-
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.
Dutch’s Destiny from Optus: Good idea, shocking acting
Aussie telco Optus has launched Dutch’s Destiny, an online video series featuring the adventures of a young rapper.
The series, which features on an Optus YouTube channel and Channel V, sees viewers being asked to vote on a dilemma at the end of each episode.
It’s a good idea – and yet more evidence that the time is now for video content that goes beyond the 30 second commercial.
Unfortunately the acting makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon.
Tim Burrowes
October 18th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
-
-
Follow Us
-
Email Newsletter
Latest Jobs- Strategy Director - Sydney
- Marketing/Project Manager - Crows Nest, Sydney
- BDM Mobile Specialist - Sydney
- National Account Manager - Pyrmont NSW
- Account Manager Advertising Media - Sydney CBD
- Strategic Integration Manager - $140,000 package - Sydney
- Ad Sales and Business Development - Sydney CBD
- Customer Service / Social Media Superstar - Sydney
- Business Development Manager Outdoor Senior Role - Sydney CBD
- Junior Digital Producer - sydney
Comments
18 Oct 09
5:32 pm
Mind you, he does work in a call centre and seems to hate his job. Maybe he works for Optus.
18 Oct 09
6:27 pm
How is this a good idea?
Terrible acting. Cliche plot. Do Optus really think anyone who isn’t part of their agency list would even watch this, let alone enjoy it?
18 Oct 09
8:44 pm
Under the guise of a much misunderstood quality of ‘engagement’ we have had a rash of user-generated story lines. Watch A, then choose B or C. Choose C, then choose D or E. The issue is ‘A’ doesn’t engage, let alone viewed to its conclusion. Lame content, ridiculous story lines, laughable performances and the expectation is someone (outside the immediate agencies) will give time to these brand/sales mechanisms? Get over this idea that engagement can be manufactured without a commitment to long-term, quality initiatives.
18 Oct 09
10:01 pm
I happened to be round at a friend’s place last night when this ‘ad’ broadcast on one of the music channels. I had to ask what it was, and then got stuck wondering how the heck this is going to help their brand.
Then cue the scene about where the so-called music exec propositions the aspiring ‘musician’ for sexual favours to stand a chance of getting somewhere.
A well timed point for the crickets outside to pipe up if there ever was one.
18 Oct 09
11:16 pm
i guess things like this happen when the motivations of the groups involved aren’t aligned
agency that came up with the concept will back it because they want the revenue and want to do a big project
media agency will back it because they want to appease the client and not alienate the creative agency
publisher will back it because it’s a cross platform idea they can PR internally and externally, plus the money is great for these things as a lot of it will be disguised as ‘production’ hard costs.
internally the marketing team will back it as none want to admit they’re not sure how to engage the target audience.
no one involved will have the spine to stand up and question this – no one will ask the question ‘do we really think anyone gives a f*ck about this sort of ad content’ … the assumption will be that this is how modern brands market themselves.
19 Oct 09
10:58 am
Okay, did they hire actors from the same place as Microsoft does?
19 Oct 09
11:01 am
I choose to switch to Three Mobile by the end of the day.
19 Oct 09
11:03 am
Soft porn wrapped in an Optus brand
19 Oct 09
11:05 am
This sort of thing reminds me of that line, “if you book them, they will come”. A great example of someone pulling out the “Gen Y likes this” text book and randomly selecting pages until they have built themselves a “strategy”.
Music + smug actors + perceived influence = successful campaign. Right?
How patronising and, worse, lazy to assume this sort of garbage is going to work.
19 Oct 09
11:15 am
Hang on, I don’t get it. Had he come to clean ze pool?
19 Oct 09
11:46 am
This is utter CRAP.
Not sure how this is “more evidence that the time is now for video content that goes beyond the 30 second commercial”.
This is on par with watching a video of a dog taking a steaming hot turd in the park.
19 Oct 09
1:02 pm
I like how you say “Aussie telco Optus”….
I’m sure the SingTel and its ultimate owner the Singaporean Government appreciate the irony.
19 Oct 09
1:19 pm
Hi Stu,
It’s a shorter way of saying “telco that operates here in Australia”. In the same way that people might think of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph as an Aussie newspaper. In that context, it doesn’t really matter that News Corp is based in the US.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
19 Oct 09
4:01 pm
How ridiculous. Another great fail for Optus
19 Oct 09
4:03 pm
F. None of the above. How to kill online video in one easy lesson.
19 Oct 09
4:16 pm
youtube channel is going off!!
153 subscribers
11,000 video views
19 Oct 09
9:30 pm
Are you being sarcastic ben?
20 Oct 09
9:23 am
Make it stop. Someone, please
20 Oct 09
10:46 am
So it is an ‘okay’ idea (I can’t stretch myself to good, sorry Tim!).
The premise in some situations would be good and I kind of like the idea behind it, however in the end the fact that it is (a) ultimately for Optus and (b) so poorly put together, scripted and developed are big issues for me.
In the end the ‘campaign’ around this is a bit of a non-starter, because the choices are so poor and the story just isn’t that engaging. This misses the real point on this type of campaign, which is that it is 100% storytelling – if you can’t come up with an engaging story don’t do it – I’d forgive the acting etc if the story was well crafted and engaging!
