Payper
Payper
At Payper, we're passionate about sharing stories of great New Zealanders doing extraordinary things. Everything we do is with the goal of helping you secure positive news coverage. Whether it's a story on Seven Sharp, coverage on Radio New Zealand, a lifestyle piece in Kia Ora magazine, or specific industry coverage that you're after, we're here to help.
We have two offerings: On Demand for one-off stories you want to share with the world, and Ongoing for businesses who are in it for the long haul and want repeated news coverage.
Payper On Demand is our core service for pitching one-off news stories. Have a company announcement? Landed a major achievement? Secured a round of funding? This is for you.
Our pitch fee is a small set fee we charge to craft the story you want us to pitch to New Zealand's news media. This pitch fee includes:
1. 30 minute Strategy Call
2. Press Release
3. Pitch to Media
Then, we charge you success fees based on how much coverage we land you.
These are what keep us accountable and working as hard as possible for you, to land you as much news coverage as possible.
Our success fees are a flat fee of $999 per story we land you in leading New Zealand media. We don't count any minor coverage and total success fees are capped at $8,000 per campaign.
If you want ongoing news coverage, and the holy grail of PR – becoming the go-to source journalists call about your industry – then Payper Ongoing is for you. It's our subscription service for organisations who want to level up their comms.
Our pricing is simple and transparent, and most importantly, it’s based on results. There's a small flat fee for us to craft your story and pitch it, and then you pay per the news coverage we land you. Use this tool to get a cost estimate based on news coverage.
Results-based PR means you pay for the media coverage you get, not the hours an agency spends. Payper has worked this way since 2016: a small flat fee to craft and pitch your story, then a success fee only for each story that lands in media that matters. No six-month retainer lock-in, no invoices for effort that produced nothing. If you don't get coverage, you don't pay the success fee.
Payper On Demand is a flat $999 + GST pitch fee (strategy call, press release and pitch to media), plus $999 + GST for every story we land in leading New Zealand media. Success fees are capped at $8,000 per campaign and we never charge for minor coverage. Payper Ongoing retainers are $2,000, $3,000 or $5,000 + GST a month – Light and Medium add a $499 success fee per story, Heavy has no success fees at all.
Payper is a New Zealand public relations agency founded in 2016 by two former journalists, Adrien Taylor and Lewis Hampton. It pioneered results-based PR in New Zealand: clients pay a small flat fee plus a success fee for each story landed, rather than a monthly retainer for effort. Payper has offices in Ponsonby, Auckland and central Christchurch, and works with startups, scale-ups, sports organisations and large businesses across New Zealand and Australia.
Payper has two offices: 208 Ponsonby Road, Auckland, led by co-founder Lewis Hampton, and 235 High Street, Christchurch, led by co-founder Adrien Taylor. We work with clients all over New Zealand – Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin and the regions – and run trans-Tasman campaigns for clients expanding into Australia.
Payper's clients include Meridian Energy, Southbase Construction, Netball New Zealand, Squash New Zealand, the Blues, Evnex, Scapegrace Distilling, First Table, Contented, Vessev, Sterling, Mons Royale, Coffee Supreme, Kea Aerospace, Dawn Aerospace and Abe's Bagels. We've also worked with athletes including Olympic gold medallist Nico Porteous and with Kane Williamson's sports protection brand, Cover. See our case studies for the stories and the numbers.
Payper lands stories across New Zealand's main outlets – NZ Herald, Stuff, 1News, ThreeNews, RNZ, Newstalk ZB, NBR, BusinessDesk, The Post, The Press and TVNZ Breakfast – plus trade, regional and podcast media where your buyers are. For international stories we've secured coverage on Reuters, NBC Sports and Olympics.com and in Australian business and trade press.
Yes, if the story is strong enough. Payper clients have appeared on 1News, ThreeNews, TVNZ Breakfast and Seven Sharp, and on RNZ and Newstalk ZB. We never promise a TV slot – newsrooms decide what runs – but we shape the story the way producers want it, pitch the right people, and we only charge the success fee if it lands. Often the most valuable coverage is NZ Herald, Stuff, NBR or trade media rather than TV.
No. Any PR agency that guarantees coverage is overselling – journalists and editors decide what runs, based on timing, competition and relevance. What Payper guarantees is the model: you only pay the success fee for stories that actually land, so the risk sits with us, not you. We turn down stories we don't think are newsworthy rather than take your money and hope.
Most Payper campaigns land their first coverage within two to six weeks. Week one is strategy and writing, weeks two to four are pitching and follow-up, and stories typically run from week three onwards. Funding announcements and product launches can go faster when the timing is set in advance; ongoing profile-building compounds over months. If a story hasn't landed in six weeks, we'll tell you why and what to change.
No. Payper turns down around 30% of the businesses that come to us – usually because the story isn't ready, the timing is wrong or PR isn't the right channel yet. Our model only works when we land coverage, so we won't pitch a story we don't believe in. We'll tell you straight, help reshape it if we can, or point you to a better use of the money.
Book a chat with Payper. In a 30-minute strategy call we map your audience, the angles, the proof points and the timing. Then we write the release, pitch the right journalists and report back on what landed. We explain everything in plain language – no jargon, no retainers, and the first conversation costs nothing.
You can draft a press release with ChatGPT in seconds. What it can't do is know which New Zealand journalist is covering your sector this month, judge whether your story is actually news, or pick up the phone when a producer has a question at 5pm. Payper uses AI for research and polish; the relationships and the news judgement are human, and they are what gets a story run.
Yes. Payper handles crisis communications for New Zealand businesses – product recalls, public complaints, regulatory stories and online pile-ons – both as advance planning and in real time. That means holding statements, spokesperson briefings, managing media calls and monitoring social channels. Call Lewis anytime, 24 hours, on +64 27 451 8090, or see our crisis communications page.
On Demand is for a single story or event: a $999 + GST pitch fee plus $999 per story landed, capped at $8,000. Ongoing is a monthly partnership for businesses that want regular coverage: Light ($2,000), Medium ($3,000) or Heavy ($5,000) a month plus GST, with press releases, strategy sessions, media training and reporting built in. Light and Medium add a $499 success fee per story; Heavy has none.
Yes. Our offices are in Auckland and Christchurch, but Payper works with businesses all over New Zealand, from Wellington and Hamilton to Queenstown and the regions. Most of the work – strategy calls, writing, pitching and media management – happens online and by phone, and we travel for shoots and launches when it matters.
Yes. Payper runs trans-Tasman campaigns for New Zealand companies expanding into Australia, including Evnex, First Table and Nylon, with Australian business, tech and trade media on our pitch lists. Ongoing clients can add Australia to a New Zealand retainer; On Demand campaigns can be pitched to both markets at once.
A success fee is what Payper charges only when a story is published – $999 + GST per story on On Demand, $499 on Light and Medium retainers, and nothing on Heavy. A story counts when it runs in an outlet with a meaningful audience; we don't charge for minor coverage, syndicated duplicates or press-release wires. Success fees are capped so a campaign that goes unexpectedly well can't produce a runaway bill.
It depends on what you need. For large corporates and public affairs, agencies like One Plus One, Acumen and FleishmanHillard Aotearoa are strong. For big creative campaigns, Special PR. For startups, scale-ups, sports organisations and any business that wants to pay for results rather than retainers, Payper is the only New Zealand agency built on a results-based model, with 5.0 ratings on Google and Clutch. Our honest comparison is in our guide to the best PR agencies in New Zealand.
