Here is the new AIA TV ad which went live on Friday night during the Japan vs Russia Rugby World Cup game. This ad features their ambassador Ian Jones. AIA Vitality are a broadcast sponsor of the World Cup and will be featuring a lot throughout the competition as well as on TVNZ's Breakfast Show.

Channels have shrunk, tastes are more varied, and while 'broadcast media' still exists as a legacy terminology, it has practically ceased to exist today. If you open your daily newspaper and wonder who they are really talking to, or whether they are focusing on a particular angle which confuses you, the chances are their segment has narrowed to the extent that you are now outside their target group. 

Seth Godin calls it 'the end of everyone' and his brief post on the subject is worth a look - link. 

TVNZ still doesn't get it. Sideswipe in The New Zealand Herald blew the gaff on TVNZ's "reversioned" episode of Made in New Zealand: it is almost a carbon copy of the same show run by ABC in the United States. I mean a copy too - segments played on the radio this afternoon demonstrated that the script is, in parts, word for word.

TVNZ point out in their response to Sideswipe that ABC is an affiliate - they are therefore allowed to produce a copy. Fair enough, but...

Do they fail to appreciate the irony? I mean, this is a show about things being made in New Zealand, and the creative concept, approach, and even script - all central to the work - are themselves imports. You do a show revealing how much stuff in a house is made overseas, a concept which itself was made overseas. I'm all in favour of imports. Comparative advantage explains how we can expect to be better off: the experience of the last twenty years of trade liberalisation prove it. TVNZ, bless them, have now proved it too - but perhaps that's not what they intended. Delicious!

Mother's day gift to Fran was a collection of the best 'Goodies' episodes on DVD. I cannot tell you how good these are, and the kids love them too. Those were simpler times... I thoroughly recommend the 'Bunfight at the O.K. tearooms' as an antidote to taking oneself too seriously.