2014 Annual: The year that was – January
It was another year of continual change in the media and marketing world. Over the next 12 days, Mumbrella’s Miranda Ward provides a month-by-month recap of the major stories and developments that affected the industry. And we start here with January.
The year started quietly with Tim Burrowes penning an opinion piece on the continuing inability of Myer and David Jones to deliver customers a decent online brand experience following on from his online shopping experience over the Boxing Day sales.
The year continued with an Ad Standards Board (ASB) ruling against a “degrading”
ad for Bondi burger shop Goodtime Burgers which featured a patty sandwiched between a woman’s buttocks with the strapline “The freshest fun between the buns”.
The ABC’s director of television Richard Finlayson defended the channel’s New Year’s Eve fireworks broadcast after viewers took to social media to complain about the show.
Kia kicked off an interactive campaign as part of its sponsorship of the Australian Open which saw viewers challenged to return the world’s fastest serve by using their mobile phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdFdK7PLcMo
Australia was ranked the second best country for creativity in 2013 with four agencies in the top 20 in The Directory Big Won Rankings which uses awards success to rate agencies. McCann Melbourne was number one overall, with John Mescall named the best ECD and best copywriter thanks to the award-winning ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ campaign for Metro Trains.
The Mail Online began feeding Australian-generated stories onto the showbiz news section of the site.
Insurance brand AAMI also answered the question between Trent and Ketut, with Rhonda unsurprisingly choosing her Bali holiday lover Ketut over her highschool crush.
Sam Kekovich was back with his annual Australia Day address as Meat & Livestock Australia’s “lambassador”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Xo0v63wMA
Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox de-listed from the Australian Securities Exchange.
Japanese marketing giant Dentsu bought independent Sydney creative agency Oddfellows.
The global boss of Havas David Jones stepped down from his role as CEO.
SBS put its full-service media and creative account out to tender.
Red Bull appointed creative agency R/GA to handle its creative account following a closed pitch between four agencies.
Publicis Worldwide’s Australia CEO Joe Pollard left the group for “personal reasons” less than two years after joining and was replaced by Ogilvy Australia boss Andrew Baxter. David Fox was named as Baxter’s replacement later in the month.
Fitness First kicked off the new year with a rebrand, recruiting Jane Fonda for the launch of the rebrand.
Independent digital agency network Profero was bought out by the Interpublic Group and was rolled into the Lowe network.
Ten’s executive producer of its breakfast show Wake Up! Adam Boland resigned.
As the month started to wind down, Sunrise presenter David Koch stirred things up when he attacked Mamamia founder Mia Freedman and editor Jamila Rizvi for representing him as a “dirty old man” after an online fashion segment of the show referred to co-host Samantha Armytage’s shoes as “stripper shoes”. Freedman and Rizvi said they received death and rape threats as a result.
Fairfax Media and its columnist Joe Aston were ordered to pay former News Corp Australia CEO Kim Williams $95,000 in a defamation case over a report that incorrectly claimed he had stormed out of a meeting of the Sydney Opera House Trust.
Honda Australia consolidated its marketing service agencies, moving all of its work to Leo Burnett Melbourne and ZenithOptimedia Melbourne.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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topics
AAMI
Ad Standards Board
Adam Boland
ASB
Australia Day
David Koch
Goodtime Burgers
Kia Australia
Mail Online
Oddfellows
Profero
Rhonda and Ketut
Rupert Murdoch
Sam Kekovich
SBS
Telstra
year in review
