Drinnan strikes; readers groan
For anyone unfortunate enough to be interviewed by the NZ Herald’s John Drinnan, the feeling will be depressingly familiar: our prompt and polite responses to an email query from him resulted in a selective, confusing and potentially damaging report in this morning’s NZ Herald.
In his weekly column Drinnan discusses the use of advertorial in HB Media’s magazines. (HB Media owns Stoppress.co.nz, NZ Marketing, Idealog, Good etc). He quotes Idealog editor Matt Cooney saying one thing; then me, Matt’s boss, apparently saying the complete opposite. What a ship of fools they must be over at HB Media!
It’s amazing how effective selective quoting can be. Here’s Drinnan’s version of events:
And here’s what Matt and I said (we sent it by email so that Drinnan would get an accurate wording, spell names correctly etc)
Hi John,
Vincent isn’t in yet, but let me step in. That’s absolutely wrong. There is no policy linking editorial coverage with advertising support at HB Media, and never has been.
I suspect Claudia is relaying a comment in this thread on StopPress:
http://www.stoppress.co.nz/pr/2009/08/all-aboard-starship-pr-enterprise/#comment-4
Just like you, we get bombarded with useless, unwanted crap from PR companies. It makes no difference to our editorial coverage of anything. Vincent’s point — and obviously, he’s being deliberately provocative — is that it’s a total waste of time for the PR agency’s clients, as they spend money and get nothing from it other than annoying us. Better that they spend their money on something useful like, er, advertising.
But there is absolutely no connection with editorial coverage, and it’s being a bit disingenuous of Claudia (cc:ed) to suggest there is. I’m open to PR pitches, from Mango or anyone else, and treat them on their merits.
Hope this clears up any confusion.
Cheers
Matt
Just to make sure there was no confusion I then sent Drinnan this:
Hi John
Happy to respond and add a publisher’s voice to the question.
We do indeed produce advertorial and proud of how we have broken the mould of how it’s done. There are two very important priorities that we apply:
a) it needs to be good; that is, well designed, well written and adds value to the reader
b) it needs to be clearly marked as such, so the readers are not tricked; so we clearly mark it as ‘promotional feature’ or “advertising feature” or some such descriptor that allows the reader to discern where the material has come fromThe end result is that our reader research for Idealog shows the showcase material (advertorial) is one of the most popular parts of the magazine.
So long as the above two rules apply we’ll continue to produce advertorial in all our products.
One further comment is that advertising agencies charge so much for producing creative material that often clients cannot afford to advertise (not because of the media cost but the creative cost); so they come direct to us to ask if we can create the content as part of an overall bundle. Ironic really because that’s where advertising agencies came from: media owners.
Thanks
Vincent
PS: regarding Claudia’s comments, I refer to you to the link in Stoppress in Matt’s email where I stated clearly what HB’s position is towards PR people: stop freeloading off our magazines and encourage your clients to advertise—or else there will be no channel to freeload on
Drinnan’s conflation of our quotes makes us look idiotic and as if Matt and I can’t talk across the ten metres of space that separates us. For those who care (most don’t), the email correspondence above tells the story. We figure that you, our readers, are a pretty intelligent bunch. So we’ll leave it to you to decide which version more accurately reflects HB Media’s policies with regards to editorial and advertising.
But perhaps we had it coming. Just a month ago Drinnan threatened to sue us for making a joke about him (his name was used in a caption contest), a threat he later withdrew. I guess now we have to pay in the pages of his fish wrap.
Meanwhile, if you have a Drinnanism to share, send me an email or post a comment. The list might be too long to publish of course.
Daniel Miles
November 20, 2009
"I guess now we have to pay in the pages of his fish wrap."
Wow. Ouch. Gloves are off!
Thomas
November 20, 2009
As one who's been interviewed by John Drinnan and suffered in the media from his unique brand of malapropism I sympathise. I'm quite frankly astounded that someone with his limited understanding of a) business, and b) media can be held up as an expert commentator in our largest daily. Doesn't serve us or the reading public well at all.
Mike
November 20, 2009
I thought Drinnans handling today of his wrong attributing of the Tui work to Mike O was appalling. Mike O didn't come up with the idea, period. Drinnan reported it wrong. He didn't say sorry, but rather clumsily covered himself with a broad (untrue) generalisation
Anonymous flunky
November 20, 2009
Love the way Drinnan can't even spell his source's name properly. Don't they teach Herald hacks to check names anymore?
Claudia Macdonald
November 20, 2009
The discussion about editorial versus advertorial versus advertising is a worthwhile one to have. But I think the above is all getting a bit personal. Tit for tat blows are never constructive no matter how satisfying it is at the time. Let's debate the issue and whether it is one, not the messengers.
John Drinnan
November 20, 2009
Vincent etc
I don't know what sort of button I have pushed here.
But suggest you look what was written and not what you believe you saw.
Porter
November 20, 2009
This is really terrible, to attack someone like this. Shame on you Stop Press. This is vindictive and hateful. I'm absolutely disgusted. John you have my full support.
Vincent Heeringa
November 20, 2009
Perhaps we get to the nub of the problem: JD doesn't actually understand what he writes?
Peter Mitchell
November 20, 2009
No hassle with advertorial as long as it is blatantly seen for what it is. for the serious mags there is an ethical problem, but consider for a minute the glossy community magazines we put out in Auckland where but for advertorial, the mags would fold. It's the only way to get small advts out of retailers in the community – and frankly the household readers love the information because it certainly is building store traffic. There's a place for everything. Now on product releases from pr companies with never any advtg support — well that's another story.
Duncan Stuart
November 20, 2009
And the Herald isn't guilty of printing "exclusives" – for example their unquestioning front page publication of that research about tax payers and Emission tax last week? No balance whatsoever, no checking of the figures…
It may not have been advertorial per se – but it was a report with an agenda behind it.
The Herald isn't a bad paper, but they need to watch out when it comes to taking a holier than thou line. Now everyone, calm down – the weekend is coming. Bring out the G&T I say.
Vincent Heeringa
November 20, 2009
Duncan, I'm onto my seventh coffee and everything's JUST FINE okay?
Deborah
November 20, 2009
Don't get on Vincent's bad side, obviously.
How nasty of you.
Bob
November 20, 2009
Hey Vince
Go get him tiger. Been there and misquoted by said person myself.
Claudia Macdonald
November 20, 2009
To pick up Peter Mitchell's comments – PR companies rarely have any say on where their clients place their advertising. The media companies control that area and should be the target of your requests; not the PR people. Contrary to popular editor perception, good PR people will always try to get stories covered on merit and interest to the readers. But yes, sometimes they fall short on identifying newsworthiness. Now I'm taking Duncan and Ben's advice and taking off to celebrate DDB Group being NBR Agency of the Year :-)
Kookmeyer
November 20, 2009
Meow meow grrrrr scratch scratch.
Why did JD dig this old chestnut up in the first place? I get the same vibe from him as the editor of AdMedia
Jenene
November 21, 2009
Have also been misquoted by Drinnan. His interview technique is horrific. The experience left me so frustrated that I complained in writing to Liam his boss and promptly got ignored. I don't think the NZH really care….
Perhaps as an industry everyone refuses to be interviewed by him?
PJ
November 23, 2009
I know we won't always get the angle we want, but at the very least I expect information in NZH articles to be factual.
I too have been misquoted in two articles – key facts (incl company details) were incorrect, even when information was also provided in writing to help ensure accuracy.
NZH should care.
Rob
November 24, 2009
Deborah – are you being ironic?