We love a good loophole here at StopPress. And despite the strict MEMA rules that aim to protect sponsors’ investments, there are still plenty of them available to savvy marketers hoping to make some hay while the Big Rugby Event shines. Official sponsor Heineken is already slightly aggrieved with Steinlager’s nostalgic white can campaign because of its focus on the tournament rather than the All Blacks and now Independent Liquor and Barnes, Catmur & Friends are getting in on the act with a cheeky billboard at the Auckland Airport. 

It looked like the writing was on the wall for Publicis Mojo when DDB was given the big 2011 project for Steinlager and Shine was handed the Southern Finishing School work a few months back. And the relationship is now officially over, with DDB taking over all things Steinlager and Shine taking over all things Speight’s. 

When co-founder and creative director of AmbientX Mark Pickering bought the company from Australian-owned Ambient Advertising Group, he announced he’d be re-branding the company to Fluxx and focusing on making it “the best agency in New Zealand dedicated specifically to experiential marketing”. But now it looks as if Pickering has another competitor in the Kiwi market, none other than Ambient Advertising itself. The company has decided it’s not quite ready to part with experiential and managing director of Ambient Advertising NZ Chris Monaghan has announced the launch of a new experiential and events arm of the agency.

Toyota’s leadership in making the environment a core management priority, while also engaging in a meaningful way with audiences around the world, has seen the company take out the top spot in Interbrand’s Best Global Green Brands 2011 report, which ranks the top 50 “green” brands with a global presence. But some of the very brands that ranked highly in environmental sustainability performance lagged behind when it came to public perception of their performance, suggesting many companies have a ways to go when it comes to communicating their corporate social responsibility efforts.

Slacktivists the world over see Che Guevara as the personification of rebellion and often wear t-shirts to show just how rebellious they are. As such, he’s become something of an unlikely advertising icon, used to sell everything from lip balm to Smirnoff to mousepads. But local electricity retailer Powershop, fresh from a well-received satirical campaign featuring various dictators using their power differently, is up in arms after an Aussie energy drink company called Powerbeverage ripped off an online banner featuring the freedom fighter.

A gentle prod from CAANZ to remind all those clamouring for recognition in one of the most sought after awards of the year that the extended Effie deadline arrives on Monday 8 August. So you’ll have the whole weekend to sweat over your entry. Aren’t they kind. 

Auckland mobile marketing company POCKETvouchers has a bit of a spring in its step after signing deals with global payment processor ePay and local daily deal site GrabOne recently. And chief executive Todd Wackrow says the new partnerships have streamlined the voucher process for marketers and allow the business to expand into other markets. 

As it gets set to host the leather-clad man with the big voice and a penchant for very long songs, otherwise known as Meatloaf, the Bay of Plenty’s largest venue Baypark has unveiled a new branding effort that comes complete with a pun. The rebrand features a new and much more colourful logo carrying the new strap line: ‘Where there’s plenty going on’.

The attraction of lower prices, convenience and broader product ranges is swelling the ranks of Kiwi consumers choosing to shop online, both locally and on international websites. And, according to a report on the Australian and New Zealand online shopping market published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Frost & Sullivan, almost half of the New Zealand population will do just that in 2011, with each shopper spending an average of almost $1,400. 

Readers might not have been too complimentary when it came to the new packaging design for Bell Original tea, but the company’s marketing attempt to reach the kiddie demographic of tea drinkers has earned Auckland-based digital agency Method Studios a bunch of website-orientated global accolades.

The New Zealand office of Haystac opened for business in 2009 and two years on things are going rather swimmingly for the Aegis-owned PR agency, with TelstraClear, Jetstar, Sonos Electronics, Motorola and Next Generation Clubs recently joining SEEK, DB, GlaxoSmithKline, Mattel and Beehive and Premier bacon on its client list. They grow up so fast. 

… as Countdown’s marketing doyenne departs for the Aussie mothership, MediaWorks looks inside to fill the sales manager role in its integration department, DNA’s Aaron Carson changes tack, Miranda Gregg says goodbye to AJ Park, bcg2 welcomes a New York import, ecostore’s not-for-profit arm Fairground Foundation appoints its first employee, Tourism Australia finds a New Zealand marketing manager, Lily & Louis joins Kim Kardashian after winning the local Skechers business, and online/social media agency VeNa appoints a New Zealand country manager. 

Following on from the recent spate of trademark bullying, with DB winning the rights to use the generic term “radler” and Fonterra now trying to claim “vintage”, Moa, which announced its slightly surprising sponsorship of the New Zealand Olympic team last week, recently received a letter from Jean-Luc Barnier, the chief guardian of the Champagne region, telling the brand to cease and desist on the use of the word champagne on its website. As you can imagine, this request went down well with the always well-behaved Moa team, who felt the letter was a particularly French way of going about things. So they sent Jean-Luc a uniquely Kiwi response: a lovely postcard of the Rainbow Warrior with the Te Reo equivalent of “fuck off” written on the back.

Media and entertainment organisations need to sort out their digital strategies, according to the inaugural Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2011-2015 report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. But, as always, it’s a matter of figuring out new ways to turn a profit online, something that will require traditional media organisations to ‘shed conservatism’ if they hope to get with the digital times.

First Ecoya’s sexy billboard on Auckland’s Fanshawe St featuring a naked woman astride a white horse was boldly stolen by mystery assailants. And now the same billboard has been given a slap by the Advertising Standards Authority. 

Apparently, 955,300 New Zealand music lovers can’t be wrong (although, judging by the quality of the music in the charts these days, that’s debatable), because that’s how many humans tuned in to Juice TV and 63 TV in the last four week ratings sweep, according to Nielsen’s T.A.M measurements. And, despite the parlous state of the music industry and the media that serves it, Juice TV’s managing director Daniel Wrightson says New Zealand’s music video channels have enjoyed increasing viewership all year.