“The latest radio audience measurement survey across thirteen markets highlights growth in national and Auckland commercial radio cumulative audiences over the same survey release period last year against all major demographics,” she says. And, going back further, radio audience listenership trends over the past decade demonstrate a 12 percent growth in cumulative audience levels (all people 10+, Mon-Sun 6am-12mn).

Just as TV is increasingly focusing on online news and newspapers are increasingly focusing on video content, she says recent figures show radio is increasingly focusing online—and listeners are heading there in big numbers.

“For example, last month, there were 1,001,678 unique browsers across all radio stations and 10,573,203 page impressions,” says Stewart. “That’s an average of ten pages per browser, and demonstrates very clearly the deep engagement that listeners have with radio. For youth brands, the story is even stronger, with 624,230 unique browsers across all youth stations and 8,308,935 page impressions, giving us an average 13 pages per browser. Over the past two years, unique browsers across all youth stations have increased 71 percent with a growth in page impressions of 73 percent. Similarly, youth cumulative audiences have remained unchanged over the past seven years.”

As well as increased overall cume audience numbers and web figures, ad revenue was up ten percent during the first half of this year, she says, and radio is maintaining its share with around 10-11 percent of the total advertising spend.

When it comes to the specific winners and losers among individual stations, many claims are made and confusion often reigns because radio stations tend to abide by the Monday to Sunday 12mn-12am time frame rather than the 6am-12mn used by TRB.

A MediaWorks release said The Edge has celebrated five consecutive years as the most popular music station in New Zealand (428,200 listeners nationwide, over 30,000 more than any other station) and The Rock was judged as the most listened to music station in New Zealand for the sixth year running.

“The results were also good news for RadioLIVE’s afternoon schedule, with Willie Jackson and John Tamihere’s early afternoon programme, and Paul Henry’s drive slot both increasing their number of listeners,” the release said.

MediaWorks talk general manager Jana Rangooni told the NZ Herald the figures for Henry’s drive show had grown by 10,000 listeners or 17 percent more than when Brent Impey was on the mike. But both the Radio Network’s group general manger of content David Brice and media commentator Brian Edwards claimed it wasn’t a particularly substantial rise considering all the hooplah surrounding his arrival.

The Radio Network says Newstalk ZB continues to be the most listened to and number one radio station in New Zealand, increasing share of listening to 12.8 percent. However, the TRB figures showed Newstalk ZB had a share of 12.1 percent and the last survey at the start of the year showed it had a share of 14.2.

“It’s a credit to the on and off air teams that we can produce such strong results not just in Auckland, but now also in Christchurch and Wellington. Our strategy to simulcast Newstalk ZB on FM in those markets for the first time has seen a big jump in our audiences. Newstalk ZB now rates a clean sweep at number one in all three metro markets,” says Brice. “Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast performed brilliantly, rating number one in all three metro markets. Mike remains the nation’s most popular breakfast show with an increased national share of listening of 17 percent … We are delighted that after our refresh of the Classic Hits brand this year and the new on air lineup, that the station is again the number one station in the key 25-54 demographic in Auckland.”

TRN has a total of nearly 1.4 million listeners each week and while Brice says this is down on the previous survey, he says all radio has lost audience, something he attributes to the Rugby World Cup.

“We are confident that we will see the cume bounce back in next year’s first survey,” he says.

Other figures of note in this survey were that, nationally, household shoppers with kids listened to radio for longer with Time Spent Listening up from 15hrs 10min to 16hrs 6 mins per week. More FM Breakfast had the largest growth, up 1.5 share points to 8.6 percent, however Newstalk ZB still dominates this day part with a 17 percent share (All people 10+).

In Auckland, three new stations—Life FM, Rhema FM and Radio Waatea—featured in this survey and household shoppers with kids spent an extra—and surprisingly large—2hr 17mins per week with the wireless. This means they now listen for 16hr 17 mins per week.

The Breeze increased its share against the Household Shopper with kids demographic, adding 4.5 share points to take it from 3% to 7.5%.

Off the back of large listenership growth last survey, the Wellington market has continued to grow audience with an additional 6,000 listeners now tuning in. This takes total weekly listenership to 223,800 (All people 10+).

Newstalk ZB had a strong survey growing by 3.5 percentage points and has leapfrogged ZB from third place last survey into the number one spot (All people 10+ Share). ZM maintained its place as the station with the most listeners now reaching a cumulative audience of 65,000 listeners every week (All people 10+).

The Wellington market remains one of New Zealand’s most competitive with ZM, ZB, The Breeze and The Rock all battling it out for the top spots across the major target demographics.

The last survey wasn’t conducted in Christchurch due to the earthquake, but the results this time show listeners are tuning into radio for longer, with Time Spent Listening up 1hr 31 mins to 19hrs 36mins per week (All people 10+). Newstalk ZB has regained the spot as number one station in Christchurch (All people 10+), increasing share from 10.1% to 16.6% and now reaching 63,100 listeners, something largely attributable to the frequency change.

More FM has the most number of listeners with a cumulative audience of 65,200 (All people 10+). It is also the number one station for All people 25-54 with a 15.3 percent share of listening, along with a cumulative reach of 41,400.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

M&C Saatchi has been busy with its emergency services accounts this year, with a slightly controversial Police campaign after the earthquake that gained some international media attention and a very personal campaign for the Fire Service. And it’s continued that momentum with two more good efforts, one featuring a few well-lubricated folks at the end of a big night slurring away about the dangers of drinking and frying and another radio campaign to try and stop foreign visitors here for the RWC from having to call 111. 

All of the hearty revellers interviewed for the ‘Words from the Wise’ campaign had been drinking and were spotted eating on the street. So M&C Saatchi and production company Double Cove simply stopped to ask them this question: “What advice would they give to people in their state who are considering going home for a fry-up?”

