-
Opinion | Features
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.
TV audience measurement – why big isn’t always beautiful
In this guest post, Chris Walton argues that the media industry needs to take a new approach to TV tradingThere has been a significant amount of coverage recently about how successful The Voice has been. Indeed, audience figures of 2.6m+ people are very impressive these days. Based on reports, this is apparently double the size of audience that Nine was hoping for in the lead up to the programme launching.
How do you solve a problem like Blunty?
So if you were the proposed News Standards Body, how would you regulate Blunty?The News Standards Body, in case you didn’t notice, is the new organisation proposed by the Convergence Review this week to regulate news and commentary, regardless of platform.
Blunty, in case you didn’t notice, is the video blogger who this week went viral after he filmed a guerrilla marketing demo outside Apple’s Sydney store apparently as a coincidental bystander, but later admitted he’d been put up to it by BlackBerry.
Underbelly starts filming just days after Perish brothers convicted
A new series of Underbelly has started filming for Nine and production company Screentime.
The fifth series- called Underbelly: Badness – returns to Sydney’s modern crime history, set between 2001 and 2011.
The story is based on the murder of Terry Falconer by underworld figures Anthony Perish and Andrew Perish and the team of police dedicated to bringing the Perishs to justice.
Ooh! outdoor creative contest sees The Brand Agency and Clems Melbourne win trips to Cannes
The winners of Ooh! Media’s creative competition have been announced, with creatives from Perth’s The Brand Agency and Melbourne’s Clemenger BBDO winning a trip to Cannes.
Garry Horner and Craig Buchanan from The Brand Agency won with their ‘Miles from anywhere” campaign for the RAC.
Herald Sun apologises for Logies leak but continues to claim story did not appear on its website
Screenshot of Herald Sun website featuring Logies story it says did not appear on website
The Herald Sun has withdrawn its suggestion that its leak of Hamish Blake winning the gold Logie was because Google had accessed an unpublished story.
However, the newspaper has continued to insist that the news story did not appear on its website.
The newspaper last night issued an apology. Meanwhile, today’s Sydney Morning Herald reports that seven Herald Sun staffers were “frogmarched” out of the ceremony after the result leaked.
So far, TV Week, which organises the Logies, has declined to comment,
Last night, the Herald Sun issued a statement saying:
‘The Herald Sun regrets that, due to an internal error involving publishing protocols, we effectively named the Gold Logie winner ahead of time last night.
“We apologise and hope it did not ruin viewers’ overall Logies experience.
“The story was not published on the Herald Sun website or m-site or Tweeted by a Herald Sun employee. Read more »
The Voice wipes the floor with Australia’s Got Talent
The Nine Network has had one of its strongest nights in 2012 with the second night of The Voice and the launch of The Block.
Strengthening its performance from Sunday’s debut of 2.177m, The Voice took 2.541m across the five city metro markets, according to preliminary results from OzTam.
The musical audition show wiped the floor with the debut of rival Seven’s Australia’s Got Talent which took 1.196m across the five cities for sixth place overall. Read more »
Foxtel fined for misleading advertising, ACCC: ‘an asterisk does not stop an ad from being misleading’
Foxtel has been fined by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for misleading advertising.
Its ‘Christmas Sale’ campaign, which ran in November and December last year, advertised a Foxtel subscription for $55 per month on a six-month contract.
But an asterisk referring to the small print revealed that the customer would be locked into a 12-month contract, which would mean the cost would rise to $77 per month after the six-month deal had concluded.
Colgate launches design your own toothbrush contest through MCN
Dental care brand Colgate has launched a campaign for its new kids’ toothbrush Colgate Design-it.
The integrated campaign, exclusively through Multi Channel Network, centres on a competition for kids to design their own toothbrush.
Suzuki ad banned for promoting reckless driving, but not for sexism
An ad that shows a car speeding through a car park has been banned for glamourising reckless driving.
The ad, titled ‘Hot hatch’ for Suzuki Swift, shows a young couple driving through a car park with sprinklers going off behind them.
The Ad Standards Bureau said that the ad promoted speeding by using footage which has been sped up in some scenes, and with images of the driver pressing his foot on the accelerator and a rapidly increasing speedometer.
One complaint read: “The ad conveys the wrong messages to young drivers deeming it responsible to drive at breakneck speed through a multi-storey car park. Further the need to have a scantily clad lady does nothing to enhance the image of the car.”
Sealy ‘sex scene’ ad cleared by watchdog
The Advertising Standards Bureau has thrown out complaints made against an ad for Sealy mattresses, which features a couple canoodling in bed.
One complaint said the ad, which shows a half naked woman on top of a man in bed in the final scene, was too graphic to be shown during My Kitchen Rules, which they considered family viewing time.
“In a film or television program this would be considered a sex scene,” they said.
Green activists play tag with Harvey Norman
A green protest group has targeted Harvey Norman with a campaign claiming that the homeware retailer is destroying Australian hardwood forests.
Activists from The Last Stand have been visiting Harvey Norman stores and placing tags on furniture that appear to be an in-store competition run by the brand.
