-
Opinion | Features
Woz not great
In this guest post Tony Prysten argues that the thousand dollar price of seeing out-of-touch Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack on his Australian tour was a waste of money.
This week, for the cost of two iPads (yep, two) I went to the Woz Live conference in Melbourne. I was not impressed.
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.
Chocolate celebrity heads named ‘best PR campaign’ for Darrell Lea with first-day reach of 33m
Hughes, Preston, Stefanovic
A PR campaign for Darrell Lea featuring the carving and auction of life-size chocolate heads of TV celebrities Dave Hughes, Karl Stefanovic and Matt Preston has achieved a first-day reach of over 33 million, according to PR company DEC Public Relations.
The campaign, launched around Father’s Day, is to raise awareness and funds for the chocolate company’s chosen charity, the Save The Bilby Fund.
The heads are listed on eBay for auction and at time of publishing had only one bid. The proceeds will go to the fund when the auction ends following Save The Bilby Day on September 11.
The campaign was unveiled on Friday on the Today Show, which is hosted by Stefanovic, and has generated “widespread national media pick-up, including Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier Mail, Perth Now, News.com and mX Sydney,” according to DEC Public Relations who handled the campaign.
The 33 million figure is based on ”the cumulative readership/viewer figures of the media coverage achieved on Friday,” a spokesperson told Mumbrella.
Scott Rylands, head of retail, marketing and innovations at Darrell Lea said: “For more than a decade we’ve been supporting the Save the Bilby Fund with sales of chocolate bilbies, raising more than $400,000. This is by far our most successful PR campaign, achieving the largest reach in a very short time period, and generating outstanding awareness of our CSR endeavours during a crucial sales period.”
September 6th, 2011 at 11:29 am
-
-
Follow Us
-
Email Newsletter
Latest Jobs- Outdoor- Acct Manager $100-$130k - Syd
- Sunglass Hut Brand Marketing Manager - 6 month Contract - North Ryde -Sydney NSW
- TV ACCOUNT Manager - Syd
- Digital Manager – Diverse role at top media agency - Sydney
- Digital Manager – Diverse role at top media agency - Sydney
- Account Managers - $60-$85k - Syd
- Account Director - Pyrmont
- Senior Account Manager - Account Director - PR Agency - Edgecliff
- Account Manager- Shopper/Promotional Marketing - Sydney
- Account Director – Promotional - Shopper Marketing - Sydney
Comments
6 Sep 11
11:31 am
For a population of 22 million in Australia, this is indeed an outstanding result. Again a PR company quoting absolute shite – does nothing for the PR industry
6 Sep 11
11:39 am
Nice concept but 33m… surly not unique’s or did Australia’s population grow over night?
6 Sep 11
11:49 am
33 million in one day – that spokesperson is worth a gazillion dollars!
6 Sep 11
12:31 pm
33 million reach and only one bid at the time of printing….I’m not sure that’s a success in anyone’s book is it? And who would want to eat anything that looked like karl stefanovic anyway…
6 Sep 11
1:01 pm
33 Million?? Cume Reach??
I think this PR person needs to go back to schoole and learn some basic media 101
6 Sep 11
1:08 pm
It must be a typo!
6 Sep 11
1:16 pm
zeffed i think you’re confusing a low cost PR campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the charity with direct response advertising. No doubt if they’d had millions to spend with a media buy they would have taken a different approach. As it was they needed an idea that would appeal to editorial.
6 Sep 11
1:19 pm
No wonder every man, woman, and child in Australia read/viewed this story 1.5 times!
(Or one in ten of us read/viewed it 15 times)
That sculptor is the fastest artisan I’ve ever seen!!!
6 Sep 11
1:23 pm
Only just reached me..
6 Sep 11
1:27 pm
Apparently the Karl Stefanovic chocolate head has been doing the Today show for the past week… and no one has been able to tell the difference
6 Sep 11
1:29 pm
Was the quote ”the cumulative readership/viewer figures of the media coverage achieved on Friday,” lost on you three?
