The Tui gnomes have been an integral part of the beer’s brand activity for the past eight years but they’ve never ventured out of the garden and onto New Zealand’s TV screens. Until now, that is, because DB and Saatchi & Saatchi have put the gnomes on the telly as part of a big on-pack and on-premise competition that’s offering a few lucky Kiwis a chance to win a ‘Tui Super Send Off’. But it’s another Tui promotion that caught our attention, for very different reasons.

Hypermedia already has the in-store media for the Progressive supermarkets around the country locked down. And it’s hoping to add a few more national retailers to its arsenal with the establishment of demonstration business Demoworks and a new executive team.

After some lengthy negotiations, Tangible Media has sold Classic Driver and NZ Today to Christchurch-based publisher SW Media, a company associated with the successful online classic car sale website www.simplyclassics.co.nz.

MediaWorks has been under a huge amount of financial pressure recently as its private equity paymasters Ironbridge attempt to cut costs and squeeze out some much-needed cash. And while the losses reported in 2009 were massive, things appear to be looking up slightly, with figures for the year ended August 2010 showing earnings before interest and tax of $50 million, an 11 percent improvement on the previous year’s total of $45 million. Consolidated revenue across the group was $258 million for the year, up one percent from $256 million the year before.

A sense of humour and some design prowess can get you a long way. In fact, for Kiwi-founded and now London-based designer chocolate bar company Bloomsberry & Co, it can take you all the way from New Zealand to the UK, and beyond.

Greetings from the remains of The Media Dept. Appreciate you advising that Stacey and I are safe and well and trucking on. Our building at Ground Zero was actually a damn good place to be. Whilst it may be very old, the complete refurbishment two years ago has meant it is as strong a place as any and stood up well enough for me to (stupidly?) race back in and get mobiles and the laptop! But the devastation in our area at High/Lichfield/Manchester is massive and unfortunately a lot of people will have perished around us.

There are a number of companies, both small and large, trying to do their bit to help Christchurch. So if you’ve got something planned, if you’re giving a donation, or if you need to get a message out, let us know and we’ll update this page regularly and try to spread the word. The Ministry of Civil Defence says the best way to help people affected by the quake is through cash donations so if you haven’t already, visit Red Cross.

It felt wrong to be celebrating anything on Friday night, let alone excellence in response-driven marketing, but DraftFCB and The Ministry of Health’s ‘The Journal’ campaign absolutely dominated the RSVP and Nexus awards, taking home the RSVP Grand Prix and the Nexus Supreme Awards—the first time this has been achieved in the 23 year history of the awards—and eight other golds.

Aussie-based media behemoth Fairfax Media has released its results for the last half of 2011, with  TradeMe continuing to shine and the New Zealand arms of the business also reporting double digit profit increases despite a slow economy.

It’s been an unusually exciting week in the world of business directories: first came news the NZ Post-run Localist was suing Yellow. And now Yellow Pages Group chief executive Bruce Cotterill has stepped down, although the two events are said to be unconnected.

Soon-to-launch business directory 0133 has partnered with Mediaworks and deployed a free-to-call service to take non-emergency queries and ease pressure on already strained emergency phone numbers in Christchurch.

.99 announced the appointment of DDB’s Paul Hankinson as its new creative director last week. And he will be joined by Ogilvy’s current head of art Nic Hall, who has accepted the role of deputy creative director and head of art.

Strategy’s Christchurch offices took a bit of a beating after the last quake in September. But group managing partner Geoff Cranko and group creative director/founder Guy Pask have been in touch and it seems everyone is safe. Cranko: “The most important factor is that all our staff are safe and well. First advice is that our building is going to be out of commission for some time so we are looking for some new space for the studio. Thank goodness for our studios in Auckland and Sydney. I will keep you posted.” Pask: “Luckily everyone is okay. Will give you an update when we have a clearer idea of what’s happening.”