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Movings/Shakings: 4 July

Switching sides

In possibly the longest notice period ever, More FM breakfast DJ Simon Barnett has announced he will be leaving MediaWorks at the end of next year to join NZME in early 2019.

Barnett has 18 months left on his contract with More FM and MediaWorks, and following its end, he will be taking up a non-breakfast position as a host on Newstalk ZB.

About the move, Barnett said he has done breakfast radio for 26 years and does not have the inclination, desire and passion to keep going beyond the end of 2018. 

“I find getting up at 4.30am every morning less and less palatable and even though I am quite possibly the world’s most boring person I would like to have a social life again.”

MediaWorks group content director of music radio Leon Wratt said Barnett is an outstanding broadcaster and it is sorry that to be losing him – but after 26 years of getting up at 4.30am it’s understandable he wants a change.

“Simon will be hugely missed when he leaves More FM at the end of next year and on behalf of everyone at MediaWorks, I wish him the very best.”

NZME managing editor Shayne Currie said Barnett is a hugely talented broadcaster and presenter and this is an exciting new career path for Barnett.

“Simon has always been interested in issues that affect people. He loves talking to people, understanding their story and making a difference. It’s a logical progression for him to work with New Zealand’s preeminent ‘talk’ brand, which ironically takes Simon back to where his career began, at Newstalk ZB, as a 17-year-old.”

A flurry of appointments

Auckland-based communications company Anthem has boosted its team with two senior hires and three new consultants.

Vincent Heeringa has been appointed as executive director and is responsible for the expansion of Anthem’s content marketing business. He joins after a successful career as a business journalist and publisher having co-founded the media brands Unlimited, Idealog, Good, StopPress and The Register while a publisher at Tangible Media.

Also a senior hire, Kathy Gieck has been appointed client services director and manages Anthem’s growing list of clients and client services team. She brings with her over 20 years’ broad-based marketing communications experience including PR, events, sponsorship leverage and activation campaigns across a wide range of sectors. She also has a proven track record of consistently producing stand-out work and delivering commercial results for brands.  

Managing director Jane Sweeney said it’s incredibly exciting to have such respected and senior executives join Anthem.

“It’s a testament to the success our team has already achieved. Since we started Anthem in 2014, Carolyn and I wanted to establish a strong ethos of excellent service and fresh thinking about communications. That’s worked incredibly well, with clients ranging from mighty Kiwi companies to major multinationals.

“These hires will allow Carolyn and me to focus on leading the business into the next phase of growth.”


Brendan Boughen, Ashleigh Gilchrist, Rebecca Bradley

Meanwhile, Brendan Boughen has come on board as a senior account director. He has a 15-year career in public relations, working across a wide range of clients predominantly in the technology, telecommunications and financial services industries. Most recently, he’s worked as the senior communications manager for Microsoft New Zealand for three and a half years.

Joining as an account manager is Ashleigh Gilchrist, who brings more than five years’ experience in strategic communications, public relations and journalism. Her background includes trade and magazine journalism, corporate event management and communications consulting specialising in stakeholder engagement and government relations.

And joining as an account executive is Rebecca Bradley, who’s worked at two consumer marketing agencies since graduating from AUT in 2015 with a Bachelor in Communications.

Onto a new chapter

Mana magazine’s Leonie Hayden has signed off her last issue as editor.

In a piece on magazine’s website, Hayden said the management and production of Mana will return to Derek Fox and Mana Productions.

She also said she was sad to leave but grateful and proud.

“I started this journey wanting so much to share Māori culture with non-Māori, like a missionary spreading the good word. I hoped I could show the hope and the success, the struggle and the history, te ihi, te wehi, te mana to people who had been blind to it. There seemed to be so many blind people.”

Hayden ended the piece by inviting readers to find her at The Spinoff Ātea from July.

Read the full piece here.

New town, new role

Napier City Council is welcoming Peter Malcouronne to its communications and marketing team.

Starting 17 July, the award-winning New Zealand journalist joins from Melbourne where he was the digital content specialist for the bank NAB. Locally, he’s better known as a feature writer for magazines such as North & South and Metro.

The council’s manager of communications and marketing Fiona Fraser said Malcouronne will take the digital and social media reins.

“Aside from our daily council activities, we own a number of visitor facilities such as the National Aquarium of New Zealand – always rich in great yarns – the MTG Hawke’s Bay (very much the cultural heart of the city), Bay Skate and the Faraday Centre. Social media is increasingly the tool we use most frequently to share our stories with the world, create content series, and launch video campaigns. I’ve worked with Peter before and I’m a fan of his warmth and wit, his ability to turn the everyday into something extraordinary, and his forward-planning and strategic skills.”

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