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Opinion | Features
My memo to your boss
So let me guess?
You really want to come to Mumbrella360, but you’ve got to justify the time and cost to your boss?
Good news! I think I can help.
Woz not great
In this guest post Tony Prysten argues that the thousand dollar price of seeing out-of-touch Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack on his Australian tour was a waste of money.
This week, for the cost of two iPads (yep, two) I went to the Woz Live conference in Melbourne. I was not impressed.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
According to industry experts Encore spoke to, the key elements that define transmedia can be summarised as follows: platform, time, audience, adaptation, and creative collaboration.
Innovation is the remedy for the ailing magazine industry
With magazine circulations plummeting, FHM closing and rumours rife on future ownership of ACP Magazines, Paul Merrill says the only way forward is launching new titles.Eight years ago in the UK, nearly a quarter of all magazine sales came from magazines that were less than four years old. In Australia, the figure was slightly lower, but still significant. Today, the situation is very different. For a start there are so few new magazines. Yes, Masterchef briefly flared, and Top Gear made an initial impact. But Grazia and Alpha fizzled, and now ACP has shelved their plans to launch Elle.
More than a game: broadcasting the Olympics
The 2012 London Olympics will be the biggest televised sporting event of our time. Brooke Hemphill discovers the logistical challenges and technical requirements of producing the event.
From July 27 to August 12, the Australian media will go sport crazy as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, aka the 2012 London Summer Olympics, unfold. The games will be the most televised sporting event of our time as broadcasters look to master every manner of technology at their disposal.
The Voice - Australia's best example yet of social TV
In this guest post, Sputnik’s Rodd Messent has a theory on why audiences have taken to The Voice .I am an addict of Channel Nine’s hit show The Voice. Such is the extent of my addiction I seriously think my housemate might kick me out of our apartment for the semi-frenzied yelling and tweeting that ensues in our lounge room each time the show airs.It’s the first time in almost three years that such disagreement has resulted in less than civil behaviour towards one another, and it’s made me think it might be a microcosm of the large volume of online debate about the show and, correspondingly, an explanation for its success as a social TV experience.Why brands are the US Army - and culture jammers are the Viet Cong
In this guest posting, Dave Burgess, who painted ‘No War’ on the Sydney Opera House, claims that ‘amoral’ advertisers have copied his idea.
Culture jamming is a 28-year-old term coined by the San Francisco-based band Negativland, who declared that the ‘Studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large’.
Branded content is dead. Long live branded content
In this guest posting, Anthony Freedman argues why branded content is making a comeback.
A few short years ago, probably concurrent with the advent of the PVR, a new term emerged within the marketing communications industry; branded content. This was really synonymous with advertiser funded TV shows where programming was created by brands and deals struck with networks to broadcast them.
There were varying degrees of success with this model.
Shock advertising: 30 ads that would give Australia's ad watchdog a coronary
Is shock an underused weapon in Australian advertising, asks Robin HicksToday, Sydney agency The Cabana Boys used an image of a mouth sewn together to shock people with the idea that problem gamblers lie to conceal their habit. Is it the most disturbing image ever? No. Will it get banned by the Advertising Standards Bureau? No. But it did make me wonder why shock is not used more often in Australia – and not just by charities and government bodies. (WARNING: NSFW)
The making of ratings blockbuster The Voice
Jason Mountney goes on the set of Channel Nine’s talent search series, The Voice, to see how the format, based on an international franchise, has come together. What ingredients have gone into making this certified hit that’s rated more than two million viewers on three consecutive nights?
Mike Goldman has one of the toughest jobs on the set of the Nine network’s new talent show, The Voice. He not only has to narrate the show, but also keep the audience from losing their enthusiasm as they realise shooting TV programs takes a lot longer than the one-hour bursts they see in their lounge rooms. A lot longer.
