As noted in a series of articles published on the Getty Images website last year, publishers and brands are starting to shift away from the stereotypical images that have until now typified what advertisers had constructed as perfection. The investigation into visual trends found that women were increasingly represented in positions of power, same-sex relationships were sometimes used in lieu of straight imagery, older people were appearing with greater regularity and beauty was being given a more flexible definition. Interestingly, the top 20 Getty images that have been downloaded by Kiwis since the beginning of the year also indicate that these international trends are starting to take shape in New Zealand. However, trends don’t emerge instantaneously, and this means there were still some more conventional images included on the final list.

Hell Pizza is offering an explosive short-term deal with their pizza delivery – and they’re hoping it’s going to net them a record week of sales. A campaign offering a fireworks delivery along with your pizza kicked off last week with the company opening a fireworks preorder for the Guy Fawkes period.

In a bid to get Spark connected with young Aucklanders, a group it struggled to reach in the Telecom days, the company is partnering with Kiwi NBA player Steven Adams and the Auckland council to bring five high-tech basketball courts to the city.

Artist Sarah Larnach has lent her creative talents to winemaker Whitecliff for a new branding campaign that prominently features the company’s tree silhouette in the artwork.

Ikea Singapore is not afraid to scare the crap out of its customers with a tongue-in-cheek ad out just in time for Halloween. PLUS: a few other branded tricks and treats.

Over the weekend, Fairfax distributed a revamp of Sunday, the magazine insert included on a weekly basis with the Sunday Star-Times. The new version features an updated portrait layout, more pages and a combination of new content and the return of various favourites that have thus far appeared in the pages of the magazine over the last ten years. To incorporate the new design elements, Fairfax brought in art director Delaney Tabron to work closely with Sunday editor Rebecca Kamm, who joined the publication in January.

Whether it’s booking flights, deciding where to stay or finding your way when you’re on holiday, the internet era has turned the travel industry on its head. Jessy Edwards looks at how some of the traditional businesses like Destinations, For the Love of Travel and House of Travel are transitioning and how new businesses are profiting.

OK Go has produced some phenomenally creative music videos, from treadmills to Rube Goldberg machines to visual trickery (that Apple seems to have been ‘inspired’ by). And its latest effort adds to that ouevre.

The elusive Honey-billed William is like catnip to brands (and media). And after he announced his return to rugby earlier this year, Adidas swooped in and signed him up as an ambassador in May. Now it’s released a short clip telling his story as part of its #leaveyourmark campaign. PLUS: exciting jersey-related news.

ANZ holds around one third of the country’s home loan market and it’s made a concerted push to retain that—and presumably improve that—recently with a new campaign showing the frisson of buying property at auction. Last year it put its name beside TVNZ’s Art of the Architect and now it’s backing the other team, signing on as a production partner for the upcoming New Zealand version of Grand Designs New Zealand.

In times of crisis, the media is meant to serve as helpful tool in keeping the public informed. However, with the recent increase in the number of ebola cases around the world, some arms of the American media have seemingly lost their minds and resorted to blatant fear mongering instead. Here’s what a few comedians think about the ebola madness going on at the moment.

We live in increasingly visual times. And no-one’s got time to read those pesky words anymore. So every week we’ll choose a few of our favourite graphs. In honour of the heated discussion around magazines on these pages in recent days, here’s a couple that show what’s been happening to magazine circulation in New Zealand over the past ten years.

Travel review website Trip Advisor is the king of user-generated content, and it’s recently backed that up by running a competition for fan-made ads.

Between Two Ferns is a big favourite of those who prefer their chat shows awksome, and it hit the big time when president Obama stopped by to talk about the affordable healthcare act a few months ago. Now, after a bit of a break, Zach Galafianakis has returned ans his latest victim is Brad Pitt/Bradley Pitts/Bart Pit. And there’s even a cameo from Louis CK.

Z Energy has followed in the footsteps of New World and Countdown by launching a campaign that gives customers the opportunity to collect a series of collectibles when spending a certain amount of money. Dubbed ‘Blokhedz’, the campaign features a series of 16 stackable figurines, based on superheroes and villains from the DC comic franchise, which consumers can collect if they spend more than $40 either in-store or on petrol (purchases of tobacco products cannot be used to redeem BlokHedz).The campaign—which was created by JWT as the lead agency, MBM and Mediacom for media, and Heyday for digital—is currently being promoted via a short YouTube clip and a specially dedicated section of the Z Energy website, which features profiles of all the characters available for collection.

In 2009, at the age of 43, well-regarded suit and strategist Andy McDowell was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and, over the last two years, his condition has deteriorated substantially, making it difficult for him to continue working. As an industry stalwart, who launched The Department of Marketing in 2008, previously worked at FCB and Ogilvy & Mather, and also owned Nebula Marketing, McDowell has left an indelible mark on the lives of many in the Kiwi advertising space. And for this reason, a collection of advertising agencies have grouped together to raise funds to support him.

Known for bucking against the trend of plain-as-Jane packaging for grocery house brands, Foodstuffs’ latest investment into the design of its Pams flour range is proving to be a winner, with Auckland-based agency Brother picking up a gold award at the 2014 Pentawards, a global competition which recognises the best of packaging design.

Steven Adams’ entertaining teaser video ‘Secret Codes’ for Spark’s mysterious basketball-related campaign clocked in with over 72,000 views—and all without any paid media support. Now he’s back for the second instalment, once again alongside Reggie Jackson, and it looks like he’s planning on doing something about the poor state of New Zealand’s outdoor courts *wink, wink*.

Despite the ongoing hoaxes over the years, the date of the future that’s shown on the DeLorean in the 1985 movie Back to the Future 2 is around one year from now (check out the countdown clock if you need to check). And in a case of life imitating art, there has been much frothing at the collective mouth over the past few days on account of a Kickstarter campaign that claims to have invented the world’s first real hoverboard.