The weekly gossip mags haven’t had too much to celebrate recently in terms of readership. But there’s been no shortage of excitement in the rather fluid editorial ranks, with Sido Kitchin and Fiona Fraser moving from APN’s Women’s Weekly to ACP’s Woman’s Day and Sarah Stuart being brought in to replace Kitchin. Now there’s been another big shift, with Hayley McLarin deciding to step down as editor of New Idea magazine after six years at the helm for a role as communications director at CureKids.
Browsing: ACP
The judges have judged and 140 entries from 42 titles and 22 different companies are in the running for a Magazine Award on 23 June at the Pullman Hotel.
It’s been an unusually exciting few months in the world of magazine distribution, and the 2011 tit-for-tat has continued apace, after Netlink re-signed its agreement with Tangible Media, New Zealand’s largest independent magazine publisher.
Sadly, it’s something of a rarity to see examples of creativity in the world of print, especially when compared to the raft of nifty online gimmicks spewing forth. But ecostore, Special Group, Naked, Salt Interactive and ACP appear to be onto a winner with what they believe is a first: a mass-personalisation campaign that allows parents to make their child into a cover star on Little Treasures magazine.
Clients signing exclusive deals with media owners is an issue we’ve been hearing about a lot recently. And it seems to have come to a head, with ACP fronting up to the Commerce Commission to defend the practice and rumours abounding of editors not attending product launches and threatening to pull editorial endorsements for companies that have signed exclusive deals with competing publishers.
Inboxes are groaning under the weight of the emails sent out by daily deal sites at the moment. And successful Australian group buying site Cudo and MediaWorks will soon be adding a few more. But while new collaborative buying sites seem to be a dime a dozen at the moment, the newest boy on the increasingly crowded block claims to have a big point of difference: the deals will be promoted regularly on television by a real live human.
…as ACP backs up its recent restructure with a few promotions; Air New Zealand welcomes a new board member; 3d Interactive enlists the services of another human; and The Sweet Shop adds an awarded director to its global ranks.
The print industry is, to a large extent, patting itself on the back for weathering the storm over the past few years. And there’s some more back-patting ahead, with entries now open for the MPA’s Magazine Awards and a few new categories for the organisers to crow about.
The launch of the iPad and the expected ‘tablet revolution’ has put some wind in the sails of publishers who have been beaten down by the internet. But as everyone goes gaga over the new technology, it’s easy to forget that good old-fashioned paper-based magazines are still putting up a very good fight, with the most obvious trend from Nielsen’s latest readership figures and Audit Bureau of Circulation numbers being that Kiwi consumers are still willing to pay for good-quality specialist magazines.
There’s no denying that in this digital age, where, as the famous geek saying goes, ‘information wants to be free’, the print media industry has suffered. Many publications have died and some are only just holding on, but others have stuck to their guns, adapted where necessary and managed to maintain their audience—and their advertisers. And North & South, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in March, is one of those publications.
… as RadioLIVE’s Maggie Barry throws in the towel, Sarah Stuart takes over as editor of Woman’s Weekly, Rapp Tribal welcomes two new deputy creative directors, MediaWorks says goodbye to some experienced journalistic campaigners, Chris Rudd leaves ACP Magazines and Tourism New Zealand fills its boots with five new hires.
It hasn’t been an avalanche this time round, but the usual dollop of press releases hit the desk today full of language reminiscent of The Property Press, with virtually every magazine claiming the publishing equivalent of “north facing sun-drenched decks” and “indoor/outdoor flow”. Still, purple prose aside, the latest readership numbers for the mags look pretty good for an industry that has taken a battering over the last couple of years. And this data will be welcome relief to those hoping the good news of three months ago was not an aberration.
In a sordid tale of intrigue, subterfuge, poaching and skullduggery that could be worthy of a cover story in itself, ACP has made an already uber-competitive sector even more competitive by signing up Women’s Weekly editor Sido Kitchin as the new editor of what was not too long ago her avowed enemy, Woman’s Day, and also bringing Weekly’s deputy editor Fiona Fraser into the fold.
Our chums at Idealog couldn’t help but laugh (at their own expense) when they laid eyes on a bit of a whoopsie inside iSubscribe’s Christmas subscription promotion recently.
After the recent Canterbury earthquake, no-one wants to hear about any more movings and/or shakings. Except if it’s got anything to do with the enthralling recruitment carousel they call the marcomms industry.
The almost constantly shifting marcomms sands claim a few more victims, and StopPress is reeling from the staff carnage.
We love statistics here at StopPress. And, given our heritage, we’re also fairly big fans of magazines. So imagine our immense cerebral delight when we were sent ‘The 20 truths about magazines in New Zealand’, a compilation of statistics that clearly shows how potent a media force magazines are in this country.
The magazine industry will be feeling somewhat chuffed and maybe a little relieved because, despite predictions to the contrary, in many cases magazine readership and circulation have grown over the last year, according to Nielsen’s year on year comparative results.
This newsy concoction is light and frothy on the nose, with undercurrents of naivete, overcurrents of aniseed, cassis and forest floor and aftercurrents of squash changing room. Can be served either brucewarm or lukewarm.
The latest Nielsen Media Research data for readership numbers in the 12 months ending March 2010 has been released, and so has the obligatory combination of excessive adjective use, trumpet blowing, chest beating, questions about the research methodology, some oft-times fairly creative use of statistics and, if you look at the image above this paragraph, funny pictures of people with very white teeth who smile when they read.
The cold winter months are just around the corner and pretty soon the sun’s warmth will seem a distant memory. Fortunately Woman’s Day magazine has just opened its Fiji 2010 trip offering media buyers and their clients three days and three nights at the Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort and Spa later this year.
Time and Fortune has selected New Zealand Magazines, a division of APN New Zealand, as the media sales agency to represent Time magazine in New Zealand.
Despite admitting it was “a bit unfortunate”, NZ Life and Leisure editor Kate Coughlan stands by the “impeccable” reputation of Fairfax pictures editor, Sybille Hetet.
“We went through the right channels and presumed this was cleared. We have strict processes for use of photos.”
L&L was pilloried by ACP …
It’s the sound all magazine publishers dread: the smug tap of ACP’s Paul Dykzeul’s keyboard as he relishes the moment to rub your nose in the sand. Ouch!
Says Dykzeul: “ACP Magazines are proud to have provided the latest cover for NZ Life and Leisure, produced by …
Metro magazine has been revamped – again. The Auckland darling’s latest botox treatment gets a thumbs down from long time Metro friend (and StopPress critic) David MacGregor. Plus, we have some breaking news about the Citymix & Metro merger.Metro is an old friend. It showed up on the newsstand the …