Posts from — May 2013

Wellington, May 27 (JY&A Media) Wellington City mayoral candidate Jack Yan says if he is elected, he will move to see the establishment of a new inner-city park on Cuba Street.
   The Wellington City Council’s 2012–22 long-term plan budgets for NZ$3·2 million to be spent on new inner-city park space and Mr Yan proposes that the money be spent on Cuba Street.
   ‘Ideally, I would like to see Council invest in a new park on the present Wilson car park next to Swan Lane on Cuba Street.
   ‘The site receives a large amount of sun and Cuba Street has high foot traffic. There is also a large number of apartment buildings in the area, with further developments, such as the INK Apartments on Ghuznee Street planned. It’s a natural fit.
   ‘A park space here will make Cuba Street an even more attractive destination. This will help bring businesses back to the street, which have been turned away through earthquake strengthening concerns.’
   Mr Yan says that the space will also encourage greater collaboration between Wellingtonians, who will find it a useful meeting-place.
   He says if elected later this year, he will work energetically with other councillors to direct officers to evaluate this and other sites for an inner city park.
   Mr Yan says it is part of a longer-term revitalization plan that he envisions for the Cuba Quarter, which he believes has great technological and development potential.
   ‘It’s been a while since a new inner city green space has been created and during this time, the inner city population has continued to rise. Inner city residents, workers and visitors, all need somewhere outdoors where they can relax.’
Summary
• Mayoral candidate Jack Yan says he will move to see the Council construct a new inner-city park on the Wilson car park site on Swan Lane and Cuba Street.
• WCC has already budgeted NZ$3·2 million for a new park
• Mr Yan believes construction of a park on Cuba Street will help reverse the trend on Cuba Street of businesses moving elsewhere.
• WCC’s capital value for the site is NZ$1¼ million
Images
Images for this release may be downloaded from http://jyanet.com/press/photo.htm.
About Jack Yan
Jack Yan founded Jack Yan & Associates (http://jya.net), one of the world’s first virtual firms, in 1987, operating internationally. Among his company’s interests are business consulting, imaging, software and media, including the fashion magazine brand Lucire. He writes on topics, ranging from branding and business responsibility to fashion and typography, in numerous publications and journals worldwide and is a regular international speaker. He serves on the editorial board for The Journal of Brand Management. He has authored or co-authored numerous books, including Beyond Branding, Typography and Branding and, most recently, Nation Branding: Country Concepts and Cases. His personal site is at jackyan.com. He is a director of the Medinge Group (http://medinge.org), a think-tank in Sweden devoted to cutting-edge branding. He was one of the parties behind the successful bid for Miss Sweden in 2003 for Panos Emporio, and is general counsel of the Miss New Zealand Consortium, the New Zealand licensee for Miss Universe. Since 2006, he has been a mentor with Business Mentors New Zealand. In 2013, he announced his second bid for the mayoralty in Wellington, New Zealand, after netting 12 per cent of the vote on his first attempt.
Contacts
Jack Yan
T 64 4 387-3213
E jack.yan@jyanet.com
Hamish McConnochie
Campaign Media Manager
C 64 27 772-4391
E hamish@jackyanformayor.org
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Wellington, May 23 (JY&A Media) As Wellington gears up to Africa Day this Saturday, with a 12-hour celebration at the Wellington Town Hall beginning at 11.30 a.m., there’s a distinctively non-African name behind the scenes doing the make-up for the fashion show on the day, as well as the smaller Taste of Africa event at Te Papa from 6 p.m. tonight (May 23).
   Kareen D. Holland, whose business KD One (http://www.kdone.co.nz) recently opened at Morrison Kent House on The Terrace, is applying her extensive experience in film make-up to the community event.
   KD One’s 100 per cent natural skin care and cosmetics stemmed from Ms Holland’s years in film, working with such luminaries as Weta’s Sir Richard Taylor.
   Working at Taste of Africa and Africa Day is Ms Holland’s way of giving back to the community, something she was keen to do ever since KD One opened last month.
   Africa Day showcases African culture through dance, music, arts, crafts and cuisine. Artists, musicians and cultural groups with an African connection in the New Zealand community will perform throughout the day, as well as the fashion shows that KD One has worked on.
   It is the first major cultural event for African communities in Wellington.
   KD One benefited from mentoring under Wellington mayoral candidate Jack Yan, who advised Ms Holland from 2012 as part of his work with Business Mentors New Zealand.
