WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.060 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We know you're here 00:00:02.060 --> 00:00:04.839 because, well, you have that deeply ingrained 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:07.280 curiosity. The desire to get past all the daily 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.580 noise. Exactly. You want to get straight to the 00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:12.480 fascinating core of a topic. And today we're 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:14.800 looking at something that might seem everyday, 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:17.879 perhaps even mundane to some. Right. But it has 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.539 a history that reads like an absolute business 00:00:20.539 --> 00:00:23.649 thriller. It really does. We're diving into a 00:00:23.649 --> 00:00:26.530 comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing the 00:00:26.530 --> 00:00:29.670 history of a true media survivor. We're talking 00:00:29.670 --> 00:00:32.670 about the New Zealand Women's Weekly. A total 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:35.549 institution. Right. So our mission today is to 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:38.649 explore exactly how a humble publication launched 00:00:38.649 --> 00:00:42.009 on cheap newsprint way back in 1932 managed to 00:00:42.009 --> 00:00:45.259 survive, well... utter financial ruin, aggressive 00:00:45.259 --> 00:00:47.780 international competition, and a global pandemic. 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:50.600 To become an incredibly resilient cultural institution. 00:00:50.899 --> 00:00:53.039 Okay, let's unpack this. Setting the stage here 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.340 is absolutely crucial because the story of this 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:58.240 magazine is, in a lot of ways, really the story 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.280 of print media as a whole. The overarching theme 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:03.619 we're going to see today is the surprising volatility 00:01:03.619 --> 00:01:06.400 of the magazine industry. Right, because we tend 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:09.219 to think of legacy print media as these immovable 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:11.579 mountains. Exactly. We see them on the shelf 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:13.239 and think they've just always been there, totally 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:16.879 secure. But behind the scenes, it's often a desperate 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:19.799 scramble for survival. Yeah, a constant scramble. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:22.819 Yet, despite that constant volatility, there's 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:25.780 an ultimate endurance to brands that manage to 00:01:25.780 --> 00:01:28.980 deeply embed themselves in the daily lives of 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:31.849 their readers. It's a brilliant case study in 00:01:31.849 --> 00:01:34.829 both fragility and staying power. Fragility is 00:01:34.829 --> 00:01:36.670 definitely the right word for how this all started. 00:01:36.810 --> 00:01:39.450 I mean, the launch date is December 8th, 1932. 00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:42.109 Right in the thick of it. Yeah, this is the scrappy, 00:01:42.109 --> 00:01:44.750 chaotic birth of the New Zealand Women's Weekly. 00:01:45.250 --> 00:01:47.409 We've got two journalists driving this ambitious 00:01:47.409 --> 00:01:50.099 project. Otto Williams, who takes on the role 00:01:50.099 --> 00:01:52.920 of managing director, and Audrey Argyle. Who 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:55.319 steps up as the very first editor. Right. And 00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:58.040 they launched this magazine with just 7 ,000 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.540 copies. Which is tiny. Tiny. And they're printing 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:02.879 this on basic newsprint. It's not glossy. It's 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.060 not glamorous. It's just a raw grassroots effort 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:08.340 to get a brand new publication off the ground. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:10.259 Right. And since we're talking about December 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:13.599 1932, we know exactly what the economic climate 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:15.919 looked like. We are right in the teeth of the 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:18.599 Great Depression. Oh, wow. Employment is soaring. