Soon the nation will be bombarded with Rugby World Cup-related ads, whether from the tournament’s family of sponsors, the national sponsors, the ambushers or even the teams themselves. And MasterCard is one of the first of the bunch to get in on the act, bringing back its long-time mascot Tim for his fourth run.

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

Safety has long been a major focus of car companies. And VW has shown how important its safety features are with a powerful, shiver-inducing montage via Ogilvy Cape Town that zeroes in the most most important moment of one girl’s life.

Dunedin-based agency Brandaid and young production company ‘Two Bearded Men’ have created a new video for Enterprise Dunedin, and unlike many other videos about Dunedin, has steered well away from student life (and student revelry), focusing instead on the people and gems of the city.

They say the children are our future, which is at times a worrying thought. But the way the world is changing, it’s certainly true in advertising and a few of the young’uns from Media Design School have impressed some of the world’s biggest creative brains and made the shortlist of the Future Lions.

Misplaced golf balls, unbalanced dominos, a fraction of a hair’s width short of hitting the basket – all the pitfalls of creating a Rube Goldberg Machine. They’re whimsical contraptions designed to complete the simplest tasks in the most complicated way possible, and one Kiwi’s made art out of it.

The fact that over 100 million web users across the world have already downloaded ad blockers to combat the annoyance of online ads stands as evidence of how much they annoy people. So rather than simply conceptualising another ad destined to irritate users, BBDO teamed up with Post-it to develop a campaign that uses digital technology to change banner ads into sticky notes and to-do lists.

This year, Red Nose Day will be hitting American shores via an NBC television event set to feature Julia Roberts, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jodie Foster, Jimmy Fallon, Neil Patrick Harris, Coldplay and others. And to announce the impending event, Coldplay and NBC have released a few teasers on YouTube featuring snippets from Game of Thrones: The Musical, an elaborate project developed by the British band with the help from stars of the TV show.

YouTube has been celebrating its tenth birthday this month by going through a letter a day and while the vast majority of viewing is still done on the main screen, there’s no doubt the video sharing has become a powerful cultural force since the first video featuring co-founder Jawed Karim at the zoo was uploaded. It’s also become a powerful marketing force, with four of the most-watched videos of last year made by brands and 16 million hours of ads watched. As such, YouTube has chosen the 20 greatest brand moments in its history and it’s asking people to vote for their favourite ad. PLUS: the tale of Old Spice.

The Register’s own Elly Strang donned one of the first sets of Samsung Gear virtual reality goggles to appear on our shores. This is what she saw when she headed along for a sneak preview at Noel Leeming.

DDB’s Maker unit has created a bizarre online film that seemingly marries Dirty Dancing with Stephen King’s Carrie to announce the return of the McRib—and all the sauce that comes with it.

Real estate is regularly in the news, especially given the massive price increases in Auckland. But real estate conferences generally aren’t. That changed today because while the real Harcourts conference was going on at Sky City, its #harcourtsconference hashtag was hijacked by a range of Twitter users (led by Guy Williams) who all took their frustrations out on Australia’s third most dishonest profession. Here are some of the best.