Author StopPress Team

Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has made an impression on the Instagram scene with its latest marketing attempt. A quiz spanning 18 accounts and close to 400 images determining which vehicle best suits the user’s lifestyle, the Tucson, Santa Fe, or Santa Fe Sport.

Designworks chief executive Sven Baker was at good odds to get one of his designs through to the final four of the Flag Consideration Project given he had five make the first cut. Alas, it was not to be, and after the decision was announced a few days ago, there’s been no shortage of commentary about the chosen options, with ‘lost opportunity’ being the prevailing theme among the design community and the opinionated folk of social media. But rather than wallow in self-pity at the injustice of it all, he decided to make the best of a bad situation. And what better way to drown a few design-related sorrows than with a nice vintage.

McDonald’s is having a reasonably rough time of it at the moment, with falling sales in some of its bigger markets and more trouble brewing with those pesky, transparency-seeking, provenance-loving, fast-casual fans known as millennials not really lovin’ it as much as they once did. But it’s trying to change and, as a recent campaign in Australia shows, it’s trying to be ‘very unMcDonald’s’, whether it’s through the launch of premium burgers, new branding, clever packaging or global days of creativity. It’s also looking to recruit digitally savvy staff as it aims to bring “a start-up mindset to one of the world’s largest and most iconic brands” and, in an ad on LinkedIn, it seems to have attempted to illustrate what it thinks those staff might look like.

For those of you who spot an alien-like, mirrored box structure that has planted itself in Auckland’s Britomart preccinct, do not fear. It isn’t a UFO, a force field, or time machine (although that would be pretty cool), it’s The Heineken Light Club.

Uber, the ultimate disruptor, proven perhaps by the increasingly frequent reference of other tech innovations being dubbed as “The Uber of [insert tech innovation]”. And, it’s easy to see why. Recent results show Uber for business travel is doing extremely well with several companies jumping aboard the Uber bandwagon/cab.

During the Cricket World Cup, ANZ used its Dream Big initiative to get cut-through the marketing noise during the Cricket World Cup. Rather than focusing exclusively on the event, the bank brought its Black Caps sponsorship to life by travelling around the country showing its support for grassroots cricket by upgrading the facilities at various grounds around the country. And now, with the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, ANZ is at it again, this time renovating Waitemata Rugby Club in a new video posted to Facebook. The difference in this instance is that ANZ isn’t even a sponsor of Rugby New Zealand, the All Blacks or the Rugby World Cup.

We all have those friends or know at least one person who only smokes when they drink, who’s a “social smoker” or who will only buy a pack in the weekends. 72and Sunny released an ad tackling the issue of social smoking called ‘It’s a Trap’.

As is often the case with cancer, the sufferer’s chances of recovery are drastically increased by early detection of the disease. However, when it comes to prostate cancer, many men tend to have inhibitions about having the rectal examination necessary to check for prostate abnormalities. For this reason, not-for-profit organisation Blue September has released a confronting message for its 2015 campaign that encourages men to “man up and give prostate cancer the finger”.

For anyone who has young children, younger siblings, has some relation to a child or.. who has been a child knows that having children running around a house when there are precious things about can be a major source of anxiety and/or potentially despair. This ad for John Lewis Insurance, featuring a young girl dancing around her house will have you on the edge of your seat, expecting the worst to happen at any moment. But the anxiety is worth it.

OMD Group vacated its College Hill premises, its home for over a decade, to shift into a stylish new office space in Mt Eden. Here’s the lowdown on the new space and the thinking behind it.

TVNZ’s news department has been basking in impressive ratings in recent months. And Matt McLean has been part of the reporting and presenting team for around seven years, moving between Close Up, Breakfast and One News. The 28-year-old shares his love of Buzzfeed quizzes, pop music and TJ Perenara.

Reaction videos have become one of the staple products served through the YouTube interface. For every weird, horrifying or disgusting viral video, there are a slew of follow-on clips showing people reacting to the content. And in an effort to make its YouTube ads a little more engaging, UK-based BT TV has launched a new campaign that asks viewers to guess what celebrities are watching.

Humans regularly pay for having their photo taken (when it’s horrible and it gets posted on social media, or when looking back and wondering why you ever thought that hairstyle was a good choice). But, following on from a tease at its I/0 event, Google decided to let people pay with a photo to promote the enhanced search functionality of its upgraded Photos app.

For those who waste their pay cheque on things like shoes or coffee, beer and other consumables this ANZ online game will see you doing your best to stay on track (in the digital world), mainly because of the lure of the potential win of $5,000

The Best Design Awards’ Best Effects category showcases design that goes above and beyond, bringing a profitable outcome for the clients involved. Here’s a breakdown of this year’s finalists.

Last week, there was plenty of media interest in Bansky’s brilliant ‘bemusement’ park by the sea, Dismaland. And while it’s not particularly suitable for children—and while tickets sold out in an hour—he and his gang of subversive artists have released an ad showing a family visit to ‘the happiest place on Earth’.

Media companies are continually pushing the strength of their particular medium (or combination of mediums). And one popular way to show off capabilities, get creatives thinking about how to use the medium effectively and line up a few leads is to run a creative competition. NZME has its Advertising Challenge. Adshel ran the Creative Challenge for its charity client Surf Lifesaving NZ. And now APN Outdoor is joining in the fun with Pixel361°, a scheme that invites creative minds to create a digital outdoor campaign to raise awareness of the Men’s Health charity.

In this day and age, it’s becoming increasingly clear that people don’t like being obviously advertised to. We don’t have the time, patience or interest anymore. A modern audience is a more distracted audience, it’s true. Content marketing company Scribble knows this, and it came up with a clever initiative to get Twitter users in the marketing realm (but not necessarily) spreading some ad hate in an attempt to champion content marketing