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Opinion | Features
How bosses can build trust by baring themselves to staff
In this guest post, Simon Rutherford, CEO of Slingshot Media, argues that bosses should be vulnerable in front of their staff.
Winston Churchill once said: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Fake it til you make it...as a radio newsreader
In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Emily Hoskins from ARN tells us how to do her job.
What does a radio newsreader actually do?
A radio newsreader has to be switched on from the moment they sit at their desk. At the Australian Radio Network each journalist writes, researches, edits and reads their own news bulletins under tight deadlines – every 30 minutes during the breakfast shift and every hour after 9am.
Keith Reinhard on freedom to fail, winning back Maccas and how agencies can survive
In an exclusive interview in Cannes today, advertising icon Keith Reinhard, one of the founding fathers of what is now DDB Worldwide, talked to Mumbrella’s Robin Hicks about freedom from fear, his favourite ads of all time, winning back McDonald’s and why the most important thing in advertising is passion.Savage counsel - little white lies
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas. This week, he talks about when it’s okay to lie to clients.
Hi Chris,
I often find myself telling little white lies at work – I tell people on the phone that I don’t want to speak to I’m about to duck into meetings. I told my colleague her new haircut was great when really it wasn’t and I praised someone’s work when actually it was kind of shit. After each of these occasions, I felt pretty terrible and wonder if you could tell me how can I speak with candour in the future – for my sake and others.
How to build a culture
How important is a company’s culture and how do you ensure you are breeding a good one? Matt Smith investigates, in a piece that first appeared in Encore.When production companies Cordell Jigsaw and Zapruder’s Other Films merged early last year, bringing the staff together within the walls of the Zapruder building proved to be something of a challenge. While the two companies weren’t strangers to each other due to six months of talks and negotiations, working together on a full-time basis was a different story.
Q&A Damian Keogh
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Val Morgan CEO Damian Keogh reveals his potential alternate career.
Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
I’d say Kerry Stokes, slightly ahead of Harold Mitchell and Kim Williams. He controls the entity with the largest revenue across free-to-air, online, magazines and newspapers. On pure size alone, his influence and leverage over advertisers, media agencies and consumers is unmatched. Harold is still the king in media, slightly ahead of John Steedman, but Henry Tajer and Leigh Terry are the heirs apparent. Kim Williams controls News and that’s a big base to work from.
If a violent game is okay, then so is using a violent ad to promote it
An ad for video game Dead Island Riptide was banned by the ad watchdog. James Whitehead of online entertainment publisher IGN argues that it was the wrong call.A fortnight ago, it emerged that the Ad Standards Board had banned a television commercial for the video game Dead Island: Riptide, due to its depiction of violence – specifically suicide.
Why content makers are leaving our shores
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Craig Anderson says there simply isn’t enough opportunity for content makers in Australia, especially for those making comedy.Last year I had multiple meetings with production companies in Australia and discovered that apart from the odd commercial campaign, there’s no proliferation of paying platforms for comedy. From my own experience there’s iView, which will buy content once it’s already been made (though I live in hope that it will one day be granted the financial power to commission content). I’ve also had the odd informal commission from the SMH iPad consisting of two narrative series and a comical review show. But none of these endeavours were financially viable.
Managing your management style
In an article that first appeared in Encore, Stephanie Brown says the advertising industry often leaves people ill-equipped when it comes to managing staff, especially when they’re promoted into management roles.Managing people is hard. In fact, I actually think it’s the hardest job in the world. With no disrespect intended, I often joke that if my job didn’t involve other people to manage, it would be a walk in the park. I could get about my day’s work in a nice, linear fashion, happily checking off my to-do list as I go. I’m a process-orientated person. I get a kick out of getting things done.
Why the Facebook chase is making brands treat consumers like morons
You know how we look back at quaintly patronising ads from the 1950s and wonder what on earth the advertisers were thinking?
I’ve got a feeling that in a few years time, we’ll be looking at the behaviour of big brands on Facebook the same way.
An entire generation of marketers – or at least a sizeable proportion of them – have lost their minds.
So many have become so obsessed with generating user interactions at all costs, that all thoughts about overall brand perceptions or long term marketing goals have vanished. All that counts now, is generating likes and comments at all costs.
Blog this!
Paid content, sponsored posts and brand ambassadorships – in theory, today’s blogger can be just as valuable to brands as mainstream media. But does blogger outreach actually work? In an article that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.“I get approaches from PR companies constantly,” says blogger and author Kerri Sackville, with more than a hint of exasperation. “I have never done a sponsored blog, on my own site, but that doesn’t stop them from asking.”
McLennan right man for job
It’s all change at troubled broadcaster Channel Ten with new directions, new executives and a brand new CEO. Managing director of Adstream Peter Miller says Hamish McLennan is the right man for the job, in an article that first appeared in Encore.I am a bit of a schmuck when it comes to movies. I love romantic comedies. My favourite is One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney.
Q&A with Richard Herring
In a piece that first appeared in Encore, CEO of APN Outdoor Richard Herring talks media.Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
I don’t know if there is one person in particular. The fragmentation of traditional media and new entrants has made it a more level playing field with regards to major influencers. As was demonstrated with the recent media reform recommendations, together, the broader media community still has a very influential and powerful voice.
