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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?
Louise Brockbank appointed head of Taste.com.au
NewsLifeMedia has appointed Louise Brockbank to the role of head of online food website taste.com.au.
Brockbank is the former chief marketing officer of Vividwireless and has also worked as chief development director for UNICEF; and general manager – sales and marketing at News Limited, where she led the marketing and channel sales within TrueLocal.
“I’m delighted to have attracted someone of the calibre of Louise Brockbank to this newly created position. With her strategic background and full spectrum marketing experience, Louise’s innovative thinking will provide a new dimension to the taste.com.aubusiness,” said Nicole Sheffield, managing director of NewsLifeMedia. Read more »
Australian Good Taste magazine to close ahead of launch of Taste magazine
News Limited’s food magazine for Woolworths, Australian Good Taste, is to cease publication.
The move comes seven months after News Limited’s lifestyle arm NewsLifeMedia announced the closure of MasterChef Magazine and a month since the company said that it would be extending its online brand Taste with the launch of a new magazine title to launch in September.
The August edition of Australian Good Taste will be the title’s last. Read more »
NewsLifeMedia to launch Taste magazine
News Limited’s magazine and lifestyle arm NewsLifeMedia is to launch Taste as a monthly magazine title.
The brand taste.com.au already exists as a recipe website and app.
The first issue of taste magazine will be on sale in September,with an editor yet to be announced. Read more »
Ex-Vogue editor: agencies are wringing the sponge dry
Magazine creativity has been hit by the increasing influence of agencies attempting to “wring the sponge dry”, the former editor of Vogue has warned.
In a video interview with Encore to promote her new book The Vogue Factor, Kirstie Clements said that the emerging influence of PR and marketing on the editorial process hit creativity and ended the “church and state” separation between editorial and commercial interests.
She said: “Money is always the key to everything. It was gradual. Every day you drew a new line in the sand. Read more »
2012 – The year in magazines
In this roundup from the Encore and Mumbrella Annual, we look back at the year in magazines.
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A decline in ad revenue for The Australian Financial Review Group leads to the closure of its technology publication MIS Magazine. Rumours surface the publisher will also close financial title CFO Magazine, which CEO Brett Clegg denies.
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The Standard Media Index reports magazines have seen an 8.2 per cent decline in advertising spend for 2011, the largest of all media.
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Sandra Hook, CEO of News Limited’s magazine arm NewsLifeMedia, departs. The news comes just months after she led the company rebrand.
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In February, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reports that ACP Magazine’s mens’ title FHM has reduced its circulation by 50 per cent compared to the same period in 2011. The fall is one of the biggest circulation drops in Australian magazine history. In March, the title closes. ACP also offloads two of its sporting titles, Snowboarding and Inside Cricket to Nextmedia.
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It is reported that Pacific Magazines is considering purchasing ACP Magazines with preliminary discussions believed to be underway.
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ACP’s plans to launch fashion magazine Elle are put in question. The publisher is due to unveil the title in autumn but at the year’s end, it is yet to surface.
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Public broadcaster the ABC launches a football magazine, ABC Football, ahead of the 2012 AFL Season. The magazine will be published annually by News Custom Publishing.
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Publisher Wild Bunch Media launches a new exercise magazine, Women’s Running.
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March sees a round of appointments – the Lifestyle Channel’s Nicole Sheffield to the role of CEO of NewsLifeMedia; in the ACP camp Rachel Sharp steps up as editor of the soon-to-be launched Women’s Fitness; and at Pacific Magazines, Jacqui Moony becomes editor of health and lifestyle mag Prevention.
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May brings more bad news for ACP with mens’ mag Zoo Weekly falling 29.1 per cent in the latest round of circulation figures.
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NewsLifeMedia CEO Nicole Sheffield begins her editorial cull and announces the departure of Vogue editor-in-chief Kirstie Clements. She is replaced by Edwina McCann, editor of rival title Harper’s Bazaar. Lifestyle group editor Mark Kelly and editor of home and lifestyle title InsideOut, Richard Walker, also depart.
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ACP launches The Block magazine in an attempt to cash in on the success of the ongoing Nine reality series.
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In July, PacMags launches its first iPad app for male lifestyle title Men’s Health.
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The August release of figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation show Cleo and Cosmo have suffered a significant drop in sales with Cleo down more than 17 per cent and Cosmo 16 per cent. NewsLifeMedia’s MasterChef magazine drops 36.67 per cent. The magazine ceases printing in November.
