There’s already been a steady stream of cash donations to the various Christchurch Quake appeals and plenty of initiatives from the business community to raise funds. Now Loyalty New Zealand, the company behind Fly Buys, has come up with another way to help those affected by the disaster by allowing its 2.5 million card holders to donate their points in one hundred point lots to the Red Cross or the SPCA Canterbury. So get in there and donate your points here.

While murmurings of a possible merger with the National Bank remain shrouded in secrecy, what is certain is that ANZ’s super-regional strategy, and more specifically the associated brand roll-out that comes with it, is doing something right after Asia-Pacific brand delivery company Diadem won an award for best brand implementation for its ANZ project as part of the seventh annual REBRAND 100 Global Awards.

Lionel Richie is performing in Auckland this week. And in completely unrelated but presumably more important news, one of Healthy Life Media’s main protagonists has sold her shares in the hugely successful company; Waitemata Films has added two more to its flock; and EYE has found its global marketing head honcho.

Last year, TBWA’s executive creative director Andy Blood predicted the future of the industry and, in something of a mission statement for the agency following the loss of ASB, said it was all about bringing the creative ideas of the advertising world closer to the utility now offered by digital technology. Well, that’s what TBWA\Tequila has done with a cool new interactive video catalogue for adidas’ Super Rugby merchandise.

TradeMe has already launched a daily deals site. But as mouths continue to water about the potential of the world’s latest business trend, it’s about to launch another one called Treat Me, a stand-alone group-buying site focused on services, events and experiences rather than low-margin goods sent out through the post.

'One laptop, one scotch and one phone'

The building that once housed Strategy design and advertising in Christchurch has been obliterated. But, as managing director Geoff Cranko writes, the staff are all well, they’ve found a new studio, they’ve got plenty of whisky on hand and, with the help of modern technology, they’re muddling through and are still able to do great work.

The first episode of the new season of Country Calendar screened on ONE on Saturday night and it was interesting for a few reasons: 1) it’s the 45th year of the show. 2) Hyundai is the show’s new sponsor, bringing to an end a long relationship with the National Bank. And 3) it seems to add some weight to swirling speculation that the National Bank could be gearing up for a much-discussed merger with the big, blue ANZ mothership.

Regular advertising transmission was interrupted following the Christchurch quake as both major networks wisely opted for commercial-free broadcasts during their coverage of the disaster. With its public broadcasting commitments, TVNZ pretty much had to and has promised to make good on the lost air time, but as a privately-owned company saddled with debt, the decision to go ad-free (at an estimated cost of $1 million a day) was presumably a slightly more bitter pill to swallow for MediaWorks. Of note after the ad breaks came back on during the 6pm broadcasts, Countdown Summer Series now has a new cohort in the form of last year’s Masterchef; 2degrees introduces us to Brian and Bruce; ANZ gets the piano out and dials up the patriotism for its RWC spot; AA dresses up for the occasion; Skyline garages gets the tick of approval with its new animated gem; Bonds embraces buttocks for its new lo-rider undies; Moccona launches its new promotion; and Carina Coffee dishes up a spicy, rather cheesy home shopping meatball.

Toot Group’s beer drinking and fundraising initiative for Christchurch may be over, but for one super quick and beer-savvy StopPress reader, the beer drinking is only just beginning. The folks at Toot Group have put up a $100 bar tab to use at the The Golden Dawn—Tavern of Power bar in Auckland for the  first reader who can name the  mystery beer that flowed from the Christchurch beer taps. Quickly now.

With 53 leading independent PR partner companies and 3,000 experienced practitioners worldwide, Public Relations Organisation International (PROI)  is one of the largest public relations partnerships in the world. But not content with 53 partners, the company is adding more to its stable by welcoming Kiwi communications group Senate Communications on board, along with Australian communication firm SHJ, who together form the trans-Tasman communications group, SenateSHJ. The move will make Senate Communications PROI’s sole New Zealand partner.

When Toot Group launched its High Street Lucky Christmas Shop initiative in Auckland last year, the success took them a little by surprise after the shop sold out of gifts three times over. The shop, which housed wrapped boxes containing mystery gifts from Auckland’s swanky High Street shops, ended …

Its DB Export TVC may have been pulled off air after a complaint was upheld by the ASA in connection to the misuse of historical footage, but Colenso BBDO must be feeling  pretty good right about now after news the TVC has picked up an honourable mention as part of the inaugural Ads Worth Spreading challenge, established by non-profit organisation TED.

Down to the Wire, a website developed and helmed by online digital creative’s heyday!, has won Most Outstanding Website at the ONYAs.

The ONYAs, not so much an acronym as it is techy-wordplay, picked Down to the Wire out of four finalists, the other three being the NZ On …

After a fair bit of digging and probing, we can reveal the creative buffs behind the Labour Party’s new design are advertising agency Barnes, Catmur & Friends, with head of design Crispin Schuberth responsible for the final logo design. But unlike politicians, getting a straight answer from the agency about the design was easy.

Applications for the inaugural James & Wells: Fashion Communication Design Award, a joint effort from Fashion Industry New Zealand (FINZ) and James & Wells Intellectual Property to celebrate creativity and excellence in fashion-specific communication design, are set to close on 11 March.

The award is open to all New Zealand clothing designers …

We New Zealanders like to think of ourselves as fairly tech-savvy bunch of early adopters, and while there is no doubt the digital realm is rapidly expanding here—both in terms of overall internet use and as an advertising medium—a study of 50 of the country’s most popular websites to see how they took advantage of interactive tools such as blogs, social media and online communities has found many of them are still stuck in the Web 1.0 era and are not doing enough to engage and interact with their customers online. 

Colenso BBDO is an agency that prides itself on creating work that’s interesting enough to create conversations. It probably doesn’t pride itself on having work pulled for breaking the rules, but that’s happened twice in the past few weeks, first with the DB Export TVC that was removed from television, cinema and online after a complaint was upheld by the ASA and then with the massive viral video Rear View Girls for Levi’s that, after more than seven million views, was pulled from YouTube for violating its terms and conditions.

There’s already plenty of fundraising going on to support those affected by the earthquake but hopefully there’s room for a little bit more, so the organisers of the Promise to Pip campaign, an initiative launched by industry luminaries in support of cancer stricken RAPP/Tribal senior account manager Pip Mills, are asking those in the biz to get their tickets for the fundraising event being held at La Zeppa on Thursday 10 March.

As those who use business quips occasionally say, the topline’s for vanity and the bottom line’s for sanity. And if that’s the case then big Aussie publisher APN is relatively sane at the moment, with the New Zealand business reporting growth in earnings before interest and tax of 10 percent in the year to December 31. And, in what has been classified as a “reasonable investment” for APN Outdoor, it has added OGGI’s billboard assets to its already sizable stable.

We’ve been regularly updating the page of fund/spirit raising initiatives aimed at helping Christchurch residents, but we’ve been in contact with a few Christchurch business owners who want readers—and customers—to know they’re operational again. Of course, cashflow is crucial at this stage to keep the local economy going, so one week on and, while the cordon is still in place, some businesses in the wider marcomms industry are starting to kick back into gear and are eager for work. So if you’re open already, if you’re muddling through in temporary offices, if you know of any businesses that have opened, or you want to let readers know your plans for opening in the future, email [email protected] and we’ll update this page accordingly.