We searched over hill and over dale for the perfect deputy editor on NZ Marketing and StopPress.co.nz. And it was a highly sought after position. But in the end ex-Campbell Live bod Catherine Winks beat out the guy with experience in the adult entertainment industry and the guy who started off his interview by saying he hated advertising.
Image Centre Group has this week started a review of its publishing business and, as a result of a more streamlined management structure, Martin Bell, Tangible Media’s chief executive, co-founder of HB Media and deputy chair of the MPA board, has resigned.
In case you haven’t noticed, the nation has fully embraced the Rugby World Cup, as evidenced most clearly during opening night festivities, when, according to a special survey of all the individuals (15+) in Nielsen’s 500-home TAM panel, the opening game was watched by 81 percent of all New Zealanders, with 11 percent of those watching it at a pub or outdoor venue.
The latest annual report from Fairfax painted a fairly grim picture for the Australian-owned media company, with a loss of A$401 million on the back of a A$651 million writedown in the value of its mastheads and a 40 percent reduction in the value of its share price this year. In an effort to raise capital, local teacher’s pet TradeMe is set to be partially floated and changes are also being made within both the New Zealand newspaper and magazine divisions.
There’s been some major consolidation in the outdoor sector of late. APN bought Oggi and submissions are currently open should you want to have your say to the Commerce Commission about iSite’s bid to buy OTW. But while the big two fight it out, the smaller guys keep trucking on and Phantom Billstickers has added one of the country’s premier street poster sites at the corner of Symonds and Alex Evans St in Auckland to its arsenal. And it’s kicked it off with a nice bit of creative self-promotion.
The News International phone hacking saga put the cosy network of media and government in sharp focus and showed how powerful media organisations can extert undue pressure on lawmakers and law upholders. And, according to a report by AUT University’s Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD), similar trends—and their associated dangers—are also evident in New Zealand.
There are 21,000 weddings every year in New Zealand, and each one costs an average of $32,000. Some have margarine sculptures and chocolate fountains, some have jandals on the beach and a few burnt snarlers. But whatever the format, all of them need to be planned and Tangible Media’s New Zealand Weddings is aiming to make that process much smoother with a new annual publication.
Kiwibank has just released its own movie trailer. And now Fairfax Media, with the help of Y&R and Fracture, has followed suit, evolving the ‘Arm Yourself’ trade campaign into a graphic-novel inspired movie trailer you can view online—and feature in—at www.fairfaxlookamazing.co.nz.
On the back of some solid advertising revenue increases, TVNZ has reported underlying earnings of $32 million for the financial year ended 30 June 2011, a $19.8 million or 164 percent increase on the previous financial year. And across town, Sky also announced impressive financial results and subscriber numbers.
When it comes to out-of-home, size matters. And New Zealand hasn’t seen anything too much bigger than the 23 metre wide and 54 metre high wrap that’s been stuck on to the Tower Building in Auckland.
iSite Media, New Zealand’s largest out of home advertising supplier, has entered into an agreement to purchase all of OTW’s billboard sites. But the deal will only go ahead if the Commerce Commission believes it won’t substantially lessen competition in the market.
The Design Issue of the recently redesigned and relaunched Idealog is out now. And it’s the first mag with ex-NBR advertising newshound Hazel Phillips’ name attached as editor (“It’s awesome. Buy it. Or else,” she says with positive aggression). Highlights include the cover story on Avanti’s success, a man who’s selling coffee machines to Italians and Vincent Heeringa’s look at design-led food and beverages. Check out everything else that’s on offer here and, for all those with fancy jabscreen machines, you can download the latest issue on Zinio for a measly $6 here.
Online spending always seems to be on the up every time the IAB releases its quarterly year-on-year ad revenue reports. Figures released for Q2 are no exception with total online advertising spend in Q2 up 19.46 percent to $84.15million. In fact, IABNZ chair and general manager of MSN New Zealand Liz Fraser is feeling so optimistic, she’s already predicting 2011 will experience an overall growth of approximately 20 percent.
Journalism is dying a slow and painful death. At least, that was the argument put forward by award-winning UK reporter Nick Davies in his 2009 book, Flat Earth News. Well, I disagree entirely.
Much like the domestic magazine sector, newspaper readership remained relatively stable in the latest Nielsen reports and the overall trend for circulation continued downwards. And while the online and mobile properties of the two big publishers are continuing to lure Kiwi eyeballs, recent financial results show the digital dimes still aren’t replacing the lost analog dollars.
It’s that time again, a time when publishers weep, gloat or possibly just say ‘meh’ and get on with it as the ABC circulation and Nielsen’s Magazine Comparatives Q2 2010 – Q2 2011 readership results are released. And while the market appears to have stabilised after a fairly rough period, there are some interesting, some might say counter-intuitive trends on display in the yearly comparisons, with some significant disparities between circulation and readership for some titles and publishers.
