In an increasingly digital, ephemeral world, tangibility still has power. And MEA Mobile’s photo printing app Printicular is profiting from that. PLUS: Other companies bringing online and offline closer together.

You can do some amazing things with light these days, with the likes of Philips’ Hue and GE’s Link giving humans the ability to control their lights via apps, create a disco in their living room or respond to other data (like calendars, or through ‘if this then that’). And Infiniti Middle East and TBWA/RAAD in Dubai has also done something pretty cool with lights for its Inspired Light project.

Where do creative types find their inspiration? New research by Adobe shows it’s increasingly in the online realm. PLUS: the creative skills deemed to be most in-demand in 2015.

Every year around this time, banks attempt to grease up the young’uns heading off to expand/erode their minds at University. But banks are rarely at the top of the priorities list at this stage of life and erecting a makeshift tent and handing out branded pens at a festival or over Orientation Week just doesn’t cut it anymore. So ASB is running a Snapchat campaign called Snap Scholarships—replete with the obligatory prizes—to try and lure them in.

The potential for digital sensors and big data to make our cities easier to navigate and more efficient, whether it’s for parking, lighting or, in the case of Sensing City, pretty much the whole of Christchurch, is immense. Cisco has been banging on about the possibilities of the internet of things for a few years now, and, as its latest campaign, Building Tomorrow Today, shows, it thinks technology will soon render traffic jams extinct.

Because we all know the best way to lose weight starts with a hearty dose of self loathing.

Newcastle Brown Ale has long been know for taking the mickey with their advertising. So much so that it has become a central part of their brand identity. Now they are taking another stab at their favourite target, Super Bowl ads, with possibly their weirdest idea yet.

After more than a decade as managing director at SC Johnson, three years in the same role at Lion Breweries, then nearly 20 years as the boss of Fonterra Brands, there’s not much Peter McClure doesn’t know about how to launch a product. As he steps down from the role he tells Amanda Sachtleben about grabbing shoppers’ eyeballs in eight seconds, why that lightproof milk bottle wasn’t actually a flop and the reason entrepreneurs have a marketing jump on the corporates.

McDonald’s, fresh from launching a new brand that ups the love and aims to halt sliding sales, launched a new ad during the Golden Globes that showed how the signs outside its restaurants in the US “have been used to spread messages of love, hope and respect”. Of course, whenever there is a sign, there will be those who manipulate them for comedic effect. And College Humour has put together a different, more puerile version.

Whether it’s a BMW skidding on an aircraft carrier, Volvo’s Live Test series, Hyundai’s empty car convoy or, closer to home, Holden’s Heartracing or Mini’s Driving Dogs, there’s no doubt automotive brands love a good stunt. And you can add Ford to that list after it launched a two minute clip featuring a host of Falcon fanatics who were recruited to line up along a custom-made racetrack in fetching blue overalls as Mark Winterbottom tried his best to avoid them.

Getty Images’ annual top searches reflect a mix of the year’s events, news, sports, popular celebrities and other major stories and trending ideas. Here’s what 2014 looked like.

Back in 2013, ANZ’s summer cricket spot was about as naff as you could get, with a few of the bank’s sporting ambassadors watching Eric Murray get a tennis ball beamer from Shane Bond. This year it’s taken a more serious approach for its naming rights sponsorship of the Sri Lankan series and its sponsorship of the upcoming Cricket World Cup by launching a campaign called Dream Big.

As scores of dejected New Zealand humans shuffle back into their workplaces after their unbridled leisure, it’s important to have a regular fill of pointless but moderately entertaining content to fill in your day while brain functionality slowly returns to normal. And here’s a quality example of that: 1650 mousetraps and 1840 ping-pong balls creating a non-explosive chain reaction to ring in the new year for Pepsi Max.