Island Life by David Slack

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Island Life: I can see clearly now

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  • Tze Ming Mok,

    Remember this gem from Saatchi's seven years ago? Auckland only gets the best from Kevin.

    SarfBank, Lunnin' • Since Nov 2006 • 154 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I have not until this day had the chance to tell him how true he was.

    My week is already a success for knowing this.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Then there's the 1998 classic "Edge" speech itself, treasured by lovers of rogue-elephant rhetoric everywhere ...

    We’ve had big ideas in the past. Jean Batten had a really big idea.

    Sir Edmund Hillary climbing Everest was a really big idea.

    Nuclear Free New Zealand was a really big idea.

    Winning the America’s Cup was a really big idea.

    Janet Frame has big ideas.

    Awesome.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Helen Searancke,

    I think the 'A' logo looks like a piece of unravelling, threadbare fabric - what does that say about us? Fabric of society, etc, etc...

    But I do like the idea that there was a mouldering cough drop in the designer's rubbish bin.

    I wonder if anyone has grumbled "fu**ing A" about it yet ;-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    A website I frequent has one of those communal tagging folksonomy thingies, and a tag we see from time to time is batshitinsane.

    I would welcome any charitable foundation that sought to establish a peaceful asylum where the Friedmans and Roberts of this world could be confined, so that they could live out their lives without causing INTENSE MENTAL PAIN to those of us for whom literacy is otherwise a blessing.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    60,000 sailors, 130,000 boats, but more than a million people? Minority pursuit at best

    Also, how many of those boats have sails and ever get taken out? I'm sure a lot of them are kayaks, tinnies (the boat sort), cabin cruisers, etc.

    I think City of Rainbows would be a nice designation, I've seen more rainbows in Auckland than any other place I've been.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Thomas Johnson,

    The logo is kind of odd, but I actually think KR's twist improves it.

    What's with the smarmy putdown on Kevin Roberts? I'd imagine it takes a special type of skill to get to his position, but I just skimmed The Edge speech that Russell linked to, and it seemed to be forward looking and positive.

    Maybe y'all think we should be selling tourists on other themes?

    "Come to NZ and see how we kill our children"

    "Come to NZ and experience the thrill of testing dairy farm runoff"

    Wellington • Since Oct 2007 • 98 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    I originally hated him for the Saatchi-led trend to repackage my best memories of the NZ past for marketing campaigns to sell me shit. Then the whole goose thing, with its unpleasant totalitarian undertones got to me. But what really pushed me over the edge was "Lovemarks" and the fawning press that accompanied it.

    I do not want to love entities that I have commercial relationships with, and I do not want such entities to try to persuade me to do so, and I especially hate the puffery and the bullshit.

    A man who can sincerely write "could we please have new names for the most exciting places with the dullest names on the globe, the North and South Islands" knows nothing about this country worth knowing.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Don't tell anyone, but I actually really like that new logo. I like that it's that's colourful, sturdy A (a letter shape that looks engineered) yet it's all frayed and falling apart.

    Cos my big impression of Auckland is that as much as there are really glorious, beautiful parts of it, there are also shitty, broken down bits.

    I walked to work along Hobson Street for four years - there is the ever increasing canyon of mundane apartments that refuse to acknowledge the street, but then there's the Spiky Red Thing at one end and the beautiful harbour at the other.

    I don't know if this is what the designers were thinking of when they made the deconstructed A, but it seems to me to be a really honest reflection of what contemporary Auckland is. It's not trying to be "world class" (whatever that means); it's ok with being a bit of a breakdown town.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Irvine,

    I hate Kevin Roberts for getting involved with the All Blacks, and saying most New Zealanders (he's from the North of England) would rather win the Tri-Nations than the World Cup.

    Muppet.

    He's fun to take the piss out of, though.

    Auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 242 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Well, our Kevin is good for some things at least:
    http://krconnect.blogspot.com/2008/08/bubbles.html

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    "Come to NZ and experience the thrill of testing dairy farm runoff"

    "You're soaking in it!"

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • David Hamilton,

    Don't tell anyone, but I actually really like that new logo.

    Me too, all fibrous and technomological and volcanic. Although in my opinion the K is all wrong, should be less like an R with its head cut off. It's a pity cause it's a sweet font otherwise.

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Remember this gem from Saatchi's seven years ago? Auckland only gets the best from Kevin.

    Didn't Kevin appear on a panel type tv show (er, hosted by Robert Whatshisname, used to do the music show?) shortly after 9-11, and say that the best thing NZ could have done would be to send along several hundred police officers and firemen and soldiers, all climb to the top of the ruins dressed in black, do a haka, and then start digging.

    The contrasting look on his face (what a wonderful marketing image!) and the three people on the panel (wow, this person is a scumbag trying to benefit from this horrific event) was very telling.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    (Robert Rakete, and the show was called "The Panel").

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Remember this gem from Saatchi's seven years ago? Auckland only gets the best from Kevin.

    Also a useful reminder of how "odious" (a word RB used only twice - how restrained!) the National Party of Shipley, Creech, Sowry and Bradford was.

    What an utter pack of wankers they were.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    @TM

    Remember this gem from Saatchi's seven years ago? Auckland only gets the best from Kevin.

    Now you mention it. I'm quite proud of this passage ...

    Auckland also, as of this week, has a new slogan. Joining such past classics as "Auckland - City of Lovers" is "Auckland A", which comes with its own special Auckland A hand signals. Unfortunately, one of the signals is deaf sign language for AIDS and the other is apparently time-honoured lesbian code for "vagina". Motorised Aucklanders frequently hail each other with a very similar word, but I don't think that's what the agency was after.

    But i think the Saatchis man behind that was actually Mike Hutcheson.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Now you mention it. I'm quite proud of this passage ...

    And I'm dead impressed by your knowledge of lesbian sign language. The lesbians of my acquaintance have only taught me the sign for "go away you idiot" -- which is formed by making a fist of your right hand, and rigidly extending the middle finger. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    A man who can sincerely write "could we please have new names for the most exciting places with the dullest names on the globe, the North and South Islands" knows nothing about this country worth knowing.

    I don't pay much attention to Roberts, but I've always thought the North and South Islands names lacked a little imagination - the Maori names however totally work particularly for my three year old who loves the story of Maui's fishing exploits.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    Roberts makes me cringe, too, but I also quite like the logo. It's certainly a lot livelier than ours.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Does New York have a logo?

    Does London have a logo?

    Does Paris have a logo?

    Hell, does Sydney have a logo?

    Does any city of any note anywhere in the world have a logo you can remember?

    Logos are simply not a worthwhile civic amenity.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    (My tooth aches and I will not be seeing a dentist until later in the day. Crotchety commenting may result.)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    Does New York have a logo?

    I believe Milton Glaser had a mildly successful stab at one.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    As long as Auckland doesn't also end up with accompanying telly adverts that look like they're apeing Melbourne's brilliant ones..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    And apropos my snark about island names:

    Inasmuch as Pakeha culture has a charm, it is in reticence, self-deprecation, and litotes. Seen in this light the plain (but linguistically quirky) North Island and South Island are a perfect fit. Changing these names is consistent with the Roberts philosophy that if only you choose the right lipstick the pig will actually change into a human.

    I would buy a reversion to Maori names, but the brand genius thinks that "Maui" would be a good name, evidently unaware that a) a short form of the Maori name Te Ika o Maui ought to be te Ika, and b) there is already a well-known island of that name with a strong brand of its own.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

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