Top of the pops
Kim Hill has been named as the 2012 International Radio Personality of the Year at the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) awards in London.
Judges described Hill as “an experienced and warm broadcaster exercising full control of her content whilst coaxing her guests to reveal more of themselves; really enjoyable live and sparky content that demonstrates what is great about radio and illustrates how important lightness of touch is in speech content.”
There was added recognition for Radio New Zealand when Simon Morton was highly commended in the radio documentary category for his Christchurch earthquake programme, Broken River, which earlier in the year won a Gold Medal at the New York Festival.
The AIB awards showcase the very best current affairs and documentary productions across a wide range of genres, celebrating creativity and rewarding achievement in factual programming. They are unique in the field of international media and are judged by an independent international panel of respected industry professionals including producers, editors, journalists, writers and critics.
Radio New Zealand chief executive Peter Cavanagh received the award on behalf of Kim Hill (never fear public broadcasting bashers, because comms manager John Barr commented on the NBR that he was there already over there) and acknowledged the outstanding achievement of New Zealand’s world class broadcaster.
“To be named Radio Personality of the Year in competition with the best in the world is an outstanding achievement. Kim has been a household name in New Zealand for many years but with the advent of online broadcasting, Radio New Zealand is now a global broadcaster and with this award, Kim has received the international recognition she so richly deserves … This high commendation for Broken River follows the award of a gold medal in New York and is a fitting tribute to world class programming from Radio New Zealand.”
Legs 11
Colenso BBDO has expanded its team, adding eleven new staff including two new art directors, two copywriters, a planner, as well as additional account management staff and production resources.
“Off the back of some new business wins and the increased volume of work from current clients recently we’ve been staffing up, in every department over the last two months, evolving our offering and skills to fit our clients’ needs,” says managing director Nick Garrett.
Award-winning art director Brett Colliver has shifted from Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and joins the team as a senior art director. Colliver has won gold and silver at Cannes, as well as winning One Show, D&AD and AWARD metal, and brings more than seven years of experience working with the likes of NAB, Cadbury and Sky Television to Colenso. He’s joined by Beth O’Brien from TBWA, who has worked with brands such as Adidas and 2degrees, and raised eyebrows for St Matthew in the City.
Award-winning wordsmiths Jesse Stevens (ex-Barnes Catmur & Friends) and Misa McConnell (ex-Rapp Tribal/DDB) have come on board as copywriters, and Angela Legge joins the team as senior CRM planner, bringing more than 12 years of experience in a variety of disciplines including data, direct, digital and above the line.
Colenso has also introduced additional digital production specialists to meet the growing demand for digital expertise and several new account people across the agency.
“The recent hires have very impressive resumes and ensure we continue to have an unfair share of the creative talent, and continue to deliver the best work for our clients,” says Garrett.
Fed Express
Geoff Devereux, former managing director of Tequila, has been appointed as the new chief executive of independent digital agency Federation Media.
Devereux left TBWA group after driving the merger of Tequila and Shift to become the Digital Arts Network. Prior to this he was station manager of 95bFM for a couple of years in the 90s and worked as an IT consultant before moving to the UK, starting online media company Paperaeroplane and then co-founding leading digital creative agency, Delete (check out our interview with him a few years back).
“I’m really excited to join the team at such a pivotal time,” he says. “The agency has been growing at a significant pace, while delivering outstanding work and value back to their clients and consumers. I’m looking to bolster this energy from the top end of the business, taking it into new client relationships, as well as delivering more in existing relationships. For me it has always been about encouraging growth in small teams of people who are committed to originating the very best digital experiences – this is no exception.”
He says the digital agencies of the future are delivering rich experiences and engagement online based on strong insight, and “we are deeply committed to taking this approach with all of our clients.”
Devereux will take over the helm from Federation Media co-founder Matt Townsend, a move which enables Townsend to focus more on building key client relationships and business development. Fellow co-founder Richard Wright will also continue to hold an executive role in the business and they are supported by non executive director Simon Telfer. Another independent director will be appointed early next year.
