AUCKLAND, Today: McDonald’s, ably assisted by DDB, has spent the summer gifting Kiwis Big Mac Jandals in celebration of the Big Mac’s 50th birthday, kicking off the New Year by offering New Zealand beachgoers one-of-a-kind jandals designed to look just like their namesake.

AUCKLAND, Today: PHD Group New Zealand has rebranded its Spark PR & Activate agency following an expansion of its service offering, unveiling the agency’s new identity, Drum, at a launch party in Auckland last night.

AUCKLAND, Today: Audacity PR has rebranded to Authority PR to better reflect the company’s positioning and future in the market.

NEW YORK, Tuesday: OMD has been announced as Adweek’s Global Media Agency of the Year for 2019. The news continues a great start to 2019 after OMD New Zealand also took out Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year in December, reigning in the title five out of the last six years.

AUCKLAND Today: As already widely reported, The FireFlies Antipodes charity ride from Christchurch to Queenstown has finished. The ride covered approximately 1000km over six gruelling days.

AUCKLAND, Today: Two global advertising heavyweights will deliver an intimate conversation at this year’s Axis speaker event.

SYDNEY, Tuesday: Sydney-based Hoyts Group ceo Damian Keogh has announced a restructure of the Val Morgan business following the resignation of ceo Dan Hill.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tuesday: Malaysia Airlines has called off a pitch that was announced in August last year to find new creative, media and social agency, according to a report from Mumbrella Asia ed Ravi Balakrishnan.

AUCKLAND, Tuesday: M+AD ed David Gapes was hospitalised during a doctors’ strike at Auckland Hospital over the weekend. Gapes underwent extensive testing and doctors have confirmed that he does have a heart.