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Opinion
Video: How to win new business
Mumbrella Question Time saw the panel asked the secrets of winning new business. Read more »
Let’s stop the anonymous vitriol
In this guest posting, Peter Bray, boss of The Brand Shop, takes issue with negative comments from anonymous posters on Mumbrella and elsewhere.
There are very few ads that I vehemently dislike. There are also very few ads that I really love. But most ads I see on Mumbrella and other blogs I can usually take something from, whether it is information about the brand, a bit of inspiration or a “watch out”. I’m open to learning as much as I can from others, and encourage those around me to do the same.
My basic assumption, however, is that because an ad has been produced by a professional agency, and had the approval from the client, then the end result must be doing something right. Therefore, without knowing the practical rationale behind the ad, for me to have a strong opinion about whether it is great advertising would be kind of arrogant. There is a reason that awards shows ask for information about why an ad was created: they are rarely judged on end product alone.
So as someone who enjoys watching the work that our industry creates, I am stunned at the level of vitriol stemming from some people’s comments in both this blog and others. Read more »
Read his lips
This is several weeks old, but worth a look. It’s certainly an original way to deal with media criticism.It features Air NZ boss Rob Fyfe responding to weekly current affairs magazine The Listener using the medium of sign language. Read more »
Let’s not be too positive just yet – the nail is still there
It’s more than a year since News Ltd’s marketing boss Joe Talcott used the memorable analogy of a dog whimpering on a nail to describe the structural change the industry needs to go through. Read more »
The AdNews numbers that mislead the market
It’s always a tad tawdry when competitors attack each other, but I hope you’ll bear with me…
Whether cynically or through incompetence, AdNews has been misleading its advertisers by providing them with data that seems to suggest they have six times their true online audience.
Allow me to present the evidence. Read more »
Technology will help us own the agenda – all day, every day
In this opening speech to the Future Forum of the Newspaper Publishers Association, News Ltd CEO John Hartigan argued that news organisations have the opportunity to become more rather than less relevant.
Today I want to talk about a tipping point that heralds the most exciting era for journalism. The most exciting era ever.
This tipping point is already upon us. It has arrived at lightning speed, with the explosion in demand for mobile devices.
I am not consigning newspapers to the scrapheap. Not by a long shot.
But this tipping point is going to change journalism forever. In my opinion, very much for the better. Read more »
The real time shit sandwich detector
In this guest post, Clive Burcham of The Conscience Organisation, relishes the instant feedback of social media.
I’ve been making brand driven content since 1996 and often I’ve been so close to the work that I couldn’t tell the difference between if we were chomping on a shit sandwich or savouring the crème de la creme. From an audience perspective, we wouldn’t know the difference for weeks or months. What excites me most now is that we know within 24 hours if we’ve developed shit or cream. Read more »
SMH shows how to make a home page takeover work
When you’re a commercial organisation, balancing the needs of consumers with the need to make money through ads is tricky.
Among the organisations that sometimes goes the wrong way in my view is Fairfax, with its autostart video ads, for instance.
But today, a bit of unreserved praise Read more »
Inside the Foxtel factory
Having been at the launch of Foxtel’s new season the other night, nine points occur… Read more »
ABC News 24 – a handy service for niche journalists
It may not have many viewers yet, but ABC News 24 saves specialist journos having to leave their desks, argues Delimiter’s Renai LeMay
When media commentators discuss the future of journalism, they usually agree on at least one thing: It will involve much fewer generalists and more reporters dedicated to exhaustively covering niche fields. Read more »
The seven ages of Carlton Draught’s Made From Beer
Today sees the launch of “Slow Mo”, the latest instalment of Carlton Draught’s irreverent Made From Beer series.
It’s been quite a run – from the highly awarded Big Ad, to the comedy of Flash Beer, to the debacle of the abortive banned Tingle campaign. These are the seven ages of Made From Beer… Read more »
Real consumers don’t have ‘brand conversations’. They use search
In this guest posting, Simon van Wyk argues that much as marketers might wish otherwise, most consumers don’t have emotional connections with brands
I have a background in marketing, but my understanding of branding seems at odds with the 2010 opinions I see from social media commentators, marketing and advertising agencies. Read more »
Hot, censoring atheists: Google’s insight into what punters think about pollies and journos
One of the charms of Google is autocomplete, where it takes a punt on what you’re going to ask, based on what the rest of the world has been wondering previously.
And it certainly gives a few insights into the high quality of political debate about the Labor leaders in the run up to the election.
Take NSW premiere Kristina Keneally… Read more »
The copyright-busting election
This is rapidly turning into the copyright-infringing election. Read more »
Digital Fail: The gaping void in digital training is failing our industry
In this guest post, Amnesia Razorfish’s Iain McDonald warns that the industry has fallen badly behind on digital training.
