ICONIC luxury market experiential magazine and online catalogue, the Robb Report, is launching its inaugural Australian edition.

It is no surprise that the local version, a quarterly at this stage, aims to showcase the latest in luxury living in Australia and around the world. 

Robb Report Australia, which will go from quarterly to monthly publication in April 2017, is the 17^th international edition of the popular US title, currently celebrating its 40^th anniversary.

The first upper-luxury print and online publication of its kind in Australia has curated a collection of finely crafted products and experiences that distinguish true luxury – from watches, jewellery and fashion, to boats, travel, wine, dining and property. 

Michael Stahl – a journalist of more than 30 years’ experience in automotive, design and luxury – is editor-in-chief of Robb Report Australia.

“The launch of our first issue is the culmination of months of work in gathering the most interesting, authentic and unique of products and experiences from Australia and internationally,” Mr Stahl said.

“Robb Report Australia will celebrate the best of the best, and brings out the stories of the artisanal skills and the dedication to excellence that give these things the emotional value that is, I believe, one of the definitions of luxury. I’m sure that our readers will relish the unfolding of these stories as much as we do.”

The Australian launch issue also includes a comprehensive look back over Robb Report’s 40 amazing and influential years, celebrating the moments and milestones that have shaped the connoisseur’s world.

Brett Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of the New York-based Robb Report group, said, “Robb Report has rapidly evolved from the undisputed US-based authority on connoisseurship since its launch in 2004. The Australian partnership serves as a fitting tribute to the brand’s founding premise - that the ultimate luxury experience is a shared passion for greatness.”

robbreport.com.au.

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THE Australian conceptualised and built catch-up news aggregation platform, Hash, has used its most recent $1 million in seed funding to boost functionality and introduce personalised daily news video.

Hash took in a new round of $1 million in seed funding from private Australian investors earlier this year and put it to good use to develop fresh functionality what it describes as “a stunningly simple new look and feel”.

“Our goal with Hash is to allow our users to consume the most important stories, from all angles, in as little time as possible,” Josephmark CEO Jessica Huddart said. “The simple, yet highly visual design we’ve incorporated is beautifully distilled, allowing the user to quickly decide what to explore further and what to skim past. 

“We hope Hash 2.0 will build on the success of Hash’s initial launch and we intend to use the funding to refine the product, test and add functionality, grow the team and scale the business.”

Available on iOS, Android and web, Hash aggregates tweets about the day’s most topical headlines in a simple, visual way. Founded and created by Australian digital ventures studio Josephmark, Hash 2.0’s standout feature is a personalised daily news video.

Stitching together a number of short audio and visual clips from news publishers around the world, Hash’s daily round-up video gives users a quick and easy way to see what stories people are talking about in under a minute.

Aggregating Twitter, Google News, Wikipedia and YouTube, Hash aims to offer users a simple, agenda-free feed that surfaces running commentary as well as multiple, global perspectives. 

Unlike Facebook, Hash does not favour viewpoints. Using a unique algorithm that pulls in trending stories people are currently talking about as well as human curation to maintain a high level of quality, Hash aims to establish itself as “the most visually compelling, agenda-free way to consume the world’s top stories”

New Hash 2.0 features include the personalised video round-up of the world’s biggest stories every morning, greeting users wherever they are in the world, before showing the most important stories of the day. Users can also follow stories and be notified when there is a new development on an event they care about.

A new feature is the ‘Weekend chat text message’. Hash sends users an SMS every Friday afternoon, which lists a handful of timely talking points – giving users interesting things to discuss at that Saturday night dinner party.

www.thehash.today

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A SURVEY across the Australian journalism spectrum by reputation and public relations company BBS Communications is becoming something of a sentinel for business leaders seeking to understand how they might communicate better, utilising their industry expertise.

BBS Communications director Matthew Hart said as CEOs and company executives strive to be seen as industry leaders, Australian journalists say they are seeking knowledgeable, qualified, and articulate experts for their stories.

The annual BBS Media Survey found journalists used expert sources in about 54 percent of their stories on average, however for some the figure was much higher, with 46 percent of journalists using expert commentary in 70 percent or more of their stories.

Mr Hart said when asked what types of stories they were most likely to need expert commentary for, journalists’ top picks were health (64.4%), business and finance (60%) and science (53.3%).

More than 84 percent of journalists said they often used their own contacts to find an expert source – including their colleagues, industry and PR contacts, or experts they had worked with in the past. Journalists said they also used university directories, Google searches and organisation websites to find suitable experts, but rarely social media.

The two factors that had the highest impact on journalists’ perception of an individual as an expert were their academic qualifications and having conducted research in the field. Holding a CEO or senior manager position, and having worked in the field for more than a decade also held sway.

When asked for the number one reason they used experts in their stories, almost 45 percent of journalists said it was to add established facts and figures, particularly in a matter that made them digestible for their audience. Significantly, another 35 percent said their primary motive was to add a third-party perspective to their stories.

“It’s important to understand that journalists, more than ever, are time poor,” Mr Hart said. “Newsrooms have been restructured and many journalists are now required to produce content for numerous channels. They need experts who are not only responsive and available, but who can also translate complex matters into simple grabs.”

Mr Hart said for industry professionals wanting to be seen as leaders, the message was clear: act quickly and speak simply.

“Once you’ve proven yourself to be an expert source to one journalist, you’re likely to be called upon by others,” Mr Hart said. “More than two-thirds of journalists said they were more likely to use an expert they had seen other media use.”

The 2016 BBS Media Survey collated the responses from more than 50 journalists from across Australia working across print, online, radio and television media.

www.bbscommunications.com.au

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