What one medium could you not live without?
Outdoor – clean, entertaining, evocative and informative.
Q&A with screenwriter Craig Pearce
Craig Pearce, screenwriter for The Great Gatsby, spoke to Encore about working with Baz and writing for 3D.
How did you get into script writing?
I always loved stories and acting and dressing up and being anything but myself and I never realised that was not something other people did. After leaving high school, I did a three year acting course at NIDA but always thought I would one day write. Baz was a good friend and he had a theatre company. He wanted to extend a 20 minute version of Strictly Ballroom. We got it to 45 minutes then he was approached by producers to turn it into a feature film. I started helping him out on the film while they were looking for a real writer but eventually Baz had to go to the producers and say, “There’s this guy who’s my best friend and he is a really good writer”. To the producers’ credit, they believed in Baz so we had two weeks to re-write it.
Savage Counsel - winning pitches
Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas in his weekly Encore advice column.
Hi Chris,
It seems we have to increasingly pitch for everything. Even with existing clients, we’re now expected to pitch ideas, competitively, for every project. We’re winning about two out of five of what we’re pitching for. It’s a huge burden on our time and budgets. What is your secret to winning a pitch presentation? How do we make sure our presentations are a knockout?
GetUp! anti-supermarket pokies ad refused airtime by TV networks
"What you like to double or nothing?"
Australia’s major TV networks have refused to run a crowd-funded ad by activist group GetUp! that attacks supermarket big boys Woolworths and Coles for, the ad claims, owning “more dangerous poker machines than the five largest Las Vegas casinos”.
A GetUp! spokesman told Mumbrella that Seven, Nine and Ten have said no to running the ad on their networks, but had not given reasons why.
In the ad, a woman at a supermarket check out counter is duped into spending money she does not have by the man serving her, who turns from check-out assistant to croupier. The checkout till resembles the front of a pokies machine.
The ad picks on Woolworths, subverting its slogan ‘The Freshness People’ by changing it to ‘The Pokies People’. It also uses the logo for Woolworths’ Everyday Rewards loyalty scheme, which the brand has started advertising this week.
Ten and Seven declined to comment.
Peter Wiltshire, group sales and marketing director for Nine, said in an interview with SMH: ”Someone new coming along who chooses to use their own gritty tactics to foster their own business at the expense of ours, and our relationships with our existing client base does not make any sense to me.”
It is believed that although the ad had been CAD approved, it could not run on copyright grounds.
Coles head of corporate Robert Hadler said that the chain would not have intervened if the networks had aired the ad.
Woolsworth was unavailable for comment.
GetUp!, which had funded a media budget from donors who gave $50 or more to get the ad on air, has said it will run in cinemas instead.
The public issues group was behind an anti-pokies campaign last year that attacked Clubs Australia’s “It’s UnAustralian” legislation campaign.
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Comments
16 May 12
9:05 am
Hardly to “foster their own business” … What a donkey!
16 May 12
9:11 am
Coles and Woolworths bought hotels in order to access the take-home liquor market. Neither of them really have much of an appetite for pokies. Or running pubs for that matter.
Get Up should probably spend their time (and other people’s money) on targeting, supporting and helping the very small amount of problem gamblers there are out there in the Australian public, instead of taking a pot shot (again) at a big brand just because they can.
And am I the only one that finds it ironic that GetUp are asking us to donate $50 in the hope an advert might get to air and have some impact? Bit of a…urm….gamble?
Simon
http://www.TwoCentsGroup.com.au
16 May 12
9:36 am
Censorship.
GETUP’s next campaign should target the networks and the multi-million dollar welfare payments they received in the budget.
Or just wait for IP-TV to finish killing them off.
16 May 12
9:51 am
Putting the message aside, I think they refused to run the ad as it’s such a crap execution they were worried their viewers might switch channel.
16 May 12
10:07 am
@Simon. “…very small amount of problem gamblers ”
Problem gambling effects as many as 500,000 Australians, representing a $4.7 billion cost to the community.
It’s a big problem that needs to be tackled from the top, not the bottom.
16 May 12
10:10 am
“the ad picks on Woolworths” poor Woolies being bullied again……….
16 May 12
10:13 am
PS Bet Coles wouldn’t have objected, the brand it leaves you with is undoubtably “poor” Woolies…
16 May 12
10:27 am
Anyone know who made this ad?
16 May 12
11:00 am
These losers get enough of a free run in media friendly to their rather narrow view of the world…….it’s not surprising that if you spend your time and energy trying to break down the system then the system will tell you to piss off.
Put your shite ad on youtube, get a few thousand views and a warm and fuzzy feeling then move on.
16 May 12
1:13 pm
In my experience, a lot of the buyers working for the big clients get pretty shrill when something doesn’t go their way; threatening to cut the spend over some unfavorable editorial content – or POSSIBLE unfavorable editorial content.
They are, of course, protecting the clients’ interests, which is as it should be, but I find it hard to believe the the clients themselves don’t endorse the behavior.
