Bec Brideson, owner and director of female-focused marketing company Hello I’m Venus argues brands need to work harder to deliver to multi-tasking women who use multiple screens as an extension of themselves.
Every day, screen-based technologies are becoming further intertwined with human behaviour, and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that one screen just isn’t enough these days.
In this cross-posting from The Conversation the University of Adelaide's Matthew Sorrell looks at how to predict future technology trends.
Although I’m a futurist, I have absolutely no idea what information and communications technology will look like in 50 years time.
I do know that some of it will be familiar because once we find a usable form, we tend to stick with it – glowing rectangles will probably remain popular. But I also know that we will see technology and applications which have not yet been imagined.
This technology space is growing in complexity and capability at a much, much faster rate than any other, and the implications for society are profound.
The decision to give comedy Bamboozled the top award at Tropfest on Sunday has sparked claims it is homophobic. In this cross-posting from The Conversation film lecturer Greg Dolgopolov explains why it matters.
It would have been hard to avoid the news that the best-picture award at Sunday’s Tropfest short-film festival in Sydney was given to filmmaker Matt Hardie for Bamboozled – and even harder to ignore the huge online response to the film’s perceived homophobia.
After recent pitches marketer Jason Stidworthy realised clients need to take a long hard look at how they act towards agencies.During a recent conversation with a good mate, he highlighted his frustrations with the real estate agency selling his house because the promotional material artwork was riddled with mistakes including the show-stopping incorrect suburb listing. Seriously, how could they!
After a post listing five trends to let go in 2014Hugh Stephens adds his own pet peeve to the list. On the subject of 2013 trends that really shouldn’t continue into 2014, I can’t help but raise apps. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “we’re thinking of developing an app…” I’d probably retire comfortably to a private island.
As everyone eyes move to what we can expect in 2014 Bernadine Brewer shares the five trends and buzzwords she hopes are left in 2013.It’s that time of year again. The time when suddenly our e-newsletters, our favourite blogs, our Twitter timelines fill with predictions of the future.
Although I’m not averse to speculation and even idle rumour (after all, it’s nice to have a little daydream about what we might work on next year), I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I loathe trends articles. As in cartoon-level steam-out-of-the-ears loathe.
So this year, I’m doing exactly the opposite. I’m calling it Reverse Trends, the stuff I dearly hope we’ll stop hearing come January. I’m talking about them one last time, so you don’t have to.
The claim people buy on price is a myth, and in the latest in a series about consumer psychology Ashton Bishop and Gary Wilkinson look at how retailers can make the most of this.
Consumers don’t make rational decisions based on price and marketers need to stop pretending they do.
There is a common refrain amongst marketers in some categories that consumers buy on price. What nonsense. Price by itself is meaningless, and please slap the next marketer who trots out that excuse for why they are losing in their category.
Amid the media storm around the public broadcaster Michelle Grattan, in this crosspost from the Conversation argues the ABC's critics are on a crusade. Mark Scott has come under fire for his decision to co-publish NSA leaked documents with The Guardian. AAP/Alan PorrittThe ABC and its managing director Mark Scott are caught in a perfect storm.
With a burgeoning number of review sites and astroturfing appearing online, Miki Clarke looks at how brands can make sure genuine reviewers get cut-through in search.
As children we’re told if we don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But in this social media world in which we now live, the opposite seems to apply.
We have witnessed exponential growth in search terms with review suffixes, not only in Australia but in the US and UK as well. This is not surprising in the land of electronics, travel accommodation and restaurants, but it is also happening for online dating sites and even dog food.
It has been a month since the News of the World phone hacking trial started in London and in this cross-posting from The Conversation UK director of undergraduate studies for journalism at Cardiff University John Jewell looks at what has come out so far. When Justice John Saunders opened what has been called the “trial of the century” he told the jury: “In a way, not only are the defendants on trial, but British justice is on trial.”
To say the defendants in the case are prominent in the world of journalism would be an understatement of gigantic proportions.
As more brands look to storytelling and content channels like blogs to get their messages across Lorraine Murphy says they should look to work with bloggers for the best results.
“Sponsorship” suggests whacking a logo on some content (be that an event, a TV show or a blog post) and that’s the extent of the relationship between the owner of the content and the brand in question.
The days of brands badging a logo and call-to-action on a blog post are gone. The space has moved on and successful content now calls for a co-creation approach with bloggers.
Amid the masses of journalism redundancies La Trobe University associate professor Lawrie Zion, looks at the question of what happens to those who take redundancy.
