Moa Beer launched its new pioneer-focused packaging late last year. And its latest marketing initiative continues down that patriotic road by trying to bind us together through the sharing of stories of everyday New Zealanders, something it’s calling ‘How to Brew a Country’.

To be fair it’s not an ad for themselves, but rather for Friskies and is the latest addition to the ‘Dear Kitten’ series.

Breaking the rules is a standard trope used to encourage consumers to make an extravagant purchase. And while it doesn’t necessarily redefine this oft-used premise, Audi’s new spot via Venables Bell & Partners is an entertaining and far-fetched look at the consequences that could follow on from breaking the simple rule of not waiting at least an hour after eating.

To highlight the fact they have over 2000 domestic flights each week, Air New Zealand enlisted the help of some local celebrities for their latest spot.

Corona is supporting the Piha Surf Life Saving Club in a bid to raise funds for the redevelopment of the facilities located at the popular, and unquestionably dangerous, beach on Auckland’s West Coast. To assist the fundraising efforts, Corona has arranged an auction of surf photography as well as launching a pop-up bar to quench beachgoers’ thirst during the summer months.

Realestate.co.nz has coupled a stereotypically nerdy middle-aged man with an annoyingly talkative woman in a new spot that aims to show that the company has options for house hunters of all persuasions.

Founded 25 years ago and based in Melbourne, retail design specialist Greater Group recently crossed the Tasman to open an office here at the Steelworks Building in Mount Eden in Auckland. This is the fourth arm of the business to open and follows on from the opening of the branches in Hong Kong and Shanghai. And to lead this latest addition to its operation, Greater Group has sent across its general manager of global brand and strategy, Danielle Barclay, someone who is quite familiar with working in New Zealand, having worked her for several years earlier in her career. So StopPress asked her a few questions about what she hopes to acheive now that she’s back on this side of the ditch.

Happenings in the digital industry at Spark Digital, BKA Interactive and Yellow.

Nike has been one of the leading proponents of the quantified self trend with its suite of Nike+ products and Fuelband. Now, with the help of AKQA, it’s put some of that data to good use with the Your Year app and has created over 100,000 personalised animated films based on the activities of some of its more active users. And as well as celebrating the athletic achievements of its users, the videos also aim to inspire them to outdo their 2014 accomplishments.

An app a day keeps everything away, so why interact with the real world?

Facebook has appointed experienced media man Spencer Bailey as the head of the New Zealand arm of the business. The appointment of Bailey brings an end to Stephen Scheeler’s stint as the acting head of Facebook New Zealand, and this sees Scheeler return to his previous role of head of retail and automotive for both Australia and New Zealand.

In the world of smartphones, bigger is increasingly better. Samsung got in early with its Note range and got a fair amount of criticism for it. But, much to Samsung’s delight, Apple has recently followed suit with its iPhone 6 Plus. Both those phones pale into insignificance when compared to the Nabi Big Tab, however, which employed the services of a magician to show off its wares. PLUS: How big touch screens are being used in retail and marketing and what screens might look like in the future.

There are plenty of examples of brands being integrated into TV shows these days. And plenty of examples of fun being poked at the ad industry. But Wellington-based video strategy and production company Stem Creative is aiming to combine those two things in a new satirical web series called Agency that follows three “hapless but genuine and enthusiastic” employees at a small creative marketing agency in Wellington and, as Stem founder and director Ben Forman says, “pulls the veil off the ad industry”.

Nintendo released the Power Glove in 1989. The wearable video game controller was a huge flop but has found a new purpose in a slightly different field.

Late last year, puppy lovers everywhere shed unnecessary tears on account of the supposed death of Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan. This tragic news story was widely circulated via Facebook, until Millan stepped in and released an official statement via his Facebook page that he was still alive and well. This faux news story was by no means an exception, with countless similar celebrity deaths and other outrageous stories being shared through the channel. However, it seems that Facebook wants to bring an end to the falsehood. A report on Wired says that the social media juggernaut will soon release a new feature that enables users to flag hoax articles.

Witnessing a grown man with an impressive girth pouring what is hopefully chilled coffee all over his topless body isn’t necessarily an aesthetically pleasing experience, but this hasn’t stopped Bigpipe from featuring this bizarre scene in a new spot that promotes its unlimited broadband packages.

Late last year, when the aroma of summer barbecues was starting to coax workers away from their desks, subscription video on-demand service Lightbox and Coliseum Sports Media (CSM) announced a joint partnership, which will see the pair of companies bring their programming portfolios together. And now, following on from this, Spark has announced that all of its approximately 600,000 home broadband subscribers (and those who sign up before 30 April) will be given 12 months’ access to Lightbox free of charge. So do these moves make business sense for a telco in a very competitive market?