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Election billboards get author’s spin
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When you’ve written a book about subversively influencing the masses, what better way to promote it than to hijack election billboards? That’s what Nick McFarlane, designer by day and author of the so-called propaganda manual Spinfluence has done, sneakily adding prints to a handful of signs in central Auckland recently.

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Taste the tech
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The marketing deal between Google’s Android and Nestle’s Kit Kat was celebrated by the marketing fraternity (the choc-tech website is worth a look) and met with surprise by some in the tech space (it was initially thought the new IOS would be called Key Lime Pie). But, as this cartoon suggests, real humans may have a different take on the deal.

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Victory is mine!
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Some of the best ads in the local newspaper business were celebrated last night at AUT. Unfortunately, no-one from Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington was there to pick up the Best Art prize for its Wellington Zoo ad. But News Works NZ’s Lorne Maltman was on hand to accept it in their absence, and he revelled in the win, giving the longest speeches of anyone and receiving resounding applause for so openly claiming others’ spoils. Plus: Special Group’s violent Agency League run-down.

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Old Spice launches down under, Isaiah Mustafa channels Kiwi masculinity—UPDATED
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Old Spice has undergone a major resurgence in recent years, becoming the no.1-selling antiperspirant and deodorant and body wash brand in North America, and it all kicked off with American actor and former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa on a white horse. That ad by Wieden + Kennedy was one of the most-talked about commercials of all time and won a Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix. And now, with Old Spice launching a range of products in New Zealand, he’s reprised his role for an online video in which he aims to “define what it means to be a New Zealand male”.

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Problems at the Beeb
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The BBC has suffered two embarrasingly public epic fails. Newsreader Simon McCoy, whose past gaffes include appearing to snooze on the job, has now presented an item while clutching a ream of photocopy paper instead of his iPad.

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Shocking? Funny? Sure, just make sure you’ve got a point
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A great ad idea is nothing more than a cliche if it doesn’t achieve a specific outcome. And it doesn’t hurt to tap into the mood of a nation or hold a mirror up to people’s weird and wonderful behaviour if you want your ad to work. Those are some of the messages from Clemenger Sydney creative director Rebecca Carrasco, visiting for last night’s News Works Newspaper Advertising Awards.

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It’s choice, bro! People’s choice!
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While the judges deliberate on who will take home the other categories of this year’s Innovators Awards, it is time for you to decide who should win the People’s Choice. The finalists are in and voting starts… NOW!

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DDB’s YWCA ads dominate Newspaper Ad of the Year Award
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DDB’s campaign for the YWCA promoting equal pay for women has found plenty of favour with awards juries around the world, most recently at Spikes Asia. And it’s also got the tick of approval from the judges of the 2013 Newspaper Ad of the Year awards, winning the main prize and the award for Best Topical advertisement.

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Threaded Media takes its art to the app store
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Small Auckland-based publisher and design studio Threaded Media has been showcasing New Zealand’s and the world’s best designers and creatives since 2004 via its “collaborative design publication” Threaded. And now, after a two-year investigation/evolution into expanding the digital division, it’s launched a new iPad app that brings some of its aesthetically-pleasing content to life.

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The America’s Cup: it’s more than a race, it’s a tech showcase, says Ian Taylor
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Dunedin-based company Animation Research Limited is behind the amazing on-screen graphics and very popular mobile apps for the America’s Cup and while the chatter about the event is mostly positive, its chief executive Ian Taylor has penned a strongly worded missive saying that certain media commentators, politicians and, by extension, the general public are missing the point of the America’s Cup. Plus: Animation Research’s visual gift, ‘Kia Kaha San Francisco’.

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Human socks and good-natured vandalism
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Westpac has put a few of its besuited bodies on the line and created a giant human red sock in Britomart to show their support for Emirates Team New Zealand. Who says bankers don’t have a heart? And elsewhere in America’s Cup land, a few cheeky Kiwis decided Larry Ellison’s place “needed some decoration,” so they added a few New Zealand flags.

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Spikes Asia: DraftFCB and TBWA\ take Grand Prix, DDB and Open in the mix for special awards
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The winners of the Spikes Asia Awards were announced overnight and the Kiwi agencies fared pretty well, with TBWA\ and DraftFCB winning Grand Prix awards in the Media and PR categories for Tourism New Zealand’s Middle-Earth Passport Stamp and Mini/SPCA’s Driving Dogs respectively, while DDB Group’s haul made it the third ranked agency in the region and Open (nee Naked) was the region’s top ranked media agency with its wins for Unitec.

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Plastic Apple
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Apple found plenty of success when it added some colour to its iPods. And while some think Steve Jobs would be rolling in his grave over the company’s shift to cheaper handsets, that’s where the company is headed after it announced the launch of the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. And it’s released an ad via TBWA\ to promote its colourful models.

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Eyes wide shut
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Just when we thought we’d seen the heights of interactivity with the online video Just a Reflektor, where you can control special effects using your phone, Virgin Mobile has stepped it up another notch with Blinkwashing.

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Beyond the Flickrverse: Getty’s top selling Flickr images
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Flickr and Getty Images joined forces a few years back to build a platform that would enable the creation of a first class collection of royalty free and rights managed photographs. Photographers can submit their efforts to the Getty Images Call for Artists group and the Getty Images creative team then reviews photos, looking out for images they feel are marketable based on their expertise and inviting new photographers to join. There are now more than 600,000 images (and counting) from over 115 countries available to license (check out the full gallery here) and Getty has compiled the top-sellers globally.

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