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Opinion | Features
How bosses can build trust by baring themselves to staff
In this guest post, Simon Rutherford, CEO of Slingshot Media, argues that bosses should be vulnerable in front of their staff.
Winston Churchill once said: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Fake it til you make it...as a radio newsreader
In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Emily Hoskins from ARN tells us how to do her job.
What does a radio newsreader actually do?
A radio newsreader has to be switched on from the moment they sit at their desk. At the Australian Radio Network each journalist writes, researches, edits and reads their own news bulletins under tight deadlines – every 30 minutes during the breakfast shift and every hour after 9am.
Keith Reinhard on freedom to fail, winning back Maccas and how agencies can survive
In an exclusive interview in Cannes today, advertising icon Keith Reinhard, one of the founding fathers of what is now DDB Worldwide, talked to Mumbrella’s Robin Hicks about freedom from fear, his favourite ads of all time, winning back McDonald’s and why the most important thing in advertising is passion.Savage counsel - little white lies
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas. This week, he talks about when it’s okay to lie to clients.
Hi Chris,
I often find myself telling little white lies at work – I tell people on the phone that I don’t want to speak to I’m about to duck into meetings. I told my colleague her new haircut was great when really it wasn’t and I praised someone’s work when actually it was kind of shit. After each of these occasions, I felt pretty terrible and wonder if you could tell me how can I speak with candour in the future – for my sake and others.
How to build a culture
How important is a company’s culture and how do you ensure you are breeding a good one? Matt Smith investigates, in a piece that first appeared in Encore.When production companies Cordell Jigsaw and Zapruder’s Other Films merged early last year, bringing the staff together within the walls of the Zapruder building proved to be something of a challenge. While the two companies weren’t strangers to each other due to six months of talks and negotiations, working together on a full-time basis was a different story.
Q&A Damian Keogh
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Val Morgan CEO Damian Keogh reveals his potential alternate career.
Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
I’d say Kerry Stokes, slightly ahead of Harold Mitchell and Kim Williams. He controls the entity with the largest revenue across free-to-air, online, magazines and newspapers. On pure size alone, his influence and leverage over advertisers, media agencies and consumers is unmatched. Harold is still the king in media, slightly ahead of John Steedman, but Henry Tajer and Leigh Terry are the heirs apparent. Kim Williams controls News and that’s a big base to work from.
If a violent game is okay, then so is using a violent ad to promote it
An ad for video game Dead Island Riptide was banned by the ad watchdog. James Whitehead of online entertainment publisher IGN argues that it was the wrong call.A fortnight ago, it emerged that the Ad Standards Board had banned a television commercial for the video game Dead Island: Riptide, due to its depiction of violence – specifically suicide.
Why content makers are leaving our shores
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Craig Anderson says there simply isn’t enough opportunity for content makers in Australia, especially for those making comedy.Last year I had multiple meetings with production companies in Australia and discovered that apart from the odd commercial campaign, there’s no proliferation of paying platforms for comedy. From my own experience there’s iView, which will buy content once it’s already been made (though I live in hope that it will one day be granted the financial power to commission content). I’ve also had the odd informal commission from the SMH iPad consisting of two narrative series and a comical review show. But none of these endeavours were financially viable.
Managing your management style
In an article that first appeared in Encore, Stephanie Brown says the advertising industry often leaves people ill-equipped when it comes to managing staff, especially when they’re promoted into management roles.Managing people is hard. In fact, I actually think it’s the hardest job in the world. With no disrespect intended, I often joke that if my job didn’t involve other people to manage, it would be a walk in the park. I could get about my day’s work in a nice, linear fashion, happily checking off my to-do list as I go. I’m a process-orientated person. I get a kick out of getting things done.
Why the Facebook chase is making brands treat consumers like morons
You know how we look back at quaintly patronising ads from the 1950s and wonder what on earth the advertisers were thinking?
I’ve got a feeling that in a few years time, we’ll be looking at the behaviour of big brands on Facebook the same way.
An entire generation of marketers – or at least a sizeable proportion of them – have lost their minds.
So many have become so obsessed with generating user interactions at all costs, that all thoughts about overall brand perceptions or long term marketing goals have vanished. All that counts now, is generating likes and comments at all costs.
Blog this!
Paid content, sponsored posts and brand ambassadorships – in theory, today’s blogger can be just as valuable to brands as mainstream media. But does blogger outreach actually work? In an article that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.“I get approaches from PR companies constantly,” says blogger and author Kerri Sackville, with more than a hint of exasperation. “I have never done a sponsored blog, on my own site, but that doesn’t stop them from asking.”
McLennan right man for job
It’s all change at troubled broadcaster Channel Ten with new directions, new executives and a brand new CEO. Managing director of Adstream Peter Miller says Hamish McLennan is the right man for the job, in an article that first appeared in Encore.I am a bit of a schmuck when it comes to movies. I love romantic comedies. My favourite is One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney.
