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HMC NEWS: 10 signs your communication needs an update

Let’s face the facts: it’s July, it’s winter, it’s wet - or worse, it’s Dry - and the chilly midyear is a bit depressing.     It’s times like these that call for a great big giggle to joggle you out of your wintry funk. So, for all of you who are feeling the blues, this column is for you.    Grab a coffee – or something stiffer – and take a look at my top ten signs that y...

CLIENT NEWS: Engaging video and new website launches to support NZ teachers

HMC Communications has been working closely with the CS4S Trust over recent months to help them engage with New Zealand school teachers working in the digital curriculum.We helped develop key messages for our client - a not-for-profit which stands for 'Computer Science 4 Schools' (CS4S). The trust was in the early stages of setting up an online network for New Zealand teachers - a teachers-only portal where they could share ideas, lesson plans and find out information about the digital curriculu...

CLIENT NEWS: Young opera star Eliza Boom’s road to the 2018 Lexus Song Quest

Former Whangarei soprano Eliza Boom was named runner-up in the 2018 Lexus Song Quest at the weekend. The 24-year-old was awarded the Malvina Major Foundation prize of $10,000 and a study scholarship also worth $10,000. The first place winner was Joel Amosa. Ms Boom said she was “still buzzing” after performing on stage with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra during the competition.     The Lexus Song Quest is New Zealand’s most prestigious singing accolade with a prize pool ...

CLIENT NEWS: Raising the dairy industry’s next leading dairy sires

At the back of Raglan harbour on the West Coast peninsula lies one of the country’s most influential farming operations.   The aptly named “Peninsula Farm” is where herd improvement company CRV Ambreed grazes its young Friesian, jersey and crossbred bulls that wait to find out if they’re the dairy industry’s next megastars.   Each year around 150 bull calves are carefully selected for CRV Ambreed’s Progeny Test programme and are shipped from farms across the coun...

CLIENT NEWS: Sellers in the driver’s seat in Hamilton residential real estate market

A serious shortage of homes listed for sale in Hamilton has put sellers firmly in the driver’s seat, says Lodge Real Estate agent Glenn Collins. “The number of homes listed for sale in the city today is just 685. This is around the same number as July last year. However, what is different is within that number there are a lot more pre-sold properties and properties under contract. That means the true number of homes available for sale is much lower. “This creates a striking imbalance of su...

CLIENT NEWS: Arrived: The Waikato region’s economic development agency

The Waikato region now has an economic development agency and its first order of business is bringing together 250 of the region’s key people to determine major initiatives. The Waikato Regional Economic Development Agency (Waikato REDA) came into existence on 1 July. It is a limited liability company, owned by the Waikato Regional Economic Development Trust. Waikato REDA has a current establishment board and will call for expressions of interest in a skills-based, permanent board before the e...

HMC NEWS: ​The power of silence

As the Ronan Keating hit goes, “You say it best when you say nothing all.” While this song is all about making a love connection with dreamy eyes and soft caresses, let’s use it as a catchy segue into a discussion on the power of silence in business communication. Silence is often the shrewdest communications approach.  And it can often be particularly potent when you’re up against a negative reaction. On the surface, saying nothing – especially when your ire is up - might seem li...

CLIENT NEWS: New certification aims to add 5% to meat and dairy exports

A new meat and dairy certification system aims to capture the true value of meat and dairy exports grown on pastoral farms, and is expected to add at least 5% to the sectors’ current export earnings. Rangedfree is a certification developed in New Zealand for meat and dairy exports that highlights to international consumers its animals have been raised and live outdoors. The meat and dairy sectors are New Zealand’s highest export earners. According to Statistics New Zealand, in 2017 dairy ex...

CLIENT NEWS: The power of the state: New documentary explores the power of government in NZ electricity industry

The electricity industry is a frequent topic of discussion in New Zealand – especially as the months get colder and the power bills get higher. Power bill grumbles aside, New Zealand’s electricity industry, supported and funded by the Government, achieved world-leading feats of engineering and power supply in its early stages at the turn of the 20th century. The creation of massive state-owned hydroelectricity stations, and the people who helped make them happen, are captured in episode two...