“The answers were honest, slightly garbled and often hilarious,” says M&C Saatchi’s Darryn Melrose. “They’re real words from the wise, wise because they have chosen to get a feed before heading home. And they’re presented in a way that you won’t soon forget.”

Four 30” TVCs are being broadcast nationwide and shared on YouTube. And posters with real quotes from the panini advocates, pizza scoffers and kebab munchers also being installed around the country.

NZF-60-2064[1] NZF-60-2062[1] NZF-30-2063[1] NZF-30-2061[1]

In addition to the TV campaign, M&C has also got to work reminding the thousands of rugby fans from around the world, many of whom will be touring the country in campervans, of the hazards of drunk cooking and lighting candles with a few remixes of classic country hits.

One thing’s for sure: the local purveyors of fine takeaways will be loving the endorsement.

Credits for Words from the wise:

Agency: M&C Saatchi, New Zealand Client: New Zealand Fire Service Client Contact: Scott Sargentina Executive Creative Director: Dave King Art Director: James Bowman Copywriters: Nicci Doak & Amy Ivančić Account Director: Christina Mossaidis Account Executive: Lizzie Yates Producer: Terry Slade Baker Production Company: Double Cove Production Studio: Woody

Credits for radio campaign:

Client: Scott Sargentina, New Zealand Fire Service
Agency: M&C Saatchi, NZ
Executive Creative Director: Dave King
Concept: Nicci Doak, Dave King
Writer: Nicci Doak
Account Director: Christina Mossaidis
Producer: Terry Slade Baker
Production: Joel Haines

A total of 49 broadcasters, producers, journalists and anything else award-worthy have been acknowledged by the panel which this year boasted up to 70 judges from New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the US. The categories range from production to campaigns to on-air talent between 1 January and 31 December 2010.

However, this year was particularly light on entries due to Christchurch networks entering very few or no categories.

“Networks were obviously affected. TRN didn’t enter and MediaWorks only entered a few. It was a difficult year due to Christchurch and we were low on entries,” executive producer of the NZ Radio Awards Donna Bloxham says.

Fresh from some good numbers in the survey, The Rock picked up Best Music Breakfast Metropolitan and Best Music Non-Breakfast Metropolitan, Best Network Radio Promotion and the Best Radio Website Award.

Newstalk ZB took out Metropolitan Station of the Year, and breakfast host Mike Hosking won the Best Talk or Current Affairs Host – All Markets for the second year in a row.

Radio New Zealand, which was absent from the award last year, received Best NZ Produced Musical Programmes, Best Spoken Programmes and Best New Broadcaster – Journalist, Kate Gudsell of RNZ National. But Overall Best New Broadcaster went to Bel Crawford from More FM Manawatu.

MediaWorks Radio stations took first place honors for Regional Station of the Year with More FM Manawatu and Provincial Station of the Year with More FM Taupo.

The Outstanding Contribution to Radio award acknowledges those who need to be acknowledged, and this year it was presented to old school radioman David Innes, who retired recently.

“The contributions David has made to the radio industry have been considerable. His dedication and persistence have been a key figure in the broadcasting, advertising and New Zealand music scenes over the past ten years. He shaped the voluntary music code and has been a keen driver in maintaining the 20 percent New Zealand music airplay RBA members deliver. He is an unsung hero of the New Zealand music revolution.”

For a full list of winners and nominees, head over to the awards website.

The voice of radio

After spending 10 years sticking up for the commercial radio industry, executive director David lnnes has decided it’s time to step down and take life a little easier.

“There have been a number of significant issues we have had to battle through, especially over the last five years. Those projects take a huge commitment and I’d now like to be in the position where I can give some more of my time to help in my other areas of interest, The Foundation for Advertising Research and the RNZYS youth sailing training programme to name but two.”

Radio Broadcasting Association chairman John McElhinney says lnnes’ contributions had been very considerable.

“The commercial radio licence renewal process and the following FM band plan restructure have been huge undertakings. David has been invaluable in helping to address these and many other challenges which have faced our industry. He has also been a tremendous champion for New Zealand music. He shaped our voluntary music code and has been a keen driver in maintaining the 20 percent New Zealand music airplay our members deliver. The Advertising Standards Authority, of which he was chair for two years has been another major commitment. He is a key figure in the broadcasting, advertising and New Zealand music scenes and we will sorely miss him.”

lnnes will step down early in the new year.

Phone home

After being ‘moved on’ from her role as TVNZ’s general manager of marketing when incoming sales and marketing chief Paul Maher arrived, Charlotte Findlay has landed on her feet, taking up the role of head of marketing communications at Telecom.

She replaces Michele Teague, who recently took up a plum role as managing director of the Campaign Palace in Sydney.

Annemarie Duff, previously the general manager of online recruitment company SEEK New Zealand, was brought in to replace Findlay at TVNZ.

Q up

Q Group New Zealand has added a host of new hires to the staff arsenal.

Justine Chevin, previously at Catch Media, has started as head of digital media for 3dInteractive, replacing Toni Knowles; Brett Bailey has joined as the new account director for search specialists First Rate; and Les Porter has been officially welcomed as creative director for digital agency Market United.

But wait, there’s more. Having recently arrived from the UK, Rosemary Jackson has joined The Great Kiwi Survey team straight from completing her Masters in Marketing from Otago University and George Heinemann, who was with the National Research Bureau and is completing his Masters in Business at AUT, joins her there.

Hot property

Paul Wright, who started out as a salesperson for Collins Real Estate in Christchurch and has spent 30 years in the real estate industry, has been appointed chairman of Harcourts International, taking over from David Spence, who held the position for nine years.

Wright has has previously held the positions of branch manager, regional manager and general manager in New Zealand, as well as executive director of Harcourts International. He is also a 50 percent shareholder of Harcourts International and was recently inducted into the Harcourts Hall of Fame.

