Author StopPress Team

In what could be seen as either a blow for rugby purists lamenting the sport’s descent into commercialism or a massive boost for the New Zealand Rugby Union—and the game as a whole—global insurance company American International Group has signed a five and a half year sponsorship agreement that will see its logo take pride of place in the middle of the All Black jersey.

There are plenty of moral dilemmas working in—and writing about—marketing. At its core, it’s about using creativity and communications to grow businesses. And, often, using creativity and communications to grow businesses selling products that some deem harmful. As this Ad Age story points out, Alex Bogusky used to work with Coca-Cola when he was part of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, but after a bit of a break, he’s now fighting the other, less well-resourced activist corner, delivering a bit of an uppercut to Coke and other producers of sugary drinks with a four-minute long animation about a family of unhealthy, fizzy-drink-loving polar bears who finally see the light.

The government has an eye on changing the way it markets the country as a whole, and in a recent StopPress column, Courtney Lambert argued that a mixed agency model was the way to go.

The Kiwi masses were whipped into a frenzy last month by Coca-Cola’s announcement that it was looking for 50 new names to plaster on Coke bottles through its Share a Coke campaign and now it’s time to vote.

When Pernod Ricard asked bars across New Zealand to come up with a fresh way to engage customers with Absolut Vodka, a group of AdSchool students at Media Design School took up the challenge – and won.

Despite Steve Jobs’ passing, consumers’ emotional connection to his brand remains stronger than ever, with Apple climbing up the ranks of Interbrand’s 13th annual Best Global Brands report to second place behind reigning champion Coca-Cola.

Natcoll is dead – at least in name. Going forward, the design technology institute will be known as YOOBEE School of Design in line with its sister business units.

We’ve featured plenty of bank ads in recent weeks on StopPress. But this one’s a bit different. And while ANZ is doing it’s utmost to retain customers around the country after the National Bank announcement, it might not have to do quite as much in Ohakune to keep them loyal, as this cult-like classic shows.

As the face of the Student Volunteer Army in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes, Sam Johnson was an obvious candidate for the title of Young New Zealander of the Year. And now he can add Communicator of the Year to that, with PRINZ honouring him at an event for senior PR pros last week.

GrabOne has come out as the first New Zealand company to integrate with Passbook, a new feature in iOS6 that enables the storage of coupons, loyalty cards, tickets and more on your iPhone. And the mobile wallet fun doesn’t stop there, because Westpac, Telecom and Auckland Transport have cranked up a trial.