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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.
Gillard’s Australia Day crisis
PM Julia Gillard’s media adviser Tony Hodges has been forced to resign over the Australia Day tent embassy debacle.
It came after it emerged he had revealed opposition leader Tony Abbott’s whereabouts, leading to both politicians being rescued by police in ugly scenes.
Mumbrella editor Tim Burrowes and advertising practitioner Jane Caro debate the topic on Weekend Sunrise’s masters of Spin segment:
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Comments
30 Jan 12
12:52 pm
how can a masters of spin section not actually involve a spin doctor?
30 Jan 12
1:01 pm
Tony Hodges was obviously “playing politics” by informing the protesters about Tony Abbott’s appearance in the cafe but the focus is all wrong.
It was the protesters who ran amuck & caused the fracas, not Tony Hodges.
30 Jan 12
1:10 pm
Some great points raised Tim – nice one.
30 Jan 12
1:50 pm
Yep – all spin and no content.
Beats me why a PM staffer would manufacture a situation that would put the PM in danger.
It’s interesting to compare the vitriol being dished out as this being such a serious breach of security, compared to, say, the SIEV 4 affair.
30 Jan 12
2:04 pm
Once again a political staffer is used as a skapegoat for pollies to hide behind. The events of Australia Day were an absolute disgrace, yet the actions of the staffer were the least contentious in the whole furore. Politicians have done far worse (hello Craig Thompson) with fewer ramifications.
What about the protesters? Are we too scared to point out how appallingly they behaved for fear of being called racist? Would the police have stood back and made no arrests if the crowd were angry truck drivers or members of the occupy movement? Hardly. At least two of the most senior Indigenous leaders have come out against the violence, but no one else has had the guts to be so vocal.
As the footage was replayed over and over, did anyone else question the way Gillard left the Lobby? Was pushing through the protesters like a rugby scrum in a final really their only option? Furthermore, if the protesters were there to confront Abbott, why did Gillard seem to be the most threatened? Perhaps more significantly, what have the images of our first female PM cowering behind a security guard, who, let’s be honest, isn’t that much bigger than her, done to national opinion about her ability to lead? Suddenly opinion is in favour of a return of the Ruddmeister. Coincidence? I think not.
I agree with Tim this isn’t the last we will hear of this shameful event, but I hope more questions will be asked – and accurately reported – beyond who tipped off whom.
30 Jan 12
3:29 pm
The sight of both political leaders running looked weak and so wondered why they didn’t stay to discuss the issue.
Ducking and running rather than engaging in discourse suggests the leaders do not wish to lead as much as direct.
A difference in style and one genuine leaders from Pericles on would surely not have adopted.
30 Jan 12
3:31 pm
Agree with Hannah that you made a lot of sense Tim……compared to Jane Caro who for mine was a bit shrieky and focused on all the wrong stuff.
As for the issue at hand, the larger question for me is the work environment that encourages a junior staffer to act the way Hodges did – the fish rots from the head. All of us should be appalled that cheap political point-scoring is the order of the day in Canberra, not running the country effectively.
And how about the poor misguided Aboriginal activists, conned by their Labor “friends” into a frenzy against Tony Abbott, the result of which has set their cause back years. Tony Abbott couldn’t have done as much damage to the tent embassy and their cause if he had tried.
A stinky affair all around.
30 Jan 12
4:16 pm
At least it made Canberra interesting for a weekend.
And stopped them talking about carbon emissions and pokies, just for a few minutes.
30 Jan 12
6:44 pm
the images of our politicians scrambling was quality. we must get more leaks like this one out – if only for their absolutely comic consequences.
30 Jan 12
6:44 pm
I think I watched loads about this matter because of the tennis… Channel 7 in between the tennis kept reminding me of the special coverage they had… When I watched the ‘special coverage’ it appeared that the so called mob was a frenzy of reporters; leading the charge and filming from a slightly different angle, was Channel 7.
Bored!!!!!!!!
31 Jan 12
10:30 am
Laird: “Ducking and running rather than engaging in discourse suggests the leaders do not wish to lead as much as direct.”
The people outside were banging on the windows and shouting. They weren’t there for a discussion. As for ducking and running, that was what was advised by the PM’s security detail. When your security team says get out now, it’s a good idea to listen to them.
31 Jan 12
11:23 am
Jane appeared to be trying to spin Julia back into relevance – I could see her pain. She might as well try to spin crap into gold. She also tried to shift the blame onto Abbott. That won’t work any more.
A segment about spinners by spinners. Won’t work.
31 Jan 12
11:44 am
They should get Malcolm Tucker on for the next master of spin at Sunrise, I would pay to see him rip Koche a new one.
31 Jan 12
12:50 pm
Since when is someone from advertising an expert on PR? The gap showed in Jane’s commentary…
31 Jan 12
2:35 pm
The ALP didn’t only attempt to screw Abbott. They f*cked over their own to do it!
Don’t believe me? Read: Minister angry at young flag burners
http://www.abc.net.au/news/201.....section=nt
This is going to get ugly. All those poo hooing any that are mad the ALP pulled this stunt, be it a junior punching above his pay rate or something more, should take a cold, hard look at what actually has been the concisenesses of this action. This is more than the Liberal response.
I agree with ALP Territory Indigenous Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy . Gillard owes apologies to Australians in general and Aboriginal Australians in particular for those at the tent embassy being used in such a way by anyone in her office and the ALP. She’s the boss. The buck stops with her. It’s too late now for any apology to happen. Gillard is left looking less of a PM in charge and more of just another blame passing politician because of it.
No matter how it’s spun by whom Gillard is gone, and it’s not Abbott or the Liberal party that kicked this off!
3 Feb 12
11:09 pm
if Julia’s minders are reading this please tell her the word is pronounced “a” not “aye”
and “the” not “thee”. Fix these two things and you’ll just about fix her wooden image.
7 Feb 12
11:09 am
Perhaps those here who want to “enlighten” us, with their “expert” opinions on this matter, may care to broaden their knowledge even further by going to the link below….It’s imperative that an open mind is applied though – but then, that might present a problem for some people.
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawat.....424264.htm
7 Feb 12
6:10 pm
Maaate! Your kidding me!
Because the PM didn’t have the gonads (or was too frightened what he’s spill if she did!) to sack Tony Hodges the Australian taxpayers get to pay the incompetent half-wit a motza to p off!
I’m betting he’s already been shoehorned into a comfy job with great benefits. One befitting a maaate!
… Ms Gillard’s office also confirmed yesterday that former press secretary Tony Hodges, who resigned last month for his role in the Australia Day tent embassy protest, will receive the “standard entitlements accruing to anyone who resigns”….
http://www.theaustralian.com.a.....6264128968
12 Feb 12
11:03 am
Martin,
Given that is shouting and banging on windows, fists and words, an offer to talk would have been a reasonable start, particularly given the police presence.
It took 20 minutes to decide to run, negotiation could have stopped that poor decision and clarified the story immediately and defused the decision.
Earlier politicians – Howard on guns, Cairns on Vietnam, as immediate examples, showed courage, regardless of the advice of a security team.
We individually can show the same and certainly any who lead or aspire to lead, need to – or be shown as diminished and weak.