Taupō ad wins big at NZ Radio and Podcast Awards

Confinement Taupō owner Deiryn Salisbury and NZME Taupō media specialist Wendy Lacey celebrate their win at the NZ Radio and Podcast Awards.

Taupō's advertising industry is footing it with the best in the business.

The Hits Taupō — part of the NZME stable of radio stations, news websites and newspapers, including Taupō & Tūrangi Herald — won the prize for best commercial campaign.

The campaign was for Confinement Escape Rooms Taupō and was led by one of NZME’s Taupō-based media specialists, Wendy Lacey.

Lacey said it was nice to get recognition for hard work and she had enjoyed working alongside the “very talented” scriptwriter Lucas Hogan to create some “amazing” audio.

Audio was created for the themes of each room at Confinement, where people have to find clues and solve puzzles to escape the rooms.

“We wanted to be different and stand out. The audio was like no other. There was panting and screaming.

“Even though there was one ad with one room theme that won, each ad is different and runs in conjunction with the other.”

Confinement owner and operator Deiryn Salisbury said it had been a “really cool” process creating the advertisements.

She said the brief was to create something that was not boring or mundane and stood out for local listeners.

NZME sales manager for Taupō and Rotorua Sam Dick said the NZME creative team had set the bar to a high standard for radio advertisements

“To achieve this against other incredible entries is such an overwhelming achievement for not only the company, but our mighty NZME Taupō team.

“We are proud to be local and to support our local community.”