their Corporate Social Responsibility is meaningful and well received by today&#8217;s consumers? Here are three things to think about;
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Be genuine
You can’t fake it in today&#8217;s society. Consumers are very quick to sniff out a brand that isn’t genuine. When done right, it will also be felt by suppliers as well as customers. Resulting in more people wanting to work with you, lower turnover, more favourable business deals and more consistent revenue growth.
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Be relevant
The next test is to ensure your brand has a relevant connection to your CSR. For example, if you’re an athletics brand, then helping grassroots sports programmes or fighting childhood obesity are both excellent fits. However, sponsoring theatre or cultural events might not be. A car brand might focus on something that encourages people to explore. Or a beer brand could champion sociability or support music events.
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Apply carefully
So how do you build your brand through a brand purpose? My two-word answer – with care! You should be careful about building an explicit brand purpose platform, unless it comes from the inside out, as a naturally sceptical public will pull it apart if it’s anything but 100% genuine. Use the purpose as a motivating force that drives the business forward. You can also use CSR as a motivational tool for your team, extending this to your existing customers then becomes a natural progression and can help build brand loyalty.
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But I want it to go viral
Here’s an alternative point of view. If you want buzz right now, Jessica’s suggestion is to push the boundaries into a slightly unrelated area. Nike arguably did this by using Colin Kaepernick’s stand on police brutality. This message is unrelated to sport, but played out in a sporting arena and was delivered by an athlete associated with Nike. This approach may have more immediate traction, getting people to sit up and take notice of your stance on an issue that is topical and trending. While unrelated to the brand purpose, if it is delivered in a way that is related, it can generate conversation right now. But tread carefully, this is an experts-only tip!
It’s difficult to deny that CSR is something that all businesses need to consider to ensure they remain relevant in today’s transparent marketing environment, but for long-term brand building, it might be best to avoid putting it in a starburst and slapping it on your packaging. Let your purpose come from your core and the benefits will follow.

Your brand purpose might be the most important part of your business

As the famous Pineapple Lumps ad once heralded from our TV sets, “Well done New Zealand”. We have endured various levels of lockdown for seven weeks so far, and not because COVID-19 was ravaging our country, but to prevent that from becoming our reality.
There have been moments that have felt like the world has stopped, and in a lot of ways, it has.
So as we begin to emerge from this unprecedented shared experience, it is only to be expected that some things will have changed. But which trends are likely to stick around?

