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Opinion | Features
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Streaming won't kill TV, but it's going to make media buying harder
The new range of video streaming services will not kill TV, but will make it harder still for advertisers to reach mass audiences argues Paul Brooks.
In a world where everything changes, nothing changes! I remember a presentation back in 1998 with the opening slide posing the inflammatory statement “The death of Television.”
I cannot recall how many times I have been asked or presented that question in the last 17 years, but what I can recall is only last week I was asked it again by a ‘media expert’. -
Why is commercial radio the last bastion of middle aged white men?
Australian radio networks need to start embracing diversity to stay in touch with the changes in society argues Sunil Badami.
When I first started broadcasting on ABC Local Radio a year or two ago, a listener texted in to say ‘how great it is to hear an ethnic face on the radio.’ I joked that I didn’t realise “our” faces made any noise, though I supposed with “our” mouths open, they made as much noise as anyone else’s.
But for someone like me, born and raised in Australia to Indian parents, it hasn’t always been easy to see or hear faces or voices like mine in the media, especially commercial media. -
Credit where it's due: Nick Baker
Nick Baker has shouldered the responsibility of marketing Australia as a holiday destination not just to the rest of the world, but to Aussies as well. As he finishes his seven year stint at Tourism Australia tomorrow, we give Credit Where it's Due to his efforts.
Imagine coming into a new job as a marketer where the last campaign has just been described as a "rolled gold disaster" by the Prime Minister.
This is what faced Nick Baker when he came into the big chair of chief marketing officer at Tourism Australia, inheriting the infamous 2006 'So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?' campaign that did more for Lara Bingle's career than Australia's image.
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Think you can put social media in a box? Taylor Swift proves otherwise
The Prime Minister might be prepared to shake off social media as 'electonic graffiti', but the traditional media impressions gained by the Taylor Swift Hottest 100 campaign tell a different story, argues Patrick Baume.
The P.M. again called social media ‘electronic graffiti’ over the weekend, after he faced extensive social and traditional media criticism over his decision to award Prince Philip an Australian knighthood, on the same day Triple J shot down the #Tay4Hottest100 campaign. So if both ends of the cultural spectrum are saying it’s ok to ‘ignore’ social media, there must be some truth there, right? -
New gadgets and gimmicks to keep us watching sport live on TV
TV networks are investing in new gadgets, camera angles and social media devices to keep viewers hooked on live sport. In this cross-posting from The Conversation Marc C-Scott of Victoria University looks at what's coming next.
Australia’s love of sport appears to be more from in front of a TV screen than actually attending any event live, and that could be on the increase given some of the new technology heading our way.
Samsung has confirmed that its new Sports Live app – on display at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show in the US – will be available in Australia later this year, but for which sport codes has still to be announced. -
Sustainable competitive advantage: the fallacy
The speed of change in business means the notion of businesses having a sustainable competitive advantage is no longer a reality argues Dan Monheit. Sustainable competitive advantage. What a beautiful, romantic, delusional idea. An idea that somehow still gets plenty of airplay. -
Content marketing predictions: Why I’ve ditched my crystal ball
Last year Cameron Upshall made a series of bold predictions on how the content marketing world in Australia would develop in 2014. Here he bemoans the lack of change.
Australian brands had a fair old crack at content marketing in 2014. But unfortunately the market didn’t mature as fast as I thought it would in 12 months. This means the content marketing milestones I predicted we would reach by now are still a fair way off.
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Why #tay4hottest100 is good for Triple J
The campaign to get a Taylor Swift song into the Triple J Hottest 100 has created a lot of column inches in recent days. Matt Saraceni argues the controversy is good for the station and how it should capitalise on #tay4hottest100 come Australia Day.
If Taylor Swift places Number one in the Triple J Hottest 100 -- I will eat a hat.
Any hat you care to name I will consume it. There is absolutely no way that will happen. I’d bet a nudie run on it. In fact I am.
However, “Shake it Off” appearing in the countdown will be one of the best things to happen to Triple J and its audiences and everybody should be hoping it happens. Let me explain….
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A first look at Stan
Yesterday streaming service Stan invited some members of the public to have a first look at the new platform. Mumbrella editor Alex Hayes looks at what it has to offer.
Of all the streaming services being talked about at the moment (and yes there are a lot - Presto, Netflix, Quickflix etc.) the one that's most intrigued me is the joint offering from Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media - Stan.
So when I got the invite to have a preview of it which went out to the public yesterday, I leapt at it. However, my initial impressions were not good. -
Suffering from a talent crisis? Get off your backside and grow your own
The industry constantly bemoans a lack of skilled new employees. In this opinion piece David Ponce de Leon argues they need to do more to help nurture the talent.