The tags read ‘Find out how you can win’ and invites consumers to scan a QR code.
When scanned, the QR code actually directs to a YouTube video showing the destruction caused by logging native forests.
Marketing consultant goes on ice cream truck tour to support gay marriage
A marketing consultant is going on a tour of the eastern seaboard in an ice cream truck to support gay marriage.
The Ice Cream Truck of Love will start its journey in Sydney before heading north to Queensland, giving out free ice cream and pushing the marriage equality message.
The truck is being driven by Adrian Fernand, of marketing and digital strategy consultancy I Do Believe I Came With A Hat, in response to controversial politician Peter Madden’s anti-gay rights protest truck tour last month.
Fernand told Mumbrella: “Should Mr Madden wish to join us for an ice cream, we’d happily offer him one and have one of our trained homosexuals demonstrate just how normal we really are. And perhaps we’d advise him on how to find a better fitting suit.”
Meat & Livestock Australia urges consumers to ‘chuck a Sunday’
Meat & Livestock Australia has launched a new campaign to encourage consumers to recreate the feeling of a relaxed Sunday roast mid-week.
The campaign features a series of traditionally Sunday activities repositioned in a weekday office setting, from making fresh juice to mowing the lawn.
The campaign by creative agency BMF consists of four creative executions and is intended to encourage Australians to make time for a family dinner mid-week.
SPAA Conference moves to Melbourne
The Screen Producers Association of Australia will move its annual conference from Sydney to Melbourne this year.
The event – Australia’s biggest film and television production conference – will be held in Melbourne for the next three years, as of this November, and brings to an end a decade of the event in Sydney.
Louise Asher, Victoria’s minister for innovation, services and small business and tourism and major events made the announcement, adding that the Logies would stay in Melbourne for another five years.
Asher said: Read more »
Australian Directors Guild announces ADG Award nominees
The Australian Director’s Guild has announced its nominees for the 2012 ADG Awards
Across the various categories, the nominations include Justin Kurzel for Snowtown, Matthew Saville for The Slap, Tony Krawitz for The Tall Man, Paul Scott for documentary series Outback Fight Club and Bruce Hunt for Subaru XV’s Carwash.
Vevo launches in Australia through MCM Media
Music video and entertainment site Vevo has launched in Australian and New Zealand through a partnership with MCM Media, the company best known for producing Take 40 Australia.
Ranked by Comscore as the number one music platform in the US and UK, Vevo is a joint venture by Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media to share the companies’ music videos with a integrated advertising on the platform and on its YouTube network.
Honda invites consumers to make music from Civic sounds
Honda Civic has launched a new website intended to allow consumers to record a track using sounds the car itself makes.
The Civic Sounds campaign is fronted by Australian band Bluejuice, who will judge the submissions and pick the winning piece. The composer of the winning track will win a trip to Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival.
The elements include beeps, engine noises and the sound of car doors slamming.
Jason Deacon, associate creative director at DTDigital, the digital agency behind the campaign, said in a press release:
Dare Iced Coffee buys entire ad break on Nine for content series
Lion’s Dare Iced Coffee has taken over an entire ad break on Nine, with a branded content piece featuring comedian Ryan Shelton.
The 13-week campaign, which breaks tomorrow, will involve TV, radio and online, and aims to get consumers to upload their own everday dilemmas on the Dare Facebook page for the chance to win $30,000 and have their problem fixed on national TV.
Olympian Duncan Armstrong joins Mumbrella360 for session on sports sponsorship
Gold medal winning Olympian Duncan Armstrong is to join a panel at June’s Mumbrella360 conference discussing how to get the most out of Olympic sponsorship.
In a session curated by marketing and sports sponsorship specialists Octagon, the discussion will also feature Telstra’s GM of media, sponsorship and awards Toby Dewar.
The presentation – Gold Medal Passions and Starting Line Fumbles: The evolution of Olympic Sponsorship and Advertising on the eve of the London Games - will be led by Octagon’s strategy director Adam Hodge
The session will include TV, outdoor, print and experiential case studies, as well as Armstrong’s demonstration of the emotional connection to sport as he tells his story of winning gold at the Seoul Olympics despite being a rank outsider. There will also be a Q&A session with the audience.
SBS TWO splits into regional ad sales markets
SBS has announced a plan to split its digital channel SBS TWO into 12 geographic markets.
The purpose for the split is to open opportunities for advertisers to target their message to specific regions.
The regional split will include the five main capital cities plus Darwin, Tasmania, regional NSW, regional Queensland, regional Victoria, regional WA and central Australia.
-
-
Follow Us
-
Email Newsletter
Latest Jobs- Mid-Level Art Director (Campaign) - Melbourne
- Senior / Lead Digital Producer - AGILE Methodology - World Beating Agency! - Surry Hills
- Account Manager - Sydney
- Web Designer - Surry Hills
- Motion Graphics Designer - Sydney
- Jnr Email Marketing Exec - Sydney 2000
- Executive Producer - Sydney
- PR SAM - B2B, but AWESOME B2B... - Sydney
- Digital Sales Executive - Sydney
- Mid Weight Finished Artist - Sydney
