Tammy Wells. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n
The pair, and their teams, have been responsible for the extraordinarily successful Briscoes Lady television and media campaign, which started in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n
The Briscoes Lady, aka Tammy Wells, is one of New Zealand\u2019s most recognisable and beloved advertising characters.<\/p>\n
Media Insider understands Briscoes has opened up the media account, currently held by Partington\u2019s Stanley St agency, to pitch.<\/p>\n
Sources say leading media agencies, including Initiative and Dentsu, are among the contenders.<\/p>\n
Tammy Wells has been the face of Briscoes for more than 36 years. <\/p>\n
Last December, Tammy Wells was openly wondering in the media whether her contract would survive past the end of 2025. <\/p>\n
But in an interview with the NZ Woman\u2019s Weekly<\/a> in June, she revealed her contract had been extended.<\/p>\n \u201cI had some discussions and the company said to me, \u2018If you would still like to be doing this, then we would like you to stay.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cMy boss, Rod Duke, also said to my husband words to the effect of, \u2018We love your girl!\u2019 So it\u2019s going to go on, maybe with a Zimmer frame!\u201d<\/p>\n In the 36 years that Wells has been on our screens, she has become a mother and a grandmother.<\/p>\n The extension of her contract would indicate Briscoes is keen to continue with her as the face of its advertising, while a mighty battle for the account is set to unfold behind the cameras.<\/p>\n Partington told Media Insider by text: \u201cI\u2019m not able to comment on this pitch.\u201d <\/p>\n Briscoe Group marketing boss Liz Hanrahan did not return messages, while a PR spokeswoman said: \u201cAs this isn\u2019t a public process, they are unable to comment at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Early on Friday morning, Duke – who is overseas – said by text: \u201cSorry Shayne, no comment at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Initiative\u2019s Blair Alexander did not respond to several calls and messages; Dentsu group managing director Rachel Anderson-Cormack said it was her company\u2019s policy not to comment on requests for proposals (RFPs).<\/p>\n Obviously, a very sensitive topic.<\/p>\n \u2018Unbreakable\u2019<\/p>\n A senior advertising industry source said Briscoe Group\u2019s links with Partington had seemed \u201cunbreakable\u201d.<\/p>\n Partington – under his then agency Adworks – began looking after the Briscoes account in the late 1980s, soon after retail entrepreneur Rod Duke moved from Australia to lead Briscoes, and prepare it for sale for its Dutch owners. <\/p>\n Instead, Duke himself bought out the business himself in 1990 – today, he still owns more than 75% of the now publicly listed firm.<\/p>\n Adworks merged in early 2005 with Singleton Ogilvy & Mather to become Advertising Works Ogilvy, and later Ogilvy NZ. In 2019, Partington bought out the 65% of the business that was owned by international agency WPP and renamed it Stanley St.<\/p>\n \u201cJust as Briscoes has been a one-woman brand with Wells, it has also been a one-man brand when it comes to advertising and has been under Greg Partington\u2019s watch since 1989,\u201d wrote Ben Fahy for Stop Press in 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd while the sales-focused, low-budget approach to advertising still certainly fits into David Ogilvy\u2019s \u2018sell or else\u2018 mantra, Briscoes has changed its approach slightly over the years, as evidenced by a TVC from last year that is probably about as close as you\u2019d get to a Briscoes brand ad.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, Duke told the Herald\u2019s Liam Dann of the marketing makeover he brought to Briscoes soon after joining the business.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first three or four months from that September 1988, right through to Christmas, we\u2019d done loud, in-your-face, high-discount, get into the store ads,\u201d Duke said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was never going to last forever. And we needed an iconic face that projected and showed folks the value of my brand. We did a whole lot of interviews and Tammy came through very, very strong. <\/p>\n \u201cWe tested her in the market. That also came through very strong. And here we are. So it was a good call hiring her, because she\u2019s really resonated with the New Zealand public. And she\u2019s been an important part of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n Former NZ Herald media reporter Damien Venuto wrote in 2019 that Partington\u2019s long-running partnership with Briscoe Group remained rock-solid.<\/p>\n \u201cBriscoe Group boss Rod Duke and Partington have long worked closely together \u2013 and since neither executive has shown any indication of waning ambition, the partnership seems set to continue for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Briscoe\u2019s relatively dry brand of advertising might not fill Stanley St\u2019s trophy cabinet with industry rewards, Partington is unlikely to lose any sleep over that,\u201d wrote Venuto.