You’ve probably heard the news: the Australian media is experiencing the most serious contraction in its history.
Dear Chris,Our agency recently lost a client or two and I was given the difficult choice of taking a demotion or leaving the agency. I opted for the former but am struggling to adjust to my lesser position. Any tips on how to take the step down gracefully?
For the last year, we've been publishing a weekly tablet app. Mumbrella and Encore content director Tim Burrowes explains why today's will be the last.
The thing about failure is that people don’t usually like talking about it.
Indeed, I’m feeling somewhat rueful writing this.
But having shared the story of our journey with Encore so far, you’re entitled to hear about the bits that don’t work too.
With today's news the Mail Online is set to launch an Australian arm, Alex Hayes looks at what it means for the local media scene.
We could be about to see one of the most exciting periods for Australian journalism there has ever been. But, first, I have one question for you. How much is your house worth?
SBC has kicked off a new campaign to promote its new TV documentary series ‘Once Upon A Time in Punchbowl’, a series telling the story of how the Lebanese community found their place in multicultural Australia.
The campaign, conceived and designed by SBS’s in-house creative team, features one face split into two – with one half of Lebanese origin and the other of Anglo Australian origin to highlight the key theme of the documentary series, the question of identity.
The TV promo, central to the campaign, uses the second verse of the Australian national anthem – “For those who’ve come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share” – juxtaposed against a backdrop of media coverage highlighting strained Anglo-Lebanese relations in Australia.
SBS Group marketing manager Katherine Raskob said in a statement: “SBS is keen to ensure the marketing for this landmark program is in keeping with its history of developing campaigns which are both provocative and compelling in the way they reflect the nature of the stories SBS has a tradition of telling, that no other broadcaster can or will.”
Australian wine brand Jacobs Creek has launched True Greetings, an eCard generator which connects with Facebook to create “a thoughtful, personalised eCard”.
True Greetings, developed by digital agency AnalogFolk, uses data collected through Facebook Connect, including events attended, locations and number of ‘likes’ exchanged between two Facebook users to craft “unique and light-hearted” messages.
Derek Oliver, global marketing director of Jacob’s Creek said in a statement: “We’re constantly looking for ways to evolve our portfolio of products to meet the needs of our customers. Read more »
Former CEO of Maxus David Gaines is to take a role with Maxus Global in the US as managing partner and chief planning officer for North America.
He leaves next week to take up the data-focused role in New York.
“The thing that convinced me to go is the strength of Maxus’s data platforms. A lot of the things that were supposed to be the DNA of how an agency is supposed to work are there, it just needs someone to go in there and knit the whole thing together”, said Gaines. Read more »
Al Jazeera Sports has held talks to buy pay-TV sports provider Setanta Australia and could look to launch its international brand BeIn early next year, a move which would pose a serious challenge to the dominance of Fox Sports, Mumbrella understands.
Senior industry sources say there have been “talks” between the Qatari-based media group and Setanta, which currently airs as an paid-for subscription channel on Foxtel, about an acquisition.
It is thought Al Jazeera could look to form a joint venture with sports rights sellers MP & Silva under the BeIn brand, which has made a major push into France, North America and several countries in Asia in the last two years.
The move would signal a significant increase in competition for News Corp-owned Fox Sports, which currently dominates the subscription sports market, as BeIn has flexed some serious financial muscle across Asia to acquire sports right including the English Premier League (EPL) in Indonesia.
The Newspaper Works will drop circulation categories from its PANPA awards to emphasise audience and readership monitored by its emma data next year.
Mark Hollands, CEO of The Newspaper Works, the industry body that runs the Pacific Area Newspaper Association (PANPA) annual awards, felt strongly they should reflect the changing nature of the business and the Enhanced Media Metrics Australia, or emma, is more able to do that.
Hollands said circulation figures no longer made sense to differentiate the categories, as newspapers move from one category to another when print circulations decline, which sees local newspapers with large circulations, such as the Manly Daily, pitted against established metro titles. The revamped awards will also include new categories to reflect digital developments.
Hollands said: ”The whole thing is starting to look a little bit antiquated as the industry changes and this emma view of life is probably a better fit now. Circulation is just not the language now and its not really the focus of the businesses.
“It’s all about growing your audience and the synergies between print and digital, so we’re only reflecting what the industry is dealing with too.” Read more »
Nine won over 760,000 viewers for RBT, following the police Random Breath Test units on the road, but audiences dropped off for the new episode of US drama Hostages that followed, OzTam’s preliminary overnight ratings show.
