Westpac hasn’t been doing too shabby as of late. Last week it announced the New Zealand business has once again outperformed its Australian parent with a 41 percent boost in earnings. And perhaps proving that profitability doesn’t have to come at the expense of sustainability, Westpac also cleaned up at last night’s 2011 NZI National Sustainable Business Network. Westpac was named Sustainable Business of the Year and also took home the People’s Choice and the Trailblazer Large and Corporate Business awards. 

In a similar fashion to its NZ Pure billboard at the Auckland airport, Boundary Road Brewery and Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ have launched a cheeky new billboard for its new Lawn Ranger brew and referenced the recent spate of trademark bullying. 

We knew it was going up for sale after a glittering career spent promoting the nation in some of the world’s busiest urban hubs. But we still had to laugh when we saw this unusual item come up on the government tender site last night. Only in New Zealand, you might say. Although it’s a shame it’s not on TradeMe. We think you creative types will be able to come up with a few interesting ideas for the next phase of the magnificent Giant Rugby Ball (imagine how impressed your clients would be if you had your Christmas party in this bad boy) and the best suggestion wins themselves a subscription to NZ Rugby World, some Cadbury chocolate and a new book by Jack Ralston and Steve Kilgallon The Sports Insider. 

Love magazines?  Love winning?  The good folk at The Magazine Marketing Company are launching the Creative Magazine Guide and to celebrate they are giving away $3,000 worth of creative magazines.

The election isn’t dominating the ad breaks quite as much as rugby did last month – just some asset-kissing from the politicians in this latest round of Ads@6. “Vote National and kiss your assets goodbye,” says the Labour Party.   Tony’s tires continue to grate, and that disaster prone Peter Elliot is back wondering whether your family would survive one.

It’s been a tumultuous time for our Christchurch friends of late. But the team from UMC advertising is feeling pretty positive about the future after a surprisingly good year on the business front and a recent rebrand to Simpatico.

Tourism New Zealand has signed a $9 million marketing deal with Jetstar that will combine the airline’s low fares with the tourism organisation’s strong destination branding to encourage more international visitors from Australia, Singapore, Japan and across the Asia region.

Rugby World Cup orientated advertising is finally on the way out – replaced with electioneering in this latest round of Ads@6.  There is some Nutricious nuttiness, and Mainland talks to the cheese.. but will the cheese respond?

Almost 30 years after New Zealand’s infamous snap election, a Wellington based distiller is bringing old-fashioned fun and satire back to modern day politics. Ulf Fuehrer, maker of traditional German schnapps Zumwohl, says one of his greatest passions in life, aside from schnapps, is politics. Now he’s found a way to bring the two together.

The 24 Hour Movie Marathon is now the Fatso 24 Hour Movie Marathon after the online DVD rental company took up headline sponsorship of the event dedicated to true film buffs with a minimum two year commitment. This year marks the 12th annual event and it has once again been masterminded by film aficionado, producer and distributor Ant Timpson. Sadly, the event on Saturday 19 November at Auckland’s Hollywood Cinema has already sold out, so we can’t give away any tickets, but Fatso is offering a prize pack to help you replicate it all at home with a free three month Super Plan subscription, a Movie Marathon t-shirt and a Fatso Movie Marathon poster, designed by the immensely talented Tane Williams. So add a strange name for a movie to the comment wall (here’s some inspiration) and it could all be yours. 

Don’t miss out… time is running out to register for the Marketing Today Conference 2011.  The Big Day Out for the marketing industry is only 12 days away and the line up is top notch.

GrabOne has presented its retailers with an early Christmas pressie – 2000 android tablets to redeem coupons.  It is in response to some irate Grabbies who’ve had trouble redeeming their vouchers using their phones. Seems some retailers were refusing to accept vouchers unless they’d been printed out.

The printing presses may be slowing down across the board, but online channels are starting to take up some of that slack. And, in an effort to capitalise on the mobile and online momentum and make it easier for retailers to get their wares in front of modern shoppers, Reachmedia has released the next version of its catalogue viewing platform, which effectively takes catalogues, resizes them and publishes them in a Facebook environment and on mobile apps. 

These days it’s not uncommon for kids to be more computer savvy than their parents. So how can computer illiterate parents keep their children safe online?