While not every Telecom XT user will be seeing the lighter side of the  problems that  have plagued the network and its users, one cheeky Trade Me user has decided to put the network up for sale.

In this installment of Michael Carney’s Marketing Week: Microtrends that matter 2010—it’s the small things that matter. Smaller trends can impact the business, social and political landscapes, so it pays to know be in the ‘trend’ know. Social media: did you really mean to do that?

It seems the allure of working sky-high for the Emirates Airline is being hotly pursued by thousands of wanting candidates. The airline recently experienced one of its highest turnouts of cabin crew hopefuls in Madrid. The recruitment drive is in support of the airlines first passenger flights from Dubai to …

The Association of Market Research Organisations (AMRO) has appointed a new executive director, none other than the Marketing Guy ®, Rob Bree. 

With all the hoopla that has surrounded the new Supercity (and let’s face it, it has not been all good hoopla by any shot), it seemed like a smart idea on the part of the Auckland Transition Agency to invite a disgruntled Auckland population to play a creative role in their city’s new future identity, by creating the new Supercity logo. But while budding (and perhaps not so budding) artists put their creative hands to task, one group is creating not a logo, but a fuss. The Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) has spoken out against the competition today, saying they are both disappointed and concerned that the design profession was not consulted on a matter of such importance.

This week on ads@6, David Tua locks horns with the Blues for Rebel Sport. Next up: Tua vs Chabal; pity about that Whitney Houston concert; and the Creme Egg Goo Therapy campaign taps into the undying human love for slow motion. What humans don’t like are shrinking confections made of orang-utan oil. Whittakers chocolate, on the other hand, very much enjoys telling consumers about such things and has even put together a TVC about Cadbury’s recent takeover by Kraft.

Modica Group has appointed Jono Tucker, previously business development manager/account manager at leading mobile marketing company Run the Red, to the position of senior account manager.

Social media is proving its worth for the organisers of the 2011 Rugby World Cup: with more than 250,000 fans, the RWC 2011 Facebook page is now the biggest in New Zealand.

If you’re sick of hearing about how consumers don’t trust brands anymore and feel as though they’re being constantly bombarded by trashy advertising that makes them stupid, drunk and morbidly obese, then Doug Pray’s Art & Copy, “a dynamic exploration of art, commerce, and human emotion”, could be the film for you: it focuses on some of the positive aspects of advertising and interviews the inspirational brains behind some of the world’s most successful campaigns. And it’s coming to the Documentary Edge film festival in Auckland in March.

In an attempt to court increasingly environmental tourists – and reward environmentally-minded accommodation providers – AA Guides and Qualmark this week released a travel guide listing only businesses that meet both Qualmark quality and environmental criteria.

The end of summer is usually a miserable time, with the relentless passage of the earth around the sun typically leading to an epidemic of Kiwi self-pity and climate-related woe. But Monteith’s is instead celebrating the changing seasons by releasing its first autumn beer, Monteith’s First Harvest ale, in late March.

The NSC Group, a company that specialises in the “design, implementation, management and support of highly sophisticated business technology solutions”, has completed a six-month brand refresh. And poor old Ashburton is, like, whatever.

Over the past few years, there have been numerous attempts to make magazines more interactive. Sadly, most of those attempts tended to revolve around gimmicky, impractical augmented reality stunts, where a magazine might be held up to the computer screen and a photo ‘comes to life’. There was already a medium for this: it was called video. And there was plenty of it on that thing called the internet. But for the first time in a long time, if some of the app demonstrations deliver what they promise, the integrated digital content soon to be offered up appears to offer actual benefits to everyone involved in the process—the readers, the advertisers and, if the money starts coming back, the publishers.

At any given moment we can log on to Facebook or Twitter and tell our friends what we have been up to without actually having to talk to them. Ah, technology. Bless. But for those who want more precision, two clever Kiwis have come up with a snappy wee iPhone and web-based application that blends maps and photos to instantly enable you to show your friends not only what you’ve been up to, but where you were when you got up to whatever it is you were up to. Got it?

Just when you thought New Zealand was a relatively paparazzi-scandal-free zone, think again: ACP Media, publishers of Woman’s Day, have hit back at allegations made by Ali Mau on TVNZ’s Breakfast in which she claimed the magazine has been stalking her and her family.

Professor Sylvie Chetty, a marketing researcher from Massey University, and Professor Colin Campbell Hunt of Otago University, have won a prestigious award for a 2004 article that challenged existing theories and showed companies export in their own “Kiwi way”.

The Warehouse Design for Everyone programme is going strong, with a new handbag range called Saben Says that has been designed exclusively for The Warehouse by Saben owner and designer Roanne Jacobson set to go on sale in Extra stores from 17 March.

January was a record month for MSN.co.nz, with some of its new editorial offerings, particularly its healthy living portal and virtual sports category, bringing in a slew of online punters.