Newly married - Jack Tame and Mava Moayyed. File photo / supplied
A ‘humble’ media wedding; a massive advertising contract that could change the face of Auckland transport; TVNZ/Meta react to regulation document; the Radio, PR and Voyager awards - and a Cabbage prize.
On Saturday night, TVNZ reporter Mava Moayyed celebrated with her colleagues at the glamorous Voyager Media Awards at the Cordis Hotel. Her name was up in lights as a finalist for Current Affairs Broadcast Reporter of the Year, alongside Garth Bray, Paula Penfold, Melanie Reid and the eventual winner, Kristin Hall.
On Sunday morning, Moayyed’s partner Jack Tame hosted Q+A from TVNZ.
By Sunday night, the pair were married.
As Spy’s Ricardo Simich reported in April, Tame – who also hosts Newstalk ZB’s Saturday Morning show – has been dating Moayyed, a reporter for TVNZ 1′s Sunday, for more than a year.
“Mava and I were legally married in a really humble ceremony at home,” Tame told Media Insider.
“Mava is a Baha’i and it’s important in the Baha’i faith for couples to marry before moving in together.”
Their marriage comes after Tame gave an insight into the pair’s personal life in April.
“Between us, living in two different houses, in different suburbs, with her son and various jobs to balance, we decided to see if we could get by with just one vehicle,” Tame told his ZB listeners.
“The theory was pretty simple. Whenever I could, I would ride my bike. She would walk more and use public transport. Both of us would have to be a bit thoughtful about our requirements in advance … we tried to plan out our weeks as best we could.”
He told listeners that Moayyed had sold her car for $3000. That’s fantastic, he replied.
“And so, what are you thinking now?” he asked.
“Well, I’ve got your car,” she said.
“I don’t think I truly appreciated New Zealand’s lagging mathematics achievement until I noted the laxness of my girlfriend’s attitude to the situation.
“’I can give you the $3000 if you really want it,’ said my girlfriend.
“’But my car’s worth $10,000,’ I said.
“Welcome to love.”
Those close to the pair say their honeymoon this week has been spent at work – indeed, Tame was helming Newstalk ZB’s Drive show last night as most of the ZB team attended the annual Radio Awards, to claim the Network Station of the Year award.
Moayyed is mum to a young school-age son, Rumi, whose name reflects his mother’s Persian heritage.
“Rumi is this old Persian poet and we thought we were being real clever and original,” she told Stuff last year. “And then a month or two later, Beyonce had a set of twins and she named one of them Rumi, and I was like, ‘No, everyone’s going to think that I copied Beyonce’.”
After the “humble” wedding ceremony at home on Sunday, Tame and Moayyed are planning a wonderful celebration in 2024.
“We’re having a wedding celebration with family and friends next year which we’re really excited about,” Tame said.
Broadcaster Sean Plunket and the political Press Gallery in Wellington are in somewhat of a face-off over his accreditation and access to cover Parliament.
The former RNZ Morning Report presenter – and founder/CEO/morning host of The Platform digital audio platform – has accused “legacy media” of apparently moving to block his access as an accredited member of the Press Gallery.
Being accredited allows him to attend press conferences, including the Prime Minister’s weekly post-Cabinet briefing in the Beehive Theatrette. Plunket made global headlines recently when a video went viral of him asking Chris Hipkins to define the meaning of a woman.
The Press Gallery says it’s still considering whether to grant Plunket an exemption to new rules which state a local media organisation needs to be under the auspices of the Broadcasting Standards Authority or the Media Council in order to be accredited.
Plunket says he’s sought an exemption, and if he has no luck, he will appeal to the Speaker of the House, Adrian Rurawhe.
“It’s not like I’m a strange outlier, rebel news outfit,” said Plunket, who worked in the gallery for seven years. He says there are plenty of laws, including the Defamation Act, to keep The Platform in check.
The accreditation issue came to the fore after the Press Gallery’s chair, TVNZ’s Maiki Sherman, wrote to Plunket, inquiring whether The Platform was a member of the Media Council or the Broadcasting Standards Authority, as required under new rules.
Sherman told Media Insider the Press Gallery had been updating its rules since early last year.
“We believed that rather than trying to be overly prescriptive in our rules, it was not unreasonable to expect Press Gallery members to be subject to one of the established organisations adjudicating on journalistic standards.
“Sean was made aware during his application last year that the Press Gallery was looking to include this change as part of a prerequisite for accreditation.
“That is why, coupled with the fact The Platform was a relatively new media organisation, the decision was made to grant only temporary access for a two-month period. This accreditation was extended in good faith until the rule changes had been adopted last month.”
