Author StopPress Team

Minutes were taken, bad coffee was consumed, plaques were handed out and thanks were given at the Marketing Association’s AGM a couple of days ago. And the end result was a few new yet well-known humans taking up positions on the various boards and networks of ‘your’ association. 

The retail industry has been crying into its cornflakes for the past few years as the perfect storm of recession, the rise of e-commerce and, more recently, massive natural disasters, has battered the sector. But according to brand consultancy Interbrand, which has just released its inaugural Best Retail Brands report, there are “true and measurable signs of optimism” in what is likely to be a fragile recovery. 

…as overachieving Kiwi expat Mark D’Arcy hops on the Facebook bandwagon; DraftFCB’s Matt Scott sits down as chair of the Direct Marketing Network; Tony Clewett is named as New Zealand’s Caples ambassador; Pacific Micromarketing announces a new business development consultant; and EYE Shop announces its new Aussie/NZ overlord. 

MasterCard Worldwide has appointed Acumen Republic as its New Zealand communications agency after a competitive pitch and it will manage MasterCard’s corporate, consumer and government relations, as well as marketing communications activity for its sponsorship of Rugby World Cup 2011 and the All Blacks.

ANZ launched its big Rugby World Cup promotion with much pomp and ceremony last week. But it’s obviously not too late to get involved, because Microsoft New Zealand announced today that it has signed up as an official sponsor of the tournament. 

New Zealand’s territorial waters are 15 times larger than our land mass, but just 0.3 percent of that area is fully protected in marine reserves, compared to around 20 percent of our land with equivalent status. And as part of a campaign to change this unbalanced attitude and eventually get 30 percent of our waters signed up as marine reserves, the WWF and its agency partner Ocean Design have enlisted some of the country’s leading creative minds to share their views on what New Zealand’s seas mean to them. And it’s asking Kiwis to do the same.

Inboxes are groaning under the weight of the emails sent out by daily deal sites at the moment. And successful Australian group buying site Cudo and MediaWorks will soon be adding a few more. But while new collaborative buying sites seem to be a dime a dozen at the moment, the newest boy on the increasingly crowded block claims to have a big point of difference: the deals will be promoted regularly on television by a real live human.

At 8.30pm this Saturday lights will be going out—or so it’s hoped—to help draw attention to climate change. And as this fantastic new ad shows, those who ignore Earth Hour do so at their peril.