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Opinion | Features
Can sport save Ten?
First there was the Grand Prix. Next came the reported $500m bid for cricket rights, then Ten secured the 2014 winter Olympics. So, can sport save the ailing network? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.The television sports rights bidding process is a bit like a game of poker.
Check, fold or bet. Those were the options for the Ten Network last week when it had to finalise its bid for the cricket rights.
Andy Lark: good for the marketing of marketing
I can still remember the first story I wrote about Andy Lark, when it emerged that he was to be the new chief marketing officer of CommBank.
It was immediately clear that Australia was about to meet an interesting marketer, one who blogged and tweeted and thanks to his time at Dell in the US was digitally savvy. Even two years ago, that was a big deal. The fact that he also had a stint in public relations gave him an absolutely intriguing background before he even arrived.
Storming the media barricades - advice for young journalists
This week Mumbrella’s Nic Christensen, who began his career four years ago, gave the keynote address to would-be journalists at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s Student Day. This is an edited version of his speech.Good afternoon, I can remember distinctly the last time I was in this room.
It was 2009 and I was sitting where you are. I’d come to this event, a friend and myself — from memory we sat up the back — and I can remember at the time wondering if I’d ever get a job as a journalist.
It was only four years ago and then as now getting a job was ultra competitive but I’m not sure there was quite as much media ‘doom and gloom’ as there is now…
Paywalls will help fund campaigning journalism
In this guest post, News Limited’s group editorial director Campbell Reid responds to the views of ninemsn’s Hal Crawford that the company’s push into metered paywalls is about data rather than dollars.Hal Crawford is both right and wrong in his article which argued that our digital subscription plans are all about the data.
Fake it 'til you make it... as a features editor
Cosmo’s Kate Leaver tells us how to bluff it in her job in a feature that first appeared in Encore.What do you do, as a features editor?
Really, play with words and ideas all day. At any one time, we’re working across three issues of the mag – getting one on its way to the printers, pooling all the words together for another, and planning the issue after that. It’s busy but it’s a pretty magnificent process.
Savage counsel - JFDI
Hi Chris,I run a medium-sized agency that is doing pretty well. As the leader, I am finding my workload just seems to go up and up. I am struggling to stay motivated and particularly to tackle the bigger and tougher challenges I have to face every day. How do I keep up the energy when there just seems so much to do? How do you do it?
Productive, successful executives are those able to consistently tackle difficult and big challenges. It’s a constant struggle for me so I know how you feel. How do the successful leaders do it?
Q&A with Brett Clegg
Brett Clegg, group director – business media, Fairfax Media, in a Q&A that first appeared in Encore, on the journo who refuses to work with him – his wife.Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
Hard to go past Rupert Murdoch. He controls the single largest and most diverse portfolio and is intent on leveraging its scale (and, of course, influence). He’s an innovator and his will to win is obvious to all.
The experiential experience
Anyone can throw up a tent in a high-traffic area and harass the general public, but what does it take to pull off an effective experiential event? In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Matt Smith investigates.A television commercial can easily be muted and ignored, but try ignoring a purring, squirming cat in your arms. That was the experience awaiting passers by in Sydney’s Martin Place in October last year when Mars Petcare built Whiskas Kitten Palace.
The News Limited paywall isn't about revenue. It's about data
In this guest post, ninemsn’s editor in chief Hal Crawford argues Fairfax Media and News Limited’s new paywalls won’t draw much revenue, but will generate data. And they’re late to the data party.When I first learned that ninemsn’s major digital competitors Fairfax and News Ltd were going to introduce paywalls across their mainstream properties, I was excited.
Every obstacle thrown in the way of their audiences is an opportunity. People hate friction and anything that makes life difficult on a rival site is a chance to get them on yours.
Is this the worst time to be a journalist?
With scores of redundancies in 2012 and a mass exodus of experienced journos, is this the worst time to be a journalist? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen asks the question.In June last year a tsunami of redundancies began to sweep across Australia’s media landscape. They came in a series of waves and in the 12 months that followed, an estimated 1,200 journalists departed the mainstream media.
Are you a conscious leader?
As the advertising and marketing industry struggles to address the issue of rocketing rates of staff churn in their businesses, Slingshot CEO Simon Rutherford argues that today’s ‘conscious leaders’ should be more focussed on creating ‘staff wellness’ in order to deliver high performing teams and healthy profits.
A conscious leader believes the business has a greater responsibility towards the community it operates in. To ensure sustainable long-term profits, people must come first. Awareness, trust, authenticity, transparency, 100% responsibility, connection, compassion, and love: these are the tools of the conscious leader.
Suits: less popular than pest controllers
Advertising suits have a thankless job that is currently being eroded by the changing industry says Naren Sanghrajka in a piece that first appeared in Encore.Not in my wildest, craziest nightmares would I ever have thought I’d say this. But I’m going to. Being a bean counter is far more appealing than starting as a suit in advertising. There it is. I said it. I actually said those words.
