In a decidedly hot relationship, HELL Pizza has joined forces with the New Zealand Fire Service to deliver an important fire safety message and new look HELL Pizza box for which they have received positive media attention for the ‘Don’t drink and Fry’ campaign.

New Zealanders have long been aware of the dangers associated with drinking and driving, but most have probably never given a second thought to the dangers of cooking after one too many drinks.The statistics that have surfaced are alarming and the Fire Service has revealed that alcohol is involved in 50% of all fatal house fires.

HELL co-director Stu McMullin says, “We support the ‘don’t drink and fry’ message 666%, and want to communicate it far and wide. The decision to redesign our signature HELL Pizza box after 15 years was not taken lightly, but it’s an ideal way to deliver a simple, life-saving message directly into homes all over the country every single night.”

The message was well received by the media, gaining national coverage in various print publications, on radio airwaves and online. The ‘Don’t drink and fry’ message was seen in Auckland’s Central Leader, Dargaville & Districts News, Marlborough Express, Nelson Mail, Taupo Times and Hawke’s Bay Today among others. It was also give mention by ZM The Morning Crew.

The HELL Pizza Celebrity Fisting campaign also caught the attention of the media.  Alexander Communications  strategically drove interest by engaging media and generating some ‘hell hype’ in the newsroom delivering giant black fists and mis-fortune cookies to selected media. Timed well with the rugby games, the unique foam fist with built in beverage holder proved to be an instant success and conversation starter with the media – many of whom made the association with rugby.

The direct delivery of fists to media achieved an instant mention on the airwaves of Mai FM and subsequent mentions have been secured with Classic Hits Auckland and More FM Christchurch.  Rog from The Rock FM’s Morning Rumble show posted his photo onto the HELL Pizza Facebook page.

The novelty and popularity of the fists continued with a HELL fist appearing on Bernard Hickey’s 90 seconds at 9 am interest.co.nz video on more than one occasion.

Pie Funds has appeared online at Goodreturns.co.nz this month, announcing the launch of a new Australasian Dividend Fund. The announcement has come at a time when investors are more cautious when dealing with the economy.

Pie Funds managing director, Mike Taylor, is not fazed by the current economic climate. He believes it provides investors with a chance to buy equities at favourable valuations.

In keeping with their past funds, the Australasian Dividend Fund will continue to largely invest within small companies in Australia and New Zealand.

Those companies of interest to Pie Funds will have ‘earnings sustainability, solid growth and a sustainable dividend distribution policy’.

Click here to read the full story, or for more information view www.piefunds.co.nz.

Youdrive featured on the front page of the Eastern Courier this week. The article, ‘On course for learners’, was also published online and includes a video about the Youdrive programme.

Youdrive is a new road safety and driver education programme that is being offered to secondary school students throughout New Zealand. Kevin Wall, the founder of Youdrive, identified a gap in the market for delivering driver education and training to young people and saw opportunity to work with schools to develop a programme that would deliver positive outcomes. Students from Edgewater College, which was chosen as the pilot school for the scheme, have responded positively to the programme and what it offers. The course is delivered on-site at the school and is also NZQA approved which means it can be taught through high schools as part of the NCEA curriculum.

On completion of the Youdrive programme, students will have obtained higher order driving skills and road safety education. They will also leave school with a practical life skill that will open up a whole range of opportunities for them in the future.

Click here to read the full article and to watch the Youdrive education video.

Botany Town Centre recently featured in a front page article in the New Zealand Herald, Business Herald section, which talks about the relationship between promotional sales and consumer spending.

According to research conducted by BRW and AMP Capital Shopping Centres (owner of Botany Town Centre) in Australia, retailers across the Tasman are facing an uncertain future as shoppers increasingly become immune to promotional sales and discounts offered by retailers. However, unlike their Australian counterparts, there is no sign of New Zealand shoppers getting ‘sales fatigue’. Barry Hellberg, the New Zealand Retailers Association spokesperson, says that despite the challenging retail environment in New Zealand, discounts and promotions are still an effective revenue-driving tool for retail companies.

Botany Town Centre Senior Marketing Manager Desiree Clark agrees that New Zealand retail is slightly more optimistic. “New Zealand hasn’t suffered from the massive discounting and sales culture of the United States and Australia.

“Unlike the Aussies, we have the Rugby World Cup 2011 to look forward to which will give our retail environment a much needed boost.”

Click here to read the full article.

Youdrive chief executive, Kevin Wall spoke with Toni Street from TVOne’s Breakfast team about the Youdrive programme and what it’s offering young New Zealanders.

Youdrive is a secondary-school based, driver training programme that aims to improve road safety by developing higher order skills and knowledge in young drivers. With 15-24 year olds heavily over represented in New Zealand road accident statistics and a large number of secondary students leaving school without any form of drivers’ license, Kevin Wall saw an opportunity to work with schools to develop a programme that would deliver positive outcomes.

Edgewater College is the first school in New Zealand to offer Youdrive as part of their education curriculum. The programme is delivered on site at the school and is NZQA approved, which means students can achieve credits towards their NCEA level standard.

Click here to watch the full interview, or visit the Youdrive website to learn more about the programme.

ActionStep chief executive, Ted Jordan featured in the ‘Success’ section of The Business Herald where he talks about his computer software system and the growing interest from New Zealand and other international markets.

ActionStep is extending its software to Jack Stern Law, a US firm which specialises in representing Mexicans accused of illegally entering the US. Because public defense law is not well-paid, Stern was keen to cut costs by outsourcing the processing of legal paperwork. ActionStep’s software enabled them to do this by supplying them with a system that allows the law firm to conduct business 24/7 across the globe, via the internet.

