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.