Nine problems stopping The Global Mail from getting an audience
While it’s a shame The Global Mail has failed to make an impact on the media landscape, the signs have been there for some time.I love the concept of a well resourced, philanthropically-funded independent news site. Anywhere in the world, that’s a rare and wonderful thing. In Australia even more so. So I hope that Grame Wood gets to see his investment make a difference.
And I have no inside info on whether Monica Attard’s sudden departure is linked to the site’s failure to find an audience so far.
Regardless, here are nine areas they can easily start to address:
Journalism’s new model?
Does the launch of philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail signal a new era for journalism or is the model destined to be a passing fad, asks Cathie McGinn in this article first published in Encore magazine.With little fanfare, philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail launched in February this year.
The online-only title received a generous five-year funding commitment from businessman Graeme Wood, founder of accommodation website wotif.com, who donated $15million.
Five things that make a great suit
In this guest posting, Gareth Collins argues that the role of a great account manager is to make the work betterI’m surprised at how many suits I meet who don’t know their role in the advertising business. The question ‘what does an advertising account manager or director do?’ is frequently met with answers such as project manager, relationship manager, plate spinner or go between … and those are the nice ones.
Success is judged on the ability to manage a process, be strong administratively and get stuff done. And while a good suit needs to do all of these things brilliantly, if these are the traits that define a great suit, then I’m in the wrong job.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
The top seven...most patronising pieces of communication
Sometimes brands have big ideas. Sometimes marketers get so caught up with a grandiose idea that instead of finding engaging ways to sell breakfast cereal, they start to believe their own rhetoric. And sometimes it’s just lazy marketing. Here are my top seven inadvertently patronising pieces of communication…
1) Last night thousands of women gathered in Sydney’s Centennial Park to take part in She Runs the Night, an event created by Nike.
Bondi beach stunt fell flat for me
Sometimes I’m glad I read my trade press – because otherwise I’d have no idea what the enormous great campaign laid out on Bondi Beach this weekend was all about.
It smacks of one of those ideas that looks good on paper but nobody tries out beforehand.
If you’re not aware, take a peek at this footage knocked off from my cameraphone.
That was taken from pretty much the best possible vantage point (apart from a helicopter). From beach level it was even less easy to tell what it was. The person I was with failed to guess until I explained.
In fact, each towel was meant to look like a crime scene-style outline of a body, to symbolise the dangers of skin cancer. If I’d not read about it in B&T last week (and seen the hammy Channel Ten ad), I’d have had no idea.
November 15th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
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Comments
16 Nov 09
9:50 am
This was covered last night on the network news services…often some of the highest rating programmes of the week so the overall reach of this was far greater than you and your friend and whoever else was at Bondi yesterday. The news story was accompanied by some compelling first person accounts of their experiences with skin cancer. There were great aerial as well as ground shots
Tim, I know this section is called ‘Opinion’ and you’re entitled to it, but too often I think you jump to conclusions e.g. “”smacks of one of those ideas that looks good on paper but nobody tries out beforehand”. Surely it wouldn’t have been too difficult to call the Cancer Council and ask them what their objectives were and were they achieved?
I think you’d find their objective was to generate a newsworthy ‘event’ to draw attention to the dangers of tanning. Thats what I took out of the news story.
16 Nov 09
11:28 am
With Rachael here. Although there may have been some residual benefit for punters at Bondi, I’d suggest the main aim here was to provide some interesting visuals for news media, not as a stunt, viral etc. Certainly seems to have achieved it’s aim there as it was all over TV on the weekend.
Good job Cancer Council.
