Jacks Machinery and Coast & Country News go way back. In fact, there’s not a single Coast & Country newspaper without a Jacks Machinery ad on the cover – that’s 12 papers every year for the last two decades.

Sun Media directors Claire and Brian Rogers have been working with Jacks Machinery owner Steve Jacks, even before they launched Coast & Country News.

“Steve was a client of ours back when we worked at another publication, so he has been advertising with Brian and I for almost 30 years,” says Claire.

“When we told Steve we were starting our own rural newspaper he didn’t hesitate to get on board, and has continued to support us ever since.”

Steve says jumping ship to Claire and Brian’s new venture didn’t feel like taking a risk. “Our businesses are the same: they operate by people working with people,” says Steve.

“When people are the business, the relationships you build become more important than the brand. I was confident Brian and Claire would keep delivering just as they did previously – and they’ve done exactly that for more than 20 years now.”

Steve has supported the inside pages Coast & Country News over the years, too, by investing in countless adverts and advertorials.

The paper has become somewhat of a scrapbook of Jacks Machinery’s history, from brands that have come and gone to birthday milestones.

Steve says he has no plans to move Jacks Machinery’s advert from its front page spot. “There’s no way I’d give it up,” says Steve.

“Whenever I walk into a farming outlet, a Jacks Machinery advert is always there at the top of the Coast & Country News stand – it’s great.”

Selling adverts looked a bit different 20 years ago than it does today. “Owners worked with owners back then,” says Claire.

“There were no digital options at that stage. To write a Jacks Machinery advertorial, Brian and I would travel from Tauranga to Whakatane to meet with Steve and discuss content, take photos…that sort of thing.

“It was a significantly longer process than it is today.”

Getting an advert to print may be more efficient now, but Claire says the ‘old days’ certainly had their perks. “We’d visit our clients frequently so they became our friends. As business owners, we all shared a mutual respect.

“It was difficult to give up, so I kept juggling the running of the business and being an ad rep for many years.”

After a long relationship, it seems fitting that the businesses share a significant birthday year: 2020 – which marks 50 years of Jacks Machinery and 20 years for Coast & Country News.

“You don’t really realise how much time has passed until you reflect back,” says Claire.

“To have someone supporting us for so long has been amazing.”