Cool ice, hot water
Franz Josef Glacier Guides says a new tourist attraction in town will complement its glacial experience. By Helen Hayes
Surreal blue ice caves and pristine ice formations on an 11km frozen river groaning to the sea: it’s cool selling outdoor adventure on the world’s steepest and fastest flowing glacier. Franz Josef Glacier Guides took 70,000 visitors last year onto the ice.
Always up for a personal challenge, backpackers have helicoptered or climbed onto the glacier for 17 years with Franz Josef Glacier Guides. Now the West Coast has been discovered by the middle-aged, driving in campervans and rental cars to join the tour buses in ‘Franz’ for a night. While the backpackers are still the largest market, the adventurous oldies are wending their way to Glacier Country.
So how do you get the silver haired and the timid in ice caves and around seracs without sucking the adrenalin out of the brand?
This is the company’s challenge. Sure visitor numbers have been growing at 5% to 10% a year since Ngai Tahu Tourism bought 90% of the company from founder Mark Melsop four years ago. It purchased the other guides in town, TGC, in 2006.
Last year Franz Josef Glacier Guides contributed $6.9 million to Ngai Tahu Tourism’s $38.3 million annual revenue. This year 17% revenue growth is predicted.
But the guide company is well aware it has a ‘mature product’ and the punters are getting both older and yet more flexible about how long they stay.
Sales and marketing manager Kerry Walker says the company is developing options at both ends of the excitement spectrum. Along with ice climbing for the rush junkies, there’s now a relaxed interpretative walk to the ice face.
Travellers can now learn belaying and glacier history at the $6.5 million Hukawai Glacier Centre and ice wall, built with deforestation money. Ngai Tahu Tourism took over its management in February.
And in November, there’ll be a warming contrast to the cold, as the iwi company is building a multimillion-dollar hot pool complex, in a joint venture with Christchurch company JDF. “It gives the ‘older’ market something more to do than to go out and get drunk every night,” says Walker.
“It’s fairly major for a little but important tourist town [600 visitors at peak],” says Walker, with 17 new staff to be hired, on top of the existing 65 staff in summer.
The Helicopter Line flies the helihike parties to the glacier. Business development manager Jackie Quickfall believes the hot pools will give the freespirited a reason to wait out bad weather.
But only if there’s a bed. “If the rental car market is increasing, you need to have accommodation for them and there lies a bit of a problem.” Beds in Franz have been at a premium in past years, although Quickfall has noticed self-contained campervans have eased the demand this year.
The guides take groups up every day, except when there’s flooding. Training, along with corporate systems and policies have been a Ngai Tahu Tourism emphasis, drawing from its portfolio of iconic attractions like the Shotover Jet, Kaiteriteri Kayaks and Whale Watch Kaikoura.
Franz Josef Glacier Guides operates, however, at arms length, says Walker, making its own decisions about products and marketing, as it has its own international reputation to maintain as a backpacker’s
thrill attraction.
Selling sound
Auckland’s Kog Studios has launched a new business providing music rather than just recording
it. By David Fearnhead
Chris Chetland is not your normal muso. His spiel is distinctly corporate. Within a minute of talking he’s already used the phrase “applying different knowledge-based systems to current systems in the creative industries”. You don’t necessarily need to know what that means, nor what ‘inter-complex systems theory’ is all about to understand that Chetland means business.
He formed Kog, an Auckland-based recording studio, 11 years ago with a couple of friends. He describes them as a “mix of students and people on the dole”. They now employ a full-time staff of seven, producing tracks for the Australasian and Asian markets. “Obviously with the creative industries you need to be able to evolve quickly. So we are constantly looking at developing into new areas.”
Kog was one of ten companies selected in a ‘mini-Dragons’ Den’ by the Auckland Regional Trust for an acceleration programme for creative entrepreneurs. Programme leader Elisabeth Vaneveld says of Chetland: “It was very interesting for us to find someone who was making a go of it in the international realm from an independent point of view, and staying ahead of the changes.”
Winners of the ART Venture scheme received up to $20,000 investment, which Kog has used to fund software development and networking trips to LA and New York — bringing invitations to work with top people in the US urban music industry.
Whilst the music production side has levelled out somewhat, a major part of Kog’s revenue is now in providing music for the film industry and television advertisements. Vodafone, Guinness, Burger King, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Heineken and Bacardi are some of the brands Kog has provided tracks for. They have also produced, mastered, and mixed tracks for big labels such as Universal and Sony.
Chetland puts Kog’s success down to a few things. “We have really good on-the-ground knowledge, and importantly we are aware of the need for really fast turnaround times at high quality.
“Clearances that take over a month are of no use to anyone in business. I’m not prepared to put our clients through that sort of annoyance,” adds Chetland. He says there aren’t enough people who understand the business side. He insists that any interns he takes on learn about that aspect of the industry. “There are no free rides.”
