fbpx

Movings/Shakings: 10 July

High five

There’s a number of new faces at Barnes, Catmur & Friends, with the agency growing its account service and digital teams.

Beer and car enthusiast Luke Farmer joins from Saatchi & Saatchi to become head of account service, with particular attention for Subaru and Independent Liquor, Maike Blackman joins as account director on Samsung, and account director Jane Arkle joins from .99, working across Southern Cross, Pams and Goodman Property.

Radd Nadesananthan joins the digital and social team to work on Samsung, while account manager Kimberley Hogan comes across from DraftFCB to focus her efforts on Independent Liquor’s vodka brands.

“We warned these guys about the shopping and drinking hazards that come with being in High St,” says managing partner Daniel Barnes. “It didn’t seem to put them off, fortunately.” 

Going Solo

Liane Donovan, partner at Donovan Boyd public relations and ex-managing director at Professional Public Relations, has resigned and will set up her own PR company.  

Donovan started the company ten years ago with her business partner John Boyd, who was previously managing director at Hill & Knowlton NZ and director at Crossman Porter Novelli. He has purchased her shares in the business and Donovan Boyd, which handles clients including HRV, Sony Ericson, Mazda New Zealand, Canon and CallPlus, will change its name. 

“After ten years of creating a successful business together we realised we had a reached a stage in our careers where we had different priorities,” says Boyd. “The company has an excellent client base and great team and I am looking forward to taking it to the next stage in its development.”

What happens on Toa, stays on Toa 

Acclaimed film maker
and playwright Toa Fraser has joined 8com for TVC representation in New
Zealand and Australia.

With a passion for
performance and strong, elegant visuals, Fraser began his screen directing
career with his Sundance award winning feature No. 2

His second movie, Dean
Spanley
, starring Peter O’Toole, Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam and Bryan Brown, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2008. 

“You gotta put
yourself around people and in places that lift you up,” says Fraser.
“So I’m thrilled to be joining up with 8com.” 

Fraser is known for
his unique, trademark mix of humour and pathos. His latest venture into
commercials was for Auckland City Mission via Publicis Mojo and went to air on Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDmQ70C2QPI

First place

There’s a new digital marketing agency on the local scene called First, and it has been formed through the merger of search marketing agency First Rate and digital agency Market United. 

“For a number of years First Rate and Market United have been working side by side,” says Jon Ostler, group general manager. “Most of our clients now receive services from both of our digital agency brands. Digital continues to evolve and we want to bring to the market the most relevant and current offering possible for companies that understand the opportunity and competitive advantage digital marketing offers them.”

BeyondD, a wholly owned subsidiary of Beyond International, an international producer and distributor of television and digital content, acquired the companies and announced the merger. 

“At the end of the day digital needs to drive profits,” says Samuel Stadler, general manager, New Zealand. “A key point of differentiation for First is that we execute marketing strategy within the context of a solid ROI and web analytics framework. Our digital experts are focused on delivering a digital brand experience that is backed up by meaningful, actionable metrics.” 

Firsthas also been announced as finalist in the SEO category of the 2012 IAB Awards in Australia. First Rate won the organic search (SEO) category in 2011, making this the second IAB finalist nomination for the search marketing team.

Firsthas offices in Sydney and Auckland and employees 55 in-house digital experts who work across a range of disciplines including digital strategy, digital creative, SEO, search advertising, performance media, analytics, social media, mobile apps, eCommerce and CMS (Content Management System) driven sites.

Religion on the radio

Rhema Broadcasting Group (RBG) has announced the appointment of Mike Brewer as the group’s next chief executive.  

Brewer has been general manager of Taranaki Newspapers, a division of Fairfax Media, for the past nine years. Previously he spent ten years with RadioWorks, starting in sales and culminating in sales and general management. He has also worked overseas in Australia and the UK in the telecommunications and security industries. 

“As long term supporters and listeners we strongly identify with the vision Rhema has and look forward to being part of what God is doing in the media industry,” he says. 

Board chairman, Hal Short says it was important to find the right candidate.

“We have always seen the appointment of senior leaders at RBG as a ‘calling’, distinct from a simple match up of skills, experience and character. After a rigorous process it was clear that Mike more than met all the requirements to effectively lead RBG into its next phase.“ 

Brewer, who will officially commence the role on 1 December, takes over from John Fabrin who is stepping down after 12 years. 

“I have every confidence that he is the right person to lead the team to the next level,” Fabrin says. “Not only is he a skilled and respected general manager with solid experience in the broadcasting and publishing fields, but he is a long-time friend of our mission, and most importantly he has a passion to see people experiencing the faith, hope and love that the Good News of Jesus is all about.

“I’ll be cheering on from the side-lines when I leave to take up my new calling at the end of November and look forward to seeing how Mike and the team take this wonderful and expanding multimedia mission, that God has graciously given to the people of New Zealand, to the next level,” says Fabrin. 