The skills shortage issue continues to be a challenge for different sectors of the communications industry and at the dawn of a new year the topic seems to be heating up again.
Everybody is talking about how hard is to find the right talent or the right skills for their own particular business needs. It’s almost as if a good old whine about the skills shortage ‘crisis’ has become the norm. -
Never tell anyone outside the agency what you're thinking
It might not be the mafia, but agencies require a cone of silence about their internal workings to the outside world argues Eaon Pritchard.
At the beginning of 'The Godfather', Santino 'Sonny' Corleone is in a clandestine meeting with Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo in which they discuss a potential partnership in Sollozzo's nascent heroin business. -
Virtual Reality: changing games or game changer?
Virtual reality technology is becoming a hot property. Here Tyler Greerasks whether it will really have a reach beyond video games.
One day back in the early 90s I switched off the Sega Mega Drive and got myself along to an exhibition touting itself as the new frontier in gaming: virtual reality. Strapped in to a cumbersome, heavy piece of machinery I played Dactyl Nightmare, a dreadful Cubist nightmare which left me disoriented, ill, and disappointed for the state of the machine-human relationship.
Not fast enough could I return to Sonic the Hedgehog and my new-found appreciation for the human-couch relationship. -
Social influencers and the law - where does it stand on disclosure?
After Australia Post was found to be paying for social media endorsements which were not disclosed and with more brands looking to social media influencers in their campaigns, Stephen von Muenster looks at where the law currently stands on the issue.
It is evident from a casual gaze through social pages or comms industry commentary that brands are turning to ‘social influencers’ to promote their products through online social channels with the intent of influencing consumer purchasing decisions in favour of their products. -
The ten ideas from CES I wish I'd had
With over 3,600 exhibitors and hundreds of speakers there were a lot of new ideas and inventions at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year. Here Jonathan Pease distills them to the ten he's most jealous of.
B BOOTH – They call themselves ‘The Talent Discovery Company’ and the concept is simple. Imagine a casting booth where anyone can audition for anything they like – modelling, acting, reality TV, singing, etc. -
It's just social media management, right?
While many people don't know the difference between a social media manager and community managers Venessa Paech argues defining which one you need for a role is vital for success.
I’ve led social media and community management for companies, hired, and worked with many social media managers and community managers.
Let’s be honest – the two roles are often confused. The number of blog posts trying to explain the difference should be a tip-off.
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Car in lake ad banned by ad watchdog
An ad featuring two women who drive their car into a lake because they’re distracted has been banned by the Advertising Standards Board.
The ad features the women ignoring their GPS while they chat, stopping to talk to a jogger and then driving into the dam.
The ad promotes free breakdown recovery for people who use Ultratune.
A complaint to the ASB stated:
“Our family lost 5 members in a accident which they drowned. They were driving a silver ford falcon. As you can understand this is upsetting to us and other people as well who have suffered this kind of tragedy.”
“The Board noted the complainant’s concern that the advertisement portrays an example of poor driving behavior and makes light of a serious matter.
“The Board noted that the intention of the advertisement is to set a scene that is realistic and familiar to drivers across Australia. The Board considered however that the behaviour of the girls trivializes the fact that they are not paying attention to the road and one of the girls is heard to say “not again!” This adds strength to the argument that the girls have possibly been involved in a similar incident and have not learnt or changed their behavior as a consequence of their actions.
“The Board considered that there is a very serious and genuine community concern regarding road safety and issues surrounding negligent driving and that the behavior of the woman driving was contrary to community standards on safe driving.”
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Comments
27 Jun 12
12:14 pm
Once again, people take things literally.
The Idea is Simple: If you get into trouble, Ultra Tune is there to help you.
Sure the execution is a bit eccentric, and the use of girls being distracted by a ‘cute’ guy can be seen as sexist even, it is just an example of a situation…
If we continue to dissect every single detail, and base all forms of advertising based on our personal experiences (-ve or +ve), we’ll always restrict ourselves.
The term “not again” need not necessarily be related to the exact situation. It is subjective. One could take it as “not again”, as in we’re in trouble (different situation), or “not again”, letting another cute guy get the better of ‘us’.
Help the industry. Allow creatives freedom that emphasizes the intended message.
After all, if it’s an advertisement it’s a form of ‘play’, just like movies…
Cheers,
Daniel-Jacob Santhou
27 Jun 12
12:33 pm
Are we seriously living in a world where every ad created has to take into consideration every single individual’s personal experiences in life? Whilst I am in no way making light of the complainants experience, I do find it distressing that it is this what prompted the ad to be reviewed, rather than its questionable sexist undertones. Even with that in mind, I would say the ad does not breach any standards.