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.719 The global economy is in tatters. And disposable 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:24.099 income is practically nonexistent for the average 00:02:24.099 --> 00:02:26.699 family. Nobody had money for extras. Exactly. 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.479 So launching a print magazine, a product that 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:32.300 relies entirely on advertising revenue and people 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:34.419 having spare pennies to drop at the newsstand, 00:02:34.580 --> 00:02:37.780 it was an extraordinarily risky gamble. It sounds 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:41.460 like financial suicide. It really does. And that 00:02:41.460 --> 00:02:44.360 harsh economic reality perfectly explains the 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:47.039 absolute chaos of what happened next. But hold 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.039 on. If the economy was completely in the gutter, 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:51.539 why launch a magazine right then? Was it just 00:02:51.539 --> 00:02:54.740 pure journalistic idealism colliding with financial 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:56.939 reality? That's usually how these things start. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:58.800 Because they hit a brick wall almost instantly. 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:03.699 The timeline from 1932 to 1933 is basically a 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:06.080 frantic game of ownership hot potato. Oh, it's 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:08.710 a mess. Williams and Argyle were forced to sell 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:11.129 the magazine after just three months. Three months. 00:03:11.669 --> 00:03:15.349 Due to severe financial difficulties, they barely 00:03:15.349 --> 00:03:17.389 got out of the gate before the money completely 00:03:17.389 --> 00:03:20.289 bright up. It's a classic story of editorial 00:03:20.289 --> 00:03:23.229 ambition outpacing the runway. Right. They had 00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:25.689 the vision for what this magazine could be, but 00:03:25.689 --> 00:03:28.090 they simply didn't have the capital to weather 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:31.090 the startup phase in a depressed economy. You 00:03:31.090 --> 00:03:33.960 need cash to survive those early days. You absolutely 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:37.259 do. So let's trace the rapid succession of hands 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:39.360 this publication passed through because it's 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:42.719 dizzying. First, after the founders cap out, 00:03:42.860 --> 00:03:45.599 a woman named Ellen Melville steps in and runs 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.840 the magazine. Okay. But she only lasts for a 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:50.120 few weeks. A few weeks. That's barely enough 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:52.080 time to figure out where the office coffee is, 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:54.580 let alone run a national magazine. Exactly. It 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:57.099 was hemorrhaging cash that quickly. Yep. So Melville 00:03:57.099 --> 00:04:00.099 passes it off. Next in line is actually the magazine's 00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:03.099 printer, F .S. Proctor. And his wife. Wait, the 00:04:03.099 --> 00:04:05.560 printer buys it? That seems like a massive conflict 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:07.560 of interest, or at least a really desperate move. 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:10.319 Did they actually want to be publishers, or was 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:12.939 this just a salvage operation? Almost certainly 00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:15.280 a salvage operation. When a publication goes 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:17.800 under, the printer is usually the one left holding 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:21.040 the bag for unpaid invoices. Ah, so they're just 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:23.350 trying to get their money back. Right. The Proctors 00:04:23.350 --> 00:04:25.990 likely took it over to either recoup some of 00:04:25.990 --> 00:04:27.750 those printing debts, keep their own presses 00:04:27.750 --> 00:04:30.310 running during a lean time, or try to flip it. 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:32.550 But they don't hold on to it for very long either. 