The New Zealand Marketing Association has launched two flashy new advisory services, PR and Word of Mouth, bringing the total number of resources aimed at developing specialist areas of marketing to 18.

Westpac has gracefully declined to provide Saatchi & Saatchi with its advertising business and in a competitive pitch the account for the creative work has gone to Colenso.

For your viewing and critiquing pleasure, the kind folk at Adshel have assembled all the entries from last week’s Creative Challenge. And, with teams given just one hour to come up with a static poster campaign for next year’s Auckland Fringe, the collection of ideas certainly makes for an interesting study of the creative process.

The TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards, to be held on August 26 at Auckland’s Langham Hotel, is promisng to shock guests with an announcement similar in magnitude to the devaluation of the currency in 1984, the resignation of Prime Minister David Lange in 1989 and the arrival of Doritos in 2010.

Lemonade Design has won a competitive pitch to overhaul the Eden Park brand and rebuild its website, with both projects due for completion before the new stand is opened in the next few months. But there appears to be bit of confusion in the Eden Park ranks as to whether or not the cat should have been let out of the bag so early. 

This week on Ads@6, Sunsweet ‘Amazins’ go high on the crapometer; Mt Ruapehu forks out for serious prime time; the Campbells stock spots tickle a fancy or two; Toyota and Saatchi continue the current trend for paper-based ads; Wattie’s tries to sell chicken in a can by making cans into chickens; and two of the best campaigns on TV at the moment, Kiwi Bank and 2degrees, keep delivering the goods.

Lürzer’s Archive is considered to be one of the most prominent and influential voices in the world of advertising and design. And with four issues of the bi-annual 200 Best Ad Photographers worldwide and three issues of 200 Best Illustrators worldwide under its belt, it’s now added the 200 Best Packaging Design worldwide 2010/2011 to the list. And we’ve got some Lürzer’s goodies to give away.

Matt Shirtcliffe from recently born agency Shirtcliffe & Co and Darryl Wong and Kenton Osmond from RAPP, will be the guest speakers for the New Zealand Post Targeted Communications’ hugely popular and completely free direct marketing workshops. So get in quick if you want to hear their numerous pearls of wisdom.

Bloomsberry calls itself the inventor of the world’s most fashionable chocolate. And the Kiwi-founded, London-based company is living up to that reputation: its trendy, chocolatey wares are now being stocked in selected outlets of one of the UK’s most fashionable High St clothing chains, Top Shop.

It was an offer too good to refuse and after just six months in operation, indie agency Josh & Jamie have made their first creative signing: the entire Assignment Group staff roster. Or, slightly more accurately, J&J founders Josh Lancaster and Jamie Hitchcock will soon be nestling into the nurturing bosom of Assignment Group.

Air New Zealand’s daily deals website grabaseat.co.nz has appointed Trade Me’s advertising sales team to manage its existing advertising placement programme from 1 August, making it the second external website along with interest.co.nz to have its advertising exclusively sold by the Trade Me team.

Candida, Kinetic 121 and New Zealand Post Targeted Communications have sounded the horn for entries into this year’s Art of the Envelope awards. And while the creative postal interpretations will be sure to arouse all who lay eyes upon them, the bcg² campaign that shows some well-known marketing characters bringing the sexy back to the humble envelope is possibly even more stimulating.