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Opinion | Features
My memo to your boss
So let me guess?
You really want to come to Mumbrella360, but you’ve got to justify the time and cost to your boss?
Good news! I think I can help.
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.
Daily online newspaper launches in Adelaide
The Fairfax-affiliated Independent Weekly has launched a daily online-only newspaper in Adelaide.
Previously the publisher had produced a daily html email with around 20,000 subscribers, but has now switched to a platform from technology firm Realview designed to mimic the newspaper experience. Adelaide’s only print daily is the Adelaide Advertiser, owned by News Ltd.
Indaily is closer to a newspaper feel in terms of layout, although the ads have the same rich media capabilities of a web site, and the publication can also include video.
The five-year-old Independent Weekly is owned by Solstice Media and is a member of Fairfax Digital’s regional network. It also contains some Fairfax content.
MD Paul Hamra said: “What subscribers now receive is aesthetically akin to the print addition, but with all the immediacy, interactivity and response provoking mechanisms that make web environments so powerful.”
The Realview platform is also being trialled as part of the new Audit Bureaux of Australia’s Web Audit Service.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
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Comments
10 Jun 09
2:55 pm
Hmmm, interesting, except what’s the point of having a web-based news source if you can’t have the most up-to-date information on a topic? The best part about getting news from the web is that it’s so current and easily updated, but as the Independent Weekly has to put the stories into layout and then upload it onto Realview they have to deal with similar time constraints that a printed publication has to deal with. So I don’t think they’re really taking advantage of the web medium.
Then again, maybe there is a lot of potential in this format and I just can’t see it.
What do people think in general of papers/magazines that mimic the printed format online?
10 Jun 09
3:17 pm
craptacular
10 Jun 09
3:36 pm
Looks to me like the layout can be readily templated and up to date stories would be loaded in time for whenever the thing was going to be released. Magazines are going this way by the bucket load in the US because advertisers want to be able to represent print campaigns online, which websites can’t support the same way this kind of format can. The images and video support for each story is better integrated in this kind of concept, it connects the reader more readily to the story. Websites are full of videos that don’t have anything to do with the main stories on the page at all and don’t add any value to the headlines.
10 Jun 09
3:56 pm
Hey Sportzilla, interesting take. What are some of the magazines that you know of that are doing something similar? I’d be keen to take a look at them.
Most of the magazines I’ve researched in the US are moving towards a totally different business model. They’re increasing the cost of the publication to the subscribers so that they don’t have to rely solely on advertising revenue and then using the web in a totally different way ie they are not treating their site as an online version of their magazine. And they are not giving away content for free on the web that comes in the magazine.
10 Jun 09
3:59 pm
This is a pretty massive FAIL.
The only conceivable reason I can think of for launching a Flash based newspaper such as this is because it’s targeting an elderly demographic who relate better to the old school newspaper format.
Other negatives are poor accessibility and no search functionality.
10 Jun 09
4:14 pm
I don’t think it is Flash based – I think HTML! Have seen some really cool stuff from this company – RealView! It is fully searchable and trackable as it is web based. And if it is now also auditable it is a complete package deal hey!
10 Jun 09
4:43 pm
Issuu has provided the same thing for publishers for years … and it’s free.
10 Jun 09
4:45 pm
Hi Lizza, looking at the website of the service provider it looks like they are publishing for a lot of different magazines but I am not sure how many of them are using it the same way that the Independent Weekly is – they seem to have taken it to a bit of a new level – check out some of the back issues, they have developed animations to support some of the news stories, it’s just eye catching but not in your face like some web ads can be, which is something I loathe.
Publishing models here have already changed – look at the business that emerged from iSUBSCRIBE. I wonder if using a format like this means publishers can pick up more online subscriptions and maybe keep the subs revenue in-house?
Carl – Depends on what basis you call it a fail – if advertisers are supporting it and readers are engaging with it and it paid for itself, it wouldnt be a failure would it?
10 Jun 09
5:02 pm
I’ve just been checking out this story, as a media buyer I know that more and more titles are going down this path. Some digital titles claim good numbers but I’m not prepared to buy as there is limited support to verify the publishers claim. I wouldn’t look at any print or digital publication that wasn’t audited. End of story.
10 Jun 09
9:26 pm
NNRrrrrr…..dont think so!!
10 Jun 09
10:39 pm
I dont get it either?
Old style paper online was available in 2001.
But maybe I’m missing something too.
11 Jun 09
9:35 am
Old style paper with an old style business model? I think what this is is new style paper with video and interactive ads with a new business model. I think when Murdoch states newspapers will be digital within 10 years maybe it will look something like this?
11 Jun 09
10:26 am
Lizza – I’ve been scouting around this this story came out and there are other companies that have flip book software. Looking at the article again and the sub story about the ABA’s Web Audit Service, I guess the main difference is the Independent Weekly will now be able to get official audit figures on the readership of its digital publications? I’m not sure any other digital publishing service out there has automated an auditing service through the CAB before?
11 Jun 09
10:54 am
feels clunky – it might work on a portable device but doesn’t on a laptop
11 Jun 09
2:41 pm
sportzilla – yeah the main difference does seem to be the CAB service. It’s a good extra.
11 Jun 09
9:04 pm
Ben – . I’ve subscribed now because I am interested to see how the publisher evolves this and I want to keep track of which advertisers are using it. I work from a laptop and I haven’t had any issue with it – what was happening when you checked it out?
12 Jun 09
9:34 am
I love it. There is flash content but it’s good content, a daily, local editorial from a very articulate and engaging editor, and the journos are constantly updating stories both in the publication and on the Independent Weekly’s website. It leaves other online news offerings for dead in terms of feel, digestible reading and relevance. Check it out! http://www.indaily.com.au
12 Jun 09
11:22 am
sportzilla – technically it works … for me as a reader it just feels awkward and doesn’t really make me want to read the content. maybe it lacks the skin articles and sensationalist content of the main digital mastheads that keeps my attention.
13 Jun 09
12:48 am
Hey Nic, hope they give you a pay rise over at the Indy for your post.
13 Jun 09
11:17 am
Hang on Mumbrella is a media and marketing site isn’t it?
Did you see the way the display ads were working on indaily?
Eyecatching but not annoying, there for the viewing, both directly and subliminally.
I’ve never seen so many ads so well displayed on a site.
And since the content is categorised according to subject, advertisers can target their readers…
Everyone is pointing out how online sites don’t earn enough ad revenue to run a newspaper. This could be a way around it…
19 Jun 09
10:53 am
There’s some merit in what they’ve done, but they’re still going about it in the wrong way. Such news sources shouldn’t be trying to replicate the “turn the page” and “two facing pages” parts of reading a physical newspaper or magazine – by default the text is too small and the zoom-to-read functions are a bit awkward. On top of that, unless I’m mistaken, they can’t really track attention to an individual article, but then again that might reduce the downward slide to the “Amazing photos of Miranda Kerr” tripe we get on News Ltd sites.
What is worth replicating though is the inclusion of multimedia and the variety of ad/promo placements which you don’t always get in a standard template-driven news site. But the reason things have evolved in the way they have is that it’s cheaper to paste content into an article template than it is to create a fairly custom layout per page.
The best solution IMO will be the one that combines the best of both approaches and it could be done economically through provision of maybe 10-15 layout templates, and some concept of reading through a publication rather than just scouring a list of headlines. Rather than facing-pages and page-turning mechanisms, there’d be a stronger previous/next navigation – more so than “Next page” which is all most multi-page articles have now.