mUmBRELLA

Opinion

• Outlook is cloudy for McDonald’s mood app

  If you’ve been on YouTube this morning, you’ve probably been boinked squarely between the eyes by the McDonald’s home page takeover.

  If you follow the link, it’s an apparently ambitious digital campaign that looks like its merely fails in the execution.   Read more »

• Why every agency boss needs to hear how Goodby got its groove back

  In the last three years I’ve probably sat through dozens, if not a couple of hundred, industry-related presentations. Just a handful stick with me.   Read more »

• With a little PR magic from Max Markson, Naomi Robson’s lizard didn’t happen and neither did the cannibals

  I had an intriguing press release from publicist Max Markson today.

  Naomi Robson is back in front of the camera. Even if it’s only online. And Markson Sparks PR is helping her with the launch of The Naomi Show.   Read more »

• Coke’s phoney happiness machine is a fail for me

  In this guest posting, Tony Richardson argues that the Coke Happiness Machine viral sucks.

  The folks at Coke have created a viral video and as hoped it’s being circulated worldwide … but for all the wrong reasons. The main one being that it is possibly the lamest viral ever created.   Read more »

• Saying no to copy approval

  “We’d dash back to the office to knock up a dry, arse-licking account of our “intimate chat” with Peter Andre to email to CAN, who would duly remove every trace of insight or humour, before making us feel sooooo special by perhaps deigning to allow us to publish it. No thanks.”

  Celeb website 3am on Journo vs PR control

• Will Renai LeMay’s new media business model work?

  I’ve been curious for a few days now on what Renai LeMay’s plans are.

  Since announcing he was leaving ZDNet, he’s been coy about what he’d be doing next.

  Which of course made it all the more interesting.   Read more »

• Where are our marketing heroes?

  “The great Australian tradition of attacking success and anyone that sticks their head above the parapet is stronger than ever. In my recent experiences around the world I can honestly say I have never experienced such collective distaste for one’s own kind.”

  Droga 5’s Sudeep Gohil on risk averse Aussies

• The Australian tries to win back Kevin

  “One might wonder whether News Ltd feels the need to get on the right side of the Prime Minister, having managed to get itself thoroughly offside with him since the 2007 election.”

  Bernard Keane on why Rudd was The Oz’s Australian of the Year

• AFR falls four days behind The Oz

  On Saturday, we woke up to discover that Wall Street had suffered a big fall.   Read more »

• Tips for better ideas

  While it’s rather cool that Vancouver agency Rethink funds a scholarship for future art directors and designers, the ad they’ve created around it offers even better advice on the creative process.   Read more »

• Sack the copywriter

  Here’s a nice innovation from consumer watchdog Choice, rounding up the best of the month’s Aussie ad blunders.   Read more »

• If agencies were bands…

  The other day I was chatting to the boss of a new agency that’s about to launch.

  I asked her what she wanted her agency to stand for. If it was a band, which would the agency be, was my question.

  Which then got me to thinking about which bands Australia’s existing agencies would represent. As I began to make notes, I began to realise that it doesn’t look good…   Read more »

• When a global marketing blunder is a local problem

  Sometimes I wonder if being a brand with an international affiliation is more trouble than it’s worth.

  Jenny Craig – a weight control brand that’s doing very well in Australia, thanks very much – is the latest to face blowback from an international gaffe.   Read more »

• Vegetarian and chicken ads prove Sam’s lamb is still the one to beat on Australia Day

  When Sam Kekovich’s latest pro-lamb Australia Day address was unveiled last week, a fair bit of the debate centred on whether it was time to change the strategy.   Read more »

• In defence of disaster journalism

  The somewhat grubby tussle between Seven and Nine over who gets credit for rescuing baby Winnie from the Haiti rubble makes an easy target for those who see disaster journalists as vultures.

  After all, what can the media do, but get in the way?   Read more »