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">The disruption of traditional models of business and the future of work</h6>
For many corporate companies, it’s been proven that we can work from home, without negatively impacting productivity (despite a lot of us becoming part-time teachers on the side). Having broken the barrier between work and home life, it is difficult to go back; especially now your CEO is infinitely more human after their children invaded the budget discussions.
After lockdown, many businesses may be able to develop a more fluid approach to work, and as an offset, save costs with smaller offices. Some may even be able to move entirely to remote working, with meeting spaces rather than offices for when the team needs to get together. This change is likely to have several benefits, including the cutting of transport costs and emissions.
Also, as during other times of financial restraint, we are likely to see the reemergence of a strong freelance talent market, as companies look to more carefully manage staffing costs.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">We are all in this together</h6>
From our shared global experience, new rhetoric has emerged around individualism and common purpose. This shift is down to the indisputable fact that we are all reliant on each other to do the right thing, and if we don’t, the consequences are something not many of us want to consider.
Out of this newfound focus on ‘common purpose’, essential workers (usually the lowest paid in our society) are being celebrated as heroes. Our admiration no longer sits with the A-list celebrities, and instead, it is the faces of nurses and supermarket cashiers on the front pages of our magazines and newspapers. We’ve all been reminded just how much we depend on the labour of ordinary working people to keep NZ and the world running.
From a business perspective, social-purpose has been on the radar for a while. Still, if it wasn&#8217;t already, it should now be a vital part of your business and comms strategy if you want to remain relevant amid this new collective mindset.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">Community is back</h6>
Shopping for our elderly neighbours, waving at families cycling past and taking the time to enquire how people are fairing has become an essential part of our collective response to COVID-19. This forced return to a slower way of life in our immediate neighbourhood has reconnected many of us to the communities we live in. However, thanks to the Internet, we have also all been busy passing the time joining and growing communities online. A standout to emerge from lockdown is the <a style="display: inline;" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/519618962054849/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘New Zealand Made Products’</a> Facebook page, dedicated to supporting New Zealand businesses, products and services.
Businesses who have built a community online during lockdown need to continue this connection through content planning and perhaps the transfer of these online experiences to real-life experiences as we emerge from the other side. What you communicated and how you helped your community through this period will have an impact on your business. If you got it right, the result should be brand loyalty and awareness, but these gains will be undone if there’s no continuity post-COVID.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">Buy New Zealand made</h6>
Small businesses (20 staff or less) account for approximately 97 per cent of all companies in New Zealand, 29 per cent of employees and an estimated 26 per cent of GDP. It is these businesses that will find it the toughest to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, a fact that hasn&#8217;t passed Kiwis by. Like the &#8216;New Zealand Made Products&#8217; example above proves, Kiwis are ready to vote with their dollars and support local. A welcome relief from the dominance of the big box retailers.
This shift doesn’t just benefit our economy, but in time will hopefully see the return of more local manufacturing which could lessen our reliance on goods imported from other areas of the world, such as China. As we saw in the early stages of the pandemic, this singular supply strategy poses a real risk to the access of critical goods, forcing a call for the diversification of supply lines.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">The future of socialising</h6>
Thinking ahead to when all restrictions are lifted, there is going to be an eating out and events boom, of course. But perhaps, with our new perspective on community, street parties and local gatherings will also become an essential part of our social calendars. However, we chose to celebrate; it is going to be one heck of a party.
What is less clear, is if our newfound dependence on digital connection will be something we want to keep post lockdown. From the dinner parties to the quiz nights and poker games, we haven&#8217;t just been connecting with those nearby, but across the world. Lockdown has seen us spending more time with the people we love, not just the ones we can head to the pub with. It&#8217;s hard to believe we will give that up quickly.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">Time to tick off that New Zealand bucket list</h6>
Before COVID-19 hit, millions of tourists would visit New Zealand every year to enjoy our stunning country. Yet many Kiwis haven’t explored their backyard and all it has to offer. This is partly down to our love of overseas travel, but also the comparatively high costs of travelling around New Zealand.
With the tourism industry the hardest hit from the global shutdown, the businesses that rely on tourists for their livelihoods are going to need to look for ways to pivot to focus on the domestic tourism market for the foreseeable future. This will include reconsidering service offerings, experiences and pricing that is attainable for Kiwis. The upside is that we might all finally get a chance to tick off our New Zealand bucket list before we head off around the world again.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">The tipping point for e-commerce</h6>
Online shopping is by no means a new trend, with the impacts of e-commerce felt on bricks and mortar stores for years. However, the COVID-19 restrictions have pushed our adoption of online shopping over the tipping point – forcing even the most sceptical amongst us to head online to get what we need. This change in behaviour is one that is likely to stick around. But this won’t just impact bricks and mortar stores, who will need to finally heed the calls to make the shopping experience precisely that &#8211; more of an experience. It will also require every retailer to consider how their digital experience stacks up against their competitors. Because the one thing consumers don’t have when shopping online is patience for a bad experience.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">The shift back to self-reliance and a culture of less</h6>
The shock of sudden COVID-19 restrictions and the ensuing panic buying across our supermarkets left a lot of people feeling unprepared. Unlike many of our parents and grandparents who remember the impact of global shocks like the Great Depression and World War II, a lot of us have lost touch with the necessary skills for self-reliance. In a world dominated by convenience, knowledge such as how to grow your own produce, basic mending and repairs and bread baking have been lost for a lot of us. However, COVID-19 has provided quite the wakeup call, creating not only a rush on toilet paper but flour, yeast and vegetable, herb and fruit seedlings. This is a trend that is likely to continue, as households look for ways to recalibrate their spending.
This shift is also likely to give a significant boost to the existing trends of ‘waste-free living’ and a ‘minimalist lifestyle’. This move away from mass consumerism was already bubbling along, and the global pandemic will force more people to consider where their dollars are being spent. This does not mean that cheap goods win; in fact, it is about buying less, better quality items that will last. For businesses, this means a careful look at all aspects of your products, packaging and customer care to ensure consumers are choosing to spend with you and not your competitor.

