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Dr mumbo
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Droning on
What does the ad agency of the future look like? US creative technology agency MRY takes a look. As one puts it: "We're the first agency to have drones, and we have many drones, and most other agencies have zero drones." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWd6d7PzjsQ&app=desktop -
The future will be creepy, and brand funded
Every now and then a video comes along which gets you very excited about what might happen in the future. This is not one of them. From the creepiest voiceover you're ever likely to hear to a gratuitous shot showing all 22 brands involved in making the film, enjoy this from Rinspeed - the "creative thinktank of the car industry" for its Budii concept car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAGW1txUV2I -
Dick stops spread of hepatitis
Never one to miss a shameless PR opportunity budding FMCG magnate Dick Smith jumped on the Nanna's berries health scare at the weekend with a tactical ad stressing the quality of his Aussie produce. The ad appeared in the Weekend Australian on Saturday avoided sensationalism trumpeting in capital letter: "Hepatitis risk?" -
Queensland Reds strategic placements
Dr Mumbo hopes rugby union's Queensland Reds got a discounted rate on ads placed around a story on the drug scandal of their star player Karmichael Hunt. -
The shorter the better
Shadow transport minister Anthony Albanese clearly doesn't like the chairman of Sydney airport. When the news that Max Moore-Wilton (aka "Max the axe") was stepping down the former deputy PM issued the following media release: -
Punctuation matters
The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday morning proved the importance of punctuation in a headline for a story about a speech by Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Another comma is probably needed here… -
Tay Tay's surprise Senate appearance
Last night ABC managing director Mark Scott appeared before the Senate Estimates communications committee for his regular grilling. Queensland Nationals Senator Matthew Canavan started his interrogation of the ABC boss by asking: "What's your view on the Taylor Swift controversy?" -
Industry churn - Enero style
Industry churn is usually associated with a procession of Gen Y juniors coming in and leaving agencies with alarming regularity. However Australian based holding group Enero seems to have rather the opposite problem - losing the heads of its agencies on an all too frequent basis. Since Matthew Melhuish took over as CEO of the group in January 2012 (Photon as it was then) all but one of the eight agencies with an Australian operation have had at least one change in management, five of them in the last two months. Dr Mumbo has compiled a timeline of the recent movements: -
Mum of two, PR to many
The Australian's media section today features "mother of two" Dana Dobbie sharing her views on proposed liberalisation of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. She's against it. [caption id="attachment_277743" align="aligncenter" width="426"] Dana Dobbie's picture ran prominently next to the two articles on the issue[/caption] As Mumbrella reported on Friday, the liberalisation promoted by TV industry lobbying body Free TV would see ads for things like alcohol permitted in an earlier timeslot. Dobbie, who is pictured in the paper with her husband Phil and children Amelia, six, and Nathan, eight, believes somebody needs to think of the children. As she puts it: "Before you know it, they’ll be singing those Bacardi rum ads." The TV networks have a different point of view, saying they want a level playing field with their digital competitors. As Nine boss David Gyngell complains in another article on the same page complaining about the TV licence fee: "Google comes in, eats our lunch, and takes the money offshore." That's the same Google that is a board member and major funder of digital industry body IAB Australia. That's the same IAB Australia whose PR is done by Einsteinz Communications. -
Stuff politicians shouldn't wear
Tomorrow's front cover of The Weekend Australian is gaining some attention after new health minister Sussan Ley donned a surgical latex glove for the cover story photoshoot. It's part of Ley's attempt sell the government GP co-payment plan... and to quote Yes Minister it might be a rather "courageous" communications strategy. One possibly open to ridicule, as The Oz's own sketch writer James Jeffrey noted on Twitter: -
First rule of media releases: make them readable
When you're sending out a PR release it's important to make sure it gives over the information in a clear and easy to understand manner. Which is why some journalists were baffled when they received Officeworks' financial results release yesterday in this cursive font: -
Which news site has got its clickbait wrong again?
While Dr Mumbo doesn't judge news.com.au for indulging in clickbait, he does wonder if the site needs to make the question a little more intriguing for readers if it really wants them to click on the article for the answer...
(Spoiler alert: It was Chelsea Handler. Chelsea Handler went topless again.)
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Every EastEnder needs good Neighbours
Network Ten's soapy Neighbours is celebrating 30years on air this year, but so to is one of the UK's best loved soaps, EastEnders.