“At Federation Media we have always taken the view that our best business development asset is our relationships, and we have invested heavily over the years in building client relationships based on trust and delivery,”Townsend says. “Bringing Geoff on board will allow us to continue to nurture and grow existing relationships, as well as identifying new opportunities to grow the client base. It just makes sense to us that the way to deliver maximum value is to have the most experienced service delivery person in the business focused on nurturing existing, and developing new, high value relationships”.
Federation Media is a team of 13, with annualised revenues of over $2 million. The company has recently transitioned its focus from generalist web developers to digital campaign specialists and clients include corporates such as DB Breweries, Telecom New Zealand, Fujifilm New Zealand, Kensington Swan & PwC, as well as strong industry players such as Precinct Properties, Craggy Range, Parex Industries and Retail Holdings.
Blood on the floor
Hot to trot digital agency Young & Shand has won the New Zealand Blood Service account. It takes over from Insight, which created last year’s campaign with Automatic Films.
It’s thought Young & Shand was the only digital agency involved in the pitch and, given the comments of NZBS marketing manager Paul Hayes last year, who said “TV advertising is the most effective thing we do“, some might see it as a slightly surprising choice.
The NZBS needs to recruit around 20,000 new donors every year.
The old switcheroo
Rachel Cormack has swapped her role as general manager of research at TVNZ for a newly created position as director of research and insights at MediaWorks.
Prior to TVNZ, she worked as a senior executive at Starcom New Zealand, with experience leading the Telecom, Warehouse and TVNZ accounts. In a previous role Rachel led media buying for Coca-Cola Australia and Johnson & Johnson Asia Pacific.
“Rachel is an exceptional talent; she has significant experience in both the television and media industry and brings real understanding of both New Zealand consumers and how to leverage our unique content relationship for the benefit of our customers,” says TV chief executive Paul Maher. “Rachel will be a great addition to MediaWorks TV. I know she is looking forward to working with the team to maximise consumer and customer insights enabling greater relevance for our brands and competitive differentiation for our viewers and advertisers.”
Rasch decision
TVNZ is getting ready to launch a new style of current affairs show at 7pm to replace Close Up, and, according to the Herald, Raewyn Rasch, the producer for Marae Investigates, has been named as executive producer.
Previously, Rasch was executive producer of Fair Go. She also produced The Ad Show on TVNZ7 and Media7.
Holt, who goes there?
Hayley Holt has been announced as the new co-host of the More FM Breakfast show, joining Marc Ellis and Stu Tolan from January 2013.
Well known for her television work, Holt has worked with Ellis previously, including on The Crowd Goes Wild.
“I’m picking my mornings are going to be a lot more fun,” says Holt. “Get ready for good times ahead and watch out Marc, you’ve met your match!”
More FM Network programme director Ande Macpherson says “she’ll be a great asset to the breakfast show with her down-to-earth sense of humour and girl-next-door attitude”.
She replaces Amber Peebles, who departs the show this December to pursue a television project.
Willing and able
Jason Willis has been named as the new general manager of Fuse, replacing Jeremy Leonard, who is heading overseas.
Willis has over 20 years of experience in activations both in New Zealand and in the UK, overseeing promotional, sampling and experiential campaigns for a wide variety of clients. Previously he was with Synergy Brand experiences and Apollo Marketing.
“The opportunity to work with a highly creative team with a broad skill base is hugely exciting, as it opens the door to providing more integrated and further reaching consumer engagement solutions to our clients, to help leverage their media and creative spends,” he says
Fuse has also added four more staff, three of them in the agency’s social media team.
Abi Morrish has joined the social media team as account director, moving down the stairs from OMD Auckland. She will drive the integration of Fuse’s social media services across the group. Kelly Grenfell, a Kiwi who’s just returned from Sydney, also joins the social media team as account manager. And completing this team is account executive Catherine Schroder.
Sarndra Wenden rounds out the new additions and joins as account executive. She was an account coordinator at boutique media and PR agency Trendmill Communications.
