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

Lurpak butter is a brand that has perfected the art of food porn with a range of mouthwatering recent ads. And Marks & Spencer, no stranger to the art itself, has continued that fine tradition with its latest campaign, ‘Adventures in Imagination’, by RKCR/Y&R. Plus: some other glorious food ads.

The next big battleground for the major tech players seems to be the home. Google has its eyes on that prize with the purchase of Nest, ​companies like GE and Cisco are betting big on the internet of things and, closer to home, Spark’s Digilife offer is gunning for the early adopters. And Samsung is also hoping to capitalise on this evolution, with a clever experiential activation called Home Smart Home set to launch in Auckland soon that aims to show how some of its products can fit into the homes of the future—and help make life easier.

In 2010, Number One Shoes dropped the word ‘warehouse’ from its name in an effort to shift the brand from being associated with large storage facilities. And now, in a continuation of this move away from all things utilitarian, the chain is revamping its stores to create an improved shopping experience for those that walk through the doors. The Albany store, located in the Westfield shopping centre on Auckland’s North Shore, was the first store to be relaunched, and the shop at St Luke’s will follow suit next month. And to draw attention to the changes, Number One Shoes has launched a quirky series of campaigns via PR agency Starseed.

Samsung has successfully take the fight directly to Apple—and the fans willing to line up for their new toys—with The Next Big Thing is Already Here campaign. And after Apple launched the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, as well as the Apple Watch this week, it’s continued the ribbing with a series of ads that show a couple of ‘geniuses’ discussing the new ‘innovations’.

British fashion and lifestyle magazine i-D has launched its online presence in New Zealand at i-D.co and it’s tapping into a few tricks of its parent company Vice to appeal to the beautiful people—and to get brands involved.

In an effort to be the first to jump on a hot new story, more and more media outlets are failing to do one of the most necessary tasks: fact checking.

The appetite for content marketing is growing rapidly, with much of it happening in the digital space. Many brands have invested in their own content marketing teams and platforms. Publishers like Fairfax, APN and Tangible Media all have their own content marketing teams working on both digital and print. And agencies of all stripes are also trying to make hay while the sun shines by filling up the variety of channels consumers now use. Now Brendan Jarvis and Ron Sneddon have joined the fray with Story, a standalone business that has a “laser-like focus” on digital content marketing.

The changes are coming thick and fast at APN NZ under new chief executive Jane Hastings, with a new exec team announced this week, a more integrated sales approach across its media portfolio and some clever new products like ShopViva. And now the Business Herald is getting in on the action, with more tools, more content and more interactivity added to the website in an effort to deliver “more relevant digital news to New Zealanders”.

Following on from last week’s announcement that Yahoo had updated its website with features that allow for greater personalisation, MSN has now similarly given its homepage a facelift. And althought the website has not yet been officially released, Kiwis can catch a glimpse of the changes by visiting the preview site. StopPress takes a look at what the update will offer users and advertisers in the near future.

New research shows international retailers are chipping away at New Zealand shoppers’ consumer spend, but Kiwi companies finding a way to effectively harness the power of online retailing could add another $34 billion to the economy. And online events like the upcoming Click Monday are doing their bit to get Kiwis spending on local sites.

You can’t underestimate the power of the All Blacks when it comes to sponsorships. And it’s even better if you can get them half naked, as Jockey did recently as part of a successful activation for New Zealand Fashion Week.

Since its launch only two years ago, Wellington-based tech start-up Showcase Workshop has grown quickly, picking up major Kiwi clients such as Spark, NZTE, Z Energy and The Warehouse, and now the company is expanding into Europe after winning a new client in Vodafone UK.

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook took to the stage this morning in Cupertino to launch the iPhone 6 (and its larger brother the iPhone 6 Plus) and the Apple Watch. It’s put a selection of videos from the launch on its YouTube channel, including a cool (and slightly controversial) clip about Perspective, Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake showcasing the new phones, a lengthy explainer from lead designer Jonny Ive and a clip featuring U2.

Once again, the Apple acolytes are frothing at the mouth over the announcement of the new Apple Watch and iPhone 6 (the Oatmeal sums up what owning an Apple product is like quite well). But we prefer this wearable Apple ‘tech’.

As Adweek points out, the product as aphrodisiac has a long history in advertising, and especially when it comes to male grooming products aimed at younger men. Unlike Axe/Lynx, however, Old Spice has largely avoided the obvious gag of women being unable to resist the lure of scented man, and, if it has used it, it’s at least added in some absurdity. Its latest campaign does feature plenty of hot babes falling into a deep swoon over the lead male character, but, as per usual, there’s a slight difference. And, in the latest spot, the newest Old Spice mascot unwisely decides to go for a soak in the tub.

With the prospect of an IPO on the horizon that would potentially see 60 percent of APN New Zealand’s media assets carved out, a number of new senior humans have joined the organisation to “drive collaboration benefits across the group and fulfill a bold new vision to fully engage Kiwis anywhere, anytime with the content they love”.