She said one other local organisation in the Press Gallery was now joining the Media Council.
“The Press Gallery recognises the unique role international media outlets play in covering and reporting on New Zealand politics for an international audience. While they are not required to fall under the jurisdiction of these domestic organisations, they are expected to uphold equivalent journalistic standards.”
In case you missed it, it was an eventful few hours in the media world on Thursday afternoon.
At 2pm, Internal Affairs released a new discussion document, proposing a new Government regulator to oversee the content on news media and social media platforms. The proposed new regulations appear to have set the Government on a crash course with media companies, at least some of whom seem to have been sideswiped by the extent of the changes. They say they are already heavily regulated and the new laws threaten press freedom.
As part of that story, I was in touch with all of the major media firms on Thursday morning, including Stuff owner and CEO Sinead Boucher, who gave a forthright statement.
Then at 2.30pm, Boucher herself was leading an all-staff meeting at Stuff, announcing she was stepping down from the CEO role to become executive chair, making way for former NZME executive Laura Maxwell to take the reins. Two other former NZME leaders - Matt Headland and Nadia Tolich - also feature prominently in a new Stuff leadership team, alongside Joanna Norris. I’ll have more on these changes in the coming week.
By 5pm, it was the annual Radio Awards - the ZB team looked very spiffy as they departed the newsroom. ZB dominated at the awards, with various notable supreme prizes - the station was named Network Station of the Year and Mike Hosking was named the Sir Paul Holmes Broadcaster of the Year for the third straight year each. And remarkably, Marcus Lush was named best talk presenter (outside of breakfast and drive) for the seventh time in a row.
The partying continued late into the night, by all accounts.
Billboards are some of the oldest and purest forms of advertising – lighting up locations such as Times Square in New York, Piccadilly Circus in London and corners of our own biggest cities.
They started out as large and intricate posters to promote circuses in the 1830s – PT Barnum proclaimed his carnival as “The Greatest Show on Earth” – before transforming into full-colour artistic masterpieces (think Coca-Cola and Campbells Soup) and dazzling neon monstrosities.
People have worn billboards and in one famous case in New Zealand – a radio station stunt – lived on them.
Outdoor advertising is now enjoying a renaissance in the digital age. Many of our street corners, bus stops and previously vacant walls are alight with fast-moving digital imagery and headlines, trying to catch our attention in a fast-paced world.
In the final quarter of 2022, outdoor advertising in New Zealand generated $48.9 million of revenue – small compared with other platforms such as digital/print, TV and radio – but easily a record month. The first quarter of this year (traditionally the quietest for the out-of-home industry) generated $37.53 million of revenue – up 10.3 per cent on the same period last year.
And while the industry is feeling the economic ill winds in this second quarter, many of its key players are preoccupied with one of the biggest advertising industry contracts in New Zealand - the opportunity for outdoor companies to sweep up one, or several, Auckland Transport (AT) contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 10 years.
In the words of one insider, it is a “transformational contract” that has sent the outdoor media companies, into “a frenzy”. Another called it “the biggest pitch” in media right now. A third source said everyone had something to gain, and possibly something to lose, depending on how AT ultimately lands on the future contracts.
Six key AT pillars are at stake:
Two of the firms with the biggest to lose – or gain – are oOh!media, which has the current contract for bus shelters, and MediaWorks, which has the contract for bus exteriors and some billboards.
Any newcomers who pick up any aspect of the contracts are likely to need to employ dozens of new staff.
oOh!’s contract for the bus shelters goes back 23 years (the company was previously called Admedia). They are the “darling” of the industry, a slick and extremely well-run organisation, says one well-placed observer, one of at least 10 people who Media Insider spoke to this week.
oOh!media NZ general manager Nick Vile said his business was “100 per cent committed” to the AT tender process, and putting its best foot forward. They were excited about the opportunities a new deal presented.
“We don’t want to take incumbency as an advantage.”
Rather, they were focused on what fresh perspectives and ideas the business could bring to the table to be part of the transport solution in the region.
“It’s fair to say incumbency has advantages but it also has disadvantages. A competitor won’t be encumbered with the intricacies of the current contract such as the cleaning and maintenance schedules. We’ll be seeking the right balance of incumbency and having a fresh set of eyes.”
oOh!media had a “lot of support” out of its Australian business, and plenty of specialists and third parties to help provide advice.
Meanwhile, MediaWorks has recently appointed Brad Morgan to the newly created executive role of Outdoor Director.
