AUCKLAND, Monday: DDB CCO Damon Stapleton reckons he found an interesting pattern in the aftermath of a disaster like Covid. “After catastrophes, there seems to be a collective human need to invent, innovate and create,” he writes in his latest blog.

AUKLAND, Monday: Jacinda’s groundbreaking Be Kind message has caught on globally after the PM first offered the stirring words in March – as Covid-19 closed in on NZ.

AUCKLAND, Today: In a new attempt to unblock obstacles to a merger, NZME has made an offer – largely a legal manoeuvre – to buy rival Stuff for $1.

AUCKLAND, Today: Stuff has terminated its print and online measurement agreements with Nielsen, choosing instead to rely on data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Roy Morgan, and Adobe Analytics.

AUCKLAND, Friday: The Comms Council has named the 99 finalists who will contest the Beacon Awards next month.

SYDNEY, Thursday: Less than a week after German-owned magazine publisher Bauer Media axed 140 staff, another 60 have been cut from the business and a further 14 stood down.

NEW YORK, Thursday: The advertising industry is a pioneer when it comes to gender diversity, ethnic diversity and mental health. However, one issue it tends to ignore is its liberal consumption of alcohol – while working from home.

AUCKLAND, Thursday: Mango Communications has issued a white paper to help NZ’s hard hit tourism businesses navigate the next few months while preparing for a new future in a Covid-19 world.

LONDON, Thursday: New Zealand’s Covid-19 comms have been clear, kind and cleverly sporty – and marketers and leaders should take note as we enter the next phase of the response, writes Cheil’s NZ-born global CCO Malcolm Poynton in an LBBOnline piece entitled Why We Should All Learn from Jacinda Ardern.