FM Blog

  • Federation Media Blog

    Considerations for your social media projects

    14/02/2012 by Charis Kumpula

    So, you’ve decided to branch out into social media? Too right, it’s one of the hottest areas of marketing, communications and sales online right now. There are plenty of sites, tools and apps out there that should make it easy for you to make your...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Easy Tiger!

    14/02/2012 by Reece Witters

    Our ears have been burning and it turns out it's all good stuff. Tiger Beer - a key member of the DB family we're closely connected with - was chosen as a finalist in the Kentico Site of the Year 2011 Awards."...it’s fair to say we’re pretty chuffed...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Pinterest and the Design Process

    2/02/2012 by Laura Wilson

    Pinterest! The new social media phenomenon sweeping the globe (and particularly the design community). Our design team are avid pinners, and there’s no question why. Pinterest is an easy-to-use image sharing, virtual pinboard site, which functions a...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Twice the fun with Tiger Beer

    31/01/2012 by Laura Wilson

    Co-written with Louise Sinnaduray.Tiger Beer has been one of 2011’s most enjoyable and exciting projects for our design team due to the open brief, easy-going client relationship and creative license we were given. Federation Media has submitted a...

  • Federation Media Blog

    A Good Yarn

    27/01/2012 by Reece Witters

    It is with great pleasure I welcome our newest addition to the Federation Media team, Yann Jourdan. Yann initially joined FM as a contractor the day after the Rugby World Cup Final - a brave move considering he’s a Frenchie, but he made it...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Interesting reads for 2012

    11/01/2012 by Charis Kumpula

    Seeing as we’re all easing our way into 2012 we thought it would be a good time to catch up on some interesting reads across the interwebs. Check out our selection below. Enjoy!Social media predictions for...

  • Federation Media Blog

    A new era for Kensington Swan

    11/01/2012 by Charis Kumpula

    In 2011 we had the pleasure to partner with development specialists Provoke to deliver a new website for our super client Kensington Swan, one of the premier law firms in New Zealand. Together we have submitted an entry into the Kentico Web Awards...

  • Federation Media Blog

    The Silly Season...

    22/12/2011 by Reece Witters

    That time of year where a certain jolly ol' fellow prepares for his descent down our chimneys has rolled 'round, once again.We’ll be raising a glass over what's been another fantastic year working with - and alongside – an array of wonderful...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Kentico CMS and EMS - Version 6 delivers results

    13/12/2011 by Richard Wright

    Kentico CMS has recently released Version 6 which is a long awaited release for the FM dev team.There are a lot of enhancements in V6 and we are currently rolling them out for new sites that we have running on the platform.One of the major new...

  • Federation Media Blog

    You, us, and UX

    29/11/2011 by Laura Wilson

    There has been much ado about User Experience (UX) in the digital space lately, and rightly so, it’s extremely important in what we do. Perhaps most important. The classic story of modernist design theory - form follows function – certainly applies....

  • Federation Media Blog

    Social Bunny Tips, Edition #3

    1/09/2011 by Reece Witters

    Organise your social in one tidy dashboard - what a hoot! For this edition of Social Bunny, I felt it was time to put the spotlight on a web based program that I / we (Federation Media) use on a regular basis to manage our many social media...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Your Email Newsletters – The super-quick-top-to-bottom guide

    19/08/2011 by Laura Wilson

    Send from Someone – Right from the top line of your email newsletter, you need to be thinking like a reader. No-reply email addresses are not welcoming; they put across the idea that you might not be listening and you’re unavailable (and might get...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Gumboots, London and Federation Media

    17/08/2011 by Reece Witters

    Having grown up in gumboots on the dairy farms of the Waikato, attending primary schools with fewer children than your local Auckland dairy, I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve joined the fast-moving world of Federation Media and the amazing...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Social Bunny Tips, Edition #2

    27/07/2011 by Reece Witters

    Square Peg, Round Hole - Circles, Squares and Bandwagons Our lead developer, Rich Wright, has been warning people about this for a long time now: “Don’t put all your eggs in the Facebook basket”. While The Book’s rise has been well documented...

