News is emerging about the sudden death last week of Crux Auckland strategy director Peter Hodge, aged only 37.

The only global creative prize awarded by advertising & comms journos, the Epica Awards, has issued its 2017 call for entries – with two new categories.

KPEX (aka the Kiwi Premium Advertising Exchange) is inviting agencies, media, and research outfits to a one-hour session aimed at promoting better understanding of digital media, run by KPEX ceo Richard Thompson.

We can say goodbye to any credible future awards coming from EY after some of NZ’s best journos pulled out of the company’s Business Journalism Awards amid startling conflict-of-interest claims.

Kiwibank has ended its agency-of-record partnership with Assignment Group, and will now keep its agency options open.

This year’s MMS Programmatic Summit – to be held in the Maritime Room in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour from 8.30am to 6pm on Wednesday 20 September – aims to unlock the secrets of programmatic marketing, putting it into simple language and provide simple strategies to help for the marketing mix.

Campaign Asia Pacific will hold the Australia/New Zealand regional division of its 2017 Agency of the Year Awards in Singapore on Thursday 14 December.

The big annual Auckland talkfest that is ad:tech has extended its early-bird tickets offer to Friday 11 August, holding the price at $629 (it will eventually rise to $699).

By Joanna Hunkin: Do not. I repeat do NOT watch Designated Survivor. Netflix has been recommending I give it a go. It stars Kiefer Sutherland … how bad could it be? The answer is very, very bad. It starts off implausible and gets more ridiculous from there, veering between painfully earnest and comically obvious.