About KD One
KD One was formed by Kareen Holland, a successful and award-winning make-up artist in the international television and film industry for the last 23 years. Kareen has worked on productions such as Xena: Princess Warrior, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, The Strip and many other larger films. KD One has created a range of instinctively natural skin care and cosmetics which are perfect for people who are concerned about parabens, petrochemicals and synthetic ingredients, ingredient–product traceability and the effect of products on your health and the environment.
About Jack Yan
Jack Yan founded Jack Yan & Associates (http://jya.net), one of the world’s first virtual firms, in 1987, operating internationally. Among his company’s interests are business consulting, imaging, software and media, including the fashion magazine brand Lucire. He writes on topics, ranging from branding and business responsibility to fashion and typography, in numerous publications and journals worldwide and is a regular international speaker. He serves on the editorial board for The Journal of Brand Management. He has authored or co-authored numerous books, including Beyond Branding, Typography and Branding and, most recently, Nation Branding: Country Concepts and Cases. His personal site is at jackyan.com. He is a director of the Medinge Group (http://medinge.org), a think-tank in Sweden devoted to cutting-edge branding. He was one of the parties behind the successful bid for Miss Sweden in 2003 for Panos Emporio, and is general counsel of the Miss New Zealand Consortium, the New Zealand licensee for Miss Universe. Since 2006, he has been a mentor with Business Mentors New Zealand. In 2013, he announced his second bid for the mayoralty in Wellington, New Zealand, after netting 12 per cent of the vote on his first attempt.
Contact
Kareen Holland
T 64 4 473-1239 or 64 21 069-7940
http://www.kdone.co.nz/contact-us.html
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Wellington, May 17 (JY&A Media) With two weeks left to go, Promoki’s ‘Made to Model’ contest for international fashion magazine Lucire is the Wellington start-up’s most engaged competition, which can be found at http://lucire.promoki.com.
   Announced in late April, Promoki launched a modelling photo contest with the magazine, where the winner is the party with the most likes and shares.
   Promoki is one of the hottest start-ups and a participant in Wellington’s Lightning Lab.
   Lucire publisher Jack Yan says that it was natural that his magazine (at http://lucire.com), which was the first commercial online fashion publication in New Zealand 16 years ago, would work jointly with another innovative firm.
   In the weeks so far, Mr Yan says he is delighted with the results.
   ‘Promoki’s challenge is very of-the-moment and harnesses the power of social media to decide who the winner is. It’s innovative, transparent, and very powerful for participating brands,’ he says.
   ‘We’ve been thrilled to see more people engaging with Lucire on Facebook and Twitter and there’s a good amount of netizens out there excited about the competition.’
   Promoki CEO Brinkley Warren says, ‘It’s been really exciting to see the big social media spike for Lucire. Tapping into the power of crowd creativity is good for marketing, and it’s a perfect fit for the fashion world.’
   The first prize sees the winning team profiled in a future issue of Lucire. If the winner is a New Zealand model, they will get a shoot led by the magazine’s fashion editor Sopheak Seng.
   Silkbody, Smashbox and Label M have also provided prizes. Silkbody’s prize can be redeemed internationally, while Smashbox and Label M’s prizes are for New Zealand only.
   The competition concludes on May 31.
   Promoki was one of the start-ups presenting at Lightning Lab’s Demo Day on May 15, and was introduced by Mr Yan.
Images

Lucire cover, issue 29
High-resolution JPEG, 1·26 Mbyte
Modelled by Laura Vandervoort
Photographer credit: Courtney Dailey

Lucire publisher Jack Yan and Lucire fashion editor Sopheak Seng with Lucire issue 28 (2012)
High resolution JPEG, 3·5 Mbyte
Photographed by Louise Hatton

Lucire logo (for print use)
Adobe Illustrator 9·0 EPS, 75 kbyte
Rename filename suffix to .eps after downloading
Other images available at http://jyanet.com/press/photo.htm. A username and password are required.
About Promoki
Promoki.com hosts brand-sponsored photo and video contests and puts the outcomes into people’s social media feeds so that advertising becomes less interruptive, more effective, and more inspiring.
