mUmBRELLA

The newly published Mumbrella Creative Agency Review examines Australia’s top 30 ad agencies. Today Robin Hicks examines how DDB Melbourne has fared over the last 12 months.

A large company with 145 employees, DDB is one of Melbourne’s most powerful agencies and has earned its place over many years as a cornerstone of the industry. But to lose Coles and much of ANZ in a single year is enough for the market to wonder if DDB Melbourne can fully recover from an annus horribillis.

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A while back, the good folk of Kellogg’s popped into the office. Naturally, the conversation turned to Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.

I was too embarrassed to tell them that the day before I’d accidentally bought Coles’ own brand version. (They don’t taste as good – and they contain nearly twice as much fat, I now notice.)

After all, what sort of naive consumer does that?   Read more »

Have you ever noticed that when a brand uses social media to treat its customers like a bunch of chumps, it ends up regretting it?

The latest example is, of course, Mortein’s now backfiring death of Louie The Fly stunt.

From the moment the brand issued a press release from marketing director Chris Tedesco announcing: “It was a hard decision, but Mortein has decided to kill off Louie The Fly once and for all,” the whole thing smelled as bad as Louie’s favourite garbage pile.   Read more »

In this guest post, Lucio Dias Ribiero points out what the new-look Facebook means for users and advertisers

It has been a week of suspense and speculation regarding changes to Facebook that began rolling out at the start of the week. At the F8 developer conference in San Francisco, the company revealed a new way to integrate applications that reproduce content without the user having to leave the site. We have also seen user profiles updated, new applications for playing music and watching video and social news apps.

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The newly published Mumbrella Creative Agency Review examines Australia’s top 30 ad agencies. Today Robin Hicks examines how Clemenger BBDO Sydney has fared over the last 12 months.

Clemenger BBDO Sydney just misses out on our top ten table for its total score in our survey. With a reputation as a solid performer that produces some respectable work for clients such as Hungry Jack’s, Virgin Australia and Wrigley, the agency’s new business-winning streak made up for losing Vodafone, Codral and Air New Zealand; Clems can look back on a good year.

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Joe Talcott pays tribute to former competitor and collaborator Gavin Larkin

Perhaps we were destined to meet. Eight years ago I was working for McDonald’s in Chicago. On the other side of the country a talented and dynamic young Australian was making an impact for Taco Bell. We were competitors and yet unaware of each other. Two years later I returned to Australia and so did he.

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The newly published Mumbrella Creative Agency Review examines Australia’s top 30 ad agencies. Today Robin Hicks examines how Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has fared over the last 12 months.

Though BMF Tops our survey, it would not have been surprised anyone if Clemenger BBDO Melbourne had rated number one. Least of all Clems, it would appear, which is the only agency to award themselves 10 out of 10 for their achievements this year.

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I’m sad to report the passing of Gavin Larkin.

Those who watched this month’s incredibly moving Australian Story program will be well aware of his story.

Many in the industry will have known Gavin – who ran STW’s The Brand Shop prior to his illness – for longer than me. Later in the week, we’ll carry a more considered piece from somebody who knew him better than I did.

However, I was lucky enough to get to know Gavin a little through The Brand Shop, and then through R U OK Day which he founded, in part as a result of his own father’s suicide. Read more »

The newly published Mumbrella Creative Agency Review examines Australia’s top 30 ad agencies. Today Robin Hicks examines how BWM has fared over the last 12 months.

It is hard on Belgiovane Williams Mackay that after a year to April that saw a record profit, a decent awards haul and the win of Kmart, the thing that BWM will be most remembered for in 2011 is that it lost its biggest client.

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It’s five months today since Fairfax promised to switch off autoplay videos. Read more »

In this guest post, Craig Thomler argues that if the opponents of online anonymity got their way, we’d lose more as an industry and society than we’d gain.

Anthony Freedman wrote a piece for the Sydney Morning Herald on 9 September,“Bloggers must choose to be either constructive or cowardly“. In it Freedman claimed that anyone who chose to blog or comment anonymously was a coward. If you were an ethical adult who wished to be constructive you’d always put your name to your post. He isn’t the first to say this.

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The newly published Mumbrella Creative Agency Review examines Australia’s top 30 ad agencies. Today Robin Hicks examines how BMF has fared over the last 12 months.

In this guest post, journalist Hal Crawford argues why the government’s media inquiry is the opposite of good sense

The print media inquiry, announced on Wednesday, is a bad idea. And it hasn’t been pilloried quite as much as it deserves.

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The newly published Mumbrella Creative Agency Review examines Australia’s top 30 ad agencies. Today Robin Hicks examines how 303 Perth has fared over the last 12 months.

About once a year, I get a phone call from a market researcher. They want to know what I think of Australia’s telcos.

They never say who they’re conducting the research on behalf of, but as most of the questions relate to Telstra, I assume I’ve stumbled onto some database of so-called opinion formers.

Every year I take perhaps too much pleasure in telling them just how dreadful I think Telstra is.   Read more »

So we almost bit off more than we could chew.

It turns out that producing a book is harder than it looks.

But I’m glad to say that the boxes have now landed on the floor of the office with a reassuring thud.

The Mumbrella Creative Agency Review is here.   Read more »

If ever you wanted a demonstration of the dreadful state of metrics around PR, Mumbrella inadvertently demonstrated it last week.

We published a story about the achievements of PR agency DEC for client Darrell Lea. The press release sent to us began with the following bold claim:   Read more »

In this guest post, Tim Riches argues why Singapore’s Tiger Airways can find its way back from the brink in Australia

Whenever you read anything in the paper about Tiger Airways, there’s a presumption they’ll really struggle to get back on track in Australia.

But I’m not sure we should write the brand off just yet.

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