Brewer will be only the fourth ever chief executive of RBG, following John Fabrin from 2000-2012; Hal Short from 1988-2000; and founder Richard Berry from 1966 -1988.

RBG broadcasts four radio networks and a television station Shine, and publishes two quarterly devotional publications called The Word For Today and Word For You Today. It has a cumulative audience/readership of 330,000, making it New Zealand’s largest Christian media network.

Time-honoured

Professor Philip Gendall, who retired at the end of
January after 34 years at Massey University, has been recognised for his outstanding career as an academic and researcher, and for his
contribution to the University during his 20 years as head of the department of marketing, by being given the title of Professor Emeritus. 

“I am very pleased to be continuing my long
association with Massey,” he says. “I’ve spent the better part of my life at this
University, as both a student and an academic, and I’m glad it hasn’t ended
with my retirement. It’s also nice that I can keep on
calling myself a professor.”

Professor Gendall’s association with Massey
stretches back to 1968 when he enrolled in the Bachelor of Agricultural
Science. He went on to complete one of his two masters degrees at Massey (in
Agricultural Economics and Marketing), and his PhD in Marketing, which he
received in 2003.

His academic career began at Massey in
1978, when he joined the Department of Marketing. In 1988 he became professor
of marketing and head of department, a role he held continuously for 20 years. 

Professor Gendall is acknowledged as an
international expert on question wording, questionnaire design and survey
research. In recognition of this, he chaired the methodology committee of the
International Social Survey Programme, and was the programme’s New Zealand
representative for 20 years.

He plans to maintain his ties to Massey, and
providing assistance and survey advice to researchers will one of the key areas
he will continue to contribute to the University.

“Phil always led by example, not only
publishing but also teaching, winning substantial research grants, providing
expert evaluations, supervising students, marking theses for other
universities, reviewing articles and serving on editorial boards,” said Professor Malcolm Wright, who nominated him for the title. “He was also generous with his time, both
directly in providing advice, review comments and mentoring, and indirectly in
the efforts he made to create an invigorating intellectual environment.”

Get down with iNC

iNC Network , “Australia’s largest online retail advertising network”, has launched its digital service in New Zealand with the appointment of Sanjay Weerasinghe as country manager. 

iNC Network is part of CC Media, which was majority acquired by APN in August 2011 and claims to offer “a powerful, efficient and cost effective way to deliver digital retail catalogue content to online audiences”. 

Weerasinghe brings considerable expertise in sales management and online marketing with experience spanning 17 years across a variety of media. Most recently, he was a regional sales manager at The Radio Network and was involved in the launch of Yahoo! Xtra to the New Zealand market in 2007. He will be responsible for the development of the online retail market with direct clients as well as agencies, introducing the service capability to New Zealand clients. 

“This represents an important appointment for iNC in extending our existing digital offering,” says Robert Wong, chief executive of iNC Network Australia/New Zealand. “Conversations with New Zealand retailers have indicated strong interest in our product capability and Sanjay will help New Zealand retailers drive a multi-channel distribution strategy.” 

From pregnant sheep to mining data

Datamine has hired a new geek, with Leiyan Wang arriving after completing a Master of Applied Statistics at Massey University with a thesis on obtaining the optimal nutrition intake for pregnant sheep. 

This thesis required the relationship between maternal nutrition intake and foetal development in sheep to be modelled and analysed. And the technical skills she developed throughout her studies are already being put to good use at Datamine. 

While at Massey University, Wang worked as a teaching assistant, achieved a Masters Scholarship from the National Research Centre for Growth and Development, and gained a statistics research scholarship. 

Gone Troppo 

Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, announced today that Sam Neill will become an official ambassador for the inaugural Tropfest NZ to be held on January 27, 2013.

 “Finally, the brilliance that is Tropfest on our very own shores.  I am fizzing at the thought, and thrilled to be part of it. Filmmakers of Aotearoa – start your engines!,” he says. 

Tropfest NZ will present its first stand-alone short film festival at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth. Open to the public and free to attend, this event has been designed to encourage filmmakers from the grassroots level up.

“We are delighted that an industry heavyweight like Sam has come on board to encourage New Zealand filmmakers and celebrate their stories,” says Founder and Director of Tropfest, John Polson.

Neill joins Tropfest NZ ambassadors actor Martin Henderson, director/producer/actor Katie Wolfe, actor Robyn Malcolm and director/screenwriter Vincent Ward. Other ambassadors will be announced in the coming months.

Entries are now being accepted by any Kiwi keen to participate in Tropfest NZ. Films cannot exceed seven minutes and must contain Tropfest’s Signature Item (TSI), which in 2013 is “GUMBOOT”. Competition details can be found at www.tropfest.co.nz

Check out last year’s brilliant winner Animal Beatbox. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxiSP_ch_oI

About Author

Avatar photo

One of the talented StopPress Team of Content Producers made this post happen.

Comments are closed.