With regards to intellectual property, Kog either secures the rights for an agreed period of time or, in some cases, acquires full ownership of a track, in order for quick clearance. “Because we’re operating so closely in the advertising and TV realms — where everything needs done really quickly — they don’t have time to chase around seven or eight band members who are scattered randomly around the country, and the labels, and the publishers.” Chetland says Kog can clear copyright in minutes.
“We’ve got some of the best special vocals and best recording gear in Australasia,” says Chetland. This means it often pulls in more work from Australia than from New Zealand. Artists and composers signed to its Handmade Records label provide an extensive music library of backing tracks, which can be purchased and reworked to create a new track for any project.
Huia Hamon has been with Kog for three years. She handles Kog’s promotions and publicity but is also a talented vocalist. Hamon says it’s the dynamism within the group that is another secret behind their success. “A prerequisite for hiring is personality; you have to be conscious and compassionate. There is no hierarchy here. Everyone contributes to everything ... Chris will still take out the rubbish.”
Driver not included
Monaco in Manukau, Silverstone in Silverdale — Nelson’s Vision Racer is bringing the racetrack to the most unlikely of spaces with its driving simulators. By David Fearnhead
Let's face it, men are just big kids that need to shave and occasionally go to work. Given the choice, we’d rather be on the golf course, in the pub or slumped in front of the TV. Harsh economic realities mean our plans to be a part-time Jackie Stewart are shelved in order to be a full-time office monkey.
Few of us can afford the time and the machinery required for the pursuit of speed. One man who can is Nelson-based David Harvey. But, nice man though he is, he’s unlikely to hand over the keys to his Porsche Carrera GT and let you take it for a spin. He does, however, have something that comes a close second — the Vision Racer.
Harvey was set to compete in the Gumball 3000 Rally of 2005 — a 4,800km supercar road trip from London to Monaco, via a good portion of Europe — and was looking for a training aid. Dissatisfied with his own attempts he turned to Geoff Turton, a UK designer with 25 years’ experience with the likes of Porsche and Peugeot. Turton had developed an early version of the Vision Racer. A partnership was born.
The third evolution of the Vision Racer has been secretive but will preview soon. It’s high-tech with a high-def flatscreen. The racing seat is mounted on a responsive platform, and the console or PC-powered unit utilises the latest technology from Swiss peripherals manufacturer Logitech.
The top-of-the-line VR3-EVO package will retail for $2,800. Harvey is confident of shifting 10,000 units globally. He predicts a multimillion-dollar turnover for the 2008/09 financial year — quite a rise for Vision Racer as it moves from market testing with the VR2 into mass production with the VR3.
Harvey recently returned from a six-week stint in the UK negotiating with European distributors — some with up to 1,500 stores. “The objective is modest, at one container [180 units] per month, per country. It just happens to be that we are a New Zealand company — but our thinking is global.
“Gaming in Europe is very strong. We’ve worked with Sega, and Evolution Studios who are using the Vision Racer as their base for development testing.”
Then there is the big one. For the automotive gaming community, one game carries all the excitement of a World Cup (obviously before the All Blacks get dumped in the semis). Gran Turismo 5 is due out later this year. The Sony game is beloved by car aficionados for its attention to detail and realism. GT5 launches this month in New Zealand and Sony will use Vision Racer extensively to promote the game.
It’s likely future racetrack stars will have their grounding in a virtual world. Jordan Williams, currently competing in single-seat Formula BMW, has been using the Vision Racer as a training aid since its prototype days. “In my 2007 season I was unfortunate to not have many pre-season tests due to budget constraints, however by using the Vision Racer I was able to gain track knowledge of the circuits I would be racing at. This not only involved learning the layout of the circuits but also braking points, racing lines, as well as possible places to overtake.”
Harvey sees the Vision Racer as a unique racing community. The future of the company is Racing League, allowing Vision Racer owners to compete against each other for prize money.
Finding fame
Wellington-based talent website StarNow attracts the beautiful and the bizarre. By Penny Harding
'Do you drink your own blood? Do you consider yourself to be a vampire? If so, I want you!’
The StarNow talent website finds work for people with unlikely qualifications. This vampire ‘casting call’ came from a journalist working on an article about cults. Last year, it was one of 18,000 casting calls placed on the website for actors, models, musicians and others looking for five minutes, or more, of fame.
StarNow was launched in 2004 by three former Trade Me employees who went to the UK on their OE and were looking to earn money. Kiwis Cameron Mehlhopt, Jamie Howell and Nigel Stanford had no experience in the entertainment business, but they knew about making websites.
Mehlhopt’s sister-in-law, actor Erica Lowe, gave them the idea. She was looking for work in London and was having trouble finding out what was on offer.
StarNow is not an agency; it doesn’t ring up on behalf of clients. It accepts casting calls (people offering work) for no charge, and posts them on the site. Out-of-work models, ‘resting’ actors and musicians without a gig can sign up as members for free and see what’s around, but if they want to respond to a casting call, they then have to pay for a subscription.
