To some degree, the quarterly results of Nielsen’s readership and ABC’s circulation surveys have become predictable in showing the newspaper industry in decline. And while this was largely the case with the latest figures, there were also a few surprises in the mix. Updated: statistics for provincial papers removed.
Nielsen and ABC have released the latest quarterly results for magazine readership and circulation and, to a large extent, the figures indicate a continuation of trends that have been taking shape over the last few quarters. There was however a shift in the sense that some special interest titles—which have until now have performed well—also showed signs of weakening.
In 2002, 120 years after first being established, NZFarmer was discontinued. But Fairfax Media’s new AgriMedia division is bringing it back as a weekly print publication and rebranding Straight Furrow.
The modern human condition tends to be one of constant connection and, in many cases, slight addiction. But JWT and Sacred Hill are jumping on the mindfulness bandwagon and aiming to inspire a different, more classical version of connection with a beautifully-crafted new print campaign.
A couple of years ago, New Zealand men’s fashion brand Working Style launched a DIY print campaign that focused on New Zealand men who were making their mark overseas. Now it’s gone the other way, enlisting one of the world’s best male models, Aiden Shaw, to star in its latest campaign.
Rather than falling into the regular sports advertising trope of the burly sports star making a great play, the team at &Some* has instead opted for a fan-centric approach that doesn’t hold the promise of victory. The idea behind the ‘game of hearts’ campaign comes to life most evidently in the print versions, which feature the faces and quotes of six different Voadfone Warriors fans—both male and female—of different ages.
The phrase ‘print is dead’ has become ubiquitous in the industry, but there is still an argument to be made for region- and industry-specific publications that target certain groups of people. And in the last few months, four new titles have appeared on the market, and the teams working on these projects are optimistic about the future of print in New Zealand.
When the New Zealand Herald ran a story last week about the dangers of dogs playing fetch with sticks, Ogilvy & Mather jumped at the chance to produce some timely print advertising for its client Beneful.
Despite the prevalence of high-tech devices, slot-car sets still retain their almost retro allure and TBWA\ and Match Photography took seven hours to construct a rather large track in a living room for ANZ’s latest print ad, as this behind-the-scenes clip shows.
The print industry has had its fair share of grim news recently, with Geon Group going into receivership and Blue Star’s horror accounts. But Image Centre Group has some good news to share after it acquired creative services business DPod, making it New Zealand’s biggest digital printer.
Following on from last year’s Donna Time campaign, which moved the focus from young Maori mates to slightly boganic mums, NZTA and Clemenger BBDO have launched an eye-straining new print campaign that targets families where drink driving is a common behaviour and, like the previous campaigns, encourages someone to speak up about it.
Following a story in the Herald over the weekend about increased competition leading to a drop in broadband prices and increases in data allowances, new player Flip, a business in the CallPlus group of companies, and its agency Sugar&Partners decided to take the opportunity to link itself with the news and promote its offer of free* broadband with an ad in yesterday’s Herald.
Over the past few months, discussions around the future of the media have come to a head, thanks in part to a couple of big announcements from the other side of the Tasman and a big one here in New Zealand too. This has brought about loads of discussion within the New Zealand industry about the role of media in society and changing trends in how consumers select and consume news. Worryingly, lots of commentators have been all too willing to eulogise New Zealand’s robust newspaper market. So I’m putting my hand up to remind you all that newspapers and magazines are alive and well in New Zealand.
Auckland’s Logick Print & Graphics took home the supreme award at the Pride in Print Awards on Friday night, with an experimental job done in partnership with Panprint for Jacob’s Creek that showed what could be achieved by printing its logo with different embellishments.
FMG has been on a mission to cement its place as a key player in the rural insurance sector. And it’s hoping a new print campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington that launched over the weekend will help raise the awareness even further—and tell the FMG story to even more New Zealanders.
APN launched its weekly street-zine Volume on September 6, 2011 and started competing head-on with Groove Guide and a host of other online outlets. But the tough music/youth/pop culture media market has claimed another victim, because APN has decided to discontinue the print edition after just 33 issues—and on the first day of NZ Music Month.
