Beck’s recently launched a series of limited edition art labels on all its beer bottles. And to celebrate, Beck’s are giving away a swish prize pack, which you could win by sharing your artistic bent. 

It took a bloody long time, but DraftFCB has won the Vodafone account ahead of Ogilvy and .99, and AffinityID, which has done some project work for the company in the past, has won the CRM business, bringing a long-awaited end to the uncertainty—both for the agencies involved in the pitch and for the local Vodafone team thought to have been waiting on a decision from global HQ.

adidas New Zealand will be showing off one of the latest in marketing technology to its head office in Germany, all thanks to a Hamilton print company. Last November we told you about Print House in Hamilton’s new integrated multi-media technology that allows ultra thin video screens to ‘show-and-tell’ about a product. adidas New Zealand tried it, loved it, and are taking it to the company’s HQ in Germany.

Around 450 industry folk turned up for APN Outdoor’s Friends in High Places event last night at Mantells to hear Tiki Taane, Sola Rosa, PNC, DJ Sambora and State of Mind. So if you were there—or you want to live vicariously through those that were—here are some glamour shots for your viewing pleasure. All the guests are invited to tag themselves in the album of party pics available on the FIHP Facebook page from this afternoon.

The country’s packaging heroes and villains have been unmasked once again thanks to the Unpackit awards, with the folks from Wanaka Wastebusters whittling down 200 nominations to the eight best and worst examples of packaging in New Zealand. 

Accessing government information can be a necessary evil, one often accompanied by much gnashing of teeth, wailing, and tearing of hair follicles. Why? The word bureaucratic springs to mind, followed swiftly by convoluted, unnecessarily intricate, and confusing. But that’s all about to change, thanks to a brand spanking new website The New Zealand Government Directory. Now, understanding the workings of government, and its key power brokers, has never been easier. The interactive new site, developed by Network Communication, brings together all publicly available information onto the one site. Hurrah.

In the two weeks leading up to Christmas it’s no surprise most TVCs, including those from Harvey Norman, Briscoes, Telecom, Sky, Lotto, Farmers, Postie, Warehouse Stationery, and the Warehouse were Christmas themed. Cadbury came up with the most original one, building an enormous snow globe in the middle of Auckland, at the height of summer. Bunnings bravely went against the grain, not mentioning Xmas at all, instead showing just how much fun can be had with a few good chainsaws…

All around the world, things go a little bit green on St Patrick’s Day as token Irishfolk embrace the festivities and set about downing 13 million pints of Guinness. And, as part of a global effort to make March 17 officially the friendliest day of the year, Lion and Zephyr have put Guinness back on TV for the first time in 12 years with a campaign featuring very funny Irish comedian Jimeoin. 

MSN’s recent investment in local news production and global news and video content is paying off big time, with latest Omniture figures showing a whopping 48 percent year-on-year upswing in unique browsers (UBs) visiting MSN’s news portal, up 250,000 to 771,000. In contrast, over the same period, UBs visiting rival Yahoo’s news offering dropped more than ten percent, from 1.7 million to 1.5 million. (Source: Nielsen MI).

It’s been a rough old time in the movie industry lately. The last few years have seen a general decline in ticket sales, partly from the competition of video-piracy and video-games, but also because some punters actually prefer watching the latest releases on DVD from the comforts of their own home. With advances in home entertainment rapidly evolving, cinema owners are having to up the ante, launching sophisticated technology not available in the average home. Synchronised motion effects built into cinema seats are the industry’s latest tactic to attract moviegoers—and they could offer some creative advertising opportunities as well.