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Opinion
Video: How to win new business
Mumbrella Question Time saw the panel asked the secrets of winning new business. Read more »
Let’s stop the anonymous vitriol
In this guest posting, Peter Bray, boss of The Brand Shop, takes issue with negative comments from anonymous posters on Mumbrella and elsewhere.
There are very few ads that I vehemently dislike. There are also very few ads that I really love. But most ads I see on Mumbrella and other blogs I can usually take something from, whether it is information about the brand, a bit of inspiration or a “watch out”. I’m open to learning as much as I can from others, and encourage those around me to do the same.
My basic assumption, however, is that because an ad has been produced by a professional agency, and had the approval from the client, then the end result must be doing something right. Therefore, without knowing the practical rationale behind the ad, for me to have a strong opinion about whether it is great advertising would be kind of arrogant. There is a reason that awards shows ask for information about why an ad was created: they are rarely judged on end product alone.
So as someone who enjoys watching the work that our industry creates, I am stunned at the level of vitriol stemming from some people’s comments in both this blog and others. Read more »
Read his lips
This is several weeks old, but worth a look. It’s certainly an original way to deal with media criticism.It features Air NZ boss Rob Fyfe responding to weekly current affairs magazine The Listener using the medium of sign language. Read more »
Let’s not be too positive just yet – the nail is still there
It’s more than a year since News Ltd’s marketing boss Joe Talcott used the memorable analogy of a dog whimpering on a nail to describe the structural change the industry needs to go through. Read more »
The AdNews numbers that mislead the market
It’s always a tad tawdry when competitors attack each other, but I hope you’ll bear with me…
Whether cynically or through incompetence, AdNews has been misleading its advertisers by providing them with data that seems to suggest they have six times their true online audience.
Allow me to present the evidence. Read more »
Technology will help us own the agenda – all day, every day
In this opening speech to the Future Forum of the Newspaper Publishers Association, News Ltd CEO John Hartigan argued that news organisations have the opportunity to become more rather than less relevant.
Today I want to talk about a tipping point that heralds the most exciting era for journalism. The most exciting era ever.
This tipping point is already upon us. It has arrived at lightning speed, with the explosion in demand for mobile devices.
I am not consigning newspapers to the scrapheap. Not by a long shot.
But this tipping point is going to change journalism forever. In my opinion, very much for the better. Read more »
The real time shit sandwich detector
In this guest post, Clive Burcham of The Conscience Organisation, relishes the instant feedback of social media.
I’ve been making brand driven content since 1996 and often I’ve been so close to the work that I couldn’t tell the difference between if we were chomping on a shit sandwich or savouring the crème de la creme. From an audience perspective, we wouldn’t know the difference for weeks or months. What excites me most now is that we know within 24 hours if we’ve developed shit or cream. Read more »
SMH shows how to make a home page takeover work
When you’re a commercial organisation, balancing the needs of consumers with the need to make money through ads is tricky.
Among the organisations that sometimes goes the wrong way in my view is Fairfax, with its autostart video ads, for instance.
But today, a bit of unreserved praise Read more »
Inside the Foxtel factory
Having been at the launch of Foxtel’s new season the other night, nine points occur… Read more »
ABC News 24 – a handy service for niche journalists
It may not have many viewers yet, but ABC News 24 saves specialist journos having to leave their desks, argues Delimiter’s Renai LeMay
When media commentators discuss the future of journalism, they usually agree on at least one thing: It will involve much fewer generalists and more reporters dedicated to exhaustively covering niche fields. Read more »
The seven ages of Carlton Draught’s Made From Beer
Today sees the launch of “Slow Mo”, the latest instalment of Carlton Draught’s irreverent Made From Beer series.
It’s been quite a run – from the highly awarded Big Ad, to the comedy of Flash Beer, to the debacle of the abortive banned Tingle campaign. These are the seven ages of Made From Beer… Read more »
Real consumers don’t have ‘brand conversations’. They use search
In this guest posting, Simon van Wyk argues that much as marketers might wish otherwise, most consumers don’t have emotional connections with brands
I have a background in marketing, but my understanding of branding seems at odds with the 2010 opinions I see from social media commentators, marketing and advertising agencies. Read more »
Hot, censoring atheists: Google’s insight into what punters think about pollies and journos
One of the charms of Google is autocomplete, where it takes a punt on what you’re going to ask, based on what the rest of the world has been wondering previously.
