Opinion | Features

• Why Nine's investment in Quickflix makes it tougher for Netflix to launch in Australia

  Last week Nine Entertainment Co made a $1m investment to buy eight per cent of streaming company Quickflix, whilst preparing to launch its own operation StreamCo. Here Nic Christensen looks at the underlying reasons for Nine buying into a rival. In the world of video streaming last week's investment by Nine into rival Quickflix did not go unnoticed, but as always with these deals the devil is in the detail. In this case, a series of warrants and covenants that came with this batch of shares.

• With awards the more you get, the more you get

  Following recent controversy surrounding entries to the Cannes Lions awards Eaon Pritchard argues until we have a better way to evaluate the merits of  agencies than awards all agencies will be highly incentivised to do whatever it takes to win . Advertising's outcomes are notoriously hard to measure. Which is why in advertising agencies, we love to measure outputs instead.

• Why aren't more media companies offering job sharing to get experience back in the door?

  With the media industry churn and talent drain a constant issue Lucy Formosa Morgan asks why more companies aren't open to job sharing. There’s rarely a shortage of applicants for coordinator positions however when it comes to recruiting experienced middle / senior level people, the talent bank seems to dry up. Agencies can struggle to fill vacancies for months or end up having to recruit from overseas. So if we have plenty of juniors that we’re devoting time and money to training up, where are they going? Why is there such a shortage of good talent out there?

• Marketers are the ones whose reputations are most at risk if they are complicit in scam advertising

  With questions being raised over the integrity of some awards entries in recent weeks, former creative director Darren Woolley says scam can be as damaging for marketers as the agencies involved. Scam awards entries have come to industry attention again, following the most recent Cannes Lions Awards. In the process, several high profile advertisers have been associated with their agencies’ entries. But what are the implications for the advertiser? It is a standard response that advertisers are not really interested in creative awards. But the fact is that marketers are human and those that have healthy and close working relationships with their agencies actually enjoy seeing them being recognised, especially for work they may have created together.

• Terry Savage defends debated Cannes Lions entries saying 'Super Bowl ads run once'

  In a Q&A conducted by email,  Terry Savage, chairman of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, defends the integrity of the competition and answers questions around scam ads following an investigation by Mumbrella into a series of ads from Australia entered into the Press category which ran just once in regional media. What is your definition of scam? "We require the work to have been approved by the client and to have used paid Media in the execution, if there is a query we get validation via the agency the client and the Media schedule that the work has run and complied within our entry rules. In the case of self promotion and NGO that is not the case."

• Australian Women's Weekly editor on how its latest cover has changed industry attitudes

  The cover of the July edition of the Australian Women's Weekly features the image of ultra-marathon bushfire survivor Turia Pitt, a move which surprised many in an industry driven by image. Editor-in-chief Helen McCabe spoke to Miranda Ward about how the cover came about, and its effect not only on the public, but also the beauty and fashion industries as we. The July cover of the Australian's Women's Weekly has done more to market "what the heart and soul of the magazine is" than anything else the magazine's editor-in-chief Helen McCabe has done in her five years at the helm. Speaking to Mumbrella about the July edition which featured Turia Pitt, a survivor of the bushfire that swept through an ultra-marathon in Western Australia's Kimberly region in September 2011, McCabe said the cover is "a really strong signal to market that this magazine is committed to Australian women, quality stories, independent journalism, long-form story telling and quality writing.

• If you don't want to enter real work into awards, then fuck off and be an artist

  In this guest post, awards jury veteran Matt Batten, a former ECD of Wunderman Australia, argues that the practice of scam advertising - raised by Mumbrella in recent days - hurts the whole industry.      Reading from 10,553 miles away – that's 16,983km in the metric – I'd like to commend you on your dogged determination to find answers to the burning questions surrounding some of Australia's most intriguing Cannes Lions winners this year. Some say that this is the way of the world (at least our small part in it) and that creativity should be let free upon the award shows regardless of whether or not it was a legitimate response to a brief or a proactive project to help solve a genuine business problem for a real client – or a made-up ad for a brand that had no idea of its existence.

• Does culture really eat strategy for breakfast?

  Good startups often point to their culture as a driver of their success, but Eaon Pritchard asks whether that culture can be derived without a clear strategy? Culture, in an organisational sense, is usually interpreted as the collective behaviours, attitudes and beliefs that — when mixed together — create a particular set of norms within said organisation. Obviously there can be ‘good’ culture and ‘bad’ culture.

• Five things Wicked Campers needs to do online right now

  Wicked Campers has been in the midst of a media controversy over the last few days. Sebastian Vasta takes a look at how the brand could better manage the online and media crisis.  The latest cry to end Wicked Campers’ misogynist toilet humour is certainly not the first time the budget backpacker van company has been in trouble. But it’s certainly the loudest the online outrage has ever been.

• Cut here: Reshaping the ABC

  After the ABC unveiled its first round of cuts after having its funding  cut in the last budget Ben Goldsmith of the Queensland University of Technology looks at how it might look in the future, in this cross-posting from The Conversation. Monday’s announcement that the ABC will make 80 positions redundant is just the latest move in an enforced process of change to the public service broadcaster. It has a long way yet to run. The announcement finally put the lie to Tony Abbott’s election eve pledge, live on national television, that there would be “no cuts to the ABC or SBS”. In concert with other recent announcements, it seems clear that public broadcasting – and in particular the ABC – is squarely in the government’s sights.

• Lost dog - can you help us find him?

  Adland is an industry that likes to give back. Today, we're asking you to help us find this dog. You can find out more about Windblown Dog's history below:

• The future of Facebook is forensic

  Marketers should stop using Facebook as a mass reach tool and start thinking about conversions not conversations argues  Jack Smyth.  Forget conversations – the future of Facebook is forensic By now you’re probably sick of the same articles recycling the same Facebook statistics. Over 12 million Australian users, spending on average 8.5 hours every week and so on. We all know Facebook offers massive reach.

• Two stats about Netflix that should scare Foxtel and Quickflix

  With US streaming site Netflix poised to enter the Australian market next year Andrianes Pinantoan from Pocketbook crunched some numbers to see try and ascertain what the local pay-TV market already looks like now. Netflix is set to enter the Australian market, but that doesn’t stop a few enterprising Australians from accessing it now. Actually, it’s more than a few.

• Family Feud's return confirms the state of game shows in Australia

  In this cross-posting from The Conversation Matthew Wade argues the return of Family Feud shows Australia's TV networks are not interested in testing their audiences intellectually.  Family Feud returns to our television screens tonight as part of Ten’s desperate scramble to remain a viable entity, and is scheduled to compete with Seven and Nine’s main news bulletins at 6pm.

• An open letter to the staff of DDB Sydney and Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney

  In this open letter, Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes reaches out to the many excellent staff working at the award-winning agencies DDB and Saatchi & Saatchi. So last week, you may have noticed we gave some coverage to your Press Lions-winning work on behalf of McDonald’s and Panasonic. Congratulations again. Some of you even got a namecheck in the credits. I’m talking to you,