Digital technology is revolutionising in-store radio, enhancing the shopping experience and giving retailers new tools for engaging with their customers. With research showing customers make most of their purchasing decisions in-store, retailers are placing extra emphasis on improving the customer experience to compete with online options.

More details have emerged of the merger plan between NZME and Fairfax New Zealand -with the deal involving the purchase of millions of dollars of Fairfax assets. Mumbrella reports NZME is set to pay NZ$55 million to acquire all shares in Fairfax NZ.

The home delivery service My Food Bag has decided to terminate a three year partnership with the Hamilton-based Chiefs rugby team after some unwelcome publicity last month. The incident involved players and a stripper at a hot pools venue in the Waikato.

Freedom New Zealand, World of Wearable Art, Nutrimetrics, Kathmandu, Harvey Norman and Countdown made history as being the first brands to be crowned in the recently added New Zealand categories at the annual ACA Awards held recently in Melbourne. For 25 years the awards recognise expertise and excellence in catalogue and letterbox marketing.

iHeartRadio New Zealand has launched four exciting new digital stations across genres identified as opportunities through research and audience demand. Havoc International Airport, Coast Soul, Newstalk ZB 24/7 and 90s Bus are the new kids on the iHeartRadio block.

For the first time since its launch two years ago, Spark’s free innovation and ideas workshop, Spark Lab, is going national, kicking off with a series of events in Auckland next week. Throughout September and October the Lab will visit Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch.

The MSIX Conference and Awards are back giving attendees the chance to spend a day with those leading the charge in the practice of marketing science. MSIX (Marketing Science Ideas Xchange) has become Australasia’s leading conference exploring the marketing and behavioural sciences, and how they are applied by businesses.

Two iconic Kiwi brands — one, New Zealand’s most loved bottled water, the other, the quintessential New Zealand soft drink have been added to DDB’s stable. Both Pump and L&P used to be handled by Saatchi & Saatchi.