And it certainly gives a few insights into the high quality of political debate about the Labor leaders in the run up to the election.
Take NSW premiere Kristina Keneally… Read more »
The copyright-busting election
This is rapidly turning into the copyright-infringing election. Read more »
Digital Fail: The gaping void in digital training is failing our industry
In this guest post, Amnesia Razorfish’s Iain McDonald warns that the industry has fallen badly behind on digital training.
Before I get accused of trolling with that headline, I’ll state what I think is obvious: The current education system isn’t producing or nurturing enough ‘digitally skilled’ individuals to sustain a growing a digital economy. Read more »
Fairfax: Nik Howe didn’t quit. We fired him
Nik Howe, the editor of Sport & Style did not quit, but was fired, Fairfax has told Mumbrella.
After Mumbrella earlier today revealed that Howe was launching full time into branded content agency Articulate, Lisa Hudson, Fairfax Magazine’s chief executive and publisher, told Mumbrella: ‘I’d like to go on the record. He did not quit. He was fired for misconduct. He was dismissed.”
After Mumbrella put the claim to Howe, he conceded: “That’s interesting. As far as I’m concerned, we parted company on reasonable terms.”
But he added: “I think they were unhappy with the fact that the agency was going on in the background.”
Although Fairfax declined to comment on the specifics of Howe’s dismissal, Mumbrella understands that the potential conflict of interest of Howe’s involvement in the agency while also editing the magazine was not the only issue.
December 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
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Comments
9 Dec 09
1:13 pm
Ouch
9 Dec 09
1:44 pm
sounds like a Christmas Party casualty!
9 Dec 09
1:46 pm
Ooof!
9 Dec 09
1:52 pm
@Elle – LOL!
9 Dec 09
1:55 pm
Does that mean he can’t ask them for a reference?
9 Dec 09
1:59 pm
I think the magazine is the only reference he’ll need.
9 Dec 09
2:01 pm
Nice tantie Lisa! Not only do you come out firing, but you look like a poor sport. I thought fairfax as a whole would be bigger than one employee.
Didn’t think much of it to start with Nik leaving, but now I feel for him that a Corporation is SOOO willing to drag his name through the mud.
Head up Nik, they’re obviously not worth working for. Good luck on the venture!
9 Dec 09
2:03 pm
Yes, guaranteed to send you to sleep
9 Dec 09
2:06 pm
I know a fair few people of the fairer sex who would side with Lisa on this one.
9 Dec 09
2:15 pm
The casualties will surely come from the Top 100 party, but this particular editor wasn’t there.
9 Dec 09
2:15 pm
@Ribbit why would women side with Lisa on this? care to expand your comment?
9 Dec 09
2:16 pm
(removed for legal reasons)
9 Dec 09
2:22 pm
@Ribbit without some evidence there i think it would be wise to tread carefully with that comment. Or are you a disgruntled Fairfax employee?
9 Dec 09
2:25 pm
I know no-one involved here, but accusations such as (edited for legal reasons) seems just plain dangerous. There’s a living breathing reputation at risk here.
9 Dec 09
2:32 pm
game over comb over
9 Dec 09
2:40 pm
I though Tim was supposed to moderate these sorts of comments. I don’t know any of the individuals involved but I’d be calling my brief if I was this Nick bloke.
9 Dec 09
2:45 pm
If he had a comb over they should have said something straight up, would have saved a lot of questioning about why…
9 Dec 09
2:45 pm
Ribbit I’d be watching out for the defamation police.
9 Dec 09
2:48 pm
good consistent quality mag. nice shoes. seems like a good bloke to me.
9 Dec 09
3:07 pm
Always hilarious to hear or read that when someone leaves Fairfax, they’ve always been fired.
9 Dec 09
3:14 pm
Seriously,
To feel the need to go on public record?
Exectuve dramas play out everyday. And most get on with their lives.
But Fairfax, like Westpac, feel the need on this occassion to inform and educate us of their brilliant decision making?
It seems the harder you try, the more it says about you.
So maybe talk to your PR people first, you know, get some advice from more experienced people – rather than taking your own. Because whilst you know how samrt you are, the rest of us don’t – but we do now! LOL
9 Dec 09
3:40 pm
Ahhhh; at least some of your “commentators” get it right. Fairfax, the self-styled Gurus of publishing”, have had a not-too-succesful track record with new publications for most of the last 30 years and more. And when anyone leaves, 90% of the time it is because they were, quote, “fired”. What a load of bullsh..