00:04:32.670 --> 00:04:36.490 Another quick flip. Yeah, by early 1933, a solicitor 00:04:36.490 --> 00:04:38.930 named Vernon Dyson buys the publication. Okay, 00:04:38.970 --> 00:04:41.610 a lawyer this time. Right. And he installs his 00:04:41.610 --> 00:04:44.709 wife, Hedda Dyson, as the second editor. Oh, 00:04:44.769 --> 00:04:46.930 interesting. And then finally, at the end of 00:04:46.930 --> 00:04:50.189 that incredibly turbulent year, In late 1933, 00:04:50.730 --> 00:04:53.709 the magazine is sold once again. Number four. 00:04:53.990 --> 00:04:56.649 This time it goes to Brett Print and Publishing 00:04:56.649 --> 00:04:58.790 Company, which would later become New Zealand 00:04:58.790 --> 00:05:01.709 Newspapers. That's the same major company that 00:05:01.709 --> 00:05:04.189 published the Auckland Star. So it finally lands 00:05:04.189 --> 00:05:07.610 somewhere with actual resources. Exactly. What's 00:05:07.610 --> 00:05:10.269 fascinating here is that this rapid, chaotic 00:05:10.269 --> 00:05:13.370 turnover could have, and probably should have, 00:05:13.550 --> 00:05:16.050 easily killed the publication. Oh, without a 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:18.040 doubt. Usually when a business changes hands 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:20.759 four times in its first 12 months, it's a complete 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:23.920 death spiral. The readers lose trust, the advertisers 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:27.029 flee, and the staff burns out. It just looks 00:05:27.029 --> 00:05:30.709 totally unstable. But in this unique case, each 00:05:30.709 --> 00:05:33.550 owner essentially served as a temporary life 00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:35.649 support system. Wow, that's a great way to look 00:05:35.649 --> 00:05:37.449 at it. They kept the heartbeat of the magazine 00:05:37.449 --> 00:05:40.589 going just long enough to pass the baton to the 00:05:40.589 --> 00:05:42.910 next person, eventually landing it in the hands 00:05:42.910 --> 00:05:45.569 of a larger, more stable publishing house that 00:05:45.569 --> 00:05:47.750 actually had the resources to sustain it. So 00:05:47.750 --> 00:05:49.769 they just kept it breathing. It was a brutal 00:05:49.769 --> 00:05:53.110 crucible. But it somehow laid the very groundwork 00:05:53.110 --> 00:05:55.589 for its long -term survival. It's like they accidentally 00:05:55.589 --> 00:05:59.730 built a relay team just to survive 1933. A very 00:05:59.730 --> 00:06:02.470 stressful relay team. Very. And because of that 00:06:02.470 --> 00:06:05.189 relay, after that incredibly rocky first year, 00:06:05.449 --> 00:06:08.230 the magazine actually found its footing. When 00:06:08.230 --> 00:06:10.290 Brett Print and Publishing took ownership, they 00:06:10.290 --> 00:06:13.110 made a very smart move. They retained Hedda Dyson 00:06:13.110 --> 00:06:15.819 as the editor. Right. Vernon Dyson's wife. Yes. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:18.660 She wasn't just a placeholder. She ended up bringing 00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:21.459 some serious, much needed stability to the brand. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.040 She remained the editor from 1933 all the way 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.939 to 1948. That's a solid 15 year run. It's massive. 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:31.540 And that kind of editorial continuity is vital, 00:06:31.660 --> 00:06:33.939 especially considering the era. Think about what 00:06:33.939 --> 00:06:37.000 happened between 1933 and 1948. Oh, just a few 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:40.009 global events. Right. Hedda Dyson steered this 00:06:40.009 --> 00:06:41.930 magazine through the prolonged recovery of the 00:06:41.930 --> 00:06:44.189 Great Depression, the entirety of the Second 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:47.050 World War, the resource rationing, and the post 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:49.689 -war rebuilding phase. That is an unbelievable 00:06:49.689 --> 00:06:52.209 amount of history to cover week to week. She 00:06:52.209 --> 00:06:55.009 took a volatile hot potato project and tuned 00:06:55.009 --> 00:06:57.350 it into a dependable weekly staple for households 00:06:57.350 --> 00:07:00.209 navigating incredibly stressful times. A real 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:03.250 anchor for people. Exactly. By the time she stepped 00:07:03.250 --> 00:07:05.509 down in 1948, the New Zealand Women's Weekly 00:07:05.509 --> 00:07:08.319 was no longer a risky startup. It was a known, 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.779 trusted entity. After her, Ola Rudman took the 00:07:11.779 --> 00:07:15.420 reins briefly from 1948 to 1952. But the concrete 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:18.040 foundation had been permanently poured. Here's 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:20.319 where it gets really interesting. Because if 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:23.800 Hedda Dyson poured the foundation, the next editor 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:27.600 built the absolute empire. Oh, yes. We're talking 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:30.569 about the era of Jean Wishart. She takes the 00:07:30.569 --> 00:07:33.790 helm as editor in 1952, and she doesn't leave 00:07:33.790 --> 00:07:37.509 that position until 1984. 