<\/p>\n Sky TV in pole position for F1<\/p>\n Sky TV is understood to have secured Formula 1 TV rights in New Zealand for three more years.<\/p>\n An announcement is expected as early as today, and sources say the package – for seasons 2026, 2027 and 2028 – will see at least one race, the Melbourne Grand Prix, screened live on Sky\u2019s free-to-air channels.<\/p>\n For the first time, that should include the race being screened on Three (TV3), which Sky bought from Warner Bros Discovery for a nominal $1<\/a> and took over on August 1.<\/p>\n F1 has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the past six years, driven largely by the success of the Netflix fly-on-the-wall series Drive to Survive.<\/p>\n The arrival of Kiwi Liam Lawson as a fulltime driver for, firstly, the Red Bull team and then Racing Bulls, and the performance of the McLaren team – founded originally by New Zealand motorsport legend Bruce McLaren<\/a> – has also spurred widespread interest in New Zealand.<\/p>\n Despite the overnight timing of most F1 races, it is understood Sky has been delighted with viewership numbers of its live and replay coverage since it won back the rights in 2023. From 2019 to 2022, those rights were held by the now-defunct Spark Sport.<\/p>\n Unauthorised Ardern biography<\/p>\n An unauthorised biography of former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern is nearing completion. <\/p>\n The cover design for Jacinda: The Untold Stories has been released, several days before Ardern launches her own new children\u2019s book in the United States this weekend.<\/p>\n The unauthorised biography of Ardern is set to be released later this year, with final interviews and chapters under way now.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new Jacinda book goes where no author has yet gone \u2013 into a blow-by-blow, both sides now, critical analysis of her leadership and what that might mean for a world on a powder keg,” says the book\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Other publicity has previously stated: \u201cThe real story is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n The book has been produced by Centrist Publishing, which is connected to the Centrist news and news aggregator website – described by some commentators as \u201cright-leaning\u201d and \u201calternative\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no editorial intercession,\u201d one of the book\u2019s two authors, David Cohen, told Newstalk ZB\u2019s Heather du Plessis-Allan in June. \u201dI\u2019ve done nine books. My hands are clean journalistically, and they\u2019re certainly going to remain so.”<\/p>\n The book\u2019s website carries various quotes from interviews for the book.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen she looked up, it was like someone had turned on a light. For a moment, the energy was palpable. But then it vanished. The contrast was startling.\u201d<\/p>\n Centrist owner and managing editor Tameem Barakat told Media Insider in June: \u201cBook publishing is the ultimate commercialisation of long-form journalism.<\/p>\n \u201cOur decision to back this project reflects the expected ROI [return on investment], particularly given the market gap for a more balanced, independent look at the former Prime Minister. People don\u2019t just want a puff piece. They want the whole picture.\u201d<\/p>\n Auckland businessman Jim Grenon was involved in establishing the Centrist in 2023, but Companies Office records show he ceased being a shareholder in June 2023 and ceased being a director in August 2023.<\/p>\n Barakat is now the sole shareholder and director. <\/p>\n Grenon has gone on to become a director and substantial shareholder of NZME, publisher of the NZ Herald.<\/p>\n The release of the Ardern book cover coincides with the official launch of her children\u2019s book this weekend at a Barnes & Noble store in New York.<\/p>\n It is called Mom\u2019s Busy Work in the US and Canada and Mum\u2019s Busy Work in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.<\/p>\n It is reportedly told through the eyes of a child, and a note from Ardern in it says, \u201cThis book is based on the words and lessons taught to me by my daughter, Neve, while I was the prime minister of New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cMay every child know that no matter what, they are our life\u2019s greatest work.\u201d<\/p>\n Ardern\u2019s official biography, A Different Kind of Power, spent seven weeks on the New Zealand best-seller list this year.<\/p>\n The rise of Linda Clark, lawyer<\/p>\n The thing about Linda Clark – the former top journalist and now top lawyer who is fighting for suppression of key details in the Tom Phillips case – is you will always know where you sit. <\/p>\n As friends and former colleagues will attest, she never leaves you guessing.<\/p>\n We know that, two decades ago, she walked away from an industry that formed the basis of a hugely successful career as a broadcaster. An industry she once adored, but with whose direction she was seemingly disillusioned.