NZ’s best-ever TV ads are being unveiled but where are the new risk-takers, asks marketing industry boss; Latest 6pm TV news ratings released, as former TV3 news boss runs a critical eye over Stuff’s new bulletin; A well-known masthead in Auckland faces tough times while a South Island title goes
Media Insider: 106 finalists, six winners – the hunt for best-ever TV ads; ‘Untold stress’: Magazine title pleads for help; Latest TVNZ v Three News 6pm ratings
Six of the best – some of Media Insider's favourite ads since the 1970s.
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“One of the greatest story writers of all time was Howard Gossage, an ad man out of San Francisco in the late 50s, early 60s who said that people read or watch what’s interesting to them,” Miles told New Zealand Marketing editor Penny Murray. “And that every now and then it might be an ad.
“Having looked at 50 years of advertising campaigns, it really highlighted to me that – when it comes to entertainment and putting a smile on people’s faces – we used to do it a bit better.”
He said the advertising industry was now more risk-averse.
“Some of the things you could get away with in earlier years – having someone who’s courageous enough to use what at the time was a swear word like bugger – I think that sort of risk-taking’s gone.
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“You’ve got a lot more of the heartwarming campaigns but do they really entertain or put a smile on people’s faces? I’m not really sure.
“I’d love to see more bravery from clients saying to the agencies, ‘Hey, give us more ‘buggers’ of the world’.”
Coinciding with the Marketing Association’s 50th birthday, a winner from each decade will be chosen by public vote over the next three months.
Six winners will be declared – one each from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s,10s and 20s – at the association’s birthday celebration in October.
Voting is already under way for the best ad of the 1970s. There are 19 finalists – you can see them here.
Voting for a new decade will launch every fortnight. The finalists for the 1980s will be released for public vote next week.
Media Insider has taken the liberty of selecting its favourites from each decade but there are likely many other ads – for example, the Milky Bar Kid, ASB’s Goldstein, the Feanleaf Butter family – that will loom large in people’s thoughts.
‘Untold stress’
The proprietors of a long-serving inner-city Auckland magazine have spoken of their “untold stress” at striving to keep the publication afloat.
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Monthly title Ponsonby News is now 35 years old, but like many media organisations is struggling following a big drop in advertising revenue.
It has launched a Givealittle page to seek urgent funds.
“Dedicated to representing the community and uplifting local businesses, Ponsonby News is a free, monthly community publication helping locals – and those abroad – keep in touch with our vibrant neighbourhood,” says the Givealittle post.
“However, due to the current economic climate, it’s our turn to ask for help from our readers, advertisers and supporters.
“We rely on advertising to fund what we do, and with marketing budgets being slashed across many industries our ad revenue has dropped dramatically.
“This has given us many sleepless nights and caused untold stress, as we try our utmost to keep our much-loved heritage publication afloat.”
The owners are seeking $30,000 in donations. As of yesterday, more than $7500 had been pledged.
Ponsonby News publisher Martin Leach told Media Insider that ad revenue was down about 30% compared to the first six months of 2023.
“It’s a tough market. I’ve been publishing magazines since 1990, including 10 years in London producing business-to-business publications. I have never seen a recession like we are experiencing right now.”
He wasn’t sure whether the business would reach the $30,000 goal.
“We are being proactive in letting people know. We need the funds to pay off our print bills and to make some changes to our website. We have been online since 2011 ... and we have a strong online readership.
“I get so much positive feedback about our publication. Many people rely on us to keep them informed about local issues and local businesses.”
While the Givealittle page speculates that the publication may have to eventually turn to online only, Leach says he is keen to continue to produce hard copies.
“They go very fast in our stands... we published the July issue only a week ago and they have all gone.”
6pm TV news ratings battle
Ratings for the new-look Three News are understandably still settling - as a former TV3 news boss gives a considerably cooler review of the Stuff-produced bulletin.
The challenge of eating into TVNZ’s dominant position at 6pm is already clear – the state broadcaster remains more than 400,000 viewers ahead, according to Monday night’s ratings from Nielsen.
Stuff will be striving to produce consistently strong ratings - at least 200,000 viewers a night - to ensure Warner Bros Discovery (and its advertisers) remains happy.
Monday’s hour-long 6pm bulletin attracted an average overnight audience of more than 242,000.
The Monday night ratings were “broadly consistent” with Three’s Monday night 6pm average (also 242,000 people) for April-May-June, said a Warner Bros Discovery spokeswoman, and up 19.1% on the same bulletin last year (204,000 people).
By comparison, TVNZ’s 1 News at 6 bulletin on Monday evening drew an average overnight audience of 648,900 – 406,000 more than Stuff’s bulletin.
Warner Bros Discovery said the Monday night bulletin produced by Stuff reached a total of almost 460,000 people across the hour while TVNZ said its bulletin reached 914,500.
There will be a fair bit of viewer testing of the new-look Three News bulletin which has initially and generally received warm feedback.
In my review on Saturday, I described the first night as slick and successful albeit somewhat safe in terms of story selection.
