British Airways and creative partner Ogilvy UK have come up with a smart way to show off their range of destinations with billboards that communicate with its planes. It’s so simple even toddlers can #lookup.

Google is basically the nervous system of the modern world, and that’s best evidenced by the screen in the Googleplex showing the real-time search queries from around the world (minus the dirty ones, apparently). The auto-complete feature aims to predict what you’re going to ask about based on other popular searches and usually the results are either relevant or quite funny. But a new campaign for United Nations Women by Ogilvy & Mather Dubai has used this democratic online function to show how endemic sexism still is around the world.

When the New Zealand Herald ran a story last week about the dangers of dogs playing fetch with sticks, Ogilvy & Mather jumped at the chance to produce some timely print advertising for its client Beneful.

Switching power companies is easy. Dealing with wild beasts, not so much.

IBM has been beating its smarter data drum for a while now. And that philosophy has made its way into the real world, with a series of ads for its ‘Smarter Cities’ campaign that double as functional street furniture.

Coca-Cola’s branding for the past few years has been all about “sharing the happiness” (as opposed to sharing its secret ingredients). Taking that point to the next level is a new can design from Ogilvy which twists to reveal two small cans – perfect for sharing with friends or other Coke addicts.

Carat recently had to say goodbye to 2degrees after Ikon won the business in a pitch. But it’s made up for that loss with the recent addition of Dick Smith to the client roster.

The Auckland Unitary Plan is an important step for the future of the country’s biggest city. So, rather than leaving it to the usual folk who interact with/complain about the bureaucrats, it’s hoping to get a wide range of society to consider the issues and help guide the decision-making. And to help do that, and at the same time simplify some rather complex issues, Auckland Council has released an online housing simulator.

Following on from the success of the initial Share a Coke campaign, Coca-Cola has partnered with Universal Music so New Zealanders “can relive these special moments with friends and family by sharing a Coke and a song”.

Last week was a rough one for Ogilvy, with Kiwibank deciding to scratch its seven year itch and shack up with its STW stablemate Assignment Group. But it’s balanced out the bad with a bit of good after winning the remainder of the Pernod Ricard New Zealand account and being installed as its strategic and creative communications agency.

Since it won the New Zealand Pork account early last year, Ogilvy has been on a mission to change outdated perceptions and “drive purchase behaviour through a journey of digital awareness, engaging in-store communications, promotions and demonstration”. It brought chef Simon Gault onboard as spokescook for the Extraordinary Kitchen campaign and focused heavily on retail. But, like its recent change of direction for Holden, it’s tried to bring a bit more emotion to the table and, as executive creative director Angus Hennah says, “tell simple human stories that make pork the hero”.

The last TVC of the Week accolade for 2012 and it’s the global phenomenon that is driving dogs, mobile innuendo and kids mixed with science that taste victory.

Just as humans will always react strangely when they see themselves on the big screen at the cricket, it seems they will also react strangely when they have the chance to see their name on a can of Coke, something the Share a Coke campaign has tapped into, first in Australia and now in New Zealand with the help of Ogilvy. And, continuing its long association with the festive season and adding to the more than 200 popular Kiwi first names (as this chap found out, Osama wasn’t one of them) and colloquial terms like Mate, Sis, Bro, Mum and Dad that have taken the place of the brand’s cherished logo, Coca-Cola has released another limited edition set of cans featuring the names of Santa and his nine reindeer.

Absolut’s latest artistic innovation is, as per usual, pretty impressive, with the company rejigging its entire production process in an effort to create unique patterns on four million bottles. There are only 4,800 of them available in New Zealand and, judging by the number of co-workers fawning over the bottle sitting on the StopPress desk, they might not be around for too long. But fans of the brand and its creative MO have an opportunity to get the next best thing by creating their own personalised bottle online.

Whatever St Matthew in the City can do, Chapel Bar can do better. To celebrate seven years of Almighty Nights at the Ponsonby Road institution, it enlisted the sacrilegious services of Ogilvy, which created a great (unless you’re a devout Christian) ad that’s bound to appeal to the secular customer base.

There were plenty of naysayers when Kiwibank was launched, but, after ten years, few would argue it has done a stellar job of facing up the big Australian-owned banks on the personal banking front (it announced a tripling of profits recently and now has around ten percent of the retail market). But now it’s aiming to bump up its business banking credentials with a campaign by Ogilvy and Ikon that aims to demonstrate how the bank can save SMEs time and money and let them get on with running their businesses.

It’s a bit of a lolly scramble in bank land at the moment, and we mentioned a few of the overtures National Bank competitors received from competing banks last week. But Kiwibank and Ogilvy have turned on the Barry White, lit a few candles and, with a challenger brand twinkle it their eyes, set about wooing Kerre Woodham.

There’s been a lot of hype around the launch of the Shopping Channel this week, and there’s no question awareness of the channel was boosted significantly by the appearance of Eva Longoria. But by and large, unlike a certain online trading website that launched this week, the Shopping Channel’s debut seems to have gone relatively smoothly, and both ACP, which announced its partnership with the channel at a gala event on Wednesday night, and Ogilvy, have big plans for the brand.