<h6 style="padding-top: 30px!important;">The elephant in the room (and it’s a big one)</h6>
Climate change has seemingly been forced to take a backseat during the global pandemic, as we&#8217;ve needed to focus on more immediate challenges. However, as we&#8217;ve slowed down and headed indoors, nature has started to respond. And it is these tangible responses that have created headlines around the world, from fish in Venice&#8217;s canals to distant skylines visible for the first time in years.
As Jonathan Watts wrote for The Guardian, &#8220;For many experts, it is a glimpse of what the world might look like without fossil fuels. But hopes that humanity could emerge from this horror into a healthier, cleaner world will depend not on the short-term impact of the virus, but on the long-term political decisions made about what follows.&#8221;
And while it&#8217;s true that we need the right political decisions to be made, brands and businesses also have an essential part to play in &#8216;what next&#8217;. The temptation is to get the economy moving again at any cost, but the price could be more than we can sustain. The World Economic Forum&#8217;s Global Risks Report, named failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change as the key concern for the Forum&#8217;s network of business leaders, NGOs, academics and others. They placed it as the number one risk by impact and number two by likelihood over the next ten years.
Collectively, we have been given an opportunity to rebuild, and consumers are calling on both politicians and businesses to not just return to business as usual, but to restart our economy in a way that protects us now and in the future. That is the challenge.
There is no doubt that this unprecedented shared experience has changed us all; the question is, how will your business or brand respond to ‘what next’? And more importantly, how will you use your position in consumers&#8217; lives to help the world adapt to a future that we can all be proud of? For more from our #YS_FutureCurious Series, check out &#8211; <a style="display: inline;" href="https://youngshand.com/articles/surprising-ways-staying-home-reshaping-media-landscape" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘The surprising ways that staying home is reshaping the media landscape’</a> or <a style="display: inline;" href="https://youngshand.com/articles/curiosity-antidote-todays-uncertain-times" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘Why curiosity is the antidote to today’s uncertain times’.</a>

<hr />
&nbsp;
This piece was co-written by Anne Boothroyd and Claire Backhouse.
Anne is Creative Director at YoungShand. She has 17 years of experience working across some of New Zealand’s most iconic brands and creating work that has been recognised globally for its creativity and effectiveness.
Claire has over 17 years of international strategic marketing and campaign planning experience, both client and agency side. She has worked on brands such as Red Bull, Universal Pictures, Sony PlayStation, Cadbury and Air New Zealand.
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Your guide to the trends that will shape our post-COVID-19 world

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We specialise in new media approaches that connect with today’s consumers. We blend digital media smarts with the reach of traditional media to create an approach that balances short-term performance and long-term brand building. We use the visibility digital media provides, to understand performance, so we can optimise the wider media mix. This approach makes traditional media work harder and drives greater media effectiveness.
Combine our experience, industry contacts and drive to deliver, and you’ve got a media agency you can count on.

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Defining your brand strategy is one of the most important things you can do for your business. A great brand does three things. It makes your business more recognisable, gives you credibility which helps you develop a price premium, and helps you capture additional market share. There are two key things you need to create a great brand, a compelling brand story and a strong distinctive identity.
There are three phases of work to bring your brand to life.

