These days advertising seems to encroach on almost everything, public transport especially. But apart from DDB’s Instant Kiwi campaign back in 2010, which saw scenes from the Sistine Chapel installed on the ceilings of buses throughout the city, there hasn’t been much by way of skyward advertising, particularly when it comes to trains. But while the practice may be common in places like the UK, Auckland trains is only just now getting its first dose courtesy of a campaign run by Fly Buys to promote its Star Deals initiative.

It had to happen. And, in what many will see as the exact opposite of life, where sexual activity gets you beer, not the other way round, committed courter of controversy Moa has launched an anti-abstinence campaign. 

The smell of cooking show overload has been gently wafting through television screens for some time now. There’s Master Chef UK, My Kitchen Rules, and tonight sees the the debut of TV3’s Under the Grill starring Australian celebrity chef Sean Connolly. Later this month TVNZ is also debuting its Chef On a Mission show with Simon Gault. If you have a particular penchant for the genre, you’d barely be left with enough time to do any cooking of your own were you to watch them all. But if Westfield has anything to do with it, you’ll at least be tempted to leave the house and see Simon Gault in real human form as part of his latest roadshow called A Master Chef at Work, all part of Westfield’s BrandSpace brand partnerships scheme.

If you’re called Paul, Nicola or Marama then congratulations, M&C Saatchi has selected your name for use in its latest campaign for the NZ Fire Service. You might feel justifiably chuffed at your selection, but actually, the randomly selected names are all part of clever personal print campaign created to drive home a serious message about the random nature of fires.

Banking underdog Kiwibank has launched its latest attack on the big players with an interactive experience created by Ogilvy that exhorts users to “leave all your bad banking experiences behind”.

We Can Create, an annual celebration of graphics, fashion, animation, illustration, motion graphics, typography, sound design, live audio-visual art, interactive and experiential marketing, fine art, music, product design and more, is just a couple of weeks away. There will be much stimulation, inspiration and captivation during the two days of seminars from impressive local and international creative types. And there’s also an array of side-events, exhibitions and general festivities in the week leading up to and after the event. StopPress has got two tickets—one VIP and one general admission—to give away and all you have to do is post a weird/entertaining Google search phrase in the comments, for example, how fast is Barack Obama over 40 metres, why is my dog doing that or pretty much anything along these lines.

An advertising agency that decides to advertise is, slightly ironically, about as rare as the proverbial hen’s tooth. Which is strange really, considering adfolk seem to quite like showing off and spend their days coming up with clever ways to promote various businesses. Of course, most claim their work is the best form of advertising. But, to celebrate what would be the 100th birthday of one of its founders, Bill Bernbach, DDB has followed his lead and broken the rules by putting a Kiwi spin on the world’s best ad. 

Beware the rumour propelling ways of the Twittersphere. The latest to catch our attention is that APN is getting set to launch its very own free music street press, competing face-on with the recently sold Groove Guide, purchased by Juice TV programme director Grant ‘Grunta’ Hislop back in May. But this looks to be more than just a rumour.

The three-day CAANZ/AUT Communications School Strategic Thinking Course is kicking off this month, and there are still places left. And for all those non-CAANZ member companies, you can get your tickets at the CAANZ member’s rate.