Media Insider: Rugby book review row; Media lawyer poached; Top advertising industry leader on pitches, awards, economic landscape

Should readers of a scathing review of a rugby book have been told of the reviewer’s family connection at NZR? One Good Text with Jessica Mutch McKay; Major media moves; Ad industry leader on pitches,
awards, and the economic landscape.

When NZ Herald rugby writer Gregor Paul read on a news website a review of his new book, Black Gold, he was taken aback. “Wow,” he thought. “This is savage and personal.”

Another senior sportswriter, The Bounce’s Dylan Cleaver, described the review of the book – a focus on how commercialisation has affected New Zealand Rugby and the All Blacks – as “oddly personal”.

The book’s publisher, Harper Collins publishing director Alex Hedley, said the review appeared “at times to be very personal in nature”.

On the other hand, Newsroom books editor Steve Braunias called it “forceful” and “intelligent”.

The reviewer himself, David Cormack, says his piece was based entirely on his views of the book. “I don’t think it is that venomous.”

Cormack’s review, published by Newsroom, variously describes Paul as “doe-eyed”, with thinking that “barely arises above cliches”; and that it was almost like he “didn’t have the intellectual curiosity to think outside his ‘commercial equals dumb’ point of view”.

At one stage, Cormack takes umbrage at Paul’s colourful description of Rugby Players Association head Rob Nichol’s Stewart Island upbringing.

“Nichol had a pioneering spirit – a capacity to forge through tough conditions – which was going to be handy in his new role,” Paul wrote in the book.

“Get a room, Gregor,” Cormack wrote in the review.

Cormack says an investigative point – whether New Zealand Rugby’s (NZR) sponsors were exerting pressure and wanting the head of All Blacks coach Ian Foster last year – was teased.

“The answer is… not in the book. In fact, there is absolutely nothing to support Paul’s breathlessness whatsoever. It’s really staggering the number of accusations he flings hither and yon but never actually gets around to proving. The book is filled with hints and questions and nudges. The rest of the book is Paul’s seeming mistrust of all things commercial and the current NZ Rugby leadership.”

Bad reviews are part and parcel of authoring a book – no qualms there.

Cormack quite clearly did not enjoy Paul’s book and explained – in his view – why.

But aside from the debate over the personal swipes – and in my opinion, some of the commentary is unnecessarily personal – what readers weren’t told is that Cormack is the brother of one of NZR’s executive team, chief communications and brand officer Charlotte McLauchlan.

In a country the size of New Zealand and in a media and PR industry as small as it is (Cormack runs his own PR firm in Wellington), it’s inevitable there will be close links.

But the review has led to a debate about the use of disclaimers, and whether one was warranted on this occasion.

“I’m grateful to anyone and any publication willing to review my books and 26 years of journalism has given me both a thick skin and an understanding that not everyone is going to like your work, agree with it or find it riveting,” said Paul.

“But when I read this review of Black Gold I was thinking, ‘Wow, this is savage and personal’ and, whoever has written it doesn’t know much about the business of rugby because they have conflated so many irrelevant topics to make arguments about why the book has failed.

“Also, one minute he was saying I couldn’t write then the next, he conceded I was a great storyteller.”

He says Cormack’s review was “so gratuitous and confusing… as to make me suspicious”.

“When someone then alerted me to the reviewer’s conflict of interest, I had a little chuckle, as that explained the venom …”

He believes the review lacks credibility on that basis. It also made him question why Cormack didn’t declare his sister’s role and whether there was something more sinister “to kill interest in Black Gold”.

Cormack, who was commissioned by Newsroom for the review, refutes the idea of any such motive.

Braunias says he commissioned Cormack based on the book’s themes and Cormack’s interest in business. Cormack had previously reviewed National MP Chris Penk’s book for Newsroom.

On X – formerly Twitter – Cormack is known to have sharp and provocative opinions.

“He is a man who has very strong views, which we all know,” says Braunias. “He’s no stranger to the rodeo. Everyone knows where he stands on the left/right divide.”

Cormack says he advised Newsroom of his sister’s NZR role when he was asked to do the review.

Braunias says this did not raise any red flags; he knew Cormack’s views would be his own.

