Back in 2010, Mintel’s Michael Oliver charted the rise of middle-aged men wearing lycra and their big impact on the cycling market (the BBC covered the emerging trend of the MAMIL soon after). Since then, it’s become a fairly widely used term, often disparagingly, and there are plenty of Kiwi chaps who appear to have swapped the flashy sportscar for the flashy roadbike—or at least added to it—as part of the obligatory mid life crisis. Now, in a continuation of ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi’s latest campaign that focuses on the type of conversations the bank believes New Zealanders actually have about money, it’s combined cycling with another one of the nation’s loves: property.

As part of our series dedicated to celebrating good work and inspiring a bit more generosity, Corey Chalmers, Saatchi & Saatchi’s recently appointed co-executive creative director, big ups the marketing campaign behind What We Do in the Shadows.

In a release sent out earlier this afternoon, Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand’s chief executive Nicky Bell announced that executive creative director Antonio Navas would be returning to the States, bringing an end to a stint that started in June 2011. Taking the Venezuelan-born creative’s place are Corey Chalmers and Guy Roberts, who will be promoted to the positions of joint executive creative directors, effective 1 September.

There was a fair bit of concern after the last election, with the 74.2 percent turn out the lowest since 1887 (the highest was 93.5 percent in 1946 and 1949). So the Electoral Commission is aiming to improve that with a campaign via Saatchi & Saatchi—and it’s even roped in Lorde to try and convince the young’uns to tick the box on September 20.

Saatchi & Saatchi NZ’s communications director sat down for a chat with Tom Eslinger, Saatchi Worldwide’s director of digital and social, author of “Mobile Magic” and inaugural jury president of the mobile lions at Cannes.

The billboard seems to be a growing darling of marketing and this year, for the first time ever, outdoor entries at the Cannes Lions overtook the number of press submissions (5660 outdoor entries vs. 5007 press entries). And while the majority are still static and passive, some of the more progressive outdoor executions aim to inspire more interactivity, both in real life and, increasingly, online. And Saatchi & Saatchi has gone down this road, setting a manuka billboard on fire to launch Sealord’s new hot-smoked salmon.

All rise for Tui’s take on the handheld device, Ford’s woolly numbers and 2degrees’ probing questions.

ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi have added another award for the Like Loan campaign, which lowered its home lending rate with Facebook likes. The latest is a Warc Prize for Social Strategy, awarded to only 18 campaigns globally.

Funny or Die’s latest Between Two Ferns clip featuring Barack Obama dominated the internet when it was released yesterday, and was the top driver of traffic to HealthCare.gov and led to a 40 percent increase in visits. It’s also had a host of other big hits. So Saatchi & Saatchi’s digital strategist Ian Hulme found out how they make it happen.

ASB’s Like Loan promotion, where Facebook fans determine how low its home loan borrowing rate will go, is back for a second round. This time live TVCs, banners and radio streams have joined the mix as the bank tries to draw participants into a conversation.

Just as the intertubes lit up with opinions when Telecom launched its spark logo back in 2009, so the intertubes are again abuzz with today’s news that Telecom was planning on changing its name change to Spark. Here’s what chief operating officer Jason Paris had to say about it.