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much of the journalism that I read, so much of what I see, so much of what I hear isn\u2019t very penetrating. It isn\u2019t very contextual. It isn\u2019t very illuminating,\u201d she told the Listener\u2019s Joanne Black in 2006, as she vacated RNZ\u2019s Nine to Noon chair.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m over the gig. I\u2019m over journalism, and I never ever imagined I would be able to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n She thought then, as she presumably thinks now, that journalism was a career best suited for twenty-somethings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re twenty-something, the world is villains and heroes, issues are black and white, and that\u2019s how journalism works now. It\u2019s how the media has to see issues a lot of the time. So when you\u2019re 25 and you\u2019re full of energy and your worldview is monochromatic, journalism makes a lot more sense.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get older and nothing is black and white, and you realise that even the people you hound have redeeming features and even the people you really like do terrible things, it becomes so much more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n So at the age of 42, the former TVNZ political editor and Grace magazine editor packed in the RNZ job and quit journalism.<\/p>\n Instead of spending long hours researching interviews for her Nine to Noon show, she turned her inquisitive nose to the legal books. She was fascinated, she told Black, by a change of career, and law in particular.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout a doubt, the most inspiring people I\u2019ve interviewed doing Nine to Noon have been people who\u2019ve had more than one career. Without exception, they have been inspiring because what those people say is that it is all an adventure, it\u2019s rethinking middle age and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of international law and public law that has come across my desk at Nine to Noon, and it\u2019s been fantastically interesting and stimulating, so whereas before my idea of finishing a law degree was unfocused, now I\u2019m really clear I want to specialise in public law,” she told Black.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big cherry to bite. You can\u2019t even imagine the possibilities open to you, but it\u2019s a bringing together of my experience as a political reporter and my understanding of Parliament, and adding to that the discipline of legal thinking, and then seeing where that takes me.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a big common intersection between those disciplines of law, politics and journalism, and I\u2019m moving from one side of the axis to the other over a period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark did not wish to be interviewed for this piece – she said she might (\u201cperhaps\u201d) agree to chat once the Phillips case is resolved – but I\u2019ve spoken to her a couple of times in recent years and I sense she still harbours deep concerns about modern-day journalism.<\/p>\n Her hugely successful career in journalism has been matched by an equally rapid rise in the legal industry. She qualified as a lawyer in 2012 and, by the end of the decade, in May 2019, she was made partner at Kensington Swan – now Dentons.<\/p>\n She has, in a short time, acquired several high-profile cases. Aside from the current Phillips injunction, she has:<\/p>\n Represented former police commissioner Jevon McSkimming in his ongoing legal issues since his departure from police. At one stage, she was granted an injunction that prevented media from publishing new details about the criminal investigation he faced;Represented Clarke Gayford, the husband of former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern, in a defamation threat against NZME\u2019s then-fledgling Kick youth platform;Represented Rachel MacGregor in the defamation case brought against her by former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig;Represented high-profile media personalities in contract negotiations, including Duncan Garner for a role on the AM TV show;Been a part of the independent panel that reviewed RNZ editorial practices after the broadcaster published stories about the Ukraine war with pro-Russian edits;Represented Parliament\u2019s then Speaker, Trevor Mallard, when he was defending a defamation claim.<\/p>\n Dentons represents a wide range of clients and Clark has always been clear that the high-profile cases are only a glimpse of the work her team carries out.