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Shift_the way you move…

…as David MacGregor goes solo, Dave Shoemack gets a plum posting in Holland, Telecom’s punching bag departs, Fujikistan goes international, Andrew Mehrtens gets Gallic for TV3, The Press wins plaudits at PANPA, Mango activates an expert, CAANZ adds to its stable, Orangebox cuts cake, Kordia shacks up with PPR, and The Economist names a new sponsorship and marketing guru.  

Return of the Mack

David MacGregor has left BrandWorld and launched his own company, Macgregor Media, a business that aims to create integrated commercial formats and products across all media platforms, from TV programming and advertising to mobile applications for phones and tablets.

He says the move is a response to the increasing demand for useful, engaging content, free-for-all opening of media channels and the inexpensive digital means to fill them with compelling stories.

“If it’s media, it’s me,” he says.

MacGregor’s career began in the early 1980s as an award-winning creative. In the mid 90s he launched BrandWorld and created one of the world’s first syndicated, multi-advertiser platforms, Family Health Diary, a business model that continues to be highly successful for BrandWorld, one of TVNZ’s biggest advertisers, and has spawned other masthead brands such as Eating Well and Discover. MacGregor has been working on new product development with the BrandWorld, which remains a client, for the past four years and he sold his stake in 2002.

He is also co-founder of and advertising columnist in Idealog magazine, which has won business publication of the year in each of the five years of its life.

He has been blogging since 2004 and his ThoughtSpurs blog has been read by hundreds of thousands of people. This week marked his fourth anniversary on Twitter.

“You should never take advice about social media from people with fewer than 15 followers on Twitter—or anybody under the age of 26 and a half, about anything,” he says.

Shoemack makes tracks

Dave Shoemack has left his role as DB Export marketing manager for a plum gig in Amsterdam as senior brand manager for Sol beer at Heineken International.

His replacement is Russell Browne who was the Monteith’s marketing manager.

Shoemack was promoted to the role soon after winning the Rookie Marketer of the Year category at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards in 2009 and was instrumental in last year’s slightly controversial ‘Beer: The Untold Story’ campaign.

Cooney hangs up

Kieren Cooney, Telecom’s head of marketing and, more recently, national punching bag, has left the company to take up a role as chief communications officer with the National Broadband Network company, the organisation building Australia’s ultra-fast internet infrastructure.

“It feels like a real privilege to be involved with this type of initiative, which is truly about nation building and building the next capability for Australians,” he told the Brisbane-Times. “To be able to lay such a strong foundation in Australia’s future is amazing, this is probably only once in a generation in terms of scale and impact.”

The Australian-born Cooney was originally appointed as head of Telecom’s mobile division last April and took over as head of marketing in June last year. His resignation was finalised before the Abstain for the Game campaign was leaked.

Cooney was also general manager (new markets) at Vodafone and was a presenter on music channel Max TV and Juice TV.

Echo location 

Republik’s direct mail Fujikistan campaign for Fuji Xerox enjoyed four finalist spots and took home two Gold at this years RSVP awards and it’s set for some international success at this year’s DMA International ECHO Awards.

“We received notification to say that we had placed and we were to be awarded at the event in Boston on October 4th and were pretty chuffed at that. A couple of days later received further notification that in addition to the category awards, Fujikistan has been selected as one of the top four overall campaigns of 2011 and will form part of a newly formed, ‘Peoples Choice ECHO Award’.”

Republik’s creative director Andrew Sims has been invited to the conference to present a case study of the campaign highlighting its strategy, creative, innovation and results.

“Fujikistan was created to launch and sell a specialist hi-end digital colour printing press, The Color Press 1000. The DM campaign formed the back-bone of the launch strategy. After breaking all New Zealand, APAC and International sales targets, it’s nice to be enjoying success on the awards circuit,” says Sims.

Sacre Bleu!  

Youtube Video TV3 has been pushing its RWC 2011 as “fun, rather than earnest, though always knowledgeable”. And, according to publicity manager Rachel Lorimer, she thinks Andrew Mehrtens is going to be TV3’s secret weapon.

The 3 News team has also got involved with an online only show ‘One Off The Ruck’. Check out the first two episodes here.

On the PANPA podium 

The Press was a popular choice as Newspaper of the Year with a circulation between 25,000 and 90,000 at the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association (PANPA) Awards last week.

Fairfax New Zealand chief executive Allen Williams attended the awards and was delighted to see the industry recognise the work done by the The Press team under extraordinary circumstances surrounding the Christchurch earthquake.

“The audience at the gala dinner gave The Press team a standing ovation and I was very proud to stand alongside them. It was a well deserved win and I am extremely proud of The Press team,” says Williams.

Press photographer Iain McGregor also claimed a major award for his quake photography, sharing Photograph of the Year with Craig Greenhill from Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. 

Fairfax New Zealand’s digital head, Nigel Tutt was awarded the 2011 Hegarty Scholarship for young executive of the year and Stuff’s Rugby Heaven iPhone app took away the Specialty site award.

