The Hits and Skinny’s “friendship” - an all new take on sponsorships

MEDIA RELEASE – 28 August 2020

The Hits and Skinny’s “friendship” - an all new take on sponsorships

New Zealand Media and Entertainment and Kiwi telco Skinny have taken an innovative approach to content sponsorship with a new “Friendship” launched with The Hits Breakfast Hosts Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce.

“All great sponsorships are based on great partnerships, but the Skinny “Friendship” takes it to an entirely new level,” said NZME’s Chief Commercial and Radio Officer Wendy Palmer.

“It means we move away from the traditional 'thanks to' and ‘brought to you by’ credit and badging model. Instead Jono and Ben will share integrated content that focusses on supporting Skinny’s key messages of care, trust and credibility,” said Palmer.

Jono and Ben are proven broadcasting innovators - a perfect match for a great Kiwi business that’s always thinking outside the box.

So far, the “friendship” has involved on-air activity such as Jono getting his daughter Poppyto put together a new commercial for Skinny and a gag involving Jono announcing he’s found a sponsor for him - but not Ben.

That scenario gets resolved on air when Skinny’s Ally Young joined the show to announce she’s actually friends with both Ben and Jono. Audio for this segment can be accessed here The Hits.

“Skinny isn’t your regular telco. We always do things a little bit differently and try not to take ourselves too seriously. Our Kiwi brand aligns with Jono & Ben’s Kiwi humour perfectly and we’re very much looking forward to having a few laughs with them,” said Skinny’s Ally Young.

PHD Media took the now familiar challenge of sharing Skinny’s story of keeping prices low and customers happy in a particularly Skinny way.

“Working with Skinny we always look at unique approaches and we knew a traditional sponsorship wouldn’t work.  In close collaboration with NZME we developed a tailored-made concept of a “Friendship”, allowing Skinny and Jono & Ben to create a strong commercial partnership, but with our distinctive Skinny twist, said PHD Media’s Jas Gierlinski.

Jono and Ben started celebrating their Skinny “Friendship” from today (Friday 28 August) – featuring caller topics, stories, experiences and integrations all linked back to Skinny’s values.

Jono and Ben, Skinny’s new BFFs Weekdays from 6am on the Hits Breakfast and iHeartRadio.

ENDS

Cliff Joiner, GM Communications,

New Zealand Media and Entertainment.

+64212709995 cliff.joiner@nzme.co.nz