Over the last year, various media organisations—StopPress included—have on numerous occasions asked Facebook for user information specific to New Zealand, but the social media juggernaut was been unable to provide much beyond international stats and the fact that around two million Kiwis visit the site an average of about 15 times a day. However, yesterday, during a press conference held at the Seafarers building in Britomart, Facebook gave a room of journalists what they had been asking for by presenting a statistical breakdown of how New Zealanders use Facebook. PLUS: Facebook financial results for Q1 2015.

For some strange reason, unboxing videos are quite popular and some of the channels are making millions. But Samsung played with the artform to launch its new phones, showing some much more exciting activities than normal.

Advertisers are increasingly questioning the brand value offered by banner ads that seemingly do little more than annoy web users. And for this reason, media owners and agencies are being forced into producing innovative online banner campaigns that include interactive elements. So recently, when FCB and the Pandora international ad development team set out to create a campaign for the release of the new Holden Cruze, the pair decided to give users a look inside the vehicle.

The Maybelline cosmetics brand started out in 1915 when Mabel Williams combined coal dust with Vaseline to create a more dramatic eye—and it has since grown into a beauty product juggernaut. We take a look at some of the brand’s print ads over the years.

The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) has launched a new campaign with the aim of recruiting 5,000 new apprentices. And it’s doing it by focusing on the pros of working in construction, such as not racking up a huge student loan, being fit and muscular, spending time outdoors and being a total babe magnet.

During the Cricket World Cup, Hyundai promoted its new Genesis sedan by putting cars on plinths—and in the path of some sixes—inside the grounds and trying to get people to answer a few questions about the car’s various features in its animated TV ads. But they do things bigger in the US, so it used a few of them to send a message from a girl called Stephanie to her astronaut father.

A big part of GoPro’s marketing strategy is to promote great footage captured by its users. And that often just proves how dull your own life is. Or is it? One office worker who strapped on a camera and made the footage into “an exciting GoPro commercial” doesn’t think so.

NZTA has been talking about the perils of distraction for a while now. And Auckland Transport is on the same page. So it’s released a new campaign that calls dangerous distracted drivers out—and asks witnesses to do the same.

Pascall has changed the recipe of its Milk Bottle lollies and removed the milk. And as is the case with most changes like this, customers are unimpressed with the new taste—and the concept.

Growth HQ’s James Kemp ran 65 of New Zealand’s top sites through Google’s Mobile Tool to see how ready they were for the algorithm changes introduced today. And there were quite a few surprises in the mix. Plus: what Google says about the changes.

Digital innovations might be proliferating and making communication easier, but Chemistry Interaction’s Joseph Silk argues that how we use these new tools will determine how successful they are in marketing.

Burger King has cut toys from its kids’ meal options and stopped television advertising of its kids’ meals, and it says it’s the first burger chain in New Zealand to do so.

Earlier this year, in an effort to encourage the entrants of the Winston Fletcher Fiction Prize to write freely, the competition organisers released a quirky campaign that places typical client feedback alongside the covers of three famous works of fiction. The targets of client dissatisfaction in this case are Salman Rushdie, Scott F Fitzgerald and Joseph Heller, and the comments in each instance criticise the very aspects that make their books so enduring.

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

With the rise of smartphone photography, it’s tough out there for most camera manufacturers. The experienced and enthusiast photography market is the logical place for them to play and Canon is doing just that in a new campaign to show off its lenses and the difference they can make to telling a story. PLUS: how Apple, Samsung and other mobile manufacturers are changing the industry.