The WARC Creative 100 and WARC Effective 100 results have been released with Colenso BBDO and Special Group New Zealand performing well on a global scale.

After three years of consecutive overall growth, the New Zealand media agency market took a dip of 4.2 percent in advertising expenditure in 2018 – sitting at $1.02 billion. However, outdoor has out-performed the market and was the only channel to grow in 2018, rising 0.5 percent to $138.6 million.

A round of applause for House of Travel, NZTA and Partners Life.

Time moves swiftly in the start-up world, and looking back from 2019, 1999 is practically the Jurassic. But it was that year that Sam Morgan acted on an idea he’d had while trying to buy a secondhand heater for his chilly Wellington flat and created Trade Me.

Special Group head of strategy Rory Gallery on the best being yet to come.

Former 99 managing director Paul Manning shares five ways his advertising background helped him in becoming an entrepreneur.

Looking at September’s social media activity, it’s a familiar sight of Air New Zealand holding the lead, however, across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube there’s been some competition for the top spot.

Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.

NZ Transport Agency and Clemenger BBDO are on a mission to prove the value of seatbelts, with an emotional campaign telling the real stories of Kiwi men whose lives were saved by belting up.

Last night, under a veil of purple lights and blue balloons, Spark PR & Activate was reborn, with a new identity, ‘Drum’. The name change for the agency is not just a rebrand of the office and email signatures, it also sees the agency join the existing Drum network. In the lead up to the big unveiling, Erin McKenzie spoke with the team to see how it was working on the rebrand in-house and what it means for the agency.

A round of applause for TVNZ, Hallenstein Brothers, The Project and BCITO.

Skirts for women, suits for boys? Those days are gone – and Hallenstein Brothers is just the latest retailer to embrace the notion that, while some clothes are tailored to suit particular types of bodies, if the clothes fit, they fit. But placing model Laura Evans at the centre of its latest ‘The Power of the Suit’ campaign was too much for some, with a number commenters complaining a men’s clothing brand shouldn’t use a women to model its clothing.

Smirnoff Pure and Special Group proved they’re not ones to rest on their laurels last week when they launched a topical new campaign in conjunction with the Lime scooters suspension.

Trustpower has taken over Wellington’s Carter Fountain with a projection of two ballerinas dancing excerpts from Fokine’s ‘The Dying Swan’ and Mário Rádačovsky’s Black Swan White Swan.

New Zealand is lining up to introduce a new tax on multinational companies that make money out of online goods and services in this country.

On Monday, Whittaker’s launched its latest novelty chocolate-lolly mash up with a chocolatey answer to retro bakesale treat coconut ice. The Coconut Ice Surprise chocolate has a twist though, 20c from each block goes to Plunket – a charity which New Zealanders agree is a worthy cause. However, to relate the chocolate to the charity, Whittaker’s has built the campaign around baby gender reveal parties, causing a backlash from the public who argue gender norms have expanded beyond blue for boys and pink for girls.

With journalism facing the challenge of social media and fake news, TVNZ and NZME are striking back, with campaigns championing their work.

Deals, expansions and acquisitions across the Industry.

Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.

One of Aotearoa’s biggest companies, Spark, is a firm supporter of the LGBTQI+ community through its annual Pride advertising campaigns, its partnership with charity OUTline, and its diversity and inclusion values within the company. Head of brand at Spark New Zealand Sarah Williams explains why the company chose to champion this social issue, how these campaigns attract both the loudest praise and the greatest vilification from New Zealanders, and why that it makes it the most important cause the company champions.

Sky Television’s first half profit has dropped sharply as it battles tough competition, forcing it to raise prices.

Strategy Creative announced this week that they had won the Canterbury Rugby Football Union (CRFU) account after a competitive pitch process.

NZME’s FY 2018 results are out, showing a net profit of $11.6 million, down 44 percent on FY 2017.

New Zealand’s so often getting left out on world maps, even the government is having a laugh – that is after appearing to have somehow missed us off too.

A round of applause for The Edge, House of Travel, and Joblist.

Philip Morris – the largest tobacco company in the world – has declared it will transform the tobacco industry in support of New Zealand’s Smokefree 2025 initiative. In time, it plans to stub out its cigarette range – which includes Marlboro, Parliament and Virginia S and move towards a future of fruity, trendy vapes and e-cigarettes. It’s a tactical maneuver from the giant cigarette corporate as alternative cigarettes slowly receive validation by scientists, governments, and consumers – but is the move really a ploy for Smokefree 2025, or more of a smoke screen by Philip Morris? And in the midst of all this, has its sudden departure from cigarettes led to a branding identity crisis? We speak to the managing director, James Williams, who explains the company’s foray into the smoke-free market.

Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.

Yesterday, Hell Pizza and BC&F Dentsu challenged the idea of Valentine’s Day with a campaign promoting a night for one, rather than a night out with the masses at a restaurant or bar.

FCB has confirmed the appointment of Slade Gill as a creative director.

House of Travel’s in-house team has launched a new brand campaign, ‘Better Together’, that uses real customer stories to show the importance of working with a travel agent when booking overseas trips.

Nestlé has launched a campaign to celebrate the iconic Kiwi ‘Original Kiwi Dip’.