Tychon Aiyash blog

David Bell Wins Axis Lifetime Achievement Award

My hunk of gold has reminded me of the true value of the awards – to inspire others to do their best,” he says. “Getting the award means far more to me than the wonderful personal feelings (and the titanic hangover) it has given me. Much more important is that it represents cast-iron proof that the industry values what AdSchool has achieved over the last 12 years.”

Recent AdSchool graduates Jack Delmonte and Jono Fox, now on placement at Droga 5, received the highest student accolades at the awards on Thursday evening – walking away with the TVNZ Student Axis Award. The two are famous for devising the ‘carmonica’ campaign for Mini while still studying at Media Design School.

AdSchool course leader Kate Humphries, who was present for the ceremony, says that it was a spectacular evening for all involved.

“It was definitely a night for our AdSchool to shine. I want to offer my huge congratulations to Jack and Jono. I can’t think of two more bright, talented and humble young men to win the award. They worked hard, did well and deserve all the recognition they have received. I must add that they’re in good company – I counted about 13 awards that went to former students of AdSchool. In fact, David was so busy rushing about photographing and congratulating the students that he nearly missed receiving his own award!”

Bell says he wants to thank the industry for acknowledging his contributions and that of AdSchool in such a public way.

“The award should really go to all past and present AdSchool students. As I’ve always said, when they are great, they make us look good. Media Design School deserves great credit for allowing us the freedom to sculpt such an insanely complex course, as does Randall Inch who somehow grafted academic rigour into the maelstrom. The good work carries on under Kate Humphries, who is doing a far better job than I ever did – she already deserves to do the walk in 2020!”

Media Design School’s AdSchool offers a 40-week NZQA Level 6 Diploma of Creative Advertising. The creative problem-solving course is run like the creative department of an advertising agency, preparing students to hit the ground running from the moment they enter the workforce.

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Karen TayMedia Design School+6493035596Email Information

Qantas cuts to deal with fuel costs, disasters

Qantas Airways will add fewer new flights, retire aircraft early and shed managers in response to natural disasters in key destinations and rising fuel costs that it says pose the biggest threat to its business since the global financial crisis.

Recent natural disasters in Japan, New Zealand and Australia are expected to cost Qantas $140 million in the six months through June, Australia's national carrier said Wednesday.

That comes on top of a $25 million hit that Qantas expects in the same period from the temporary grounding of its superjumbo A380 fleet after a midair engine explosion over Indonesia in November. The airline said the incident cost it $55 million in the first half of its financial year.

Rising oil prices amid widespread unrest in North Africa and the Middle East are also pressuring the airline.

"The significant and sustained increases in the price of fuel is the most serious challenge Qantas has faced since the global financial crisis," Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement. He said the airline's fuel costs for six months to June 30 will be $2 billion.

Other airlines, including Delta and American Airlines, have been raising fares and trimming services to deal with rising costs. For Qantas, the problems are compounded by recent disasters in both of the markets where it operates domestic services — Australia and New Zealand.

An earthquake in February devastated the New Zealand city of Christchurch, while Australia's tourist destination state of Queensland was hit by a massive cyclone in the same month and suffered its worst flooding in decades. Qantas has also been hurt by this month's earthquake and tsunami that decimated northeastern Japan.

"There has never been a time when the world faced so many natural disasters, all of which have come at a significant financial cost," Joyce said. "We need to act decisively to respond to rising fuel costs and natural disasters ... to ensure the ongoing sustainability of our business."

Qantas said it would reduce costs and increase revenue by cutting growth in domestic seat capacity in the second half of 2011 to 8 percent from 14 percent and cutting international capacity growth to 7 percent from 10 percent.

Qantas and its budget stablemate Jetstar will suspend four weekly flights from Australia to Japan from April to August, and downsize the planes Qantas flies from Sydney to Japan from Boeing 747s to Airbus 330s.

Also, Jetstar will reduce flights to Christchurch from other New Zealand cities and from Australia.

Qantas will also send two B767 planes into early retirement, and reduce the number of managers.

The company has already increased fares twice since February on domestic and international flights to offset extra fuel costs.

D.Boerse, NYSE near deal but dodging thorny issues

NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext are expected to sidestep thorny political issues as they prepare to announce a deal Tuesday to create the world's largest exchange operator.

The two have hammered out a broad framework for a merger deal that focuses on functions and personalities, with several executives chosen for key posts across Europe and the United States, three people familiar with the plan said.

Another source added that major issues like the exact exchange ratio and the premium to be paid to NYSE Euronext have been sorted out, and a definitive agreement is expected to be announced on Tuesday.

Among the issues they will leave in the too-hard basket for now are what to call the merged entity, how exactly it will cut costs, and which technologies it will favor, sources said.

Putting these off may only add to the questions being asked by some politicians on both sides of the Atlantic about whether the deal should be approved. Any delay could also open the door to rival bidders for NYSE Euronext -- one news report on Monday cited CME Group Inc as a potential buyer.

Some issues facing Deutsche Boerse-NYSE Euronext tie-up, which could still derail the plan, would need to be resolved over the coming weeks, said the sources, who requested anonymity because talks continue.

"The biggest question mark in general is obviously the European political and regulatory landscape coming out of this," one source said.

The boards of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse are set to vote Tuesday, two sources said. Deutsche Boerse will also publish quarterly results Tuesday.

The Frankfurt- and New York-based companies were center stage in the merger frenzy that erupted last week and heated up on Monday as Brazil's BM&FBovespa said it was eyeing its own prospects and as traders buzzed that CME Group could jump into the fray.

Fox Business Network reported that CME Group, currently the world's top derivatives exchange group, may make a hostile bid for NYSE Euronext, citing bankers.

