Merry Christmas Everybody

Christmas week is finally here and we would like to wish all of our clients and media contacts the best for the season.

For many, Christmas is a time for reflection and relaxation.  It’s also a time to think about those less fortunate than ourselves.

This year, rather than invest in Christmas cards, media360 opted to donate our time to raise money for the SPCA.

The media360 angels transformed into the Angels for Animals and helped the Auckland SPCA raise a phenomenal $68,000 on their inaugural appeal day. As you can see from the pics below the whole team really got into the spirit of the occassion.

We’re sure that this contribution will be much appreciated, especially at this time of year.

In terms of housekeeping, we will be closing the office from midday this Wednesday, returning to the office on the 11th of January. Our media managers will be in touch with relevant emergency contact details for this time.

As a final note for 2009, we would like to thank you for your business this year, wish you a peaceful break andwe look forward to helping you achieve your business goals in 2010.

Best wishes,

John Buckley

Becky raising funds at Newmarket Train Station

Rachel on Broadway

Rebecca on Broadway

The media360 Angels for Animals (and John).

November 2009 Media Update

Welcome to the media360 client blog.  This month we have a good selection of stories covering the world of media planning and buying in New Zealand.  But first, here’s a small announcement about media360 itself.

Read that? Righto. On with the content…

Market Conditions: This month Dale canvases opinion from the main media owners on the outlook for advertising. Is the tough market bottoming out or is there more pain to come? Click here.

New Technology: Personal Video Recorders are gaining ground in New Zealand. John looks at the newest entrant, TiVo and compares it to the system with the largest base, Sky’s MySky box. Click here.

Outdoor: When the going gets tough its nice to know there are businesses out there who can still pitch in to help.  In this report Rachel looks at how the billboard companies helped out a not-for-profit client. Click here.

Radio: The latest radio listenership figures are out. Rebecca looks at the highlights. Click here.

Television: How are tv viewership levels performing? Are people spending more time watching television. Becky analyses the numbers . Click here.

Online: In this update, Jane examines Facebook social ads and how you can use them to drive social interactions around your brand. Click here.

Magazines: Marissa gives us the latest news from publishers in light of the recent magazine readership survey. Click here.

New this month: media360’s hot or not.  Who’s cool, who’s tryhard.  This is our chance to send out the brickbats or bouquets to media-land. Click here.

September Update

Digital Outdoor: Oggi goes DOOH with the Warehouse. Becky looks at this new in-store digital advertising option.

Social Media: John reviews two informative video pieces about Social Media.

Outdoor: Train of thought – Rachel looks at a new advertising innovation that is quite literally making tracks.

Magazines: Marketing Magazine has a new owner, a new look and a new website. Rebecca presents a brief overview.

Cinema: Marissa outlines the seasons upcoming movies and the media options available on screen and in the cinema.

Search: What’s the benefit of using Google Adwords to promote your business? Jane gives us 5 reasons why you may should be using Search.

Fly Buys and Comtxt partner to offer 2.2 million New Zealanders rewards for texts

Fly Buys is partnering with HooHaa, the mobile marketing channel, to offer Fly Buys Points for receiving personalised deals, which its 2.2 million Members can opt to have sent to their mobile phones. Fly Buys Head of Marketing and Product Development Chris Lamers, says “This is a new way of rewarding Fly Buys Members – those who choose to opt-in will receive tailored promotional text messages, via HooHaa, and earn extra Points. This partnership is a logical extension to the current Fly Buys model and allows us to further reward Members for their loyalty and time, in a very innovative way.”

HooHaa CEO, Brian Hawker, says “The partnership with the 2.2 million Fly Buys Member community makes mobile advertising even more relevant for New Zealand advertisers. While we are unsure how many Fly Buys Members will opt-in, we expect a positive response which will greatly increase the impact of the text marketing medium.”

Under HooHaa’s unique model, the 80,000 HooHaa members are paid to receive relevant and tailored advertising to their mobile phones. They are then able to credit the money earned to accounts they hold with other entities which have payment agreements with HooHaa.

Mr Lamers says, “This is purely an extra, opt-in service – a way for Members to get their dream rewards faster. Only Members who ask to receive promotional offers will be contacted and they will control what types of offers they receive, so they just receive texts with relevant deals.”

HooHaa will manage the development of promotions with its customers, and then those Fly Buys Members who opt-in will receive texts from Fly Buys, powered by HooHaa.

Fly Buys is managed by Loyalty NZ Ltd. It is New Zealand’s largest coalition loyalty programme with more than 1.3 million active households (representing 71% of all NZ households) and 2.2 million card holders. On average, each day, the Fly Buys card is swiped more than 300,000 times and 2,000 rewards are sent to Members.

Sky TV’s annual results show good numbers

It’s reporting season and Sky TV have released their financial numbers. Chief Executive John Fellett also shared some insights into subscriber numbers, the churn rate and the uptake of MySky, the digital service that allows viewers to time shift their viewing.

Here’s the summary from the Sky website.

