A NOVEL APPROACH TO ADVERTISING: ALAN DUFF JOINS THE POND

While many ad creatives have a manuscript in their bottom draw and wistful ambitions of following in Bryce Courteney’s footsteps, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated novelists is planning a reverse take-over.
Alan Duff, the man who made famous the saying “Do-ies not huis”, is now looking to advertising and design to continue bringing his love of words to life.
Described in the Oxford Literary Dictionary as a "cultural phenomenon”, Alan is perhaps best known for his novels ‘Once Were Warriors’ and ‘What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?’, published worldwide with two movies.
Nevertheless Duff has been prolific in many other ways. He founded the literacy programme ‘Books in Homes’, which put over 5,000,000 books into the homes of disadvantaged children. He was also NZ's most widely syndicated weekly columnist for 10 years. More recently, he’s written radio scripts, screenplays and was one of 12 top writers invited to tour France. “I've even sung in front of 600 people, my version of Maori-oke,” he quips.
Duff will be represented by The Pond, a freelance creative department partnering advertising and design agencies. “With a lack of good writing skills coming through the ad schools, we are seeing a resurgence in the need for quality writers who are not only good at their craft, but also able to capture the way New Zealanders actually talk and relate to each other, ” says Leighton Howl at The Pond.
The Pond sees Duff as a way to inspire and bring a different perspective to the ad market, which is often criticised for it’s ‘white urban upper income’ image. And for Duff, he’s looking forward to the creative challenge of mastering advertising “the only writing medium I haven’t done.”
Certainly there is no doubt his cheeky down-to-earth style resonates with Kiwis.
As someone who grew up with a rebellious streak, Alan Duff has always seen himself as "a man of the people” who tries to reflect his fellow Kiwis in his written works. He’s looking forward to using his knowledge of Maori people to target this area of expertise as well as his general wit and penmanship for other interesting advertising projects.
Duff can be contacted through The Pond by calling Sue Worthington on 021 668 835 or Clinton Ulyatt 021 442 295 or by visiting thepond.co.nz.