That shiny rectangle in your pocket is an amazing piece of technology. But there’s a growing sense that we’re becoming far too attached to our phones, to the point where we seem to be happy to sacrifice real human interaction for a poke, a scroll and a quick game of information pokies. And Hallertau Brewery in Riverhead has taken a stand against the use of these magical cubes of distraction at its establishment and is aiming to promote actual conversation.

Hyundai has launched a new campaign for its latest Tuscon model with a TVC featuring a young girl who urges Kiwis to ‘Get lost’ in New Zealand. Hyundai is blowing the same horn it has for a while, pushing its family-sized vehicles by promoting family-fun time.

The radio survey results period has over the year come to be typified by a markedly partisan response from NZME and MediaWorks, heavy drinking by the ratings winners and, quite often, even heavier drinking by those who weren’t as lucky in the results. And given that the NZME-funded T1 survey didn’t have the backing of MediaWorks, tonight’s results party is poised to be a big one. But this tradition of two massive annual blowouts (only one this year) is set to change, as results reports will be released more regularly from next year. We look at some of the biggest losses and gains in the latest survey.

Ads for universities have always been a bit cringey, but the Universtiy of Melbourne has helped break the cycle with a creative spot about ‘What happens when minds collide’.

When newspapers published images of two-year-old Aylan Kurdi, drowned, lying facedown, the world was stirred and finally realised—or perhaps remembered—the horror of the Syrian conflict. But this isn’t the first time images have significantly changed public discourse. As the following five images collated by Getty Images’ Stuart Hannagan show, images have time and time again laid bare the uglier side of life. (Warning: this article contains material that may offend some).

We have cars that can drive themselves, fridges that know when we’re out of milk and sensors that can tell if your elderly relatives have taken their pills. Now, for those who also want their binge watching smartened, Netflix has given the world a button that can turn on your TV, dim your lights, silence your phone and even order food.

Spanish clothing and accessories retailer Paul & Bear has launched an innovative that has been created through the musical efforts of six bands across the world. To kick off the initiative, Paul & Bear approached Australian band Sheppard to create an exclusive song to feature in the campaign. Thereafter, the retailer commissioned six different bands, all in different locations, to produce covers of the song—and this content was then spread through social media.

Until now, retargeting campaigns have proved challenging on Apple Safari browsers because cookies are disabled by default. So, in a bid to overcome this issue, AdRoll announced a new product earlier this week that the company’s managing director for the ANZ region Ben Sharp says will give advertisers the ability to retarget via Apple devices.

There’s a whole heap of money flowing into digital media at the moment—and that pot just seems to keep getting bigger. But there are a fair few concerns being raised about whether that money is being spent wisely, whether it’s due to bot fraud, dodgy metrics or viewability issues. Recently, one of the world’s most powerful ad men, Sir Martin Sorrell, said he thought the pendulum had swung too far towards digital and it was time for marketers to reconsider the effectiveness of traditional media (which seemed to warm the hearts of many harried publishers and broadcasters). And in New York during Ad Week celebrations, the US outdoor industry body has launched a clever campaign making the same argument by pointing out that digital has a reality problem.

Earlier this month, Instagram kicked off its local ad offering with launch partners Burgerfuel, Air New Zealand and Sky TV, which have each been running campaigns through the platform. And now, following on from a relatively short testing phase, Instagram has extended its advertising options to all Kiwi brands. And Spark has joined the fun by launching a campaign that uses 3D technology.

Earlier this month, Bauer Australia confirmed it would be shutting down Zoo Weekly, due to rapidly declining sales. And though some celebrated the demise of the publication as an ethical victory, lad culture is stronger than ever in the online space.

The 2015 Newspaper Advertising Awards last night saw DDB head home $10,000 richer for nabbing the top award for its BMW ‘reverse April Fool’s’ ad, with Ogilvy & Mather’s ad for Rebel Sport’s ‘Big Kahuna’ coming in as the runner up.

For the last 16 years, Serato has been at the forefront of DJ culture and technology. Its ground breaking Pitch ‘n Time time-stretching algorithm and flagship audio mixing software product Serato DJ are industry standards. Kanye West rapped about them on one of his tracks. Eminem did the same. And now it’s releasing its first mass-consumer app, Serato Pyro, a music player that beat-matches and mixes song playlists. Chief executive AJ Bertanshaw explains the company’s evolution—and its Kiwi style marketing approach.

In celebration of the launch of 236 episodes of Friends on streaming service Stan, New York’s most famous coffee shop Central Perk is heading to Australia. The real-life pop-up café will be opening in Hyde Park, Sydney for over two weeks.