BrandWorld bosses honoured in a New Zealand first

BrandWorld bosses honoured in a New Zealand first at 2013 TVNZ NZ Marketing Awards

BrandWorld’s founder Bill Peake and business partner Mike O’Sullivan have been honoured in a Kiwi first at this year’s prestigious Marketing awards, becoming the first two inductees from the same organisation to ever be inducted by their peers at the same time into New Zealand’s Marketing Hall of Fame.

Content marketing and advertising company BrandWorld has become a world leader through its masthead formats Family Health Diary, Eating Well and Discover. The company was the first New Zealand advertising company to offer clients cost effective, fixed cost packages; the first to aggregate multiple clients in a common advertising format; and the first company to retain ownership of its own advertising “brands.” Its offerings have won countless marketing awards for clients and it continues to innovate on clients’ behalf with new mastheads and a host of bespoke offerings.

Though they have now stepped away from the day-to-day running of BrandWorld, Bill and Mike were both integral in shaping what BrandWorld is today. They have been lifelong friends and business colleagues since the early days of their careers when Bill was at Aulsebrooks (now Arnotts NZ) and a client of Mike’s at advertising company Lintas.

Bill set up BrandWorld in 1997 to offer a product to advertisers with complicated stories to tell, but limited budgets. This led to the first of BrandWorld’s masthead formats, Family Health Diary. With the addition of Mike, fresh from selling his company Channel i - which introduced New Zealand to original concepts such as Food in a Minute and Taste of Chelsea - BrandWorld went on to add Discover, Eating Well and a host of bespoke offerings such as The Mix and Made to Match to its stable of products.

Mike joined Bill in 2005, together with another Hall of Fame member and former client, John Macdonald, a long-standing former head of marketing of Watties who is considered a doyen of all things FMCG marketing. Thus BrandWorld is unique in now being able to count a staggering three New Zealand Marketing Hall of Fame members among its advisers.

“It is a thrill and an honour to be inducted into New Zealand’s Marketing Hall of Fame,” says Bill. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my career, even the hard bits, like trying to convince everyone there was another way to advertise and market products. It’s an even greater honour to be chosen with Mike as we have had a long relationship which has helped make BrandWorld what it is today.”

Mike was equally thrilled to be inducted as a Hall of Fame member, saying it was a true honour. “I have had a dual advertising and marketing career where I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with the likes of Bill and John. It’s quite humbling to be honoured like this, especially by your peers.”

On BrandWorld Bill says, “BrandWorld’s multi-client advertising formats like Family Health Diary, Eating Well and Discover have become household names and game-changers for categories and brand portfolios. The masthead format taps online and dedicated print channels as well as TV, sharing content across all three mediums. But none of this would have been possible without the likes of Mike, John and the rest of our hugely talented and dedicated team, and, of course, our clients, many of which were keen to try something new that simplified their lives and delivered greater rewards for less capital.”

In the past 15 years BrandWorld has worked with more than 150 client companies, hundreds of brands and is consistently one of TVNZ’s top 3 clients.

BrandWorld managing director Richard Stevens says he’s delighted two of his former mentors have been honoured at this year’s awards. “Bill and Mike have been great to work with. Their passion for marketing, for their clients and for BrandWorld has been inspirational and their insights and understanding of what makes people buy products is unsurpassed. It’s been a great, great pleasure and honour to have them as my mentors. They are truly two of the greats of New Zealand’s marketing industry.”

Bill and Mike won’t be disappearing off into the ether, however, with both saying they are too busy to retire. Both will still be consulting to BrandWorld – Bill as non-executive chairman and Mike as executive director - as well as pursuing a host of other projects, many aimed at giving a little bit back to the industry that made them.

Other Marketing Award accolades for BrandWorld

As well it’s two former shareholders taking home the big honours at this year’s TVNZ NZ Marketing Awards, BrandWorld’s long-standing client Pfizer was honoured once again for two recent marketing campaigns, both featuring BrandWorld’s multimedia masthead Family Health Diary at their heart. Pfizer’s smoking cessation product Champix won its category and its popular, prescription-only, anti-depressant Efexor-XR was a finalist.

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