The magazine is to be dished out to New Zealand Herald readers on the first Tuesday of every month starting in January and Chris Jagusch, general manager of The New Zealand Herald, says he is excited to be involved with Red Bull.

“This is a mutually beneficial partnership. We provide Red Bull with a ready-made, intelligent audience, while Red Bull gives our readers a high-quality publication that will be unique in this market,” he says.

The Red Bulletin will be accepting local advertising and will also be available from selected retailers nationwide from January. StopPress has a few copies to give away, so if you’d like one, send your details to editor@stoppress.co.nz.

And all this talk about Red Bull brings us nicely to a video of kerrazzee extremos doing absolutely ridiculous things with winged suits in Norway.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Icebreaker’s Lee Weinstein says it came as a surprise to the company to see Palin, who was photographed for Runner’s World magazine, wearing the long sleeve chase zip in salsa/silver on the cover of next week’s Newsweek (seems as though it came as a surprise to Runner’s World, too).

“It’s the first US magazine cover for our small New Zealand sustainable apparel company,” he says. “. . . It’s great Ms. Palin has discovered the benefits of running in natural, sustainable Icebreaker merino.”
Although, perhaps she just couldn’t get hold of a running top made from polar bear fur.

Palin and Icebreaker certainly make for an incongruous pairing. She doesn’t seem particularly fond of the environment (she does have shiny legs though), whereas Icebreaker trades on its natural, eco-credentials (it has recently been campaigning for US consumers to switch from synthetic running tops made from oil to natural fibres).

Click here to view the embedded video.

So, is all publicity good publicity? Will an endorsement from a controversial figure like Palin affect Icebreaker’s reputation or add to its cachet in the US? And are Newsweek readers that don’t have a connection to Icebreaker or New Zealand likely to notice – or care – what kind of top she’s wearing?

Perhaps there’s a potential sponsorship opportunity here, like a more political, slightly more attractive version of long-distance alcoholic swimmer Martin Strel.

Orca founder and CEO Scott Unsworth saw the potential a few years ago and now, after the release of the documentary Big River Man, his strange sponsorship decision seems to have been vindicated.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• BBC television content is now available on your mobile. Let the floodgates open.
• How do Kiwis spend their online time?
• Are SkyTV and Vodafone hatching an on-demand plot to counter TiVo?
• Magazine stats to impress dinner guests.

Take a gander at the real deal MediaMonitor 16-November-09

Click here to view the embedded video.

Steve has more than 25 years’ experience in the publishing biz, from editing consumer electronics, hi-fi and car stereo mags in the UK to being managing editor of AGM Publishing’s stable of design titles in NZ, before he was made redundant last year. He replaces Ellen Read who has joined National Business Review.

Marketplace Media are stoked. “Steve is a real catch,” says general manager Andrea Little. “His experience in business to business publishing adds significantly to our offering.”

Bohling exudes confidence and is “extremely optimistic” about putting the magazines “back on stream” to reach a larger retail readership. Editing three magazines concurrently is no small feat, but Bohling is “ripping and snorting and ready to go”.