AUCKLAND, Today: Special New Zealand has announced an equity and cash funding agreement with “the next billion dollar sports brand”. W2W (Wimp 2 Warrior) is an immersive and transformational 20-week mixed martial arts training programme taught in-gym to more than 10,000 people around the world.

NEW YORK, Today: The All Blacks have a 77.3%-win record, but dentsu New Zealand posted a 100% success rate at the recent Clio Sports Awards in the United States.

AUCKLAND, Saturday: A prime contender for Headline of the Week is this pearler (above) from The Weekend Herald One Roof Commercial real estate liftout section.

PARIS, Today: M+AD ed David Gapes has again been appointed to the 2021 Epica Awards jury. The Epicas are the only global creative advertising awards judged exclusively by journalists.

LONDON, Today: WARC, the Cannes Lions and LinkedIn B2B Institute have published The B2B Effectiveness Code, a white paper that follows in-depth research by Kiwi adman James Hurman on the effectiveness of B2B marketing.

AUCKLAND, Today: The Comms Council has unveiled its five executive judges for Axis 2022 – YoungShand ECD Anne Boothroyd, Colenso BBDO CD Beth O’Brien, DDB ECD Gary Steele, VMLY&R ECD Kim Pick, and FCB ECD Peter Vegas.