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Friday, 30 October 2026Made in Tāmaki Makaurau · 235 stories this week

The Weekly Pitch: what's happening in marketing, right now.

What's happening in marketing, right now.

Marketing news from the trade press, campaigns checked against their sources, and short lessons. For marketing students and anyone who wants to stay in the loop.

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Live from the trade press

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B&T · Latest

Prada Makes A Case For Human Creativity With Hand-Drawn Holiday Campaign

Publisher's summary: As generative AI continues to find its way into advertising production, Prada has taken a more traditional approach to its new Christmas campaign, putting pencil to paper for a festive film brought to life through hand-drawn animation. Titled ‘Drawing Prada:…

This week by topic

GEO: generative engine optimisation

Tagged automatically from headlines, so counts are a guide.

Checked against sources

Campaign watch

Full campaign library →

We only call a campaign a success when a source publishes results, awards or sales. Most new work hasn't got there yet, and we say so.

Image: B&T

Health & care

MoleMap · Australia and New Zealand

Map Your Future

Agency: Bread Agency

In an opinion piece for B&T written by MoleMap ANZ's own chief marketing officer, Duncan Armour, the skin-checking provider describes how a social campaign called 'Map Your Future' grew into a full brand platform across Australia and New Zealand. Instead of fear-based messaging about skin cancer risk, the campaign reframes skin checks around people's future plans, such as travel, fitness and family milestones ('selling the future, not the check'). The first phase ran from July to September 2026 across on-demand TV, radio, billboards, bus stops, retail screens and social; a second phase launched on 1 November 2026 ahead of the summer peak.

Reported results

Our take

Every number here comes from the brand's own CMO (chief marketing officer) writing about his own campaign, including a modelled estimate of how many bookings the campaign itself caused above background demand. That's a genuinely useful way to try to separate a campaign's effect from always-on activity, but it's still the company grading its own work, not an independent measurement.

Read the breakdown →

B&T · 28 Oct 2026 ↗

  1. Olay · Australia

    Rewrite The #SignsOfAgeing

    Beauty & personal care

  2. Burger King · Ireland

    A Whopper Of A Finish

    Food & restaurants

  3. Mater Lotteries · Australia

    Prize Home Lottery No. 325 (Mindset Graph targeting)

    Charity & cause · Reported results

  4. Sephora · Australia and New Zealand

    Only at Sephora: 'The Search Is Over'

    Beauty & personal care

Also new this week · straight from the trade press, not yet checked by us

  1. 1Brands are becoming entertainment studiosAttention is earned with formats people choose to watch or stream, not interruptions. Budgets are moving from spots to series.
  2. 2AI agents move from making assets to running the planPlatforms increasingly ask for a goal, a budget and creative, then decide the rest. The competitive edge moves to the inputs: strategy, creative quality and clean data.
  3. 3The entry-level talent squeezeJunior tasks (resizing, first drafts, reporting) are being automated, so the pipeline that trains future leaders is at risk.
  4. 4Getting found inside AI answersSearch is splitting into classic results and AI-generated answers. Third-party proof (reviews, data, citations) appears to matter more than volume of content.

New technology in marketing

AI radar

Open the AI radar →

Amazon Ads

Ads Agent, Full-Funnel Campaigns, DVA+

Announced at unBoxed: one AI interface for planning through measurement, and campaigns that combine sponsored, display, video and streaming TV while Amazon's AI decides execution.

Why it matters

Buying silos are collapsing into goal-and-budget inputs. Planners' value shifts to strategy, creative and testing.
Digiday · 29 Sept 2026 ↗

Runway

Runway Ads

An AI agent that makes ad variations, localises them, publishes human-approved versions to Meta, Google and TikTok, and feeds performance back into the next round.

Why it matters

Creative production and optimisation in one loop. The generative-video players are moving into performance marketing.
Adweek · 30 Sept 2026 ↗

Latest AI stories

All AI & tech stories →

Success with evidence

Award-winning work

Recently announced winners from D&AD and the London International Awards (LIA). An award is public recognition by an industry jury. It isn't the same as commercial results.

WorkBrandAgencyAwardSource
Your Way OutCoinbaseIsle of AnyD&AD (Design and Art Direction) Black Pencil ×2 (Visual Effects; Production Design)Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗
The Periodic FableThe OrdinaryUncommon Creative StudioD&AD Black Pencil (Art Direction)Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗
Three WordsAXAPublicis ConseilD&AD Black Pencil (Impact)Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗
UnsponsoredLevi Strauss & Co.BETC Paris, AKQAGrand LIA (London International Awards): Ambient & ActivationCampaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗
The Pub That Refused To DieHeinekenLePub MilanGrand LIA: Creative StrategyCampaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗
Heinz Ketchup billboards (“Look Familiar?”)HeinzRethink TorontoGrand LIA: BillboardCampaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗
SosegáCervezas AlhambraLLYC MadridGrand LIA: Music & SoundCampaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗
Expensive Sh*tHuggiesMcCann New ZealandLIA Gold: Ambient & ActivationCampaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗
Lump LotteryTesticular Cancer NZColenso BBDOLIA Gold + Silver: Creative StrategyCampaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗
No Place to GrowWe Are MobiliseDroga5 ANZLIA Silver: Ambient & ActivationCampaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗
Find Your WonderfulNew WorldMcCann New ZealandEffie Gold: Retail/EtailCampaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗
Fantasy Herd (with Together)Goodman FielderMcCann New ZealandEffie Gold: Most Original Thinking; Effie Gold: Clever Use of Research/DataCampaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗
Making the world fall in love with 100% Pure New Zealand againTourism New ZealandTBWA New ZealandEffie Gold: International MarketingCampaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗
Booze MathsNZTA Waka KotahiMcCann New ZealandEffie Gold: Insights & Strategic ThinkingCampaign Brief · 23 Oct 2026 ↗

Our own thinking · hypothetical

Ideas lab

Open the Ideas lab →

These are not real campaigns. They're our own ideas for how this week's mechanics could work for well-known brands, and the brands named aren't involved.

Idea for Spotify

Wrapped: The Final

A live-streamed, long-form game show where the most obsessive fans of one artist compete using their listening data.

Mechanic: Fans opt in with their stats; top listeners qualify; the artist hosts the final.

See the full plan →

Inspired by: KFC's superfan game show (Adweek)

Idea for Red Bull

City vs City Session Board

A month-long skate/run/ride challenge where each suburb's tracked activity lights up live DOOH (digital out-of-home) boards, ending in a street event in the winning suburb.

Mechanic: App or Strava tracking → live DOOH leaderboard → finale event.

See the full plan →

Inspired by: Hoka's Strava-to-DOOH marathon build-up (Digiday)

Idea for IKEA

Secondhand Rooms

Players donate unused in-game furniture from home-building games; each donation unlocks a real-world contribution to a housing charity.

Mechanic: In-game donation → public tally → matched real donation.

See the full plan →

Inspired by: Kirkens Korshær's Secondhand Skins (Creative Review)

Got a brand in mind? Build an idea for it →