About Lucire
Lucire, the global fashion magazine (www.lucire.com), started on the web in 1997. In October 2004, it became the first magazine in its sector to extend its brand into a print magazine. By May 2005, it became the first web magazine to spawn international print editions. Lucire became the first fashion industry partner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, www.unep.org). It is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand and published by Lucire LLC. For print edition information, see <http://www.lucire.net>.
About JY&A Media
JY&A Media, part of Jack Yan & Associates, publishes and licenses magazines, in print and on the web, and produces other interactive content. Best known among its titles is Lucire, the fashion magazine which launched online in 1997 and spawned international print editions in 2004. An internet pioneer, it has been publishing and creating online titles since the early 1990s. More on the company can be found at http://jyanet.com/media.
Notes to editors
Lucire is a registered trade mark of Jack Yan & Associates and subject to protection in certain jurisdictions. All other trade marks are the properties of their respective owners and are only used in a descriptive fashion without any intention to infringe.
Contacts
Jack Yan, Publisher
Lucire
T 64 4 387-3213, F 64 4 387-3213
E jack.yan@jyanet.com
Brinkley Warren, CEO
Promoki
T 64 21 160 4151
E brinkley@promoki.com
Leana Keen, Associate Editor, UK
Lucire
E leana.keen@lucire.com
Simone Knol
Lucire
C 44 7876 701-505
E simone.knol@lucire.com
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Wellington, May 7 (JY&A Media) Wellington mayoral candidate Jack Yan has responded to Prime Minister John Key’s earlier comments about the city ‘dying’.
   While he acknowledges that the Prime Minister has since quickly backtracked on his comments, he believes that Wellington has the right ingredients to be an economic and cultural leader.
   Mr Yan acknowledges that the capital’s economic growth is stagnant and that its population growth lags behind other major centres’, and that the Prime Minister has highlighted the distance between Wellington’s current political leadership and his own government.
   He states, ‘The PM would have seen that the ingredients that men like the late Sir Paul Callaghan believed could lead an export recovery are here. Innovative thinking, intellectual capital. We just haven’t nurtured it properly because we’ve entrusted same-again politicians to do the job.’
   He thanks the Prime Minister for raising a debate about what Wellington should be in the next half-century.
   ‘It’s election year, and it’s our opportunity to fix our problems,’ he says.
   ‘You’ll see from today’s reactions that there’s civic pride in Wellington, most likely because Wellingtonians see what I do: a more cultured, globally minded workforce that’s intelligent and savvy.’
   With Mr Key identifying Weta as one of the firms that have succeeded in Wellington, Mr Yan says, ‘We know Sir Peter Jackson’s not alone—because there are so many other innovators here, not necessarily in something as glamorous as film. They’re the backbone of our city’s economy.
   ‘You’ll also see that this identification with and sticking up for Wellington is the same energy that drives everything from trade to Olympic bids, more so than nation branding efforts have ever managed.’
   Mr Yan says his plans, if elected Mayor in October, ‘call for not only identifying and promoting those great firms that are innovative and socially responsible, but the use of my knowledge globally to do just what is needed for Wellington.’
   He also expects a better working relationship between the Mayor’s office and central government because of his record working with global firms at a high level.
   ‘It’s why in 2010, and again in 2013, I’ve made innovation a priority. Free wifi, which I proposed and we now have, was only a signal to say Wellington is open for business. The costs of extending it are relatively low. Pedestrianization, greening the CBD, and transportation improvements are needed—and we have the nous and the knowledge to get them done,’ he says.
Images
Images for this release may be downloaded from http://jyanet.com/press/photo.htm.
About Jack Yan
Jack Yan founded Jack Yan & Associates (http://jya.net), one of the world’s first virtual firms, in 1987, operating internationally. Among his company’s interests are business consulting, imaging, software and media, including the fashion magazine brand Lucire. He writes on topics, ranging from branding and business responsibility to fashion and typography, in numerous publications and journals worldwide and is a regular international speaker. He serves on the editorial board for The Journal of Brand Management. He has authored or co-authored numerous books, including Beyond Branding, Typography and Branding and, most recently, Nation Branding: Country Concepts and Cases. His personal site is at jackyan.com. He is a director of the Medinge Group (http://medinge.org), a think-tank in Sweden devoted to cutting-edge branding. He was one of the parties behind the successful bid for Miss Sweden in 2003 for Panos Emporio, and is general counsel of the Miss New Zealand Consortium, the New Zealand licensee for Miss Universe. Since 2006, he has been a mentor with Business Mentors New Zealand. In 2013, he announced his second bid for the mayoralty in Wellington, New Zealand, after netting 12 per cent of the vote on his first attempt.