“Adding this role to the executive reflects the importance of out-of-home to MediaWorks’ future strategy,” the company said in April. It didn’t want to comment on the AT pitch, though: “We’d prefer to keep our cards close to our chest,” said a spokeswoman this week.
A third business, JCDecaux, has apparently hired a former oOh!media staffer to help lead them on their own AT pitch. It is a French company, with deep pockets, say sources, and the big boss will be coming out to New Zealand shortly to help with the pitch. “While we don’t comment on any tender, we are delighted to be part of the process,” said JCD NZ country manager Mike Watkins.
A fourth business, Go Media, might be the dark horse, says another observer. Locally owned, with a deep community connection, it has dominated headlines over the last few weeks with naming rights to Mt Smart Stadium and new digital executions on Wellington’s transport network. “The AT media contract is a massive opportunity for outdoor media vendors. The contract will be highly contested, and it will be business transformational if AT changes its existing partners. Go Media is going to put its best foot forward, and will lean hard on securing all, if not parts of the portfolio,” said general manager Simon Teagle.
Another company, Lumo, didn’t wish to comment.
“The advertising spaces offered through our partners across Auckland’s public transport network and fleet are iconic and bring a real wow factor to campaigns, especially through opportunities like a wrapped double-decker bus or train,” says AT’s Head of Partnerships and Experience Simon Soulsby.
“Once the City Rail Link and our new Maungawhau, Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu stations open there will also be opportunities for advertisers to have their campaigns feature in our fantastic new world-class train stations.”
One of the most interesting aspects of the bus shelter contract, held by oOh!media, is that the company itself is responsible for the maintenance and cleaning of each shelter where it has advertising panels.
oOh!media has around 1000 AT locations, including about 200 digital sites.
“Under this agreement oOh!media sells the advertising space and pays for the construction and maintenance of these bus shelters,” says Soulsby. “AT receives a percentage share of the advertising revenue, which we put towards the costs of managing the rest of Auckland’s bus shelters (the ones without advertising panels).
“This is a model we’re planning to continue into the next contract,” said Soulsby. “This is an arrangement that works well for our passengers because it means that there are more bus shelters across our network than we would otherwise be able to deliver through our limited budgets.”
Soulsby said the second big contract (held by MediaWorks) covered about 100 digital screens (big and small) across AT’s public transport network, all bus and train exterior advertising and activations at bus and train stations.
He said the contracts were “a really important source of revenue for Auckland Transport at a time when there is significant pressure on our budgets”.
“Over the new contracted period, the value of these out-of-home assets will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars and AT’s revenue share will support our ongoing delivery of public transport services, road maintenance and road safety programmes.”
AT is asking suppliers to register their interest before going out to full tender in August. “From there, we’re looking to sign contracts in late 2023 or early 2024, with the new contracts to go live at the beginning of 2025.
“We want to hear from interested companies about how they think these different out-of-home advertising contracts could be best structured to deliver the best results for Auckland’s public transport customers and advertisers alike. This could result in consolidation, or we could end up having a wider range of partners working with us on smaller contracts.”
Vile said he was heartened to see a Q1-Q1 10 per cent growth in outdoor advertising this year. “You don’t have to look too far to see a digital billboard.”
Vile said the industry was in a good place, unifying under an industry body. “AT is going to be a high-profile tender process but that’s the nature of being in the out-of-home process. We’ll continue to play the ball not the man. Whoever comes out on top, it will be for the right reasons.”
Highlight: Aside from the wonderful Website of the Year and Newspaper of the Year prizes – and our other big NZ Herald winners (go team!) – a standout highlight from Voyagers awards night was Stuff’s Kwok Yi Lee’s moment on stage to collect the Best Artist: Graphic Design trophy.
The sheer delight and surprise were a joy to watch. Congratulations to Kwok Yi.
Watch the moment here:
Lowlight: While there might have been a few wet eyes for Kwok Yi, the opposite was true of the entrée served up. A quarter of a sliced cabbage! And not only that, one of the driest forms of food ever encountered - I’ve seen more moisture in balsa wood. That cabbage deserves its own dedicated award.
The inaugural, weekly Media Insider Cabbage Award goes to Niwa, for steadfastly refusing to answer any of my questions about the recent serious public safety concerns and issues over weather forecasting in New Zealand. The Government is seeking advice about the forecast systems and MetService and Niwa’s respective roles. The Ministers and MetService were happy to speak; Niwa not so much.
Submissions for future Media Insider Cabbage Award winners to shayne.currie@nzme.co.nz
Much better news for Niwa at the annual Public Relations Institute (Prinz) awards, last Friday night. Its communications team won the supreme award for its use of communications to tell the scientific story of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcanic eruption in 2022.
