A bit about our story

Hi! My name is Richard and I am your local community newspaper baron-in-training!

When the Horowhenua Chronicle was slated for closure in November 2024, not only were the staff shocked, so were the tradies. ‘Blimey,’ I remember one saying. ‘Now I’m going to have to get a blimming website!’

I had been paying close attention to the media economics of community newsprint for a number of years, and he was not wrong. Because I worked for one of the smaller offices of a major media conglomerate, my focus was entirely different from some of the ‘metro’ advertising sales specialists. Whilst sales reps in major cities liked to tell clients that they would need a budget of $4k a month to make any sort of impact, we frequently had to make do with clients with ‘shoestring’ budgets of as little as 200 + GST.

That, combined with the fact that I had years of experience managing a small family business with a turnover of just over $100k, meant that I knew just how important it was to be able to offer the best insights to people regardless of their budget constraints.

Someone who’s ideal for us to work with is a small business turning over between 100k and 500k, much like my family business. They uniquely know the struggles and strains of operating on thin margins with little room for error. And quite often, I find, they have received the least attention from professional advertising sales reps.

Working with such a group helped me to acquire what the statisticians call ‘rare data’ – seemingly anomalous outcomes achieved from minor campaigns that give one a sense of how advertising principles can actually apply. Because the other thing about me is that I am something of a statistician myself. When I lived in Melbourne, for example, I would spend a chunk of my Saturday poring over 1500 of the then-2200 ASX-listed securities in order to find opportunities that were mispriced relative to the market. (Yep, that was my hobby.)

In putting these little insights together we’ve managed to not only restore a masthead that was shuttered for seven months, but to develop an entire economy around newsprint that supports lots of local jobs – not just the full-time editors and photojournalists, but also graphic designers, printers and newspaper deliverers who help bring the Kāpiti News to your doorstep!

So, thanks very much for your support and we look forward to working with you!