Yes, it’s incredibly depressing. But it’s true.
An answer for Adam: What's the future for creatives?
Each fortnight, Adam Ferrier poses a question to the industry. This week, he asks about the future of the creative.
Who or what is a creative? It’s an old thought, but as I continue on my merry journey in advertising I wonder if there is a role for a ‘creative’ and if there is, what that role is?
In the world of film and TV there is not a ‘creative’. There is a director, a writer, a producer, a DOP and so on. From this mix the creativity happens. But no-one is charged with being ‘the creative’.
Australian films stand on their own merit
The argument that Australian audiences only embrace local films once they’ve picked up a gong at an international festival is inherently flawed says Lee Zachariah in a piece that first appeared in Encore.As much as we like to pretend that we collectively fulfil the world’s need for a country comprised entirely of laid-back, mellow beach dwellers, we do seem to get disproportionately excited when someone else mentions us. Our cool exterior drops away as our local news bulletins breathlessly report that CNN or the BBC or really anyone in one of the ‘real countries’ acknowledged our existence.
We feel detached from the world, and therefore crave its validation.
The vindication of Paul Fishlock
Wow.You may have noticed that not much went up on Mumbrella over the last couple of hours.
That’s because I’ve been reading the judge’s findings in Paul Fishlock’s case against The Campaign Palace.
I’d always known that agencyland can be a brutal place. But the picture of the cynical, ego-driven, unsentimental world that comes through in the findings of Justice John Sacker is something else. I recommend you take the time to read it yourself.
The reputation of Young & Rubicam’s global creative director Tony Granger certainly takes a battering in my view. The word “bully” is a hard one to come back from.
And former Campaign Palace CEO Mark Mackay comes across as someone you might think twice about either hiring or working for, based on the evidence presented. The judge calls him contemptuous of both Granger and Fishlock.
Coke Zero break up ad taken off air
Coca-Cola has taken its “Break Up” ad for Coke Zero off the air in Australia after the Advertising Standards Bureau received complaints about its raunchy content.
The Coke Zero ad – which was created by the Danish agency Grey Copenhagen – has been running globally. It features a young man steeling himself to end a relationship. When he starts to break the news, it goes far better than he could have hoped, complete with pole dancers appearing from nowhere and the girlfriend saying she understands, and to call her when he wants to have fun.
Prior to broadcast, the Australian version of the TVC had already been toned down compared to the version airing in some parts of the world which included the girl inviting him to call “when you want to shag”.
But the Australian Family Association has labelled the ad – aimed at Coke Zero’s young, male audience – sexist, reported Adelaide’s Sunday Mail. The Advertising Standards Bureau told Mumbrella that it had received complaints and was investigating. And a spokesman for Coca-Cola South Pacific told Mumbrella that the company had voluntarily taken the Coke Zero commercial off the air until the ASB has looked at it.
However, the ad has so far only generated 45 complaints. The willingness of Coca-Cola to voluntarily pull the ad until the ASB has ruled, comes after its recent bruising encounter with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over its “myth-busting” advertisements for Coke.
The ASB will be keen to show that it can be a tough regulator after being attacked by the ACCC for okaying the previous ad. But if it does ban the TVC, it risks putting itself at odds to regulators in other parts of the world where the ad is still running.
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Comments
15 Apr 09
1:34 pm
It is a horribly misogynist and highly offensive ad – I am surprised that it is running anywhere. I am no supporter of anybody who calls themselves the Australian Family Association and I love the idea of the punch line ‘let’s just hook up for fun’, but all of the women portayed in the ad are just nasty and demeaning stereotypes. You could achieve a better result with the same idea and a less offensive portrayal of what men want in women. Or am I just hopelessly naive?
15 Apr 09
3:02 pm
I’m not convinced the AFA is the reason it has been pulled. This ad’s biggest problem is that it’s just not very good. It uses an old idea delivered in an uninspiring package which doesn’t resonate widely, if at all.
Pole Dancers appear – SO WHAT. Girls are wearing bikinis and dancing lasciviously – SO WHAT. A girl is up for ex-sex – SO WHAT. No man is holding them back or putting them down. They all seem confident, empowered women to me.
Sexist? Misogynistic? No. That’s a misandristic view. The ad is a comical fantasy, like most ads. To not get that suggests a lack of cultural awareness and tolerance, which is the agenda of most religious conservative groups from any faith.
I believe the AFA (which is politically just to the right of Genghis Khan) never complained about Diet Coke break, the current Foxtel ads, etc. which portray men as sexual objects or clueless buffoons. Even if no-one outside AFA cares, this shows the AFA to be the ones with a broken moral compass.
