Monthly Archives: February, 2018

News
‘A real range across the board’: MediaWorks launches new lifestyle channel ThreeLife
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Following MediaWorks’ media event yesterday, the company has announced a few changes for 2018; a new lifestyle channel ThreeLife, a new corporate brand identity, a shuffling of radio presenters and the return of familiar shows. StopPress talks with chief content officer Andrew Szusterman and head of programming and acquisitions Ben Quinn about the new channel, why we’re seeing another season of Married at First Sight New Zealand, and the consistency in what they do.

News
SMI figures: total agency spend exceeds $1 billion in 2017
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2017 was another record year for agency advertising spend, with data released from Standard Media Index (SMI) showing $1.048 billion was spent on major media across the year. But will the momentum continue? We speak to SMI managing director for Australia and New Zealand Jane Ractliffe about confidence in the economy.

News
Little Giant CEO Mark Hurley on work/life balance and venturing into the unknown
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Little Giant founder and CEO Mark Hurley knows a thing or two about founding a company – he started his first business when he was 17, and the digital agency he founded later with no previous advertising experience, Little Giant, was named New Zealand Digital Agency of the Year at the 2017 Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Agency of the Year awards. Here, he talks backing yourself in new ventures, maintaining a work/life balance and New Zealand start-ups he’s excited to see on the rise.

Opinion
You are your own content
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Accenture Interactive’s Ben Morgan takes a look at how Kiwis are increasingly using their devices for everyday activities, and how organisations can keep up with the demand for content.

News
Right message, right time, right person: Dean Cook on 21 years of change in marketing and advertising
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After 21 years at Farmers over two stints, former head of marketing Dean Cook has hung up his purple tool belt, swapping it out for a red one with a move to The Warehouse Group. We sit down with Cook to reflect on the past two decades and how far the marketing and advertising industry has come in terms of in-house agencies, the proliferation of media channels and data. Plus, we hear his thoughts on how local retailers can compete with Amazon.

News
Agency Perceptions: what do you think of the country’s specialist agencies?
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In 2017, as part of our Agency Perceptions research, we asked some of the country’s top marketers a few questions about their roles and their views on the country’s leading creative and media agencies. How were their needs changing? What did they look for in an agency? What were their frustrations? How did they choose the right partner? Which agencies stood out? The results made for very interesting reading and it was one of our most-talked-about projects of the year. So, for our upcoming agency issue, we’re doing it again, although this time we’re diving into the perceptions of specialists and asking marketers some questions about design, PR/experiential, digital, and direct marketing agencies. But wait! There’s more! In the end, it’s the perception of the ones that pay the bills that really matters. But this year we’re also asking the StopPress audience for their opinion on these agencies in an effort to get a wider industry view.

Features
NZME and Stuff appeal decision; industry shares its thoughts on merger
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NZME and Stuff have announced this week they will seek leave to appeal a High Court ruling that upheld a Commerce Commission block on their proposed merger. In December the High Court upheld a Commerce Commission ruling not to clear or authorise the merger. With that in mind, we take a look at what industry folk think of the proposed merger and mergers in general.