Cheers to another mint summer

You can't beat a Kiwi summer. We wanted to give a little something special to our clients and friends this Christmas – a gift that encapsulated the good feelings associated with the New Zealand holiday season.

Our Christmas gift arrived on the recipient's desks as a folded shirt displaying the words 'it's time to loosen the tie… another sweet as summer is about to unfold'. The shirt then opened out to become a typographic tea towel designed lovingly by us. Choice!

The Green Room Verdict: We hope our gift gets you into the spirit of summer – Merry Christmas from everyone at Tenfold Creative!

Exchange your unhealthy habits

With summer on the way, now's the perfect time to exchange some unhealthy habits for healthier ones... which is easier said than done. Even the smallest changes can make a big difference over time, so we created the Heart Foundation's new Healthy Habit Exchange Facebook app – made to be fun, free and helpful when you decide to make positive changes (no matter how small they are!). Put down that scone... pick up the apple and pick up your lifestyle! If you're ready to start eating well, feeling well and living well, then read on.

One safety video to rule them all...

It's that time again – the time when New Zealand becomes Middle Earth. We know that the Lord of the Rings movies gave New Zealand a big boost in tourism, so the new Hobbit film is sure to to do the same. Air New Zealand is often a first port of call for these incoming travelers, and they're embracing this fact with their new safety video inspired by the Hobbit (featuring cast and crew alike). We love that something as bland as an in-flight safety video can be so captivating! Check out 'An Unexpected Briefing' below.

70 seconds to unlock the 007 in you

How often has James Bond had to beat the clock to save the damsel/city/himself? This neat Coke Zero vending machine in Antwerp Central Station lets participants unlock their inner 007 on a time-sensitive challenge. While there are no lives in danger if you lose, completing the challenge in under 70 seconds wins participants some exclusive tickets to see the new Skyfall film. The challenge of getting to Platform 6 may seem easy, but wait until you see the obstacles!

Marley Stratus Design Series

We know most people wouldn't give a second thought about their spouting. Let’s face it, it’s hardly a conversation starter... until now. Marley Stratus Design Series is a premium spouting and downpipe system – take a peak at the TVC!

Blood donors – a personal thank you

Though it could save a life, giving blood can tend to be a frustrating process. The process is not very enjoyable (or just plain frightening) for most, and your precious blood is never heard of again. One of the most prominent blood banks in Brazil, Santa Casa de Misericordia, wanted to create an emotional experience with blood donors to keep them coming back. By using plasters printed with QR codes, donors could scan and be linked to videos of people whose lives have been positively influenced by their donation.

How far would you go?

We've seen lots of vending machines used in ambient advertising, but this has to be one of the funniest we've seen yet. Fantastic Delites, a brand of a cracker, are supposed to be so good that you'd do anything to get a taste. The Delite-o-Matic is a vending machine that will reward you with a free pack of Delites for performing certain challenges. The challenge starts with participants needing to press the machine's button 100 times to redeem a pack, the next challenge is to press the button 200 times, and it grows (and gets wackier) from there. It's hilarious watching how far people will go to get their hands on some of these snacks!

The power of styling and retouching

It's late, you're hungry, and your inner Jamie Oliver is void of any culinary inspiration. Your inner Homer Simpson, however, has a great idea… one that involves a juicy burger, a television, and a comfy couch. Tonight is fast food night. As you pull up to the drive-through window, glistening images of your takeaway options beckon you to pick one. That quarter pounder looks so piping hot, so yummy, so perfect. But as you prepare to launch into dinner, you can't help but notice that the burger isn't anything like the menu image you saw. Do the advertisements even show real burgers? It is a question many have asked… and McDonald's have stepped forward to explain. Yes, it's the same burger – it's just had a little help in the form of a painstakingly detailed process to maximize enticement.

Shocking cover up

Lauren Luke has become a bit of YouTube sensation for her make-up tutorials, but now she has really created a stir thanks to her latest video. Her new tutorial, simply titled 'How to look your best the morning after', shows a bruised and battered Lauren applying make-up to her injuries caused by domestic violence. The video shocked her 440,000 subscribers and is continuing to make waves, but thankfully the instructional vid is not real – it is part of a campaign for the anti-domestic-violence group, Refuge.

Mahana Red wins trans-Tasman marketing award!

We're thrilled that one of our clients has won the inaugural Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Marketer of the Year Award 2012. This is a pretty big deal in the fresh produce industry both here and across the ditch, so its especially rewarding  to see Sarah McRae of Freshmax unveiled as the winner of the PMA Marketer of the Year, chosen for her marketing work on the deliciously divine Mahana Red apple.