Called ‘Shotgun Blast from the Deep”, the campaign also took out gold in the best use of media relations. The head judges said the Niwa campaign was well-researched, conceived, and executed within a short timeframe and with little budget while managing multiple agencies.
Well done, Niwa!
A total of 14 golds and two special awards were awarded, from 48 finalists.
Special PR was named PR Consultancy of the Year (large) and HMC from Waikato won PR Consultancy of the Year (small).
Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) won four golds for its ‘You’re Cooked- if you’re cooked, stay off the stove’ campaign while Mango Communications won two golds for its campaign to recruit staff for McDonald’s, as well as a special award, the Isentia and Prinz Prize for Excellence in Research, Measurement and Evaluation.
In-house PR team of the year went to Auckland Airport and the Sally Logan-Milne Young Practitioner of the Year award was won by Jessica Chaplin of NZ Police.
GOLD WINNERS
Best Use of Digital and Social Media
You’re cooked – If you’re cooked stay off the stove; Kelley Toy, Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Best Use of Media Relations
Community Relations and Engagement
Improving Powerco’s relationship with the Greytown community; Rochelle West, Powerco
Consumer or Customer Relations
McCensus: understanding the crew to attract the new; Brianna Elder, Simon Kenny, Mango Communications
Experiential and Activation
You’re cooked – If you’re cooked stay off the stove; Kelley Toy, Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Government Relations and Public Affairs, sponsored by Robert Walters
Closing the Pay Gap – gathering support from New Zealanders to influence policy change; Cas Carter, Mihi Blake, Tilly van Eeden, Bee Stevenson, Mindthegap
Marketing Communication
McCensus: understanding the crew to attract the new; Brianna Elder, Simon Kenny, Mango Communications
You’re cooked – If you’re cooked stay off the stove; Kelley Toy, Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Most Innovative Campaign
You’re cooked – If you’re cooked stay off the stove; Kelley Toy, Fire and Emergency New Zealand
PR Consultancy of the Year (more than seven)
Special PR
PR Consultancy of the Year (one to seven)
HMC Communications Limited
PR In-house team of the year
Auckland Airport
Sally Logan-Milne Young Practitioner of the Year
Jessica Chaplin
Isentia and PRINZ Prize for Excellence in Research, Measurement and Evaluation
McCensus: understanding the crew to attract the new; Brianna Elder, Simon Kenny, Mango Communications
PRINZ Supreme Award Winner
Shotgun blast from the deep; Jessica Rowley, Sarah Fraser, Rebekah Parsons-King, Rory Newsam, Niwa
TVNZ and Meta have added their voices, following the release yesterday of the discussion document by Internal Affairs, proposing one new Government regulator to oversee content on social media and news platforms.
“The current system is not broken, but it could be improved,” says a TVNZ spokeswoman. “We would welcome a consolidation of media regulators. For a country of our size there are too many, and we support steps which make it easier for consumers to navigate which rules apply to which content. We particularly welcome any opportunity to review the Broadcasting Act, which is not equipped for a digital future.”
Echoing several of the other media businesses, she said freedom of speech and freedom of expression were important.
“There is a lot of focus on harm in the discussion document, and the definition of this will be critical. It cannot be subjective, otherwise, it runs the risk of having a chilling effect. A standards regime or code needs an objective set of criteria to be measured against, otherwise there will be difficulty in applying it consistently. As our broadcasting and online offerings (TVNZ+ and 1 News) are already regulated, this is not an area of overriding concern. We provide extensive information to viewers so they can make their own choices about the content they watch.”
She said it was important not to overburden parts of the media ecosystem which currently get it right. “Traditional media in NZ operate responsibly. When we get it wrong, we own our mistakes. If consumers aren’t happy with our decision, they can escalate. We see a consolidated regulator being an appellate body for these types of referrals. Self-regulation works and is cost-effective. Ultimately this means media can invest in more content for audiences rather than processes.”
Meta (Facebook) insisted it was already doing a lot.
“We’ve long supported calls to modernise regulation to address online harms, and have been collaborating with industry and safety organisations to tackle harmful online content for many years,” said Meta’s head of public policy (New Zealand and Pacific Islands) Nick McDonnell. “This includes helping to develop the NZ Code of Practice for Online Safety and Harm, launched last year, which last week was recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as best practice in self-regulation focused on systems and outcomes. We look forward to reviewing the discussion paper and continuing our work with local organisations to help to keep Kiwis safe online.”
This week, we touch base again with Sean Plunket.
* Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
NZ is one of the first jurisdictions in world to clear the way for OMG and IPG to merge.