Q&A with Richard Herring
In a piece that first appeared in Encore, CEO of APN Outdoor Richard Herring talks media.Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
I don’t know if there is one person in particular. The fragmentation of traditional media and new entrants has made it a more level playing field with regards to major influencers. As was demonstrated with the recent media reform recommendations, together, the broader media community still has a very influential and powerful voice.
What one medium could you not live without?
Outdoor – clean, entertaining, evocative and informative.
Q&A with screenwriter Craig Pearce
Craig Pearce, screenwriter for The Great Gatsby, spoke to Encore about working with Baz and writing for 3D.
How did you get into script writing?
I always loved stories and acting and dressing up and being anything but myself and I never realised that was not something other people did. After leaving high school, I did a three year acting course at NIDA but always thought I would one day write. Baz was a good friend and he had a theatre company. He wanted to extend a 20 minute version of Strictly Ballroom. We got it to 45 minutes then he was approached by producers to turn it into a feature film. I started helping him out on the film while they were looking for a real writer but eventually Baz had to go to the producers and say, “There’s this guy who’s my best friend and he is a really good writer”. To the producers’ credit, they believed in Baz so we had two weeks to re-write it.
Savage Counsel - winning pitches
Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas in his weekly Encore advice column.
Hi Chris,
It seems we have to increasingly pitch for everything. Even with existing clients, we’re now expected to pitch ideas, competitively, for every project. We’re winning about two out of five of what we’re pitching for. It’s a huge burden on our time and budgets. What is your secret to winning a pitch presentation? How do we make sure our presentations are a knockout?
Catch Of The Day boss Gabby Leibovich: Click Frenzy collapse was positive for the industry
Gabby Leibovich: “They didn’t have any great deals.”
Catch Of The Day founder Gabby Leibovich has said that rival online retail firm Click Frenzy “was not ready” for the volume of people who surged on to the site last night, causing it to crash.
Despite thousands of Australians missing out on the mega-sale – which offered up to 90% savings on products from 180 retailers – Leibovich said the collapse was “positive” for the retail industry, because it showed strong consumer demand.
He told Mumbrella: “First, I’d like to credit Click Frenzy for an amazing PR campaign. Everyone got behind it. But in the end the volumes of traffic were beyond their control. They just weren’t ready for it.”
Catch Of The Day sites, which include daily deals platform Scoopon, regularly crash, Leibovich said – “which is always positive”.
“We are coming up to our seventh Christmas and our sites have crashed many times in the past – and it keeps surprising us. But it means people have been talking about your deals and there’s strong demand – which is always positive.”
Leibovich added that Click Frenzy had failed on two counts yesterday. ”Unfortunately, the service was not there. And frankly, they didn’t have any great deals,” he said.
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Comments
21 Nov 12
11:11 am
Gabby makes a valid point, however, the sale isn’t over yet and the site appears to be working at the moment. The issue many will have is that the products on the sites were of limited appeal and the discounts not that great.
21 Nov 12
11:50 am
While there’s no doubt that this failed experiment demonstrates the demand for online purchasing in Australia, I think Leibovich pinpoints the major problem with this sale, and has inadvertently shown the issue with Australian retailers overall- they’re still not taking online seriously. A quick scan on the Facebook page shows that many people are underwhelmed by the lack of products on offer, the minimal discounts provided or the fact many products are actually cheaper in store or on overseas online sites. The amazing thing about the American sales is that nearly everything is discounted massively, not just the excess stock that needs to be sold.
For many people this will just seal their commitment to overseas sites. I imagine many people will be blaming Click Frenzy, as they should, but had the site actually worked I imagine most people would still be complaining to the retailers for the crap they were dishing out.
21 Nov 12
11:57 am
If Click Frenzy isn’t a wake up call to Australian bricks and mortar retail then they are truly doomed. I get that margins in online are not as lucrative as the current business model. But Gerry, DJs Board of Directors etc etc look at the state of retail businesses in music and books. Effectively dead or dying. That is your future.
Triple A brands will go independent in retail. They won’t need department stores because their main revenue source will be their own online store. So retail becomes about experience and customer service. They will be happy to recruit you into their online sales channel as margin erosion will be inverted. It will be MORE profitable to sell to you online.
Gabby is right. Click Frenzy has shown demand even though it has been an utter disaster for participants from a PR perspective.
Department stores, it is time to diversify your investments. Leverage your cash cows and build brands.
Alternatively, I hear mining is a lucrative business and more in line with your perceptions of retail being about infrastructure.
21 Nov 12
12:20 pm
I agree with Bem, I think the success of this event shows that Australians are clearly looking and are increasingly ready to shop online for better deals.