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Dentons own website says Clark has \u201cacted on a range of sensitive matters for high-profile clients, including for a senior police leader who was the subject of a year-long investigation by the Independent Police Conduct Authority into allegations of bullying and inappropriate conduct; for a law partner of a major law firm facing allegations of sexual harassment; and for one of the five summer clerks who, in the summer of 2015-16, was sexually assaulted by (former) Russell McVeagh partner James Gardiner-Hopkins\u201d. <\/p>\n Labour leader Chris Hipkins revealed Dentons recently advised him, former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and Ayesha Verrall on whether the quartet should appear publicly before the latest Royal Commission inquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n Hipkins said Dentons advised against it.<\/p>\n I asked Clark about that directly last month. She said she was travelling and couldn\u2019t come back to me by my deadline; in any case, a response would come from Dentons\u2019 chairman, Hayden Wilson. He followed up: \u201cWe do not comment on the client work that the firm does.\u201d<\/p>\n TVNZ board role<\/p>\n Clark has also been a board member of TVNZ and NZ on Air, among other public sector roles.<\/p>\n Her time on the TVNZ board was short, just under two years, as it turned out. She was appointed in July 2023 for a two-year term, but took temporary leave in May this year because of her work on the McSkimming case.<\/p>\n TVNZ\u2019s board had \u201ccomplete confidence in Linda\u2019s professional judgment and capabilities\u201d, but a \u201cpotential for a conflict existed\u201d between the two responsibilities, TVNZ chairman Alastair Carruthers said at the time. <\/p>\n The Government did not reappoint Clark this year.<\/p>\n A release of documents from the Treasury shows three TVNZ board members were up for reappointment on June 30.<\/p>\n Officials recommended the reappointment of at least two of them: John Quirk and someone whose name has been redacted. The other two board members up for reappointment were Clark and Meg Matthews.<\/p>\n Quirk was the only one of the three to be announced as reappointed on June 24 by Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith. Broadcaster Paul Henry was announced as a new board member.<\/p>\n Based on the Treasury\u2019s belief that the optimum number of board members is seven, there remains one vacancy.<\/p>\n While she might no longer be on the board of her former broadcasting employer, Clark\u2019s work on the Phillips case is another example of a legal career in full flight.<\/p>\n She has also retained some personality traits.<\/p>\n \u201cShe doesn\u2019t put up with foolish people for long,\u201d former magazine editor Kate Coughlan, who hired Clark for the Grace editorship, told me in 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something of a bird of prey about her as she listens to people, head cocked slightly, weighing up whether they will trip by saying something stupid and be carrion or make intelligent sense and be worth talking to.\u201d<\/p>\n The Phillips injunction<\/p>\n In the High Court at Wellington yesterday, Clark was facing off, for the second time in a week, against NZME, Stuff, TVNZ, RNZ and Newsroom in the Phillips injunction case.<\/p>\n Justice Helen Cull suppressed the arguments heard in court, but allowed media to report that procedural matters were discussed.<\/p>\n The suppression order was extended until further order of the court.<\/p>\n Phillips was killed early last week after a shootout with police.<\/p>\n The High Court granted an injunction on that Monday evening after an urgent oral application from Clark<\/a> on behalf of Phillips\u2019 mother, Julia Phillips.<\/p>\n TVNZ boss fronts up <\/p>\n Bravo to TVNZ chief executive Jodi O\u2019Donnell for fronting up to the High Court in what appeared to be a clear show of support for reporter Thomas Mead this week.<\/p>\n The pair arrived together for the first day of a defended defamation hearing in which Talley\u2019s is suing TVNZ and Mead for a series of reports in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\nBriscoe Group boss and majority shareholder Rod Duke. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n
Advertising boss Greg Partington has a long history in the industry. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
F1 is popular with TV viewers worldwide Photo \/ AFP<\/p>\n
Kiwi Liam Lawson, far left, with Racing Bulls team mate Isack Hadjar and Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen (second from right) and Yuki Tsunoda (far right). Photo \/ Red Bull <\/p>\n
The cover of the new Jacinda Ardern unauthorised biography.<\/p>\n
Author and writer David Cohen.<\/p>\n
Jacinda Ardern and the US version of her children’s book Mom’s Busy Work. Copyright \/ Penguin, Photo \/ Getty<\/p>\n
Lawyer Linda Clark has represented various high-profile clients in recent years. Photo \/ NZME <\/p>\n
Linda Clark, then and now: As TVNZ political editor, left, and now as a partner in law firm Dentons. Photos \/ TVNZ<\/p>\n
Labour leader Chris Hipkins.<\/p>\n
The Treasury document appears to reveal an existing TVNZ board director was not reappointed, as officials advised. John Quirk was reappointed.<\/p>\n
TVNZ chief executive Jodi O’Donnell walks into the High Court at Auckland with reporter Thomas Mead. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n