-
Opinion | Features
Q&A with Adshel's Rob Atkinson
Online trading is the next big thing says Rob Atkinson in a piece that first appeared in Encore. Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
Harold Mitchell because of his influence and the footprint he has left. He’s built a huge brand in Mitchells, offloaded it into Aegis, Aegis has obviously done extremely well to be then sold on to Dentsu. So if you think about it, he is very much a father figure of the industry.
Making it overseas
Is the best way of being successful in Australia not be here at all? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Lee Zachariah speaks to Aussies making it big abroad.I always wanted to work in New York,” says Julian Cole. “I thought it was the number one place to work in advertising; a lot of the best campaigns were coming out of there. So I moved over and was lucky enough to have a couple of interviews in the first couple of weeks.”
Cole’s story is indicative of the somewhat contentious idea that the best way to be successful in Australia is to not be in Australia any more.
Got a book in you?
From journos to ad execs and PRs, these days everyone seems to have a book in them. But what does it take to get published and will you actually make any money? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Brooke Hemphill finds out.Attention wannabe authors. Forget big fat advance cheques and living off royalties. The reality of having a book published today is another story altogether. There are only two reasons you should even consider sitting down at your computer to bash out a manuscript – passion or profile.
Savage counsel
In an article that first appeared in Encore, Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas in his weekly advice column.Hi Chris,
My clients seem to be demanding more and more from us. At the same time, it seems many of the younger people in our industry simply don’t have the client servicing skills my generation grew up with. How do we instill in our executives some of the good old-fashioned behaviours that would keep a client happy and loyal?
Fake it til' you make it... as an ad agency receptionist
From dressing the part to playing the gatekeeper, Leo Burnett Sydney’s Susie Henry tells us how to make it as the face of adland in a piece that first appeared in Encore.What does a receptionist in an ad agency actually do?
Well, there’s the frantic every-day, all-day stuff of deliveries, courier bookings, doing expenses for directors – always challenging – plus arranging all the travel. But one of my main jobs is counselling the account service people. I also keep up with all sports information to discuss with our sports-loving clients – because who wants to be bored while they’re waiting? And I know how they like their coffee. You need to know everyone – from accounting to HR. I’m also the go-to for all catering and sending flowers.
Whose views skew the news? Media chiefs ready to vote out Labor, while reporters lean left
Most journalists lean left-of-centre, says Folker Hanusch of the University of the Sunshine Coast, in a post first published on The Conversation.Most Australian journalists describe themselves as left-wing, yet amongst those who wield the real power in the country’s newsrooms, the Coalition holds a winning lead.
But while the media’s political leanings will no doubt be debated in the lead-up to September’s federal election, our study has also found other largely unscrutinised biases remain – particularly whose views disproportionately shape the news.
It's time for a new New Wave in the film world
Government funding bodies are lazy and decadent, says industry veteran Michael Thornhill but in a piece that first appeared in Encore, Ed Gibbs begs to differ.I vividly remember the time I first saw Animal Kingdom, David Michod’s breathtaking labour-of-love feature debut. The press screening was half empty, despite the film winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance just months earlier, in 2010. Yet its superb performances, stylistic flourishes and overall polish left me speechless. Could this really be a feature debut, an Australian one at that, I wondered, almost out loud? It seemed too good to be true.
Going cold turkey on an agency addiction
Life is sweet for freelance writer Max Kitchen, but in a feature that first appeared in Encore, he admits his struggle against returning to the agency fold.I’ve never taken heroin. But I suspect if I had, the temptation to try it again would not be too dissimilar to the lure of returning to agency life.
Can sport save Ten?
First there was the Grand Prix. Next came the reported $500m bid for cricket rights, then Ten secured the 2014 winter Olympics. So, can sport save the ailing network? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.The television sports rights bidding process is a bit like a game of poker.
Check, fold or bet. Those were the options for the Ten Network last week when it had to finalise its bid for the cricket rights.
Andy Lark: good for the marketing of marketing
I can still remember the first story I wrote about Andy Lark, when it emerged that he was to be the new chief marketing officer of CommBank.
It was immediately clear that Australia was about to meet an interesting marketer, one who blogged and tweeted and thanks to his time at Dell in the US was digitally savvy. Even two years ago, that was a big deal. The fact that he also had a stint in public relations gave him an absolutely intriguing background before he even arrived.
Storming the media barricades - advice for young journalists
This week Mumbrella’s Nic Christensen, who began his career four years ago, gave the keynote address to would-be journalists at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s Student Day. This is an edited version of his speech.Good afternoon, I can remember distinctly the last time I was in this room.
It was 2009 and I was sitting where you are. I’d come to this event, a friend and myself — from memory we sat up the back — and I can remember at the time wondering if I’d ever get a job as a journalist.
