Hard News: The Honours
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...he declared that libraries were not a public good, and that it was of no benefit to him that some poor bastard read a book.
And the granddaddy of them all... the 'Peoples Republic of Christchurch'. Roflnui. I still have the original T-shirt.
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Didnt the Myers family give a few million to Auckland University new School of Dance , which opened in the old 1YA/AKTV2 building in Shortland St, getting their name over the door.
Oh that would be the' Kenneth' Myers Centre
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Russell
Frankly -the first par of the NZH story was from an editor's direction. I did not write it - it was inserted at the start of the story.
I have written one column where I remarked (2007) on the fact that Myers did not have a knighthood - hardly contrues a "keeps reminding us" claim.
THere was also plenty more including controversy over Myers/Lion Nathan issue which did not make final story including his acknowledgement of Lion's ongoing success post Myers' period.
But you and your posters surely can't take from the man - the Lion's sponsorships of Peter Blake's Steinlarger, America's Cup, first Rugby World Cup etc. Or on his own bat: Helping John Hood with the fund-raising drive for Auck Uni Business School, sponsoring students to Cambridge University and Matauri Bay students?
I admire Brian Gaynor but I think it is fatuous to say Myers missed out on XXX by not staying in Lion.
Bankrolling Gnarls Buckley's Crazy (not sure if it was the entire St Elsewhere CD), smart-metering and other technology investments would obviously have swelled his earnings since getting out of Lion.
It is possible that through astute investment he would have made more?
Fran -
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But you and your posters surely can't take from the man - the Lion's sponsorships of Peter Blake's Steinlarger, America's Cup, first Rugby World Cup etc.
Yeah, I mean it's not as if the millions of people watching these events, who might just feel like drinking a beer, had anything to do with the 'sponsorship'. Pure Philanthropic Selflessness*.
*PPS. Yeah, right!
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Thanks, Fran. I'd still be comfortable describing those contributions as services to business rather than community, and he deserves recognition for that.
Oh, just re-read. The scholarship stuff sounds more community than business. As you were.
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Hilary
If you feel you know people who should be recognised don't worry about the Feb deadline just fill in the form. The nomination gets rolled over for at least a year
You and your nominee might be suprised with the results -
I have written one column where I remarked (2007) on the fact that Myers did not have a knighthood
And a lovely piece of sycophancy it was too.
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Well Sacha and Recordi - Would you have rather seen NZ corporates not get behind Am Cup, World Cup etc? Of course they use such events for branding - but I would suspect the commercial return is only one part of it. Getting to see NZ succeed on the world stage is another - and Blake and Kirk did just that with the Am Cup and World Rugby Cup. Lion wasn't the only corporate involved in such endeavours - but it did play a leading part.
Idiot - Get over it. I've written plenty of hard-hitting commercial stuff over the years - but that does not stop me admiring the fact that Lion did succeed in Aust in a big way and believing that the honour shd have been accorded years ago. Sir Roger Bhatnagar? FFS!
Fran
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Thanks Raymond, useful information.
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Fran, I have no problem with corporates backslapping each other with shareholders' cash - just not remotely what I'd call "community" as explored upthread. Agree to disagree?
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I have written one column where I remarked (2007) on the fact that Myers did not have a knighthood - hardly contrues a "keeps reminding us" claim.
Fair enough -- I stand corrected. Perhaps I read that one column more than once :-)
I wasn't meaning to have a go at you Fran, but I I do have views on Myers and and one or two others of his ilk. I don't like being lectured on competitiveness by someone whose behaviour I think has been corrosive of the very kind of market democracy he claims to champion.
Myers' infantile conduct on Radio NZ yesterday -- referring to Helen Clark, just elevated to the Order of New Zealand, as "she who must be obeyed", while he revelled in his own honour -- showed a pretty stark lack of class too. I do not respect Mr Myers.
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Oh, and I fully support recognition of philanthropy like Julian Robertson's massive donation of artwork to a public gallery. Steven, I think you may be confusing him with another American billionaire in the news several years earlier.
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Would you have rather seen NZ corporates not get behind Am Cup, World Cup etc?
I was warned about sarcasm. My apologies.
Of course our national sporting heroes need sponsorship and support from successful New Zealand companies, and it wasn't done in any underhand way, as far as I know. However, in spite of a possible 'community spin-off', I suspect the company, and it's leading shareholders, put profit well ahead of 'the public good'. But that, you could argue, was their job. Is that laudable? Others clearly think so.
Whether I'm convinced 'Big Alcohol' is a better source of sponsorship money in sport than 'Big Tobacco' is another matter.
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My own experiences managing sponsorships (in distance past) for an NZ corp - taught me that a very good deal are driven by the private passion of a CEO, or key players on the board, or an influential sponsorship manager who weighs approaches and decides which are worthwhile, will assist local/national interest perspectives and have am upbeat rub-off factor for the company and its people.
And that there is a strong element of public good involved.
Quite often company personnel will get involved with the donation recipients - eg Graeme Dingle's Project K. Good companies recognise they have a broader role than simply stacking the shareholders' shelves.
But what you often find it that "Marketing" usually has to find some way to dress it up so that a "commercial value" can be ascribed to justify the spend.
If you look across the entire NZ spectrum - State energy company sponsoring Opera, NZ Herald owner the Auck Phil - to name just two. Are more power or newspapers sold from these?
