AUCKLAND, Today: The coronavirus dealt a savage blow to this year’s Effie Awards – forcing the no-show of two of the prime players on the finals shortlist – Colenso BBDO and FCB.

AUCKLAND, Today: Finalists in the Wallace Art Awards – one of NZ’s most prestigious competitions – will have their works showcased around the country as part of an oOh!media campaign with the Urban Art Foundation.

AUCKLAND, Today: “Pretty much everyone can write,” reckons adman Michael Goldthorpe – a former TBWA NZ creative, who now runs indie agency Hunch. “It’s a technical skill that requires an understanding of clarity, accuracy and grammatical convention. If you can read, you can write.

AUCKLAND, Today: DDB has collected 22 finalist spots for Effie 2020, ahead of TBWA with 11, Dentsu nine, Saatchi & Saatchi eight, Stanley St seven, Special Group six and Pitchblack three.

SYDNEY, Today: Vistar Media, a leading global provider of software for digital-out-of-home, is launching programmatic capabilities in New Zealand.

NEW YORK, Today: The One Club Greater China has chosen to transform its annual Greater China Awards into a free-to-enter region-wide creative showcase. It’s called The One Show Asia Pacific Showcase – and now includes Australia & NZ.

LONDON, Today: Global online retail sales will grow from US$1.5 trillion in 2019 to US$2.5 trillion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate  of 11.3%, according to a new forecast by Forrester Research, published by Warc.

MILAN, Today: NZ agencies Fuse and OMD – with client Kiwibank – have won two Gold Medals at the M&M Global Awards 2020 in Italy overnight.

AUCKLAND, Today: QMS has introduced “the biggest bus panel to ever roam our streets”. Dubbed The Showstopper, it’s a full double-decker side panel offering over 50sqm of creative impact.

ZURICH, Today: The World Out of Home Organisation’s #OurSecondChance campaign has appeared on 40,000 digital screens worldwide, making it easily the biggest all-format digital out-of-home campaign ever launched.