Motorola has launched a tattoo that allows smartphone users to unlock their phones instantly. So is it a henna tattoo of a QR barcode? Is it a microchip inserted into the skin? Or is it an actual tattoo etched onto the body with electronic micro fibre ink?

Every brand and his dog seems to have been trying to get in on the selfie craze recently, and, as yourselfieideaisnotoriginal.tumblr.com shows, it often smacks of desperation. But if you’re going to get punters to take a photo of themselves, at least make it challenging. Samsung, one of the few brands to have had success when it comes to selfie-related campaigns, is doing just that, with what could be seen as a tech-related version of the ice challenge.

Adding to the avalanche of selfies, ‘dronies’ might soon be saturating the social media feeds of snow-goers, with a camera-equipped drone hitting the South Island ski slopes in Tourism New Zealand’s latest stunt.

While tagging is often seen as an activity worthy of punishment, brands often seem to get away with it. BNZ and Unitec have done it in recent years. And Comedy Central got in on the stencil action recently to promote the new series of Chris Lilley’s Jonah from Tonga, which plays on Mondays at 9.25pm. But as a Sideswipe reader asked, why the hypocrisy and is it appropriate to have a big brand-sanctioned schlong on the streets?

Back in 2010, tampon brand Kotex confronted the Netherlands and used the word vagina in an ad. Last year, Carefree followed suit and online tampon service Hello Flo went even further with a couple of hilarious spots. The same trend towards openness seems to be developing in the bum wiping sector, long a haven of rolly dogs, tacky euphemisms and smiling actors, and Kleenex Cottonelle has convinced comedian Madeleine Sami, someone who seems to revel in public displays of awkwardness, to get on board and spruik its moistened wipes to New Zealanders. PLUS: Why wastewater experts are waging war on ‘flushable’ wipes.

Over the course of the last week, the nation’s major supermarket chains have been embroiled in a discount battle that the Herald has dubbed ‘bread wars’. The first shots of this this retail skirmish were fired on 17 July, when Countdown dropped the price of its budget white bread from $1.48 to only $1, a discount that was immediately promoted via radio and television advertisements under the ‘Price Lockdown’ banner that has been giving Kiwis reduced prices since October last year. On the very day that Countdown dropped its bread prices, New World released a similar campaign and shortly thereafter Pak ‘n Save did the same. And this effectively served as the next phase of a back-and-forth discount battle that has seen both Foodstuffs and Countdown taking aim at each other in numerous campaigns.

Carlton Draught has just started rerunning a 30 second TVC that originally aired in the the 1980s. With an action packed montage, perfectly poured beers and an impossible amount of enthusiasm, there is a lot to love here.

Karl Lagerfield called selfies ‘electronic masturbation’ and a number of studies have shown the compulsion to take selfies is actually a serious mental health condition. The online narcissicism appears to be continuing unabated, however, with selfie sticks seemingly flying off the shelves. But why simply post a classic duck face to your social networks when you could take it up a notch and burn your beautiful face onto a piece of toast.

Lydia Ko took out her fourth professional win yesterday, making the 17-year-old golfing phenom the youngest ever player to make it to US$1 million in prize money. ANZ sponsors Ko (and the ANZ Golf Show) and it’s celebrating her win with a simple social game via Whybin\TBWA that offers Facebookers a chance to win $2000 if they can guess where she’s hit her tee shot.

Following on from the 2013 redesign of its bottle, Tuatara has once again played around with the aesthetics of its beer-carrying devices—and this time the company has received a helping hand from the vampires behind Kiwi mockumentary Delicious Necks.

One of the country’s larger PR companies, SenateSHJ, has merged with PR Partners in Auckland, bolstering its expertise in consumer and ICT sector and making it one of the largest privately owned communications consultancies in Australasia.

At its essence, on-site marketing is about getting a message in front of consumers at a time when they are most susceptible to purchase. And while this might seem simple enough, Chris Coffey, the founder of the In Group, explains there’s a little more to it.

The New Zealander who helped give human faces to creatures in movies like Avatar and King Kong has teamed up with an Auckland company making airport software to develop an avatar for self-service check-ins. And there’s plenty of scope for more robot-human interactions in retail, marketing and pretty much everywhere else.

Uber may not be flavour of the month with the powerful taxi industry, but it’s gaining plenty of fans around the world, including Google, which invested US$258 million in it last year. And, as part of a global promotion, it’s hoping to draw attention to the on-demand driver service by offering Aucklanders a chance to have some of Auckland’s finest ice cream delivered to their door.

A new kind of documentary may be coming to a screen new you. the difference with this one is that it is all about Emojis, those entertaining, little images such as the smiling poop.

Dr Jane Cherrington, ex-head of the Mental Health Foundation, founding partner at now 16-strong agency String Theory, research director at The Briefing and self-confirmed ‘catalyst’, wants Kiwi businesses and marketing departments to thrive, adapt and do good. Here’s how.

Radio Hauraki’s newish breakfast team has been getting plenty of love recently, largely as a result of the brilliant Like Mike segment, in which Jeremy Wells channels his inner Mike Hosking in an effort to improve its position as the 13th most-listened to breakfast show in the country. And the station is continuing that quest and aiming to improve its standing in the eyes of those who respect sleep deprivation and alcohol-based fun with a 24 hour stunt called #nosleeptilbreakfast, which saw the hosts take a trip to Waiheke, visit salubrious tourist haunts like Showgirls and SkyCity, hug Leigh Hart’s dog, stay awake and booze all night and then bravely/foolishly do their morning radio show.

Automotive marketers, the bar has been raised, because David Johns of Australian agency Chimney has put together a stunner of an ad to sell his 1999 Holden Barina. PLUS: other glorious homemade car ads.