Judging by this expensive-looking new epic for the launch of the Subaru XV, the Australian arm of the business isn’t afraid to spend money on big ads. And while it’s fair to assume New Zealand doesn’t have access to those sort of budgets, it does have Barnes, Catmur & Friends on its side, and, just like its contextual number celebrating the Great Auckland Snow last year, this smart print ad showcasing the reversing cameras that now come as standard in the Legacy and Outback models also hits the spot.
The double whammee of the recession and the digital revolution means it’s been a pretty tough time in the print industry of late. Geon was bailed out by its bankers not long ago, Benefitz has shifted its focus away from the dwindling offset printing market and the troubled Blue Star Group recently agreed upon a capital restructuring in an effort to trade its way out of $300 million worth of trouble. But Webstar, the specialist web printing division of Blue Star Group New Zealand—and the latest entrant to the local magazine printing sector—is still optimistic and has signed up as a strategic business partner of the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA).
Back in June, Boundary Road Brewery, the newly rebranded Independent Liquor, launched a campaign to celebrate the launch of a ‘craft range’ that asked Kiwis to be the arbiter of taste and choose their favoured variety of beer, with the winning brew eventually released commercially. The print campaign asking for tasters took out the NAB ad of the month award and now it’s followed that up by acknowledging the 999 humans who tasted and chose the Chosen One beer with an ad in The New Zealand Herald that listed every one of them by name.
There have been a few savvy campaigns capitalising on the RWC without breaking the rules around sponsorship recently. And there have also been a few campaigns trying to capitalise on the own goals scored by adidas and Telecom. This ‘interactive’ print ad for Tuatara beer by Y&R Wellington cleverly combines the two.
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.
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”.
This year might not have seen the biggest awards haul by Kiwis at the Cannes Lions, but rather than wallow, we figure why not celebrate those in the industry that did it best, particularly in the Press Lions category. And so, without further ado, here’s some creative inspiration by way of the Grand Prix and Gold winners.
A galaxy of industry stars gathered at Sky City on Friday night as the country’s most important and highly sought after print media accolades were dished out at the Canon Media Awards. And there were a few sore heads among the APNers on Saturday morning after they walked out with what they’re calling the ‘Grand Slam’: best website, newspaper of the year, best daily newspaper and best weekly paper.
Youngish advertising whippersnappers have just three days left to enter the Fairfax Media Young Print Lions competition. And past winner Brent Colliver suggests entrants would be well-advised to spend the last few days polishing their entries.
It was announced in September last year that Nielsen had been chosen as the preferred research supplier for the print/publishing industry until 2016 after a big global hunt for the best contender was undertaken by the snappily titled Print Media Industry Research Review Group. At the time, chairman Derek Lindsay said Nielsen’s newly pimped out Consumer and Media Insights (CMI) package would provide a big fillip for the publishing industry because it drilled down so much deeper into the data. And at the launch of the ‘new Nielsen’ yesterday, it became apparent how this “360 degree view of the media consumer” would benefit marketers, agencies and media owners.
The next load of AWARD finalists have been released, with DraftFCB’s print campaign for Man vs Wild finding plenty of favour with the judges, and Colenso BBDO, DDB, Clemenger BBDO and JWT rounding out the Kiwi successes.
The Newspaper Advertising Bureau’s ‘The Kiwi Consumer’ retail report for November 2009 shows how much consumer behaviour has changed since 2001 and how it has impacted on the retail and advertising sectors. And it makes for some rather interesting reading.
Esquire magazine recently released its new ‘augmented reality’ December issue. Readers were implored to download an app and then hold their magazine up to a webcam to make Robert Downey Jr (an appropriate subject given his well-publicised penchant for reality augmentation in the past) come to over-excited life. There’s also a weather-dependent fashion portfolio, a time-sensitive updated Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman and a few other slick features on offer.
Are print magazines doomed? Or do the digiterati need to get off their high horse and accept that good old tactile paper is here to stay?