Upon the launch of the alcohol-free TAP bar in Auckland recently, we wondered how far other bars and restaurants go around the world in order to stand out. And there were some truly bizarre hospitality joints. A bathroom-themed restaurant? Check. A natural-disaster-themed café? Check. A bar where monkeys serve you? Check.

Damien Venuto chats to the team in the capital about what this win means for a brand moving away from its previously conservative image.

To promote the Samsung Smart TV range, Grey Argentina registered the domain name lgsmarttv.tv. And in doing so, came to the realisation that .tv doesn’t stand for television as they initially thought. It’s actually the domain address for the small South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. Having serendipitously been made aware of the existence of the island, the creatives at the agency centred the entire campaign on the island, drawing attention to how its very existence was threatened by climate change.

The Matrix made hackers cool while The Big Bang Theory made neurotic scientists slightly less weird. And now, it’s the coders’ turn, with the rise of the ‘Hackathon’. One guy wants it to go big – so big it’ll be the “sporting” event of the year for tech nerds everywhere. And it could help local businesses find the nerds they need.

Snapchat was an unofficial star of the annual Social Media Awards last night with many brands citing it as a great marketing platform to engage with their audiences, including the Blogger of the Year and People’s Choice Award winner NZGirl.

Digital piracy has certainly had a good run, but it now seems that it might be on its way down. A nationwide survey of 1,650 movie watchers commissioned by Flicks.co.nz, shows that the proportion of respondents who usually watch from an illegal source has declined from 87 percent of online content viewers in 2011 to just 43 percent this year—and this has nothing to do with Kiwi audiences being struck by a sudden bout of piracy guilt. In fact, the study showed that the percentage of people completely opposed to piracy has dropped from 40 percent in 2011 to 33 percent in 2015. So StopPress looks at how streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify are driving legitimate content consumption.

This week Bloggersclub.com launched a temp division for social media management called Social Media Mentors aimed to give brands that “extra pair of hands” needed to voice themselves, and though its only early days, there has been plenty of interest so far.

Given the growing willingness of Kiwis to pick the fruits offered by international e-commerce, NZ Post has developed YouPost as a means to enable shoppers to get their hands on items even if the stores don’t deliver to New Zealand. And to promote the offering, the organisation has now released a 45-second TVC that tells the story of Dan, a stringed instrument enthusiast, who managed to get his hands on a rare banjo even though the store, located in New Orleans, didn’t deliver to New Zealand.

While digital billboards and ad shells are slowly becoming more common in New Zealand, particularly in Auckland, we don’t yet have any that can see us and talk to us. But Graubünden Tourism does.

Ahhhhh, the desk. That thing many of us spend far too much time sitting at (and slowly dying). And that thing that has been completely transformed by the technological revolution of the past few decades, as a clip from the Harvard Innovation Lab shows.

For better or worse, the gravitational pull of the mobile phone has become remarkably strong. That has its drawbacks, of course, and, in a recent US study on nomophobia, the clinical description for the fear of being out of mobile contact, 63 percent of respondents said they checked their phone for messages or calls once an hour, nine percent said they checked their phone every five minutes and 63 percent said they would be upset if they left home without their smartphone. Now Spark is ensuring that those tethered to their phones don’t have to shower without them either after announcing a prototype dock designed to work with Sony’s new waterproof Xperia M4 Aqua.

Today Spark Home, Mobile and Business appointed Clive Ormerod as its new general manager of marketing.

As Whittaker’s continues to show, co-branding initiatives can work brilliantly when the goals are aligned because both brands have motivation to help each other out. That makes sense when it’s in a similar category. But does it work for cars and clothing? Or is it a branding bridge too far?

In response to the high number of pedestrian deaths caused when people cross the road while wearing their headphones, Spotify has introduced a new feature in some markets that spots the streaming service’s mobile app from playing music when the listener approaches dangerous intersections. By tapping into the iBeacon technology installed at some of the worst intersections, the app is able to adjust the volume of the music when needed. In doing so, the app causes the Spotify user to pay attention and exercise caution when crossing the road.

We’re sure many New Zealanders are in disbelief as to how nearly four years have passed since the last Rugby World Cup. Four years since we yelled out to strangers in the street whooping with collective joy after the All Blacks secured the Cup after a nail-biting game with the French and four years since the victory sparked a baby boom across the nation. But this year’s World Cup, which kicks off in September has no doubt been creeping its way into the public consciousness for sometime now, probably due to a few big brands which hope to profit from all the attention, here’s what a few of them are up to.

Trade Me Jobs, the New Zealand Heart Foundation, Lotto Powerball, Adidas and Pak ‘n Save share a crowded winners’ platform this week.

Vimeo has long been lauded as the go-to platform for discerning filmmakers and serious creatives who want to share their work. Now, it’s teamed up with technology giant Samsung to produce a video series that explores the ideas and infinite meanings of connection and “examines the human relationship with technology”.

Whether it’s paying for a ride via Uber’s app, paying for your bus via Semble or paying for your groceries via one of the banks’ own cashless widgets, the wallet looks destined to become an anachronism. And online restaurant search and discovery platform Zomato is the latest to take away the need for them, saying it will soon let you pay for your meals out on its app and eliminate the need to wait for the bill.