Author Vanessa Ellingham

News
Remember this? The mouse that roared
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You might recall the sound of your first PC; the distinct hum of the hard drive powering up and whirring away as you perused Encarta or had the smiley-faced paperclip teach you to use Clip Art. Or at least that’s what they told you made all that noise. But was there really a little motor inside the big grey box? No, it was a very clever little mouse, because in 1996 homegrown computer manufacturer PC Direct pitched itself as the small but powerful Kiwi PC company who took on the big multinationals, becoming an iconic Kiwi brand of the tech era and winning the 1997 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Award for Consumer Products – Durable.

News
Remember this? Get more ‘fro with Moro Gold
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Pitched as the lighter and more indulgent counterpart to the original Moro, Cadbury’s Moro Gold tackled the dilemma of launching an international product into the marketplace without cannibalising the brand’s existing business. And the hugely successful campaign earned Cadbury the 2007 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Award in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods category.

News
Remember this? The meaning of life is 42
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Long before it sat on the shelves of the world’s swankiest bars, watered private parties at hipster music festival SXSW, ran a cocktail world cup on Coronet Peak, even before that one-time international film competition with 42 directors making 42 films each lasting 42 seconds, and almost a decade before that shifty circus bar with the small bearded lady opened up for 42 days in Auckland during the RWC, 42 Below vodka took out the 2003 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards Small Business title.

Opinion
Storm in a beer mug shows the trouble with trademarks
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So, DB has trademarked the beer name “Radler” for its Monteith’s brand, to the despair of independent brewers who say “Radler” is a style of beer, not a brand, and shouldn’t be owned by a beverage behemoth. It’s a battle begging comparison to David and Goliath, but then it seems so many trademark cases are. Here’s our pick of the persnickety trademark bunch ©.

Opinion
Meta-news: the good online oil on the phone hacking scandal
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It has all the key ingredients of a holy grail story that would be right at home in the News of the World: secrets, politics, royalty, skullduggery, dubious ethics and alleged bribery. And yet the 168-year-old tabloid renowned for nabbing such stories closed on Sunday after it emerged it had hacked into the phones of murder victims and allegedly also 9/11 victims, royals and politicians. As you can imagine, there’s a whole heap of information, commentary and satire available online about the scandal. And we’ve collected the best of it so you don’t have to.