However, I really feel that this event was a missed opportunity for everyone involved. It is as has been said, a dissappointment that the retailers involved didn’t take the sale more seriously – it was an opportunity for, at least once a year, Australian retailers to compete globally with their prices.
Most of the prices I witnessed (in the Tech section because that is my interest) – were still grossly inflated from what I can not only get online from overseas, but more depressingly, what I can also get online from smaller independent – online only – retailers. (umart.com.au for example still beats all the prices I saw in the Technology section on a daily – no sale – basis)..
It is further evidence of how far behind Australian retaillers are in the online market – and how many approached this online sale opportunity as they would any other sales event, without really grasping the potential they could have embraced.
In the end, it does them no favours. Consumers will think “if this is all they can offer in a one-time, 24 hour only sale – why would I ever bother to shop online with them normally” – and it will reinforce behaviour to buy from international and independent businesses.
21 Nov 12
12:48 pm
I could not disagree more with you Gabby.
This morning I found myself embarrassed to be an Aussie thanks to the likes of David Jones and the Click Frenzy mob (is mob ever a truer description?).
To fail so epically, and publicly, in the face of a great online opportunity is not just a missed retail chance. It is a missed chance to drive online behaviour and, perhaps most importantly, a missed opportunity to demonstrate that Australian retailers are evolving in the digital space and starting to understand what needs to be done to compete.
Instead it was pathetic.
Pathetic to be so poorly scenario planned and so amateurish in infrastructure. It makes us a laughing stock (I have had two emails from O/S teasing us for being ‘down under and backward’.
It has been clear to any person of reasonable intellect that it is not we the consumer that hold Australia’s digital progress back. I truly believe that the Australian consumer is as digitally advanced as our UK / US / European counterparts.
It is the failure of the retailers, and to an extent the telcos, to match our understanding, appreciation and appetite for digital. That is holds us back and holds us up for all to see as digital dunces.
21 Nov 12
12:50 pm
Fantastic PR effort let down by piss-poor execution by the IT geeks. And it really is a major stretch to claim it as “positive” for the industry. Today’s media and online posts have been scathing. Gotta feel sorry for the retailers.
21 Nov 12
1:04 pm
You have got to be joking. I guess it’s always interesting to put a positive spin on a failure, however I believe that consumer confidence in this sort of thing has been reduced to rubble in a few short hours. With the impressive amount of PR generated that Gabby talks of, there is now a huge amount of backlash & let down and I don’t think consumers will forgive or be anywhere near as interested in such fads down the line.
21 Nov 12
1:06 pm
…and of course Hezi would make those observations! Where’s the COTD link in the comment??
21 Nov 12
1:10 pm
I find the experience of online shopping better than that at a department store.
Online: I can narrow down my search to e.g. 36 waste jeans, long legged, slim fit, black = results of purely that. I can then narrow it down by brand, or even price. i find exactly what I am looking for, quickly. I make a purchase.
At the department store: Took me ages to get here, parking was a nightmare… Walk in, get lost, eventually find the floor I need. Look at a set of jeans in one fashion brands section (cant find the right leg size) go to another brands section, find the leg size, but not the waste size. Look for an assistant, can’t find one – leave.
I know and trust Diesel Jeans – I can just go to their site and buy them – easy!
Do we need middle men retailers anymore? Lets face it, most large middle men retailers have boards or owners who put one thing ahead of everything else = profit.
The digital revolution is slowly killing off greedy third parties – good riddance!
21 Nov 12
1:44 pm
“showed strong consumer demand” of course it did…with up to 90% off it would!!!
What a dick of a comment.
In the mean time lets keep saving money and going on line, while people lose their jobs… anyone ever think that maybe it costs more in a shop as its keeping someone in a job?
21 Nov 12
1:47 pm
Load balancing is a phrase that both Click Frenzy and the brands which supported it need to understand. Although it shows how many people rushed online to check out the sales, the negative PR may outweigh the overall PR since nobody managed to access the sites…
Better preparation next time guys and make sure your web development business is under the pump today!!!
21 Nov 12
1:59 pm
”Unfortunately, the service was not there. And frankly, they didn’t have any great deals,” he said.
Yes he keeps saying the events of last night were “positive”.
Go figure.
21 Nov 12
2:16 pm
make no mistake, this remark to Mumbrella was just a PR stunt to give him a platform to shit on Clickfrenzy, which is a huge threat to the dodgy-deal-a-day businesses like his
it’s all in the last line, people
21 Nov 12
2:27 pm
I agree with Gaby that it shows that Aussie shoppers will buy online locally when given the inspiration and opportunity. Our customers who were involved in Click Frenzy reported near record sales, many first-time shoppers and sales continuing all through the night – so a positive experience for them. It’s hard to predict volumes and ensure you have the infrastructure in place, so well done to Click Frenzy for getting out there. I’m sure they will learn and evolve this into a new date on the retail marketing calendar.