Harcourts recently moved into the United States market. It has offices in 10 countries and over 7000 agents.

Branching out

Hospitality and foodservice equipment supply company Southern Hospitalit is heading trans-Tasman, leaving Andy Doherty, who has been a member of the company’s senior management team for over ten years and a director for the past four years, as chief executive of the New Zealand operation.

Managing director Roger Fewtrell, who established the business around 22 years ago, says the opening of its fourteenth branch in New Plymouth in October means further expansion in New Zealand is limited, so he’ll be heading up a team opening a branch in Sydney.

“I have been a part of the exponential growth of the company from just two branches in Dunedin and Christchurch employing twenty one staff to now employing over 200 staff at 14 branches and having a sales representative within an hour of most towns and cities,” says Doherty. “… It is a very rewarding industry to work in as the payback time is often very short and customers can reap the rewards of change quickly. I am looking forward to continuing to deliver strong results for the company, its staff, shareholders and other stakeholders in the wider community.”

While there weren’t any ground-breaking, knock your socks off trends from the overall results, The Radio Bureau survey snapshots show a couple of notable changes. The first of these is a slight decrease of 2400 listeners nationally in the Cume audiences for 10+, the actual number of people listening to the radio. Maybe we’re stupid, but this decrease seems a bit small when you look at the tables, which show the vast majority of stations across most demographics suffering big percentage decreases in Cume audience since the last survey in April. Basically, the only station on the list with a sizable increase was Mai FM and apparently ‘other/miscellaneous’, which isn’t on the table (the TRB says Cume is down because listeners aren’t switching stations as much, indicating channel loyalty has increased).

The snapshot also shows there were overall Cume increases in the 25-54 (up by 8000) and 18-34 demographics (up by 8700). But again, an increase of this level seems strange when you look at some of the individual percentage point losses in Cume since the last survey.

Audiences are also listening in for longer and, surprisingly, on a national level, time spent with the radio actually went up in the 18-34 audience demographic, with this group now listening on average for 16hrs 35 minutes per week—an extra 44 minutes per week.

Nelson and Wellington both experienced a double digit growth in average audience for all people aged 10 and over, with Nelson up 15.2 percent and Wellington up 13.8 percent.

According to the survey, RadioWorks’ The Rock took New Zealand’s number one radio station with 11.6 percent share of listening for all people 10+ across all participating stations. And it continues to dominate the All People 18-34 and All People 25-54 demographics, with a 23.7 percent and 15.9 percent share respectively.

Usually it’s a case of either gloating if the numbers are good or complaining about the research methodology if they’re not. But, despite survey figures showing The Radio Network’s (TRN) Newstalk ZB had gone down to a 11.1 national share in 10+, a press release came through claiming it remains New Zealand’s number one radio station with an unchanged 11.6 percent share of listening. The difference, it seems, is that TRN counts its audience from 12 midnight to 12 midnight (prime time for the talkback crazies), not 6am to 12 midnight like the survey.

“The Radio Network’s performance remains strong with top five finishes for Newstalk ZB, Classic Hits, Coast and ZM networks in the three important measures: most listeners, share of listening and breakfast listening share,” David Brice, TRN’s director of programming said in the release. “We look forward to next year when we expect our changes to Radio Hauraki to also move that station up. The changes include a new breakfast show with [ex The Rock host] Nick Trott returning to rock radio after an absence of four years and in afternoon drive radio’s favourite bad boy Iain Stables.”

In Auckland, four of TRN’s stations—Newstalk ZB, Coast, Classic Hits and ZM—are now in the top five for share of listening. Retaining the breakfast show crown was Newstalk ZB, coming out once again as the number one breakfast show in New Zealand by both all people aged 10 and over in Cume Audience (264,700) and Station Share (15.7 percent). This was followed by ZM, which is again the number one music station in Auckland and also number one in Wellington.

When it comes to the most listened to network in the country, the Edge attracted 420,600 people aged 10+ every week, though that number is down slightly on the 434,600 recorded for the station in the April survey results.

Puffing up its country-wide listenership is RadioWorks ‘ Mai FM, with an extra 18,400 all people 18-34 tuning in each week, an increase of 14.4 percent. And Indian radio station Radio Tarana increased its All People 10+ Cume Audience by 18,800 to reach 60,700 listeners each week.

Cruising into the slightly older demographic, Coast managed to increase its Cume Audience in the 25-54 demographic by 6,900 listeners, to 231,000 and gained 0.7 share points (up to 3.7 percent) for this audience.

All this ‘we’re number one’ tomfoolery reminds us of a promo skit on Bill & Ben’s radio show, which, through some obligatory survey figure fudging, trumpeted the fact that it was number one (in the demographic of All Men, aged 41-43, on Sunday, between the hours of seven and nine).

There is one noticeable omission in the regional ranks results—Christchurch. The Radio Bureau’s Fleur Herscott says that in light of the earthquake, people naturally switch to radio for information and this would have resulted in a spike in listenership that isn’t reflective of people’s regular radio listening habits for the region (this was also given as the reason for the 13100 respondents, rather than the usualy 15000). But to keep results consistent, Christchurch results for the survey released in April were taken into account to generate the national data, with Herscott saying Christchurch results generally remain similar from survey to survey.

The survey is fully funded by the radio industry—in other words, if you want in, you have to pay and if you don’t pay, you won’t feature (three new stations Life FM, Radio Rheema and Radio Waatea featured in this survey). It is managed by the Radio Industry Research Committee (RIRC), chaired by the Radio Broadcasting Association (RBA) and includes representatives from The Radio Bureau (TRB), RadioWorks, The Radio Network and the Communication Agencies Association of New Zealand.

• All the figures quoted by TRB are based on Mon-Sun 6am-12midnight.