Did the NZ Apple & Pear Board sell more apples from its Am Cup sponsorship? I doubt it.
The fundamental point is that very few such initiatives get off the ground - or continue to survive - without corporate backing.
Fran -
But you and your posters surely can't take from the man - the Lion's sponsorships of Peter Blake's Steinlarger, America's Cup, first Rugby World Cup etc.
I have never condoned the inappropriate advertising of alcohol. Just as I don't think that advertising cigarets at sporting events was altogether cosmic. Actively promoting getting pissed then participating in water sports is no more endearing that promoting drunken driving.
Or on his own bat: Helping John Hood with the fund-raising drive for Auck Uni Business School, sponsoring students to Cambridge University and Matauri Bay students?
Pifth, Wasn't he at one point one of the wealthiest men in New Zealand? Thats like saying the Mc Donald's corporation genuinely cares about road safety and sick children. As Russell rightly says the man is, and I paraphrase: An old fart bum. He just happens to have been born into a family that had lots and lots of money. His knighthood contradicts the spirit of capitalism, due to, in his case, it's hereditary tradition. Therefor he has become gloriously superfluous to his educational charities.
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I find myself contrasting relative efforts: that of Myers, whose contribution to New Zealand is tinged with self interest and gets a knighthood and that of Heather May and James Tuhoro who have fostered some 380 at risk children and receive a Queens Service Medal.
Perhaps, if Heather May and James Tuhoro had donated money instead of time, effort, love etc etc and then to a political Party...
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Oh, and I fully support recognition of philanthropy like Julian Robertson's massive donation of artwork to a public gallery. Steven, I think you may be confusing him with another American billionaire in the news several years earlier.
My apologies to Julian Robertson in that case. Heres a good example of the problems with name suppressions. I jumped to a wrong conclusion. That old news story headline read, American billionaire gets name suppression after being sprung smuggling marijuana into New Zealand, thus neglecting the local black-market (or something along those lines) A despicable think to do during the Americas cup hoopla. When we where being sold the line that the event would be good for the local economy.
Donating large amounts of art? thats good, I guess? I would be impressed if he had have scored it from an aristocratic mortgagee sale:)
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But you and your posters surely can't take from the man - the Lion's sponsorships of Peter Blake's Steinlarger, America's Cup, first Rugby World Cup etc.
Like other posters here I am appalled at any promotion of sporting events by either tobacco or alcohol companies. Promoting drugs by associating their brand to some physical or healthy activity should be against the law. And may be against the law soon.
Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol - WHO
I look forward to seeing alcohol companies barred from sponsoring sporting events as tobacco has been banned.
If you look across the entire NZ spectrum - State energy company sponsoring Opera, NZ Herald owner the Auck Phil - to name just two. Are more power or newspapers sold from these?
Did the NZ Apple & Pear Board sell more apples from its Am Cup sponsorship? I doubt it.Fran, the commercial advantages that corporations gain by sponsorship of sporting, artistic, cultural events or charitable ventures are enormous .
The sole purpose of this association and branding is a financial bottom line, achieved by the branding or the resulting tax break. Usually the sort of exposure that goes with branding is many, many times more valuable and economical than running an advertising campaign.
NZ Tax Structure and Corporate Giving
Sponsorship is an effective way for a company to provide support while generating good public exposure. The event does not necessarily need to be directly connected to the company's business to be beneficial, as any funding provided will assist in creating a favourable public perception.
In addition, if the corporate sponsor can show a connection between the costs incurred and the business, a tax deduction is available for those costs. This connection could be as simple as the sponsored event helps to provide advertising for the company in an attempt to increase the level of sales.
The profit gained by the exposure and resulting good will any company gets from sponsorship deals is and always will be what motivates companies to make and maintian sponsorship deals. When that association stops being profitable for the company, that association stops. Just ask Tiger Woods's sponsors.
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Julian Robertson made a small appearance in The Hollow Men. It is very good of him to donate art to us, but services to the National Party are probably part of the story too.
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Lest any doubt our even-handed cynicism about honours and favours, there's always Owen Glenn.
So last decade. -
One of the few investments that has withstood all this is precious metals, and while I can't quite get my head around the god-like inherent value in a shiny piece of metal, that may only be because I don't have any.
No need to have the actual shiny metal if you want to invest in this bubble.
Due to pressure on the supply side people are now buying "paper" gold - just a written promise that one owns the gold.
Prices have been spiking for some time now and it no longer has much connection with its worth as a raw material.
When the 1981/82 gold bubble burst a lot of investors were hit. -
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I was a bit soft. Thanks Dyan and Steven.
The attributes of those on the list that made me think, 'yeah, that's cool' had very little to do with the official criteria for national honours;
"for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."
I'm more impressed by examples of the following, in contrast to attributes covered in some measure above.
Confidence, not arrogance.
Humility, not pride.
Compassion, not calculation.
Mana, not entitlement.Lesley Max and the Tamahere fire-fighters seemed to score pretty well on these fronts. Others too, but it's a long list.
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So last decade.
Damn you're quick.
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Thanks very much for last night, R&F. It was a pretty excellent night for me, all up; three parties back-to-back over the course of 10 hours, and home by 6 full of beer, lamb, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, chocolate cake and whiskeys.
Here's that tune, of which we spoke. The original has been a massive hit, but this live performance of the re-version slays me:
[Nov.17, NYC]
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