Opinion | Features
- Content marketing moves to centre stage
  Last night ANZ launched one of Australia's biggest branded content plays to date. Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes was at the launch. It took a few minutes too long last night for it to dawn on me why there was a jazz band in the corner of the room at ANZ's Melbourne conference suite. Blue Notes - gerrit? And what last night's event did make clear is that the opportunities of that developing subset of branded content, brand journalism, are beginning to dawn on local brands.
- Answers for Adam: Is reality TV the way to tackle climate change?
  Recently there was another report from the scientists of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) telling us that climate change (what used to be called global warming) is upon us and there are real changes happening now (I bet I’ve lost several readers already!) The scientists are urging us to heed their warning and change our behaviours, yet we ignoring them in droves. Even though information they are giving us is dire.
- The Tele's textbook example of how to run a winning newspaper campaign
  The Daily Telegraph has delivered a great piece of old fashioned campaigning journalism, argues Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes Back when I worked in newspapers, I was taught that if a newspaper is going to embark on a campaign, it has to pass three tests.
- Piracy: At least the Lannisters pay their debts
  Following a series of special reports on piracy on Mumbrella this week Foxtel's Bruce Meagher explains why the company is airing Game of Thrones as it is. Much has been made in the past few days of the fact that fans of Game of Thrones are unable to acquire the series through services other than Foxtel until after the final episode airs. Unfortunately, there has also been much misinformation about how Foxtel is making Game of Thrones available to the public.
- Why hard-to-win awards are good awards
  This year's Mumbrella Awards are going to be tougher to enter than ever before. Which makes winning one worth even more. As the call for entries goes live, Tim Burrowes explains the changes for this year. Please don't hate me. I hear a common complaint about some industry awards, and I'm afraid it's mostly my fault.
- Encore Score: The newsreaders
  With the battle for early evening eyeballs increasingly important for commercial TV networks Amanda Meade looks at the numbers to see if the most popular newsreaders are the most watched. Despite dramatic changes to the media landscape in the past ten years, the traditional 6pm commercial news bulletin on free-to-air television remains a key building block in a network’s schedule - get it right and you can carry big audiences over to your primetime shows. Some bulletins have even expanded from 30 minutes to an hour in the main markets of Sydney and Melbourne.
- Answers for Adam: Should PR agencies and creative agencies be combined?
  This week Adam Ferrier asks whether PR is starting to mean everything and nothing, and whether it is any different from traditional advertising. I've been thinking about the PR industry lately and where PR fits in the broader communications landscape. I've thought about it a lot, and worked with most models from integration under one roof to partner agencies, and a few things in-between.
- Australia's class system of brands
  After a rare business class flight, Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes argues that brands may miss opportunities when staff treat customers according to their perceived value. So over the weekend, I finally got to make the metaphorical left turn getting onto a Qantas flight. And it was everything I could have wanted.
- Answering Adam: Agencies need ideas as their engine
  This week in his Answers for Adam column Adam Ferrier asked whether agencies should imitate startups. Here Nic Hodges argues agencies need to focus on their ideas, but modernise processes. In his column this week Adam Ferrier asks "would your agency be doing better work if it put data, behavioural sciences, and technology up on pedestal along with creativity? Or is a single-minded focus on creativity still the answer?". Here's a secret - nobody at a startup is sitting around caring about acting more like an advertising agency.
- PR agencies will not exist in a decade
  After Graham White's response to Joe Hildebrand's CommsCon speech generated some heated debate on the state of the PR industry, Rob Lowe argues 'PR agencies' are already dying out. PR agencies will cease to exist in the next ten years. Is that shocking enough for you? Well it’s true. Too many PR agencies are outdated, the traditional media landscape is shrinking, and with increasing numbers of advertising, social media and even SEO agencies getting in on the action, we need to smarten up.
- Why you should pull an all-nighter to get to Cannes
  With Cannes Young Lions entries closing on Friday former winner Iggy Rodriguez has the reasons why you should pull an all nighter to finish your entry. Okay, sure it’s the last minute, but plenty of famous campaigns have been written right before a big meeting or on the night before a pitch. You’ve got a few days, so you’re laughing.
- Answers for Adam: Is creativity still the answer for ad agencies?
  This week Adam Ferrier asks whether ad agencies should be embracing startup culture more, or continuing to focus single-mindedly on creativity. “The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists”. Banksy (apparently?!) The above quote is around ten years old and I wonder if it’s still relevant. I’m getting the sense that the new breed of creative folk who want to make a buck are not entering advertising – but rather being seduced by the technology fuelled ‘start-up’ culture. For example is it cooler to attend the Cannes Lions or tweet about the latest gadget unveiled at SXSW?
- Making the Mumbrella Awards matter - what you can tell us
  It’s nearly time for the call for entries for the 2014 Mumbrella Awards. But before we publish this year’s categories and criteria, Mumbrella’s content director Tim Burrowes invites you to have a say... I can still remember in excruciating detail the night we lost.
- Is total re-branding the only means left to end Network Ten's torment?
  While the Ten Network's ratings woes well documented Luke Devenish asks if their best way to turn it around is a brand overhaul. We all find it difficult to get out of bed of a morning, but spare a thought for the powers-that-be at Network Ten, who must surely be belting the snooze button on a daily basis. Their annus horribilis is now nudging half a decade thanks to a waking nightmare that is two pronged in its torment.
- PR isn't about polishing turds
  Shit! You Work in PR? Not that old chestnut again. Isn’t it time to move on and say something different? Last Thursday in Sydney at the CommsCon Awards, the night to celebrate the best of the PR industry's efforts over the previous 12 months, we were yet again subjected to the narrow view of the discipline. This time through the moderator on the night, journalist Joe Hildebrand.

