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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.
Global Mail announces Attard’s exit, replaced by Jane Nicholls
Philanthropically funded publishing venture The Global Mail has parted ways with founding editor Monica Attard just three months after launch, the organisation confirmed tonight.
Attard’s departure came after reports of disagreements between her and founder Graeme Woods. CEO Jane Nicholls has been named as interim editor.
Global Mail is an ambitious project funded by Wood to the tune of $15m, the largest project of its type ever seen in Australia. Woods made his fortune through travel site wotif.
The short statement from The Global Mail said:
“The Global Mail announced today that Monica Attard, having served as founding Managing Editor for the conception and launch phase of The Global Mail, will be leaving the publication.
“The Global Mail chairman Graeme Wood thanked Monica for her tremendous assistance and vision in the start-up phase of the organisation’s development.
“CEO of The Global Mail, Jane Nicholls, will step in as interim editor.”
Attard is a previous long time ABC staffer.
The Global Mail has so far had a relatively low impact in terms of breaking agenda-setting stories despite a staff of around 20.
The organisation has not released any data about its traffic.
Although the free online audience estimate service Alexa offers only crude data, it suggests that The Global Mail was struggling even compared to independent publishers, barely registering on the graph.
Audio: Attard discusses the launch of Global Mail on the Mumbrellacast:
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Comments
8 May 12
9:51 pm
The layout of The Global Mail does not work well. The horizontal scrolling feels makeshift, and it’s counter to most other sites. Images also take up too much of the screen space.
8 May 12
10:29 pm
Sad for Attard, but the whole operation seems very 1990s to me. Back then media and big ad agencies thought the web was just another part of the production department.
On top of that, they’ve got television reporters trying to do print journalism, which they’re usually not good at.
If it’s going to succeed, it needs radical reshaping.
8 May 12
11:37 pm
Alexa is general relative and the red line looks accurate enough.
In the long term start up phase it isn’t anything to cry about and strong engagement is only grown over time.
I must admit though, I just clicked through to the Global Mail for the first time and was totally lost as to where I could go and what I could see. Too many photo’s at the top and the sign posting was all over the show. I am sure this can be tightened up and I love the content and what they are trying to achieve.
My 10 cents on UX:
Think of the links and buttons of your website as signs around a city. Where do they need to be placed and how easy is it for people to see them and understand them.
10 cents over…
8 May 12
11:38 pm
generally*
9 May 12
7:12 am
The Mail will Fail as long as it has anyone who leans too much to one side. Fairness and balance is what it should be and pushing an agenda will always only appeal to a minority. Lets face it, just about anyone who works or has worked for the ABC over the last few years is utterly mentally incapable of producing balanced reporting. For example, anyone who has a different opinion about Global Warming is described as a ‘denier’ and either overtly or subtly described as a fool who doesn’t understand the science. They have NEVER been given a fair and balanced chance to present their side on the ABC without being ridiculed.
Bye Bye Monica. So, who’s your next choice eh?
9 May 12
8:17 am
No doubt global mail has struggled to gain traffic, which is a real problem when your only agenda is your audience.
They should fix the layout and UI and make it more open to audience commentary.
Hmmm – kinda like the conversation without such an academic slant, or even this very website..
Sorry to say this, but the reach figures for mumbrella are grossly over represented n alexa when compared with Crikey and other Australian websites. Try using Google adplanner, it tends to underestimate figures, but is more accurate than alexa. It’s not so easy to embed a graph in a story though…
Google Adplanner Worldwide Unique visitors (users) pulled 9/5/12
mumbrella: 63K
crikey: 130K
theconversation: 70K
theglobalmail: 14K
and for relevance
bandt.com.au: 30K
adnews.com.a: 18K
9 May 12
8:45 am
Plug TorrentFreak into that graph and see how lucrative pandering to the masses on piracy is.
Two man operation on par with The Age.
9 May 12
8:56 am
What do you expect from a Left-leaning publication? When will people understand that most people are conservative by nature and don’t want to be preached to by the Left? This publication is not balanced in any way. Even CNN is finding out that their brand is in the bin due to their Left views pushed a being balanced. People are not stupid. Mr Woods made his fortune building up a company and has used his wealth to push his ideology – which almost no one agrees with. So much for trying to sway public opinion via the media!
9 May 12
9:21 am
HI CC,
Thanks for those. To your point on AdPlanner understating, our internal Google Analytics currently lists our worldwide monthly uniques at 211,000.
But of course, it’s conversations like this that underline the need for an audited currency. We’ve signed up to the Audit Bureau and our audited monthly uniques (Australian only) are 124,000 for April. Crikey is listed as 296,000.
Link here: http://www.auditbureau.org.au/edata/CAB/Mastheads
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
9 May 12
9:23 am
Update: The Conversation shares the following data with me on its current audience:
Google Analytics monthly stats:
Uniques: 314,658
Visits: 517,104
PVs: 978,692
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
9 May 12
9:49 am
Hi Tim,
Sorry – I should have used the Unique Visitors (cookies) values my post above, they are roughly double the Unique Visitors (users) figures quoted and more closely align with your ABA and GA figures.
