KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand looks certain to stay aboard its multi-million dollars sponsorship of New Zealand rugby - despite the fact key competitions are up in the air.
The national airline confirmed this week that it was "deeply engaged" with the Rugby Union negotiating sponsorship rights from the start of 2009. It is understood Air New Zealand has gone into talks sceptical about how its rugby sponsorships puts bums on its seats.
Air New Zealand marketing general manager Steve Bayliss would not detail talks but indicated that the parties were close to signing.
Air New Zealand is a sponsor for the All Blacks, the Super 14 and sponsors the New Zealand Rugby Sevens team.
But perhaps its highest profile tie up has been with the Air New Zealand Cup provincial championships.
While media rumours of a breakaway NPC competition appeared to be dissolving yesterday, the future of the competition is still in limbo.
The Rugby Union plans to make changes to the Super 14 competition and to improve public support.
The Super 14 - with teams in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa - is at the heart of the game and the funding of New Zealand Rugby.
But TV audiences have slumped and the Rugby Union is working on some urgent changes to be in place well before the Super 14 agreement ends in 2010.
Whatever changes occurred, Bayliss was happy that the Rugby Union process for deciding change were robust, he said.
He was relaxed about "ebbs and flows" in public support for the game.
RUGGER CLUTTER
Another high profile Kiwi sponsor - Telecom - had already pulled back from the All Blacks since the adidas-Iveco series.
Telecom insists it is a happy split and the telco has been focusing more attention on music - which makes some sense given the convergence of MP3 technology and mobile phones.
But there is a question about how thinly you can spread sponsorship of the national game and the All Blacks.
Advertisers have been wary in the past about "clutter" and All Black sponsors have been reduced from 14 to nine.
There is also the question how much sponsors' messages can be drowned out when they appear on TV swamped by their competitors.
Under the terms of the first Sanza deal - which provides the cash that underpins New Zealand Rugby - some key sponsors can restrict their competitors advertising around games on TV. And the rugby union says most sponsors have a first right of refusal to ad spots surrounding games.
But with sponsors aware of the issue of clutter - too many competing brands linked to rugby - sponsorship is becoming increasingly complex.
And it will be even more so in 2011 when the Rugby World Cup will include a whole new regime with the International Rugby Board controlling sponsorship.
VODAFONE SEEING RED
A promotional plug for online directory website Yellow has hurt relations between direct marketing agency Aim Proximity and another, much bigger Aim client - Vodafone.
The Yellow campaign last month showed the ad agency paid a chap to be the first to buy a new iPhone, claiming he was kept informed on his long wait accessing the directory site Yellow.
Basically it was a stitch-up promotion. A well placed source said Vodafone was furious Aim Proximity "piggy backed" the Yellow campaign on to the biggest marketing launch of the year.
Many would have been confused into thinking that Vodafone was behind the campaign - aimed at tricking consumers - as part of its own over-hyping for iPhone. But Vodafone insists it was not involved. The source said Vodafone was furious the Yellow campaign undermined its client's biggest marketing launch of the year for the small media campaign aimed at editorial coverage for Yellow.
Aim Proximity managing director Darryn Melrose dismissed the suggestion staff in the Yellow launch were restricted from working on Vodafone.
But the campaign will not have helped Aim Proximity in its attempt to extend its hold on the Vodafone direct marketing business in New Zealand to win a pitch for the direct marketing for the Vodafone account in Australia.
Aim Proximity picked up Vodafone relatively recently as part of a joint campaign with ad agency Colenso BBDO.
They are are both owned by the Australian advertising group Clemenger BBDO. Colenso BBDO's campaign has been a big success and Vodafone Australia has even been running New Zealand commercials.
The joint Clemenger campaign across the Tasman is a front runner and Aim Proximity has a great reputation globally. But the Yellow campaign has given Clems no favours getting this big chunk of business.
OLDIES GET LOOK IN
Tough economic times - especially for print media - mean more pressure to sweeten deals with advertisers.
Total Media managing director Martin Gillman said that advertising deals nowadays were frequently linked to related editorial coverage.
One senior marketing executive at Fairfax Magazines is encouraging its editors to try new approaches mixing advertising messages in with editorial content.
I wondered if that was the case in the Sunday Star Times' magazine Sunday last week with an entry in its Going Up, Going Down column.
For a title that promotes itself as resolutely hip and youthful it was surprising to see the magazine's version of the What's Hot, What's Not format promoting "Cheap Specs For Oldies".
"Senior citizens get 20 per cent off all glasses and prescription Sunnies at OPSM stores on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of September. Get down there!", suggested Sunday.
OPSM has a full page advertisement later in the magazine. You'd imagine the ad department would be happy with that mention.
But Sunday editor Emily Simpson wholly rejected a suggestion that its column was for sale or inclusion linked to advertising deals. Publicising the oldies offer was because the magazine wanted to reflect the fact it had older readers, she said.
OFF THE WALL
The Green party had a lucky start to its election campaign, installing a billboard featuring party co-leader Russel Norman and Olympic rower Rob Hamill, a party supporter. Greens organiser Tom Dunn oversaw installation at the site in Victoria Street, Hamilton, next to the Bendon store.
It was pure coincidence that the Bendon lingerie billboard above the shop provided a little pointer for the Greens' ad below, saying: "It really is what's underneath that counts." Dunn points out that the ad is registered with the Electoral Commission - so it should not fall foul with the Electoral Finance Act. We're just not sure if the lingerie ad should not be registered as well.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ...
Toni McRae, the former Sunday Star columnist who sued Metro publisher ACP in 1994 over a reference to her in the magazine's Felicity Ferret gossip column?
The case, in which high-profile people including Paul Holmes gave evidence against Metro, led to a jury awarding McRae damages of $375,000, which effectively killed off the Ferret. McRae moved to Queensland's Sunshine Coast, where she is a columnist for the APN-owned papers in Hervey Bay.
Her columns are renowned for items that include herself as a character.
A recent column coincided with the arrival in Australia of Pope Benedict. McRae noted her conversations with Pope John Paul II, who had a strong grasp on Australia.
"In fact the first time he 'met' a koala bear was on a papal flight and I handed him my stuffed one. And he certainly asked me questions about Australia," noted the papal insider.
LLOYD BACKS FLOSSIE
Lloyd Morrison and the investment group Movac have introduced new capital to a media company, Flossie, that builds on the success of the NZ Girl website. Flossie Media Group chief executive and NZ Girl founder Janene Freer said Flossie.com provides a female-centric website.
Freer declined to specify shareholding in the new company - which includes NZ Girl - saying details were not allowed to be released as part of the agreement. But Company's Office records show Freer holds 130,443 of the 531,250 shares of the company, while Morrison's company Tullamore Management own 144,569 shares.
