Nielsen has released its statistics for New Zealand’s most-visited websites by unique audience, and the figures once again confirm New Zealand’s preference for Stuff over the NZ Herald website—although the gap has narrowed substantially following Nielsen’s correction of its data collection in April this year. StopPress chats to Fairfax’s Sinead Boucher and NZME’s Brad Glading about the figures.

One youtuber shows us that iPhones can be used for a lot more than just taking selfies and texting your BFFs.

Marketing, particularly the advertising part thereof, is often vilified for its soulless commitment to pandering items with the goal of producing a profit. And while there is a fair amount of truth to this, every once in a while the very skills and creativity that generally cause the public to criticise advertising are used for causes nobler than selling random items. One such instance recently occurred with the announcement of the Cannes Chimera winners, an initiative, backed by Bill and Melinda Gates, which aims to bring ideas to life that can make the world a better place.

50 Wellington locations were captured in four days of shooting for Positively Wellington Tourism’s new commercial, which follows a young couple on a whirlwind tour around the capital. And it has even the most hardcore Wellingtonians watching again to try and pinpoint every location in the clip.

Not all superheroes wear spandex tights and possess other-worldly powers that defy the laws of physics. Some just have an inhuman capacity and willingness to help others. And these are the kinds of superheroes that are honoured in a new spot by creative agency Don’t Panic and Unit 9 directors Greg Hardes and Jacob Proud for not-for-profit organisation Save the Children.

If you’re going to attach a tagline like ‘vanguard until death’ to your company’s name, then you’d better make sure you live up to it. So, in an effort to live up to the expectations set by its branding, three Michelin-starred restaurant Diverxo has commissioned the creation of a macabre short film that depicts a collection of diners eating the creations of a mysterious chef.

The Thug Kitchen Cookbook launched in bookstores this month, and with the tagline “Eat like you give a fuck”, you can tell their brand ethos revolves around using a lot of swear words.

Although it doesn’t come as much of a surprise, an independent survey commissioned by Reachmedia has found that Kiwis are becoming skilled at avoiding advertising in new forms of media and are utilising technology to assist them. StopPress takes a look at what the results of the survey say.

Collectively, the top 10 Kiwi-based YouTube channels have over four million subscribers and, although that obviously also includes an international audience, this number is impressive given that New Zealand, as starting base, only has a population of around 4.5 million people. Here’s a rundown of the ten YouTube channels with the highest number of subscribers.

Spark gave New Zealand a bit of tease before it launched its new ‘Never Stop Starting’ campaign with some unbranded billboards and digital ads. And there’s some more mystery afoot, with a teaser video featuring Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams being released last night.

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

According to Nielsen’s stats, approximately 934,000 Kiwis currently have a mortgage. And when this considered alongside the issue of housing prices, it’s clear that this is a major source of revenue for banks. So, in an effort to consolidate its position as the biggest mortgage provider in New Zealand, ANZ has launched a new campaign that features a slow-motion auction scene playing out to an operatic score.

Truth is meant to be stranger than fiction. And while the history of Scottish whisky brand Ballantine’s certainly has its strange bits, the fictional story of what might have been if it hadn’t stayed true to its origins and dabbled in brand extensions is much weirder.

A number of premium brands are starting to take advantage of longer-form benefits of using YouTube as an advertising channel as recently seen with Guinness’ ‘Sapeurs’ mini-documentary, Corona’s short surf films and Johnnie Walker’s ‘The Gentleman’s Wager’. As illustrated in each of these videos, brand dollars can translate into high production videos, which are entertaining despite falling into the advertising category. Having seen its branding counterparts enjoy success on YouTube through longer form content, Chanel No 5 has recently commissioned Baz Luhrmann to direct a short film, and the result steps very close to the line of utter madness.

On 15 October, StopPress attended Google’s Brandcast event in Sydney, and the general theme delivered over the course of the 90-minute show was that YouTube stars provide an effective means by which brands can communicate with various target market. Here’s what some of the speakers had to say at the event.

A comedy club in Barcelona is experimenting with a new way of charging patrons. On a per laugh basis.

Music often plays a big role in memories, reminding us of good times and bad. And Spotify is promoting its vast library with a nice campaign based around the slogan of ‘you have the story, we have the song’ and the hashtag #thatsongwhen. PLUS: what fellow streaming service Pandora is up to.

This coming Sunday a sports event bigger than the NBA final playoffs will be happening in Seoul, and chances are you’ve never heard of it.

Advances in technology have rapidly changed the way we pay for things. Whether it’s tap and go credit cards, in-app payments or mobile wallets, the benefits for consumers are endless. But on the other side of the coin, charities dependent on real currency and street collections fighting against a huge range of other organisations for the donated dollar are starting to suffer as cash carrying declines. So what are the options to prise open increasingly electronic wallets?

Much in the same way that client demand has driven the search for more granular audience insights, the outdoor industry has also been making moves to meet the growing expectation of digital solutions. APN Outdoor was first to that large-format party with its digital billboard network in Auckland and now it’s set to switch on New Zealand’s largest high-resolution digital billboard at Auckland Airport in December. PLUS: Two new screens coming to ASB Showgrounds.

On 25 September 2013, skipper Jimmy Spithill led Oracle Team USA to victory in the final race of the America’s Cup, orchestrating one of the unlikeliest comebacks in sporting history while simultaneously breaking the hearts of every Kiwi that had stopped working to watch the race. Undoubtedly, there are more than a few sailing fans who would go to great lengths to take on Spithill and reclaim New Zealand’s honour. So, in a new mobile campaign launched on 14 October, Vodafone is giving Kiwis a chance to do just that. But to take on Spithill in a live race, Kiwis first need to show their thumb-tapping prowess by playing Vodafone’s new America’s Cup-themed sailing game hosted on the microsite Vodafonesailing.co.nz.

Got a spare six hours? Well, you’ll need it if you want to sit through Virgin’s strange—and strangely compelling—new online campaign.

With the launch of Apple Pay last month, Semble last week and various other schemes, being able to pay with your mobile phone is fast becoming a reality. But bank customers have been doing it for a few years now. And ASB says financial transactions through its mobile app have increased by two thirds in the past year, pushing internet banking firmly into second place.

“Orcon is shining the spotlight on bandwidth throttling used by big telcos, including Vodafone and Spark, in a new campaign that encourages Kiwis to look at the fine print before signing up to broadband plans that could unnecessarily be slowing then down,” touts the media release from Orcon that accompanies the launch of its new campaign featuring a plum-dressed dictator of ambigious origin removing the wig of what is meant to be the chief executive of a major telco (seemingly Spark, if the colour scheme of the faux promotional material is anything to go by). UPDATE: ASA confirms that complaints have been lodged.

While trying to buy the latest Ken Ring book, StopPress inadvertently put a thoroughbred on the company credit card instead. So help us give it an appropriate name and the best suggestion will win two tickets worth $95 to the Melbourne Cup festivities at Ostro on November 4.

Volvo has the honour of creating what many view as the best truck ad ever made with Epic Split. But two can play at that surreal game and Mercedes has decided to let a couple of its creations get freaky in a Dirty Dancing-inspired ad for the Vito van.

MyRepublic, a new internet service provider offering ultra-fast fibre broadband, has touched down in New Zealand in its big purple rocket, and it’s using William Shatner to communicate with us slow-internet users.

A while back Swedish hair brand Apolosophy got plenty of attention for its creative use of subway advertising. And a Swedish cancer charity has added a little more emotion to that idea.