News Release As at 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

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