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Opinion | Features
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The Scam Lions? Count me out
Mumbrella will no longer attend the Cannes Lions. Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes argues that the scam in Cannes has become too much...
I love everything about the Cannes Lions experience. So I'm sad that I'm probably never going to get to do it again. -
Brandis' leaked copyright proposals are unrealistic
In this cross-posting from The Conversation Nicolas Suzor and Alex Button-Sloan from the Queensland University of Technology look at why the leaked plans to change copyright laws could lead to a lot of unintended problems for consumers.
The Australian Government has proposed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) monitor and punish Australians who download and infringe copyright.
In a discussion paper circulated by Attorney-General George Brandis, and leaked by Crikey last Friday, the government proposes a sweeping change to Australian copyright law. If implemented, it would force ISPs to take steps to prevent Australians from infringing copyright. -
Why Nine's investment in Quickflix makes it tougher for Netflix to launch in Australia
Last week Nine Entertainment Co made a $1m investment to buy eight per cent of streaming company Quickflix, whilst preparing to launch its own operation StreamCo. Here Nic Christensen looks at the underlying reasons for Nine buying into a rival.
In the world of video streaming last week's investment by Nine into rival Quickflix did not go unnoticed, but as always with these deals the devil is in the detail. In this case, a series of warrants and covenants that came with this batch of shares.
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With awards the more you get, the more you get
Following recent controversy surrounding entries to the Cannes Lions awards Eaon Pritchard argues until we have a better way to evaluate the merits of agencies than awards all agencies will be highly incentivised to do whatever it takes to win .
Advertising's outcomes are notoriously hard to measure. Which is why in advertising agencies, we love to measure outputs instead. -
Why aren't more media companies offering job sharing to get experience back in the door?
With the media industry churn and talent drain a constant issue Lucy Formosa Morgan asks why more companies aren't open to job sharing.
There’s rarely a shortage of applicants for coordinator positions however when it comes to recruiting experienced middle / senior level people, the talent bank seems to dry up. Agencies can struggle to fill vacancies for months or end up having to recruit from overseas. So if we have plenty of juniors that we’re devoting time and money to training up, where are they going? Why is there such a shortage of good talent out there? -
Marketers are the ones whose reputations are most at risk if they are complicit in scam advertising
With questions being raised over the integrity of some awards entries in recent weeks, former creative director Darren Woolley says scam can be as damaging for marketers as the agencies involved.
Scam awards entries have come to industry attention again, following the most recent Cannes Lions Awards. In the process, several high profile advertisers have been associated with their agencies’ entries. But what are the implications for the advertiser?
It is a standard response that advertisers are not really interested in creative awards. But the fact is that marketers are human and those that have healthy and close working relationships with their agencies actually enjoy seeing them being recognised, especially for work they may have created together. -
Terry Savage defends debated Cannes Lions entries saying 'Super Bowl ads run once'
In a Q&A conducted by email, Terry Savage, chairman of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, defends the integrity of the competition and answers questions around scam ads following an investigation by Mumbrella into a series of ads from Australia entered into the Press category which ran just once in regional media.
What is your definition of scam?
"We require the work to have been approved by the client and to have used paid Media in the execution, if there is a query we get validation via the agency the client and the Media schedule that the work has run and complied within our entry rules. In the case of self promotion and NGO that is not the case." -
Australian Women's Weekly editor on how its latest cover has changed industry attitudes
The cover of the July edition of the Australian Women's Weekly features the image of ultra-marathon bushfire survivor Turia Pitt, a move which surprised many in an industry driven by image. Editor-in-chief Helen McCabe spoke to Miranda Ward about how the cover came about, and its effect not only on the public, but also the beauty and fashion industries as we.
The July cover of the Australian's Women's Weekly has done more to market "what the heart and soul of the magazine is" than anything else the magazine's editor-in-chief Helen McCabe has done in her five years at the helm.
Speaking to Mumbrella about the July edition which featured Turia Pitt, a survivor of the bushfire that swept through an ultra-marathon in Western Australia's Kimberly region in September 2011, McCabe said the cover is "a really strong signal to market that this magazine is committed to Australian women, quality stories, independent journalism, long-form story telling and quality writing. -
If you don't want to enter real work into awards, then fuck off and be an artist
In this guest post, awards jury veteran Matt Batten, a former ECD of Wunderman Australia, argues that the practice of scam advertising - raised by Mumbrella in recent days - hurts the whole industry.
Reading from 10,553 miles away – that's 16,983km in the metric – I'd like to commend you on your dogged determination to find answers to the burning questions surrounding some of Australia's most intriguing Cannes Lions winners this year.
Some say that this is the way of the world (at least our small part in it) and that creativity should be let free upon the award shows regardless of whether or not it was a legitimate response to a brief or a proactive project to help solve a genuine business problem for a real client – or a made-up ad for a brand that had no idea of its existence. -
Does culture really eat strategy for breakfast?
Good startups often point to their culture as a driver of their success, but Eaon Pritchard asks whether that culture can be derived without a clear strategy?
Culture, in an organisational sense, is usually interpreted as the collective behaviours, attitudes and beliefs that — when mixed together — create a particular set of norms within said organisation.
Obviously there can be ‘good’ culture and ‘bad’ culture. -
Five things Wicked Campers needs to do online right now
Wicked Campers has been in the midst of a media controversy over the last few days. Sebastian Vasta takes a look at how the brand could better manage the online and media crisis.
The latest cry to end Wicked Campers’ misogynist toilet humour is certainly not the first time the budget backpacker van company has been in trouble.
But it’s certainly the loudest the online outrage has ever been. -
Cut here: Reshaping the ABC
After the ABC unveiled its first round of cuts after having its funding cut in the last budget Ben Goldsmith of the Queensland University of Technology looks at how it might look in the future, in this cross-posting from The Conversation.
Monday’s announcement that the ABC will make 80 positions redundant is just the latest move in an enforced process of change to the public service broadcaster. It has a long way yet to run.
The announcement finally put the lie to Tony Abbott’s election eve pledge, live on national television, that there would be “no cuts to the ABC or SBS”. In concert with other recent announcements, it seems clear that public broadcasting – and in particular the ABC – is squarely in the government’s sights. -
Lost dog - can you help us find him?
Adland is an industry that likes to give back. Today, we're asking you to help us find this dog.
You can find out more about Windblown Dog's history below: -
The future of Facebook is forensic
Marketers should stop using Facebook as a mass reach tool and start thinking about conversions not conversations argues Jack Smyth. Forget conversations – the future of Facebook is forensic By now you’re probably sick of the same articles recycling the same Facebook statistics. Over 12 million Australian users, spending on average 8.5 hours every week and so on. We all know Facebook offers massive reach. -
Two stats about Netflix that should scare Foxtel and Quickflix
With US streaming site Netflix poised to enter the Australian market next year Andrianes Pinantoan from Pocketbook crunched some numbers to see try and ascertain what the local pay-TV market already looks like now.
Netflix is set to enter the Australian market, but that doesn’t stop a few enterprising Australians from accessing it now. Actually, it’s more than a few.
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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.