“Its the second year in a row that a young Fairfax executive has won the Hegarty Scholarship and I would like to congratulate Nigel and his team on the wins for their market-leading work,” says Williams. “Our updating of technology and systems has resulted in the growth and enhancement of Fairfax Media’s news gathering and reporting. We’ve got the right people and the right technology to deliver top news around the clock, ahead of the competition.”

Other winners included The Dominion Postfor Audience/Circulation 25, 000-90, 000 and Events 25,000-90,000.

Not too much to write home about for APN, although The New Zealand Herald won the Lifestyle section National/Metropolitan and nzherald.co.nz won the branding section for digital for the “creative and sassy” NZ Notworth News campaign by M&C Saatchi.

“What the campaign delivered was something bold, unexpected and unlike anything else seen before,” says APN Online Marketing Manager, Sarah Kenny. “Yet it was completely relevant to the brand and its position. It was born from strategic thinking and it focused on a single minded proposition: if you want news you can trust, then head straight to nzherald.co.nz.”

The Bay of Plenty Times and Mountain Scene also took category awards. Check out the full list of winners here.

Events, dear girl, events

Mango Communications today announces the appointment of Amy Hayden to further bolster its Events team.

Hayden has sharpened her events and sampling skills at Phenomenon Promotions where as a senior account manager she developed, presented and executed inspiring concepts for clients and managed her own team.

An activation expert, she will be working across sampling, events and brand experiences.

“This is the year we hone in on brand experiences that cut through the clutter every time,” says Mango managing director Claudia Macdonald. “What better way to do this than by bringing in an events and sampling pro that has the experience and courage to take our clients to the next level.”

Traill mix

CAANZ has appointed Lisa Traill, who has a background in project management and marketing at commercial and not-for-profits, as industry development manager, replacing Dean Howie.

Orange cake

Wellington and Auckland-based mailhouse Orangebox has just blown out the candles for its 8th birthday and business partners Stephen Bennett and Thomas Subritzky got all emotional and delivered a speech.

“It’s been an adventure every step of the way, as we’ve expanded and grown our offering and services,” they say. “We have to give thanks to the fantastic clients we have formed partnerships with over the past eight years. Their loyalty and support has been unwavering and much appreciated. In addition we want to applaud our outstanding and talented staff who regularly pull out all the stops to make it all happen for our clients. We’re totally committed to further growth and we’ve got lots more exciting things planned for the future. After all, we love direct.”

Kordia accord

Kordia, New Zealand’s only telco dedicated to the business sector, and a significant player in the local telecommunications scene, has announced it has appointed Professional Public Relations New Zealand (PPR) as its communications partner.

“We chose PPR because of its leadership in business and corporate communications, its approach to strategic advice and its full service offering,” says Kordia’s general manager of sales and marketing, Drew Gilpin.  “We’re really looking forward to working closely with the PPR team to further develop our position in the market.”

“Many people will have seen our new marketing campaign and it’s fair to say we mean business. We are committed to providing New Zealand businesses with the kind of solutions and service they just don’t get from any other telco. We understand the needs of businesses and create solutions that will make a difference to how they operate. Our customers get more out of their networks because they have true visibility and control over what’s going which creates greater efficiencies and benefits both of us in the long run.”

General manager of PPR New Zealand, Jonathan Tudor, says working with Kordia is an exciting opportunity to build a brand in an industry that is at the heart of New Zealand’s economic success.

“Kordia is making important inroads in the telecommunications industry in this country and we welcome the chance to help them take even bigger strides into the network and technology solutions sector. Telecommunications services are no longer just business enablers; when implemented and managed effectively they become strategic assets for smart businesses. Kordia’s services make this a reality, and although top brass CIOs and IT Managers are aware of these services, PPR will help Kordia communicate with a much wider audience and as a result grow their business.”

Point and Glick

The Economist Group has appointed Miriam Glick to the position of associate director, marketing and sponsorship, Asia Pacific, from 8 September.

Glick will be responsible for formulating The Economist’s regional strategy to drive growth in advertising and sponsorship revenue. She will work closely with the sales team to expand The Economist’s exciting new programmes around social media.

While most Australian newspapers’ circulation figures are down, The Economist’s circulation in the Asia Pacific, which includes Australia, is up 6.1 percent on the year before, at 143,000 copies per week. Revenue figures in the Asia Pacific region grew by 32 percent, reflecting strong economic growth in Asia.

Prior to joining The Economist Group, Glick worked at General Electric where she held positions in the company’s global marketing/communications and product marketing.

“She will be instrumental in helping us expand The Economist so that it becomes more than a leading weekly print platform,” says The Economist sales director Rob Ferguson. “Our aim is to develop creative advertising solutions and integrate them across various social media platforms for our advertisers. The Economist is at the forefront of delivering thought leadership programs and this approach has been very successful in other markets.”

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