Cheers
9 May 12
10:26 am
Their site is too hard to navigate. It will turn a lot of people off. Almost everyone is trained to the standard format which everyone from Mumbrella, Crikey, SMH, News and almost every site on the net use. Up and down not left to right scrolling. The subscribe button is hard to find which will hinder their audience growth. Unless they have a major overhaul of the site they will struggle.
Remember they are up against a lot of specialised bloggers who are growing fast which means there is no place for amateur night for websites like The Global Mail. When I say “amateur night” I do not mean their writers, it is the layout of their site and marketing that is letting them down. But they are only new and have plenty of cash so they have the time and resources to fix their problems
9 May 12
10:46 am
Hah. Left-loving clap-trap getting its just desserts.
Monica’s next move would logically be Labor preselection, but not sure that’s a sound long-term career move… (sound of more laughter)
9 May 12
1:45 pm
What does the Herald Sun get in the way of hits? Surely that must be the Gold Standard…. after all Andrew Bolt’s blog alone gets over 3 million hits a month.
My piece of advice to the Global Mail is this. If you are going to allow debate, then allow it to move freely in the direction that the commenter’s are taking it…. Stop censoring them and stop dictating to them….. If the Mail’s only thought is propaganda…. Then Mr Woods had better have deep pockets and millions to throw away.
9 May 12
3:42 pm
Mega rich, albeit well meaning, person used to getting their own way, partners with stubborn, strong minded journalist.
What could possibly go wrong?
‘hope they salvage something from the wreckage. It was rather good.
9 May 12
4:32 pm
Agree with much of the above, especially the counter-intuitive left-to-right scrolling. Why reinvent the wheel when the rest of the world goes up and down?
Some of it is just too bloody earnest. They badly need light and shade and some clever chuckle-inducing pieces. Life’s miserable already without a constant diet of environmental hazards and western imperialist outrages in places we’ve never heard of and care about even less. But you should care! Yes, I know, but I don’t.
The stable of writers contains too many lofty and intense print types, left wing ABC types churning out dull TV prose or youthful Robert Fisk wannabes trekking through Turkmenistan or bar-crawling in BA.
But the worst of it is that as far as I know, they have never broken a story that’s made it into the mainstream media. How can you spend that much money and not get an occasional scoop?
I’d venture that’s why the otherwise admirable Monica has departed. A great interviewer but ultimately a poor editor because she produced the kind of earnest, socially responsible material she wanted to read, not the rest of us.
9 May 12
6:11 pm
I agree Graham.
While I respect The Global Mail’s efforts at publishing hard news stories, they could have at least peppered the content with something silly, satirical or sexy. But they are not alone in their earnestness … when was the last time anyone in the Australian press really took the piss?
Most Australian media is trapped in a largely hokey, old-fashioned paradigm. Look at who still appears on our screens and in our papers? George Negus, Mike Carlton, Kerri Anne Kennerly … it’s a time warp. The “daggy” angle on most stories and worship of celebrity chefs and restaurants means Australian readers now flock to overseas websites to read contemporary journalism.
9 May 12
6:20 pm
@ Amanda #8
I think you’ll find most people aren’t conservative if you examine their expectations about the role of government in our society.
But thank you for spinning us the Fox News line…
9 May 12
6:26 pm
I count about 23 staff on their voices page. Say they’re on $100K average salary, that’s $2.3 million a year without any other expenses or oncosts.
I fear they will burn through $15 million fairly quickly.
What they need is some publicity and some ads to drive traffic to the website.
I didn’t even know they existed..
I had a read of a few items yesterday from Bernard Lagan including a fascinating article about alleged sexual harrasment at the Commonwealth Bank where the accusing women lost in court and was torn apart on her credibility by the judge.
http://www.theglobalmail.org/f.....nking/163/
mr lagan also had a interesting article about the A380 troubles – from back in February.
http://www.theglobalmail.org/f.....flying/61/
The site needs a massive reworking. It’s too hard to find things and like everyone else the navigation is woeful.
I’d ask the web design agency for a refund – it’s a dogs breakfast
9 May 12
7:04 pm
Cut your losses Mr Wood and close the whole kit and carboodle down. The Left view is defunct in this day and age, even your heroes called it quits in the 1990′s.
Had to be one of the worse websites in donkey’s years. Come back when you accept climate change and global warming is a load of cobblers and a gigantic fraud against the honest people of the world.
9 May 12
10:39 pm
What we’re missing in Australian publications is not silliness or satire or chuckles or balance; it’s people willing to enquire and write with real power and courage. People who really have something at stake. That’s sexy.
12 May 12
6:46 am
Such staggering ignorance. It’s not rocket science; electronic media has dramatically reduced literacy over the last 90 years. Not helped by the ongoing failure of public education to focus on literacy, or the almost compete lack of it.
And employing your friends, rather than competence, is a death knell. How could anyone have failed to notice just how LOUSY the photographic editing of the Herald was in recent years? If there were 3 stories on Qantas in a week, you got the same DISMAL photo 3 times in a week. Truly appallingly bad work.