And we bow down and give TVC of the Week praise to Westpac’s bickering oldies, Good Books’ bodice ripper, Stickman’s chicken adulation, OPSM’s surf lifesaving tie-in and Big Little City’s visual love letter to Auckland.

We’ve had an oversupply of kids and animals in advertising this year. But, in the follow-up to the launch of Westpac and DDB’s Start Asking campaign, the oldies have taken centre stage in an entertaining fish out of water tale that aims to show the bank has ways of helping customers into their own house.

Following the ANZ-National fusion decision, there has been a seemingly endless stream of bank ads vying for New Zealand’s affection. And while Westpac has dabbled with a cheeky green vs. blue = red number and a bit of sneaky teaser hijacking, it’s kept its biggest pile of gunpowder dry until now, launching a new brand campaign by DDB last night that’s headed by a 90 second TVC imploring New Zealanders to start asking questions about money.

As expected, there’s been a fair bit of discussion about Lindauer’s new campaign on StopPress, some quite enjoying the gender-based hyperbole, some feeling it’s a little too abstract and/or sexist. We couldn’t get hold of DDB’s managing director Justin Mowday last week for a chat when it launched. But we caught up with him yesterday. So what’s the deal? And what else have they got up their sleeves?

In the world of advertising, the portrayal of men often tends to be split into two major categories: the hyper-masculine, sex-fuelled, beer chugging, sport-loving creature or the hapless, helpless dunce incapable of doing even the simplest of tasks without the help of a female. Of course, there are many exceptions to that stereotypical rule, but both ends of this spectrum are often seen as being low hanging fruit. But, as part of Lindauer’s Girl’s Night Out campaign, Lion and DDB have picked that fruit, put it into a bottle and given it a good shake with a 90 second TVC by the Roadmap Institute called ‘Don’t Worry Boys’.

Some see it as tax on the stupid. Others see it as a golden ticket. But whatever your opinion, Lotto is part of the Kiwi furniture. And to celebrate its 25th birthday, it’s launched a new campaign centred around the joy of Saturdays.