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Opinion | Features
Q&A with Adshel's Rob Atkinson
Online trading is the next big thing says Rob Atkinson in a piece that first appeared in Encore. Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
Harold Mitchell because of his influence and the footprint he has left. He’s built a huge brand in Mitchells, offloaded it into Aegis, Aegis has obviously done extremely well to be then sold on to Dentsu. So if you think about it, he is very much a father figure of the industry.
Making it overseas
Is the best way of being successful in Australia not be here at all? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Lee Zachariah speaks to Aussies making it big abroad.I always wanted to work in New York,” says Julian Cole. “I thought it was the number one place to work in advertising; a lot of the best campaigns were coming out of there. So I moved over and was lucky enough to have a couple of interviews in the first couple of weeks.”
Cole’s story is indicative of the somewhat contentious idea that the best way to be successful in Australia is to not be in Australia any more.
Got a book in you?
From journos to ad execs and PRs, these days everyone seems to have a book in them. But what does it take to get published and will you actually make any money? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Brooke Hemphill finds out.Attention wannabe authors. Forget big fat advance cheques and living off royalties. The reality of having a book published today is another story altogether. There are only two reasons you should even consider sitting down at your computer to bash out a manuscript – passion or profile.
Savage counsel
In an article that first appeared in Encore, Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas in his weekly advice column.Hi Chris,
My clients seem to be demanding more and more from us. At the same time, it seems many of the younger people in our industry simply don’t have the client servicing skills my generation grew up with. How do we instill in our executives some of the good old-fashioned behaviours that would keep a client happy and loyal?
Fake it til' you make it... as an ad agency receptionist
From dressing the part to playing the gatekeeper, Leo Burnett Sydney’s Susie Henry tells us how to make it as the face of adland in a piece that first appeared in Encore.What does a receptionist in an ad agency actually do?
Well, there’s the frantic every-day, all-day stuff of deliveries, courier bookings, doing expenses for directors – always challenging – plus arranging all the travel. But one of my main jobs is counselling the account service people. I also keep up with all sports information to discuss with our sports-loving clients – because who wants to be bored while they’re waiting? And I know how they like their coffee. You need to know everyone – from accounting to HR. I’m also the go-to for all catering and sending flowers.
Whose views skew the news? Media chiefs ready to vote out Labor, while reporters lean left
Most journalists lean left-of-centre, says Folker Hanusch of the University of the Sunshine Coast, in a post first published on The Conversation.Most Australian journalists describe themselves as left-wing, yet amongst those who wield the real power in the country’s newsrooms, the Coalition holds a winning lead.
But while the media’s political leanings will no doubt be debated in the lead-up to September’s federal election, our study has also found other largely unscrutinised biases remain – particularly whose views disproportionately shape the news.
It's time for a new New Wave in the film world
Government funding bodies are lazy and decadent, says industry veteran Michael Thornhill but in a piece that first appeared in Encore, Ed Gibbs begs to differ.I vividly remember the time I first saw Animal Kingdom, David Michod’s breathtaking labour-of-love feature debut. The press screening was half empty, despite the film winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance just months earlier, in 2010. Yet its superb performances, stylistic flourishes and overall polish left me speechless. Could this really be a feature debut, an Australian one at that, I wondered, almost out loud? It seemed too good to be true.
Going cold turkey on an agency addiction
Life is sweet for freelance writer Max Kitchen, but in a feature that first appeared in Encore, he admits his struggle against returning to the agency fold.I’ve never taken heroin. But I suspect if I had, the temptation to try it again would not be too dissimilar to the lure of returning to agency life.
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.
Fertility clinic ad first in Australia to show woman giving birth
Sydney based fertility clinic Genea will today launch a powerful TV commercial featuring a woman giving birth to support the organisation’s rebranding from Sydney IVF.
http://youtu.be/znFkg5m4c7c
The ad has been created by Rhodes Shapter and directed by Zia Mandviwalla from Curious Film in New Zealand. MEC is the media agency.
Creative director Dale Rhodes, Creative Director at Rhodes Shapter, said use of TV was unprecedented in the fertility category in Australia. “It is, to our knowledge, the first time a real birth has been shown as a commercial in Australia. High impact and totally relevant to the brand – birth and healthy babies is what Genea is all about.”
The TV campaign, running on Nine, Seven, 7Two, Go and Gem, will be backed with social media and DM activity.
Rhodes said: “Zia had a fantastic intuitive response to the script. She also had great experience in working with non-actors. We were able to find a mother who had had three previous uncomplicated births and was planning to use a birth centre, as this was ideal for filming.
“Zia built up a close rapport with the mother, father and midwife. We then flew to New Zealand a few days before the due date and waited for the labour. We shot on two cameras over a six-hour period.”
The ad is set to an original score by NZ composer Don McGlashan.
Media agency MEC is working on the campaign and the ad will run on channels and online.
Comments
1 Sep 11
11:55 am
Awesome ad.
Well done
1 Sep 11
12:16 pm
Very powerful & moving. Well done
1 Sep 11
12:26 pm
Pretty sure Myer did something with a woman giving birth in the 1990s. It won awards for the positive portrayal of women in advertising. Although it was all actors, not real people. Saying that, this is better by a long shot.
1 Sep 11
12:35 pm
If this ad doesn’t get banned I will lose all faith in the Ad Standards Board. It has a legitimate vag shot!!!! Even that Roger David ad only had a poorly photoshopped Union Jack in a girl’s mouth
1 Sep 11
12:42 pm
Powerful.
1 Sep 11
12:58 pm
Wow. Beautiful.
(I wish someone made my labor look that good.)