HMC NEWS: Award-winning PR agency expands into the Bay of Plenty

HMC Communications, an internationally acclaimed and national award-winning public relations agency, is now operating in the Bay of Plenty. Suzi Luff, Papamoa-based and former Trustpower Community Relations Coordinator, along with Director Heather Claycomb are leading this move which follows a strong period of growth and success for the agency. Claycomb says HMC Communications’ expansion into the Bay of Plenty is a logical next step for the public relations (PR) agency. “HMC Communications...

CLIENT NEWS: Nitrogen-reducing plantain recognised with Fieldays Innovation Award

A plantain that started life as a common weed has been recognised for its contribution to the future of farming with an Innovation Award from Fieldays. Ecotain is an environmentally functional plantain that significantly reduces nitrogen leaching on livestock farms. It was officially launched in September 2017 when proprietary seed company Agricom announced major research findings that showed Ecotain reduces nitrogen leaching from the urine patch, an area containing high concentrations of nitrog...

CLIENT NEWS: Hamilton median house price predicted to break $600,000 barrier by year-end

Hamilton’s median house price achieved another strong median during May at $542,000. This is down from a record median of $560,000 for the month of April and compares to $520,000 in May 2017. Lodge Real Estate’s managing director Jeremy O’Rourke says the dramatic decrease in the number of homes listed for sale in the city is keeping upward pressure on house prices in the city. “Three hundred and six (306) homes were sold in Hamilton during May, however that stock was not replenished at t...

CLIENT NEWS: Kiwi campaign now on at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari

Friends and supporters of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari are being encouraged to do their bit for the national icon, by supporting a fundraising campaign for the birds. The mountain was last year announced as the national stronghold for western brown kiwi, which will see up to 500 new kiwi introduced to its reserve over the next five years. The opportunity to use this predator-free environment was identified by Kiwis for kiwi, a national charity working alongside the Department of Conservation...

CLIENT NEWS: Young Kiwis take on the world in pool championships

Fifteen of New Zealand’s top junior pool players are heading to the United States to compete at the VNEA Junior World Pool Championships. The Valley National 8-ball League Association (VNEA) is one of the world’s largest amateur pool leagues.The New Zealand players, who range from 12 to 20 years, have qualified for the tournament and will compete in Sioux City, Nebraska in late June. Bernie Endres, team manager and general manager of cue sports club Massé, says the team is loaded with talen...

CLIENT NEWS: Helping dairy farmers avoid FEI penalties with supplementary feed

It’s three months away but New Zealand dairy farmers are already preparing for the impact of Fonterra’s new fat evaluation index (FEI) grading system, which comes into effect on September 1. Fonterra established the FEI test to measure the fat composition in the cow’s milk it collects, to ensure it is suitable for manufacturing products that meet customer specifications. The use of palm kernel expeller (PKE) as a supplementary feed has been identified as a key influencer on high FEI level...

CLIENT NEWS: CRV Ambreed to launch online calculator for farmers to assess cows’ urinary nitrogen output

CRV Ambreed has designed an assessment tool for its clients to calculate how much nitrogen their cows are excreting in urine. It’s an online assessment tool into which the farmer inputs their own data, including the Milk Urea concentration (MU) value on their daily bulk milk reports, to calculate the amount of nitrogen their herd is excreting in urine. Knowing the numbers means they can take steps to address it if they need to. The herd-improvement company made national headlines in 2017 when ...

HMC NEWS: HMC Communications named Small PR Consultancy of the Year

Hamilton-based public relations agency, HMC Communications, was named the winner of the Small PR Consultancy of the Year at last week’s 44th Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) annual industry awards. Additionally, the agency won the Sustainable PR Award for their work with King Country Energy over the past five years. The agency helped King Country Energy to create a community relations programme that contributed toward keeping customer churn levels at around 1.5% year on year, ...

