Author StopPress Team

Bouquets for Hyundai, Tip Top, Paspaley, Bay Audiology and Valspar this week.

That shiny rectangle in your pocket is an amazing piece of technology. But there’s a growing sense that we’re becoming far too attached to our phones, to the point where we seem to be happy to sacrifice real human interaction for a poke, a scroll and a quick game of information pokies. And Hallertau Brewery in Riverhead has taken a stand against the use of these magical cubes of distraction at its establishment and is aiming to promote actual conversation.

Hyundai has launched a new campaign for its latest Tuscon model with a TVC featuring a young girl who urges Kiwis to ‘Get lost’ in New Zealand. Hyundai is blowing the same horn it has for a while, pushing its family-sized vehicles by promoting family-fun time.

Ads for universities have always been a bit cringey, but the Universtiy of Melbourne has helped break the cycle with a creative spot about ‘What happens when minds collide’.

We have cars that can drive themselves, fridges that know when we’re out of milk and sensors that can tell if your elderly relatives have taken their pills. Now, for those who also want their binge watching smartened, Netflix has given the world a button that can turn on your TV, dim your lights, silence your phone and even order food.

There’s a whole heap of money flowing into digital media at the moment—and that pot just seems to keep getting bigger. But there are a fair few concerns being raised about whether that money is being spent wisely, whether it’s due to bot fraud, dodgy metrics or viewability issues. Recently, one of the world’s most powerful ad men, Sir Martin Sorrell, said he thought the pendulum had swung too far towards digital and it was time for marketers to reconsider the effectiveness of traditional media (which seemed to warm the hearts of many harried publishers and broadcasters). And in New York during Ad Week celebrations, the US outdoor industry body has launched a clever campaign making the same argument by pointing out that digital has a reality problem.

The 2015 Newspaper Advertising Awards last night saw DDB head home $10,000 richer for nabbing the top award for its BMW ‘reverse April Fool’s’ ad, with Ogilvy & Mather’s ad for Rebel Sport’s ‘Big Kahuna’ coming in as the runner up.

In celebration of the launch of 236 episodes of Friends on streaming service Stan, New York’s most famous coffee shop Central Perk is heading to Australia. The real-life pop-up café will be opening in Hyde Park, Sydney for over two weeks.

In addition to venomous fauna and teenage hoodlums, the chromatic pairing of black and yellow has come to typify Pak ‘n Save in the Kiwi retail industry. However, this year, in a show of support for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF), Pak ‘n Save will set aside its colour allegiance and turn its ‘Number 8 wire’ ad pink in the ten days leading up to the annual Pink Ribbon Appeal, which takes place on 9 and 10 October this year.

Industry happenings at TVNZ, Spotify, Badger, Mango, Colmar Brunton, VantagePoint, YuDoozy and SureFire.

Vodafone, Whittaker’s and Pak ‘n Save win a solemn nod of approval this week.

Mozart, the Egyptian goddess Ma’at, the Apollo 11 mission and ancient Greece were some of the subjects among the entries for Google’s ‘Doodle 4 Google’ competition. Young’uns from years one to 10 submitted entries for a Google logo design about where they would go and what they would do if they could go back in time.

Emojis are on their way to global takeover. They’re appearing in all sorts of campaigns, including a recent spot by Spark for Morepork home security, which features a family of emojis that talk and think in emojis. Even the Pope has been emojified. Digiday asked ad creatives, strategists and account manage to describe a day in their lives with emojis, here are the results.

As indicated by the proliferation of headphones fastened to the ears of runners and gym goers, a personal soundtrack has become something of a necessity for an exercise regime. Given this affiliation between music and exercise, organisations such as Beats by Dr Dre has released a plethora of ads featuring sports stars using its products. Similarly, Spotify has also been making moves into this space, developing playlists specifically targeted at those engaging in exercise. And now, the music streaming service has taken it one step further by launching a feature that plays tracks matched to the pace the runner is moving at.

Uber has now reached one million trips in New Zealand since it launched 18 months ago and to celebrate, it’s offering its users two free rides tomorrow and has released information on its impact in the country.

Social media is being used in all kinds of creative ways to market these days. One of the latest initiatives is by Tourism New Zealand and travel group Helloworld which has created the world’s first social media relay, through Instagram, in celebration of United Nations World Tourism Day.