32 years as an editor. 00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:40.149 That's almost unheard of in modern media. it's 00:07:40.149 --> 00:07:42.410 staggering just think about the sheer volume 00:07:42.410 --> 00:07:45.009 of deadlines but more importantly think about 00:07:45.009 --> 00:07:47.410 the shifting cultural tides she had to navigate 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:49.170 it's a completely different world from start 00:07:49.170 --> 00:07:52.170 to finish exactly she starts in 1952 we're talking 00:07:52.170 --> 00:07:55.310 post -war domesticity very conservative family 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:58.910 values then she steers this massive ship through 00:07:58.910 --> 00:08:01.730 the cultural revolutions of the 60s the women's 00:08:01.730 --> 00:08:04.470 liberation movement the economic shocks of the 00:08:04.470 --> 00:08:07.730 70s right up to the neon soaked power suit era 00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:10.790 of the 1980s Fashioning to shoulder pads. Literally. 00:08:11.170 --> 00:08:13.689 Keeping a weekly magazine relevant across those 00:08:13.689 --> 00:08:16.029 drastically different decades requires an incredible 00:08:16.029 --> 00:08:19.089 editorial ear. It absolutely does. And her tenure 00:08:19.089 --> 00:08:21.569 represents the undisputed golden age for the 00:08:21.569 --> 00:08:23.850 publication. She had to constantly evolve the 00:08:23.850 --> 00:08:26.209 content. She couldn't just keep doing what worked 00:08:26.209 --> 00:08:30.310 in 1952. No. The advice columns, the recipes, 00:08:30.490 --> 00:08:32.789 the fashion, the social issues they covered in 00:08:32.789 --> 00:08:36.029 1955 would have looked completely alien to a 00:08:36.029 --> 00:08:40.100 reader in 1982. Yet she managed to thread that 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:42.799 needle, keeping the loyal older readers while 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:45.259 attracting new ones. It's a tough balancing act. 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:47.600 And if we look at the numbers during this era, 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:51.899 they prove her success. By the early 1980s, under 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:54.519 Jean Wishart's leadership, the circulation of 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:56.799 the New Zealand Woman's Weekly peaked at around 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:00.759 250 ,000 copies. Just to put that 250 ,000 number 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:02.990 in perspective for you. We're talking about a 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:04.870 country the size of New Zealand, which had a 00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:07.210 total population of just over 3 million people 00:09:07.210 --> 00:09:10.350 in the early 1980s. That ratio is wild. It means 00:09:10.350 --> 00:09:12.889 roughly 1 in 12 people in the entire country 00:09:12.889 --> 00:09:15.710 bought a copy every single week. If you lived 00:09:15.710 --> 00:09:17.429 in New Zealand during that era, you couldn't 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:19.669 escape this magazine. You went to the dentist, 00:09:19.929 --> 00:09:22.389 it was there. Your grandma's coffee table, it 00:09:22.389 --> 00:09:24.470 was there. Sitting in the break room at work, 00:09:24.629 --> 00:09:27.220 there's a copy. Total ubiquity. That kind of 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:29.779 market saturation is almost unimaginable today. 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:33.940 That is the power of a true legacy brand, achieving 00:09:33.940 --> 00:09:37.419 ultimate circulation density. It transcends being 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:40.000 a mere product and becomes part of the cultural 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:41.980 furniture. The cultural furniture, I like that. 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:44.200 When you have a circulation that dense relative 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:46.659 to the population, the magazine doesn't just 00:09:46.659 --> 00:09:49.690 reflect the national conversation. It dictates 00:09:49.690 --> 00:09:51.870 it. It sets the agenda. It tells people what 00:09:51.870 --> 00:09:54.509 is fashionable, what new ingredients to try for 00:09:54.509 --> 00:09:56.889 dinner and what social issues are acceptable 00:09:56.889 --> 00:10:00.139 to discuss. Jean Wishart was arguably one of 00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:02.019 the most influential cultural figures in the 00:10:02.019 --> 00:10:04.580 country simply by deciding what went on to those 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:07.240 pages for over three decades. But as we know, 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:09.860 in the media landscape, no monopoly lasts forever. 