Freemasons to launch their own TV series

A TV series that reveals the inside story behind exclusive men’s club the Freemasons is to run on Victorian community channel C31 next month.

The series – called Freemasons: The Inside Story - aims to expose the myths associated with the fraternity, look back at its history and ponder the role Freemasonry plays within the community, according a press release from the group.

The series is to be presented by 3AW radio presenter Wes Turnbull.

The 26-part series, created by Melbourne-based production company Fuzzy TV, will run in 30-minute episodes from Monday 4 March.

February 12th, 2013 at 2:00 pm

Comments

Billy C
12 Feb 13
7:14 pm

I hope the Goat Riding will be RSPCA approved.

Slabber
13 Feb 13
4:29 am

Yes Billy, don’t worry – you’ll keep your job.

G. Austin Hamilton
13 Feb 13
11:49 am

Its time we came out of the closet, II hope your show is a sucess. I have been a masob for over sixty years. Good Luck

Miadhachain
13 Feb 13
2:38 pm

Sadly, Channel 31 doesn’t show out in the rural areas of Freemasonry Victoria.
What action will be taken to remedy this problem?

Kav
13 Feb 13
5:08 pm

This reminds me of…

“Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do, we do”

Ryan McLeod
13 Feb 13
8:15 pm

Fantastic! I hope they discuss the wonderful charity work they do.

Arthur Ray Dickson
14 Feb 13
2:00 am

I wish we would do something like that in the states. Most people dont realize how much philanthropic work we do in our communities.

Simpson jackson
14 Feb 13
2:07 am

It probably won’t be seen here in the US, so will they try to market it to aa broadcasting company over here. Or will a DVD become available for purchase, so brothers everywhere can purchase a copy. I’ve been a mason for 1 year and I would love to learn all I can about our Fraternity.

Phillip Brown
14 Feb 13
5:03 am

Will it show in America

tv viewer
14 Feb 13
7:19 am

interesting stuff.

I am looking forward to this promotional video!

Uk mason
14 Feb 13
8:24 am

Hope the producers portray the honest image and don’t use it as a tool to further their careers. Do you think it will make it to the uk?

Stu
14 Feb 13
12:20 pm

As an Aussie Mason, I would say “exclusive” is an incorrect description and this gives us some insight into the problem.

At a time when Freemasonry prospered, the organisation could afford to be exclusive and secretive.

Then, a generation became jaded and Masons’ sons weren’t joining anymore. The secretive ways of Freemasonry raised questions about what they got up to behind closed doors – they must’ve been up to something sinister, or else what is there to hide? Catholics weren’t welcome, boys-only clubs were no longer acceptable and Masons were spending too much time being Masons rather than being family men.

There now exists a generation gap and the aging population of Masons gets frighteningly smaller by the day.

In the face of extinction, Masons have been forced to open their doors more freely, which they have been doing for years now. They are no longer exclusive and they are certainly not secretive. Their inner-goings-on are freely available to non-members, online or at any Grand Lodge, at least in countries where its operation is more widely accepted (the US, UK, Australia and others). In Lodge, I sit beside Catholics, Muslims, Jews and anyone else that doesn’t belong to one of the main religions but has their own belief about something bigger. There are active appendant masonic bodies for women. And you can even spot a Mason on the street, with ease: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddM7kJ9xQfA

Despite progress made, the problem is, the voice of Freemasonry had withered at a time when people had already made up their minds about Freemasonry – Masons weren’t large enough in number to counteract negative perception by their good deeds or by the reversal of their secretive and exclusive ways. Freemasonry became irrelevant to society and so how do you change perception among an audience that isn’t even paying anymore attention or when your voice is no longer loud enough? I don’t mean to suggest brands win by shouting loudest or by shouting at all; I’m merely making a (probably obvious) point that it’s more difficult to engage a stand-offish audience then when working off a clean slate.

As for this TV series, well I think it’s a great initiative – I believe any mass exposure of our good deeds, is positive exposure for an organisation struggling to stay relevant and for an organisation that does not and cannot extend a direct invitation to join.

The only thing I would’ve done differently is waited a little longer to launch the series. A side note, but in the pipeline is the film adaption of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, which tells a story about Freemasonry to mass audiences. It’s a sensational story but at least more people would be paying attention. Perhaps then the TV series would make more traction, if only a little.

Richard McLelland
18 Feb 13
12:01 pm

Regarding rural & regional broadcasting of Channel 31…that’s a Federal Gov issue. C31 wants to extend its reach to the whole of Victoria and has requested the Senator to seriously consider. But this doesn’t appear to be a priority, particularly now an election has been called! To be fair it will take some careful planning and possible restructuring of the Community TV (CTV) sector to enable all cap city based CTV stations to broadcast into their respective state regions. But agree, it should be done!

Matt (SA)
26 Feb 13
12:26 am

As the coverage of community tv is limited, I’d suggest making it available on the web once it’s gone to air. Can’t hurt, it will reach more people again that way.

Eh?
26 Feb 13
9:36 am

What on earth is C 31? Is it on Foxtel?

Andrew
6 Mar 13
8:42 pm

Can we see it on foxtel? my house isnt wired for proper cable