Industry happenings at Vodafone, Accenture, Tracta Advertising, Urban List and Z Card.

Postie+ is lending its business to a good cause in the lead up to christmas with the launch of a pop-up store that will see the retailer match every purchase made by donating the same item to Kids Can.

“If you’re looking at your comms and media plan and it looks suspiciously like the one you had ten years ago, then you’re probably building for where people were,” says Facebook’s chief creative officer Mark D’Arcy, who was recently in town to speak to the crowds at ad:tech and at AUT’s Project Connect. And he reckons the only way to change this is by breaking down the legacy structures and strategies that have until now determined how marketers and advertisers do their jobs.

Comedian Danny McBride and the creative team at Wieden + Kennedy have conspired to create an infectiously catchy tune for Southern Comfort that has every possibility to become the pre-gaming anthem of millennial across the US. As with all hit tracks, ‘ShoattaSoco’ comes with a music video—and it’s utterly outrageous. Featuring McBride flying through a retro video game universe, the music video should be terrible, but you simply can’t pull your eyes away from it.

‘Snackable content’ seems to be the buzzword of the moment and while some believe this trend may lead to ‘obesity of the mind’, Air New Zealand has joined the feast, releasing nine clips showcasing various Auckland activities in an effort to get Australians to come over and support their NRL team during next year’s NRL Auckland Nines event.

The Victoria Taxi Federation’s #YourTaxis social media campaign backfired spectacularly recently when, instead of sharing good experiences, plenty decided to mention some of their bad experiences instead. So we couldn’t help but notice an ad on nzherald.co.nz for Alert Taxis labelled, intriguingly, ‘Confessions of a Taxi Driver’.

Earlier this week, Oxford dictionaries declared the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji its word of the year. While certainly an unusual decision, those behind the publication justified it by pointing to the proliferation of these animated caricatures across all forms of communication in recent years. And Durex is now calling for an expansion of the emoji catalogue currently available to users.

As Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball shows, the clever use of data and technology can mean the difference between winning and losing in sport and, with massive broadcasting rights being signed here and around the world and a range of brands hitching their wagons to professional athletes, there’s plenty at stake. And VX Sport, a Kiwi tech company, is quietly revolutionising the way sport is played—and, maybe, how it’s watched.

Kiwi celebrities get minted for good in new Movember Mo-dollars campaign to raise funds toward prostate cancer research.

Wellington Tourism is trying to catch the attention of Australians in Sydney and Melbourne through a new online campaign that features several well-known Aussie business people experiencing what the capital city has to offer. Developed in partnership by Tourism New Zealand, Positively Wellington Tourism (PWT) and Destination Marlborough, the three-part ‘Inspired by Wellington’ campaign, which was executed by Whybin\TBWA Sydney, is currently being rolled out via the Wellington Tourism website.

Before the laws loosened up in the US, Snoop Dogg was already well known for his love of the Mary Jane. Now he’s aiming to profit from his habit with the launch of his new marijuana brand, Leafs by Snoop AKA LBS, which consists of flowers, concentrates and edibles and will be sold in Colorado medical and recreational dispensaries. And it looks pretty classy.

The Warehouse is getting into the Christmas spirit by jumping on the bandwagon of random acts of kindness campaigns.

Despite the initial controversy surrounding Daniel Craig as the new 007, the blonde Bond has proven to be extremely marketable whether it be Land Rover, Heineken or Omega as these Spectre-related promotional spots demonstrate.

Air New Zealand is well aware of integral this environment is in terms of attracting tourists to New Zealand, which is evidenced by the airline throwing its weight behind the Department of Conservation (DOC) in recent years (the partnership is worth about $1 million annually). And this partnership continued last week with the release of a new video clip by creative agency True promoting the Great Walk programme. PLUS: experience the Great Walks through Google’s street view.

Vodafone’s Keith the postie and piggy Sue celebrate Christmas.

Recently, ASB re-developed Kashin the money box to bring it in line with the increasingly cashless society. And for its latest campaign in support of St John, the bank is keeping the focus on children by telling the story of an animated toy ambulance saving a solitary teddybear lying in the garden.

News outlets are increasingly experimenting with virtual reality in a bid to bring viewers closer to the action. Henry Oliver looks at some of best examples of the news being experienced rather than read or watched.

Every year, Canada’s Strategy Magazine asks local agencies to indulge in some creative self-flagellation to celebrate its agency of the year awards. Last year, there were riffs on vending machine stunts, the industry’s culture of long hours and many other advertising-specific issues. And this year is no different, with fun poked at everything from brands co-opting female empowerment to the ridiculousness of “spec” work to the benefits of early targeting.