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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.
Freedom Furniture comes up with one for the little ladies
It’s a sad fact that not all brands really understand modern consumers, and that can sometimes show in plodding advertising messages.
Happily, Freedom Furniture is able to bring insights and cutting edge creativity to its female-focused communications that puts it a cut above everyone else.
If they were able to send this ad back to 1958.
Still, great that it ran the weekend before International Women’s Day, eh?
March 7th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
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Comments
7 Mar 10
6:59 pm
Wow, I wonder if some clever planner wrote a brief for this along the lines of: “She likes to be patronised, in between washing dishes and doing laundry”
8 Mar 10
12:39 am
On the contrary Mumbrella – if the ad said ‘every mans dream – being paid to drink beer / sleep with women / laze around the house’ – would that be considered ‘outdated’, ‘patronising’ and ‘sexist’??
Probably not, because they only guys that would bitch about it probably breast-feed their kids.
8 Mar 10
9:05 am
Mark that’s not exactly hypothetical – most advertising does portray men in a patronising, or at the very least one-dimensional, light. The problem to me is not that it’s offensive in any way, but that it’s lazy communication.
8 Mar 10
12:51 pm
Tony Abbott works for Freedom now?
8 Mar 10
12:52 pm
So I suppose now it is also every womans dream to be pigeonholed, stereotyped and reduced down to the lowest common denominator?
Oddly enough I have a lot more going on in my life than shopping, and though this may sound outrageous to these stuck in the 50′s ad execs, I DO NOT LIVE FOR SHOPPING.
Although I wonder how I would even be able to go shopping as Freedom Furniture most probably wants me chained to the kitchen sink….
8 Mar 10
12:56 pm
I hope I am not the only one disgusted by this ad. We as women have come a very long way in the last 50-60 years pulling ourselves out from under this kind of ridiculous male oppression and I for one do not feel like going back.
Rewarded? What with? A nice pat on the head and slap on the rump, then off to the kitchen to fix dinner?
8 Mar 10
1:18 pm
I agree. What happened to plain language?
We’d like to give you back 10% of everything you spend, so you can spend more in our store.
8 Mar 10
1:22 pm
Have we become so politically correct that no one is allowed to have a bit of fun…has anyone heard of humour, it’s a light hearted ad that is different to other retail ads.
People get your heads out of your proverbial and allow yourself to have a laugh. It would do you and the world you live in a bit if good.
And I don’t work for the creative agency
8 Mar 10
1:26 pm
I’m not that offended by the innate sexism (let’s face it, I really love shopping). I just think it’s a poor way of targeting customers – when I wander around Freedom, it seems heavily skewed to couples and families. At the very least, it’s not like they are just selling womenswear. So why just target women? Don’t men get to help choose the furniture?
8 Mar 10
1:28 pm
Paul – I’m all for politically incorrect humour. Don’t think that’s what they were going for here though.
Is this masterpiece M&C’s work?
8 Mar 10
1:39 pm
I love shopping; it’s my only hobby, apart from staring at men in wide-eyed, open-mouthed admiration.
Happy International Women’s Day, people.
8 Mar 10
1:47 pm
It’s a special day? Well, shouldn’t you be baking us a cake to celebrate, @Acatinatree? That’s a good girl…
8 Mar 10
1:55 pm
Just for the records, I included a hilarious HTML tag indicating that the above comment was clearly a joke and sarcasm, but the Mumbrella comment section ate it, thinking it was real HTML.
So, just to be clear, I don’t think women should bake me cake. They’re certainly allowed to, I like cake, but the onus for cake bakery should lie equally across the gender divide.
In this spirit, which guy wants to bake me a cake?
8 Mar 10
2:04 pm
I’ll bake you a cake @warlach, but don’t expect it to be edible – not only do I hate shopping, I can’t cook either! *shock* *horror*
8 Mar 10
2:14 pm
This is as bad as that ad which had the boyfriend putting on sanitary pads all over himself like they were Star Wars costume props.
Humour has it’s place but does it always have to be so obviously sexist.
8 Mar 10
2:17 pm
Channeling Mad Men a little too much?
“Excuse me, I’m off to have another scotch and think of another stereotype to degrade inadvertently…”
8 Mar 10
2:21 pm
@Warlach
I’ll bake you a cake, provided that cake = fairy bread.
8 Mar 10
2:29 pm
You’ll find women in every level of government and every level of the corporate heirarchy. You’ll find us running our own multinational companies, advising world powers and curing diseases.
But apparently all that comes second to our uncontrollable shopping lust. And non transferrable vouchers.
When did advertisers become so out of touch? Actually no, the soaring personal debt rates attest to the fact that more than a few ad agencies know their stuff.
Whoever did these Freedom ads though… bunch of out of touch dinosaurs.
8 Mar 10
2:29 pm
@tweebs do you mean the current Mastercard-derivative Tooheys ads? As a ‘bloke’ they open all my twisties
8 Mar 10
2:47 pm
“I guarantee you a man made that commercial.”
“Of course a man made it. It’s a commercial, not a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.”
8 Mar 10
3:14 pm
Yes it’s sexist, but it’s also a lame message: “be rewarded to shop at this store”. Oh wow! And you have to spend $1000…not a small investment to get a 10% ‘discount’.
Retail incentives in one form or another are everywhere. You’d want your agency to put up a better idea than this one. Now they have 2 reasons to fire the agency! #freedomfail
8 Mar 10
6:17 pm
Exactly Tim, its not even a discount, it is just a voucher which forces you to visit their store and spend at least that $100 there, which probably isn’t enough to cover anything so out comes the credit card again.
9 Mar 10
9:48 am
I’m sick of this kind of advertising all over Australia, no wonder things are so backwards with the percentage of women in senior management declining.
San-pro advertising is a sick, sexist horror.
The prevalence of the two-blonde-children-married-mother-father advertising is just execrable.
Oh! but Australia is such a young!!! and *progressive* nation!
9 Mar 10
5:15 pm
Who has time to shop.
There are far to many dishes to wash and shirts to iron.
9 Mar 10
5:17 pm
Oops M&C.
Oops.
29 Mar 10
3:07 pm
What a pointless ad. I would never buy a big ticket item like furniture. My husband looks after those sorts of things.
;b
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