Ita Buttrose: I’m a magazine junkie
Magazine legend Ita Buttrose has just been named Australian of the Year. She speaks to Encore about the launch of Elle magazine, the second installment of Paper Giants and the future of tablet publishing.
You’ve just been named the 2013 Australian of the year. How does that feel?
It feels pretty good actually. It was a big surprise when the PM read out my name because I was there with many other distinguished Australians who have all contributed in so many ways to shaping the nation. You’re in very good company when you’re a finalist in the Australian of the Year and you think, that’s my name. Goodness. So it was very exciting and quite a moving time for me. Somebody said to me ‘you looked a bit emotional’ and I said ‘well, it is an emotional moment to be called Australian of the year’. Read more »
My break… Stuart Gregor
From working in a bottle shop to running a successful PR firm, Stuart Gregor on his big break.
How did you get into the PR industry?
Well, I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar… Well almost. I was working in a bottle shop in Double Bay after leaving five years of journo- ing at News Limited, two years of bumming around Europe and two years learning about wine and “marketing” at Roseworthy College (in South Australia) and, seriously, the phone rang and a recruiter asked for me. We had a meeting and he asked if I wanted to apply for a job as a PR manager at Mildara Blass wines. It was either that role, with its company car and lavish expense account based in gorgeous Albert Park, or keep delivering cheap brandy to the matrons of Sydney’s eastern suburbs. They missed me. Not entirely reciprocated. Read more »
The nine things the experts will say this morning about the future of digital advertising
Julian Peterson will be at AIMIA’s The Future of Digital Advertising conference in Sydney today. He reckons he knows most of what the speakers will say.
I’m going to the AIMIA event and I’m pretty excited. I’ve been avoiding conferences and talks recently, but this will be a good one. Unfortunately I’ve had one too many coffees today and rashly told Mumbrella that I could predict what everyone would say. Read more »
Savage law: Our client has fallen out of love with us
STW’s Chris Savage tackles agency dilemmas in his new weekly column for Mumbrella’s sister title Encore.
Hi Chris,
I own an agency with just over 20 staff. We’ve been with our biggest client since we started. But in the last year or so, the marketing team there has changed, including the marketing director. We’ve gone from feeling like partners to the hired help. Read more »
Natural born bullshitters?
They may be less exciting but Tim Burrowes trusts media agency people over their oversexed, bullshitting creative counterparts.
So this is a massive generalisation. But bear with me.
On the whole, I respect media people more than I do creative agency people. Read more »
Why AFL Grand Final ads could be as big as the Super Bowl
In this guest post, Naked’s Adam Ferrier argues that the communications industry has a chance to turn AFL grand final ad breaks into an event similar to the Super Bowl
The two biggest annual sporting events in the world – as judged by TV audience size are the UEFA Champions League Final (European soccer) and The Super Bowl (USA Football). The advertising during the Super Bowl is becoming as famous as the Super Bowl itself. Read more »
The money or the gun
With cinema one of the winning advertising platforms over the last 12 months, advertisers would be smart to consider product placement says Peter Miller.
As a devotee of high art I took myself to see Skyfall. Aside from the mayhem and the beautifully cut suits, I noticed that Macallan Single Malt had replaced the Martini, 007 is back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin but he still loves his Omega Seafarer. That’s seven Bond movies in a row now for the Seafarer, which may be a record. Read more »
Is Sydney leaving Melbourne for dead?
It’s an ancient debate that refuses to go away: Melbourne versus Sydney. Is the power in media and advertising drifting up north, asks Robin Hicks
The first story I wrote since moving from Sydney to Melbourne six months ago was on the closure of DraftFCB Melbourne, a decent but painfully shy ad agency with a 50-year history that, as it turned out, was too reliant on one major client.
A fortnight later, I covered Publicis Mojo’s Melbourne office making a bunch of redundancies. Some jobs were relocated to Sydney, leaving the once-great office on Southbank with eight staff, down from more than 100 just three years ago. Read more »
Is Facebook becoming too expensive?
In this guest post, Justin Kabbani argues that the early adopter days are over for brands on Facebook
Over the past few months, Facebook has evolved in a way that sees brands paying more to achieve what they were previously doing for less. Read more »
Mumbrella360 – the third. Want to get involved?
Two years ago we nearly bit off more than we could chew when we announced the launch of Mumbrella360.
Looking back at that original post, two things strike me.
First, we were right in saying what would make Mumbrella360 different would be the help and involvement of the industry. Read more »
You don’t have to change minds to change behaviour
In this guest post, Paul Fishlock explains why behavioural science is not the enemy of creativity – it’s a springboard to it.
Science knows more about behaviour than marketing ever uses. In itself this is hardly surprising. It’s the chasm between them that’s cause for concern.
Much as we all love clever campaigns, we’re not in the entertainment business we’re in the influence business. We’re paid to get people to pick product X over product Y, use this service more or do this unhealthy behaviour less. Remember? Read more »
Twitter’s video service Vine: The next big content opportunity
Twitter’s forthcoming six second video service Vine is going to be huge – and that includes for brands who understand the content opportunity, predicts Leslie Nassar.
“It’s Instagram for Video,” is how the technology press is touting Twitter’s new short-video service.
And it is. Kind of. Read more »
Lance Armstrong’s confession: The PR verdict
In this guest post Red Agency MD James Wright assesses drugs cheat Lance Armstromg’s PR strategy in his Oprah confessional.
I was a huge fan of Lance Armstrong. Like many others I followed his career with awe, winning arguably the toughest event in the world, ‘The Tour’ seven times was incredible. I followed his interviews, read the books and supported his charity. Now, as we stand on the crest of what is probably the biggest sporting scandal of the modern era there is a feeling of betrayal.
Lance has taken a well trodden path in the crisis manual; confess to a huge TV audience, throw in a few tears, say you are sorry, talk about the pressure you were under, the cancer battle and seek forgiveness. Read more »
On manhood…
Remember Mark Pollard?
He used to be strategy director at MCann Sydney and headed to the US to work at Saatchi & Saatchi. Nowadays he’s VP of strategy at agency Big Spaceship.
TEDx has just published this somewhat confronting video of his talk at TEDx Hackensack. Read more »
The people have spoken. And we’ve ignored them. It’s CommsCon. Not Mr Splashy Pants 2013
So yesterday we asked you what you thought of the name CommsCon for our forthcoming PR conference and awards.
Somewhat predictably, Mr Splashy Pants 2013 won by an overwhelming margin.
After careful thought, we’ve decided not to call the event that. It doesn’t entirely capture the gravitas we hope to bring to the occasion. Read more »
Is CommsCon the new Vegemite renaming disaster? You tell us
So have we done an iSnack 2.0?
If you believe some of the comments following our story yesterday announcing CommsCon then perhaps so. Read more »
Facebook comes out swinging with Graph Search
Facebook’s Graph Search will have major implications for the marketing industry, argues Mumbrella’s Cathie McGinn
Facebook has today announced the launch of its search engine, Graph Search. The announcement has disappointed people who were hoping for a Facebook phone launch but has set the world of search nerds buzzing. But this is a significant development, and not just for search professionals.
The humiliations of modern journalism
Back when I worked on papers, I asked my journos to do some pretty embarrassing things.
I once made a junior reporter spend a day in a cage with the local zoo’s new lemur. Read more »