Our Maan in Cannes gets up close – and personal – with Chris Schofield, creative director at DraftFCB and one of just six Kiwis to be chosen for jury duty at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, to find out about his Cannes experience. He was judging the Radio Lions and, interestingly, while DDB NZ managed to take home a gaggle of Lions for its Sky TV Arts Channel campaign, this category was the only one to go ‘Grand Prix-less’.

• This interview was filmed on the new Sony Bloggie camera. 

The Radio Bureau, which “represents New Zealand’s commercial radio industry at a national level”, wanted to do something original – and slightly risky – that might inspire agencies to consider advertising on radio. So, in the style made famous by Dean Martin and his drunk friends, and, more recently, Jimmy Kimmel, the roast was conceived and, in an unusual show of collegiality, the duopoly, The Radio Network and Radioworks, came together.

Unlike at the CAANZ Media Awards, Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking turned up as MC and rubbed in the fact that his show has 21.3 percent of the audience. He drew attention to his own beautiful mug by drawing attention to those with stereotypical faces for radio (Murray Deaker, Leighton Smith etc etc), bemoaning the fact that most radio personalities are typically clothed and fed by the prize cupboard. He then introduced the first speakers, Paul Ego from The Rock and Jeremy Corbett from Milf FM, who Hosking felt were prime examples of broadcasters who had followed the typical DJ path and had spent way too much time in their bedroom masturbating.

This pair’s fictional radio station routine was filed with cheesy stings spoken in a quintessentially deep radio voice (“The songs you want, just after you want them. You’re on The Rayyyddioooo”) and a fair dose of self-deprecating humour. There was even some mashing up involved: Ego’s silky angelic singing voice was put to good use when they merged a few Rock classics with some housewife friendly More FM music.

John Tamihere from Radio Live was next up to roast New Zealand politics and, as Hosking pointed out, it was probably his biggest ever audience. He elicited a few smirks when discussing MPs spending, but was, overall, pretty mediocre, particularly compared to Jason Gunn, who went to town on Auckland media tossers/whores, swore like a trooper and ridiculed TVNZ – and himself – for the 50 years of TV embarrassment and for ‘resting’ Dancing With the Stars.

Fletch and Vaughn from the Edge were tasked with roasting TV newsreaders, so they stole a few bloopers from a website. Muted laughs were the result, and the undoubted highlight of their roast was when they showed irrefutable evidence that Mike McRoberts is a dead ringer for the fat kid on Two and Half Men.

But the best bit was Flava FM’s Dave Fane. In keeping with the roasts of the past, it was the drunkest man who spoke last and in what is undoubtedly one of the most offensive speeches ever heard in New Zealand, he let fly with f-bombs, n-bombs, c-bombs and many other types of bombs, ticking all the taboo boxes in his unflinching roastery of the agency folks and inferring, among many other things, that they all have AIDS, that they’re freeloaders (just like Islanders) and that Hitler was right. Some thought it was totally embarrassing and inappropriate, others thought it was absolutely brilliant.

And Fane also gets the award for best end to a speech: “Youse is c***s, youse is c***s, youse is c***s, and I hope you all burn in hell.”

Here’s the invite to the event, which is definitely worth a listen. TRB Roast

• What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
• Big corporates to social media: ‘Hey, you can actually make us money’. So how can New Zealand businesses tap into it?
• Virtually possible: eWestfield on the cards.
• Rupert Murdoch begins his paid content experiment in earnest as the timesonline.co.uk closes its doors.
• Close enough is not good enough when it comes to advertising, as one Christchurch car yard recently found out.
• Google plans its next assault. This time, music.

Mixed Signals

It’s now close to twenty years since broadcasting in New Zealand was deregulated, and radio and television frequencies sold off en masse to the highest bidder (although at the second-highest price, the theory at the time being that the winning bidder only had to pay what their nearest rival was willing to fork out).

The licences thus sold were issued for 20-year periods, which means it’s renewal time. In some markets (the UK in particular springs to mind) such renewals have meant a new auction process, with all broadcasters forced to bid extremely large sums of money to retain their frequencies – and those bids have not always been successful.

The New Zealand Government has opted for renewal rather than re-tendering, a decision which will please existing broadcasters and their shareholders (although potential media moguls will of course be bitterly disappointed). But the new licence round has given regulators an opportunity to tidy up the FM band in particular, bringing our FM broadcasting framework into line with international standards.

As a result, between now and April 2011 a significant number of radio stations will be changing their frequencies. In total there will be around 250 changes across the whole of New Zealand, that’s around a third of frequencies. Changes are staggered, mostly so as to minimise the resources that would otherwise be required if the changeover was simultaneous across so many geographically-scattered locations.

The changes are mostly minor, but they do threaten to disrupt existing listening habits, as consumers forced to retune their radios perhaps take the opportunity to sample other stations.

Wellington listeners will be particularly inconvenienced, with eleven stations switching frequencies, not all at once but over a period of several weeks during October and November. “Find the disappearing station” will become a popular game during the lead-up to Christmas shopping. Not a terribly smart move from a commercial perspective, we’d have thought.

We won’t burden you with the full list (see www.frequencyfinder.co.nz if you’re a collector of such arcane trivia), but here’s what’s happening across the five main centres. Stations not listed aren’t changing their frequencies.

