Dave Dunlay ends his time with Tandem Studios

Tandem Studios is now under new ownership. Here’s a message from previous managing director Dave Dunlay.

“I just wanted to let you know what’s been happening at Tandem Studios over the last few months and into the future.

After owning Tandem for more than 16 years, my wife and I decided that it was the right time to sell. Tandem has grown significantly over the last five years and the business is in really good shape. We had quite a lot of interest in the sale and after meeting Jay from Pukenga Mahi Ltd, we decided he was the right fit to take Tandem into its next stage.

Tandem Studios started in Christchurch in 1974 and in that time has had several owners with myself being part of that group since 2005. In the studio’s early days music, jingles and voice overs were the focus of the business. In fact Tandem was the go to studios for any of the commercial work in Christchurch while recording up and coming young artist such as Bic Runga and Salmonella Dub, In fact in those early days Tandem was very closely entwined with the Christchurch music scene.

In March of 2005 there was a seismic change in the way the world communicated with a new website called YouTube starting, quickly followed by podcasting and social media. In those early days we loved the ‘geek’ factor of being able to make videos and then put them on the internet and who knew that one day this new form of content would become such a key part of our business. 

From posting our first video into YouTube in August of 2005 communications and marketing changed quickly and continues to constantly evolve even now.

Our first podcast was also a world first in creating a podcast series on the 2005 New Zealand election where we spoke to each leader of the political parties of that year 

From those early days we have now posted 60,000+ videos to YouTube, created a variety of podcasts for clients throughout New Zealand and in any given week livestream several hours of events, meetings and content. While still providing voice over recordings for the likes of Briscoes and the fabulous Tammy and many more.

In 2021 we see ourselves as a content production studio with expertise in audio, video and live streaming. We have our Christchurch studio, a base in Auckland and work with clients and contractors throughout New Zealand.

Things have most certainly changed since our early days and continue to change so from today (Monday August 2), I’m excited to say the latest change is that Jay Bocock and his company Pukenga Mahi Ltd will be the new owner of Tandem.  

It will be business as usual, with Brett and Tania joining Jay’s team.  So nothing will change and I will be assisting with that transition.  After that I will be involved as an executive producer as needed.

Pukenga Mahi will bring to Tandem the benefits of being a larger organisation, along with the experience of working with iwi and increasing our engagement with tangata whenua.

The last 16 years have been a fantastic journey.  Tandem has always been an innovator and we were at the forefront of lots of digital marketing trends. There is no doubt this innovation will continue under Jay’s leadership.

A huge heartfelt thank you to the many people and the Tandem team I have worked with over the past 16 years. I have made many friends in the creative community throughout New Zealand. My biggest thanks goes to the clients who have trusted Tandem Studios to deliver their marketing and communications solutions – it’s been a privilege.

Our contractors have been a huge part of our success and thanks for all your work. 

If you have any questions please drop me a note, otherwise as always contact Brett or Tania when the next job needs our creative content.

Kind regards,

Dave Dunlay”

Tandem Studios

January 2005 – Aug 20, 2021