Author StopPress Team

There are plenty of critics who, as this brilliant story in The Atlantic shows, believe that there has been a dumbing-down of news, a rise in entertainment and a focus on celebrity. Because we now have the technology to see what’s being read and watched, some feel it has become a vicious cycle of banality. But the research of George Gallup from almost 90 years ago on what people read in their newspapers shows that this isn’t a new phenomenon, that native advertising was always effective and that “readers are liars”.

As Mashable wrote last year, all start-up videos seem to look the same (including Xero’s, which appeared on its list of cliched techniques twice). So they’re ripe for taking the mickey out of. And Canada’s Invoke Media has done that with a pitch video for an amazing new start-up called Carrot.

In the lead up to this year’s edition of McHappy Day—the signature fundraising event for the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC)—McDonald’s has launched a YouTube video that draws attention to the charitable work the organisation does to assist families who have children suffering from illnesses. The video features compilation of clips heart-wrenching clips of families living in on the Kiwi-based Ronald McDonald Houses.

Remember when Cadbury sneakily added palm-oil to its chocolate and decreased the size of its packs? The company got an absolute slamming and its trust levels went through the floor. So it was interesting to see the exact opposite of that response when Whittaker’s put a post on Facebook saying that it would soon have to raise its prices.

At a launch event held last night at Auckland’s Snapdragon Bar, TSM NZ chief executive Rob Ellis unveiled a new mobile wallet brand, bringing fruition to a plan that was first announced over a year ago. As part of the launch, Ellis also said that the collaboration between the shareholders 2degrees, Spark, Vodafone, Paymark and banking partners ASB and BNZ would no longer be known as the TSM but rather as Semble. The main principle underpinning the Semble system is that it aims to remove the need for cards by facilitating a contactless payment system through the user’s mobile phone.

The founder of Ello started up the ad-free social network because he felt like the internet had turned into a giant billboard. There are ways to get around that, of course, and the rise of adblocking software is one of the most popular (nearly five percent of all internet users now use such software, up 69 percent on last year, and 18-29 year olds in the US clocked in at 41 percent). Converse is a brand aimed at the younger end of the market, so, in keeping with the trend towards utility in advertising, it created its own solution to annoying banner ads: a downloadable browser extension called The Ticket.

News from the sponsorship desk, as Sonny Bill Williams dons the denim for Just Jeans, The Warriors re-sign with Canterbury and X Factor NZ announces its commercial partners, minus a couple from last time.

In 1995, Holden released a bizarre commercial that features a young child playing with light representative of the cosmos while the hypnotic voice of an omniscient narrator elaborates on the safety features of the Commodore Acclaim. By the end of this 30-second trippy journey, viewers are left with the uneasy feeling that their minds may have been incepted by some form of subliminal advertising. And while the car company didn’t further the campaign with any follow-on iterations, this unconventional creative approach seems to live on in the modern advertising efforts of the Church of Scientology, which for last year’s Super Bowl released a spot that also rates quite high on the bat defecation scale.

The more things change, the more telcos will be talking about their role in the future. The recently rebranded Spark has been trying to convince Kiwis to never stop starting. But back in 1991, a quintessentially post-modern poster series by Mark Adams for Telecom was all about how fax machines and cell phones helped keep people in touch, ‘from yesterday until tomorrow’.

World vegetarian week kicked off last week and ends tomorrow. And while many meat-dodgers are seen as peaceful types who don’t eat creatures because of concerns around animal cruelty, Hell has twisted that stereotype to promote its vege pizza deal.

In a recent segment, John Oliver aimed his verbal barbs at corporations who attach their commercial Tweets to serious issues. He leads the discussion by referring to US-based DiGiorno Pizza, which used the #WhyIStayed (created to raise awareness of domestic violence) without reading what it was about. The consequential ‘#WhyIStayed You had pizza’ Tweet was met with instant outrage from the online community, and resulted in various reports on mainstream media. But Oliver doesn’t restrict his criticism to corporations that make online faux pas. He also condemns those that make seemingly innocuous and thoughtful Tweets, such as those published on the 13th anniversary of the 11 September attacks. In his typically scathing style, Oliver makes the point that corporations should really just “remain respectfully silent”.

Our weekly collection of good things, funny things, weird things and other things from inside the intertubes.

Typically, Toyota focuses on the toughness of its Hilux ute, something clearly demonstrated by Top Gear’s unsuccessful attempt to kill one. Australia has also embraced that strategy with its Unbreakable positioning, but now it’s decided to focus on the toughness of the men who choose to drive one. PLUS: Toyota’s tie-up with Modern Family.

As mentioned in recent stories about Special Group’s collaboration with Anna Funder for Papsaley, Microsoft’s work with BMD and Icebreaker’s Simon Beck Collection, art and commerce are regularly intertwined in the world of marketing. Creative agency Fly has a long history of doing just that and creating objects that “act as a trojan horse for the delivery of meaning and emotional connection”. And recently it collaborated with artists to help launch Spark’s subscription video on-demand service Lightbox and a new range of charitable drinks for Phoenix.

Danny MacAskill is a phenomenon on two wheels and, along with his sponsor Red Bull, he has created some amazing films like Imaginate, Industrial Revolutions, Epecuen and Way Back Home in recent years. And his latest one, The Ridge, which sees him and filmmaker Stu Thomson return to their homeland on the Isle of Skye and face up to the 1000 metre drop of The Cuillin Ridge, is one of the craziest and most beautiful yet.

​​UK artist Simon Beck does some remarkable things with his feet. And Icebreaker has hooked up with him to launch its new season collection and, at the same time, raise money to fight climate change.

The internet is very good at bringing different groups together. Google, Trade Me, Ebay and Amazon have brought buyers and sellers together. Uber has brought drivers and passengers together. Airbnb has brought owners and renters together. And now a New Zealand website called madam.co.nz hopes to bring ladies of the night and those willing to pay for them together.

Movies like Titanic, Lion King and Top Gun get an interesting makeover … or is it a makeunder?

As well as expanding around the world, Burger Fuel is expanding into online ordering in New Zealand. And to celebrate, it’s come up with a beautiful poem and some naff pick up lines.

GoPro’s promotional videos have largely focused how users can film themselves surfing, jumping off mountains or generally laughing in the face of death. But it’s increasingly showcasing how it can be used in many other areas of film-making, whether it’s clips of kittens that have been rescued from fires, golden eagles in flight or ridiculous lion encounters. And its latest clip to launch the new Hero 4, ‘The Adventure of Life in 4K’, is a thing of audio-visual beauty.