AUCKLAND: Flava From 96.1 to 95.8 on 7 July 2010; George From 96.8 to 96.6 on 7 July 2010

HAMILTON: Breeze From 99.3 FM to 99.4 FM on 30 Jun 2010; Hauraki From 96 FM to 96.2 FM on 30 Jun 2010; More From 92 FM to 92.2 FM on 30 Jun 2010; Radio Live From 100 FM to 100.2 FM on 30 Jun 2010

WELLINGTON: Atiawa Toa From 96.9 FM to 100.9 FM on 27 Oct 2010; Breeze From 98.1 FM to 98.5 FM on 13 Oct 2010; Classic Hits From 90 FM to 90.1 FM on 3 Nov 2010; EasyMix From 93.5 FM to 93.7 FM on 27 Oct 2010; Hauraki From 93.1 FM to 93.3 FM on 10 Nov 2010; Radio Active From 89 FM to 88.6 FM on 3 Nov 2010; Radio Live From 98.7 FM to 98.9 FM on 13 Oct 2010; Radio New Zealand Concert From 95.6 FM to 96.1 FM on 27 Oct 2010; Radio New Zealand National From 104.5 FM to 101.7 FM; Solid Gold From 97.5 FM to 97.3 FM on 17 Nov 2010; The Rock From 96.3 FM to 96.5 FM on 20 Oct 2010

CHRISTCHURCH: No Changes. DUNEDIN: No Changes.

Social Media: Where’s The Money?

All that most businesses really want to know about social media is how to use this latest and greatest toy to make more money selling their products or services. Performics, a Publicis-owned unit, wanted to find out the same thing, so it conducted an online survey of US consumers who access at least one social network regularly. The objective: to determine what kind of impact social networking has on the purchase process.

Here’s what they found out, from 3,011 US consumers:

• 34% have used a search engine to find information on a product/service/brand after seeing an advertisement on a social networking site
• 30% have learned about a new product, service and/or brand from a social networking site
• 27% are receptive to invitations to events, special offers or promotions from advertisers communicated to them through social networking sites
• 25% have gone directly to an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a product/service/brand via a social networking site
• 25% have recommended a product/service/brand to their friends via a social networking site
• 20% have discussed products/services/brands on social networking sites after seeing an ad elsewhere

In other words, Social Media CAN convert into money. But first you need to be there.

Performics isn’t the only US organisation to get serious about Social Media. Research giant Nielsen has just put its social media monitoring service BuzzMetrics into a joint venture with management consultants McKinsey, intending to ‘fuse social media’ into client companies.

Headquartered in New York, the joint venture is to be called NM Incite. NM Incite expects to have offerings for pilot clients in the autumn in the areas of measuring and improving marketing effectiveness, product-launch optimisation and customer service experience. Why would these two highly capable enterprises join forces in such a fashion?

Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey, said: “Social media is an increasingly critical issue for business leaders and an area of untapped opportunity for many of our clients. This joint venture will equip institutions with real-time insights to help their leaders drive better results.”

More compellingly, here’s what the joint venture’s new chief exec, Dave Hudson, had to say about the NM Incite mission:

“Increasingly, I seem to get asked the same question, ‘how do I take advantage of social media?’ This question is partly driven by the recognition that social media is huge. (According to Nielsen’s newly released May 2010 data, three quarters of U.S. online users visit social media sites regularly spending about 5.5 hours a month visiting social networking sites at the workplace alone). It’s also driven by executives’ belief that social media data is full of incredibly valuable information and insights into consumers.

“What’s really at the core of these questions is the sense that social media has the potential to transform their business. And that the most sophisticated companies are starting to harness this wisdom – this social media intelligence – to create competitive advantage. Some are pros, others are novices, but many still struggle with how to do it, let alone how to do it quickly.

“Consumer content and opinion is now inseparable from the purchase process, and social networks are now becoming an invaluable sounding board for all manner of product ideas and feedback. Billions of consumers now regularly access the internet and increasingly comment on products and services. Recent data suggests that two thirds of consumers won’t make a purchase decision without checking consumer opinions online.

“For many companies, social media insights have been locked in functional silos, making it difficult to leverage across the organization. Many of these same companies also struggle with how to interpret the volume of data generated by social media and which measures they should focus on. These are difficult problems to solve. And it’s even more difficult if you are trying to truly unleash the potential of social media across an organization, through product development, marketing and communications, customer service, supply chain and resource planning.”

Okay, that’s the corporate-speak. Here’s how we see it: social media just went pro. Serious players have just stepped into the ring and said “Corporate America needs to know what’s going on in this new environment – consumers are talking about them, they need to know what’s being said, how and by whom.”

Is social media worth the effort in New Zealand yet?

Social Media has now reached the tipping point, in New Zealand as elsewhere, with more than half the internet population now regularly engaging in social media. If you’re not already operating in the social sphere, time to get started. So, where do you start? Well, you could do one of our social media e-courses (the next one starts on on Monday 5 July). Or, if that all seems too much like hard work, you could just engage us to undertake a Social Media Audit of your business and your product categories, which would then serve as the basis either for proceeding with your own social media programme within your organisation, or outsourcing to the appropriate specialists.

Here’s what our Social Media Audit covers:

1. AUDIENCE ANALYSIS: Identifying where your customers and prospects gather in social media; reviewing what their interests, needs and wants are; and determining how your products or services might be successfully promoted to them in a social networking environment

2. MONITORING & EVALUATING: What consumers are currently saying about you (or, worse, not); what they’re saying about your competitors; what they’re saying about your product category; what your competitors are doing in the social space; global best practice in your product or service category

3. INFLUENCER ANALYTICS: Identifying the likely influencers with your target audience; determining what will appeal to those influencers.

4. RISK ASSESSMENT: Assessing current and projected risks in the social sphere; determining appropriate responses to negative comment

5. RECOMMENDATIONS: Recommended Social Media Objectives; recommended Social Media Strategies; recommended Social Media Tactics; recommended Social Media Programme; recommended Social Media Optimisation

6. R.O.I. STRATEGIES: A programme which establishes appropriate benchmarks against which to measure Social Media Return On Investment.

Audit spaces are limited. Email michael@netmarketingservices.co.nz for more information.

eWestfield?

AdNews Australia is reporting that Westfield is preparing to enter the world of e-commerce with plans to launch Australia’s first virtual shopping centre 10 years after it abandoned similar plans. According to AdNews, the e-commerce site is likely to be fashion led, with other categories set to include electronics and books. Westfield ditched plans to launch a virtual shopping centre 10 years ago, fearing that the venture could cannibalise footfall at Westfield malls.

