Thursday, 29 October 2026Made in Tāmaki Makaurau · 211 stories this week
What's happening in marketing, right now.
Marketing news from the trade press, campaigns checked against their sources, and short lessons. For marketing students and anyone who wants to stay in the loop.
Read the newsLive from the trade press
Mumbrella · Latest
Publisher's summary: Performance agency Bonfire has appointed Sarah Salameh as its new SEO Lead. Salameh, who has been with Bonfire for nearly seven years, will oversee the agency’s SEO offering and lead the development of new reporting tools. The announcement: Award-winning…
Mumbrella·
Social & creators
Mumbrella·
B&T·
AI & tech · Media & ad tech
B&T·
SEO: search engine optimisation
Search & GEO · People & agencies
B&T·
B&T·
B&T·
B&T·
This week by topic
GEO: generative engine optimisation
Tagged automatically from headlines, so counts are a guide.
Checked against sources
We only call a campaign a success when a source publishes results, awards or sales. Most new work hasn't got there yet, and we say so.
Health & care
MoleMap · Australia and New Zealand
Agency: Bread Agency
In an opinion piece for B&T written by MoleMap ANZ's own chief marketing officer, Duncan Armour, the skin-checking provider describes how a social campaign called 'Map Your Future' grew into a full brand platform across Australia and New Zealand. Instead of fear-based messaging about skin cancer risk, the campaign reframes skin checks around people's future plans, such as travel, fitness and family milestones ('selling the future, not the check'). The first phase ran from July to September 2026 across on-demand TV, radio, billboards, bus stops, retail screens and social; a second phase launched on 1 November 2026 ahead of the summer peak.
Our take
Read the breakdown →
Olay · Australia
Rewrite The #SignsOfAgeing
Beauty & personal care
Burger King · Ireland
A Whopper Of A Finish
Food & restaurants
Mater Lotteries · Australia
Prize Home Lottery No. 325 (Mindset Graph targeting)
Charity & cause · Reported results
Sephora · Australia and New Zealand
Only at Sephora: 'The Search Is Over'
Beauty & personal care
Also new this week · straight from the trade press, not yet checked by us
Mumbrella·
Campaigns · Awards
Mumbrella·
Social & creators · Activations
B&T·
Campaigns · AI & tech · Brand & design
B&T·
Campaigns
B&T·
Campaigns
B&T·
Campaigns
StopPress·
Campaigns
B&T·
Campaigns
Patterns across the week's reporting
New technology in marketing
Amazon Ads
Announced at unBoxed: one AI interface for planning through measurement, and campaigns that combine sponsored, display, video and streaming TV while Amazon's AI decides execution.
Why it matters
Runway
An AI agent that makes ad variations, localises them, publishes human-approved versions to Meta, Google and TikTok, and feeds performance back into the next round.
Why it matters
Latest AI stories
B&T·
AI & tech · Media & ad tech
Mumbrella·
Social & creators · AI & tech · Search & GEO
AdExchanger·
Social & creators · AI & tech · People & agencies
B&T·
Campaigns · AI & tech · Brand & design
Success with evidence
Recently announced winners from D&AD and the London International Awards (LIA). An award is public recognition by an industry jury. It isn't the same as commercial results.
| Work | Brand | Agency | Award | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your Way Out | Coinbase | Isle of Any | D&AD (Design and Art Direction) Black Pencil ×2 (Visual Effects; Production Design) | Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| The Periodic Fable | The Ordinary | Uncommon Creative Studio | D&AD Black Pencil (Art Direction) | Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Three Words | AXA | Publicis Conseil | D&AD Black Pencil (Impact) | Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Unsponsored | Levi Strauss & Co. | BETC Paris, AKQA | Grand LIA (London International Awards): Ambient & Activation | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| The Pub That Refused To Die | Heineken | LePub Milan | Grand LIA: Creative Strategy | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Heinz Ketchup billboards (“Look Familiar?”) | Heinz | Rethink Toronto | Grand LIA: Billboard | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Sosegá | Cervezas Alhambra | LLYC Madrid | Grand LIA: Music & Sound | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Expensive Sh*t | Huggies | McCann New Zealand | LIA Gold: Ambient & Activation | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Lump Lottery | Testicular Cancer NZ | Colenso BBDO | LIA Gold + Silver: Creative Strategy | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| No Place to Grow | We Are Mobilise | Droga5 ANZ | LIA Silver: Ambient & Activation | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Find Your Wonderful | New World | McCann New Zealand | Effie Gold: Retail/Etail | Campaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Fantasy Herd (with Together) | Goodman Fielder | McCann New Zealand | Effie Gold: Most Original Thinking; Effie Gold: Clever Use of Research/Data | Campaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Making the world fall in love with 100% Pure New Zealand again | Tourism New Zealand | TBWA New Zealand | Effie Gold: International Marketing | Campaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗ |
| Booze Maths | NZTA Waka Kotahi | McCann New Zealand | Effie Gold: Insights & Strategic Thinking | Campaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗ |
Our own thinking · hypothetical
These are not real campaigns. They're our own ideas for how this week's mechanics could work for well-known brands, and the brands named aren't involved.
Idea for Spotify
A live-streamed, long-form game show where the most obsessive fans of one artist compete using their listening data.
Mechanic: Fans opt in with their stats; top listeners qualify; the artist hosts the final.
See the full plan →
Inspired by: KFC's superfan game show (Adweek)
Idea for Red Bull
A month-long skate/run/ride challenge where each suburb's tracked activity lights up live DOOH (digital out-of-home) boards, ending in a street event in the winning suburb.
Mechanic: App or Strava tracking → live DOOH leaderboard → finale event.
See the full plan →
Inspired by: Hoka's Strava-to-DOOH marathon build-up (Digiday)
Idea for IKEA
Players donate unused in-game furniture from home-building games; each donation unlocks a real-world contribution to a housing charity.
Mechanic: In-game donation → public tally → matched real donation.
See the full plan →
Inspired by: Kirkens Korshær's Secondhand Skins (Creative Review)
Got a brand in mind? Build an idea for it →