The Media Design School has just moved into a new swanky building in the Auckland CBD and to celebrate it’s launched a new series of weekend workshops for busy design professionals looking to upskill or add a few new strings to their bows. But the learning doesn’t stop there: the ever-popular—and free—NZ Post Direct Marketing Workshops are back again, with Rapp/Tribal’s creative director Aaron Goldring and Federation’s creative director Ben Chandler set to spread their words of wisdom.  

If you’re confused as to what exactly gamification is, the term refers to an industry that brings together game mechanics and marketing to create engagement and solve problems.

But don’t take it from us. Thanks to CAANZ Digital Leadership Group, world-leading authority on gamification, Gabe zicherman, is heading to New Zealand where he will discuss how game mechanics and funware can transform marketing, product development and operational processes.

The retail sector’s troubles over the past few years have been well-documented, but there’s one thing the New Zealand Retailers Association is particularly excited about: its National Conference, which will feature two distinguished international keynote speakers, a who’s who of local retail boffins and even the team from Rugby World Cup 2011.

The ever-popular New Zealand Post Targeted Communications’ direct marketing workshops are back for another year. And the first one, which will be led by Shirtcliffe & Co’s Matt Shirtcliffe, is scheduled for Thursday 10 February at the Media Centre in Parnell. Tony Clewett, creative director at DraftFCB, will present at the following workshop on Thursday 3 March. So, if you want to expand your DM mind for free, best get your name in the hat.

It’s not every day you get a chance to see the inner-most workings of an institution that was ranked as the world’s fourth best creative ad school by YoungGuns earlier this year. But it just so happens the young whippersnappers from Media Design School are showing off the year’s wares on Wednesday night from 5.30-8.30pm at the Mini Garage on Ponsonby Road. So, if you’re in the biz, get along and see what the future holds.

In what could only be classified as a tease, Derek Handley, mobile marketing pioneer and the co-founder of recently acquired Hyperfactory, will be announcing a unique global opportunity for New Zealand’s leading marketing entrepreneurs at the Marketing Association’s Marketing Forum 2010 on 29 November in Auckland. But you have to be there to find out what it is.

The RAPP team consisting of creative director Jason Hall, copywriter Kathy Riley, designer Asher Hutchings and Rachel Street on production duties has taken victory in the latest round of New Zealand Post’s Art of the Envelope awards for ‘Look Smart’, a piece to celebrate the launch of the National Bank’s Visa Debit card.

Those creatives grow up so fast these days don’t they? Soon enough they’ll be getting told to shut up by Devo for talking during speeches at the Axis awards (if they’re lucky enough to get jobs when they graduate). So if you want to see what the young whippersnappers from the AUT Adschool have been up to in 2010, make sure you head along to the end of year show on Tuesday 9 November at Film Construction, 22 Minnie St, Eden Terrace. It’s industry only from 5.30pm to 7pm, then the hoards of parents, pals and pets get to have a gander from 7-9pm. And, as is the custom during the burgeoning festive season, the drinks and nibbles will be plentiful. Here’s what some of the young’uns produced last year.

For all those looking for some insight into the latest global trends in the realm of unaddressed mail and catalogues, the ‘International Catalogue Exhibition’, which is sponsored by PMP Distribution, is being held over three days (26-28 October) at Auckland’s Heritage Hotel. It’s basically junk mail nirvana.

Crisis communications is one of the easiest areas to study and gain an appreciation for tangible social media ROI. And while we can never fully prepare for a natural disaster or acts of God, the advances in digital media can help accelerate the recovery. They can also help change the structure and procedures of previously traditional and parochial communications departments, as the State Government of Victoria in Australia discovered when it was subjected to some of the worst bushfires ever seen last year.

After a hugely successful inaugural conference in May that attracted more than 200 Kiwi marketers, Social Media Junction is returning for its second edition with six international speakers on 16-17 November at SkyCity in Auckland. And the theme this time around is ‘Achieving ROI in your Social Media Marketing Strategy.’

The New Zealand Marketing Association’s RSVP & Nexus Awards is the only awards programme dedicated to celebrating marketing that demands a reply, stimulates a conversation or prompts some deeper brand involvement that leads to a measurable-response. And marketers, agencies, consultancies and suppliers who have been involved in the development of a project or campaign that demonstrates brilliance in response-driven marketing are asked to prepare their entries so they can be recognised as leading the way in New Zealand marketing.

With three times as many entries than the 2009 edition, the esteemed judges of the 2010 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards had a pretty tough job ahead of them deciding on the finalists. But after plenty of discussion, dissection and deliberation, the judging has come to an end and NZ Marketing magazine and the New Zealand Marketing Association (NZMA) can announce this year’s leading contenders.

Setting up and maintaining a server for your business can be a costly and time consuming affair—not so with Apple’s Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. From email to shared calendars and contacts, or file-sharing to online collaboration, Apple’s Snow Leopard Server can deliver immediate tangible benefits with no fuss. Come and see why it’s [warning obvious cat pun ahead] purr-fect for the job at 4pm, Thursday 24 June at the Stardome Observatory. And you could also take home an iPod touch just for coming along.