James Hurman is a planner for Colenso BBDO and in his book The Case for Creativity, he argues you shouldn’t do shit ads because they’re less effective than highly creative ones. Given I love great ads (the locus of the book is advertising creativity, rather than innovation in the broader sense), I should be an easy sell. But while I really wanted to like the book, it has several weaknesses.

The public has spoken and the public will be required to participate after Palmerston North-born Pulusea Seumanu’s idea was named the winner in ANZ’s ‘Welcome the World’ campaign. Seumanu’s idea brings together clothing, cards, colour and movement, all of which will be co-ordinated in a mass spectacle created by thousands of Kiwis.

As consumers, we might not give much thought to advertisements beyond having a chuckle at some or snarling and changing channels in response to others. On the other side of the screen, it’s a different story. Stakeholders want to know campaigns are doing what they’re meant to do: making an impact and delivering commercial results. And that’s what the Effie Awards reward.

As the Rugby World Cup draws closer and Kiwis inevitably succumb to the ensuing mayhem, ticket to the matches are becoming an increasingly prized commodity—especially when they’re tickets to the quarters, semis and the finals. And wouldn’t you know it, Coca-Cola is planning to capitalise on that enthusiasm with a multi-channel campaign that includes what it says is its largest ever on-pack promotion.

We all love the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Oh wait, we don’t. But that’s the whole point behind a comic campaign launched by Barnes, Catmur & Friends on Monday on behalf of the ASA. To raise awareness and hopefully generate more funding via the ASA’s voluntary levy scheme, the team at Barnes, Catmur & Friends, led by creatives Matt Weavers and Jesse Stevens, created a mock website called the Department of Advertising Standards and Regulations (DASR).

The weekly gossip mags haven’t had too much to celebrate recently in terms of readership. But there’s been no shortage of excitement in the rather fluid editorial ranks, with Sido Kitchin and Fiona Fraser moving from APN’s Women’s Weekly to ACP’s Woman’s Day and Sarah Stuart being brought in to replace Kitchin. Now there’s been another big shift, with Hayley McLarin deciding to step down as editor of New Idea magazine after six years at the helm for a role as communications director at CureKids. 

How personal is too personal? ASB know all about that, after all its Creating Futures campaign has been centred on providing that personal touch. But it all got a little too personal recently when its In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) commercial was unveiled to the viewing public, prompting a raft of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority for being too simplistic and exploiting the vulnerable, among other reasons.

The wingman. When employed correctly, they’re the one person you can count on to bail you out when you’re being hit on by someone in a bar you can’t stand, or, conversely, when you need a hand to seal the deal. But ever heard of a digital wingman? As part of its new campaign to celebrate the return of the Chick’n McCheese, together with the launch of the new spicy Chicken McWings, McDonald’s has teamed up with DDB Group to deliver a campaign that employs the use of puns as well as a virtual wingman to “talk you up”.

Closed captioning has been a staple of regular television offerings for sometime now, but when it comes to infiltrating the TVC domain, Dubsat reckons it’s onto something good with its is new fast turn-around, online TVC captioning service called Captionflow.

MediaWorks has announced that television chief executive Jason Paris, who has been in the role for just over a year after shifting across from TVNZ, has resigned.

Tux just wound up a big campaign where it called for entries from the public to find the ad world’s next dog star. And Amazon, a Huntaway from Ohakune, took out the title. To celebrate this famous victory, Tux have got two prize packs to give away to lucky StopPress canine lovers, including a Mr Vintage Tux t-shirt, a Tux frisbee and a big bag of mega-meaty roast lamb flavour Tux. Mmmm, baked in great-tasting flavour. All you need to do to win is come up with an entertaining name for a dog. Or a new dog food.

It’s been around since 2004, but in a bid to further stand out from its competitors on supermarket shelves, the Scarborough Fair brand of coffee, tea and chocolate has recently undergone a design makeover, courtesy of the folks at &Some, or as they refer to themselves, the creative co-conspirators for a connected world.