Chief executive Mehlhopt and chief technical officer Howell are full-time in the business, and Stanford is a director. They employ 12 staff and are starting a night shift at their Wellington headquarters so they can turn around Northern Hemisphere casting calls overnight. The company wouldn’t provide turnover figures but says casting calls logged on the website have more than doubled in the past three years, from 7,500 in 2005, to 18,000 last year. At the same time, membership has grown from 220,000 to 680,000.
“Our biggest membership base is in the UK, after that the US and then Australia. Membership is growing in New Zealand,” Mehlhopt says.
Some big users of the site are newspapers and magazines prepared to pay people to tell their bizarre stories.
There were a number of takers for the vampire casting call, says Mehlhopt. Now another journalist wants to interview people who have been seduced by a celebrity, and a women’s magazine wants to interview a woman between the ages of 18 and 80 who married a man on death row — ‘Did you stand by your death-row man and he dumped you when he got out?’
Another UK women’s magazine wants to find a female version of Earl, from the TV show My Name is Earl, with a list of wrongs she is trying to put right.
But some of the weirdest opportunities come from reality TV shows. The UK show Dumped, which screened on Channel 4 last year, was looking for people to live on a landfill for three weeks and survive on other people’s rubbish.
This is one of StarNow’s success stories; one of its subscribers won a casting call and was chosen for the dump experience. Big Brother UK is a regular user of the site, as is Britain’s Next Top Model.
Of the people who sign up to the website, 60% are female and most are aged between 18 and 30. But that has not stopped 66-year-old Joe Ashley, from Bristol, pursuing a modelling career or Fred Gornick, 78, StarNow’s oldest active member, looking for work as an extra. Gornick is a retired professor from California with no previous acting experience.
StarNow is setting its sights on expanding its business in the US and plans to concentrate on New York and California. But, totally web based, it has no plans or need to move from Wellington — even though time zones present some challenges when a casting call has a 24-hour deadline.
And in the entertainment business you have to move fast. “We typically answer every email within 24 hours,” Mehlhopt says.
Wannabe a rock star?
Christchurch-based online company Rockstar Recipes is cooking up the next big thing. By Helen Hayes
In the US right now, there are thousands of 40- or 50-somethings learning the guitar from Ben in Christchurch, all thanks to Rockstar Recipes.
Around 98% of the Christchurch company’s web-based music tuition packages are sold offshore, mostly in the US. Last year its guitar and piano courses earned $1.5 million, and now the company is trialling a Spanish version.
Two musician/school friends, Jon Coursey and David McKinnon, were at varsity in 2003 when online lessons struck a chord. Teaching a third friend, Mark Ling, to play the guitar, they reasoned that if there were pages of such products on the internet, somebody must be making money. Using an Overture keyword tool, they found over 100,000 people had typed ‘guitar lessons’ or similar, into search engines in a month.
“What was out there wasn’t very good, in terms of how content was being displayed and taught. We thought we could use video,” says Coursey, now managing director.
The trio then spent 18 months part time creating an e-book and audiovisual. Ling, working in web design, put up a few thousand dollars for the office and gear. He has since moved on to other web enterprises.
Their guitar course, Jamorama, spent its first six months from May 2005 “sitting on the web not doing very much”, remembers Coursey. Come Thanksgiving, however, “it really took off”, with over 2,000 sold in the period until New Year, totalling NZ$30,000. Rockstar Recipes still sells ten times as many units in the six weeks from November 25 than the rest of the year, as Americans spend large in the holidays.
The guys used the revenue to sharpen up the course with more footage. They had hired an older American — ‘Honest’ John Petersen — as sales and marketing manager and he’s become the owners’ mentor as well. “He really helped organise the company side of things, because we didn’t know what we were doing,” Coursey says.
They must have learnt, as the company has grown to nine staff, including Ben Edwards who teaches and develops the guitar courses. It has few overheads and no debt but Coursey is determined to think bigger.
Attending their first US trade show persuaded them to sell in-store as well. A Jamorama installer disk is now attached to packets of Stavo guitar strings and a CD will be advertised in a national chain’s catalogue.
The next big idea is to create a web space devoted to learning the guitar (or piano), pulling in closer their 200,000 students. The prototype of ‘Song Pond’ is to be tested on 50,000 dedicated musos in April, selling downloadable tuition for contemporary songs that people actually want to play. It will also have a MySpace or YouTube forum, where wannabe musicians can collaborate.
Anthony Healey, director of New Zealand operations for the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), is negotiating a blanket licence for the songs with Rockstar. In return, the company has to list the titles and provide details of revenue, so the songwriters can be compensated.
“They are injecting their IP into the recording as a tutorial so they’ll be charging a premium,” says Healey.
APRA is keen, however, to do a deal that’s viable for Rockstar. “They have been at pains to do everything the right way,” he says. And with only one other legal website offering song-by-song tuition, it’s a pretty massive market, says Healey.