In terms of publishing a disclaimer, it would be a different story if it was his wife, mother or father.

A sibling, Braunias says, is a “line call – it’s a close one, one for the video referee”.

“I have no problem with there not being a disclaimer and I also have no problem with publishing one. I don’t want to be bloody-minded or stubborn.”

Cormack says it’s over to Newsroom as to whether there should be a disclaimer but his sister has “zero influence on any of my writing.

“She probably wishes she had more influence than she does. I told Newsroom about her role and left it with them.”

Cormack said he’d told his sister that he was writing the review after Braunias’ approach. “She said fine. That was the end of our conversation about it. I don’t run everything past my family.

“I am a different person to her with different thoughts. There’s nothing more complicated to it than that. If I was considering Charlotte when it came to my review, it would surely have been more positive.”

He said he did not think the review was “that venomous”.

“All my critiques of the book are based on my view of the book. I’m unsure why the review lacks credibility because of someone in my family. I’ve been badly reviewed for stuff in the past and yeah, it stings, and you go looking for reasons why the review wasn’t good.

“The only reason anyone might see it as venomous is because it’s just not a very good book. Like I s­­aid in my review, I wanted to like it because it’s a subject that is cool.”

A “somewhat bemused” McLauchlan told Media Insider: “I knew David had been commissioned to do it, sure – but that’s the extent of it. If you know my brother you’ll know his mind is very much his own! I’m looking forward to reading Gregor’s book myself when time allows.”

Harper Collins’ Alex Hedley says the publishing firm has worked with Paul on a number of books.

“We stand by his research. His knowledge of the modern game is second-to-none,” said Hedley.

“We don’t routinely ask for reviewers to provide disclaimers, and as publishers we don’t comment on reviews.

“That said, the review does appear, at times, to be very personal in nature. Given this review is by the brother of NZR’s head of brand and communications, and someone who doesn’t normally review books, it’s questionable whether he should have been the one to write a review of Black Gold.”

Hedley described the book as “compelling reading, especially given the recent slips in performance by the All Blacks”.

It was also a top-10 non-fiction bestseller, he said.

My own disclaimer: I work with Paul and Braunias, and have had semi-regular dealings with McLauchlan. I find them all good people.

NZME lures Stuff exec among big media moves

A raft of high-profile media and PR people are leaving roles or securing new jobs.

Stuff general counsel and corporate affairs director Genevieve O’Halloran – a member of the media firm’s executive team – has been lured to NZME.

O’Halloran will start as general counsel and company secretary in March 2024, reporting to chief financial officer David Mackrell.

O’Halloran is a well-known and respected figure in the industry, and replaces Allison Whitney who has resigned after 10 years to travel before returning to help NZME in a contracting capacity.

Former magazine editor Emily Simpson starts with TVNZ’s digital team next week as commissioning editor – she put the call out on social media yesterday for writers to pitch ideas.

The appointment likely signals TVNZ’s intention to further broaden the 1News website, as it seeks to become a clear number three in the market, ahead of RNZ and Newshub, and behind Stuff and the NZ Herald.

Longtime South Pacific Pictures and Shortland St senior publicist Raegen Houldridge is departing the role.

“I’ve had an incredible 13-odd years in Ferndale, the first time way back at the time of the fifth anniversary,” she told Media Insider.

“Now I have done the 25th and 30th as well, so it was a difficult decision to make. In the end, I just personally felt the time was right for a change and that I needed to embrace the fear and excitedly look forward to my next chapter – whatever that may be.”

Sky TV continues to evolve its senior team. As well as recent commercial appointments under chief media and data officer Lauren Quaintance, chief corporate affairs officer Chris Major is launching the hunt for a new role of head of communications.

“Looking for a comms superstar to lead our internal and external engagement. We’ve had interest from some great candidates so I’m just working through the process now. It’s effectively a 2IC role to me. They will lead on our media engagement amongst other things,” Major told Media Insider.

Kirsty Way, who has been contracting at Sky “and is doing an awesome job”, will stay on until a new appointment is made.

Farewell to a legend

One of New Zealand’s most esteemed journalists, Peter O’Hara, was farewelled this week after his untimely death at the age of just 71.

O’Hara’s sense of humour came to the fore during several memorable eulogies, and with the choice of music, during his funeral on Wednesday.

