KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Herald has made a push into the National Business Review's turf, merging the weekly magazine The Business with the Business Herald on Fridays.
The merged publication will have both news and features as a new Friday lift-out.
National Business Review managing editor Brett Thompson says he is relaxed that the business weekly is to face more direct competition from the Herald.
"It should be good," said Thompson. "It's not the worst idea [Herald owners] APN News & Media have come up with. I think it will increase readership overall. I would have been concerned four or five years ago when NBR was more focused on news content."
Thompson said NBR had a loyal readership.
NBR, meantime, is aiming at an August 17 launch for a 120-page A4 bi-monthly glossy liftout called the NBR Magazine. Andrea Parker, who has been with 3 Media for the relaunch of Foodtown Magazine, is its editor.
The merging of the Monday standalone edition of The Business with the Friday Business Herald follows an uphill battle over the past year to attract advertisers.
Martin Gillman, managing director of advertising media buyer Total Media, supported the original The Business, but the focus-feature content made it "a bit soft" when Monday readers had limited time.
The intention had been for people to keep reading The Business throughout the week, but a Monday publication was superseded by events during the week.
Gillman said that NBR with its glossy pages "set the standard" for brand advertising to a business audience but the Herald had the benefit of a much bigger readership.
The new Friday liftout will, like The Business, be printed on a slightly whiter paper than the rest of the Herald. Gillman predicted that longer-term, the Herald would face demand from the ad market to upgrade the paper stock further.
* * *
Two down, one to go
Under a new structure being introduced at ACP Magazines, existing deputy editor of Metro Bevan Rapson has been appointed assistant editor and Virginia Larson, deputy editor of North & South, also becomes assistant editor. Former Metro editor Lauren Quaintance has moved to Australia and long-time North & South editor Robyn Langwell has been made redundant. Under the new set-up, rather than independent editors, the assistant editors of the titles will report to someone overseeing both publications. Sunday Star Times editor Cate Brett has been rumoured for that role, but she is well liked inside the Fairfax camp and may be encourage to stay.
* * *
Music show popped
TVNZ has ditched the Wednesday edition of Pop's Ultimate Superstar on TV2 to help boost ratings for the 90-minute Sunday night show.
Tomorrow's mid-week show will be the last as TVNZ folds it into Sunday. AGB Nielsen figures supplied by TVNZ show the 7pm Sunday show has had an average rating of 7.3, or 19 per cent of the audience aged 18 to 39, while on Wednesday it has attracted an average 7.7 per cent or 21.9 per cent.
The TV2 12-month average rating for the Sunday slot, before Pop's Ultimate Superstar, was 10.1 with a 30 per cent share. We wonder how long it will be before the remaining episodes of Pop's Ultimate Superstar are pushed back to 9.30pm to beef up ad revenue in that all-important timeslot.
* * *
Kiwi agencies shine
Two New Zealand advertising agencies have picked up top Grand Prix awards at this year's Advertising Festival in Cannes, France.
This column would normally be economical in recognising advertising and marketing awards. There are so darn many of them for a tiny market. But the two Grande Prix wins are good news for the individual agencies - TBWA/Whybin and OMD - and New Zealand advertising's international reputation. TBWA/Whybin's "Bonded By Blood" won in the Grand Prix Promotional Section for its work for adidas and the All Blacks. The campaign - which won Best in Show at the New Zealand ad creatives Axis awards, involved the All Blacks contributing their own DNA (in the form of sterilised blood) which was then infused into the ink used to produce limited edition All Blacks posters.
Meanwhile, the local arm of OMD - which has ties to the DDB Group - won the Grande Prix Media Award for an ASB Bank campaign that introduced consumers to an electronic wallet linked to a bank account called Pago that lets users text money from one mobile phone to another.
* * *
Pressure on Lowe
We wonder how clients of Lowe advertising feel about the future for the New Zealand agency after comments attributed to its worldwide chief executive Steve Gatfield. Gatfield is reported as telling a journalist that New Zealand's revenue was not significant enough for its holding company - the Interpublic Group - to want to keep losing money for too long.
The agency had the rest of the year to turn things around, he was reported as telling NBR columnist Sarah McDonald. Gatfield was apparently surprised to hear about the loss of Lowe's Vodafone account which was apparently "a curve ball no one saw coming".
That will surprise ad folk here. Since the departure of key executives such as managing director Chris Knox, the loss had seemed like a fait accompli.
* * *
Out on a limb
Telecom has come full circle, appointing Rapp Collins Limb Walker as the agency handling its direct marketing business. Robert Limb and Lance Walker worked on Telecom business for several years while they were senior executives at the country's biggest direct marketing firm, Aim Proximity, but left a couple of years back to form their own consultancy so there was little surprise when they were named yesterday.
Rapp Collins Limb Walker was formed when DDB brought them into its group which happened to be at the same time there was speculation about the future of the Telecom account, the country's biggest advertiser.
* * *
Tug of love
The networks are playing out a tug of love over TV news staff even as TVNZ prepares to lay off 44 staff. So while some of the country's most promising staff are being seen off, it seems that TVNZ has lured back top TV3 reporter Cliff Joiner to take on a key role as national bureau editor - one of the news operation's six middle-management jobs.
Normally with these defections people are marched out, but TV3 news boss Mark Jennings is insisting Joiner serve his three-month notice.
Parliamentary boss Duncan Garner also put the wind up TV3 bosses when he was seen chatting amiably to TVNZ news boss Anthony Flannery at a function. Garner is being groomed for bigger and better things at TV3.