6 Sep 11
1:33 pm
more hypo than typo Alex
6 Sep 11
1:43 pm
I must’ve been the only person in Australia not to see this.
33 Million. PLEASE
6 Sep 11
1:49 pm
Tim, you aren’t a bright one are you. You can’t add up all the readership / audience figures by different media – this makes the assumption that each person is unique. It would have been easier to write 33 million impacts as opposed to a reach of 33 million.
6 Sep 11
2:02 pm
have to agree with zeffd, only 1 bid from all that exposure means that it produced something like 0.00000303% success in producing bids. I know it doesnt work like that, but just saying… on another note, if it wasnt for Mumbrella i wouldnt have known about this campaign, so i guess i dont make the cut of 33 million people
6 Sep 11
2:30 pm
Paul, a bit rough on Tim. He quotes the source multiple times. The figure obviously came from DEC- and he’s even questioned where that came from.
6 Sep 11
2:34 pm
Hi Paul,
Reach – the unduplicated percentage or ’000s of a potential audience exposed one or more times during a given period.
If the media release reads “has achieved a first-day reach of over 33 million, according to PR company DEC Public Relations”, then they are effectively saying 33 million unique people were impacted that day.
Total impacts = Reach x Average Frequency. Assuming the media release is correct and it delivered a one day reach of 33 million, then we would expect the total impacts to be significantly higher than the 33 million quoted given duplication.
My best guess is that this campaign got nowhere near 33 million impacts or reach last Friday!
6 Sep 11
2:48 pm
Furthermore, how many of the claimed 33 million gross impacts were meaningful? PR Companies have a nasty habit of quoting vague opportunities to see or hear as an impact. If a media planner made a ridiculous claim like this a half smart client would shoot them down in flames.
Sadly, it seems, some clients still swallow this meaningless tripe!
6 Sep 11
2:56 pm
It’s tuesday afternoon and i’ve only just heard of this. Also just checked ebay and it still sits at 1 bid, on one item (hughesy) dare i say it could be hughesy bidding? Great idea, but the execution may have failed somewhat…
6 Sep 11
3:30 pm
And the chocolates don’t look very much like the people they’re supposed to be – except that the middle one does appear to be carrying a bit of condition. Glad they have captions or I’d have no idea of what I’m not going to be bidding on (and isn’t PR just full of it – shite, not chocolate).
6 Sep 11
3:57 pm
Hmmm I must stop living under that rock as this campaign has only just reached me and as a PR I do try to keep up with current news.
If it was my campaign I’d be reviewing why there is only one bid instead of counting audience impressions (or whatever the hell they were counting – sheep maybe). Then I’d be trying to do something to get those bids up while also explaining to the client why it’s not been successful.
6 Sep 11
4:02 pm
HI Anon – I wasn’t speaking to Tim from mumbrella…but the tim in the comment section. Tim – from mumbrella – my sincere apologies if you were offended
6 Sep 11
6:01 pm
Was the ROI calculator also made of chocolate?
7 Sep 11
7:32 am
That chocolate head does not look anything like that swaggering, alcohol consuming, smarmy… “Karl bloke!”
7 Sep 11
9:05 am
It is so typical of advertising people to bag out a success story by a PR firm.
Yes I agree the 33 million audience figure is a bit silly, but you can’t deny that this activity had a great deal of coverage at what would have been a very low budget in comparison to what they would have had to spend on advertising.
For a reach of that figure, they would have had blanket coverage of a number of major news outlets, a great result, especially when doing PR for a consumer product which is substantially more difficult to do because of it’s commercial nature.
Considering his is an industry publication, maybe we should be also taking the time to say well done to the company involved – but maybe be a bit more conservative with your figures.