CLIENT NEWS: Interactive artwork created for Fieldays site, to be given away

An interactive and strangely-appropriate sculpture by scrap metal artist Adrian Worsley is set to pull them in at this year’s GrainCorp Feeds stand at National Fieldays. Everything about the work seems suitably rustic.  Drawing on Adrian’s sassy “number 8 wire” approach, it has been crafted from a marriage of odds and sods, discarded bits and pieces joined as one to tell a different story – in this instance, referencing the increasing popularity of molasses as a dairy feed supplem...

CLIENT NEWS: Waikato rural professional honours family Fieldays legacy

Te Awamutu-born Louise Wallace has a life-long connection to the New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays. “I’ve been going to since I was just a baby in a front pack,” says Ms Wallace, 28, a Te Awamutu farm investment support. “I always enjoy going to Fieldays; there is so much to see and do, and I always come away having learned something new about the agricultural industry.” Together with her sisters Alana and Hannah, Ms Wallace grew up on a dairy farm at Pukeatua, south of Cambridge. The...

CLIENT NEWS: Kiwi women to take on the world in pool championships

Four of New Zealand’s top female pool players are now competing in the United States at the Senior VNEA World Pool Championships. The Valley National 8-ball League Association (VNEA) is the largest global amateur pool organisation. Sixteen New Zealand players have qualified for the tournament in Las Vegas and include senior female players Brooque Pologa (23), Denise Wilkinson (28), Kimberley Cullen (41), and Agnes Kimura (43). Attracting approximately 3,000 players, the VNEA world Championship...

CLIENT NEWS: BOP entrepreneur’s Fieldays connection

Fieldays has a special appeal to Bay of Plenty inventor and businessman Matt Flowerday. Growing up on his parents’ dairy farm near Te Aroha, Flowerday attended Fieldays as a student a Te Aroha College and later as a university student. “I remember going Fieldays when I was at school and my friends and I would try and collect as many pamphlets as possible,” he says. “Fieldays is also a special time for our family because my father and sister’s birthdays always fall during that week in ...

CLIENT NEWS: From cows to bees: The inspiration behind a honey revolution

Growing up on a dairy farm in the Wairarapa, bees were the furthest things from Grant Engel’s mind. Now, they’re his livelihood and the inspiration for his business. Engel is the brains behind Revolutionary Beekeeping, a mobile stainless steel harvester that enables beekeepers to extract honey straight from the hive, instead of the more traditional method of transporting frames from hives to an off-site processor. As a child, Engel visited Fieldays and was inspired by the agricultural invent...

HMC NEWS: Entering industry awards: why you should and how to make the most of the opportunity

HMC Account Manager Kate Monahan-Riddell recently spoke to local chefs about the value of PR and entering award competitions. She shares her insights here. Have you thought about putting in an application for an industry award or competition? It can be a little daunting – what should you write? How can you tell your story in a way that will connect with the judges? Why bother anyway? From a public relations point of view, applying for select industry awards can be a great part of your bus...

CLIENT NEWS: Finding love at Fieldays: Rural Bachelor winner gets the Golden Gumboot, and the girl

When Mike Short entered the 2009 Fieldays Rural Bachelor competition on a whim, he never dreamed his life would change so dramatically. Fast forward four years and the Golden Gumboot winner was sitting on hay bales on the back of a Ute having his wedding photos taken with his new wife Ryley, who he first met at Fieldays. Many people find the latest agricultural products at Fieldays, but Mike and Ryley Short (nee McGougan) found love. Mike and Ryley's story has been made into a short film, part...

CLIENT NEWS: King Country Energy grants $6300 to community projects

king Country Energy (KCE) has announced $6300 will be distributed to four recipients of the latest Heartland Community Funding round. Four community organisations in the King Country will receive a share of that financial support towards their community initiative, including Piopio College in the Waitomo District. The college received funding to help pay for an outdoor fitness circuit to be built on the school grounds that can be used by students and the community. Piopio College Funding Office...