Jordan describes his software product as a “complete business system that runs in the cloud and has all the software that you need for business”. It helps to save costs, removes the complexity of running multiple systems, and holds all the business’ data and information in one place. Through the use of the ActionStep software, Stern’s team can enter relevant information into its system, which can then be processed overnight by a team of paralegals in the Philippines.

Click here to read the full article and to find out more about ActionStep.

Minnie Baragwanath, the chief executive of Be. Institute, features in the September issue of MiNDFOOD magazine where she talks about a new initiative that is making New Zealand a more accessible place for those with a disability.

In a step towards highlighting disability issues and enabling a 100% accessible society, Minnie Baragwanath founded Be. Institute, a social change enterprise that is that is making a difference in the lives of disabled Kiwis throughout New Zealand.

Ms Baragwanath, who is legally blind herself, acknowledges that New Zealanders are by nature inclusive and socially aware, “we are seeking to build on this through specific practices in our program. Our view is that if we get our country working right for disabled people, we get it right for all people”.

Click here to read te full article in the MiNDFOOD September issue.

South Canterbury Finance receivers William Black and Kerryn Downey of McGrathNicol have confirmed the $44million sale of their stake within Scales Corporation.

The receivers sold their 79.7 per cent shareholding in Scales Corporation to Direct Capital Investments – another New Zealand investment company.

The completion of this transaction comes just one week following the confirmation of the sale of Helicopters New Zealand to Canadian Helicopters for $154million. Receiver Kerryn Downey says that the sale of their Scales Corporation stake is a “very positive outcome for the company, its shareholders and us as receivers”.

Click here to read the full article on nzherald.co.nz

Campaign Overview

A new social change enterprise, Be. Institute, was launched at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on 6 May 2011.

Three innovative national campaigns were introduced on the evening: Be. Accessible, Be. Leadership and Be. Welcome. All three are highly significant for New Zealand. Be. Accessible is the country’s first nationwide accessibility programme, and Be. Leadership, New Zealand’s first national disability leadership programme. Be. Welcome is a unique location accessibility assessment programme.

Be. Institute aims to inspire and enable a 100% accessible society for all New Zealanders. The driving force behind the programmes is to improve the accessibility of the physical environment, enable better access to information, promote the inclusion and leadership of disabled people in employment and the community, and change social attitudes and behaviours.

Alexander Communications was briefed to assist with building the profile of Be. Institute and raising awareness of the three programmes and the recent Be. On The Road national tour.

In June, Be. Accessible launched a nationwide tour, Be. On The Road. The three-week roadshow visited the 12 Rugby World Cup host cities to introduce the Be. vision and accompanying programmes, and to discuss the current and future accessibility of each city.

Results

The Be. On The Road tour received a warm welcome from each host city and the Be. team met with passionate advocates who shared and supported the Be. vision.

The news of Be. On The Road caught the attention of local media, which were curious to learn more about the Be. Institute and supporting programmes. Reporters attended the presentations, and face-to-face interviews with Be. Accessible chief executive Minnie Baragwanath were secured.

The regional publications supported the campaign by including stories about Be. Accessible visiting their city to address local accessibility. Articles were featured in the Taranaki Daily News, Southland Express, Manawatu Guardian, Nelson Mail, Waikato Times, Northern Advocate and Manawatu Standard among others.

Local radio stations and television also showed excellent interest in the campaign and several interviews with Minnie Baragwanath were secured. The news of Be. On The Road and the accessible campervan featured on Dunedin’s 9 Local News, and interviews with Ms Baragwanath were broadcast on The Breeze Manawatu, Newstalk ZB New Plymouth, More FM Rotorua and Classic Hits Whangarei.

Most recently, Next Magazine featured Minnie Baragwanath as the Change Maker personality in its August 2011 issue. The full-page spread includes a Q&A session with Ms Baragwanath and references the Be. Institute and its founding origins. In positioning Ms Baragwanath as an industry leader, the article also discussed why a social change enterprise such as the Be. Institute is necessary for our community.

Earlier in the year Simon Collins from the New Zealand Herald sat down with Tony Howe of the Disability Resource Centre. They discussed Be. Accessible and the vision of the campaign for a story which featured in the New Zealand Herald metro section.

To find out more about the Be. Institute and the supporting programmes, visit www.beaccessible.org.nz

Be. Institute chief executive, Minnie Baragwanath, features in the latest issue of Next magazine as the ‘Change Maker’ of the month.

Ms Baragwanath sat down with Next magazine to discuss the development and goals of Be. Institute, a new social change enterprise that is making a difference in the lives of disabled Kiwis throughout New Zealand. Be. Institute is a national programme that aims to highlight accessibility issues within New Zealand and inspire and enable a 100% accessible society for all people.

The initiative started to develop after Ms Baragwanath was asked to manage the Rugby World Cup 2011 access programme for Auckland. As a major sporting event, Ms Baragwanath and her team identified the Rugby World Cup as key opportunity to create new conversation about accessibility and to leave an access legacy for the country.

Diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a condition that causes progressive vision loss, Ms Baragwanath who is legally blind, can personally relate to the challenges surrounding accessibility. “Being partially sighted has actually given me vision. It has affected the way I see the world, made me passionate about social change and led me to develop Be. Institute”.

Ms Baragwanath describes starting Be. Institute as a “dream come true”. She says becoming the chief executive of such an amazing organisation and working with an extraordinary is her proudest career moment to date.

Click here to read the full article.