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?

One of the surprises of the Effie awards was not seeing DrafFCB and The Electricity Authority’s What’s My Number campaign up on the podium. Turns out it was ineligible for this year’s competition because of the dates it ran, but it looks set to be a shoo in for next year, because you don’t get much more effective than a campaign that ends up influencing the nation’s interest and inflation rates. 

APN is claiming to be the first New Zealand publisher to launch an augmented reality app, with The Herald’s TimeOut section being made into an interactive print product through the use of regularly updated virtual content. 

Along with industry specialists traditionally seen in the judging line-up for the RSVP and Nexus Awards, the Marketing Association has confirmed several new faces for this year’s panel.

Fresh from an impressive Best Awards haul, its first Effie accolade, a big Kathmandu rebrand and the global launch of MahiFX, Strategy Design and Advertising has ramped up its expansion plans by bringing Wellington’s Cue Design into the fold, with the studio adding to its existing offices in Christchurch, Auckland and Sydney.

New Zealand likes Vogel’s. And puns. And, when it comes to the rules around RWC advertising, loopholes. So it was no surprise to hear actual humans—not just marcomms insiders—commenting on how much they liked the combination of these three things in Publicis Mojo’s recent work for the Goodman Fielder bread brand. In our eyes, it was one of the best outdoor campaigns of the year, so, as a tribute to impressive punmanship and supreme confidence, here’s the lot of them, including a post-victory billboard that oozes smugness.

It’s that time of year again, where the pros of today get to come and have a gander at some of the things the pros of tomorrow have been up to over the year. So if you want first dibs on some of the fresh talent or you just want to see how the yoof are being shaped and moulded, then head along to 1885 at Britomart on Tuesday November 8 for a look at AUT’s Ad Creativity class of 2011. Industry folk are invited to attend from 5:30pm and friends and whanau will turn up at 7pm. 

Forest & Bird are muscling in on the election action, and reminding us to think of nature when we cast our vote with a “vote for nature” campaign that hopes to get people to keep in mind the political parties’ position on major conservation issues.

Back in the day, NZ Marketing magazine ran a salary survey and, given the rampant desire humans seem to have to find out what their peers are paid —and, by extension, whether they’re being paid enough—its inclusion always made it a very popular edition. But, due to a number of factors, it was put out to pasture a few years back. With all that’s happened in the marcomms industry in recent years and the effect that has had on recruitment, we decided it was high time to resurrect the survey and try to find out what you all do, how much you get paid for it, what motivates you, what annoys you, what your goals are and everything inbetween. Obviously we need your support to ensure this once again becomes the most comprehensive view of the New Zealand marcomms job market. So we hope you can spare 5-10 minutes to answer a few questions. All those who complete the survey, which is brought you in association with The Research Agency, will go into the draw to win a collection of booty, including a two-night stay for up to four people at Glen Aros Country Estate in the Hawke’s Bay valued at $2,350, a STORM London watch valued at close to $400 and one of six 1.5 litre Moa Methode magnums. The results of the survey, which closes on November 14, will run in the January/February issue of NZ Marketing. Click here to complete.

Special Group and Salt Interactive’s brilliant online banner for Orcon has already been acknowledged at the Axis awards, The Webbys, AWARD and elsewhere. And it’s also dominated proceedings at the Caxton Awards, which aim to showcase excellence in newspaper advertising across Australia and New Zealand, by taking home Best use of Newspaper Space, Best Rich Media, Best Rich Video and the Quinlivan Black award for Best in Show. 

Tourism New Zealand has appointed Whybin/TBWA and reappointed Mindshare to service its Australian creative, media, digital requirements and global brand strategy, beating out rumoured fellow pitchers Clemenger Group, Droga5 and Publicis Mojo. 

Yeah yeah, we know it’s a bit late, but we love a sexy pun, so in case you missed the two full page newspaper ads BCG2 that ran over the last two weeks for Pfizer’s new ‘little blue pill’ called Avigra, here they are.