Hostages, starring Australian actress Toni Collette, was third in the 8.30pm timeslot and 16th for the night. Winning at 8.30pm was the ABC’s repeat episode of QI with Stephen Fry, which averaged 693,000 metro viewers, followed by Rango on Channel Ten, as 587,000 tuned in for the animated western feature film starring Johnny Depp as a lizard.
Meanwhile Seven’s James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan was fourth in the 8.30pm timeslot with a metro audience of 473,000 and was 17th for the night in total people. Read more »
Brand storytelling agency Kojo has produced computer-generated automative content for the Mazda 2, which it says is “challenging – and redefining – the way automotive content is produced”.
Kojo’s CEO Dale Roberts said in a statement: “Taking a proactive approach, Kojo found a new way to produce high-quality car sequences quickly and cost-effectively for Melbourne agency CHE Proximity and their client Mazda.
“Kojo successfully created photo-realistic automotive CGI, added simulated driving, and seamlessly composited it into live action backgrounds.”
Roberts said automotive commercials traditionally required large film crews and incurred high travel costs.
“They are often faced with expensive re-shoots or fix ups as soon as a different car, model type or colour is needed,” he said.
Carlton Dry has launched a series of ads created by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne to show audiences what it means to say “#HelloBeer”.
The 15 and 30 second ads feature four inventive housemates whose antics “are a celebration of everything the brand represents – kicking back with mates and having a good time”.
CUB general manager Carlton Dry, Andrew Meldrum said in a statement: “The Carlton Dry brand is about fun, and the ‘Hello Beer’ construct is about welcoming the possibilities that exist when mates get together and get a bit inventive.
“This summer we’re taking the campaign from stills into moving pictures which will help to broaden our presence in digital, cinema and TV.
“We think the spots have a fresh, fun feel and we hope our drinkers will relate to some of the scenarios. Perhaps upside down dancing will become mainstream? If so, our apologies.”
“The fair-use fight between Beastie Boys and GoldieBlox isn’t over.
After sparring several weeks ago over the unauthorized use of the Beasties song “Girls” in aGoldieBlox commercial that went viral, the toy company deleted the video and uploaded a new version with a different track. But that did not satisfy the band, which has now countersued, demanding that GoldieBlox hand over profits it earned from using the song without permission, reports Gigaom. The Beasties also seek damages, lawyers’ fees and an injunction preventing GoldieBlox from using the song in the future.”
A signalled shake-up at the Fairfax Radio Network’s struggling Sydney talkback radio station 2UE is expected to see John Stanley move into the Breakfast slot Ian “Dicko” Dickson and Sarah Morice now occupy, Mumbrella understands.
Nights host Clive Robertson is also rumoured to be set to stay on from 8pm to midnight since taking the spot temporarily after Murray Wilton left in August.
As the station has yet to confirm its 2014 lineup, there is also speculation they may move popular weekend presenters George Moore and Paul Kidd to a regular weekday slot on the back of the ratings success for their weekend show.
A new Sydney shopping centre has introduced ‘Hipster Santa’ who has started up his own workshop inside the mall.
Central, the retail space located within Central Park in Chippendale, says he is the: “Contemporary answer to traditional Christmas. He’s not big on flying reindeer; he prefers his fixed-gear bike.
“And don’t even think about leaving him out milk and cookies; he only accepts coconut water and gluten-free macarons.”
The campaign, from BMF, includes an ambient PR stunt, outdoor, point of sale, an interactive digital display and a social strategy where Hipster Santa will be active across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.
Open Universities Australia has kicked off a new campaign promoting its online courses with a theme of allowing students to dream again about what their futures hold for them, just like they did when they were children.
The campaign from DDB Melbourne, which features a collection of adults who appear to be more like school children, encapsulates that idea and sees the cast confide their dreams for the future to a class photographer. The commercial ends with the tagline ‘your best days are ahead of you’.
DDB executive creative director Darren Spiller said in a statement: “There’s a lot of truth in the old adage, today is the first day of the rest of your life. But it’s often difficult to have boundless faith in the future you’re headed for. Especially as you get older and ‘wiser’, and leave many of your hopes behind along the way. But with Open Universities Australia’s huge range of online learning courses, you can get back in control of your own destiny.”
Fans have questioned why the podcast of the final Matt and Jo show, which featured outspoken comments about Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) management, have not been made available by Fox FM.
