Dr Mumbo Archives « mUmBRELLA

Opinion | Features
- 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.
- The experiential experience
  
  Anyone can throw up a tent in a high-traffic area and harass the general public, but what does it take to pull off an effective experiential event? In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Matt Smith investigates.
  
  A television commercial can easily be muted and ignored, but try ignoring a purring, squirming cat in your arms. That was the experience awaiting passers by in Sydney’s Martin Place in October last year when Mars Petcare built Whiskas Kitten Palace.
- The News Limited paywall isn't about revenue. It's about data
  
  In this guest post, ninemsn’s editor in chief Hal Crawford argues Fairfax Media and News Limited’s new paywalls won’t draw much revenue, but will generate data. And they’re late to the data party.
  
  When I first learned that ninemsn’s major digital competitors Fairfax and News Ltd were going to introduce paywalls across their mainstream properties, I was excited.
  
  Every obstacle thrown in the way of their audiences is an opportunity. People hate friction and anything that makes life difficult on a rival site is a chance to get them on yours.
- Is this the worst time to be a journalist?
  
  With scores of redundancies in 2012 and a mass exodus of experienced journos, is this the worst time to be a journalist? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen asks the question.
  
  In June last year a tsunami of redundancies began to sweep across Australia’s media landscape. They came in a series of waves and in the 12 months that followed, an estimated 1,200 journalists departed the mainstream media.
- Are you a conscious leader?
  
  As the advertising and marketing industry struggles to address the issue of rocketing rates of staff churn in their businesses, Slingshot CEO Simon Rutherford argues that today’s ‘conscious leaders’ should be more focussed on creating ‘staff wellness’ in order to deliver high performing teams and healthy profits.
  
  A conscious leader believes the business has a greater responsibility towards the community it operates in. To ensure sustainable long-term profits, people must come first. Awareness, trust, authenticity, transparency, 100% responsibility, connection, compassion, and love: these are the tools of the conscious leader.
- Suits: less popular than pest controllers
  
  Advertising suits have a thankless job that is currently being eroded by the changing industry says Naren Sanghrajka in a piece that first appeared in Encore.
  
  Not in my wildest, craziest nightmares would I ever have thought I’d say this. But I’m going to. Being a bean counter is far more appealing than starting as a suit in advertising. There it is. I said it. I actually said those words.
  
  Yes, it’s incredibly depressing. But it’s true.
- An answer for Adam: What's the future for creatives?
  
  Each fortnight, Adam Ferrier poses a question to the industry. This week, he asks about the future of the creative.
  
  Who or what is a creative? It’s an old thought, but as I continue on my merry journey in advertising I wonder if there is a role for a ‘creative’ and if there is, what that role is?
  
  In the world of film and TV there is not a ‘creative’. There is a director, a writer, a producer, a DOP and so on. From this mix the creativity happens. But no-one is charged with being ‘the creative’.

A happy ending at Sky News

The hospitality offered by host Peter van Onselen to Sky News guests on The Contrarians is generous indeed.

By mumbrella · May 19th, 2013 at 5:18 pm · Comments: 0

The Great Gatsby may have cost the Australian taxpayer a reported $85m to create an homage to mid-20th century American society, but at least we can take pride that we’ve helped bring the world one of the most well crafted paragraphs in a film review of all time.

From The Guardian: Read more »

By mumbrella · May 15th, 2013 at 9:36 am · Comments: 15

Sack the sub

Remember that time back in 2009 when The Australian published an article from then News Limited boss John Hartigan in sturdy defence of newspapers? Which was only slightly undermined by the misspelling of the word “newspapers”.

Halifax’s Chronicle Herald in Canada has pulled off a similar feat: Misspelling its own name in a headline about its award winning journalism. Read more »

By mumbrella · May 14th, 2013 at 12:52 pm · Comments: 6

Media shows some heart

Could it be that the communications industry is finally growing itself a conscience? Read more »

By mumbrella · May 13th, 2013 at 9:39 am · Comments: 0

Tony Thomas: The man in the mirror

Tony Thomas: Never met a mirror he didn’t like

To Sydney’s Sebel Pier One and The Siren Awards for Australia’s best radio ads, hosted by Mix FM’s Tim Ross.

And Rosso had an important announcement to kick off the breakfast event, aimed at his former colleague, DMG Radio’s dashing marketing director: “Just one piece of housekeeping.

“Tony Thomas was looking for a mirror. It’s that way.”

But Rosso understood the difference between making radio ads and presenting, telling the audience: “You should try the other bit: where you have to tell the time.”

By mumbrella · May 10th, 2013 at 9:53 am · Comments: 1

What do girls do best? Wear bikinis of course

Dr Mumbo has long sympathised with Australia’s ball sports and the unfair contention that they objectify or demean women.

So he’s delighted to see that Fox Sport’s Rugby HQ is righting the balance celebrating “the best game day entertainment of all time” on its YouTube channel.

And here at number six is slow-mo footage of cheerleaders stripping down to their bikinis.

As Fox Sports puts it in the accompanying description: “It’s The Girls doing what they do best”. Read more »

By mumbrella · May 9th, 2013 at 8:03 pm · Comments: 26

When in doubt, autoplay

Not that Australia’s online publishers are desperate to get video streams at all costs, but Dr Mumbo does wonder why news.com.au is autoplaying a British Sky News video about Prince Harry’s trip to Washington above a story about missing cruise ship passengers.