Most of your comments are spot on; particularly “Larry”, “John Sands” and Fairfax plus Westpac . . . . ” If only they could get first-rate marketing AND editorial people in charge, working together, and NOT splintered like that dysfunctional Board has been for a few years. Sad but true. (At least One can always ‘wish’ I guess. If only . . .”).
9 Dec 09
3:56 pm
In fairness to Fairfax, it is worth just flagging up the course of events. They only went on the record at saying he’d been fired after he put out a press release (which we published) about his agency. So they were responding to what they saw as an inaccurate statement that he had quit.
While I wasn’t privvy to what really went on, hypothetically, if I had fired someone and a few days later they went public saying they’d resigned, I might be tempted to react to it
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
9 Dec 09
4:07 pm
@Tim or do they just start heading into a case of he said she bitched?
I mean why did they feel compelled to go out and say they fired him? Does this add to anything at all? Is it FailFacts just wielding their publishing muscle? surely if his conduct was so poor and so bad to be fired we would have heard about this before now?
He may well have been fired. There are lots of corporate employments contracts out there that have clauses that say you cannot operate your own interest/business while being employed by them (I know my contract at CH7 said that when i worked there).
I see some fast calls being made to legal Suits in the next few days.
9 Dec 09
4:10 pm
@Tim – It’s not that they did react. it’s how they reacted. As “Fairfax + Westpac = Hopeless PR” states…..”maybe talk to your PR people first”. Very unprofessional from a Corporation and an Executive. Look at how many responses to this article compared to the original posting about Nik starting his agency………..only 2 from last check.
Fairfax could have let it slide and not look like a child throwing a tantrum!
Now…Anyone know what really happened? I’m intrigued…….
9 Dec 09
5:23 pm
I agree with all of the above
9 Dec 09
6:13 pm
I’ve got no issues with Lisa Hudson having her say on this – especially after Nik apparently sent out a press release (!) to promote himself, big-note his new agency and make what appears to be an untruthful statement about the basis of his departure from Fairfax.
Things might have been different if Nik had played the game the way it’s always (or mostly) been played – either not saying much or anything about the reasons for his departure or citing the old ‘launched the mag, now time to move on, great time working with the team at Fairfax but new opportunities for the new year blah blah blah’
But there’s clearly a lot more to this than either Nik or Lisa is saying…
9 Dec 09
9:43 pm
There’s nothing wrong with Fairfax’s PR on this issue. It’s barely a “tantrum”. Just getting the right story out there. That’s what PR is all about isn’t it?
9 Dec 09
10:23 pm
Alan – in response -You are right. PR is about getting the right story out there. Your ‘right’ story. It woudl come under the heading – Issues management. It is a critical part of PR. And PR is about contributing to the positive management of the brand for the organisation. In this case there was no issue to manage. ie Nik Howe’s press release got a write up on Mumbrella and managed to attract a massive 2 comments. However, poor issues management , ie the so called ‘correct information’ has dragged Fairfax’s name into a debate that, as you correctly point out is not a ‘tantrum’. But becasue of poor issues management now it and seems to continue to gain momentum.
The more protesting there is about this, from ‘apparent’ Fairfax supporters, the longer it looms for Fairfax, and the more I think, maybe Farifax wanted to help Nik Howe build his newly found minnow into a brand with better awareness than say ‘f2′ ever had.
Alan, you don’t work in corporate affairs at fiarfax do you? Do they even have that department?
9 Dec 09
10:55 pm
No, I don’t work there.
If I did, I wouldn’t be writing without surname or contact details in the comments section of a blog.
10 Dec 09
2:32 am
Now that they have their kicking boots on, Fairfax brass might want to consider jetting down to Melbourne and booting quite a few silly people out of the new Age building.
While spoil a fine space with the same old executive furniture?
10 Dec 09
4:26 am
Only “a few silly people”? I would have a wholesale cleanout. 70% of those who style themselves smugly as ‘journos.’ wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes amongst the olde hands of say 10-30 years ago. They were professionals; people who were proud of every word and jotting done, with articles being carefully crafted, and not just scrawled down any oild how.. Just ask the old hands who still there.
Sad but true.
10 Dec 09
7:33 am
Given this has been done on an industry blog, the Fairfax management have felt compelled to put the record straight. We do not know the facts behind why he was dismissed but given that many Fairfax staff may read this site, perhaps it was important for them to see the facts corrected.