The whole concept of a virtual shopping mall has always been regarded as suspect. In the real world, it makes sense to offer a range of shopping facilities within easy reach. In the online environment, where everything is just a click away, not so much.

Well, that was the perceived wisdom. In reality, however, knowledge rather than distance has been the barrier to online shopping. In markets such as Australia and New Zealand where e-commerce offerings are limited, a virtual “shopping precinct” is really just a curated shopping directory.

We can and do turn to Google when we know what we’re looking for – but when we just want to window shop, it’s a lot harder to know where to start. Given Westfield’s current roster of tenants, it should be relatively easy for them to assemble a serious lineup of digital attractions.

If you’re contemplating online commerce any time soon, you just may need to factor Westfield into the equation. You’ll need to consider whether or not to cough up to be included in their virtual mall, of course. New Zealand’s e-commerce graveyard is littered with the virtual corpses of flying pigs and former ferrits, alas. But this time the elephant could be on its way. White, or large enough to make a difference? Too soon to call, but really important to ponder.

It Begins

Rupert’s experiment with paid content has begun in earnest. The UK’s Times Online website, timesonline.co.uk is no more, replaced by two new websites, thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk, that require registration (and, soon enough, payment). What does this mean? A whole heap of possibilities present themselves:

• Newspapers everywhere move to paid content. Consumers grumble but eventually enough of them pay up to make the transition permanent. If you want the news of record, you have to subscribe.
• Some newspapers make the move to paid; but enough stay free to spoil the migration. Consumers switch their attention to free as they usually do; some of those who hoped to be paid re-open the doors to content given away.
• The economy recovers and newspapers go back to treating their websites as marketing tools. Content remains mostly free.
• Newspapers move to paid websites. Consumers switch their attention to bloggers, radio and TV news websites, Google News, etc etc. Newspapers become less and less accessible (and suffer as a result).
• Everyone gets an iPad and is happy to pay Apple for news.
• Everyone else gets an Androidopad and is happy to pay Google for news.

To choose the correct solution, click here.

Near Enough Not good Enough

A Christchurch car yard has just been pinged by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for running a newspaper ad featuring an image of a top of the line vehicle but carrying the price of a cheaper variant.

The advertisement for Cockram Motors showed four vehicles including a Nissan Tida Ti hatchback. Under the vehicle’s image, the ad said “just $24,995 driveway” in bold red text and “Ti shown” in smaller grey print. A complaint to the ASA said the ad attempted to “dupe the reader” because the price advertised was for the cheaper ST model.

“The Ti, in Nissan’s case, or other top-of-the-line models elsewhere, always looks better to the eye,” the complainant said. “The idea is to get people into the sales yard and then once there, you are told that to buy the car in the picture it will cost ex-amount more.”

Cockram Motors’ advertising agency said it was not provided with a photograph of the Tida ST and instead used a “particular model or sub-brand that represents the range of variants”.

“As required by the Code of Ethics the advertisement states that it is the Ti variant illustrated,” the agency said. “We agree that this is not the best way to illustrate the ST advertised — however the only exterior difference between the two variants Ti and ST is the alloy wheels.”

The ASA ruled the ad was misleading and the disclaimer “Ti shown” was “not adequate in size or position”.

It was not acceptable to show a superior model of car to that on offer without making it clear and obvious to the consumer, it said.

The whole case is a useful reminder of the importance of getting things right. In the bygone era of the Mad Men, this type of substitution would not only have been overlooked but (if it was discovered) would have been applauded — “bait and switch” was regarded as a mostly legitimate advertising technique back in the day.

Not any more. Although (or at least so it seems to us) there are precedents even today — we occasionally see TV ads with some zippy automobile caressing mountain roads and looking totally desirable, while a reasonably visible caption tells us something like “European model shown”. We daresay the disclaimers are big enough to make the resulting messages acceptable, since the cost of reshooting the commercials locally would be prohibitive — but these examples perhaps send the wrong signal to those facing similar availability issues on a smaller scale.

In this instance, the offenders have been taken to the Advertising Standards Authority, who have ruled accordingly. The result might have been far worse if the complainant had instead taken the matter to the court of public opinion — what if he or she had been a blogger or tweeter who chose to turn the matter into their own personal crusade?

Honesty is not only the best policy, it’s a survival imperative in today’s consumer-centric world.

Google Music?

CNET is reporting that Google could launch a music service that offers song downloads and streaming music later this year. Google has already signaled that it wishes to give users of phones equipped with Google’s Android operating system a better music offering. At Google’s I/O conference last month, the search engine offered attendees a demonstration of a Web-based iTunes competitor.

But Google’s plans go beyond Android, say music sector insiders. CNET has learned that Google first stoked excitement among executives at some of the top four major labels during the Consumer Electronics Show in January. That’s where they revealed some of the features that a Google music store might include, such as tying digital downloads and streaming music to Google’s search results.

Google first tried linking songs to search last fall. The company launched Music Onebox and enabled people searching for song titles to stream the tunes via online music stores Lala.com and iLike. The experiment seemed to be derailed after those companies were acquired by competitors; Apple and MySpace respectively.

A Google-backed challenge to Apple’s dominance of legal online music sales would be warmly welcomed by the top labels. They have tried for years to convince heavy hitters such as Google, Facebook, and AOL to take on iTunes. The other top digital music stores, Amazon and MySpace Music, have yet to cut into Apple’s huge market share. Those two big names, however, don’t possess Google’s reach with Web consumers.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt can already boast some success in music with YouTube. Before three of the four top labels launched Vevo and took control of their videos, YouTube was by far the Web’s most successful streaming music service.