SKY Network Television Limited (“SKY”) announced today the result for the year ended 30 June 2009, being a net profit after tax of $88.1 million.

The SKY Board has declared a fully imputed final dividend of 7 cents per share, giving a total dividend for the year of 14 cents.

John Fellet, SKY Chief Executive said, “SKY has had another good year, with an increase in viewership of 6%, reduced churn, continued growth in subscriber numbers and increased average revenue earned per subscriber”.

SKY’s subscriber base grew by 30,326 (4.1%) subscribers over the previous year, to a new high of 778,902. The subscriber base comprises 623,564 residential digital subscribers (80%), 22,772 residential UHF subscribers (3%), 111,260 wholesale subscribers (14%) and 21,306 (3%) commercial and other subscribers. SKY is now in 47.2% of New Zealand homes.

SKY’s results were impacted by the costs of commissioning the new server based digital television station and the launch of High Definition (HD) television. These developments introduced a new layer of fixed costs to the business, the benefits of which will be realised as an increasing number of subscribers choose these new services.

Mr Fellet said, “we have been very pleased with the take up of the new MYSKY HDi services with over 85,000 decoders having been installed in the year to 30 June 2009. Interest in the product amongst existing and new subscribers continues to be strong.”

Social Media – Fad or Fundamental Shift?

What happens when you take a Fatboy Slim track from the 90’s, a heap of data about social media and let your flash animator loose on it? This perhaps…

We’re keen to hear what you think of it – feel free to post below.

August Update

Dale Spencer, CEO of media360, provides insights from his trans-Tasman vantage point. Read his post on Fairfax pay-walls and other things here.

There’s a recession on but does it feel like there are fewer ads around?  Rachel looks into the latest ad data here.

How to have fun while doing business online.  Becky looks at an entertaining strategy for web site advertising here

Radio networks  are adapting to change faster than almost any other traditional media.  Jane shares some examples on how radio is taking advantage of digital trends here

Big news from our friends in the South.  Marissa reports on how The Press is modernising here

Can I advertise on TV2 in the South Island only on Freeview?  Regional TV breakouts briefly explained by Rebecca here (and the answer is no).

Flossie’s Range of Web Channels

The team at flossie.com have sent out this reminder about their new channels

Each channel has its own style, content, associated network sites and dedicated Channel Managers.

You’ll find them all on www.flossie.com

Here’s the background:

LifestyleFlossie – Every day we’ll be serving you the best of the best living, gardening, food & wine, craft & design, eco, pets and weddings content – all the good things in life really. It’s inspired living made easy! Get to know LifestyleFlossie and her network partners.

FashionFlossie – The best of the best fashion and beauty content delivered in one (very well-heeled) place. If you love to shop smartly, enjoy great buys, gorgeous imagery and to be challenged and inspired in equal parts, discover it now! Get to know FashionFlossie and her network partners.

HealthyFlossie – Packed with great content on diet & fitness, nutrition, women’s health, family health, sex & relationships and of course happiness. Happiness is a daily choice and I’m going to help you make the right one. Get to know HealthyFlossie and her network partners.

ProfessionalFlossie – Your home for information & inspiration on women in business, personal development, technology & trends, executive style, careers and personal finance – no fluff, no regurgitation and definitely no ball breakers. Get to know ProfessionalFlossie and her network partners.

MamaFlossie – No one tells it like it is – except MamaFlossie. Parenthood is brilliant, mind-blowing, scary, fun, a whirlwind, overwhelming and precious; but how the hell do you get through it without going mad? Get to know MamaFlossie and her network partners.

And stay tuned for one more, very exciting release in the coming weeks.

Creatives, win a trip to Cannes with MSN

The Search is on for Rich Media creative superstars.

MSN New Zealand is rewarding online advertising creativity with a trip for two agency creative’s to the Cannes Advertising Festival 2010.

With parent ninemsn, agencies on both sides of the Tasman are invited to submit online advertising handiwork to MSN’s Butterfly Award, which, each quarter starting August, awards best creative (with a $1,500 lunch).

The overall grand prize winner of the Cannes trip will be selected from quarterly winners.

Creative’s have August to submit their entry to the first quarterly award. The fourth and final quarterly award closes 17 May 2010, with the overall grand prize winner announced later that month.

MSN New Zealand business manager Liz Fraser says entry is simple and admissible in either finalised or storyboard form. “Take an existing brief, work your online magic and show us how clever you are.”

Entry details are available at MSN’s advertising portal.  http://msn.co.nz/advertise

Facebook could be making $US1bn from ads

Caroline McCarthy reports on an interview with Facebook Board Member Marc Andreessen.

Advertisers will be interested in the following comments:

“If Facebook worked the ad-sales front a bit harder, Andreessen added in the interview, revenue could already be over a billion.

But Facebook has never taken kindly to traditional display advertisements, choosing instead to experiment with “engagement ads” integrated into the social-networking experience–a product it may potentially extend into Facebook Connect’s participating sites, which now number over 10,000.”

Read Carolines report here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10280207-36.html