It was only four years ago and then as now getting a job was ultra competitive but I’m not sure there was quite as much media ‘doom and gloom’ as there is now…
Paywalls will help fund campaigning journalism
In this guest post, News Limited’s group editorial director Campbell Reid responds to the views of ninemsn’s Hal Crawford that the company’s push into metered paywalls is about data rather than dollars.Hal Crawford is both right and wrong in his article which argued that our digital subscription plans are all about the data.
Fake it 'til you make it... as a features editor
Cosmo’s Kate Leaver tells us how to bluff it in her job in a feature that first appeared in Encore.What do you do, as a features editor?
Really, play with words and ideas all day. At any one time, we’re working across three issues of the mag – getting one on its way to the printers, pooling all the words together for another, and planning the issue after that. It’s busy but it’s a pretty magnificent process.
Savage counsel - JFDI
Hi Chris,I run a medium-sized agency that is doing pretty well. As the leader, I am finding my workload just seems to go up and up. I am struggling to stay motivated and particularly to tackle the bigger and tougher challenges I have to face every day. How do I keep up the energy when there just seems so much to do? How do you do it?
Productive, successful executives are those able to consistently tackle difficult and big challenges. It’s a constant struggle for me so I know how you feel. How do the successful leaders do it?
Q&A with Brett Clegg
Brett Clegg, group director – business media, Fairfax Media, in a Q&A that first appeared in Encore, on the journo who refuses to work with him – his wife.Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
Hard to go past Rupert Murdoch. He controls the single largest and most diverse portfolio and is intent on leveraging its scale (and, of course, influence). He’s an innovator and his will to win is obvious to all.
Balls – quite literally – from Lynx
If ever a brand was capable of both the great and the execrable, it was Unilever’s Lynx.
Back in the day there was, of course, the award-winning Lynx Jet.
And more recently the invisible ad.
But now comes this bit of (and I hate to dignify it with the phrase) long form content to promote the Lynx Body Buffer.
One hundred and eighty seconds around one double innuendo.
Somebody had to come home from work knowing that they made this.
Tim Burrowes
-
-
Email Newsletter
Latest Jobs- Account Manager
- Digital Art Director
- Client Services Manager
- Digital Account Manager / Senior Account Manager
- Client Services Co-ordinator
- Freelance Account Manager | DM + Digi | CBD | Start ASAP | Up to $280 pd – iknowho
- Digital Account Executive
- Senior Designer/Design Director $90-130K + super ref 6163
- Senior Account Manager 70-80k Ref 6362
- Account Director $110K + super Ref 6385
-
RSS
Comments
4 Jun 12
9:02 am
Actually Tim, it’s a direct localisation of the Axe Wash Your Balls campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPwhMoQBg_8
4 Jun 12
9:40 am
Say this for Lynx, they have the guts and the budgets to try things, even if they occasionally don’t work.
I’d say they have balls, but that cow has been milked dry…
4 Jun 12
9:46 am
I have to disagree. I saw this last night and through all of the cliched innuendo, bad puns and Sophie Monk I still had a good laugh. On further investigation though it turns out this is just a straight reshoot of an Axe ad.
4 Jun 12
10:08 am
Yup. That ad sucks balls.
4 Jun 12
10:09 am
I believe the expression you were looking for was either innuendo or double entendre. I’ve never heard of a double innuendo, but it sounds exciting
4 Jun 12
10:23 am
Can’t imagine any bloke 15-30 who wouldn’t laugh and watch until the end, hoping those women are stripped to their underwear at some point.
Not much to criticise here beyond the prurient nature of the interests of a young male.
4 Jun 12
10:48 am
Why does Sophie Monk sound like she has balls?
As is the case most times (except for Terminator2), the original is better.
4 Jun 12
10:58 am
this is a funny, hat’s off to the guys who made this and the invisible lynx ad.
4 Jun 12
11:23 am
Watched it in a room full of 7 people and all focused on how weird Sophie Monk looked then laughed hard enough at “that’s a big ball sack” to disengage from the actual ad entirely… just saying. Do these 3 minute yawns actually work?
4 Jun 12
11:59 am
Ah lighten up. Ten times more entertaining than 99.9% of the 30 second ads I’ve seen…
4 Jun 12
12:22 pm
I think we underestimate the toilet humour of young men.
And to an extent, young women.
It may not be the classiest piece of communication, but they wouldn’t have trotted it out around the world if it didn’t have some positive impact on sales…
4 Jun 12
2:27 pm
Well you can debate whether cheap toilet humor is effective or uncreative however
3 long minutes of the same single, weak joke is a real groan.
4 Jun 12
2:27 pm
This is the type of low-brow shite that gives the ad industry a bad name. Where is their creative integrity?
Now if you’d excuse me I need to finish writing this headline for a 25% off offer for a soap brand, to run in a local press ad next Wednesday.
4 Jun 12
3:23 pm
Amazing how a really nice piece of worked can be fucked up because the
client decided it needed to be aussiefied.
It was funny the first time though, and won cannes gold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZKL74LgMg
4 Jun 12
4:50 pm
3 million views for the original!!