1 Sep 11
2:08 pm
Just beautiful! In my eyes, the most powerful ad ever created!
1 Sep 11
2:23 pm
More things we have to some how protect our children from viewing that arent at the age they should be having any comprehension to what is going on. Sometimes younger children are allowed up at a later time slot ie football night. The ad might be legitimate but it doesnt belong on tv.
1 Sep 11
2:26 pm
Hey conservative at 12.35…. A vag shot!!!! Where do you think babies come from – the cabbage patch???????????????? *give yourself an uppercut*.
A lovely add and done with class.
1 Sep 11
2:39 pm
Well Dale, you clearly understand women and Zia is a great talent. You were the first to show a woman farting in the bath ( in the 90′s) for New Woman and now another first. Beautifully shot. It transported me. Thank you.
1 Sep 11
2:47 pm
amaaazing… it will certainly be talked about!! cue: mia freedman!
1 Sep 11
3:06 pm
This is not appropriate for TV, think of all the sickos who will get off to this
1 Sep 11
3:16 pm
Very surprised at some people’s reactions! Labour and birth is such a beautiful momentous occasion, why do we need to shelter our children from it?! Well done Genea on a beautiful and thought provoking advertisement!
1 Sep 11
3:35 pm
I agree with all of you. It is truly a wonderful add, and I am sure ‘disappointed’, that the Aus broadcasting assoc with mandate where and when it can ve viewed.
Nice to see something lovely, natural and perfectly normal , than most of the vulgar trash we see every night on TV.
1 Sep 11
3:49 pm
Top marks.
1 Sep 11
4:00 pm
Yeah,, Good Ad. Now watch someone ban it.
Hello Neil, Neil, I’m not a prude but…
1 Sep 11
4:37 pm
A stunning job of filming and presenting birth without showing anything untoward. To Conservative and others who complain – I watched the ad frame by frame after reading your comment, and I absolutely could not see a single thing that could be described as a ‘vag shot’. It was carefully framed by the woman’s legs and the hands and arms of those assisting in this birth.
One of the problems we have these days is that the only birth that most women experience is when they give birth to their own children. Birth is a scary and mistifying experience. In years gone by, other women in the family attended all births, and girls were brought along to see and assist with birth when they reached puberty so that they understood the process and were prepared for the experience.
How wonderful to be able to present childbirth to the masses in such a tasteful fashion. Bravo…or should that be, Brava!
1 Sep 11
5:14 pm
Be interested to know if they conceived via IVF. That seems to have been glossed over in the release.
1 Sep 11
5:17 pm
Sex sells.
1 Sep 11
5:19 pm
This is stunning. Advertising at its best. Tears in eyes.
1 Sep 11
5:30 pm
Absolutely fantastic.
‘ Disapointed’ @ 2:23 concentrate on protecting children from bad spelling, grammar, and punctuation and let them engage with real life.
1 Sep 11
5:34 pm
Beautiful – really fantastically done – will make anyone struggling to have a baby cry – I know I just did.
Are the comments above serious? This is in no way offensive, there is no ‘vag shot’,and if you hvan’t taught your children where babies come from this might be a good idea!
1 Sep 11
5:34 pm
@conservative you can’t make an ad without a product shot.
1 Sep 11
5:52 pm
love this ad – its totally moving. conservative, you shuold pick up a biology book and have a quick read – everyone has seen one at some stage, so nothing new or shocking!
1 Sep 11
6:07 pm
Wonderful ad and haunting music, tastefully done have read some of the comments that some have said! What is wrong with you people there is nothing unnatural or sexual about it. In a lot of cultures children see this all the time. Good on you Genea well done and what a great job you all do there. Terry
1 Sep 11
7:16 pm
O.M.G.
Stunning birth! Adored the baby’s fingers wrapping around the Dad’s hand.
Genea, you really are world leaders in fertility.
2 Sep 11
10:19 am
Sheesh Moogles & surry hills, I’m pretty sure Conservative knows where kids come from. Suggesting someone give themselves an upper cut? Grow up Moogles. People are going to disagree with you.
I can’t believe how sappy this made you all.
2 Sep 11
10:40 am
Absolutely brilliant. So beautifully expressed I had tiers in my eyes, and I’m a bloke.
If this ad doesn’t win all trophies and admiration of other professionals and public. I don’t know what.
2 Sep 11
11:52 am
Stunning. It was beautiful. Just lovely.
Those who don’t like it on TV probably also disagree with women breastfeeding in public.
2 Sep 11
12:13 pm
sex cells
2 Sep 11
1:54 pm
Great to see natural and joyful birth being portrayed in the media – there should be more of it. Beautiful film.
Strange how we can accept violence and blood thirsty scenes on TV all the time yet birth is seen as something to be censored….unless of course it is surgical or highly dramatic! Our women need more joyful images like this to show them that birth is not something to fear but to embrace
2 Sep 11
2:47 pm
Fast forward 18 years. “I know that face…weren’t you the kid in that TV ad…(fingers clicking)…?
3 Sep 11
8:43 pm
Fantastic. Congratulations to the RhodesShapter team!
4 Sep 11
6:53 pm
This made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. Inappropriate for an ad .
6 Sep 11
10:37 am
The score-only soundtrack and the use of black and white make this ad much more… palatable. Imagine seeing all that in colour…
19 Sep 11
2:05 am
This is an amazing piece of work- so moving and incredibly beautifully done!
22 Sep 11
1:56 pm
Wow!
These people are SO lucky to have such a beautiful baby AND have it captured on film so beautifully…..what a keepsake!
If you are offended by this you should be ashamed of yourself.
27 Sep 11
2:54 am
I am weepy and I haven’t viewed it yet