By mumbrella · May 9th, 2013 at 6:21 pm · Comments: 0

Hopping over the paywall

So which is the more ironic: – that The Australian published its announcement of News Limited’s new paywall strategy behind its own paywall, or that it then unlocked the story a few minutes later?

By mumbrella · May 8th, 2013 at 10:40 am · Comments: 1

Must love beaches

Some jobs are more attractive than others. This one appears to be the marketing version of Best Job in the World.

Lion Nathan’s beer brand XXXX Gold is looking for a brand manager to take on the role of promoting its XXXX Island.

The ad is up on Mumbrella’s jobs board with the “key responsibilities” being managing the XXXX Island marketing campaign.

It has been a year since XXXX GOLD announced it had acquired the island and six months since the first guests.

Marketing a beer-themed island off the coast of Queensland sounds mighty tough.

By Cameron Boon · May 7th, 2013 at 10:35 am · Comments: 0

Being successful is hard, says the editor whose magazine was closed down

It’s tough at the top, Dr Mumbo’s been told, but he had little understanding of just how difficult, until he read of the plight of former Grazia Australia editor Amy Molloy.

In a column published in The Daily Mail, the self-proclaimed high-achiever describes her position as “torturous” in comparison with that of her “scatty, jobless” friend.

“Now in her 30s, she tends to crash from one career crisis to another and inevitably will have just quit one job and be searching for her next,” Molloy writes of her friend. ”She’ll arrive with a hangover, minus her wallet, meaning she won’t be able to pay for dinner.

“At some point during the meal, she will always say the same thing: ‘You’re so lucky, Amy — you’re so driven and successful.’ She envies my life, my career, my salary, my prospects.

“But the truth is I envy her failure. It’s hard being a lonely and joyless high-achiever. I wish I could be mediocre.” Read more »

By Megan Reynolds · May 6th, 2013 at 5:50 pm · Comments: 24

First taste

TEDxSydney was, as ever, a wonderful affair.

But this piece of work by Saatchi & Saatchi shown on the day, Dr Mumbo feels, deserves to go viral.

Quite the most adorable thing. Ever. Read more »

By mumbrella · May 6th, 2013 at 1:23 pm · Comments: 1

Silence of the pigs

It took about 48 hours, but that controversial Studio poster is now gone.

As Dr Mumbo’s spy puts it: “No more squealing.” Read more »

By mumbrella · May 3rd, 2013 at 8:08 am · Comments: 4

Worst media namedrop ever

If there’s one thing Dr Mumbo can’t bear, it’s somebody who plays with their mobile phone during a live performance.

If there’s two things he hates, it’s when they’re sitting in the front row.

And if there’s three things, it’s name droppers.

So imagine his feelings towards a person who would be capable of combining the three.

Somewhat spectacularly, that person achieved the trifecta in Sydney last night during a monologue from comedian and storyteller Daniel Kitson.

When the performer stopped the show to ask what the hell he was doing, the miscreant’s somewhat awkward reply: “I’m messaging Courteney Hocking to tell her how you’re doing.”

Courteney Hocking, Google tells Mumbrella, is an occasional comedy writer and former contributor to Good News Week who once appeared on the radio with Kitson.

If you’re going to namedrop, you can probably do better than that.

Or, you know, don’t be a dick in the first place.

(By the way, it was still a work in progress, but Dr Mumbo thoroughly recommends Kitson’s show After The Beginning. Before The End.)

By mumbrella · May 2nd, 2013 at 11:32 am · Comments: 1

How not to be digital marketer of the year

What with Monday’s accidental despatch of a press release with the less than compelling headline “Heading 3″, Dr Mumbo was initially inclined to let this one from the IAB go through to the keeper as a kindness.

But as it’s now been forwarded to him by three different people, he feels he can’t resist: Read more »

By mumbrella · May 1st, 2013 at 3:00 pm · Comments: 2

Loaded words on a newspaper front page: ‘The Truth’

Dr Mumbo had always assumed that one tabloid headline was so tainted that it would never again be used, not least by a News Corporation paper.

He was wrong.

For those unfamiliar with newspaper history, News International’s The Sun has never fully recovered from the untrue claims it made about football fans at 1989′s Hillsbrough Disaster in the UK in possibly the most notorious front page of all time. To this day, its sales have not fully recovered in North West England. No paper in the UK, he is certain, will ever use the words on a front page again.

The Daily Telegraph does not, Dr Mumbo assumes, know its family history, based on its presentation of the Tom Waterhouse affair today. Read more »

By mumbrella · May 1st, 2013 at 10:00 am · Comments: 3

Gerard Henderson for Media Watch host? The odds narrow

It’s the question many in the media elite are asking: who will replace Jonathan Holmes as the host of the ABC’s Media Watch program?

Last year Holmes indicated that he would be finishing up mid year and Crikey has recently reported that a new replacement would be announced next month.

Amid the rumour and speculation about a replacement Dr Mumbo salutes the diligence of betting brand Sportsbet for creating a market on who would be the next host.

And the Sydney Institute’s Gerard Henderson, star of the somewhat ABC-sceptical website Media Watch Dog, comes in fourth paying $8 (presumably there are rules preventing the inclusion of Nancy his dog). Read more »

By mumbrella · April 30th, 2013 at 1:33 pm · Comments: 12