One Final Freebie

5 November 2006

For immediate release

One Final Freebie

It is with great sadness that Jones Publishing announces that the November – December 2006 issue of Freebie will be the last one. After 31 December, the customer magazine for Freedom Air will no longer be distributed, either on the planes or in the mail. The closure of the award-winning publication is the result of changes to Freedom Air and Air New Zealand A320 Tasman and Pacific operations.

“Operational changes on various shorthaul routes with Freedom Air and Air New Zealand have seen the A320 fleet integrated. For logistic and cost reasons, this has meant aspects of inflight branding have had to be standardised between the two airlines – such as crew wearing the Air New Zealand uniform on Freedom flights. Another component of inflight branding that the integrated schedule doesn’t allow for is separate inflight magazines,” says Stephen Jones, GM Tasman Pacific Airline at Air New Zealand.

“We’re sad to see Freebie go from our Freedom flights as we’ve enjoyed working with Jones over the years. We wish Jones all the best and hope that another opportunity arises in the future where we can work together again.”

Jones approached Freedom Air after they saw an opportunity existed to better serve Freedom passengers with a magazine that was packed full of travel information, games to keep the kids happy and a vehicle to promote what Freedom had to offer.

Freebie’s unique selling point was that it was the world’s first pre-flight magazine. By this we mean that as well as being available on the plane, it was also mailed to Freedom Air’s travellers as soon as they purchased their tickets – when they were far more likely to be making decisions about where to stay, and what to do. It was this distribution strategy that led to Freebie winning best Launch of the Year at the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) Awards in 2005.

Jones was named top magazine publisher in the latest Search for Exciting Companies in the National Business Review. The Jones title Dish was Supreme Winner – Magazine of the Year at the 2006 MPA Awards. Jones also publishes Top Gear NZ, as well as customer magazines for Telecom, Resene Paints, Rodney Wayne, Hanover Group and the New Zealand Retailers Association.

ENDS

© Scoop Media