20 Oct 09
11:03 am
I just threw up a little bit…
20 Oct 09
5:35 pm
Oh what could have been. I’m feeling a bit embarrassed right now.
23 Oct 09
2:28 pm
Is this for real? Just when you thought shows like this were things of the past, you turn on your tv to this rubbish.
Seriously, every time I watch the tv and hear that lame ass intro rap music, I scramble around ripping apart the living room searching for the tv remote.
I feel for the poor kids who do the “acting” (and when I say acting, I use the term lightly) They probably think they’re doing a great job, and that they’ll be the next big thing, reality check… Stick to selling isurance or what ever you do in real life, never try acting again, or rapping for that matter, you’ll probably earn more money in your life time selling insurance than trying to make it big as a rapper.
Still, I feel a little responsible in the whole thing. If I didn’t buy Optus credit or pay an Optus bill my money wouldn’t fund such rubbish. Perhapse a change to Telstra is in order???
Oh, and Optus… FYI… Next time you need an idea for a marketing technique DO NOT… and I mean DO NOT hire some lame ass marketing firm to come up with a “cool idea” aimed at a demographic twenty to thirty years their junior. It doesn’t work, It has never work.
24 Oct 09
11:34 am
I think some might be missing the point. I am 21, I love this campaign, it’s hilarious. The terrible acting has surely got to be intentional. A slick production with David Wenham and Geoffrey Rush isn’t gonna work here. It’s part mockumentary, but just a hint of it, the aim is for my generation to be like “are they serious…this is terrrrrrilble….but I like it, it’s addictive” that kind of thing. The bad acting works.
26 Oct 09
1:16 pm
Brendan, you’re an idiot.
26 Oct 09
4:37 pm
Art Vandelay, you’re clearly as pretentious as your name and have no idea what market you’re dealing with. You will never be able to say you know the demographic I am part of better them me, no matter what data you have. I’m not saying what the agency did here was ingenious and intentional, I’m just saying it works for what it is. You shouldn’t stray from the children 7-12 age market, by the sound of lame insults like that.
26 Oct 09
4:41 pm
and why hide behind Seinfeld aliases anyway? How weak are you? do you just do this to any forum, just go around bagging people?
26 Oct 09
4:47 pm
Brendy boy- did you just quickly google my name and realise it was a Seinfeld character instead of my real “pretentious” name? Whoops!
You better get off mummys internet now and get back to the latest episode of Dutch’s Destiny… You never know what will happen next!!
26 Oct 09
8:14 pm
‘Art’, it seems like you’re the one who is using your mother’s internet. I think this young fella has actually said something interesting that marketers may overlook, but you haven’t really shown any qualification at all to understand any of this discussion so this might be wasted in you. Just stay off this forum or grow up.
26 Oct 09
8:29 pm
And please welcome to Mumbrella, the creative mastermind behind Dutch’s destiny, Mr Graham Welch.
26 Oct 09
9:42 pm
I have to say ‘Art’, if you’re going to treat the discussion in this way at least do so under your own name, then we at least all CAN google who you are (if only to avoid you in future!).
If you can’t do people that courtesy then I doubt anybody is going to pay too much credence to your comments…
27 Oct 09
9:09 am
Simon Julian, I’m not here to service some sycophantic desire for my peers to accept me (or take credence)
But maybe you’re right….
Maybe I should post under my real name….
Maybe I should even link to my own half baked industry blog…. Surely someone will take me seriously then right??
Aaah, I know what’s missing, attaching my CV to my blog. There.. All set. Online acceptance here we come!!
27 Oct 09
4:38 pm
why ARE you here Art? You’re here to hang shit on others from behind a blanket. You’re not adding anything interesting. And congrats on your comment “This is on par with watching a video of a dog taking a steaming hot turd in the park”, that is a really lively and original analogy.
Say what you want now, and you will, and you’ll stew over it, because you’re pretty pathetic and none too clever, but I’ll jump off the hate ship at this stop because I’ve got stuff to do. I’m not coming back to this page again.
ciao Farty
27 Oct 09
4:50 pm
Now now Brendan, no need to call me ‘farty’, that’s quite mean.
Anyway, since you wont be reading this, nice to chat, enjoy the rest of Dutch’s hilarious antics and exploits.
27 Oct 09
8:03 pm
Why Art, you visited my lil website *blush*
Why someone with sooooo much valuable insight and knowledge would grace me with their oh so interesting feedback is just beyond me…thank you just so much, I really mean it.
Seriously, send me your contact details, I’d just love to catch up and trade way interesting thoughts and stuff with you
Anyway, bored now, you’re a one trick pony buddy
27 Oct 09
9:13 pm
What a shame you dont overuse the same sarcastic creative license on your blog a bit more Simon.
27 Oct 09
9:36 pm
I’ll take it under advisement, if only I had met you sooner.
I take back what I said before, you get more interesting as time goes on. Nice to see we’re on a first name basis now, I feel so much more comfortable
4 Nov 09
2:50 am
i agree with brendan, its hilarious and is intentionally mocking, jeeze people