Just a week after design director Kerry Argus joined Designworks, the STW-owned Christchurch shop has expanded its senior ranks with new additions Nicola Davis & Andy Bell.

There’s only one event in the advertising calendar that can transform even the most gracious group of CAANZ members into a raging, uninhibited pack of blood-thirsty rock gods. That is of course, the annual Battle of the Ad Bands competition, where agencies battle it out in a creative exchange of egos and music ability.

FCB’s Asia Pacific ECD James Mok is a guest speaker at the upcoming Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity in Singapore.

Ongoing falls in circulation and ad revenue have led Bauer Media to close popular youth title Crème. The final issue will be the September edition.

MediaWorks has this morning announced the appointment of Mark Weldon as group chief executive, replacing Sussan Turner, who resigned last month. Weldon is the former ceo of the New Zealand Stock Exchange, and led the NZX through its formative years.

Saatchi & Saatchi has announced the departure of ECD Antonio Navas, and the promotion of CDs Corey Chalmers & Guy Roberts to replace Navas as joint ECDs, effective September 1.

The Effies entry deadline is … 4pm today! (Tuesday 5 August). But CAANZ has cut some slack for the tardy – with a 48-hour extended deadline to 4pm this Thursday.

APN has set up a digital extension of the NZ Herald’s twice-weekly Commercial Property section. The site, called TrueCommercial (truecommercial.nzherald.co.nz), went live yesterday.