Contacts
Jack Yan
T 64 4 387-3213
E jack.yan@jyanet.com
Hamish McConnochie
Campaign Media Manager
C 64 27 772-4391
E hamish@jackyanformayor.org
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Wellington, May 6 (JY&A Media) Autocade (http://autocade.net), the car cyclopædia, has clocked up three million page views since its inception, according to its publishers.
    The website, which had started as a hobby, was inspired by the work of the late Michael Sedgwick, who had compiled an A–Z of cars sold in Great Britain between 1945 and 1970 for Classic and Sportscar in 1982–3. Originally devised as a wiki by its publisher Jack Yan, who had founded the fashion magazine Lucire, Autocade soon focused on models sold worldwide after 1970.
    Mr Yan was dissatisfied with the inaccuracies he found in Wikipedia, and the experiences he had had with the way that site was run. ‘The main problem with the English Wikipedia was that it was becoming increasingly US-centric, so everything was adjusted to the American viewpoint. That’s fine if it was set up as an American website—netizens happily browse to Edmunds or Consumer Guide—but the fact is the US does not always get certain car models earlier than other markets and I discovered more and more discrepancies.’
    Examples Mr Yan gives include Wikipedia’s insistence that the CE14 code applied to the 1983 Ford Tempo, when Ford had not even adopted its alphanumeric coding scheme at the time. (CE14 actually referred to the 1990 Ford Escort, with C denoting the car size and E denoting Europe—neither of which applied to the Tempo.) That error, he says, has now propagated all over the web.
    While he admits that Autocade is not perfect—their statistics show that each page is subject to 2·6 revisions—he believes that between him and Keith Adams, editor at Honest John in the UK—they have managed to avoid obvious errors.
    The website’s start in New Zealand, which no longer has a major domestic car production industry, helped the site maintain its fairness between nations.
    He and Mr Adams have been filling the gaps steadily over the last five years, starting with a handful of models in March 2008, getting to 500 in July of that year.
    The website is not meant to be exhaustive. As with Sedgwick, the duo provide a one-paragraph summary of each model, including body variants and engine sizes, and, given the web’s nature, links to its predecessor and successor where applicable.
    The global aspect arises when referring to international models. Rather than list the current Chevrolet Cruze under the name it bears in Europe, the original entry, made in 2008, is under Daewoo Lacetti (J300), following its name in its home market of Korea. Chevrolet Cruze is still listed as a nameplate, with a link back to the Lacetti’s model page, to aid European and other readers.
    Mr Yan says that this system makes Autocade more geographically neutral, and no country is favoured ahead of another.
    However, he and Mr Adams admit that they have put in their fair share of oddities out of a desire to catalogue rare models, including the Korean Camina of the 1970s (a facelifted Holden Torana), the Jaguar-based Rapport Forté of the early 1980s, all of the Citroën ZX-based Shanghai Maple models from China, and two current Renaults and a Škoda unique to India. Despite its largely post-1970 focus, a few older models have crept in for similar reasons, such as the Chrysler Esplanada, Regente and GTX of the late 1960s, which were based on the last French Fords and what became known as the Simca Vedette.
    So far, Autocade remains largely New Zealand and British in its team. Gateshead-based Peter Jobes had worked on Autocade’s back end, and, more recently, Melbourne-based New Zealand expat Nigel Dunn upgraded the site and moved it on to the cloud.
Images

Autocade website cover (full length), May 3, 2013
PNG, 658 kbyte
Images can also be downloaded at http://jyanet.com/press/photo.htm.
About JY&A Media
JY&A Media, part of Jack Yan & Associates, publishes and licenses magazines, in print and on the web, and produces other interactive content. Best known among its titles is Lucire, the fashion magazine which launched online in 1997 and spawned international print editions in 2004. An internet pioneer, it has been publishing and creating online titles since the early 1990s. More on the company can be found at http://jyanet.com/media.
Notes to editors
Autocade is a registered trade mark of Jack Yan & Associates and subject to protection in certain jurisdictions. All other trade marks are the properties of their respective owners and are only used in a descriptive fashion without any intention to infringe.
Contacts
Jack Yan, Publisher
Autocade
T 64 4 387-3213, F 64 4 387-3213
E jack.yan@jyanet.com
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