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:12.279 They never do. The golden era hits a wall in 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:15.500 the 1980s, or more accurately, it hits an Aussie 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:18.500 invasion. The Australian magazine's Woman's Day 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:21.139 and New Idea entered the New Zealand market. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.480 Here comes the competition. Suddenly, the New 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:25.440 Zealand Women's Weekly is no longer the only 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:29.269 game in town. funded, aggressive international 00:10:29.269 --> 00:10:32.789 competition right on their home turf. What did 00:10:32.789 --> 00:10:34.789 that actually look like on the newsstand? It 00:10:34.789 --> 00:10:36.610 looked like a total disruption of the established 00:10:36.610 --> 00:10:39.950 order. The Australian imports brought a different 00:10:39.950 --> 00:10:42.950 energy. They often had glossier pages, deeper 00:10:42.950 --> 00:10:46.049 pockets to buy exclusive celebrity photos, and 00:10:46.049 --> 00:10:48.370 a slightly more aggressive, gossip -driven editorial 00:10:48.370 --> 00:10:51.529 stance compared to the more traditional homegrown 00:10:51.529 --> 00:10:53.889 feel of the weekly. So they were flashier. Much 00:10:53.889 --> 00:10:56.070 flashier. They fragmented the market. So instead 00:10:56.070 --> 00:10:58.669 of everyone buying the same magazine, the audience's 00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:01.990 attention gets sliced up. Precisely. When you 00:11:01.990 --> 00:11:05.169 go from a near monopoly to a highly fragmented 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:07.429 competitive market, your numbers are going to 00:11:07.429 --> 00:11:10.250 take a hit. Fast forward a few decades to 2011, 00:11:10.490 --> 00:11:13.049 and we can really see the long -term impact of 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:14.990 this shifting landscape. Let's hear the numbers. 00:11:15.570 --> 00:11:17.830 The New Zealand Women's Weekly's circulation 00:11:17.830 --> 00:11:21.850 had dropped from that peak of 250 ,000 down to 00:11:21.850 --> 00:11:25.509 82 ,040. Which, to be fair, is still a massive 00:11:25.509 --> 00:11:28.490 amount of magazines to print, ship and sell every 00:11:28.490 --> 00:11:30.909 single week. Oh, absolutely. But obviously, it's 00:11:30.909 --> 00:11:33.370 a huge shift from the glory days of the 80s. 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:36.409 It is. By 2011, they had fallen to third place 00:11:36.409 --> 00:11:39.029 in paid sales. They were sitting behind the TV 00:11:39.029 --> 00:11:41.350 Guide, which held the number one spot, and our 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:43.710 media's New Zealand Women's Day, one of those 00:11:43.710 --> 00:11:46.629 very Australian imports that had disrupted their 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:49.029 dominance in the first place. The invaders took 00:11:49.029 --> 00:11:52.029 the lead. The market had completely reordered 00:11:52.029 --> 00:11:55.009 itself, and the weekly had to adapt from being 00:11:55.009 --> 00:11:57.590 the undisputed king to being a resilient challenger 00:11:57.590 --> 00:12:00.340 in a crowded checkout aisle. Even with those 00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:02.019 shifting numbers and the relentless competition, 00:12:02.379 --> 00:12:04.440 it's clear the magazine never lost its cultural 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:07.399 prestige. I mean, they had an incredible royal 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:12.159 milestone, so to speak, in 2007. The 75th anniversary. 00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:15.519 Yes. The magazine celebrated its 75th anniversary. 00:12:15.620 --> 00:12:18.059 And to mark the occasion, the special guest was 00:12:18.059 --> 00:12:20.080 none other than the prime minister at the time. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.679 Helen Clark. That's a huge deal. When the sitting 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:24.799 prime minister shows up to celebrate a magazine's 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:27.120 birthday, it really cements the publication status 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.159 as a piece of living history. It's a testament 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:32.600 to the fact that regardless of circulation dips, 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:35.840 the brand still held immense gravity. It absolutely 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.539 did. The legacy editors who followed Jean Wishart. 