Remember those good old days when all we had to worry about was competing with the store down the road?

• Feature creep: how we really use our phones (and brains).
• Radio: now online and maybe even with pictures.
• The perils of mobile stalking via GPS.
• All hail the Super Marketer.
• If you’re going to spoil your kids, at least do it properly

“Never Knew It Could Do That”

You’ve probably heard it said that we only use 10 percent of our brains – with the unspoken assumption being that if we could somehow increase that usage to even just 15 percent, we’d be supergeniuses. Alas, that 10 percent usage claim turns out to be merely a myth. Research by spoilsport Barry L. Beyerstein of the Brain Behaviour Laboratory at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University suggests that the mistaken belief dates back to the pioneering American psychologist, William James, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was more of a selling point for various self-help works than a serious and verifiable scientific claim.

Apparently, according to the late Professor Beyerstein, all of our brain is in use and needed: observing the effects of head injury reveals that there does not seem to be any area of the brain that can be destroyed by strokes, head trauma, or other manner, without leaving the patient with some kind of functional deficit.

Another myth shattered. Darn.

On the other hand, it is fair to say that most of us do only use 10-20 percent of the capabilities of the technologies we have available to us. The Canadians (them again) recently conducted a research study into what mobile phone facilities we use. The results are regrettable but not surprising:

Use of mobile device features (Total Canada)

• 89 percent Phone calls
• 56 percent Clock/alarm
• 52 percent Text messaging
• 52 percent Camera
• 40 percent Calendar/agenda/organizer
• 28 percent Email
• 19 percent Emergencies Only
• 18 percent Instant messaging/Blackberry messenger
• 18 percent MP3’s /music/ videos
• 18 percent Picture/ video messaging
• 15 percent Web browsing
• 14 percent GPS or mapping services
• 14  Downloading (games, ringtones, etc)
• 13 percent Search
• 11 percent Facebook mobile
• 5 percent Contests/promotions
• 4 percent Subscriptions/alerts
• 3 percent Twitter mobile

Source: Delvinia’s 2009-2010 study of Canadian mobile behaviours conducted through AskingCanadians

These findings, which we’re sure represent a universal truth, not an unfortunate deficiency of maple-leafed Mounties with mobiles, suggest several underlying implications for Kiwi businesses:

1. Those leading-edge early adopters we see at the front of every bell-curve are indeed a very small minority. Not only that, but the widgets and accessories they find so fascinating may NEVER be used by the mass market. So be careful not to bet the farm on new whizzbang technology that’s not thoroughly intuitive and user-friendly.
2. On the other hand, if your products offer slight enhancements on core features that are actually used by most customers, you just might be able to steal market share from your competitors who may offer significantly more advanced technology – but whose benefits on basic features are minimal. Want proof? Look no further than the original iPod or iPhone (not as advanced as their then-rivals, but user-friendly to the max).
3. If it comes down to an engineering choice between small human-friendly improvements and revolutionary big-picture makeovers, insist on (actually DEMAND) validating consumer research before you commit to high-tech solutions that win awards but fail in the marketplace.
4. If you want to impress your colleagues, clients and peers with your technological superiority, simply RTFM (Read The Full Manuals) for some of the stuff that you already use in everyday life. You’ll be amazed at the hidden capabilities of some of the ordinary tools out there – look no further than mastering a few of the features of Microsoft Office and you’ll dazzle your co-workers showing off capabilities that you previously never knew existed.

Radio In Transition?

Late last month the Radio Network announced the sale of one of its Rotorua frequencies. That in itself isn’t particularly newsworthy, but what is interesting is the way that the Radio Network described the move, with the headline “Easy Mix Moves from On-air to Online in Rotorua”.

The spin is understandable, and absolutely true: Rotorua listeners, as well as everyone else, can now get their EasyMix fix from the EasyMix.co.nz website. But driving NZ radio listeners online is either a really, really smart move or one fraught with danger.

Why “dangerous”? Because (as US radio brand strategist Mark Ramsey pointed out in a recent blog posting) internet radio can and will cannibalise over-the-air broadcast listening, not replace it. And it will cannibalise radio’s advertising pool, not replace it.

As Benjamin Franklin famously said: “A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”

And those edges are tasty, indeed. Particularly as the speed-bumps to accessing and using and enjoying internet radio are cleared – as they will be – over the next few years; particularly as advertiser demand continues to build for the highly targeted capability of Internet radio which, quite frankly, leaves its over-the-air alternatives in the dust; particularly as revenues for internet radio build and agency acceptance of this new medium grows; particularly as the internet becomes embedded in everything, everywhere – even in places where radios generally don’t exist (or won’t exist forever) – like, say, your pocket; particularly as Google and others provide new access ramps to monetisation for publishers (formerly called “broadcasters”) large and small; and particularly (our thoughts) because there’s very little competitive barrier to entry with internet radio if you’ve always fancied yourself as a radio jock.

Alternatively, why “really really smart”?

Because the Radio Network and RadioWorks (who collectively control the Kiwi radio waves) have already avoided the high-cost, negligible-gain of introducing digital radio to this country – and could, if they so desired, migrate their listeners across to internet-delivered radio alternatives, one market and one radio brand at a time.

In due course, most markets and most brands could end up being served through internet radio, saving our existing broadcasters a fortune in frequency costs.

Yes, they would be moving into an environment where competitors could easily set up – and many international operators are already there, pumping out a million million different music flavours 24 hours a day – but then there’s the small matter of those iconic local radio brands that Kiwis already trust, and the small but perfectly formed band of hosts whose opinions we’ve grown to love (or hate)

Theoretically, it should be easy for anyone with a digitised music collection and an attitude to compete online with The Edge or Classic Hits. In practice, our major radio brands have spent years (in some cases, decades) building a following.

