From brewing vodka in his garage to eventually establishing what Paul Catmur called a “vodka empire” worth $138 million, Geoff Ross knows what it takes to build a successful business. In recent years he has turned to a slightly different type of brewing and is currently chief executive of craft beer brand Moa. Ross also serves as a chairman of Trilogy, the skincare company.

Ex-Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide chief operating officer, STW director, Assignment Group co-founder, APN board member and dairy don Peter Cullinane offers up one big hard-earned pearl of advertising wisdom on the perfect modern agency.

Most marketers involved in comms work are becoming direct marketers by stealth, reckons Ben Goodale. So how can an old discipline be harnessed for these new channels?

Jonathan Dodd believes Telecom’s rebrand to Spark was well-managed and is a good strategic decision. But he reckons the wheels have fallen off a bit when it comes to its rewards scheme, ‘Thanks’.

Niche publishers have sold their audiences based on the premise that their readers are valuable. The problem has been that this was eroded by extended audiences, interest and behavioral targeting. But native advertising allows niche publishers to sell integrated campaigns, rather than selling rapidly commoditised space, says Ben Young.

Plenty has been written about the passing of Robin Williams in the past few days. And Michael Goldthorpe thinks it’s of relevant interest that one of his last pieces of work was a show about advertising, an industry that, like Hollywood, is pretty good at monetising mania.

Digital screens are coming to a space near you, and the operators are pretty excited about it. But Robett Hollis is sounding the alarm bell and says the industry needs to think hard about what to put on them.

Brands have seen the opportunity to shake themselves free of the tyranny of paid media and embrace content marketing. But it pays to look before you leap, writes David MacGregor.

The correlation between digital marketing excellence and revenue is on the rise, says Adobe’s Tamara Gaffney. And New Zealand and Australia are doing well when it comes to engagement and conversion rates.

The discussion underneath the stories on StopPress can be extremely entertaining and quite revealing, but things often veer towards the negative. So we’re trying to balance the ledger a bit and, in conjunction with The One Percent Collective, we’re launching a new section for agencies, clients and anyone else in the wider marcomms industry to claim the moral high ground and celebrate the good work of their competitors.

While online shopping is certainly on the rise, digital technology does not have to disrupt and destroy physical retail, says Theresa Clifford. Rather, it can be used to optimise inefficiencies and increase service and personalisation.

Paul Catmur, the creative managing partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends, shares his views on life, advertising and other annoyances, such as the unbundling of media.

Flossie chief executive Jenene Crossan was recently asked to present a talk at the Moxie Sessions about what the next 25 years of the internet will hold for our favourite perky nation at the edge of the world. Can we stand up against the mega-trends, or will we drown in a sea of animated cat gifs? And what difference will the internet actually make to our lives? Here’s her response.

Former TUANZ CEO and now PR guy Paul Brislen says Facebook’s “fuck you” attitude will ultimately result in its demise.

Marketers have more access to information and research about their customers than ever before. And more than ever they’re relying on it (and only it) to make decisions. But that’s risky, says Todd McLeay.

Andrew Lewis thinks that despite 50 years of research, practice, learning and refinement, we are still pretty rubbish at creating great brands that genuinely connect with people. And he thinks the secret to rectifying this might lie in the teachings of Stanislavski.