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:41.190 People like Michael McKay, Jenny Lynch, Sarah 00:12:41.190 --> 00:12:44.210 Kate Lynch, Wendell Nissen, Saito Kitchen, Sarah 00:12:44.210 --> 00:12:46.909 Stewart and Fiona Frazier. They were all managing 00:12:46.909 --> 00:12:49.610 this shifting, highly competitive landscape. 00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:51.769 It's quite a roster. They were fighting for shelf 00:12:51.769 --> 00:12:54.330 space and ad dollars, but they were also acting 00:12:54.330 --> 00:12:57.090 as the custodians of a national treasure. But 00:12:57.090 --> 00:12:59.389 as we've seen time and time again in business, 00:12:59.590 --> 00:13:02.850 no amount of prestige, history or good editorial 00:13:02.850 --> 00:13:06.149 work can protect a publication from an entirely 00:13:06.149 --> 00:13:09.429 unprecedented global economic shockwave. Which 00:13:09.429 --> 00:13:11.269 brings us to the most dramatic chapter in this 00:13:11.269 --> 00:13:14.029 entire story, the COVID -19 pandemic. Everything 00:13:14.029 --> 00:13:16.350 changes here. Let's set the scene for early April 00:13:16.350 --> 00:13:19.090 2020. The pandemic is sweeping the globe and 00:13:19.090 --> 00:13:20.809 governments are triggering sudden widespread 00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:24.389 economic shutdowns. Businesses are frozen. Supply 00:13:24.389 --> 00:13:26.549 chains are halting. Total panic. And right in 00:13:26.549 --> 00:13:29.330 the middle of this unprecedented panic, the Bauer 00:13:29.330 --> 00:13:31.309 Media Group, which owned the publication at the 00:13:31.309 --> 00:13:34.110 time, makes a devastating announcement. They 00:13:34.110 --> 00:13:36.070 announced the immediate closure of several of 00:13:36.070 --> 00:13:38.309 their New Zealand brands in response to the economic 00:13:38.309 --> 00:13:41.320 impact of COVID -19. Just shut them down. And 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:44.440 right there, among those shuttered titles, was 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:47.679 the beloved New Zealand Woman's Weekly. The gravity 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:51.019 of this moment cannot be overstated. Think about 00:13:51.019 --> 00:13:53.279 the timeline we just walked through. This magazine 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:57.360 launched in 1932. It weathered the darkest, most 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.960 desperate days of the Great Depression. Changing 00:13:59.960 --> 00:14:02.980 hands four times. Exactly. It survived the resource 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:05.320 rationing and existential threat of World War 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:08.549 II. It navigated the massive cultural upheavals 00:14:08.549 --> 00:14:11.169 of the mid -century. It fought off heavy -hitting 00:14:11.169 --> 00:14:13.750 international competitors in the 1980s, and it 00:14:13.750 --> 00:14:16.090 adapted to the rise of the digital internet age 00:14:16.090 --> 00:14:18.710 in the 2000s. Survived everything. Everything. 00:14:18.809 --> 00:14:22.450 After 88 continuous years of publication, overcoming 00:14:22.450 --> 00:14:25.450 every conceivable obstacle, a microscopic virus, 00:14:25.570 --> 00:14:27.590 and the subsequent economic panic appeared to 00:14:27.590 --> 00:14:29.809 finally kill the magazine. The presses stopped. 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.580 The story, it seemed, was completely over. It 00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:35.220 was a shocking sudden end. You don't expect an 00:14:35.220 --> 00:14:37.559 88 -year -old institution to just vanish overnight. 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:41.019 No, you really don't. But, incredibly, it wasn't 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:43.600 the end. This is where we get the dramatic rescue, 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.200 and it happens with whiplash -inducing speed. 00:14:46.659 --> 00:14:49.379 They announced the closure in early April 2020. 00:14:50.190 --> 00:14:53.690 Barely two months later, on June 17, 2020, an 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:56.129 investment firm called Mercury Capital swoops 00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:58.669 in. Out of nowhere. They purchased the New Zealand 00:14:58.669 --> 00:15:00.830 Woman's Weekly as part of a massive acquisition 00:15:00.830 --> 00:15:03.590 of Bauer Media's Australia and New Zealand assets. 00:15:04.049 --> 00:15:06.389 The speed of that transaction, especially during 00:15:06.389 --> 00:15:09.029 the height of global pandemic uncertainty, is 00:15:09.029 --> 00:15:11.850 remarkable. It shows a huge appetite for risk, 00:15:11.929 --> 00:15:13.929 but also a deep understanding of media value. 