His coffin was brought into the chapel at North Shore Memorial Park Crematorium to the music of Chris Rea – The Road to Hell.

O’Hara, variously described as a duck lover, a larrikin, a great mate, golfer and a wonderful storyteller and media leader, endured a range of health battles over the past several years, including a heart attack, a head injury and cancer.

O’Hara’s career as a journalist started as a cadet sports reporter – at the tender age of 16 and a weekly wage of $18 – at the Whanganui Chronicle.

After stints at the Lower North News in Ōrewa and the Northern Advocate in Northland, he joined The Evening Post and later on, NZPA in Wellington and then London, before senior management roles at TVNZ, as general manager of news and current affairs, and at INL/Fairfax, as chief operating officer and editor-in-chief of the publishing group.

As an NZPA press gallery journalist, O’Hara stood directly alongside Sir Robert Muldoon and National Party president Sue Wood in June 1984 as the former Prime Minister drunkenly announced a snap election.

NZME’s Fran O’Sullivan recalls another night during that election campaign.

“Peter and I (Peter for NZPA in the press gallery and me for private radio) took a call in a phone box near Parliament, where we were leaked the fact that New Zealand was heading towards bankruptcy and offshore bankers were refusing to roll over loans. It was very cloak and dagger to protect the identity of our impeccable source. A real thrill when we broke the story jointly the next day.”

O’Hara is survived by his wife Carol, their three children Nikki, Jarad, and Kelly, and grandchildren.

One Good Text

A massive week for TVNZ’s Jessica Mutch McKay next week, as she hosts the first of the leaders’ election debates on Tuesday night.

Dentsu gets on with the job

The loss of a major bank as a client would be a major blow to many advertising agencies.

But for weeks, those in the know in the wider advertising industry have told me that dentsu – the incumbent agency who missed out on renewing with ASB – would be just fine.

And that’s certainly the message from chief executive Robert Harvey, who has exuded nothing but class in recent weeks, firstly in the way the business has treated the expensive pitch process and then the way it handled ASB’s decision.

Harvey says while it was “disappointing” to lose ASB – the agency, in various forms, and the bank have been associated for more than three decades – the writing had been on the wall.

“When the pitch process started, we obviously knew that there was a risk we were going to lose it at that point in time. And, you know, maybe things come to a natural conclusion, right?”

With around 320 staff, including a small percentage of contractors, dentsu was now focused on the future, with several new deals set to be announced across various pillars.

It already has ongoing major work and projects with the likes of TVNZ+ (it drives the media and creative for the transformation of that platform) and it is running media for Countdown’s transformation into Woolworths.

“It’s not just simply a rebrand… there’s an amazing amount of work that they’re doing in terms of refreshing the store design and everything that sits underneath that in order to create the optimum experience for customers.”

Where dentsu has a distinct advantage is in its diversified business portfolio – media and creative as two pillars making up half the business and data and technology solutions as the other half.

“We’re a little bit misunderstood as a group. Our capabilities are much, much broader than what we would see in the traditional advertising sector,” says Harvey, now into his 11th year at the firm, and having overseen major transformation.

“Yes, we are creative and media services, but half of our business in reality comes from technology, transformation, experience, and consulting where we’re not competing with the agency holding companies or the independent agencies. We’re competing with the likes of a Datacom or tech consulting firms.”

That work, he says, includes large-scale salesforce implementation.

Dentsu has just lured renowned creative leaders Mike Felix and Brett Colliver from DDB Aotearoa. Their brief extends across all of the firm’s pillars.

“There’s a real focus within our business on how we scale out our creative product,” says Harvey.

“They are now really tasked with how we build that into a world-class creative proposition, not just contained within the silo of what we would deem our creative service line.

“But how does that connect into customer experience and digital transformation and the media product?”

Harvey, who is also chair of the Commercial Communications Council, has insightful views on the plight of the industry.

Through its transformation work, dentsu has enjoyed 10 straight years of revenue growth, even through Covid. The challenge is to keep that momentum.

“I think the market’s going to be pretty tough again next year,” says Harvey. “I think if any of us think that January rolls around and everything resets and it’s all in growth again… I think that’s a bit naïve.

