Give Us Your 
Articles Media release marks our official launch
Tuesday, 19 May, 2009
Fraser Carson
After nearly eight years of pondering ‘a good idea’ and six months building the site, we’ve finally delivered a website fit for public launch. It has given us cause for celebration, albeit that it’s a bit rushed – only a cup of tea and cheese scone as we charge at our next big challenge.
That challenge is all about content. So we’re out in the community letting people know that Issues.co.nz represents a much better way to organise an issues campaign online.
By the way, we don’t charge for every campaign. You might like to apply for a free campaign here.
News Release, 18 May 2009
New website gives anyone’s issue a chance to be heard
Wellington based communications company FRESCO has built New Zealand’s first website dedicated to the promotion of issues campaigns of any type; social, political, environmental and business, whether they be international, national or local issues.
Issues.co.nz, which was launched this week, was conceived by Wellington communications strategist and businessman, Fraser Carson.
FRESCO principal Fraser Carson said he believed, “Issues.co.nz will be a leader in the revolution which is changing the face of news media. It is unique in New Zealand, and possibly the world, in that it brings together many of the burning issues which sit behind the news or are at the heart of what’s important to people. In doing so, it attracts those with an interest in current events, key opinion leaders and influencers. While many news websites are simply media-controlled versions of newspapers, and ‘citizen publishing’ is diluted with a mass of fragmented blog or information sites, Issues.co.nz cuts through the clutter and gives ordinary people a chance to be heard in one place.”
The site provides an issue promoter with the ability to create, define and expose their issue in a unique and powerful web environment. They receive secure access to a self-managed website that has been purpose built to provide an appropriate template for running issues campaigns.
This enables those wanting to influence opinion on their issue to present their case and, importantly provides the necessary tools for all aspects of their campaign. Issues promoters can post their news releases, run blogs, undertake surveys, promote events, undertake fundraising and more on their own URL when they list on Issues.co.nz.
“The idea was to make professional campaigning simpler, more affordable and more visible on the internet than it would be if they developed their own website,” Fraser Carson says.
The Issues.co.nz idea came about because of FRESCO’s communications experience over many years with a number of high profile clients and because of the growing imperative for public information campaigns to have an effective online element.
Fraser Carson says, “Promoting an issue through the usual media channels and methods can be expensive in the case of advertising, or at the mercy of news editors in the case of traditional media.
“There’s an increasing need to have at least part of a campaign online. However there can be practical problems in trying to run an online campaign through an organisation’s existing website, and building a special website from scratch can be slow to gain momentum and could create budgeting headaches. Small stand-alone websites inevitably sit in a backwater of the internet; Issues.co.nz gets a campaign into the heavier traffic.
Looking ahead, Fraser says, “As we have seen with the Obama presidential election campaign, online campaigning is becoming more sophisticated in the technology and methods it uses. This will inevitably take it out of reach for many campaign promoters if they don’t have easy and affordable access to the tools, such as is available in Issues.co.nz.
“Issues.co.nz space is available for hire to professional organisations and communicators, however we are also keen to hear from community or charitable organisations who may wish to apply online at Issues.co.nz for free space.
FRESCO owns and operates Wotzon.com, the Wellington region’s largest events and entertainment website and plans to expand the website in 2010.
ENDS
Website: www.issues.co.nz
For more information, please contact
Fraser Carson:
Phone: 04 499 4938 (office)
Background on Fraser Carson and the development of Issues.co.nz
Issues.co.nz, which was launched this week, was conceived by Wellington communications strategist and businessman, Fraser Carson.
Issues.co.nz is New Zealand’s first website dedicated to the promotion of issues campaigns of any type; social, political, environmental and business, whether they be international, national or local issues.
The usual options for campaign promoters, such as advertising and traditional public relations activity, can be expensive or result in uncontrolled exposure. Issues.co.nz provides an issue promoter with the ability to create, define and expose their issue in a unique and powerful web environment. They receive secure access to a self-managed website that has been purpose built to provide an appropriate template for running issues campaigns.
Fraser Carson believes that exposing an issue in a public forum gives it more credibility and enables a better understanding of the risks and opportunities arising from any course of action. He also recognises that traditional media often leaves insufficient opportunity for those who should be entitled to have the conversations – the people themselves.
The use of websites provides a new channel for campaigns with the key benefit being 24/7 access to a potentially large audience. But this has created a host of competing and fragmented websites, often leaving the campaign promoter still struggling to get their message to a sizable or appropriate audience. By bringing a host of issues together in one place, Issues.co.nz makes sense of the fragmentation and gives ordinary people a chance to be heard.
Fraser Carson
Fraser Carson is a communications and advertising expert with more than 30 years industry experience. He has been responsible for campaigns on behalf of clients such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants, New Zealand Law Society, PPTA, Ministry of Justice and four election campaigns for the Labour Party, including the winning campaign of 1999.
He established the communications agency FRESCO in 1993 with co-director, Sheridan Bruce.
FRESCO operates Wotzon.com, the Wellington region’s largest events and entertainment website. Wotzon.com was started in 2000 when Carson noted that people could not access any Wellington events information online. Since its inception Wotzon.com has continued to grow into a revenue generator in the Wellington region market and FRESCO plans to expand Wotzon.com nationally in 2010.
His communications experience dates back to when he was elected to chair the Student Council at Otaki College, the body representing the views of the students to the school’s administration. He would take Council resolutions to the school hierarchy but received little acceptance of the students’ ideas. So he set up and became editor of a student newspaper called Otacol, which quickly altered the attitude of the school administration and students’ resolutions were listened to more sympathetically. Fraser learnt that change can be better affected through communication than politics.
Fraser began his career as a graphic designer for TV One (He designed the famous RTR logo). In 1981 he travelled to the UK where he took up a two year contract with BBC Television at Alexandra Palace in London. His first assignment was to help art direct a documentary programme titled ‘Magic Rays of Light’, commemorating the invention and first broadcasts of television.
The example of television’s faltering beginnings and its subsequent success demonstrates that new media needs time, understanding of the medium, and user benefits, before it becomes a powerful force. The development of the internet has seen parallels with television but Fraser believes that the internet is destined to become more significant as the infrastructure phenomenon of the future
More recently, in his work as a communications strategist, he has seen the growth of the internet mainly due to its accessibility to so many and its developing ability to go well beyond information content.
Carson believes that too many web developers and public authorities still don’t understand the true power and potential of the internet. He asserts that many seem to view it as something to be contained and controlled, like traditional media outlets, while its freedom and open access remain ignored. The internet enables people, cheaply and easily. The internet is essentially the ‘infrastructure,’ each website the ‘real estate.’
Issues.co.nz was developed with this philosophy at its core. The internet goes beyond anyone’s control, but more sense needs to be made of the fragmentation, through the creation of useful communities of websites, aggregating common themes.
Website: www.issues.co.nz
For more information, please contact Fraser Carson:
Phone: 04 499 4938 (office)