16 Nov 09
2:16 pm
Come on Tim…you’re showing your ad-centricity. I have to agree with Scott and Rachael – this was a clever, creative PR idea that got major mass media coverage on TV and again in the early general news section of the SMH this morning. That even a couple of thousand people on the beach that day might not have understood it is no big deal – especially when the curiosity of one was piqued enough to write about it on his blog! How many more went away and discussed it with their friends, family etc? I would wager hundreds. The word of mouth effect was probably better than if the stunt had been obvious, come to think of it…this is an excellent example of integrated communications, in that respect…creative experiential idea executed at low cost with massive amplification through free press and word of mouth…
16 Nov 09
2:38 pm
.. I saw this on Weather Channel last night. They used it for background footage while reporting the forecast for Sydney’s hot weather to come. Though you couldn’t see the outlines on the towels, I surmised it was a marketing stunt of some kind and wondered how old it might be and if this was stock footage? Not that the avg punter would necessarily have followed the same thought process…
Agree with all the comments above.. any resulting mass media coverage is generally enough to take a modest experiential “stunt” into positive ROI, which it most certainly would have done in this case and therefore achieved its objective. More often than not, these are one small part of a much larger campaign too Tim. The point is that you DID see the TVC, you did understand the point of the stunt, you were able to explain it to somebody and this is the point of integrated communications plans.. when planned and implemented well, they combine in a symbiotic relationship to generate greater awareness and WOM.
Nice idea, well done guys.
16 Nov 09
2:54 pm
I think it was a fantastic promotion but maybe it would have been wise to have had tv, newspaper, radio coverage the day before rather than after.
16 Nov 09
2:56 pm
how do you get PR coverage the day prior to the stunt, when the event itself is the whole reason for the coverage?
16 Nov 09
3:09 pm
Are you serious Darren?! Of course you could get coverage the day before. It’s not about “the stunt”, it’s about the number of deaths from skin cancer. Maybe secure some strong stats for coverage or ask Sydneysiders and the friends and families of those with and have passed from skin cancer to be involved on the day to commemorate those who have died from skin cancer. There are many, many ways that you could secure pre-coverage and if anyone doesn’t think that’s possible than they shouldn’t be in the industry.
16 Nov 09
3:11 pm
I was in Bondi at the weekend; I thought it was a bunch of Poms making a politically incorrect joke about ze Germans….
16 Nov 09
3:31 pm
Agree with Rachael and Scott’s comments. The campaign has met its objectives of raising awareness. We were at Bondi yesterday morning and saw the towels and the signage. We discussed the issue of skin cancer at length with a number of fellow Nipper parents!
17 Nov 09
11:13 am
I watched two news programs on the day of the Cancer Council stunt and saw the coverage on two networks (ABC and one other – I think it was Seven?) and thought it worked really well.
I also thought the body outlines were ghoulish and they certainly have stuck in my mind -and this morning I was extra careful to apply my 30+ liberally.
17 Nov 09
12:52 pm
Rachael makes a very good point.
If the intention of the installation was about driving PR rather than engaging with those on the ground, then it may well have been a success on that basis.
It almost doesn’t matter if it makes sense to the punters who were there, if the overall coverage was good enough.
I didn’t see the original PR release, so I’ve no idea if the main goal was one of PR or experiential or a bit of both.
But I’d still argue that to make both work together would be a better result.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
17 Nov 09
3:45 pm
Ummmm….. Wasn’t this (the footage of the towels at Bondi Beach) simply the filming of the Cancer Council TVC, rather than a publicity stunt? I think its a terrific campaign.
17 Nov 09
5:35 pm
Hi Jules,
No, I shot that myself on Sunday morning. The towels were there for a good couple of days I think.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
17 Nov 09
10:23 pm
Agree with Rachael, Scott’s and Claudia. The Cancer Council conducted what seemed to be a very successful skin cancer awareness campaign laying 1700 towels on Bondi Beach to symbolise skin cancer related deaths that occur in Australia annually. Raising the public’s awareness of the dangers of tanning using the iconic Bondi Beach resulted in a worthy message for the Australian public. The campaign readily met its objectives of raising awareness for at least the 340 Bondi Nippers and their parents / carers while they conducted their activities adjacent to the Cancer Council’s towels.
18 Nov 09
12:53 pm
Anyone know if there was an agency involved with this, or was it all done in house? Either way, kudos deserved.
19 Nov 09
4:13 pm
Euro RSSCG Sydney did it. Well done Lex.