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We’re going to take a wild stab in the dark and assume you’re aware there’s an election campaign underway. One of the signs is…all the Corflute signage.

Politicians, with some honorable exceptions, are big fans of this corrugated plastic board. It’s a cheap, durable way of getting their face and brand in front of the public.

There’s just one problem – microplastics.  

Because Corflute is polypropylene, it’s hard to recycle. Eventually, it breaks down and filters out into the environment, where it winds up turning the planet into a giant, unplanned chemistry experiment. 

We think this is a bad idea.

Vote for No Corflute.

Wouldn’t it be great if Corflute went the way of other single-use plastics? So far New Zealand has said goodbye to plastic forks, food trays, and straws. We don’t leave the supermarket clutching single-use plastic bags anymore, so why are politicians giving Corflute a pass?

If you get the chance to have a word with some would-be MPs, you might bring up this topic. If they say there are no alternatives to Corflute, we’d be happy to have a chat. 

At Phantom Billstickers, as part of our commitment to running a sustainable business, we’ve shown Corflute the exit, and guess what? No drama! Our green alternatives? They practically high-five your budget, or at worst, are cost-neutral.

Whatever your political leanings, it’s time to give Corflute the boot.

It has been a big week.

I attended an interview at the US Consulate in Auckland. I am applying for a “Waiver of Ineligibility” to enter the USA.

What stops me from getting an ordinary Visa is a raft of drug convictions in the 1970s. I am married to an American and have been for fourteen years. I am not eligible for a Green Card owing to a Heroin conviction from 1974. When I do right no one remembers, when I do wrong no one forgets (Paparua Prison tattoo).

The woman who interviewed me was incredibly warm and this has been on my mind since the interview. She made a recommendation that a Visa be granted and now all the paperwork has gone to Homeland Security in the USA for a lookover. I have been granted waivers before so there shouldn’t be a problem.

It was worth going to the interview in order to get just a little bit of humanity.
I have been depressed for a while, my beautiful daughter, Hope (in the photo attached), died a few short months ago and I myself went through chemotherapy a year back. Franz Kafka said that when one is disturbed one should move one’s finger along one’s eyebrows.

I have regrets about being a junkie. I treated people wrong and I wasn’t able to maintain stable relationships. I was angry all the time. But I did have the very best friends in the world and we laughed at all the absurdities of this life. I’m thinking all of us just wanted the little piece of humanity, to feel warm about people (this comes first) and in return have them feel warm about you.

When I was a kid my mother would sometimes tell me she should never have had me (I was a late birth, my mother was 38 at the time). My father would tell me that I looked like a little mongoloid (this one still sits on my shoulders) and that the trouble with me was that I didn’t want to be as miserable as the rest of them (my family).

So I grew up with a lot of self-loathing and often, even these days, my brain tells me bad stories.
Friendships have been what has kept me going. Friendships have put a little froth in my underwear. People at their best keep me going, it’s not the meds, it’s not the money, it’s having genuine friends and doing good work for others. Love is the most cleansing feeling.

I believe if it wasn’t for drugs giving me the release they did, that I wouldn’t have lived past my twenties. My friends and I were all half-angel and half-pirate.

I love you.
Jim Wilson 

December and January may be when you clock off and forget about work. For us, it’s the opposite.

Summer is prime time for street posters.

Your audience will be out and about, having fun and spending money. Don’t be fooled by the absence of rush hour traffic. It doesn’t mean everyone’s left town – it just means their travel patterns have changed. Instead of catching the bus (and being exposed to posters on their way to work), your audience is going to the local beach (and being exposed to posters outside the dairy).

Smart marketers are already booking Phantom’s prime sites over the summer. They’re flogging Boxing Day sales, cool drinks, summer snacks, and festival tickets.

Maybe you should join them.

The Summer of Phantom Billstickers

We’ve got over 6,500 poster frames ready to carry your message. From holiday hotspots like Hawkes Bay and Tauranga to the main metros, Phantom is where your customers are going to be.

Plenty of people will be enjoying a staycation, and Auckland will still be the country’s biggest population hub. Around 200,000 people leave the big smoke over the holiday period, but that still leaves well over a million pairs of eyeballs in town. It’s a similar story in Wellington and Christchurch.

Like you, we’re hanging out for the warm weather and long days of summer.

It’s business time.

Is your omnichannel strategy missing the obvious?

If you’re in the business of selling tickets or launching products, there’s a proven way to get results:

Expose audiences to your creative message in a mix of online and offline channels. 

You’ll get way more bang for your buck because these omnichannel campaigns deliver four times the sales of digital-only strategies. They’re also outstanding at retaining customers.

We’ve taken a dive into the reasons behind this. Read more. 

Digital is good.

Digital plus posters is GREAT!

The bottom line is that digital is great at closing the sale. Tapping or clicking are usually the simplest way to register your details, buy tickets, or grab that special offer.

But first you have to create an emotional connection. And that’s when posters come to the fore. 

When your audience encounters your image larger than life in the street, they’re primed to notice it even more when it pops up in their social feed. 

That’s how you get from good to great.

Everybody should have the opportunity to own the streets.

This is your chance to lock in Phantom’s best sites at the very best price, so your brand can absolutely dominate.

It’s not just a ‘package.’ It’s an opportunity for every advertiser – from scrappy start-ups to the big beasts of the urban jungle – to get access to Phantom’s premium locations. 

More than that – you get the planning smarts of our account managers to ensure your campaign is seen by all the right eyes.

There’s only one catch. You’ll have be quicker than a Taylor Swift fan on ticket release day, as these world-class sites won’t be available for long

Get started now

We don’t do deals. We do street domination.

Phantom doesn’t just mean posters, it means 40 years of knowledge, and it means knowing Aotearoa and its streets inside out. 

It means the strategic placement of your campaign to ensure it hits the right eyes, every time. 

If you want to see how good it gets, ask us to put our cards on the table.

Find out more