15 Apr 09
3:22 pm
Your rant completely misses my point, which is that you don’t need to be conservative or religious to be offended by this ad, because it is just offensive. My complaint is not about women being portrayed as sexual objects, but as nasty and demeaning stereotypes. I’m not lacking cultural awareness or tolerance, I’m just objecting, like you, to the lack of depth and poor humour in the execution of this idea – an idea I don’t mind at all.
15 Apr 09
4:30 pm
JosieK
Bless. You make the incorrect and arrogant assumption that my “rant” is anything to do with your (confusing) comments. If it was, I’d have addressed my comments to you. I’m talking about the ad, the piece and the actions of Coke, AFA, ASB and ACCC.
Happy to critique your comment if you’d like. Please advise.
15 Apr 09
5:53 pm
It’s also a very poor imitation of all the Axe spots running around the world.
Here’s one: http://www.bestadsontv.com/ad_details.php?id=14988
And who could forget this local classic for Lynx: http://www.bestadsontv.com/ad_details.php?id=1171
16 Apr 09
4:57 pm
The AFA should applaud the ad for having its protagonist put a helmet on before racing out of a fireball. Safety first!
Its only sexist if you lack a sense of irony. The ad clearly satirizes male fantasies; the sexist female caricatures are a figment of the protagonist’s warped imagination. Its pretty obvious when he gets on that motorbike.
No more sexist than the Lynx ads, but certainly inferior in concept and execution.
16 Apr 09
6:45 pm
Don’t confuse the AFA with the AFA!
16 Apr 09
7:59 pm
Grow up, its just an ad. If you find it an offensive stereotype change the channel just like i’m sure you do when all those cleaning product ads featuring only women are on!
21 Apr 09
3:58 pm
It is indeed offensive.
My real objection to the add is not only the pole dancers etc in the ad and the obvious objectification of women involved, but the fact it is insinuated that this is how a break up SHOULD BE.
Women should live to serve male fantasties and when they object to being portrayed as vapid sexual objects they should change the channel? This sort of ad normalises sexual objectification and it smells a little when people’s retort is to call objectees prudes etc. Why should I change the channel???
21 Apr 09
4:28 pm
Anonymous,
A little late to the fray, but hey. As it’s Tuesday, I’ll be doing this in the sardonic style of Charlie Brooker. Here we go…
A wild guess, but are you female and ugly?
Could you compare and contrast your views on this ad with those of the Diet Coke Break ads.
In this exercise, I hope to see you graphically explain how your cognitive dissonance rips your conscience apart until you explode in an aerosol of faux-feminist excreta.
Quite frankly, I could do with the laugh as I read your trite blithering remarks descend into a pit of misandrist despair.
Solution: Take some valium, a glass of wine and Jessica Rabbit to calm yourself down. Repeat ad nauseam.
Then make my dinner.
21 Apr 09
5:55 pm
Nice. All that comment did was prove your idiocy.
Can you not disagree with someone without resorting to insults? In answer to your question, no I’m not. Are you?
21 Apr 09
6:12 pm
Anonymous,
Feminist humour-bypass victims are down the hall on the left.
Don’t wear your bikini or they’ll stone you to death.
4 May 09
12:19 pm
disgracefully sexist ad – i complained to coke and got the stock reply – so i’m thrilled it’s been pulled. offensive to women is clearly cool with coke. bring on the pepsi!!
5 May 09
12:51 pm
I’m afraid that I don’t have much time to watch tv, nor am i really interested in the verbose ramblings of an immature sapling who’s parents obviously gave him a thesaurus for Christmas one year instead of a bike….. but I would like to throw this very innocent question into the discussion – Why was this advert pulled when Richard Branson’s latest advert for Virgin is played over and over?
I see no difference is either portrayal of women. In both ads, woman are solely being portrayed as bodies to satisfy desire.
Interesting? Possibly the “smug old man” is more socially acceptal, than the hormonally challenged, young man.
Its all in the control Adgrunt.! I’m told it comes with age / maturity…… maybe one day for you!!!!
5 May 09
1:25 pm
I wonder if another factor was that by the time the ASB came to consider it, Coke had already voluntarily taken the ad off the air. Their submission to the ASB read a little like the fight had already gone out of them, preumably because of the ACCC battering
I’m guessing that made it a lot easier for the ASB to come to the verdict about an ad which is still deemed acceptable in much of the English-speaking world.
Regardless, I wouldn’t be expecting much risk-taking advertising from Coke anytime soon.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
5 May 09
1:28 pm
Me, you’re too kind.
Extremely sorry that you’re threatened by big words and the breadth of the English language. That makes me sad. As does your appalling grammar. Maybe you’re jealous of someone who can actually construct a sentence correctly?
For one so anti-verbosity I think you only meant to write:
“I see no difference is either Virgin or Coke’s portrayal of women. In both ads, women are solely being portrayed as bodies to satisfy desire.”
So why didn’t you?
6 May 09
8:57 am
The answer is simple…..I enjoy your passionate retorts, Adgrunt – they are funny!!!!!
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