Stuff Group clinches global award for outstanding transformation strategy

LONDON, Friday: Almost four years after its buyout, New Zealand’s Stuff Group won a global business transformation award today in London at the INMA awards.

Their winning entry for INMA’s Best Innovation in Newsroom Transformation, ‘Consciously Uncoupling,’ detailed how the 2023 split into Stuff Digital and Stuff Masthead Publishing outperformed competitors like The Times and Irish Independent.

Sinead Boucher, Stuff Group Owner and Publisher, said, “Key to this strategy is differentiated revenue models, through monetisation of scale audiences in Stuff Digital – including New Zealand’s largest digital news audience on stuff.co.nz – and through consumer revenue propositions including launching digital subscriptions for our heritage masthead brands The Post, The Press and The Waikato Times.”

CEO Laura Maxwell highlighted the autonomy gained from this move: “Stuff Digital is our live and lively arm – unencumbered by legacy and able to quickly launch new products to market including in the past year, vertical video, scaling our unique Sentiment Tracker tool and growing digital audio products.”

“The global transformation award is particularly pleasing at a time when the industry is being told innovation will create the market conditions for media to thrive.”

Maxwell further contrasted the focus of Stuff Masthead Publishing: “By contrast, Stuff Masthead Publishing makes legacy a virtue. With a 160 year history of trusted publishing, the masthead team drives digital and print subscription products, The Post, The Press, Sunday Star Times, and best-selling magazines and newspapers.

Defined by delivering beautifully told New Zealand stories, the team is committed to subscribers, creating content and experiences which drive loyalty, increasing ARPU,” states Maxwell.

Boucher added, “The global transformation award is particularly pleasing at a time when the industry is being told innovation will create the market conditions for media to thrive.”

This structure supports both business models, streamlining operations and fostering innovation to keep pace with industry demands and opportunities.