“Despite the fact we’ve had some challenges this year, we’ve still got a really strong kind of growth ambition for next year and I can see that some of the stuff that we’re delivering now in this last quarter is setting us up really well for growth.”

Harvey agrees with Comms Council CEO Simon Lendrum that there needs to be a better process than expensive, drawn-out pitches when advertising contracts come up for tender.

“First and foremost, I would say to those clients that are pitching… is to really interrogate the existing relationship they’ve got and have really open conversations [with their agency] as to whether that can be improved before actually going through a pitch.”

Harvey won’t say how much the ASB pitch cost dentsu, but major pitches can hit six figures, and that’s before considering the internal cost, with attention diverted away.

“It isn’t sustainable for agencies and it’s not always the best use of time for clients either.”

In my previous role as NZME managing editor, I visited dentsu a couple of times, to explain the NZME newsroom operation to the agency’s staff. I was always blown away by the sheer number of awards on display in reception.

Media agencies love a good awards night, even more than journalists.

“It’s an industry that likes to celebrate itself,” says Harvey. “Quite rightly, people put a lot of time and energy into the creation of things and seeing that we’re recognised is really important.

“I think there’s some who probably still enter awards for awards sake. And if that’s their ambition then, then that’s fine. It’s an industry with multiple disciplines – including creative and media – with each wanting and deserving recognition.”

Awards are also important for the camaraderie of the industry and employment brands, says Harvey. “For a lot of the creatives, that’s how they build their CV.”

From his perspective, he says, dentsu is focused on “driving meaningful fame for our clients”.

“Awards are great. But what we don’t want to be doing is just creating a whole lot of work that wins awards for awards sake – if it doesn’t have any meaningful impact either for our clients, businesses or in society.

“That’s the focus for us – making sure that we’re creating work that gets recognised that way. Clients’ success first and foremost, and societal impact.”

Harvey says advertising remains a “fiercely competitive industry”.

“What I love, though, is there is a very respectful and collegiate spirit within New Zealand.

“We come together around the Comms Council boardroom table and we have really robust conversations.

“They’re always done with huge respect for each other.

“Despite the fact we’ll pitch against each other really aggressively, everyone’s got each other’s back from an industry perspective.”

A Media Insider bouquet

Jack Tame continues to be a masterclass on Q+A, questioning, without fear or favour, the leaders of the major parties.

People who complain about the likes of Tame – and over the last few months, he’s copped it from both sides of the political divide – are generally highlighting their own biases and perspectives. This is only natural.

Under the Q+A spotlight, and Tame’s laser-like questions, National Party leader Christopher Luxon ducked and weaved last week on some critical questions. Tame held his feet to the fire.

Coming from the corporate world, Luxon may well have been able to bat away media questions, citing commercial sensitivity and so on. In the political arena, and especially if he does receive the keys to the Beehive’s ninth floor, the public – and the media – will expect more transparency.

MediaWorks’ financial position

They were meant to be filed by the end of May, and then by September 1. Two weeks on from that deadline there’s still no sign of MediaWorks’ 2022 financial results but be assured, says the media firm, they are set to be released.

The numbers are not expected to be pretty, following losses in 2020 ($4.8 million) and 2021 ($2.9m). The media industry is facing even stronger headwinds now – earlier this year, MediaWorks announced plans to cut about 90 jobs and in late March it closed Today FM.

The radio and outdoor media company now has the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) breathing down its neck, with reports that MediaWorks is one of 145 companies referred to the ministry’s integrity and enforcement team.

MBIE integrity and enforcement manager Vanessa Cook told BusinessDesk the companies would now be reviewed by the unit “to consider infringement for non-compliance with their financial statement filing obligations for the 31 December 2022 reporting period. MediaWorks Investments Limited is on the list of referred companies”.

In a statement to Media Insider, MediaWorks “acknowledges it has not yet filed financial statements for FY22″.

“We are disappointed that information about enforcement action was shared with the media but not notified to MediaWorks,” said a spokeswoman.

“We have not received any formal notification that the matter has been referred to MBIE’s integrity and enforcement arm.

“After our inquiry, MBIE has now indicated that such notification may come in the next few weeks. We intend to have our statements filed before any enforcement action is necessary.”