AUCKLAND, Monday: M+AD yesterday characterised a new relationship beween Transtasman agencies as “a merger” – the result of a confusing media release.

AUCKLAND, Monday: Nick Licence, of Customs St-based digital agency Krunch, writes: “Dear M+AD Editorial team, much as Krunch would love to have scored a Gold, we didn’t quite get there this time around!

SYDNEY, Today: Bauer Media AUNZ has begun its long way back from the abyss of 2020, relaunching as Are Media (“Audience/Reach/Engagement”).

AUCKLAND, Today: Not surprisingly, the troops at indie creative upstart Stanley St are talking up their big win at the APAC Effies, where the Parnell agency was named the Most Effective Independent in Asia Pacific in 2020.

LONDON, Today: Dentsu Group is rebranding globally, and the result is not one any truly creative agency worth its salt could possibly admire. It’s dropped the cap ‘D’ and substituted it with a lower-case ‘d’ – the creative equivalent of a name in CAPS.

AUCKLAND, Today: Brisbane-based award-winning Aussie PR agency Aruga Comms has established a New Zealand arm in downtown Anzac Ave – in association with NZ shop Energi.

AUCKLAND, Today: Kiwi adman Vaughn Davis’s second book, Covid Schmovid – 19 Ways to Make your Small Business Boom hands out useable advice without the usual cant or cliché.

SINGAPORE, Friday: New Zealand emerged as the overall winner at the APAC Effies with a total of 20 Effies, followed by Australia with 13, India with 12, Japan with nine, and China with eight.

AUCKLAND, Today: long-established architecture title, Home magazine, will be relaunched to the market in December after a brief hiatus following the Bauer exit from NZ.