What’s the next first for a country leading many conversations?
New Zealand continues to be a country of trailblazers, leading the way on key social and political milestones.
With a history that includes being the first country to give women the right to vote, the 13th to legalise same sex marriage and in recent history, an extraordinarily fast change in gun laws, it’s easy to see why this reputation of being socially progressive resonates.
As a country that favours and advocates progress, change, improvement, reform and progression towards better conditions for its people and the land they call home, the world continues to watch as more ‘firsts’ are discussed in the media, by politicians, influencers and people. In particular the topic of Health seems to be attracting attention and gaining momentum on the airwaves.
On the health waves
Assisted Dying Bill
In recent months, tensions have risen, and tempers have flared as a parliamentary committee considers the controversial Assisted Dying Bill. Could this be another debatable issue New Zealand is at the forefront? As the country edges closer towards legalising assisted dying and Parliament having voted on this Bill’s second reading on 1st May 2019, will New Zealand join the few countries in the world who have already made assisted dying legal?
The Bill was originally introduced June 2017 and was debated at its first reading in December 2017, passing with 76 votes in favour and 44 against. At the time of release, there were more than 30,000 public submissions – the highest number of submissions received in recent Parliamentary history, according to the Justice Committee. So why has this bill gained so much traction?
It seems much of the conversation is happening through broadcast channels, perhaps unsurprisingly given the prominence of radio in New Zealand. Looking back over the last 7 months, we can see this topical spike in broadcast mentions during April, likely due to the Assisted Dying Bill submission taking place and the several debates that followed.
The Primary Health Care Strategy
Health continues to be a theme of conversation it seems. Alongside the topic of euthanasia, New Zealand’s primary healthcare has also been a hot talking point. As well as a number of developed countries, New Zealand has a publicly funded health system. The Primary Health Care Strategy was introduced in 2001 as New Zealand’s official response to evidence promulgating primary care-led health systems for developed countries. The strategy placed an increased emphasis on greater provision and funding of primary health care and anticipated expanded and more collaborative ways of working for health professionals within the sector.
The success of this new primary care-led system has been heavily dependent on the quality and commitment of the primary care workforce, with a clear expectation of closer interprofessional working and collaborative practices. Capitated population-based funding (where a health service is paid in bulk for care provision, regardless of which clinical practitioner undertakes the care) creates potential for different ways of working in this new primary care-led environment. A strong primary health care system is central to improving the health of all New Zealanders and reducing health inequalities between different groups, but when the health care system fails, is it valid for the conversations around the assisted dying Bill to be had?
Digital Health 2020
Another topical discussion within the healthcare sector – the ministry of health’s Digital Health 2020 plan. This plan is a crucial factor to the success of the overall New Zealand Health Strategy and will help New Zealand to keep pace with global trends in healthcare. Characterised by greater use of digitalisation, data analytics and innovative devices are used to increase efficiency and support new forms of treatment, service delivery and preventative healthcare. The question is, do New Zealanders want their health records to be accessible online?
Medicinal marijuana
On the pharmaceutical front the conversation continues following the introduction of medicinal marijuana now widely available for thousands of patients after years of campaigning and the recent announcement of the cannabis referendum in 2020. We analysed across various media types (print, online and broadcast) the discussions around legalising the personal use of cannabis for New Zealanders and the media mentions around this topic.
Our analysis showed the most media mentions were again on broadcast channels with 113 per cent more mentions than print and 98 per cent more than online and is on an upward trend. The month of May has already produced more media mentions in half a month (589) than total media mentions in October (587 and as the referendum draws closer in 2020 you’d almost certainly expect this to continue to rise.) Using cannabis for personal use has been legalised in Canada, Uruguay and in multiple US states, and has been decriminalised in many more. By legalising its use in New Zealand, it will reaffirm the progressive reputation that continues to receive media attention worldwide.
Loren is an experienced marketing professional who translates data and insights using Isentia solutions into trends and research, bringing clients closer to the benefits of audience intelligence. Loren thrives on introducing the groundbreaking ways in which data and insights can help a brand or organisation, enabling them to exceed their strategic objectives and goals.
We sat down with Brendan McGreevy, recently appointed Country Manager for Australia (2017) and discussed his viewpoints on leading the Australian team and the latest release of Custom Reports on Mediaportal.
Tell us who you are and how you came along with your Isentia journey
My name is Brendan McGreevy and I am the Country Manager for Australia [here at] Isentia. I joined the company in January 2004 as a tele-sales consultant, selling media intelligence services and data distribution. I’ve managed the tele-sales team and the Slice products over a number of years before we brought that back into the [Isentia] family, I’ve been a BDM, a Service Consultant, a Sales Manager and now I’m Country Manager. I have done many, many jobs and have always been in client facing, which is what I like, and I hope to continue my career throughout the company in a client-facing role.
What job haven’t you had at Isentia?
I haven’t been Chief Executive yet, so maybe at some point in the future! I am keeping my options open though.
What are you 100% passionate about and what gets you going every day?
Probably two things – one being the media and how it rapidly changes, the different forms and the different platforms that are popping out pretty much every month or every year. The other is clients – dealing with communicators – people in PR and Corp Comms.
It’s fast paced, and every day is a new and different day. If one client is on the news on a Monday, it’s going to be someone different on a Wednesday. [It’s] that kind of variety that keeps you getting up in the morning and keeps you coming into work.
What are you most proud of, a moment of time of your life at Isentia?