Brand Strategy

Content marketing isn’t just the heart of modern brand marketing, it is marketing. Social media has the power to connect you to your customers in better ways, build relationships, drive real consideration and when done at its best, transform your brand.
Effective content marketing ensures your brand is in front of potential customers with exactly the right message at exactly the right time. And to do this, you need more than just clever words (although it helps). You need to have clear positioning, a distinctive presence and the endurance to continuously target new customers. You also need to consider important things like media, <a href="https://youngshand.com/services/digital-advertising">social media</a>, <a href="https://youngshand.com/services/search-engine-optimisation">SEO</a>, metrics and analytics. When you combine these elements correctly, you’ll grow your share and build <a href="https://youngshand.com/services/branding">brand loyalty</a> — and that’s what we’re all after isn’t it?

Find our more about our strategy services

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The YS content team includes a full-time Director of Photography, a 2D/3D motion graphics animator, as well as a talented creative department. This means we can create virtually any type of content you might need, in-house, quickly and cost effectively.

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CRO is the most cost efficient way to understand the behaviour of customers who arrive at your website. CRO identifies the hurdles or barriers that prevent these customers from converting to sale. It’s a smart tactic to help your visitors move from finding your brand online, to engaging with your brand, to deciding to buy, right through to becoming your <a href="https://youngshand.com/services/branding">brand champions</a>.
It’s about making sure the visitors who arrive at your website, stay on your site and ultimately become customers. CRO takes a scientific approach to understanding the journey and experience that site visitors actually have when they interact with your website.

Conversion Rate Optimisation

The future is human. The future is technology. At YoungShand, we believe it’s both. Our integrated creative offering is designed to deliver the best of brand and digital thinking, from category-leading platforms to powerful behaviour change campaigns.
We focus on putting your brand in the sweet spot between bold human-centred ideas, the connected digital world and emerging technologies.

We're a creative agency that helps our clients launch new brands and significantly improve their marketing results. Our full-service, integrated team brings together the best creative, design and digital thinking to deliver bold, human-centred ideas.

Our strategic focus is on transforming brands, creating campaigns that capture attention and reinventing customer experience. 
We do this by combining strategic and creative thinking with media and digital smarts. It’s in the sweet spot between bold human-centred ideas and the connected digital world, emerging technologies and innovation, that fresh strategic thinking is found.

Find out more about our Brand Development Process

Download ‘The Digital Transformation Guide’ for the full six-step process.

We work with our clients to transform their businesses, uncovering new approaches to old problems, developing communication strategies that tell our brand stories in distinctive and ownable ways.


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Our purpose is to help businesses attract new customers and increase their sales. Most customers actively research products and companies online before they make any decisions. Because of this the use of search engine advertising is very effective as you are capturing real buyers searching for information.
In addition using performance media as the backbone of your campaign can help you drive a strong ROI. We typically use Google Ads (formally Google AdWords) as a foundation layer for most campaigns. When people search you want your product to be there.

Search Engine and Social Media Marketing

Whatever your business and your presence on the Internet, and no matter whether you’re selling on a local, national, or even global level, if you want it to succeed, Search Engine Optimisation needs to be as important a part of your marketing efforts as everything else.
We understand that getting SEO right takes time, and with the major search engines moving the goalposts it can be difficult to get right and if you get it wrong, you could end up doing more harm than good. This is where we can help, by offering the kind of straight forward SEO services New Zealand businesses are looking for.

Search Engine Optimisation

Almost every business we talk to would like to understand their media and online performance better. But each business is different, there&#8217;s no one-size fits all when it comes to digital analytics. Your business and organisation is unique, so your analytics needs to be tailored to fit. Before we decide to track anything we look to understand your business and what drives it in order to set your objectives. Once the strategy is clear we will help you to develop a tracking framework that helps us understand how your marketing is working so we can improve your ROI.

