P U B L I S H E R ’ S D E S K THOSE GOLDEN MOMENTS, OUTSHONE BY BRIGHTER A stumble and a fall, two athletes strewn across the Rio Olympics' athletics track. Tears. A helping hand. Priceless. www.engineeringnews.co.nz 3 courtesy was returned, in spades, as Hamblin waited for her new found friend and co-star. It was a moment that could not have been bought with corporate cash, and a moment that would have some of the Olympics’ premier sponsors – such as Coca-Cola, Panasonic and Visa, to name a few – green with envy at how simple huge exposure in a digital world can be without the need for spending millions of dollars. The pair stole the show. If Mastercard had a real smart cookie on board their marketing team they would be signing the pair up immediately. ‘Priceless’ is exactly what this moment was, for the games, the athletes involved and the countries that they represent. Mastercard could trump their competition – Visa – in a flash by reinstating the ‘Priceless’ campaign as a one-off. Job, done. The archaic saying that sports and politics – extended plenty to business in general – don’t mix is a thing of the past and, in fact, I haven’t even heard it said in some years because in today’s world it mixes well and often to inspirational levels. Our own Prime Minister, I'm sure, turned to rugby legends Ritchie McCaw and Dan Carter for a favour when he got a sniff that the new flag campaign was in dire trouble. You’d be absolutely naïve to think that the pair were promoting a flag change off their own backs – albeit failing to alter the public’s opinion (imagine the absolute thrashing the alternative flags would have taken without them). And I turn back to a conversation had a couple of years ago with Paul Ayers of Challenge Partners, who highlighted just how much ‘good for business’ was achieved for Kiwi companies throughout the world by the promotional spend and investment in sports entities such as the All Blacks and Team New Zealand. It’s invaluable. The Nelson motorsport team Project 64 and their efforts on the Bonneville Plains (Page 16) are another ideal example of that – true Burt Munro stuff, done on the smell of an oily rag, with plenty of No.8 Wire tucked in for good measure. The record-breakers are exactly the sort of international exposure we want and need, and from the list of their supporters the businesses involved have had their bucks covered with plenty of bangs. But, like everything, not all the traits we see as positives are great for all industries. In the manufacture of high-precision, medical grade machined equipment the Kiwi No.8 Wire reputation can be harmful. Standards are required, and No.8 Wire just doesn’t fit with the words ‘methodical’ or ‘precise’ in this field. You can’t win them all. Greg Robertson – Publisher greg@hayleymedia.com What a moment for trade relations, and not just with the United States. The physical history books are unlikely to capture the event, more focussed on who won what at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But the internet and Google are a different story, with a quick search for ‘Kiwi, United States and Spirit’ revealing an Olympic moment that is the true essence of the event. As Kiwi 5000 metre runner Nikki Hamblin stopped to help United States’ athlete Abbey D’Agostino she probably had no idea that what she was about to do would be beamed around the world in multiple languages, sparking intense social media campaigns and all manner of positive news angles from a sporting media watch dog that was frothing at the mouth in excitement. The moment reverberated around the world – English, Spanish, French, German and more – to an audience that was unprecedented and passing a message that, colloquially speaking, Kiwis are bloody good buggers. Almost forgotten – and rightly so - was that it was Hamblin who brought down the American. She had tripped on the inside curb of the athletics track, and her fall with just four laps to go felled D’Agostino. The American went to the Kiwis aid first, but then could not stand on her own feet and the The moment when Nikki Hamblin shone brightly for New Zealand around the world, in multiple languages and across many digital formats. Just like this animated cartoon which we think sums it up (paraphrasing): It’s not about winning but being better.
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