Eight NZ ad agencies feature among the finalists for this year’s New Zealand Best Design Awards – Colenso, Special Group. Strategy, FCB, Saatchi & Saatchi, Resn, Y&R, and Whybin/TBWA. Here’s a summary of the best of Best 2016 …

Nike’s latest commercial tracks the extraordinary career of tennis star Serena Williams from child prodigy to grand slam queen. The spot is part of Nike’s “Unlimited” series from Wieden & Kennedy and ends with the words “greatest athlete ever” – after removing the word ‘female’ from the on-screen copy.

New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) is leading the way with outstanding creative client campaigns, evident by their wins at the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association (PANPA) held in Sydney last week. NZME took home six PANPA Awards in total, three for work produced for national and local clients.

The honours for NZ from this year’s AdStars Awards keep on rolling in, with news that two MDS AdSchool teams have scored in the Innovation category.

Spark and Vodafone say they will honour a product recall by Samsung. The company announced over the weekend that it will replace its Galaxy Note 7 in New Zealand as part of a global recall following reports of the phone exploding or catching fire.

New Zealanders are flocking to Augusto’s first movie, Chasing Great – the story of our much-loved All Black Richie McCaw. The film has opened in cinemas around the country after its premier earlier this week.

The three-year refurbishment of TVNZ’s Auckland headquarters has ended with the new building officially re-opened by the prime minister this morning – 26 years after its first opening by the Queen in 1990.

An international campaign is about to kick-off for NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto®, the unconventional premium coffee system, with Will.i.am, fronting a new TVC called ‘Creativity Reinvents The Classics’. The campaign celebrates the power of creativity to deliver outstanding quality through a parallel between music and coffee creativity.

It’s a hard watch but Clemenger BBDO Wellington’s ‘Mistakes’ road safety commercial has scored the International Honour Award at AdStars Festival and the concept has been picked up and screened in many countries around the world. The commercial features two drivers in a hopeless conversation leading up to an inevitable and nasty crash.