NZ commercial radio continues to gain strength, reflected in the latest 2018 GfK independent survey, which recorded an impressive 3.66 million listeners (80% of all New Zealanders 10+) tuning in weekly – an increase of 15,900 on the first survey this year.

McDonald’s, along with agency partners Fuse and OMD, have disrupted the theme that organic reach is dead. A Facebook post that went live on Sunday 1 July has gone viral reaching over 2.8 million people within and outside New Zealand.

Vesna Nixon, head of marketing campaigns at Kiwibank and Nick Ascough, OMD Wellington strategy director, will fly in from New Zealand to present the keynote for the Mumbrella Finance Marketing Summit.

The Phantom Lab has rolled out another special build using their outdoor inventory to help launch Frucor’s new V product – Tortured Orchard.

Google NZ country director Caroline Rainsford, DDB NZ CCO Damon Stapleton, and Cheil Worldwide global CCO Malcolm Poynton are among the distinguished global comms leaders who will speak at the APAC Advertising Week in Sydney later this month.

M+AD swooped too early on a few scraps of comment we found on the Comms Council website yesterday, heralding the first news of Botab 2018. Mostly we got it right – but there were still some errors – and organisers Fish have now issued the real-deal release, including an up-to-date list of sponsors, the correct band-entry prices, and the date. Here’s that Fish release, in full: Flying Fish and the Comms Council present the 11th annual Battle of the Ad Bands – Battle of the Renegades. 

PARIS: New research from a team of French marketing academics and neuroscientists has found that male sex hormone testosterone increases men’s preference for status goods – compared to goods of similar perceived quality but seen as lower in status.

Auckland’s Moonlight Creative Showcase – organised by Clemenger Group’s Auckland-based shopper comms agency Raydar and The Designers Institute to highlight the unusual way the NZ creative community works – is under way at Allpress Studio in Freemans Bay.