In his final broadcast on the long-running breakfast show with Jo Stanley on November 29 Matt Tilley hit out at the culture at SCA, which stopped him from playing his famous “gotcha” prank calls, branded Kyle Sandilands “a bearded lump of cholesterol” and called-out chairman Max Moore-Wilton for his “shit happens” comment to investors.
But, while full versions of their other shows from the week are available on the iTunes feed, the last show has not been put up, with SCA telling fans “technical issues” prevented them putting the show online.
Fairfax Media has bought property data and mapping provider Property Data Solutions for $30m, boosting its offering from property classifieds website Domain.
The purchase reported on the Australian Securities Exchange will see the Property Data Solutions (PDS) PriceFinder brand – which provides property data research to over 5,000 subscribers – combined with Fairfax’s existing property data business, Australian Property Monitors.
PriceFinder will be renamed APM PriceFinder and headed by Tom White, CEO and MD of PDS.
Greg Hywood, chief executive of Fairfax Media, said the acquisition is consistent with the media company’s strategy to invest in its property search website Domain. Read more »
The television producer who pioneered television serials such as Neighbours and Shortland Street has died at his home on the NSW Central Coast aged 76.
Alan Coleman, a British writer, director and producer moved to Australia when he was headhunted by Reg Grundy in 1974, to help him establish the Grundy Organisation’s drama department. Coleman then wrote and directed hundreds of episodes of medical serial The Young Doctors and produced the series Case for the Defence and worked on shows such as Class of 74 and Prisoner.
He launched his own production company making corporate videos before returning to Grundy’s as executive producer of Neighbours, and was then made EP of Shortland Street, New Zealand’s first soap opera on five nights a week.
Coleman’s other directing credits include Home and Away, Echo Point, Breakers, Going Home, Above the Law and Family Affairs in the UK. Read more »
The Sydney Institute executive director Gerard Henderson is to move his weekly Sydney Morning Herald column to rival The Australian after 23 years with Fairfax Media.
Henderson’s departure to News Corp comes after the SMH’s editor in chief Darren Goodsir suggested he reduce his weekly column to fortnightly.
Goodsir said in an email to staff: “I felt that such a move would allow for a range of new voices to be heard in our print opinion pages and websites, while still allowing Gerard’s unique commentary to also reach its audience. However, Gerard has opted for a different path and I respect that decision.”
Henderson will run his column in The Australian every week from next week, and his weekly Media Watch Dog will also be hosted on The Australian’s website every Friday, The Australian reported. Read more »
Bec Brideson, owner and director of female-focused marketing company Hello I’m Venus argues brands need to work harder to deliver to multi-tasking women who use multiple screens as an extension of themselves.
Every day, screen-based technologies are becoming further intertwined with human behaviour, and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that one screen just isn’t enough these days.
In this cross-posting from The Conversation the University of Adelaide's Matthew Sorrell looks at how to predict future technology trends.
Although I’m a futurist, I have absolutely no idea what information and communications technology will look like in 50 years time.
I do know that some of it will be familiar because once we find a usable form, we tend to stick with it – glowing rectangles will probably remain popular. But I also know that we will see technology and applications which have not yet been imagined.
This technology space is growing in complexity and capability at a much, much faster rate than any other, and the implications for society are profound.
The decision to give comedy Bamboozled the top award at Tropfest on Sunday has sparked claims it is homophobic. In this cross-posting from The Conversation film lecturer Greg Dolgopolov explains why it matters.
It would have been hard to avoid the news that the best-picture award at Sunday’s Tropfest short-film festival in Sydney was given to filmmaker Matt Hardie for Bamboozled – and even harder to ignore the huge online response to the film’s perceived homophobia.
After recent pitches marketer Jason Stidworthy realised clients need to take a long hard look at how they act towards agencies.
During a recent conversation with a good mate, he highlighted his frustrations with the real estate agency selling his house because the promotional material artwork was riddled with mistakes including the show-stopping incorrect suburb listing. Seriously, how could they!
After a post listing five trends to let go in 2014 Hugh Stephens adds his own pet peeve to the list.
On the subject of 2013 trends that really shouldn’t continue into 2014, I can’t help but raise apps. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “we’re thinking of developing an app…” I’d probably retire comfortably to a private island.
As everyone eyes move to what we can expect in 2014 Bernadine Brewer shares the five trends and buzzwords she hopes are left in 2013.
It’s that time of year again. The time when suddenly our e-newsletters, our favourite blogs, our Twitter timelines fill with predictions of the future.