People in this country are wowsers.
27 Jun 12
12:33 pm
Oh dear God…..well done Nanny State!
Let’s ban everything because one person complains, then we’ll have to ban everything. So someone lost relatives in a car crash – sorry to hear that, but tough. That doesn’t give them the right to determine television content for Australia on the basis of their own emotional state.
I’m sure someone lost a relative to a chicken burger too, or a peanut product – do we ban ads for those too?
Does “the Board” ban anything that it deems as not good behaviour?
And by whose standards?
Who authorised them to have such power? We, the people, did not.
So this bunch of unelected simpletons known as the ASB have appointed themselves as the arbiters of comedy, the arbiters of safety, the arbiters of taste – in effect, the censors over of Australian television culture.
For Christ’s sake, it’s time we let the market decide, and stopped permitting authorities to behave like it’s East Germany in the 1970’s.
If the ad offends everyone, then Ultratune will change their tune. It doesn’t
You can lay bets that the key complainants were set up by competitors to censor what is a good, entertaining and effective bit of TV advertising.
27 Jun 12
12:43 pm
Banned why?
talk about a Nanny state.
I think the Advertising Standards Board are getting a bit too precious.
27 Jun 12
1:09 pm
If they’ve banned that due to the above complaints why have they not pulled Greys Anatomy off air??
27 Jun 12
1:28 pm
Nanny state, wowsers, all true althoguh I am sympathetic to the family who’s family members drowned in a silver falcon. However, Blind Freddy could see the potential to have it pulled coming (but good to see both agency and client accept the risk, if indeed they recognised it). Frankly, I am surprised it lasted as long as it did. The fact is, they could have done it differently and better. Now they have to.
27 Jun 12
1:30 pm
“The Board considered that there is a very serious and genuine community concern regarding road safety and issues surrounding negligent driving” – ummmm of course there is, and this is the type of driving that people should be aware they commit! pffft
27 Jun 12
1:31 pm
Mike, really , how about a sense of perspective on your Outrage? As regular readers would know the ASB gets plenty of complaints (of varying degrees of lunacy) and generally rules on them with a level head.
I personally think this ad is borderline at best. If the point is, as the earlier commenter said, ‘If you get into trouble, Ultra Tune is there to help you’, surely there’s a better way to illustrate that than implying that dumb girls don’t really need to worry about watching the road even though they’ve had previous accidents. If not actively encouraging unsafe driving, it’s certainly dismissing it as unimportant.
Lastly, how about presenting an argument rather than a catchphrase? Anyone shouting ‘nanny state’ automatically loses any debate in my book and quite aside from that should get back in their time capsule and return to 1996 along with Political Correctness Gone Mad.
27 Jun 12
1:33 pm
It makes light of the situation.. so, if both girls went through the window decapitated they might allow it.
27 Jun 12
2:40 pm
I do have to agree with Red Bean.
By stating the obvious, we too get involved in the situation of name-calling or degrading others comments or opinions.
Unfortunately, the ASB was set up for a reason. I’ve read through their guidelines to justify their actions. We live in a people-centric world made up of ‘consumers’.
I think the context of Advertising needs to be clear. There are no bad Ads. Only bad people
Cheers,
Daniel-Jacob Santhou
28 Jun 12
1:20 pm
They should have banned it – Because it’s a terrible ad.
29 Jun 12
9:06 am
This is an age old problem for watch dogs. Supposed to allow pink blobs, but exclude green ones, the watch dog will naturally allow pink blobs with some green and even green blobs, if they show a lot of pink.
The problem occurs after years of allowing such blobs, without ever seeing a blob with too much green or a not enough pink. The watch dog begins to feel more like a door attendant than a watch dog, boredom sets in, and worse than this, a feeling of impotence.
Pretty soon, the watchdog begins to look for too much green by disallowing anything it may consider pinkish green or greenish pink . In what seems like no time at all, the watchdog bans an inoffensive blob for its lack of pink.
29 Jun 12
10:31 am
The agency who this ad would have known being banned was on the cards. Dangerous driving is never allowed in Australian advertising. They’ve wasted their client’s money. They must be punished.
29 Jun 12
10:35 am
Could Richard Moss please include a link to an illustration of his pinkish-greenish theory — i”m fuckin confused!
29 Jun 12
10:43 pm
@Peter Rush.
You should never fuck confused, it leads to PE and Impotency.
30 Jun 12
11:23 am
If one has to get crap ads removed from TV by claiming that 5 relatives drowned in a silver Ford Falcon, then so be it.
I doubt the claim of the complainant, as much as I smell the oily rag of PR “controversy” for an otherwise forgettable campaign.