It brings a new meaning to the phrase ‘manning up’. And “staying in mantrol” is the new message to try and stop young male drivers from killing themselves and others on New Zealand roads.

While it’s all well and good to marvel at the tactics employed for the latest product launch or to have a bit of laff at the latest big budget summer beer ad—of which there have been many recently—there is, of course, a much less glamorous, more harmful side to alcohol in New Zealand that, understandably, is often overlooked by those in the marcomms industry whose job it is to sell more of it. There are already a host of marketing restrictions imposed on the largely self-regulated alcohol industry and while the New Zealand Drug Foundation believes the government is heading in the right direction with the alcohol reform bill, it contests that a number of the most important recommendations from the Law Commission report (there were 153 in total) have been ignored—particularly pricing, as this blunt but effective anti-alcohol marketing video called the ‘Budget Guide to Drinking Yourself to Death’ shows.

To celebrate the arrival of barbecue season (and to reference the recent increase in explicitly man-focused advertising) we thought it appropriate to compile a post filled to the brim with meat-related news, including the announcement of New Zealand’s Next Top Sausage, accolades for Silver Fern Farms and New Zealand’s penchant for gourmet burgers.

There’s only one word spoken in the Fire Service’s new TVC. But that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of communication.

Two New Zealand soldiers are trapped behind enemy lines in western France during World War I. They find a crying baby in a ditch, lying under its dead parents. What happens when one man wants to save it and the other doesn’t? Not only is this based on a startling true story, but the CG animated short film version, Poppy, has won two top awards at the SIGGRAPH 2010 Computer Animation Festivals.

This week on Ads@6, a cool car ad from Lexus; another mascot family hits the screens, this time for The Warehouse; Rhys Darby dangles worms for the 2degrees Xmas push; BP is back (with a robo-dog); Jetstar greys up; and who can resist the Magic of Mantovani?

McDonald’s New Zealand has made a key marketing appointment. And it’s a familiar face: ex-Air New Zealander Jules Lloyd, who recently left the airline after an eight year stint.

Despite recent well-publicised difficulties in the retail sector, Newmarket has done a pretty good job of trumpeting its swankiness and array of shopping options. But it now has a suburban rival, after an enthusiastic group of business owners from the High Street District, together with the champions of the Auckland CBD Heart of The City, appointed the Toot Group to ramp up interest in the area with “an exciting new campaign of happenings”.

The innovative entries came from far and wide—even for the first time from Britain—but DraftFCB’s Tony Clewett and the fantastically named Rob Banks had the stand-out with their 3D saw made from mock fifty dollar notes and were awarded Best in Show at this year’s Art of The Envelope Awards.

Back in 1989, the first threads of the World Wide Web were woven at Waikato and Victoria Universities via a router from NASA. And, for an exorbitant $5500 a month, educational institutions in New Zealand could link to the rest of the world. The first 21 years have been chronicled by Down to the Wire, a fascinating archive of our digital history made up of interviews with media experts, techsperts and commentators. And now it’s time to look at the future, launching a competition called 20:20 Foresight that asks all students and graduates aged 17 to 25 to send in their mind-boggling visions of the internet in the year 2020.

The people and businesses of the Garden City have endured trying times this year but they have at least one cause for celebration: Christchurch Casino took home the Air New Zealand supreme award at this year’s Tourism Industry Awards, while Kelly Tarlton’s was recognised for its innovative marketing campaigns and Rhythm and Vines took home the best festival/event tourism award.

It’s a celebration of creativity where the humble envelope is given a chance to shine. And tomorrow night at Deus ex Machina in Auckland, with Kiwi pop star and t-shirt dealer Dave Gibson on MC duties, the winners of the 2010 Art Of The Envelope Awards will be announced. So without further ado, here are some glamour shots of the stellar finalists who are in the running for both booty and bragging points.

The Social Network has been getting rave reviews all around the world (if you want to read a massive, intellectual but quite excellent summary, check out Generation Why? by Zadie Smith). Our crack team of movie experts can confirm that it is indeed a tour de force, a triumph, a gripping social media-related romp—and, after heading along to Val Morgan’s 3D ad showcase last week, we can also confirm that the 3D ads shown before the movie were pretty damn good too. We’ve got a couple of double passes to give away to this rather engrossing tale of mystery, intrigue, skullduggery, powerful nerds and the modern human condition, so put up your most banal Facebook status update on the comment wall and to the most banal will go the spoils.

Thanks to a successful relationship with Canon New Zealand over the past six years, Auckland marketing agency BallantyneTaylor has added another big string to its B2B bow, beating out two Sydney agencies for the Canon Australia business in a joint pitch with Datalicious, which will be providing data collection, analytics and facilitation.

Plenty of back patting and flute chinking ensued at last week’s official opening of Oktobor Animation in Auckland. And fair enough, too, because it’s now New Zealand’s largest purpose-built CG animation studio and it’s already working away on some rather large international projects, including DreamWorks’ Penguins of Madagascar, a spin-off of the massive hit movie Madagascar. No pressure, then.

Both loved and loathed, the New Zealand Truth newspaper prospered throughout the twentieth century and wielded considerable influence at all levels of society. And its colourful warts and all story is now the subject of a book by author and former staffer Redmer Yska called Truth: The Rise and Fall of the People’s Paper.