4 Jun 12
8:27 pm
At first, I thought this was kinda great (except the lighting wasn’t great for Sophie Monk)……now all you astute people who have time to scour You Tube point out it’s a adaption of a UK idea….less excited to work for Unilever.
5 Jun 12
8:00 am
Very few FMCG multinationals would go anywhere near the work put out around the globe by Lynx. Props to Unilever
6 Jun 12
2:16 pm
Unilever is capable of greatness? I’ll believe that when I see it…but I won’t hold my breath.
As Gruen Planet said, The only people who use Lynx are virgins.
6 Jun 12
9:06 pm
I saw this a couple of times last night and loved it!
Now where is Melinda Tankard Reist?
7 Jun 12
11:19 am
Tedious, except for the surgery-enhanced freekshow of Sophie Monk.
7 Jun 12
11:21 am
Sometimes the public amaze me… it’s hilarious how many comments on YouTube say, “only in Australia,” or perpetuate Australia v Kiwi humor hate on an ad that was a straight remake Axe>Lynx.
Also, what did she do to her lips?
7 Jun 12
1:44 pm
Forget the balls. How many trout made the supreme sacrifice to be implanted into Sophie Monk’s mouth region?
7 Jun 12
8:07 pm
Lynx balls – What a stupid piece of s-h-i-t-e advertising! Are you insane? I am an IT professional and work for a company who KNOWS how to use the power of public communications and advertising in very creative, innovative ways. Your new ‘balls’ campaign is just stupid – not only stupid, but REALLY stupid! Go back to the drawing board on this one. Really, really stupid Lynx!
8 Jun 12
11:20 am
the fact that everyone has such a strong, negative reaction to the ad probably indicates that it is going to be effective in reaching their target audience, teenage boys. In that sense, I think Lynx has a winner just like other dumb teen movies, we all cringe at their stupidity and yet there’s a group that would pay money for it.
9 Jun 12
3:30 am
The simple fact of the matter is that if you didn’t like the ad then it probably wasn’t targeted at you. Think about the demographic. 13-17 year old boys. Are you going to make them want Lynx by shoving something witty and creative down their throat, no, you hook them with testicle innuendo.
I hate the ad but at the same time it is genius. And believe it or not, 13-17 year old boys love it. Just google “axe cleans your balls forum” and it will bring up all sorts of forums with teenage boys praising it as the greatest ad they have ever seen. Advertising isn’t about impressing us, it’s about selling a product, and I’m pretty damn sure this ad will sell some lynx.
10 Jun 12
11:38 am
For those who don’t follow advertising, it’s a simple localisation and a poor one at that.
Check out the original Canadian balls spot. That’s entertaining, if not about 6 years old.
11 Jun 12
12:13 am
So, Randall Tutton, what company do you work for? Interested to know what ‘very creative, innovative ways’ your company is using to advertise themselves. As you are an IT professional, there will be a lot of people on here who don’t think you’re qualified to make that judgement…
11 Jun 12
10:01 am
I’m right here Grant.
11 Jun 12
1:43 pm
Collective Gout is issuing a press release as it’s a public holiday, so there’s a lot of pent-up outrage happening.
PRESS RELEASE for immediate issue. From the desk of AdGrunt, self-proclaimed defender of anything that I don’t like as it makes me feel funny.
Collective Gout today called on all women to campaign vigorously about a campaign aimed at puerile men. It involves a double entendre about the balls you play sports with and testicles. And it features a mildly saucy woman insinuating that she’d enjoy some foreplay with your testicles. It’s so hot I messed my pants when I saw it. It’s pretty much a hardcore porn orgy.
This piece of puerile advertising is outrageous. It’s a puerile campaign aimed at a puerile audience who are amused by puerile jokes. This is an abomination of insight and execution.
They should have used a campaign featuring of young men rollerblading, walking in the countryside, laughing, giggling and holding girls hands in a platonic fashion. All with schmaltzy music playing over the top.
Maybe taking a bible class.That would have sent sales soaring and engaged the audience in the strongest possible manner.[Stand by for the inevitable chasmic leap of loony logic]
It’s companies and advertising like these that promote objectification, rape, stalking, bulimia, obesity and any other hysteria, up to and including the “vapours.”
Collective Gout doesn’t care if its views appear outlandish, prudish, parochial, ill-informed or wowserist – we do it for the wimmin. It has nothing to do with the choice of parents or the individual. If it outrages me personally and a few mates, IT MUST BE BANNED.
But be very clear, we don’t do it for religious ends in any way, shape or form. Is that clear. Is Wowserism a religion?
[Release Ends]
12 Jun 12
1:10 pm
well it got us talking…
13 Jun 12
2:54 pm
I must be puerile. Laughed my balls off.
13 Jun 12
3:12 pm
It’s silly, harmless fun. I think it works, regardless of the cliches and puns.
18 Jun 12
10:56 am
Seems to me that Lynx just know their target audience very very well!
18 Jun 12
11:34 pm
@Melinda
I thought you might be nearby