  • Federation Media Blog

    The FM talent quest - recruiting legends in the new media generation

    13/07/2011 by Laura Wilson

    Recently we had to say goodbye to one of our most loved and dearest employee’s - unfortunately the lure of the windy city had just too much pull. This event, alongside the burgeoning workload and natural growth of the company has meant that we have...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Social Bunny Tips, Edition #1

    28/04/2011 by Reece Witters

    "In a nutshell, it’s a ‘private’ share. Because some things are private." The world is changing and social media has the bull by the horns so to speak. If you’re ready to strap in for the ride too, we’ve created ‘Social Bunny Tips’ right here...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Facebook Insights Demystified (well kind of)

    17/04/2011 by Richard Wright

    I have done a lot of thinking, reading and listening about web and social media analytics over the last few weeks.  This has been part of the development of a website analysis product that is being developed to assist our clients to better...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Stormwater360 – A smooth transition

    16/03/2011 by Reece Witters

    “Make a commitment to clean water.” Stormwater360 came to us late last year with a view to update their existing website. The site, of interest to the engineering and construction industry, specialises in engineering products e.g. filters,...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Deep Purple Day – It’s rather exclusive

    10/03/2011 by Reece Witters

    Exclusive: adjective - Admitting only members of a socially restricted or very carefully selected group e.g. an exclusive club. Although Deep Purple Day is a very small project comparatively, it’s hugely significant in terms of what it means...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Brand spanking new site for Heineken

    9/03/2011 by Laura Wilson

    Get off your Heiney and take a peek at this! As good as it gets. A trip to Sydney, on the company! Mark was the lucky one going this time, to learn all about the new Heineken site and how it would fit into the global brand sites. He came back...

  • Federation Media Blog

    The ultimate VnC VIP!

    9/03/2011 by Laura Wilson

    "Throw your hands up in the air and say paaaaar-tay" In February 2011 VnC named Emma van Tuyl as the winner of the VnC VIP competition. Our baby from start to finish, we pitched the idea for the competition after VnC came to us wanting a new,...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Miss Tui 2011 - A new queen will be crowned

    9/03/2011 by Laura Wilson

    "Rachel Hunter, eat your heart out!" We’ve kicked off the Miss Tui competition for 2011, and it’s taken off! Bigger and better than the previous years, we’ve given each girl their own profile, where they can share their photos, videos and...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Why Micro-sites suck (generally)

    6/03/2011 by Richard Wright

    Have I imagined the perfect user experience, when considering building a micro-site, and strived to provide it?What is a micro-site?A micro-site is a stand alone appendage that bears little resemblance to and has little structural...

  • Federation Media Blog

    FM's latest addition...

    1/03/2011 by Reece Witters

    "Not just a face for radio" Introducing the new kid on the Federation Media block - yours truly, Reece Witters. Perhaps it’s a bit game labeling myself a kid but a noticeable lack of moustache at 27 somewhat helps. Well, today’s my first day...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Sweet Clicks – Team Federation’s list of hot apps

    21/02/2011 by Charis Kumpula

    The evolution of both the web and mobile technology is taking place in the form of applications (apps). Apps have the ability to create consistent user experiences between computers and hand held devices as well as improve productivity and serve...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Facebook Rolls Out New Brand Page Design

    16/02/2011 by Matt Townsend

    Re-post from the Wildfire Apps Blog Similar to the design changes implemented to personal Facebook profiles several months back, on Friday February 11, Facebook announced a similar redesign for business Pages. The new look of business pages is...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Team Federation's favourite iPhone/iPad apps

    2/02/2011 by Richard Wright

    Richard's most useful Apps: Runkeeper - Running application which is changed my training and frankly my enjoyment of training for the March 12 Motutapu Offroad Marathon.  It has coaching and calls out 5 minute splits with distance, total...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Federation Media welcomes our youngest team member

    1/02/2011 by Matt Townsend

    But first the numbers - born 22:23, weighing 7:11 It is with great pleasure that we welcome our newest and youngest member of the Federation Media team - Miss Philippa Jennifer Louise Wordsworth, born to our Producer extraordinaire and all...

