Little pruners, big boats, flat Earths, and more.
Coming at you via electronic mail, it’s The Handle, True’s occasional newsletter.
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It’s issue #005, and here at True we’re just rounding off a big couple of months of production.
Work Work Work
STIHL – Charged for Life
We’ve just launched a new campaign with STIHL for their incredibly addictive battery-powered pruners. Extra thanks to director James Anderson on this one, he and his team really nailed the casting.
Generate
Speaking of James Anderson, we also worked with him on a campaign for Generate. You might have already seen it – it celebrates great Kiwi sporting performances and will be running during sports events for the rest of the year. Special shoutout to Kyle Stoffberg who provided that blue, shiny motion graphic magic.
Titan
Titan is a shipyard down at Wynyard Quarter. They’ve got a great reputation within their industry but wanted to be more well-known around the Auckland Waterfront. Fortunately, their workshop looks incredible on camera and they’re all nice people, so that made our job much easier. Be sure to follow them on socials to keep up with their work @titanmarinenz
AARTH
Aarth is an Indian-inspired restaurant in Parnell, Auckland, run by Chef Vinayak Sha. We’ve been working with them to develop a look, a photographic style, and a social presence. If you want to know more, your best bet is to book a table @aarth_restaurant
Coastal Wonders
Tom Webster (Grand Designs NZ) hosts a show that takes a look at some of the most incredible homes around the South Pacific. We’ve been doing the social campaign for them, which now includes this newsletter, so please click through and give an ep a watch @coastalwonderstv
True Happenings
Newbie Alert
We’re stoked to welcome Stella Taylor to the Client Partnership team, joining us from Omnicom where she spent five years making shoot-day magic happen - now bringing that same energy into client service at True.
True Intern Programme
Over the last couple of months, we’ve been running a creative intern programme. Grads come in for two days a week and get workshops from every department, as well as the chance to attend shoots, sit in on audio bookings, and get some experience on live proactive briefs. All the teams who have come through have been brilliant, so if you want to snap them up, give us a buzz.
“We weren't expecting one-on-one time across departments, real briefs, proactive work, or the chance to pitch ideas that made it all the way to the CEO.” -Jae & Jo
“Everyone is so nice, and there's so much to learn even from just watching.” -Lucy & Shameer
“It was cool to have our questions answered in depth with examples.”
-Miki & Bella
Best Awards Finalists
We’ve got five (count ‘em, five) finalists at the 2026 Best Awards. Thanks so much to the clients who helped us make the work, and to the stylists and tailors who will help us look good on the night. In the meantime, have a look at the work that’s shortlisted here.
Longform at Fashion Week
It’s Longform’s first birthday! Huge congrats to friend-of-True Des Rusk for reaching the one-year mark. Longform is going to be at NZ Fashion Week, so if you’re going, keep an eye out.
Open Tabs
Here are some of the cool/odd things we’ve seen lately.
Columbia Sportswear Flat Earth
Columbia took a very online phenomenon and grabbed it, subverted it, and took total ownership of it. We looooooove that for a sportswear brand, the launch was just a video of the CEO in his office. Watch it here
Celebrating Losers
Uber gave “defeated discounts” to FIFA fans whose team had been knocked out.
Check it out
Snatch City
A game to raise awareness of phone snatchers on the streets of London. Whoever tops the leaderboard wins an iPhone 17 Pro. Play here
Anthropeum
A daily game where you guess where in the world, and when, a human artifact belongs. 10 new rounds a day, and all the imagery and data are pulled from The Met’s Open Access collection plus public domain maps on Github. The team’s latest score placed us in the top 92%, btw. Test yourself
And that brings us to the conclusion of this edition of The Handle. If there’s anything in here you think is worth sharing, please do so. Especially if it’s the CEO of Nike.
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