Lego comes to life

Although still at conceptual stage, check out this slick presentation for Brain Bricks from the team at Wonder Years. By installing tiny sensors into each brick, your Lego masterpiece can be recreated in a virtual environment, then integrated into games and activities via the Brain Bricks mobile app.

Stirring the motions with V

You don't need to be a fan of electronic music to get excited about the The V Motion Project.
V presented an ambitious challenge – to create a way of making music using only body movement as an instrument. A team including music producer Joel Little and motion artist Josh Cesan took up this challenge, resulting in a new track entitled 'Can't Help Myself' (see below) and plenty of attention.

Mobile medic

Many students these days are into the new generation of technology, including iPhones and iPads. No wonder the Australian Defence Force used this technology in recruiting medical students worthy of a defence university sponsorship. How? By creating medically diagnosable advertising. As the CEO of Grey Group Austria commented, this campaign is a total "gamechanger".

A bright idea with QR codes

Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, you've got to admit that this QR code implementation is pretty darn clever. What do you do when you're a Korean store chain (E-Mart) with a reoccurring midday shopper drought? Simple – just install a structure that creates a shadow QR code between 12pm–1pm, linking people to special 'Sunny Sale' deals only available at that time.

Story swap

There are some books out there that we're all familiar with. Lowe/SSP3 Colombia mixed some of these popular stories to create simple, direct ads for the Colsubsidio Book Exchange. The idea is clear: come with a story, leave with another. Can you identify all the stories portrayed in this campaign?

Ikea's new store fits within 300 pixels

The global homewares chain known as Ikea is renowned for its space-saving solutions. To reinforce this famous characteristic of their wares, Ikea has now created its smallest store yet, fitting into a web banner of about 10cm x 9cm. It's amazing that a whopping 2,800 products fit within these tiny dimensions!

Play smarter

Smart cars are great for making our carbon footprint smaller, zipping into tight spaces, and playing games of 'pong'. You read right. This campaign by BBDO engaged visitors to play games of pong, or 'Smart eBall', with the new Damier vehicles. It's a very cool (and very fun) way of showing the control and acceleration of the smart car, both for those who were game enough to play and for those who chose to watch.

A little village goes global

Have you heard of the tiny Swiss village of Obermutten? Here's a brief rundown of this sleepy town: it has less than 100 residents, a hotel, a barn, a church… and a Facebook page with higher engagement rates than the pages of Lady Gaga and Coca Cola. Yes, you read it right. Their campaign was simple: just become a fan of their Facebook page and they'll print out your profile picture and pin it to their town noticeboard. But with nearly 14,000 fans, these pictures have spread to the barn door and other areas of the village, as the mayor will not back down on his charming promise.

Dancify Yourself

Choose a tune, challenge a friend and boogie on down. These three notions have been what the popular XBox Kinect games are all about. However, when promoting the new Dance Central game, these three elements were transferred brilliantly into a smartphone app – making use of a smartphone's camera, the app's 'dancify' technology and social media – to spread the word and hype up the latest Kinect game.

Try before you buy – packaged toys

Here's a novel idea for when you're on the fence about buying a product. Often the ability to see the actual item and how it works can make or break your purchase decision, but packaging prevents this. Bandai have released a way for children and adults alike to view their toys without taking them out of their box… with a little help of a certain reality augmentation app.

The radio station that has sports covered

One of China's top sports radio stations, Beijing Sports Radio, came up with this succinct print campaign. The station wanted to raise awareness of their live sporting event coverage, but as there are many different languages spoken in Beijing, their ads needed to easily illustrate their message. Using the universal symbol for talking, this campaign hit the nail on the head.

Samsung takes a bite out of Apple

The Super Bowl – the sporting event where the advertisements are almost as anticipated as the game itself. Though the ads sometimes fall flat, the price of being in the limelight for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl is always insane. This year it would have costed you $3.5 million, the highest price in history. Though Samsung's ad for its' Galaxy Note was fun, vibrant and attention grabbing, the 90-second spot entitled 'Thing Called Love' mocked Apple and consumers of Apple products, gaining a bit of controversy.

Farewell, Kodak

Kodak has been having a hard time. With the bulk of their income coming in from film products and cameras, intense competition of the digital variety have seen Kodak unable to keep up. To remember them we're remembering a great advertising campaign they did back in 2005, with the simple tag line 'More Shots, More Chances".