Media Insider: Five for ‘25 - Media leaders on the year ahead:

Shayne Currie of New Zealand Media & Entertainment (NZME) has been asking national media outlets and agencies a series of questions about the media landscape and their hopes for 2025. Would be great if he also asked some regional media - maybe that's to come but anyway I thought I would respond to his questions.

What’s the one word to sum up your mood heading into 2025?

Excited

What was the best initiative/project/campaign in your own business in 2024 – and one you thought a rival did well?

Launching a ‘disrupter’ business event called The Profit Unleashed. The idea had been permeating for a long time – in other words I’d been procrastinating about creating an event series for 10 years. I didn’t want a stock standard business event with one out of town speaker that comes in and gives a rah rah about how great they are. I wanted it to be about celebrating local legends – those born and bred or presently reside in Hawke’s Bay – or has business interests in the Bay.

Using social media to tease the concept was a huge success with potential sponsors contacting me to be involved and then tickets selling out in just over 2 weeks. This was also based on the guest panel talent – Luke Irving of Fingermark, Robyn McLean of Hello Period and R&N co-founder Hamish Pinkham. I also had an side-kick – the energetic wine writer and entrepreneur Yvonne Lorkin on stage.

The event went off! And I’m now in a rush to sort the next one in late February.

A rival – not a fan of that word – although I’m pretty competitive but would rather look at collaborators. In that regard I freelanced to another local publication Bay Buzz and introduced a sport and wellbeing section sponsored by local private hospital Kaweka Hospital. It brought me back to my roots as a sports reporter and added a new dimension to Bay Buzz. It’s great that although we do compete for the local advertising dollar we can also partner on content creation.

How do you think 2025 will play out for New Zealand media – what would be a game-changer for your company?

The sugar rush of public journalism fund is running out and sadly there will be further local and national casualties. Hawke’s Bay has lost its weekly community newspapers and this will become a big issue as we head in local body elections later in the year. Although there’s talk from some about establishing a new weekly paper, I personally don’t think it will be sustainable. As a traditional media lover, I have to put that love aside and think with my head and that people are consuming media elsewhere. The big issue is that businesses and community organisations need a place for their stories to be told. With 3 local magazines – the Profit, Bay Buzz and HB Living, they offer some opportunities, while I don’t think we can forever rely on HB Today – as that was also impacted by cuts in 2024. I certainly hope our daily newspaper will continue – again it’s vital and local businesses need to ensure that some of their marketing spend is placed there too.

What’s one crucial lesson you learned in 2024 – and as a follow-up, what’s the biggest mistake media/marketing/PR/advertising people need to avoid in 2025?

Go for it – don’t procrastinate. I could have launched The Profit Unleashed a few years ago – although it would have been more impacted by Covid than the magazine. I want to grow the events and offer workshops with some of the local talent, so that business owners and leaders can drill down further into what makes others’ successful.

Not a mistake to avoid – but an awakening that we need to continue to adapt and collaborate more – the entire media industry needs to get their heads together – this includes media outlets, media agencies, businesses and others that want their voices and stories to be told well into the future. ?It has to be a partnership if we are all to move forward.

What are your plans for the summer break?

Well the weather has been crap in HB – which is disappointing as we pride ourselves on having great weather. To get some warm weather I’m off to Bali end of next week with one of my oldest friends, who lives in Australia. It will be good to reconnect with him, recharge and then be ready to take on 2025.