Although I’m not averse to speculation and even idle rumour (after all, it’s nice to have a little daydream about what we might work on next year), I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I loathe trends articles. As in cartoon-level steam-out-of-the-ears loathe.
So this year, I’m doing exactly the opposite. I’m calling it Reverse Trends, the stuff I dearly hope we’ll stop hearing come January. I’m talking about them one last time, so you don’t have to.
The claim people buy on price is a myth, and in the latest in a series about consumer psychology Ashton Bishop and Gary Wilkinson look at how retailers can make the most of this.
Consumers don’t make rational decisions based on price and marketers need to stop pretending they do.
There is a common refrain amongst marketers in some categories that consumers buy on price. What nonsense. Price by itself is meaningless, and please slap the next marketer who trots out that excuse for why they are losing in their category.
Amid the media storm around the public broadcaster Michelle Grattan, in this crosspost from the Conversation argues the ABC's critics are on a crusade.
With a burgeoning number of review sites and astroturfing appearing online, Miki Clarke looks at how brands can make sure genuine reviewers get cut-through in search.
As children we’re told if we don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But in this social media world in which we now live, the opposite seems to apply.
We have witnessed exponential growth in search terms with review suffixes, not only in Australia but in the US and UK as well. This is not surprising in the land of electronics, travel accommodation and restaurants, but it is also happening for online dating sites and even dog food.
It has been a month since the News of the World phone hacking trial started in London and in this cross-posting from The Conversation UK director of undergraduate studies for journalism at Cardiff University John Jewell looks at what has come out so far.
When Justice John Saunders opened what has been called the “trial of the century” he told the jury: “In a way, not only are the defendants on trial, but British justice is on trial.”
To say the defendants in the case are prominent in the world of journalism would be an understatement of gigantic proportions.
As more brands look to storytelling and content channels like blogs to get their messages across Lorraine Murphy says they should look to work with bloggers for the best results. “Sponsorship” suggests whacking a logo on some content (be that an event, a TV show or a blog post) and that’s the extent of the relationship between the owner of the content and the brand in question. The days of brands badging a logo and call-to-action on a blog post are gone. The space has moved on and successful content now calls for a co-creation approach with bloggers.
Amid the masses of journalism redundancies La Trobe University associate professor Lawrie Zion, looks at the question of what happens to those who take redundancy.
You’ve probably heard the news: the Australian media is experiencing the most serious contraction in its history.
Dear Chris,
Our agency recently lost a client or two and I was given the difficult choice of taking a demotion or leaving the agency. I opted for the former but am struggling to adjust to my lesser position. Any tips on how to take the step down gracefully?
For the last year, we've been publishing a weekly tablet app. Mumbrella and Encore content director Tim Burrowes explains why today's will be the last.
The thing about failure is that people don’t usually like talking about it.
Indeed, I’m feeling somewhat rueful writing this.
But having shared the story of our journey with Encore so far, you’re entitled to hear about the bits that don’t work too.
SBC has kicked off a new campaign to promote its new TV documentary series ‘Once Upon A Time in Punchbowl’, a series telling the story of how the Lebanese community found their place in multicultural Australia.
Australian wine brand Jacobs Creek has launched True Greetings, an eCard generator which connects with Facebook to create “a thoughtful, personalised eCard”.
Al Jazeera Sports has held talks to buy pay-TV sports provider Setanta Australia and could look to launch its international brand BeIn early next year, a move which would pose a serious challenge to the dominance of Fox Sports, Mumbrella understands.
The Newspaper Works will drop circulation categories from its PANPA awards to emphasise audience and readership monitored by its emma data next year.
Nine won over 760,000 viewers for RBT, following the police Random Breath Test units on the road, but audiences dropped off for the new episode of US drama Hostages that followed, OzTam’s preliminary overnight ratings show.
Brand storytelling agency Kojo has produced computer-generated automative content for the Mazda 2, which it says is “challenging – and redefining – the way automotive content is produced”.
Fairfax general manager digital and national sales director Paul Sigaloff is leaving the company to take up the commercial director role at Yahoo!7.
A signalled shake-up at the Fairfax Radio Network’s struggling Sydney talkback radio station 2UE is expected to see John Stanley move into the Breakfast slot Ian “Dicko” Dickson and Sarah Morice now occupy, Mumbrella understands.
A new Sydney shopping centre has introduced ‘Hipster Santa’ who has started up his own workshop inside the mall.
Fairfax Media has bought property data and mapping provider Property Data Solutions for $30m, boosting its offering from property classifieds website Domain.
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