And no I don’t work for Fairfax, for their PR agencies or anything like that.
10 Dec 09
7:48 am
…or perhaps the parties involved in whatever issues led to the dismissal were external to Fairfax so it was important for them to see the story repudiated publicly as after all, it would seem FFsaid nothing of the issue until Nik did.
10 Dec 09
8:35 am
@Graham – If FF wanted their staff to know, then hold an internal meeting and discuss. Don’t announce in this forum.
It just seems that they have allowed one individual to get under their skin….This is a trait that should be admired….Nik’s CV is good, he’s done well launching the title, just pissed a few people off somewhere/somehow!
FF’s best approach would have been to leave it alone and provide “no comment” when asked for a reference by a potential future employer, or state “Nik’s moved on, We’ve moved on, there’s no more to it.”
10 Dec 09
8:50 am
Maybe Mr Howe was simply being prudent and preparing for life after Fairfax. Have you seen how thin Sport & Style is?
10 Dec 09
9:19 am
Worst editor ever. How he got the job in the first place, only Lisa Hudson knows.
10 Dec 09
9:33 am
So bad that he broke world headlines by printing the jelena dokic story when Sport & Style was only a few months old and other media companies had been chasing the story for years.
10 Dec 09
9:38 am
@Cat – Maybe that’s why they fired him! He was too clever/good at his job…..At Fairfax they call it misconduct for showing up the Executive team.
10 Dec 09
10:16 am
Jeezus
Has anyone stopped and thought the threat that this mere conflict of interest problem has created for the publisher – regardless of the company.
A publisher lives on their integrity and anyone who threatens that integrity threatens the livelihood of all other employees.
In this instance Fairfax needed to demonstrate to all – employees, stakeholders and shareholders- that they will aggressively defend their integrity. If they let Howe ‘get away with it’ they set an awful precedent for all others within the organisation.
10 Dec 09
10:32 am
@Quentin – I agree with you. Their best approach to cover off what you have outlined was to hold a staff meeting, lay out the ground rules/reasons and move on. I had no idea there was an issue until Lisa announced. Bad PR on their behalf.
Then again, we don’t even know what his ‘Misconduct’ was…….What did Howe ‘get away with’? No-one will elaborate, so we can only assume! But are we correct. Like I said previously, I did not care about Nik’s move when I read it and 24hrs a go, only 2 people had bothered to post anything. Now Fairfax appear like bullies.
10 Dec 09
1:11 pm
Interesting to read these comments for what they imply: While there are supporters, there’s also a fair swathe of people who appear to have no love for Fairfax. These are people who place the ads that keep Fairfax alive. Time to sell your shares?
10 Dec 09
11:49 pm
who cares about Nik – he’d be forgotten in a week – worst for Fairfax though is who actually cares about that magazine – it’s the biggest NOTHING – just fluff with swimmers dressed in Gucci – OOHHH PLLLLEAASE -
11 Dec 09
1:08 pm
When I was there we used the backpage of the AFR to get some great PR about a little fall out we were having in the boardroom. Touche ! Anyone for pig hunting ?
11 Dec 09
2:59 pm
Misconduct sounds different to conflict of interest. Is the real story yet to unfold?
11 Dec 09
4:08 pm
@Quentin Long: fair call!
It’s not a _little_ conflict of interest issue — it’s a bloody big one. It’s misconduct enough, regardless of what else Nik got up to at Fairfax.
Every contract I’ve seen and/or signed in this industry includes a heavy section about moonlighting, freelancing, consulting etc for another publishing business in direct competition with your _current_ publisher. Break that deal and you’re out.
If you use (or even attempt to use) your employer’s resources or IP to compete against them, then getting fired is only the beginning.
11 Dec 09
4:19 pm
Ahhh; “truth will (always) out”. Well in this case it is taking a bloody long time. With in between every kiund of comment; idiotic ranging thru to prescient and knowledgable.
But will someone put ,e out of my misery and just give us the facts – tha plain facts; then we can all get on with the rt of our lives.
“here’s hoping Esmerelda?
11 Dec 09
4:48 pm
Doubt it’s so much “regardless of what else Nik got up to at Fairfax” as exactly what else he got up to..
15 Dec 09
2:44 pm
At this point, we’re closing this comment stream for legal reasons.
Tim – Mumbrella