Since taking his post as the head of Facebook in New Zealand, Spencer Bailey has become accustomed to fielding questions about when Facebook-owned photo-sharing app Instagram would be opened to advertisers in the local market. Asked how many times he’s had to sidestep the question since April, he gives a wry smile and says: “Just a few times … every week.” Well, the wait is finally over. Facebook has announced that advertising will now be available to Kiwi advertisers on Instagram.

According to Wikipedia, “at least some of the workers who built the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs received paid sick leave as well as state-supported health care”. And ever since 1500 BC, employees who understandably love the idea of getting paid while doing absolutely no work have been claiming they’re ill and taking days off. Now Destination Queenstown is incentivising that behaviour and has enlisted the help of Australian comedian Dan Ilic to teach his countryfolk how to squeeze in a sneaky spring ski trip.

While there’s plenty of excitement about the possibilities of immersive virtual reality headsets like Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR at the moment, sometimes the simplest innovations are the best and Google Cardboard, which combines mobile phones and the act of folding to create inexpensive virtual reality goggles, is definitely in that category. Google has made its design open source and while Kellogg’s and shopper marketing and digital activation agency Geometry Global NZ have taken inspiration from this technology and, in what it says is a first for the New Zealand grocery market, turned a box of Nutri-Grain into a virtual reality experience.

When we think about going on holiday often our imagination kicks in. We might picture ourselves on some luscious tropical island, lying on the beach, pina colada in hand, listening to the soothing sound of rolling waves or maybe even off on some big adventure, backpacking across Europe or Asia perhaps. Well, now Contiki is giving prospective travellers the opportunity to truly envision a travel adventure, with the use of virtual reality technology.

When something has been banned it immediately becomes that little bit more alluring. Why else do teenagers sneak into their parents liquor cabinets and haphazardly smoke cigarettes. Recently Kiwi novel Into the River was banned by the Film and Literature Review Board, so we thought we’d look into this and other outrageous bans and from a marketing perspective, is a ban such a bad thing?

Rugby rash is spreading quickly among the marketing community, with tournament sponsors, team sponsors and filthy ambushers all riding that World Cup train like Tom Cruise in an action movie. We’ve already seen plenty of local activity and here are a few from the host countries.

Being a master in the kitchen requires a bit of creativity – a sprig of this and a pinch of that. IKEA has transferred this idea to its buy and assemble model in its new quirky ad, which shows the core ingredients it takes to create a tasty kitchen.

The New Zealand Defence Force, Western Sydney University, Farmers and Bayleys step up to the podium this week.

Whether its the release of the latest version of Call of Duty or a news report on a war, the representation of the military in popular culture is regularly limited to shooting an assault rifle at some or other enemy. And yet, particularly in the New Zealand context, the role of military personnel is more often associated with helping those in need, whether local or abroad—and herein lies the primary focus of Saatchi & Saatchi’s new campaign for the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). Featuring scenarios based on real experiences in the forces complemented with behind-the-scenes online films explaining more of the story behind each event, the new campaign makes the point that helping comes naturally to Kiwis. And this message is particularly pertinent at a time when the Syrian crisis is the focus point of local and international debate.

Subway has released a new campaign via Ripe Solutions about how you get out of your body what you put in, as well a ‘Sub builder’ an online calculator tool designed to help Kiwis make healthier decisions around their sub fillings. Along with a new ad, Subway is also giving consumers some good—albeit obvious— advice via its new slogan, ‘Eat well, go live life’.

Visible across almost every media channel, the name Annabel Langbein has become a brand in its own right. We chat to the woman behind it to find out how she created a media empire that now has its eye on the US market.

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

The corporate world has long looked to professional athletes and coaches for guidance on how to perform better, how to create a positive culture and, if they’re being honest, how to grind their opposition into the dust. And ASB has looked to the All Blacks—or, more specifically, the team behind the All Blacks—to provide some pearls of wisdom for Kiwi businesses.

While most retail advertising released today features little more than price, product and sale shouted through every available megaphone, there are also some examples of retailers returning to a more creative approach when it comes to their advertising. And the most recent example of this is the new Farmers brand ad. PLUS: should marketers focus on the emotional or the rational? Should they be doing more brand or retail ads?

VNO has launched a thermo label on its white wines that that tells the consumer when it’s the correct temperature for drinking. And to give its thermo-labelled wine some personality, it’s released a radio ad where the wine is personified by a breathy, sultry man urging the VNO owner to drink the wine.