Author StopPress Team

Scent is a powerful force, as evidenced by the intoxicating effect of KFC, the wafting aroma of baking bread that some believe is piped around supermarkets and Subway stores, the popularity of fancy candles, the existence of scratch and sniff, Air Wick’s latest ad and, of course, cartoon characters floating towards an apple pie on a windowsill. Shoes don’t have the best reputation when it comes to smell. But Ziera, fresh from winning Retail NZ’s supreme Top Shop honour, has turned that perception on its head and created its own fragrance called Fleurs De Printemps to waft through its stores.

Throughout winter, Air New Zealand, Host Sydney and Diaries Downunder created a few entertaining snow-related clips that played on the ‘Meanwhile, in …’ meme. And the airline has continued that idea for Christmas by giving the children of Portobello on the Otago Peninsula a little surprise.

In a campaign announcing the release of the Moto 360 smartwatch, Motorola has aimed a satirical barb at the tropes that have so long provided content for cliched advertisements dedicated to high-end timepieces. Extreme closeups, slow-motion cinematography, snooty classical music and the soothing murmurings of an unseen narrator all combine to give each spot the look and feel of a standard watch ad. But just when it looks as though things are going to follow the usual script, things take a rather unexpected and very modern turn.

Barnes Catmur put a bit of effort into its Christmas gift. And it also delivered the goods with its Christmas card: a traditional festive scene that is subjected to client feedback and then modified accordingly.

Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.

The IAB NZ has released its latest ad spend figures and, as would be expected, the amount spent on digital advertising has continued to grow, reaching a record $159 million in the third quarter of 2014, up 22 percent from the amount posted at the same time last year.

In yet more list-based news, Hotwire has released its sixth annual report into what it believes will be the big digital trends for the year ahead, whether that’s dresses that block mobile signals, data doctors or, the big one for 2015, consumers choosing how they consume content.

‘Tis the season for lists (actually, as the popularity of Buzzfeed shows, it’s always the season for lists). And Contently, a company “where brands and advertisers can go to connect with freelancers and journalists to commission work on their behalf”, has released its round-up of the best content marketing of the year.

In the creative industries, the Christmas message is a time for experimentation and show-offery. And the Downlow Concept’s ‘annual non-denominational holiday video’ is a gem. Running the gamut of corporate video cliches, the production company responsible for 7 Days, Coverband, Hounds and fair few ads has created a glorious visual treat that includes generic words, shirtless men, fingers on fences, cutting-edge animation and, perhaps most importantly, gas heating. It also features Josh Thomson doing a fine impression of Little Richard.

Retinoblastoma is a deadly eye cancer that develops in children, and because the disease is so difficult to detect it often ends up stealing the sense of sight from its young victims. However, one of the easiest ways to determine whether or not someone is suffering from the disease is through the use of a smartphone—and you don’t even need an app.

Google Chromecast, the thumb-sized media streaming device that plugs into the HDMI port on a TV, has now been launched in New Zealand and is available for purchase at various electronic retailers. Selling for a standard retail price of $61, the device enables users to connect mobile devices, tablets and smartphones to the TV and then access apps on the bigger screen. And given the success of the product abroad, both Quickflix and Pandora have already announced that their services can be accessed through the device.

Facebook and YouTube have released respective top ten lists of topics and content that proved most popular over the course of 2014. And to accompany the publication of these summaries of virality, the new media juggernauts have also launched a pair of retrospective videos that give viewers a glimpse at what got the masses clicking over the course of the last year.

Insurance isn’t often thought of as an industry overflowing with humour, but AMI is showing that it does in fact have a funnier side in new campaign that brings to life true claim stories in a new animated series.

Following on from last year’s campaign featuring a pair of Brazilian bloggers sharing their experiences of studying in New Zealand, Education New Zealand has now launched a new campaign called ‘A new adventure every day’, which has a collection of five average foreign students starring in a series of videos that showcase what New Zealand is like.

Yesterday, MediaWorks announced it was merging its newsrooms to enhance efficiency. Fairfax has long favoured the network approach. And NZME is doing similar things by bringing its various strands closer together. So how will that affect the news? Conan O’Brien knows.

While most marketers in the action and outdoor industry attempt showcase their products as survival essentials, Mons Royale founder Hamish Acland has veered away from this trope to present his brand as a fashionable label that offers both utility and aesthetic appeal. And this approach has now been continued in a new promotional clip that showcases imagery that is both sexy and utility-based. Featuring Jossi Wells, Christy Prior, Connor Macfarlane, Will Jackways and beautifully shot in the Mons Royale hometown of Lake Wanaka, the over-minute-long video provides a glimpse at the lives of these extreme sports enthusiasts.