So to celebrate the Erinsborough regulars made this tribute to the BBC show, which like Neighbours is an everyday tale of love, loss, a variety of addictions and at least one murder/mysterious disappearance a year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv_o6MRDsiY&list=PL3ZQ5CpNulQm7SZzumRHHo3HyGNG5iYoW&sns=em
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Punters avoid Aussie Oscar hopefuls like the plague
Australian films might have had a major uptick at the box office in recent months, but it seems that faith in the product isn't translating for local Oscars hopes. Today online betting firm Sportsbet said just $23 has been bet against the two local hopefuls for the awards, which are announced on Monday. Unsurprisingly Sportsbet have now declared the Aussies have no hope of winning. -
Foxtel's new Game of Thrones piracy problem
It seems someone is getting really paranoid about potential piracy of Game of Thrones - to the extent the teaser trailer on official broadcaster Foxtel's own website is blocked. [caption id="attachment_277125" align="aligncenter" width="468"] The message coming up on the Foxtel website[/caption]
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Falling TV audiences aren’t the problem, fixed inventory is
As television audiences decline Carat’s Paul Wilkinson asks if the problem is not so much falling audiences but rather the inventory model upon which free-to-air television is bought.
Ok, let’s not beat about the bush, let’s rip off the plaster and talk honestly for a moment; TV viewing is down.
There you go. I said it. Somehow I feel better for saying it. Phew! Read more »
The lowdown on The Economist’s APAC plans
The Economist’s chief marketing officer Michael Brunt talks about how the brand is perceived in Asia, how digital is sold differently to print, why it will never budge on ratecard and why Australia is one of its best markets, in an interview with Mumbrella Asia editor Robin Hicks.
So what’s the plan to grow in Asia this year?
Asia is incredibly important for us because of the way we classify our audience.
Vain, deluded, indecisive, biased: this is the ‘average’ consumer
In this cross posting from The Conversation Paul Harrison of Deakin University looks at the problems posed by trying to define what the average consumer is.
Who is the “typical” or “average” consumer? Is there such a thing? What do they look like? How do they make decisions? Am I an average (or perhaps a below average) consumer?
It’s something that comes up a lot in discussions around consumer protection, consumer advocacy, and regulation. Judges in consumer cases, for example, often ask whether the average person would understand their obligations in relation to a particular contract to which they have agreed. Similarly, cases related to the advertising of over-the-counter medicines, often rely on a judgment as to whether a typical consumer would understand the intentions of a particular advertisement. Read more »
YouTube’s branded content crackdown – what you need to know
In this guest post, Nick Fawbert highlights what YouTube’s rules for branded content mean for advertisers and multi-channel networks.
There was something of an inevitability about last week’s dismay over YouTube’s ‘clarification’ on the fees payable for branded content on YouTube’s channels. No commercially viable major platform is likely to offer free access to valuable audiences in perpetuity. Read more »
You’ll struggle with the culture shift, Mat: The DNA of media buying is completely different to earned media
In this guest post, Anthony Freedman argues that media agencies will find it harder than they think to shift into public relations territory because it requires an entirely different culture.
Like a lot of people, I noticed the coverage surrounding Mat Baxter’s reveal of UM’s new “Creative Connections Agency” positioning last week.
It started with a piece in Mumbrella provocatively headlined “Media agencies aren’t our competitors” and continued the following day after Mat was goaded into stating UM “won’t be entering media agency awards any more”.
For anyone who didn’t read the stories, the gist of it is this; UM is no longer a media agency, it’s a ‘connections company’ that is embracing earned and owned media, and thus will herein compete with the likes of R/GA, Google and (closest to my heart) One Green Bean. Read more »
Is content marketing myopic?
Amid the ongoing hype around content marketing Mark Yeow argues agencies and clients are getting too bogged down in the detail and need to look at content more broadly.
Our industry’s fixation on content marketing is keeping us from seeing the bigger picture.
The power of content extends far beyond lead generation, conversion, and other measures of marketing ROI. It is, perhaps the critical ingredient of any brand – essential to the vision of any discipline involved in creativity or communication, and indicative of their healthiness and longevity. Read more »
Why SVOD is the catalyst for a TV evolution
Streaming services have been getting a lot of headlines of late. OMD’s Jeremy Gavin looks at what impact such services will have on evolving the television as a medium.
The Netflix beast is a product of its environment. Read more »
Curiosity killed the cat, not the creative
A curious mind is a prerequisite for being a creative. So why don’t more youngsters entering the creative world ask questions asks Will Clark.
As a junior creative one of the most powerful creative tools is already at your disposal. Curiosity can be a crucial tool when starting work in an industry you know very little about. After my first few years in advertising I have come to realise the full potential of being a curious creative.
Fresh out of design college and AWARD school, I was ready to get stuck into the world of real briefs, real clients and real award potential. However I quickly discovered that the world of advertising is vastly different to the picture that we often paint in our minds before getting there. Read more »
Will greyhound racing ever get back on track?
Following the expose of blooding and other practices in greyhound racing last week Damian Madden looks at what the sport needs to do to regain public trust.