A spokesman for Chicago-based CME declined to comment. CME officials have been guiding investors away from expectations that the company would do a merger deal.

BM&FBovespa, the world's fourth-largest financial exchange operator, is closely watching for tie-up opportunities, Chief Executive Edemir Pinto told Reuters.

Pinto said BM&FBovespa is interested in China and India as markets where it could pursue expansion because of their growth potential and similarities in terms of products. He added that a partnership with CME also has "room to grow," but did not elaborate.

In Australia, market operator ASX said it was in talks with suitor Singapore Exchange about changes to board arrangements as the sides seek to win political and regulatory support for their proposed tie-up.

'SENSITIVE AND COMPLICATED'

NYSE Euronext's general counsel, chief operating officer and global head of technology are all set to retain their positions in the combined group, two people familiar with the plan told Reuters on Monday.

Andreas Preuss, CEO of Deutsche Boerse's Eurex derivatives unit, would likely be deputy CEO, one source said.

The companies had previously announced that NYSE Euronext head Duncan Niederauer would head the combined company, Deutsche Boerse Chief Executive Reto Francioni would be chairman, and that the German company's shareholders would get about a 60 percent stake.

The board of the combined company would reflect the ownership structure, with 10 of the 17 members coming from the German side, a source said, adding that the numbers include both Niederauer and Francioni.

Job cuts in technology and other issues still need to be worked out in detail, sources said. One source said deciding on a name is "sensitive and complicated," and would take time.

Negotiations over a name and where to locate various operations highlight some of the difficulties in bringing together companies that are both operationally complicated and symbols of national pride.

Past merger attempts have failed over such issues.

The announcement last week that Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext were in talks came within hours of another blockbuster deal in the exchanges sector: London Stock Exchange agreed to buy Canada's TMX Group.

On Monday, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Canada will review the LSE bid under the Investment Canada Act. Clement has 45 days from the moment the review begins to make a decision on whether the deal is of net benefit to Canada. He said he expected that period to begin in one or two weeks.

He can extend that period by a further 30 days, and lawyers have said that scenario is likely. The four Canadian provinces where TMX has operations -- British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec -- are also reviewing the deal.

Nasdaq OMX, notably absent in the merger frenzy, suffered a setback Monday when it lost Chief Financial Officer Adena Friedman to private equity firm Carlyle Group.

Friedman, who joined the exchange in 1993 and took the CFO's job in August 2009, led Nasdaq's purchases of OMX AB and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

OUTRAGE

In Germany, the deal is being sold as a German takeover of the NYSE or as a merger of equals. Any suggestion that the NYSE management team will be in control counters that public stance and could create an obstacle to the deal getting done.

A supervisory board member at the German exchange said Deutsche Boerse risks ceding control to NYSE Euronext.

"Just like in the Euronext deal, it will be a matter of time before the Americans take control. We should be wary of this. It won't be possible to undo the deal once it is signed," Johannes Witt, a labor representative, said.

Remarks made on Sunday by Senator Charles Schumer that a tie-up would give NYSE managerial control served as a warning, he added.

Under Germany's system of corporate governance, companies operate under a two-tier board structure, with a management board, consisting of executives, and a supervisory board which is half composed of labor representatives. Labor representatives such as Witt play a powerful role in German supervisory boards, which control management boards.

The financial regulator at the German regional state of Hesse, home to Deutsche Boerse, reiterated that it would seek to preserve the interests of Frankfurt as a financial center, when reviewing the plans.

A spokesman for the German Finance Ministry said the role of the national government in the merger would be limited. France has also voiced worries over the role of Paris, formerly home of Euronext, in the combined group.

(Additional reporting by Noah Barkin and Brian Rohan in Berlin, Edward Taylor in Frankfurt, Paritosh Bansal in New York, Ann Saphir in Chicago, Cesar Bianconi in Sao Paulo and Michael Smith in Sydney; Editing by Bernard Orr, Gary Hill)

Click 'n Save Sale from Southwest

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Commerce chief eyes India military, nuclear deals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Thursday he will press India to buy U.S. fighter jets and other advanced technology products when he leads Boeing, Lockheed Martin and 22 other U.S. companies on a trade mission next week.

The trip, which follows President Barack Obama's visit to India in November, "underscores the importance we attach to the commercial relationship between our two countries," Locke told reporters during a briefing.

The two dozen U.S. companies also include GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Westinghouse Electric Company, which is a division of Toshiba Corp, Transco Products, NuScale Power and Exelon Nuclear Partners, which hope to capitalize on a landmark U.S.-India civil nuclear deal signed in 2008.

The trade mission comes on the heels of last week's announcement that the United States was easing restrictions on exports of high-technology goods to India in recognition of stronger economic and national security ties.

"That export control announcement has really opened the door for increased high-technology trade and cooperation between the United States and India. The purpose is our trade mission ... is to take advantage of that open door," Locke said.

A key stop comes on Tuesday at the Aero India show, where Boeing, Lockheed and other military aircraft manufacturers from around the world will show off their latest wares.

India is looking to spend more than $50 billion over the next five years to modernize its armed forces, including $11 billion to buy 126 new fighter jets.

Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed's F-16 are competing for the fighter jet deal with France's Dassault Rafale, Russia's MiG-35, Sweden's Saab JAS-39 Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon, produced by a consortium of European companies.

Locke said it was "a high priority" for the U.S. government for India to buy the planes from the United States, but added he would be pushing for other U.S. military and civil aviation sales at the aerospace show.

The trade delegation will travel on Wednesday to Bangalore, where Locke will visit the Indian Space Research Organization in a show of U.S. interest in boosting sales to India's space technology sector.

A two-day stop in Mumbai beginning on Thursday includes talks with Indian software and other industry officials and meetings with India's Department of Atomic Energy and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Vicki Allen)