Nigel – to bag out PR companies in general for quoting media mentions is utterly stupid. Advertising does the same by quoting audience reach figures when we all know that the majority flick past an advertisement in a newspaper, or use ad breaks as the perfect time to get a cup of tea.
7 Sep 11
10:32 am
Dave, perhaps it’s getting bagged because perhaps it’s not a success. One bid and a rubbish first day reach, even in shonky PR terms surely can’t be seen as a success.
33 million? Please. Today show rates what, 350,000 if we’re being generous? Daily Telegraphy has a readership of 1 million, the Herald Sun about 1.4m (again being generous)…Courier is about 600k plus a few extra for the other sites.
Given that, they’d struggle to justify 3 million.
Nice idea sure, but let’s no kid ourselves here shall we? And if you’re going to, don’t PR it.
7 Sep 11
12:09 pm
They could have found a half-decent sculptor…
7 Sep 11
1:52 pm
Thanks for all your interesting comments. The eBay auction went live on Monday evening and is running for one week, in the run up to National Save the Bilby Day on Sunday. Many eBay bidders hold off until the last 24 hours to start bidding, so we disagree that this is a reflection on the success of the campaign.
As for this campaign’s editorial reach – it has been excellent. To reiterate, this reach has been calculated on the cumulative readership/viewer figures of the media coverage achieved – many individuals consume more than one media outlet a day and we’re not claiming these are unique views. The number was calculated using the official audited figures of the media outlets engaged — News.com.au, for example, claims a unique audience of over 5.5m. The PR industry is moving away from using AVEs, and ‘Reach’ is one of the recommended measurements from the ‘Value Metrics’ guidelines developed by the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications. We’d also like to point out that reach is just one of several metrics which will be used to evaluate the campaign.
7 Sep 11
4:20 pm
DEC – Cudos for responding, but the 5.5m just inflames it for me. On that logic, you’re talking potential audience – not actual. How about you get the impressions from the actual story on news.com.au and let us know what the actual reach is.
7 Sep 11
5:59 pm
444 views on YouTube – WOW – It’s a hit !
7 Sep 11
10:29 pm
And that ladies and gentleman proves that 77.5% of stats are made up…
Of the 444 YouTube views how many people watched the entire vid, start to finish…?
Charlie bit my finger – now that’s got views…
12 Sep 11
1:13 pm
It’s unfortunate that they have referenced ‘readership’ which is not industry standard. Circ (which is usually about 1/3 of readership) is a fair measure, as acknowledged by PRIA.
12 Sep 11
1:40 pm
Nigel’s comment made me laugh – “If a media planner made a ridiculous claim like this a half smart client would shoot them down in flames”.
Paid media claims are far more odious than this stupid mistake because they’re better concealed. Media stats are one of the greatest cons perpetuated on the busienss community. They never discount potential reach for all those people who toss the paper, glaze over the TV ads or blank out online display.
And of course the big difference is that the advertiser is paying millions for the privilege of being deceived while the purportedly independent media buyer is enjoying weekend spa junkets paid for by the media owners.
12 Sep 11
8:47 pm
You are all missing an important point. This project was designed to help raise awareness of Darrell Lea support of Save the Bilby Fund. Right or wrong, finally we have a new idea growing and hopefully reaching some in the community that don’t just base success on statistics. Think about some different goals and there can be wins for a small furry animal facing extinction in Australia.
13 Sep 11
9:21 am
Hi My name is Frank Manthey I am a co=founder of save the bilby fund I was delighted to learn that Karl Dave and Matt aggreed to have the heads sculptured in a block of Darrell Lea chocolate to help save this very long term Australian called a Bilby, the bilby has never received so much coverage thanks to this campaign, who cares how many people have seen the project all that matters is the bilby is the winner I would like to thank everyone who has made a comment I invite you all to visit our web site and join with me to see if we can try and save this animal from extinction, and thank you uMbRELLA for giving me the chance to THANK to you all.