In response to an article in yesterday’s Herald based around the fact that New Zealanders have little idea about how their personal information is collected and sold by ‘data brokers’, the Marketing Association’s chief executive Sue McCarty outlines the ways the local marketing community is balancing the protection of consumers’ rights with the right of marketers to add to their business’s success.

PHDiQ’s Brendan Hewitt was one of two winners in Yahoo! New Zealand’s inaugural Digital Stars programme. And this opinion piece on the future of the digital realm earned him a trip to Ad:Tech in Sydney next year.

The fourth Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity in Singapore saw close to 5,000 pieces of work submitted from 22 countries across 16 categories. Eleven PR’s managing partner Kelly Bennett participated as a juror in the PR category and shares his thoughts on some of the work and the judging process.

A few weeks back I ventured to Turners Auctions with a friend who was on the hunt for a new steed. If a car caught our eye, we’d kick the tyres, push a few buttons inside, lift the bonnet, check the oil, and stand back and say ‘yep, she looks pretty good’. The engine could have been inserted upside down and we probably still would’ve said that, so, given this complete lack of mechanical knowledge, it was perhaps slightly ironic that a few days later I was invited to venture to Central Otago to take some beefy new BMWs for a few frosty donuts in the snow. But, as a freeloading journalist with a rich boganic Invercargill heritage, it was an offer too good to refuse.

Through business, sporting franchises have learnt how to turn loyalty into revenue. Is it possible that through sport, businesses can learn how to turn customers into fans? Here are five things Oliver Haydon believes will give you a sporting chance.

Peter Thomson, founder of media agency M2M International, ventured to New Zealand to present the keynote address at the New Zealand newspaper industry’s biggest night, the newspaper advertising awards. And given newspapers have survived the advent of radio in the 1930s, cinema news in the ‘40s and TV in the ‘50s, he believes there is no reason to believe they won’t prosper in the digital age.

Haystac’s general manager Fleur Postill attended a recent trendwatching.com seminar in Sydney. And here are a few things that caught her attention.

Earlier this year, Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc issued a cease and desist letter to author Patrick Wensink regarding the cover design of his recent novel, Broken Piano For President, which closely resembled the Jack Daniel’s whiskey label. And, as AJ Park’s Damian Broadley and Jude Antony write, the company’s response is a great reminder that the tone and approach of any communication should be carefully considered.

Is a single agency model the best approach to fulfill New Zealand’s growth targets? Courtney Lambert doesn’t think so.

Peter Alsop, author of upcoming book Selling the Dream: The Art of Early New Zealand Tourism, gives an overview of how our publicity pioneers put New Zealand on the map.

It seemed like such a good idea: Peanuts vs Cashews. Grab a handful, pelt your mates and discover once and for all who’s the real ‘King of the Nuts’. Then things went wrong. A rogue peanut bounced off a lamp-post, caught a cycle courier and tossed him in front of a bus. Luckily the bus swerved, no one was hurt and they only took out a small building. Rogue accident, you wouldn’t read about it (mostly because it didn’t happen). But it could. And the question on the table after a recent Australian Standards Board decision that has put the onus on brands to manage their Facebook pages is where does the buck stop when social goes awry?

The Marketing Association hosted yet another sell-out Brainy Breakfast event last week, with over 300 marketers filling the Crowne Plaza’s conference room ready to listen to international social media expert, Brian Giesen and Jennifer Duval-Smith, executive director at Social@Ogilvy in New Zealand, speak about Pinterest—and how to use it to leverage social media campaigns.