I can’t think of one defining moment. I suppose each year when you see the achievements of the team, achievements of the clients, and you are hitting those targets – seeing the client growing every year and seeing that we’re doing all those things right that keeps the clients coming back for more and more. I would say that is probably the proudest achievement.
Can you talk about what makes the Australian customer base unique and what is different about them?
I think what makes it unique from the rest of the company is that there are clients that have used us for many, many years. We’ve been through the evolution of their businesses and their careers and they’ve been through the evolution of our business.
From the hard copy clipping agency in the 80’s and 90’s through to the digitally media intelligence company we are now. Personally, I’ve worked with a lot of them [the clients], since the early 2000’s and it does create a bit of uniqueness within our business. We do find that a lot of people in the Account Management team and the Sales team have been here for 20 to 30 years, and they tend to stick around because they know the people that they’re working with. Whether they move from government to private sector [or elsewhere], they always move back again, so you tend to meet the same people over and over again – it gives that sense of familiarity with all of the clients.
Looking at the new Custom Reports feature, what do you think would excite them most about it?
Probably the levels of customisation that we can now offer – like adding in the client’s logo and customising the look and feel of it.
Even though it is our content that we’re sending to the clients, it is their work. Allowing them to personalise their work and distribute that internally in a format that actually gives them the kudos and credit for what they’ve done and what they’ve achieved. I think that is going to get on pretty well.
What do you think makes Isentia brilliant?
What makes us brilliant is the people that are here.
I think the people that works here takes a very specific breed of person – you’ve got to love the media, you’ve got to love communications, you’ve got to love PR, you’ve got to love marketing, and you’ve got to love what we do, you’ve got to love the industry.
I think that is everybody that is here – evident in the high tenure of service across the business. People love what they do, they love that it is fast-paced, and they love that it is continually changing. And at the same time there is a level of familiarity at what we do as well. So yeah, it is definitely the people.
What is your favorite feature within the latest Custom Reports release and why?
To be honest, that is my favourite feature – the customisable view of it. In previous reports you could only use the PDF and that was very much a standard, static document. This is the client’s document, and it is important that when we build our products and services that they are all about the client and not about us. It’s not about the media, it is not about the content, it is actually about that client and their business and what they need to use the information for, and how they can customise it for different stakeholders, and different audiences internally. So, the more it looks like their document and the more they can customise it, the better it is.
Given your recent promotion to Country Manager, what excites you about the year ahead?
What we just completed in Australia is a slight restructure of the sales and services team. Previously we had an account management structure. We’ve [since] taken client success out and created a new division for Client Success and a new division for Sales.
These changes excite me because now we’ve got a dedicated focus on service for our clients and trying to understand what our client wants from us and how we can make that service better, and that is the dedication of that team. They don’t have to sell, or have find a new revenue stream, their job is purely to service our clients. Going back to that value and Isentia being client obsessed, this structure allows us to actually be client obsessed – to focus on our clients and their needs on a day-to-day basis, but to also have consultants from a different team to help clients with different services when the need arises.
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Blog
3 minutes with Brendan McGreevy, Country Manager, Australia
We sat down with Brendan McGreevy, recently appointed Country Manager for Australia (2017) and discussed his viewpoints on leading the Australian team and the latest release of Custom Reports on Mediaportal.
Every stakeholder relationship is different, and managing them effectively takes more than a one-size-fits-all approach.
From campaign planning to long-term engagement, having the right tools and strategy in place can make the difference between missed connections and meaningful impact.
This guide covers:
Identifying and understanding your key stakeholders
Mapping and modelling for influence and engagement
Equipping your team to maintain and grow strategic relationships
Across the communications landscape, teams are being asked to do more with less, while staying aligned, responsive and compliant in the face of complex and often shifting stakeholder demands. In that environment, how we track, report and manage our relationships really matters.
In too many organisations, relationship management is still built around tools designed for customer sales. CRM systems, built for structured pipelines and linear user journeys, have long been the default for managing contact databases. They work well for sales and customer service functions. But for communications professionals managing journalists, political offices, internal leaders and external advocates, these tools often fall short.
Stakeholder relationships don’t follow a straight line. They change depending on context, shaped by policy shifts, public sentiment, media narratives or crisis response. A stakeholder may be supportive one week and critical the next. They often hold more than one role, and their influence doesn’t fit neatly into a funnel or metric.
Managing these relationships requires more than contact management. It requires context. The ability to see not just who you spoke to, but why, and what happened next. Communications teams need shared visibility across issues and departments. As reporting expectations grow, that information must be searchable, secure and aligned with wider organisational goals.
What’s often missing is infrastructure. Without the right systems, strategic relationship management becomes fragmented or reactive. Sometimes it becomes invisible altogether.
This is where Stakeholder Relationship Management (SRM) enters the conversation. Not as a new acronym, but as a different way of thinking about influence.
At Isentia, we’ve seen how a purpose-built SRM platform can help communications teams navigate complexity more confidently. Ours offers a secure, centralised space to log and track every interaction, whether it’s a media enquiry, a ministerial meeting, or a community update, and link it to your team’s broader communications activity.
The aim isn’t to automate relationships. It’s to make them easier to manage, measure and maintain. It’s about creating internal coordination before the external message goes out.
Because in today’s communications environment, stakeholder engagement is not just a support function. It is a strategic capability.
Across the communications landscape, teams are being asked to do more with less, while staying aligned, responsive and compliant in the face of complex and often shifting stakeholder demands. In that environment, how we track, report and manage our relationships really matters. In too many organisations, relationship management is still built around tools designed for […]