Just imagine a medium with the immediacy and intimacy of radio, the targeting capability of the internet – and, of course, the ability to add images, coupons, text. Radio with pictures, you might say. Interesting times.

Mobile Stalking

The NZ Privacy Act raises concerns about using current and new technologies. And now a new US study by Mobext (the mobile marketing arm of Havas Digital) and consumer research firm Cadio clearly demonstrates the potential and the privacy issues when you start mining GPS-equipped mobile data:

People who shop at Whole Foods are twice as likely to work out as those who shopped elsewhere, according to the study (reported by MediaPost). An obvious application of this insight would be for Whole Foods Market to create co-marketing programs with gyms or yoga studios to increase acquisition rates.

Among other findings of the study, Wal-Mart shoppers were 60% more likely to dine out than Target customers. Of the Target shoppers who ate out, about 25% went to a restaurant before going to one of its stores and another 25% afterward. The retail chains could use that data to offer more dining options than just snack foods or cross-market with nearby restaurants.

The research also shed light on the clash of the two coffee giants – Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. It found that half of Starbucks visitors also went to Dunkin’ Donuts. But among people who went to Dunkin’ Donuts, there was a 67% chance they would also go to Starbucks – suggesting that people preferred Starbucks coffee to Dunkin’ Donuts.

What’s among the biggest hurdles to mining this wealth of behavioural data via mobile tracking? Getting people to opt in to being electronically trailed wherever they go. The creepiness factor is hard to overcome.

Not to mention legislators’ concerns ….

Supermarketer Down Under

The NZ Food and Grocery Council (FGC) is bringing America’s Phil Lempert, the ‘Supermarket Guru’ to New Zealand for the first time, in June. Known in the USA as the Supermarket Guru, Lempert is viewed as being one of America’s leading consumer trend-watchers and analysts. Each month he speaks to millions of Americans about new products, trends and other industry issues.

Mr Lempert will be speaking about future trends in Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Supermarkets, at a luncheon to be held at Auckland’s Langham Ballroom on Tuesday 15 June. Tickets will be available through the FGC: www.fgc.org.nz

Pester Power In A Recession

Despite all the advice from Oprah and Dr Phil and stern looks from well-meaning educators and community advisors, turns out that today’s parents are pushovers.

Not for them the Victorian maxim “children should be seen and not heard”. This is the new millennium, sweetheart – kids just want to have fun and we parents want to give it to them, despite the inconvenience of a Global Financial Crisis.

The week’s US AdWeek has a special issue devoted to “What Kids Want”. Yep, if we’re going to pamper them, might as well do it in style. You’ll find the articles here, covering, amongst other things:

Your Wish Is My Desire
Penny-pinching parents might not be spending on themselves. But the kids? That’s a different story. Despite the enduring effects of a recession that’s supposedly over, parents are still shelling out money on their children despite double-digit unemployment and ongoing mortgage defaults. And that’s good news for any brand that makes toys, clothes, candy, or just about anything else an American kid could want.

Snack Attack
For companies that sell food to kids — food often high in fat, salt and sugar — the spotlight on children and how they eat is a potential public relations nightmare. But marketers are not taking the healthy food movement sitting down. Some are reformulating ingredients, others rethinking their marketing strategies, and still others creating programs they hope will encourage kids to exercise. The question for critics is, are they doing enough?

Scary Movies
Do trailers for children’s movies have to be so scary? With the tech breakthroughs in the last 10 years, trailers have only gotten more intense, chaotic and overwhelming. Some would argue that they’re only the messengers — that the real culprits are the increasingly loud and CGI-based movies themselves. But because trailers have to squeeze so much into two minutes or less, they are often scarier than the content they’re selling.

If you market to Generation Z, this is definitely worth a read.

And the second season of Michael Carney’s Social Media Marketing eCourse begins next Monday 3 May. You’ll find the full details of the seven week course at www.marketingrebooted.co.nz.

The survey, conducted by Research International, shows that on a national scale, radio’s core dayparts of breakfast (Monday to Friday 6.00am to 9.00am) and drive (Monday to Friday 4.00pm to 7.00pm) grew their cumulative audience by an overall total of 35,400 AP (all people) listeners aged 10 and over.

In Auckland, breakfast audiences have increased by 17, 300 listeners overall and by 8, 500 for the ‘household shoppers with kids’ group.

The drive-time department has been kind to Wellington, contributing largely to its 4,800 new listeners aged 10 and up.

But in the competitive world that is radio, which stations can bathe in the glory of increased audience  and station share numbers?

Newstalk ZB retains its status as the number one breakfast show in New Zealand by both AP aged 10 and over cumulative audience and station share.

The survey bodes well for mainstream youth brand radio, with The Rock, The Edge and ZM all growing their AP aged 10 and over Station Share and Cumulative Audience.

The Edge has the most cause for celebration, adding 39,500 listeners aged 10 and up. The station now holds the prestigious title of most listened to network in New Zealand with 434,600 listeners every week.

“This fantastic result is testament to a great team who work really hard to deliver great radio to their listeners,” says Leon Wratt, programme director for The Edge.

Following closely behind in the numbers ranks, fellow youth station ZM also had strong growth adding 30,000 listeners aged 10 and up, increasing its weekly audience to 403,000.

The Rock and The Edge remain first and second respectively in both station share and Cumulative Audience against the competitive AP 18-34 demographic.

And just in case you don’t know how it all works, the survey is conducted twice yearly to measure audiences as part of the radio industry’s commitment to accountability and fair pricing for advertising.

This latest survey sampled a total of 15, 169 people in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. No fancy technological gizmo’s were used to measure the audiences, just good ‘ole pen and a diary which participants filled out over a week. The Radio Network. Media Works and the Radio Bureau all pay towards the survey.

The numbers used in this story come from The Radio Bureau (TRB). Their figures are based on 6am–12 midnight.  TRB results may differ from those of other parties using different dayparts.