The New Zealand Marketing Association has announced the launch of the Certificate of Marketing, a 16-week course “for professionals by professionals” that covers the full scope of marketing. And while such courses are common overseas, this is the first time a formal professional qualification that recognises and enhances the skills marketers have developed during their careers has been on offer in New Zealand.

It seems the XT mobile wounds are starting to heal: Paul Reynolds, Telecom’s chief executive (and, more recently, its main punching bag) has fronted up on camera, admitted a few mistakes and asked Kiwi consumers to give the telco another shot. And the new campaign marks the resumption of full XT Mobile marketing activities after a fairly long period of apologising and wound-licking.

An enticing potpourri of recent appointments for your people-watching/judging/slating pleasure.

Award hogging Aussie Rebecca Carrasco has been named as creative director at Publicis Mojo, Auckland, replacing Steve McKenzie.

With limited resources at their disposal, small businesses rarely have the opportunity to invest time into their marketing planning, despite the fact that marketing is an integral element of their businesses. And, with a nation made up of many small to medium enterprises (SMEs), opportunities for guidance, advice and dedicated time to spend on marketing planning is usually quite rare. So, to try and relieve some of this pressure, the Marketing Association has just launched the SME Marketing Assistance Programme.

Here’s one for the quite funny but presumably completely unintentional stuff-ups category. As you can see, the image is intended to promote the sale of supporter gear for the FIFA World Cup at Stirling Sports. But the logo they’ve chosen to use on their homepage had been modified slightly, most notably with the addition of a large gun. Ah yes, it’s the kind of woopsie the internet was invented for.

Ah, technology, you great saver of time, you great increaser of productivity/laziness and, if you believe the results of the second annual ‘Market Measures’ survey, you potentially great maker of money. But while the results seem to show that the Kiwi tech sector has laughed in the face of the recession (or at least sent it a few snarky emails and posted some anonymous comments about it on a blog), the boffins think many of these companies could be doing much better if they started taking a more strategic approach to marketing.

Whether it was the pseudoephedrine or that the eclectic audience of well over 200 marketing and advertising types was bigger than her Ad Show audience on TVNZ7, Hazel Phillips, mistress of ceremonies at Thursday evening’s Marketing Association talkfest on agency-client relationships, belied her claim that she is not a comedienne.

This week on Ads@6, the exquisitely uncomfortable guys at Fresh Up keep on delivering, Intanza offer a rather compelling reason to get the flu jab, the BNZ indulge in some blatant 80s-style heartstring tugging  and Continental give us every girl’s worst nightmare. Plus, more Rhys Darby!

Finally some good news for the beleaguered number crunchers at Telecom.  Yahoo!Xtra, the online joint venture between Yahoo!7 Pty Ltd and Telecom New Zealand Ltd, has announced an after tax profit of $1.37 million for 2009.

The company says this reflects the growth of digital media over …

New Zealand Post’s Targeted Communications division has made three new appointments in the last month as it looks to grow its presence in the digital arena.

The posties see digital strategy playing an integral part in the future direction of the company, with initiatives on the horizon that will …

On this week’s Ad Show we have a 50 Years of TV Advertising Long Lunch special. Shot at Clooney restaurant, the nostalgia-fest included industry legends Mike Hutcheson, one of the founders of Colenso, who has a 40-year sweep of the industry, Neil Livingstone of 99, who’s spent more …