Insurance isn’t often thought of as an industry overflowing with humour, but AMI is showing that it does in fact have a funnier side in new campaign that brings to life true claim stories in a new animated series.

Following on from last year’s campaign featuring a pair of Brazilian bloggers sharing their experiences of studying in New Zealand, Education New Zealand has now launched a new campaign called ‘A new adventure every day’, which has a collection of five average foreign students starring in a series of videos that showcase what New Zealand is like.

Yesterday, MediaWorks announced it was merging its newsrooms to enhance efficiency. Fairfax has long favoured the network approach. And NZME is doing similar things by bringing its various strands closer together. So how will that affect the news? Conan O’Brien knows.

AJ Park patent specialists Anton Blijlevens and Jillian Lim touch on some interesting patents to look out for on the shelves.

While most marketers in the action and outdoor industry attempt showcase their products as survival essentials, Mons Royale founder Hamish Acland has veered away from this trope to present his brand as a fashionable label that offers both utility and aesthetic appeal. And this approach has now been continued in a new promotional clip that showcases imagery that is both sexy and utility-based. Featuring Jossi Wells, Christy Prior, Connor Macfarlane, Will Jackways and beautifully shot in the Mons Royale hometown of Lake Wanaka, the over-minute-long video provides a glimpse at the lives of these extreme sports enthusiasts.

As Southpark recently pointed out, messages of moderation from alcohol companies often seem slightly paradoxical. But Diageo has nailed it with the help of manly moustachioed man and regular booze brand ambassador Nick Offerman, who, as part of a wider campaign called My Tales of Whisky, sings about the things you shouldn’t do while drinking.

Throughout the course of the last year, Getty Images has been making a point of identifying the visual trends that define business culture in the modern age. In addition to seeing changes in media representations of women, middle-aged people and beauty standards, Getty has also drawn attention to the way technology is influencing photography through extreme close-ups and point-of-view cinematography. And as the world stands poised to draw the curtain on 2014, the team at Getty have taken a moment to look at what the future in a new article published on its website.

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

New Zealand is set to become the 82nd country to have a homeless store, with an ordinary kiwi bloke at the helm of organising a pop-up on Quay Street in Auckland Central.

Nothing gets brands more willing to spend dollars on advertising than a special event. Be it Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day or Christmas, brands throughout the world embrace the moment, throw caution to the wind and try to capitalise on the consumer frenzy that often accompanies these days. And in the lead up to to Christmas 2014, brands have not disappointed, delivering yet another entertaining dose of humorous and tear-jerking spots.

The one major advantage of a digital billboard is that it can be updated instantly to reflect something that is happening at a specific moment. During the election, TV3 used this to its advantage by feeding live updates of the results onto APN Outdoor’s collection of digital billboards in Auckland. And now, DDB and ZenithOptimedia are collaborating with Mother Nature on a new outdoor campaign for Speight’s that adjusts in accordance with the temperature.

There’s plenty of discussion about whether the 100% Pure campaign has had its day and the country appears to be reaching peak Hobbit, but there’s no doubt New Zealand’s clever tourism marketing tactics over the years have done the business and attracted more tourists to these fine lands.