Before I get accused of trolling with that headline, I’ll state what I think is obvious: The current education system isn’t producing or nurturing enough ‘digitally skilled’ individuals to sustain a growing a digital economy. Read more »
AWARD to review scam ads policy
The committee of AWARD, Australia’s main advertising awards body, will this week review its policy on scam ads.
The debate will take place at the AWARD committee meeting on Wednesday and follows a crackdown on scam ads in other parts of the world.
Scam ads are generally defined as ads that either did not run in paid media or were not signed off by clients. Entering a scam ad can give an agency or individual a creative an advantage over other entries because they have not had to meet a brief or go through an approval process.
This year has seen an increasing focus on scam ads globally. In the Middle East, the Dubai Lynx (organised by the Cannes Lions) saw several prizes withdrawn.
And after a fraudulent entry from DDB Brazil sparked a furore, the US-based One Show launched harsh new rules including a five year ban for agencies entering scam ads.
Last week, Cannes Lions issued a statement saying that its focus would be on individuals who transgressed rather than agencies.
Richard Maddocks, chairman of AWARD and ECD at Clemenger BBDO Sydney, told Mumbrella: “Our policy is based on individuals. Anyone found breaking the rules of entry may have work bearing their name deemed ineligible for entry for up to ten years. I’m fairly comfortable with that as a policy but because of The One Show and Cannes we will review that on Wednesday and discuss where we’re at.”
October 19th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
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Comments
19 Oct 09
4:03 pm
What about the great Australian ‘agency initiative’?
ie. Agencies paying for work to be done that the client OK’s.
Richard, how much did SEGA pay for ‘Offset the Evil’ for instance?
19 Oct 09
4:04 pm
Firstly, I agree that scammers should be outed.
The whole thing does raise the question though: do we need an ‘Open Section’ for ‘Those Ads That Didn’t Quite Make It Through The Client Approvals Process’? Anyone who’s worked on the agency side knows the best creative often gets killed off or beaten out of shape by clients very quickly, so that what the consumer sees is actually a poor excuse for what was originally pitched.
(Easy clients, I know WHY this is the case, I’m just saying…)
So, just like the proposed Steroid Olympics, who’s up for an Open Creative category? We could end up seeing some far better ads which are more representative of the creative companies’ true creative abilities as a result.
19 Oct 09
4:26 pm
Other Andrew … is that the “Client Refused Approval Proces”, or CRAP for short?
19 Oct 09
5:31 pm
@Anon,
Nice – I do love a good acronym, but I think we’d actually see a higher standard in that category, so not sure about ‘CRAP’ in this case.
I like your thinking though, so how about the ‘BACK’ Awards: Brilliants Ads Clients Killed? You could then have the BACK Edition etc etc
20 Oct 09
12:07 pm
@OtherAndrew
If you want to be demonstrate pure, unfettered, creativity, there’s a job for that. It’s called ‘artist’. If you work in advertising you are bound to a commercial imperative and that implies client approval. If it’s not approved, it’s not an ad.
21 Oct 09
5:34 pm
@Rascally,
Please don’t bring your rational, irrefutable arguments here while I’m trying to grandstand. It doesn’t help my cause.
I must agree that ‘if it’s not approved it’s not an ad’. The difference is, sometimes the reasons for the censorship/amendments are poor, and often more to do with people’s own insecurities and desire to ‘play it safe’ than whether or not it’s good for the brand.
Take the latest Toyota ‘Country Border Security’ ad (http://mumbrella.com.au/steve-.....eiled-9819). Toyota could easily have knocked this back on the basis that it scores points with a segment of their target market by poking fun at other segments. I mean really, how many Toyota 4WD owners have never had a latte? But they didn’t knock it back, and the ad is one of the best I’ve seen in years.
Gutsy clients = better creative. And by gutsy, I don’t just mean approving anything the agencies throw at them, I also mean gutsy enough to tell the agency to ’shove it’ when their proposal is rubbish. And let’s face it, there’s plenty of that too.
22 Oct 09
2:38 pm
@OtherAndrew
Gutsy clients = better creative
I totally agree. I also think there is way too much link testing going on, that inevitably leads to watered down creative, and not enough instinctive decision making.
Plus I like the ‘pong’ game on your website. ;->
23 Oct 09
1:48 pm
@Rascally,
Seems we don’t disagree on much after all… hardly as amusing to other readers as flaming each other in true mumbrella fashion, though.
Our site is due for an update but there’s a few people – mostly with more important things to do, incidentally – who I think would complain if we dropped Pong from the new site. If you’re into retro games and are based in Syd then you may enjoy our occasional ‘Arcade Thursdays’ featuring everything from Master System to Super NES, to Wii on the boardroom plasma. Yes, typical agency stuff but great fun… helps with the ‘unfettered creativity’ too.