TVNZ’s head of news and current affairs Anthony Flannery has said in the past that Breakfast’s popularity comes down to a good combination of “light and shade”. And the balance will be tipped in favour of light come September 3 when a new Saturday edition of the show that will be co-presented by Rawdon Christie and Toni Street is launched.
During winter, TV becomes something a BFF for many hibernating New Zealanders. And more of them are snuggling up with Ondemand, with figures released by TVNZ showing the worm has been heading swiftly upwards in the past few months.
Titan Media Group, a relatively new player in the Australasian outdoor advertising and media market that focuses on small format media panels, has established a New Zealand arm and will launch on September 1 with 300 sites installed into mall car parks at grocery entrances and trolley bays, with installations continuing to approximately 1400 nationwide.
3 News has already had a swipe at TVNZ’s poor coverage of the Christchurch and Japanese earthquakes with some comparative advertising earlier this year. And it’s keeping the pressure on the national broadcaster with a new campaign to promote the variety of news offerings available throughout the day.
When it comes to misusing statistics, the media has been guilty of its fair share of whoppers. And the Stats Chat blog wants to hear some of your best examples for a new weekly competition.
Print is often seen as the poor cousin of the media mix when it comes to creativity in advertising, especially when compared to some of the tricks now able to be performed in the online realm. But occasionally a publisher shows what can be done with good fashioned old paper and ink and NZ Rugby World has backed up its supreme accolades at the recent Magazine Awards with a very well-timed ‘barndoor’ cover on the August issue featuring our Dear Captain resplendent in Adidas’ new All Blacks jersey.
Media and entertainment organisations need to sort out their digital strategies, according to the inaugural Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2011-2015 report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. But, as always, it’s a matter of figuring out new ways to turn a profit online, something that will require traditional media organisations to ‘shed conservatism’ if they hope to get with the digital times.
Apparently, 955,300 New Zealand music lovers can’t be wrong (although, judging by the quality of the music in the charts these days, that’s debatable), because that’s how many humans tuned in to Juice TV and 63 TV in the last four week ratings sweep, according to Nielsen’s T.A.M measurements. And, despite the parlous state of the music industry and the media that serves it, Juice TV’s managing director Daniel Wrightson says New Zealand’s music video channels have enjoyed increasing viewership all year.
There are a few old devastated cultural icons the Christchurch community wants to see rebuilt and the Court Theatre is one of those places. And The Press, whose own building was brought down recently, is getting behind the rebuild by tapping into the New Zealand agencies’ creative power to help with the launch of The Press Long Lunch Competition, a challenge that aims to showcase creativity in newspaper advertising while highlighting The Court Theatre’s upcoming fundraising appeal.
At a time when consumers are increasingly gravitating towards environmentally and socially responsible products, brands are increasingly ramping up their efforts to show their green stripes. Some of them are legit and based around a very real desire to create a better world, while many others appear to be indulging in a spot of greenwashing. But whatever the motivation, it’s a reaction to a definite and growing consumer trend and APN has responded with Element, “the country’s largest mass-reach social marketing magazine”.
The cover. Proudly sitting there on the newsstand in amongst all the other covers vying for the attention of passersby with enticing images and catchy lines. It’s the art—some might say science—of the tease. And The Maggies, which has once again opened the gates for entries for its second year, aims to celebrate the best examples of this in New Zealand.
When Nielsen launched its pimped out Consumer & Media Insights (CMI) research tool back in April, publishers’ mouths started watering at the prospect of being able to prove New Zealanders who read magazines and newspapers actually spent more, thereby showing print was a good place for brands to be seen. And while the first instalment of the new readership offering had a few teething problems, its new fused data approach has revealed there is “a strong connection between high household expenditure and print media readership”.
It has all the key ingredients of a holy grail story that would be right at home in the News of the World: secrets, politics, royalty, skullduggery, dubious ethics and alleged bribery. And yet the 168-year-old tabloid renowned for nabbing such stories closed on Sunday after it emerged it had hacked into the phones of murder victims and allegedly also 9/11 victims, royals and politicians. As you can imagine, there’s a whole heap of information, commentary and satire available online about the scandal. And we’ve collected the best of it so you don’t have to.
For years, brands have created ads and placed them in appropriate media in the hope that they’d help sell more of their stuff. These days, brands are increasingly creating experiences in the real world that are relevant to the product and involving consumers in those experiences. And The Powerade Challenge, a 9km running course/interactive marketing campaign around Auckland’s waterfront, is a prime example of this shift.