  • Federation Media Blog

    At Tui the User Experience is King

    30/01/2011 by Richard Wright

    I have just returned from the Super 15 rugby game between the Hurricanes and the Cheifs. I am in Palmy killing time before flying back to Auckland and reflecting on a great day and nursing a bit of a sore head.  As the great Colin Meads said at...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Microsoft NZ features FM Kentico sites

    30/01/2011 by Richard Wright

    Nigel Parker - Web Development Advisor for Microsoft NZ has written a good article about the use of Kentico CMS in NZ featuring a few of FM's websites.We have been developing Kentico CMS websites for some time now and really have only good things to...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Pasquale Winery and Kurow brands

    30/01/2011 by Reece Witters

    "We like quality websites, you like quality wine...lets talk." Anyone and anything that comes from New Zealand’s Central Otago has a touch of magic. Pasquale Winery is no different.  Pasquale is all about a brand that has different levels...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Hello 2011 - A brand new look for Federation Media

    26/01/2011 by Matt Townsend

    It is with great pleasure that we kick off the New Year with a full brand refresh. Federation Media has a genuine client-first mentality. Every day we crank it, getting campaigns and projects live, improving our client's comms, and...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Laura's custom font for DB Export

    18/01/2011 by Laura Wilson

    Dominion Breweries asked us to rebuild the DB Export website with the help of Colenso BBDO’s creative team. We accepted the challenge and the site is now one of our biggest success stories. We had a great crew, the build process was smooth and the...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Watch Mark's Volkswagen Eos TVC

    3/01/2011 by Admin

    Our multi-talented producer Mark Wordsworth directed this ad for Volkswagen UK. We think it's rather lovely.

  • Federation Media Blog

    Building Facebook Apps - Rich cracks the nut

    20/12/2010 by Richard Wright

    This is a presentation that I did for Barcamp Auckland.  This comes from our experience with building Facebook applications for Tui Blond, and the challenges that we faced in doing this. The presentation also touches on Social Object Theory...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Tui Blond Pocket Voucher Campaign runner up in Global Mobile Marketing Awards

    1/12/2010 by Richard Wright

    A Tui, FM, and POCKETvoucher (PV) built campaign has won runner up in the 2010 Global Mobile Marketing Awards announced on 17th November (see all of the winners, with case studies, here...

  • Kentico, Umbraco and N2 - CMS faceoff at TechEd

    10/10/2010 by Richard Wright

    One of the proponents of Kentico in NZ - Keith Patton of Marker Studio faces off against two open source CMS systems - Umbraco and N2 (http://www.msteched.com/2010/NewZealand/KEY001 - requires Silverlight [well it is Microsoft!]).We went...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Craggy Range - the new site is a fluid experience

    4/10/2010 by Matt Townsend

    Craggy Range, one of New Zealand's best known premium single vineyard wineries came to us with an interesting challenge ~ build a site that combines a beautiful brand experience with a highly usable and content rich site.  Using...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Magma Art

    1/11/2009 by Reece Witters

    ‘lets lock horns to produce a website as awesome as their product’ was the common theme around the FM water-cooler. When Magma Art came to us in late 2009 we were literally attracted to the pulling power of their awesome magnetic art products...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Website Security – The tough questions to ask your web developer

    17/08/2009 by Richard Wright

    Website security should be a core consideration when building any website. In New Zealand there are no clear guidelines for this. Web Development in NZ is largely the wild west when it comes to security.Website security is very difficult. Staying...

  • Website Launch Disasters – Lessons and remedies

    9/08/2009 by Richard Wright

    I have been watching as a spate of recent high profile website launches have turned into full blown PR disasters, I can only guess what actually led to the disastrous launches but some important lessons can be learned. This is not to say that we...

  • Federation Media Blog

    Wild Rock - The stuff us Kiwis are made of

    6/06/2009 by Reece Witters

    'We don't (only) build websites for awesome Kiwi wines companies because of their great wine - it's because they're bold, hardworking and ambitious' We initially, engaged with Craggy Range - one of NZ’s premier wineries based in Havelock...