As an animal lover, and somebody who has been to the dog track occasionally, I was abhorred when I saw the Four Corner’s footage earlier this week of greyhound trainers ‘blooding’ their dogs using live animals.
Watching the fallout in the days that followed I began to wonder if greyhound racing could recover from this catastrophic blow. Has its brand been damaged beyond repair? Read more »
How David Thodey helped restore Telstra’s brand
Today David Thodey announced he is retiring as CEO of Telstra after five years in the role. Richard Curtis who worked with the telco during his time with Interbrand, explains Thodey’s role in rebuilding one of Australia’s biggest brands.
Two experiences bookend recollections of my time working with Telstra, over a seven-year period in which I worked with three different marketing teams.
“Didn’t we do the brand last year?” was how one Telstra executive put it, somewhat taken aback by the idea that the Telstra brand might evolve, let alone have implications for his own business unit’s activities. Read more »
The data is in and Birdman will win the Best Picture Oscar
After predicting the winner of the Best Picture Oscar two years in a row using data Bryan Melmed puts his reputation on the line for a third time.
Our audience data and insights accurately predicted the best picture Oscar winner in 2013 and 2014. So it is possibly foolhardy to put our neck on the line again but as the saying goes, go hard or go home so I’m here to tell you that Birdman will win. Or at least this is what the data suggests. And here is why. Read more »
Doing work just to win awards? That’s worth nothing
D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay argues scam is a disease and doing work to just win awards is worth nothing.
You would expect us to say this, but it has been an exciting year at D&AD. With the help of the Glue Society, Google and others we’ve brought New Blood to Australian shores for the first time, launched our new NowCreate programme and forged new partnerships with creative organisations around the world – such as AWARD – to enable us to better support the global creative community. It has been a good year.
However, as much as we’d like to focus on all the positives about our wonderful business, it’s important we don’t stick our head in the sand and ignore the more difficult stuff.
Baxter buries the Big Boutique as UM reboots business model
UM is shifting its focus from being the Big Boutique to the Creative Connections Agency. CEO Mat Baxter and chief strategy officer Sophie Price sat down with Nic Christensen to explain why the new positioning is more than just semantic, how it has torn up its remuneration model and why the traditional media agency focus on paid media is broken.
Say what you want about Mat Baxter, the iconoclastic CEO of UM knows how to generate a headline. Read more »
Six tips for a watertight contract to help when ambassadors go off brand
Navigating celebrity ambassador agreements can be difficult, with several high profile agreements ending badly in recent years. Here Stephen von Muenster and his team give some tips on what to look out for when drafting the legal terms.
Personalities who become brand ambassadors can be a powerful marketing tool for brands. From celebrities to social media influencers, they have the potential to make brands and products relatable and accessible, increasing exposure and successfully driving sales.
Unfortunately for brands, their fairytale relationship with an ambassador doesn’t always end happily ever after. Read more »
Seeking out the pink dollar
Brands are increasingly cashing in on the popularity of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in an attempt to lure the pink dollar with the likes of ANZ’s GAYTMs leading the charge, writes Robert Burton-Bradley.
Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is attracting an ever increasing pool of funding from a growing number of premium ad and sponsorship partners, including social economy booking firm Airbnb, as well as a return of last year’s high profile ANZ Bank GAYTMs campaign.
Ben Mulcahy from specialist agency Pink Media, which targets the LGBTI community, said advertising and sponsorship growth around Mardi Gras had been growing strongly each year.
“It gets bigger every year and from the sponsor perspective there’s huge value to be derived,” he told Mumbrella. Read more »
Across print and digital, newspaper customers are turning away
Today’s newspaper and digital subscriber numbers are the worst yet, says Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes.
Soon I’m going to stop writing about this each time the quarterly numbers come out. It’s too depressing.
Want real audience engagement? Move on from snackable content
Listicles, quizzes and cat videos might be the flavour of the moment for content marketing, but it’s only through in-depth long form content brands can really engage customers argues Atomic 212’s Richard Quinn.
In today’s time-starved world, people just don’t have time to read longer content items. Give them short, quick snippets which can be quickly digested, like snacks on the run.
Or so you think.
In truth there is substantial evidence pointing to the contrary, which could have significant implications for your content marketing strategy. Read more »
Why politicians can’t sell
Recently Prime Minister Tony Abbott was criticised for not being a good enough salesman for his policies. Here Elliot Epstein looks at how politicians could improve their sales technique to their electorate.
Law, Unions, Engineering, Journalism, Small Business, Academia and Agriculture have all delivered people to politics.
But the world of high stakes senior sales professionals, steeped in the art and science of winning complex, competitive multi-million dollar deals has not regularly supplied our parliaments with its exquisitely skilled members. Read more »
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