The growth in the outdoor industry is largely being driven by digital media, both ‘place-based’, like shopping malls, oil chains and airports, and large format. In the Asia/Pacific region, ad spend in digital out-of-home has grown 19 percent on average every year from 2006 to 2011 and global spend in the sector last year was $US7 billion, which is forecast to grow almost 20 percent this year. So local digital signage network nGage is bringing together a few smart cookies at an event that aims to showcase the digital signage ecosystem and offer a glimpse into the future.

They’re another year older and (definitely) deeper in debt; they’ve been awarded in international student competitions; they’ve won both the NAB and TVNZ national student challenges; they’ve been through the rigours of a retail round robin with several agencies; they recently submitted six weeks of brand new work on various briefs to an industry panel for some tough words and sage advice; and now the Media Design School advertising students are ready to show their wares next Wednesday between 5.30 and 8pm at The Nathan Club, 51 Galway street, Britomart.

Wellington, which fancies itself our arts and cultural capital, will no longer have to miss out on the creative love-fest that is Semi-Permanent.

54 percent of Kiwi online shoppers now own a smartphone, according to PwC. And thanks to the search engines in their pockets they are likely to know things about your market before you do. This should put the mobile customer experience near the top of the to-do list for many companies and the MA’s September Brainy Breakfast, which, for the first time in several years will also be held in Wellington, focuses on five key mobile experience trends that will help get you up with the play.

The digital age is changing the way we live and work. And whatever your industry or interest, you’re part of the wave, like it or not. And digital media conference The Project, described as “a collision of thought on social media and digital communication”, is your chance to figure out how to ride it.

The advertising and marketing approaches of old are much less effective in today’s marketplace. Many consumers just want companies to stop shouting at them. And Stop Shouting is the name of an upcoming marketing seminar put on by Post Creative’s Post New in association with Air New Zealand, featuring speakers who believe that to win in business, radical changes in brand behaviour, marketing approaches and the way organisations conduct themselves is imperative.

Coca-Cola South Pacific, giffgaff and comparethemarket.com from the UK, KidZania from the US and Digital Alchemy from Australia arrive next week to spill the beans to New Zealand marketers on how they’ve harnessed modern direct marketing to take their businesses to another level.

With digital transforming the way products and services are marketed and the ever-increasing consumer appetite for this medium, the influence of digital has never been greater. So it’s never been more critical for businesses to learn how to benefit from the rapid advances in the digital space—and to extend their own capabilities. And the Marketing Association’s Digital Day Out on May 17 gives marketers a chance to get out from behind the desk and examine what is dominating digital today, what the next big things might be and what’s changing the landscape in this ever-evolving medium.

It’s pretty tough going in the retail sector at the moment. And, as the digital wave keeps breaking, it’s increasingly important to try and keep up with the play. And, thanks to Westfield, local retailers will be able to get their heads around some of the issues affecting the sector at the inaugural Retail Brain Food for Breakfast Seminar in Auckland next month. 

Put 16 November 2011 in your diary folks, because the Marketing Association reckons the list of big brains on the bill means the Marketing Today conference is shaping up as the biggest marketing event of the year.