16 May 12
2:02 pm
Hmmmm, but shareholders can make a lot of noise about the pokies at the shareholders meeting. The TV co’s don’t want to run the ad as they are too scared of losing lots of advertising $s from Coles and Woolies.
16 May 12
2:07 pm
…any of the TV networks would ever let this get off the ground. God forbid, we make people realise Curtis Stone and Dawn French are funding Big Red machines around the country.
16 May 12
2:07 pm
Simon, I’m sure that acquiring those pokie licences and reaping the subsequent gaming profits was purely by accident. Tell you what, if they are serious … donate the profits to charity.
Nice to see such an even hand being applied considering how many times I had to sit through NRL matches hearing Gus Gould and Rabbits Warren bleat about it.
If the shoe was on the other foot we’d never hear the end of how we’ve become a socialist or comminist nanny-state. Now that it HAS happened – where are the Neo-Cons wails of anguish. Completely absent of course.
16 May 12
2:41 pm
Simon’s claim that Woolies owns pubs so it can control the bottle shop is complete rubbish – Woolies created specialist liquour retailers Dan Murphy’s and BWS for this purpose
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Murphy's
16 May 12
2:44 pm
I’ve got a feeling there are plenty of better things to bag Coles and Woolies about than poker machines.
16 May 12
2:58 pm
donate to Get-Up, I don’t think so, thats the labour parties job, not mine
16 May 12
3:27 pm
Anyone who thought Tabitha was clueless now has proof. Donate to Gina Rinehart instead eh.
16 May 12
3:42 pm
Can’t believe all the haters. I have a close family member who is a problem gambler and the effect is disastrous on the individual and the family.
Defending Woollies and Coles’ practice of profiting from problem gamblers is disgraceful.
The political parties have no spine and some readers here have no conscience.
16 May 12
4:03 pm
Let’s all shop at Aldi, much cheaper and I don’t think they are into poker machines. Boycott Coles and Woollies.
16 May 12
4:11 pm
Sooner or later SOMETHING will have to be done about the power that Coles and Woolies exert.
16 May 12
4:20 pm
I shop at organic markets, Aldi and farmer’s markets, really get fresh food and a lot cheaper than Coles and Woollies. Down with their poker machine….We are not shopping there at Coles and Woollies any more.
16 May 12
4:26 pm
I agree with BEC and are astounded that our hard earned taxes which we all pay to the government are being given more and more to people on welfare who do not work. How about rewarding the people who work, small businesses, more money to small businesses and there should be a Get Up campaign to reward people who work, not those who do not work…fed up with Labour Government handouts….people are going to have more to spend on the pokies of Coles and Woollies, so less handouts, less money to spend on the pokies…enough comments for today.
16 May 12
4:58 pm
Australia is a nation of gamblers, which is sad, because gambling destroys familes and societies.
Coles and Woolies are out of control and need to be broken up and taken on. A chain, hell bent on awesome food and doing good for the local community will occur, because Coles and Woolies do not do this, plus their food sucks and has been kept frozen or in atmospheric rooms for months…
RSL’s are evil places. They are nothing more than casino’s. It is truly a shame and I am truly amazed at how a casino can hide behind the acronym RSL. An RSL should not be allowed to have anymore than 3 poker machines(.)
16 May 12
7:07 pm
i’m surprised that ten wouldn’t take all the money they can get get, but similarly not surprised nine wouldn’t run the ad after their er, dubious editorial line from an nrl commentator,
you see, thats why no ones doing anything, pokies, and problem gamblers specifically, are such a colossal cash cow for everyone no one’s willing to mess with the goose, politicians especially. hypocritical considering their willingness to enact laws restricting peoples personal choice in other areas, yet will quite happily sing the “personal choice” song when dealing with such a massive revenue stream. make no mistake, none of these people are on our side,
17 May 12
8:41 am
Congratulations to the networks for refusing to run the ad. A total ban should be put on running anything from GetUp! – the Hitler Youth wing of the Australian green movement. I will oppose anything that puts cheap club meals for my family and kid’s sport at risk.
17 May 12
10:27 am
Funny how the networks had NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER running the big mining companies anti-MRRT propaganda fallacious advertising! Wasn’t the Federal government of Australia an “existing client” in 2010….? BTW, Mr Wiltshire, “fostering your own business” and campaigning on a malignant social curse are actually completely different things. These ads were funded by everyday people with no pecuniary interest whatsoever – just altruism…people just like ME. Shame on you.
17 May 12
11:25 am
This add shows just how “Out of touch these people are” Get Up !lives in a Fantasy world . Thank Goodness, the Net works had the sense to ban this Drivel attacking Woolies.I love Coles and Woolies and get great specials from there shops.Aldi is good for buying fruit and vegetables. but most other stuff is inferior.You get what you pay for in this instance.And i dont have to pack my own groceries that are shoot along the belt at a mile per minute.Get up does not speak for us all.
17 May 12
3:08 pm
Thanks, Mr Singh, for clarifying the real issue here: Not having to pack your own groceries.
17 May 12
4:28 pm
This was a great ad and delivered the message very strongly.
Woolies and Coles make heaps of poor addicted poker players.
Shameful that it wasn’t run