Opinion | Features

• What the Tesla Model 3 teaches us about brand purpose and consistency

  Strategist Alex Horner, using Tesla's CEO Elon Musk as a model of comparison, explains why detouring from your brand's mission statement is not an option and why having purpose is not enough. Almost a decade ago, Tesla’s enigmatic CEO, Elon Musk, wrote a blog post and published it on the Tesla website. Titled The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan, it outlined a highly ambitious purpose for the then fledgling company:

• Mamamia wants to 'own' women's ears as it cracks 2m downloads of podcasts

  As women's lifestyle website Mamamia eyes off further global expansion with its Flo & Frank brand, locally the company continues to find success with its podcast network continuing to gain popularity. Mamamia's Mia Freedman and Kylie Rogers spoke to Mumbrella's Miranda Ward about how they gained traction in the podcasting space.  Mia Freedman says she wants Mamamia to "own" the attention of women - and that's not just their screens. At last year's upfronts the publisher was open about its focus on owning women's ears via its podcast network.

• Singleton Tate WPP - the deal that happened 15 years too late

  WPP's takeover of STW Communications heralds the end of an era for Australia's biggest holding group. Simon Canning spoke with founders Russell Tate and John Singleton to get their take on a deal that should have happened more than a decade ago. STW, Australia's only genuinely successful publicly-floated communications company, saw its merger with WPP approved this week, cementing a relationship begun after the two companies came together in a rescue deal for WPP's Ogilvy operations in Australia in the 1990s. John Singleton, one of the men who built the business, told me a decade after he sold his last shares in WPP the deal was of "little interest" to him, but also admitted he still had little affection for Sir Martin Sorrell who he felt had never had the Australian operation's best interests at heart.

• WIN and Nine's live streaming standoff: are they heading for divorce?

  With Nine and WIN duking it out in court over live streaming Nic Christensen looks at the implications of the case and asks if the partners are heading for splitsville. Sitting in court over the last couple of days watching Nine Entertainment Co and WIN go at each other put me in mind of a divorce case on some cheesy US drama. And like any marriage gone bad there were some interesting - and heated - moments that have played out so far.

• Maurice, we don't think this is minor

  In this guest column, Bec Brideson weighs in on the fight between Maurice Levy and Sir Martin Sorrell on the issue of sexism in adland. The past few years have seen surprising facts come to light about some once-revered people. There was Rolf Harris guilty of abusing his celebrity, there’s 'America’s Dad' Bill Cosby getting found out for serial crimes against women, and of course George Pell, condemned for his silence and failure to act in the interest of the vulnerable. The bottom line is that times are changing, and tolerance for unacceptable behaviour is low. Privilege and power no longer shield old-boy networks from scrutiny or consequences.

• Programmatic targeting... for dummies

  In this test Timothy Whitfield pits six demand-side platforms against each other to find out how good programmatic offerings really are in Australia.  Following my previous article on hyper local geo-targeting I felt that it would be equally interesting to use scientific principle to forensically dissect another group of adtech companies that are often clumped together. Not knowing where to start I figured that I might as well start at the beginning of adtech: Demand Side Platforms (DSP).

• Addicted to social media? Try an e-fasting plan

  In this cross-posting from The Conversation Ritesh Chugh of CQUniversity Australia explains why scheduling time away from social media will make us not only more productive but more balanced. Social media is a double-edged sword, providing both benefits and drawbacks. In order to stay connected, many of us are becoming captivated by these pervasive tools. A social media report by Sensis in 2015 reported that nearly half of all Australians access one or more social networking sites every day.

• Damn Instagram, back at it again with the algorithm

  In this guest post Tym Yee discusses the content dilemma created by Instagram's adaption of an algorithmic feed and why simply 'creating better content' isn't enough. I’m glad we made it through the week. For a second there I didn’t think humanity could do it. I mean, Instagram was changing to an algorithmic feed, which is, like, totally the end of the world, right?

• Is selling out no longer a concept for Gen Z? 

  In this guest column Kara Richards discusses the line between authenticity and selling out for influencers who endorse multiple brands. Our traditional celebrities are often branded as 'sell-outs' when they align themselves with too many brands, but vloggers can peddle as many brands as they like without affecting their image in the slightest. They are the new brand ambassadors and their personal brands are mint. Even before they finish high school…

• 24 Hours With.... JWT creative director, Jarrod Lowe

  24 Hours With… spotlights the working day of some of the most interesting people in Mumbrella’s world. Today we speak with Jarrod Lowe, creative director, JWT, Melbourne. It’s the morning. It’s 6ish. The first thing I think about as I open my once baby blues, now offish greys, is how on earth we’re going to breed a new type of cow. Totally work related. I mean, I understand the circle of life but I wonder how we’ll do it on budget. I immediately Google cow gestation. Then skip breakfast.

• Why can’t it be April Fool's Day every day?

  In this guest post Simon Veksner says April Fool's Day is like the Super Bowl; it's the one day each year when brands make the ads they should be making all the time.  I’m not talking about the pranking part. I’m talking about the high levels of entertainment and relevance that marketers will be aiming for (and often achieving) today. Let’s start with the entertainment factor. There’s an analogy with the Super Bowl here: it’s the one day a year when brands make the kind of TV ads they ought to be making all the time – big, emotive, entertaining.

• Diversity needs time - just not the time you expect

  The call to advertising agency’s creative departments to become more diverse needs to start with recognition of where that diversity comes from, says guest columnist Karen Ferry. In the past 12 months, there’s been a lot of talk about how advertising creative departments don’t have enough diversity, especially in regards to women. There’s been talk about quotas. Talk of training to tackle unconscious bias. Telling women to ‘lean in’, CDs to ‘be uncomfortable’. We’ve seen clickbait lists of what’s holding women back and even more lists of what women can do to solve this.

• Politics and statistics: Will we get a new era of digital leadership with our new digital rankings?

  The new Nielsen Digital Ratings give a new window on Australia's online audiences. Nic Christensen looks at what they mean, what will come next and why the IAB won't follow through on talks of a regional merger. In the five plus years since Nielsen launched its hybrid digital ratings, measuring the online desktop audience, mobile usage has exploded, leaving many publishers grumbling their total audience wasn't being counted. It's been a slow and rocky path to get here, with a fair bit of argey bargey along the way - and it appears there will be yet more industry politicking to come as far as industry body the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is concerned. 

• Marketers need to stay marketers, not technologists

  In this guest column , Ant Gowthorp urges marketers to keep their focus - despite the tech demands placed on them. In the battle between humans and technology, there have been some casualties. We’ve seen privacy eroded, solitude eliminated and information set free amidst a rising tide of progress. While proving a force for good in our lives, technology has also elevated our expectations around effectiveness and productivity. By making everything much quicker and easier, it’s made us feel like we have to ‘do it all’.

• KFC launches stories about self acceptance as it changes the way consumers see the brand

  Just a few wee ks ago KFC launched its first ever branding campaign starring a duck. The world's second largest fast food chain has looked back in time to find the future of its marketing. Chief marketing officer Nikki Lawson reveals the journey the brand has taken to connect with a new generation of consumers. In January, TV viewers were treated to a new style of KFC ad. Not a piece of fried chicken was in sight - indeed the ad starred a superannuated duck riding a skateboard - but the ad reflected a new freedom for the brand that has been granted globally but is being tested locally.