00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:16.210 And they didn't waste any time getting back to 00:15:16.210 --> 00:15:18.649 business. Just one month after buying it, on 00:15:18.649 --> 00:15:21.370 July 17, Mercury Capital announced that they 00:15:21.370 --> 00:15:23.450 would resume publishing the New Zealand Woman's 00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:26.129 Weekly alongside some other former Bauer publications. 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:28.509 Just turn the presses back on. By late September 00:15:28.509 --> 00:15:31.289 2020, Mercury Capital officially rebranded the 00:15:31.289 --> 00:15:34.230 publishing house as Our Media. The magazine was 00:15:34.230 --> 00:15:36.250 officially back from the dead. If we connect 00:15:36.250 --> 00:15:39.129 this to the bigger picture, this rapid, almost 00:15:39.129 --> 00:15:41.610 immediate revival underscores a critical truth 00:15:41.610 --> 00:15:44.750 about the modern media landscape. It shows the 00:15:44.750 --> 00:15:48.090 inherent, enduring value that investors still 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:51.370 see in deeply trusted legacy brands, even during 00:15:51.370 --> 00:15:54.429 the most severe global crises. Brand value is 00:15:54.429 --> 00:15:57.809 resilient. Exactly. When Mercury Capital bought 00:15:57.809 --> 00:16:00.230 the magazine, they weren't really buying the 00:16:00.230 --> 00:16:02.269 physical printing presses or the office furniture, 00:16:02.490 --> 00:16:04.350 were they? No, they were buying the name. They 00:16:04.350 --> 00:16:06.690 were buying brand equity, which is really just 00:16:06.690 --> 00:16:09.669 the business term for 88 years of blind, accumulated 00:16:09.669 --> 00:16:12.600 consumer trust. When the world is panicking, 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:15.860 an 88 -year -old brand represents safety, recognition 00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:19.120 and a pre -existing loyal customer base. People 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:21.200 want what they know. They recognize that while 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.100 the economic conditions of April 2020 were terrible, 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:26.700 the brand equity of the New Zealand Women's Weekly 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:29.259 was still immensely valuable. And that brings 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:32.080 us right up to the present day. Under the stewardship 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:35.120 of our media, the historic publication continues 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:38.279 to endure. They brought on Marilyn McLaughlin 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:41.399 as the editor in 2020, right during that intense 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:43.720 rebirth period. Right out of the gate. And she 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:46.220 successfully steered the ship. until shifting 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:50.279 to a lifestyle editor role in early 2026. This 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:52.659 magazine, which was pronounced completely dead, 00:16:52.899 --> 00:16:55.960 shuttered, and mourned by its readers, is still 00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:58.419 ticking, still publishing, and still finding 00:16:58.419 --> 00:17:01.279 its way into homes today. It's a phenomenal trajectory. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.839 From an initial print run of 7 ,000 copies on 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:07.519 cheap newsprint, Passed around by desperate owners 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:10.079 trying to avoid bankruptcy. Yeah. To a national 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:13.519 powerhouse printing 250 ,000 copies a week. Setting 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:15.900 the cultural agenda. To a casualty of a modern 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:18.619 pandemic. And finally, to a resurrected survivor 00:17:18.619 --> 00:17:21.180 under a new media conglomerate. It's just an 00:17:21.180 --> 00:17:23.460 incredible timeline. Let's just take a second 00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:25.720 to recap the sheer scale of what we've explored 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:28.799 today. We started in the bleak winter of 1932 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.519 with Otto Williams and Audrey Argyle gambling 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:34.660 everything on 7 ,000 newsprint copies. The ultimate 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:37.720 underdog. We tracked the chaotic first year where 