An informal poll of Herald readers with that review gave a similar verdict – 30% of readers gave it five stars; 22% gave it four stars; 18% three stars; 9% two stars; and 20% one star.
Newsroom co-editor and former TV3 news boss Mark Jennings was not as positive in his own review yesterday.
He described the Three News set as cheap. “Warners wanted a low-cost alternative to Newshub and that’s what they’ve got.”
Jennings also wrote: “The first three nights of the Stuff-produced Three News were fine. Given the short time frame to get things up and running they were about what you would expect. But, the set and graphics are not amazing – they are passable at best.
“Innovation and freshness? No. If anything the production has a slight retro look. If you don’t count the quiz question and poll (which have been tried before) the bulletins have been devoid of new ideas.”
Jennings, who was part of an unsuccessful bid to produce the 6pm news, was praiseworthy of weekend newsreader Laura Tupou – “a rising star” – and weekday newsreader Samantha Hayes – “really energised and engaged”.
He reiterated that Stuff did have a potential ace up its sleeve, with more reporters to call upon than the previous Newshub operation.
That was illustrated last night, with Three News’ lead story featuring an exclusive interview by Sam Sherwood with the son of a Good Samaritan brutally killed by a man in Christchurch.
Stuff boss turns to NZ Herald Facebook page
Stuff’s boss turned to the NZ Herald’s Facebook page to highlight examples of the positive feedback to the media company’s opening 6pm TV bulletins.
In an internal email leaked to Media Insider, Stuff chief executive Laura Maxwell referred to positive feedback after the weekend’s first two half-hour bulletins.
“The reviews from our media competitors were almost universally positive. That will not always be the case and so from the get-go, we have been determined that the critics who matter are the audience.
“And in that regard, the first weekend of ThreeNews was a win.
“Here are a couple of comments from the unusually positive New Zealand Herald Facebook page from Andrea M – ‘Brilliant, well done Stuff’; from Kay Rutter, ‘Tonight, the story ThreeNews covered were a great balance of breaking and digging deeper. That’s what I want. The digging deeper got to do the sports and weather. But digging a bit deeper is what I’ll come back for incredibly difficult balancing act. But you hit the nail on the head tonight’.”
Stuff’s own audience was similarly positive, she said.
Top paper drops to two editions a week
One of New Zealand’s top regional and community titles, the Ashburton Guardian, is dropping from three editions a week to two, partly driven by NZ Post ending weekend rural deliveries.
The Guardian will publish on Tuesdays and Fridays from mid-July, instead of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
“While we are disappointed with New Zealand Post’s delivery change – and we voiced that displeasure on your behalf – it provided us with an opportunity to innovate to ensure you received your news without interruption and with the same excellent service,” Guardian co-owner Daryl Holden told readers in a letter.
The Tuesday paper and new-look Weekender edition on Fridays would be boosted, he wrote.
“By focusing on two editions weekly, we can dedicate more resources to producing high-quality local journalism, ensuring that each paper is rich in content and value to go with our robust online offerings.”
It comes amid a raft of changes and cutbacks in regional New Zealand journalism.
As Media Insider reported last Wednesday, NZME has confirmed a proposal to cut 11.7 fulltime-equivalent (FTE) roles across the company’s regional and community news network.
NZME has previously stated its moves are cost-neutral, as it looks to build resources in those two cities, as well as specialist areas such as business and political journalism, to reflect audience demand.
Stuff has also cut a number of community mastheads, and has been restructuring in various divisions, including lifestyle, motoring, travel and commercial.
Chinese influencer’s massive Kiwi sales
In 10 short hours, a top Chinese influencer has helped generate more than $5 million in sales for a New Zealand natural health business.
Social media influencer Liu Yuan Yuan “smashed” sales records, says natural health and skincare company Me Today, with a series of livestreams out of New Zealand generating sales of more than CYN23.4m ($NZ5.3m) of the Kiwi-founded product in the Chinese market.
Liu broadcast live for more than 10 hours on the social media site Douyin - the most popular short-form video app in China. It is owned by ByteDance, the same company that owns TikTok.
While the use of influencers is not new, the scale of sales generated by Liu - who visited New Zealand to film the livestreams - is on another level.
“The total sales across Liu’s live streams are understood to be the highest sales achieved in a single stream on Douyin for a Kiwi brand,” said a spokesman.
Agency’s senior appointments
Auckland-based corporate affairs firm Sherson Willis says it has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Lucy Fox as principal and Peter Murray as senior advisor.
Fox joins Sherson Willis from Thrive PR - Sherson Willis says she has “more than a decade of consultancy experience delivering strategic, insight-led communications projects for corporate and consumer clients”.
Fox, who has also worked at TVNZ and Sky TV, will work with directors Trish Sherson and Rewa Willis, helping deliver strategic advice and counsel to clients.
Murray is a former political advisor in the Government of Tony Blair. He has held senior corporate and communications roles at global engineering firm Arup, Metro Bank, Cicero Group and Grayling.
“Murray is listed in PR Week’s Power Book of the most influential communication professionals and featured in the Financial Times’ Top 100 LGBT Leaders in the City.” says Sherson Willis.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
