Bad news for social media influencers: new research shows that staged, paid endorsements are no longer resonating with audiences, while authentic, user-generated content is. Business strategist Sarah Pearce breaks down how brands can adjust their social media strategy accordingly.

Graham Medcalf takes a look at the week that was, covering blockchain-based digital advertising, marketers joining boards, misleading advertising, Simon Moutter’s resignation, and humour in ads.

Some say print is dying in the digitally-dominated age, but as Stuff’s Ben Rose writes, print and digital media can be complementary to one another.

Calls for social media to be regulated have escalated following their failure to act decisively in the public interest during the terror attacks in Christchurch.

Graham Medcalf takes a look at the week that was, covering advertisers moving away from Facebook, Google and YouTube, and the value of inclusive ads.

Anthem’s senior account director, Sarah Geel, looks at how empathy is turning the dial on customer experience.

Richard Brett, Opr CEO, writes about the rise of slow TV, New Zealand’s ageing population and the stigma attached to loneliness.

VMLY&R managing director James Mok reflects on the 15 March terrorist attack in Christchurch, and how the industry can do better to represent New Zealanders.

Graham Medcalf takes a look at the week that was, covering Vodafone’s restructure, reaching Chinese tourists, the cost of ad fraud, and tomato sauce ice cream.

Like me, I’m sure you read a lot for your work. But no one reads as much as Rohit Bhargava. The former advertising executive scans thousands of articles, books, social media and academic journals every year to assemble his best-selling Non-Obvious trends report. He’s like a living Evernote. His office is stacked with piles of print-outs and torn magazine pages, labelled and categorised with Sticky Notes, curated into themes and then bundled like lawyer’s evidence that support his case for declaring a non-obvious trend. He could really do with some AI.

Austin is a city of beige buildings and brown coloured brick, but the South by Southwest festival is a celebration of colour and creativity unlike any other. Anthemites Sarah Geel and Vincent Heeringa have thrown themselves into the fray of queues, speakers and bad coffee to find out what’s new in the world of marketing and media. Here’s their first five impressions from 24 hours on the ground.

Sweetshop managing director Fiona King reflects on what International Women’s Day means to the advertising industry and how balanced it is in 2019.

Graham Medcalf takes a look at the week that was, covering TV advertising’s performance, who is responsible for ad placement, converting traffic to conversions and ageism in the industry.

Vincent Heeringa buckles his seatbelt before he heads off to the conference mothership, South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas next week. The annual film, interactive media and music conference has been the industry’s platform for launching careers or guaranteeing the success of movies since 1987.

Graham Medcalf takes a look at the week that was, covering the return of creativity thanks to technological advances, the gender divide in New Zealand advertising, companies freezing their YouTube advertising and if advertising has becoming obsolete.

Isthmus CEO Ralph Johns says the current New Zealand condition is we are increasingly physical and mentally unwell, our communities are disconnected, access to good housing is inequitable and our environment is suffering. However, these issues that reflect global uncertainty and complexity can also be tackled by casting aside traditional models and structuring your business around ambiguity.

Graham Medcalf takes a look at the week that was, covering The Warehouse’s carbon neutral claims, Westpac’s stadium sponsorship coming to an end, NZ Herald’s paywall plans, MediaWorks’ cyber investigation, agencies working together, marketer’s priorities, and the accuracy of viewership numbers.

Graham Medcalf takes a look at the week that was, covering clever out-of-home campaigns, retailers putting their data to use, diversity in the industry, content marketing as advertising, and the humanity of consumers.