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:40.519 the magazine changed hands four times in a desperate 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:43.059 relay race for survival. We saw the dizzying 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:45.420 32 -year reign of Jean Wishart where the magazine 00:17:45.420 --> 00:17:48.839 reached total cultural dominance. We discussed 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:50.980 the monopoly breaking against flashy Australian 00:17:50.980 --> 00:17:53.799 competitors in the 80s. And then we witnessed 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:55.880 the magazine get pushed to the very brink of 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:59.619 death in April 2020, only to experience a sudden, 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.559 miraculous rebirth under our media just months 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:05.349 later. So what does this all mean? What this 00:18:05.349 --> 00:18:07.769 means, and why this should matter deeply to you, 00:18:07.869 --> 00:18:10.289 is that the survival of a publication like the 00:18:10.289 --> 00:18:13.069 New Zealand Woman's Weekly shows how media is 00:18:13.069 --> 00:18:15.390 inextricably linked to the cultural memory of 00:18:15.390 --> 00:18:18.029 a society. It's more than just paper. The things 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:20.569 we choose to read, the physical objects we choose 00:18:20.569 --> 00:18:22.950 to bring into our homes and keep alive through 00:18:22.950 --> 00:18:25.829 sheer consumer demand, they become a literal 00:18:25.829 --> 00:18:28.930 mirror of our own history. This magazine didn't 00:18:28.930 --> 00:18:30.809 survive for over nine decades just because it 00:18:30.809 --> 00:18:32.750 had clever owners or good distribution channels. 00:18:32.829 --> 00:18:34.809 Right, it had to connect. It survived because 00:18:34.809 --> 00:18:37.190 generation after generation of readers decided 00:18:37.190 --> 00:18:39.890 it held value. It documented their lives, their 00:18:39.890 --> 00:18:42.029 changing fashions, their milestones, and their 00:18:42.029 --> 00:18:45.289 evolving worldviews. In times of extreme volatility, 00:18:45.609 --> 00:18:47.569 whether it's the Great Depression or COVID -19, 00:18:47.849 --> 00:18:50.569 readers often crave the comfort of familiar, 00:18:50.650 --> 00:18:53.130 tactile routines. We reach for what we know. 00:18:53.589 --> 00:18:56.470 When we study the lifespan of legacy media, we 00:18:56.470 --> 00:18:58.369 aren't just looking at corporate balance sheets 00:18:58.369 --> 00:19:01.210 or circulation numbers. We're tracking the heartbeat 00:19:01.210 --> 00:19:04.359 and the habits. of the society that consumes 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.180 it. That makes a lot of sense. It's not just 00:19:06.180 --> 00:19:08.500 paper and ink. It's a timeline of who we were 00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:11.019 and who we are. And that leaves us with a final, 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:13.000 somewhat provocative thought for you to ponder 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:16.039 as we wrap up today's deep dive. We live in an 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:19.240 increasingly digital, entirely ephemeral world. 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:21.720 Media companies today can pull the plug on a 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:24.440 website and years of content can vanish into 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:26.599 the ether in a matter of seconds. That happens 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:28.240 all the time. In a landscape like that, will 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.680 the tactile, physical experience of holding a 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:33.400 printed weekly magazine something that survived 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:36.420 the Great Depression and a modern pandemic, eventually 00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:39.140 transition from being just a casual supermarket 00:19:39.140 --> 00:19:43.039 checkout staple into a rare, highly coveted luxury 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:45.799 item? That's a fascinating question. Will the 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:48.539 very act of sitting down to read print become 00:19:48.539 --> 00:19:51.539 a deliberate premium experience in the future? 00:19:52.140 --> 00:19:54.140 It's something to think about the next time you 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:55.900 walk past a newsstand and see those physical 00:19:55.900 --> 00:19:58.900 copies waiting there. Thank you so much for joining 00:19:58.900 --> 00:20:00.720 us on this deep dive, and we'll catch you on 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:01.140 the next one.