Sixteen Kiwi entries – from Y&R, Special Group, and Clemenger Wellington – have made the third wave of finalists for Australia’s AWARD Awards, joining Saatchi & Saatchi, Colenso BBDO, and DDB who went through earlier in the week.

Colenso BBDO has six finalists through at AdFest, which is now under way in Pattaya, Thailand. Clemenger/Proximity Wellington had one finalist spot.

Sugar&Partners have created a poster campaign for an anti-bacterial toothbrush – designed specifically to combat the fecal matter that gets deposited while on toothbrushes in bathrooms with toilets.

After a comprehensive agency review and pitch process, bcg2 has been appointed as the Animates creative agency encompassing their retail and professional services portfolio. The incumbent was Y&R.

A senior executive at a major adblocking company says the technology has developed as a ‘blunt instrument’ and said he does not expect the saturation levels of the technology to go much past 28% of people globally.

M+AD unearthed a can of worms when we followed up a reader’s comment that we’d got yesterday’s photo of Scott Kelly wrong. It turns out that there are no fewer than four Kiwi Scott Kellys working for ad agencies – and two of these work at FCB!

New research conducted by Colmar Brunton on behalf of News Works reveals that 50% of people over 45 years old say they plan to travel around NZ or overseas in the next 12 months, while 29% are planning home renovations.

Marketers are wasting money on useless social media campaigns because they believe Facebook, Instagam and Twitter are a “cooler” way to advertise than traditional, more effective media such as print or TV, according to Australian site B&T, which republished this piece from The Australian Financial Review.

Paul Head’s introduction to Thursday night’s Axis Awards was short, but it was quite long enough for the CAANZ ceo to point out the great changes taking place in Axis this year – changes that reflect the rapid shifts in the ad industry itself.