As Rod Oram said in a TVNZ report about the recent Fonterra product recall: “We need to be extremely mindful of how reputations are won and lost in the new social media world we live in.” Simon Young looks at what was being said about Fonterra and this current crisis on Chinese social media.

There’s plenty of excitement about craft beer at the moment. And plenty of debate about what that term actually means. But, after a big few days for the sector in Wellingtion, John Baker asks if it is the big boys making ‘faux craft’ or the new players making average product that are likely to do more damage.

Jennifer Duval-Smith wrote about the importance of having a digital crisis management plan a few months back. Here she details four steps you need to heed.

NZ Actors Equity’s Anna Majavu responds to a piece from DraftFCB’s Pip Mayne about the need for anachronistic talent contracts to evolve.

Neuroscience provides us with deeper insights into how consumers think, feel and make decisions than ever available before and these insights have the potential to revolutionise traditional marketing practice. But its application to this industry—something known as neuromarketing—is not always understood.

Who are brands really talking to on social media? The converted, says The Research Agency’s Andrew Lewis.

In the spirit of past heretics, ranters and agitators, our resident angry outsider Claxton tells you what’s getting his goat about this industry.

Taking your design story global? Make sure you’ve packed your Kiwi-ness.

The media world is changing, and talent agreements need to change with it, writes Pip Mayne.

If you want to provoke a heated debate between marketing and advertising types asking this question is one way to get the feathers flying. For some, creativity is critical if you want to differentiate yourself and grab people’s attention. Others think it’s little more than ad agency wank designed to perpetuate an annual pilgrimage to the south of France. A votre santé!

APN New Zealand digital strategist Eric Rowe takes a look at marketing in a disintermediate digital world. How can marketers bridge the Desire gap using content marketing?

Anthony Gardiner considers the importance of participation in marketing, especially in this modern age of apathetic consumers.

Ex-Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide chief operating officer, STW director, Assignment Group don and butter aficionado Peter Cullinane offers up some hard-earned pearls of advertising wisdom.

Anthony Gardiner went out in blaze of glory after an ‘epic rant’ on Twitter about the evils of the ad industry. And he believes change will only come from the client side. So here he outlines a few ‘gotchas’ from the traditional agency world that clients who want to get the best out of their money should be aware of.

‘Collaborate or die,’ ‘If you can’t pitch your company in 140 characters or fewer you have a problem,’ ‘A long video these days is six seconds,’ ‘Marketing as we know it will never be the same.’ These are just some of the messages that came through loud and clear to Robert Bruce at last week’s CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group event.

New Zealand musician Danny McCrum has lived a life immersed in music. It’s changed greatly since he first started, shaped by technology and an evolved (but not necessarily better) view on the art from society. He explores the value of music in a market where it’s infinitely available.