Every year, StopPress catches up with a group of talented professionals from across the local industry to talk about the year that was. From their biggest challenges to their biggest inspiration, their favourite campaigns and favourite snacks, they give us a little insight into 2024 as well as what is to come in 2025.
Leni Ma’ia’i is owner of DIG PR.
What was your highlight of 2024?
Personally, it’s definitely been growing the business and having far more companies trust us with their story.
How did the changing media landscape in Aotearoa impact the work you do at DIG PR this year?
Selfishly, the biggest short term impact was hiring Finn Hogan from the Newshub redundancy pile. Finn was doing some fantastic technology reporting and has moved seamlessly into work on the other side of the fence.
For PR more broadly, the most obvious impact of newsrooms slimming down is there’s simply fewer outlets/reporters to cover your client stories. However, I’d argue that with less stories being written, reporters can be more choosy with the pieces they do; which puts a premium on the best ones. If the story is good, relevant, and interesting, it will find a home easily enough.
We’ve also helped more businesses transition to become their own publishers. Without the (increasingly unreliable) intermediation of news gatherers, brands need to be creative with how and where they tell their stories.
The best part of working in PR in 2024, and your top 3 stories or projects that you worked on at DIG?
I can’t speak for other PR outfits, but as a service business we’re typically a mirror of our clients. For us that was largely helping startups who are challenging entire industries, so it’s hard not to be infected by their (sometimes irrational) optimism.
Yes, there’s plenty of crap we could sit around complaining about — but isn’t it much more fun to hear about solutions?
For favourite campaigns, it’s hard to go past our work with OpenStar, a company working on the most exciting and ambitious science experiment in recent NZ history. OpenStar hit their first major milestone in November, first plasma, propelling Aotearoa into the nuclear fusion race. Our work together securing major features in CNN, Financial Times, IEEE Spectrum will have meaningful impacts on the destiny of a business like this, which feels good.
Another really rewarding campaign, alongside our mates at Motion Sickness, was a call to make NZ the best place to have herpes in the world – with a little help from local celeb royalty like Graham Henry & Buck Shelford. The destigmatisation work was ultimately successful (yay!), with NZ leapfrogging the likes of Aus and Sweden to its rightful place atop the list.
Finally, we’ve been working with Icehouse Ventures for a couple of years now, so seeing them emerge as the clear voice for NZ startups is really gratifying. Yes, they’re a venture capital firm, but they embody all of the traits of our best startups… and they throw a helluva party.
What was your top news story of the year, either locally, or globally?
‘Top’ probably isn’t the best descriptor, but the awful situation in Gaza and the brave work of the reporters there make up the most important new stories happening anywhere.
And what was your favourite social trend?
LinkedIn replacing Twitter as a space for obnoxious political takes has been an entertaining new wrinkle; people have gone from throwing stones from fake profiles, to doing so with their entire employment history on display.
What helped you stay motivated this year?
We try to cut deeper to tell client stories, sometimes into places that aren’t perfectly comfortable. The implosion of journalism makes this style of PR work even more important.
Did you harness AI in your work in 2024, and if so, what impact has that made?
Google’s LLM Notebook is really really good and only getting better. Especially for condensing down minutes and summarising large amounts of text, there’s nothing else like it right now. It’s saved us masses of time on the most boring bits of the job.
What was the biggest challenge your team faced in 2024, and how did you overcome it?
In 2024 we started offering international PR support for NZ headquartered companies, mostly in Australia, but also further afield. It’s been a massive uplift to get this going (thanks Daniel in Melbourne!), and we’re still ironing out the kinks, but examples like our work with OpenStar shows what we’re capable of.
Gaze into your crystal ball and tell us where you see PR going in 2025 – what changes do you foresee?
On the media relations front, I think good PR will become more important. As resources dry up in newsrooms, PR people have emerged as de facto reporters, doing the research to find the most important stories, or as editors, fact checking the final pieces.
Audiences are hungry for niche content, and legacy media has been slow to fill that void. Substack and other social media platforms have done a good job filling the vacuum, but I think there’s a massive opportunity for more brands to build quality original content and speak directly to their communities.
Quick fire 10
1. Most memorable local campaign?
The Hīkoi. From the moment Maipi-Clarke tore the treaty principles bill in front of the world, to seeing streams of people taking the streets, the Hīkoi made me proud to be a New Zealander. What better way to respond to divisive rhetoric than a massive outpouring of love and unity?
2. Best international campaign?
Kendrick Lamar’s Not like Us diss track simultaneously cemented his lord-ish status in hip hop, gave him a low pressure opportunity to release a single, besmirched his biggest competitor, and got the people hyped for his new album.
3. A campaign you wish you worked on?
Being an insider on either Trump or Kamala’s campaigns would be fascinating.
4. An news story that got too much attention in 2024?
The hot rodent man thing – I just don’t see it.
5. Biggest flop of 2024?
The Democrats.
6. The best movie you saw at the cinema?
Anora is a close second, but watching feminist body horror The Substance at a packed out Civic is peak movie-going experience.
7. The best thing about your industry?
Knowing the goss before everybody else.
8. How do you relax?
Playing sports with younger, more athletic people than myself.
9. Three things you’d take to a desert island?
I’m watching Alone right now so I can’t be tricked by this question. A knife, a flint, and a pot.
10. Your favourite snack?
Deep fried peanuts.
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