fbpx

Movings/Shakings: 29 July

Tectonic shifts  

There have been some very literal movings and shakings down in Wellington recently, and a bunch of Clemenger companies including Clemenger BBDO, Proximity, OMD and Touch/Cast are temporarily moving out of their central Wellington office while strengthening work takes place. 

Executive creative director Philip Andrew says the building was yellow stickered by the council after the recent shake to show that it wasn’t up to standards (around 800 buildings in Wellington are thought to have been yellow stickered, including, slightly ironically, the Earthquake Commission office). But he says it wasn’t as a result of the recent shakes, it’s because “the building we’re in is well short of what it needs to be for the new codes”. The council was unaware it had been in discussions with the building owner about getting the strengthening work done ​since late last year. 

The work is scheduled to take place in August, but due to the amount of concrete drilling and foundation stabilisation, the businesses have decided to seek temporary premises in an effort to speed up the process—and to make the workplace slightly more bearable. It plans to be in the temporary location until the end of the year. 

Extraordinarily, he says, “not one pencil fell off the desk” at Clemenger’s office after the quake. Whereas at the reasonably new BNZ building, which was built to flex, it was a shambles

“The thing you realise is that there’s no exact science to this kind of stuff,” he says. A bit like advertising, really. 

Designworks Wellington and Springload have also temporarily moved out of their landmark Hope Gibbon offices as strengthening work is done. But this work was also started before the recent quake.  

Tremain man

Image: nzherald.co.nz.

Matt Tremain has been named as advertising director for Bauer Media NZ – Consumer Magazines.

Tremain has been employed with Bauer Media for the past six years, most recently running the direct sales business. 

“With Ben Gibb leaving us [and heading to Yahoo!], it provided an opportunity to review the business” says Paul Gardiner, commercial director of Bauer Media New Zealand. “Matt moved from the role of magazine manager with Bauer Media over four years ago to establish and run the then newly created direct advertising team and has done an outstanding job. I look forward to seeing the enthusiasm and passion that he will bring to the agency business”.

Tremain moves into the new role from 2 August.

Buchanan back

Dean Buchanan will join The Radio Network (TRN) team in a newly developed role of chief content officer responsible for audience. 

Buchanan and his wife will shift back to Auckland from Sydney, where he has been based for the past 15 years. He has over two decades of experience developing content and talent both here and internationally.

He was group programme director at DMG Radio Australia, which was responsible for launching the highly successful Nova Network. More recently, Buchanan has established a successful talent management company Plus1 involved in developing the futures of key Australian talent, including host of The Voice, Darren McMullen and radio stars, Sami Lukis and Dan DeBuf.

“Not only has he had many international wins, he knows the New Zealand market well,” says chief executive of TRN, Jane Hastings. “His strengths lie in understanding audiences, getting the best out of people and creative outcomes, it’s a great combination”.

“New Zealand is home and this is the exact role I have been looking for to come back to,” says Buchanan. “TRN, under Jane Hastings leadership is undergoing exciting times, and I am equally excited about playing a key role in its future. Radio’s future has never looked so promising.”

And in other TRN news, MediaWorks’s popular DJ duo Carl Fletcher and Vaughan Smith, who are afternoon hosts on The Edge, will be joining the TRN team in 2014.

“We are excited to have them join the team to work on one of our recently refreshed brands,” says Hastings. “At this point, the show has not been finalised.” 

Festival atmosphere

Fairfax has chucked in the towel on its official representative status for the Cannes Lions and Spikes Asia ad festivals, with Val Morgan taking up the slack in the New Zealand market.

Val Morgan NZ represents over 360 cinema screens and exhibitors across New Zealand such as Event, Hoyts, Rialto, Reading, Berekeley and Independents, providing advertisers with a network of screens and locations in both metropolitan and regional areas, for mainstream and art-house audiences.

As a Cannes Lions and Spikes Asia Festival Representative, Val Morgan NZ will put forward jury nominations, run a selection process for young creative teams to compete and represent New Zealand on a regional or international level, showcase festival winners as well as other events for the country’s advertising and allied industries.  

“Val Morgan is proud to partner with the Cannes Lions and Spikes Asia to facilitate the involvement of our local advertising community in the world’s foremost creative awards and festivals,” says Suzie Lamborn, New Zealand sales director. “Via the cinema, the ultimate creative environment, we also look forward to showcasing the world’s best creative back to the advertising community here.”

In a release, Lions Festivals chief executive Terry Savage took the opportunity to “thank Fairfax for their time and effort in promoting our festivals during the last few years”. It’s not clear why Fairfax dropped the sponsorship, but the current cost cutting regime presumably has something to do with it.

Blackfoot down

Mark Reekie has resigned from Blackfoot after three-and-a-half years.

Under his watch, Blackfoot’s media department grew from approximately $2m to $8m, with wins including Bridgestone, Auckland Airport, New Balance, Tile Warehouse, Shiseido and Kitchen Things.

Blackfoot is now one of the largest media independents operating in New Zealand, but Reekie has decided to take a sabbatical from the media industry, opting to travel through the Pacific Islands with his partner and three young daughters, before deciding on his next venture.

Raitt rise

David Raitt has joined Spotify to head up the Australia and New Zealand sales operation, with the key responsibility of growing the advertising business in the region.

Prior to Spotify he spent eleven years with Google, both in London and Sydney. While in London, he played a pivotal role in the launch and scale of AdWords, YouTube and held several senior positions including head of agency and head of travel. More recently, as head of travel for Google AU/NZ, he led a team collaborating with some of the region’s best-known travel brands.  

Raitt has also held roles in Lycos Bertelsmann, reporting into the European founder where together they helped shape the UK commercial strategy for search and the social network Tripod.

“I’m excited to join the world’s most successful music streaming service, in a region that has experienced unprecedented growth and take up. I’ve been blown away by the campaigns I’ve seen, such as Coca-Cola Share a Song, Hyundai i30 Break Free and Magnum Pink & Black. Spotify offers a unique opportunity for brands to reach a highly engaged audience, as well as offering them the platform to execute uniquely creative solutions.”

Kate Vale, Spotify managing director Australia & New Zealand, has worked with him before, and she knows exactly what he brings to the table – “world-class experience and passion for digital, sales, and (most fantastically) music”.

“David is a key hire as we aim to grow our advertising business and continue delivering market-leading ad solutions for Australian & New Zealand brands,” she says. 

He joins a sales team of six based in Sydney. 

About Author

Avatar photo

One of the talented StopPress Team of Content Producers made this post happen.

Comments are closed.