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Tracking and Analytics

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We deliver beautifully designed websites that get results. We understand your website needs to work hard. We’ll work with you to design an online experience that people love to give your business an edge.
We specialise in creative, custom-designed sites, built on modern flexible web frameworks, that can grow with you. This approach maximises your returns and lowers your total cost of ownership.

Customer experience and digital tech are at the heart of YoungShand; we turn ideas into something people in the real world interact with. We have one of the most creative web design teams in the country. 

We build our sites on modern flexible web frameworks to create fast high-performance experiences. We specialise in creative custom designed sites that can grow with you. We develop modular, headless websites to maximise what you can do and create the best user experience.
While a custom website will cost more initially, it allows you to develop new functionality and features over time which lowers your total cost of ownership.

The focus of YS.Labs is on digital innovation, we identify emerging technologies that are relevant to marketers. We’ll work with clients to identify a problem that the new technology is likely to help solve. This is a creative technology challenge. We explore the technology, understanding its capabilities, what’s required in implementing the solution and what ongoing resource is required. Then we look to create a business case for the technology, including ideas, process required, costs expected results and outcomes.

We’re on a mission to ‘own the edge’. To help us get there we created YS.Labs; a proactive think tank where we workshop the latest tech and figure out how it could work for our clients. If you have a creative technology challenge you’d like to explore feel free to ask us. We’d be happy to take a look and work up a prototype to really understand what’s possible.

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HPA - Quitline

Quitline’s New Year campaign focused on turning the accusatory, ‘Why you should quit’ into a more understanding, ‘Why do you smoke?’. By looking at the motivations to smoke in a new way, we illustrated how people’s rationales for not wanting help could be their reasons to pick up the phone.

Smoking is a double-edged sword. You smoke because you’re stressed, yet cigarettes are a stress inducer. You smoke because you’re worried about finances, yet smoking puts an added strain on your bank balance. Because Quitline understands why people smoke, they can help people understand why not to.

The campaign launched during a period of reflection and goal setting for many &#8211; New Year – leveraging locations where we could intercept smokers in that mindset like dairies, in their cars and various outdoor hotspots. A mix of large and small formats ensured the message was front of mind during crucial trigger moments, with dairy &#038; petrol station screens creating a disruptive moment at the Point of Purchase.

Our radio spot played during typical smoko break times to get people to consider flipping their reason to smoke into their reason to quit. It explored this crossroad moment, articulating one man’s dual reality of smoking versus quitting.

<h5>“I quit so I can spend that money on my babies. Never would I go back to smoking cigarettes”.</h5>
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Shatna Taumata / Facebook Comment

Could your reason to smoke be your reason to quit?

Could your reason to smoke be your reason to quit?

NZ Blood Service

NZ Blood Services&#8217; new brand campaign &#8211; Unseen Emergencies &#8211; focuses on life-threatening scenarios Kiwis face every day, each story inspired by a real medical emergency. Launched during the most-watched hour of television – 1 News at 6pm – the series of short films bring viewers into the centre of five unseen emergencies as they take place across Aotearoa, ending with the rallying cry for support – Don&#8217;t wait to save&nbsp;a&nbsp;life.

In recent years, we&#8217;ve endured many high-profile emergencies as a nation, from the Christchurch Mosque attacks to the more recent Whakaari White Island Eruption. With up-to-the-minute updates across local and international news platforms, these emergencies galvanise us to take&nbsp;action.
In the face of tragedy, Kiwis are overwhelmingly responsive, inundating the NZ Blood Service with offers to donate blood or plasma. But, the reality is 83 New Zealanders a day will experience an unseen emergency and need lifesaving donations. A trip to the dentist, pregnancy and giving birth, or a nosebleed can all end in a life-threatening&nbsp;emergency.

Unseen emergencies – our new campaign for NZ Blood Service

Unseen emergencies happen every day. Don’t wait to save a life.

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