21 Nov 12
3:45 pm
yeah totally agree Neil, it’s a shame that Mumbrella go down this tabloid route of free advertising.
21 Nov 12
3:55 pm
The fossil crew retailers in Australia went through traditional channels to whip up a PR storm about “click frenzy” and couldn’t execute, because they evidently do not understand the online retail space.
To be honest, I don’t think they understood the bricks and mortar space, however us Aussies didn’t have a choice, there was no competition and back when the dollar was low / there was no interweb we didn’t look overseas. Gerry, Myer, DJ and the others were miking us for all it was worth, filling their bags full of loot.
This has came to an end.
Have a look at a Facebook page where other peoples comments are positive ones:
http://www.facebook.com/zappos
This is an example of a highly successful online business. The people at the helm of this business, whilst they do want to make a buck, they also want to please the customer with bells on. Here in Australia the fossil crew still want to fleece consumers and until they stop wishing to do so, they will continue to fall over.
Power to the people – choice has never been so good.
21 Nov 12
7:01 pm
Let’s not forget All Publicity is Good Publicity. Yes there was a fail for 3 hours out of 24 hours but next year every one will know who they are. All they have to say is they’ve got the techie stuff sorted and they’ll do even better. The PR was amazing.
I had a vendor page but because I wasn’t a “Featured” Vendor (= I didn’t pay $30,000) you wouldn’t know I had my course buried down there amongst the hair dryers and shavers. It looked as though the Health section only had 5 vendors but there was actually more choice than it appeared.
The best traffic I got out of it was actually before 7pm when all vendors were displayed equally in a grid.
I’ll continue to watch sales over the next week to see if it was worth my money.
21 Nov 12
7:04 pm
Let’s flip this spin on its head.
An online site melts down on day one and fails to deliver yet it is “a positive for the industry”.
Can you imagine the hue and cry from the digerati if a bricks and mortar store opened its doors, and for unforseen reasons couldn’t let all the shoppers in the door, or ran out of stock, or their credit card system or cash registers didn’t work. I’m sure the term ‘epic fail’ would be used many times.
No matter which way you look at this, the fact they could get their shit together with their website and servers is in no way a positive for the industry (the ‘demand’ was insanely deep price discounting), and I suggest the appropriate logos be posted on Wikipedia under the entry Epic Fail as that is what they are.
21 Nov 12
7:05 pm
*** couldn’t ***
21 Nov 12
9:45 pm
What amuses me most is that the RETAILERS and click frenzy organisers thought that they could beat international competition with the half cooked deals they had – what a joke.
22 Nov 12
9:04 am
A new shopping centre is designed. But when it is built, someone forgets to add in some doors. At launch, some retailers manage to punch a few holes in the building, and a few customers follow and purchase some stuff. However most people are left raging outside.
“But look,” say the owners of the building, “all these people want to get into our shopping centre, look at the demand, what a success!.”
You are kidding me.
22 Nov 12
12:34 pm
This is not PR – this is spin at it’s worst or Gabby lives in some parallel universe where failure is considered success.
Retail 101
1) Provide goods & services people want X FAIL
2) Make sure goods & services are available X FAIL
3) Provide sufficient access to goods and services X FAIL
4) If advertising a sale offer real discounts X FAIL
Thank goodness I registered a fake email address to click onto a fake website with fake bargains.
I just hope the businesses suckered into the scam are paying him with fake cheques or a fake credit card.
The more interesting story would be
1) how he suckered businesses into the scam
2) why the media swallowed they hype completely, running it as news
24 Nov 12
2:58 am
DaveReporter: ‘this is spin at it’s worst or Gabby lives in some parallel universe where failure is considered success.”
Gabby’s comments are based on his own experience and success. His comments could not be more true. I am almost certain you will be logging on next year even if its just to see if it “fails” again.
We all learn from mistakes. No doubt next year we will see better deals, more capacity and better service.
The businesses “suckered into the scam” experienced more traffic in a few hours than they usually do in weeks and in most cases crashed because of this.
I agree the deals were not up to most peoples expectation, but that just means they will be better next time.
24 Nov 12
1:31 pm
So if the goal was ‘enogh traffic to crash the site’ – success.
If the goal was sales (leaving to one side the sales vs. incremental sales argument – then it is too early to gauge success.
If the goal was profit (and shouldn’t that be everyone’s over-arching goal) – then at the discount levels being talked about it is extremely hard to see how any of the merchandisers turned a profit.
Given the above, we should probably pencil in a success for the website but a fail as a business model. If any brands that participated are willing to share their financials that would be fabulous.