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At the end of August, it is announced that ACP will be bought by German publisher Bauer. In September the sale is confirmed and Bauer picks up the magazine company for a reported $500m. It will rebrand as Bauer Media.
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Louise Barrett, ACP’s director of sales, announces her departure. She will take on the role of national sales director at the Ten network in January.
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The publisher formerly known as ACP launches Women’s Fitness magazine backed by a $2m launch campaign.
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Former Freeview head Robin Parkes is appointed executive director of Magazine Publishers Australia while Pacific Magazines boss Nick Chan hands the chairmanship to Matt Stanton.
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Current affairs magazine The Week, from British publisher Dennis Publishing, closes its Australian edition. Dynamic Business, published by Loyalty Media, closes after more than two decades.
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Mumbrella Question Time at Magazine Week this Friday
Mumbrella will stage a question time session at this week’s Publishers Australia magazine conference.
Panellists include NewsLifeMedia boss Nicole Sheffield who will also present the opening keynote of the second day of the Magazine Week conference and Michelle Katz, media director of FMCG giant Unilever.
Also on the panel are Publishers Australia chairman and Westwick-Farrow Media boss Geoff Hird and James Hier, chief strategy officer at media agency MEC Global. Read more »
Putting the pee in MPA
To the relaunch of Magazine Publishers of Australia, where bathrooms appeared to be the theme of the night.
NewsLifeMedia boss Nicole Sheffield revealed that she had nearly missed giving her speech after getting locked in the bathroom of the private dining club. She told guests: ‘I wasn’t in the toilet for ten minutes – I was actually stuck in there.” Read more »
Magazine boss attacks ‘illogical’ gap in ad spend
Media agencies are allocating magazines just half the share of advertising spending that the medium receives in the UK, the new chairman of Magazine Publishers Australia has complained.
Acknowledging the tough economic market, Matt Stanton – who also runs Bauer Media – told a media event to relaunch the MPA: “I don’t understand why the UK is on 8% while we are only on 4%. Agency spend has declined at double the rate of consumer spending. It does not make logical sense to us. It’s a mystery to us and something we need to look at.” Read more »
NewsLifeMedia closes MasterChef Magazine
NewsLifeMedia is closing MasterChef Magazine and a number of redundancies will result.
The November edition, which goes on sale on 22 October, will be the final issue after just two years of publishing.
The news comes just two months after a disappointing set of circulation figures which saw the title lose more than a third of its readers in a year.
The announcement from NewsLifeMedia: Read more »
Early bird deadline running out for Magazine Week
The early bird rate expires for the Magazine Week conference at the end of the day.
The event, organised by Publishers Australia, takes place at the Sydney Hilton on November 15 and 16
Ticket information:
Earlybird till 5th October
- PA Member – $650
- Non Member – $850
Standard rate thereafter
- PA Member – $790
- Non Member – $990
The conference programme can be viewed here.
The annnouncement:
Publishers Australia is delighted to announce that media personality Andrew Daddo will MC at this year’s Magazine Week conference.
Confirming his appearance, Daddo said: “I’m really looking forward to being part of the conference. I love magazines, always have and always will. They’re such an integral part of our lives, it’s easy to forget how significant they are.
“It’s not just about the information they convey; they’re our companions and remain the most reliable form of entertainment, in print, in digital, wherever we are. It’s going to be a fun couple of days, I look forward to meeting Australia’s publishers.”
Andrew will have the task of corralling and moderating some of the biggest personalities in Australia’s publishing industry:
- Matthew Stanton, CEO, ACP Magazines and Chairman, MPA
- Nicole Sheffield, CEO, NewsLifeMedia
- Geoff Hird, Publisher, Westwick-Farrow Media and Chairman, PA
- Ash Hunter, CEO, Hunter5 Publishing
- Chris Wirasinha of Pedestrian.tv
As well as being a household name for his years with ABC Radio, Beijing and Sydney Olympics presentations and a variety of popular TV shows, Andrew is a regular contributor to Australian Golf Digest and has written for Fly Fishing Annual, Essential Kids, The Hoopla and others. In addition, he says he has ‘enjoyed’ the deadline of a weekly column with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Andrew is also an accomplished author, having written over 20 best selling books for all ages – picture and chapter books, short story collections, young adult novels and adult non-fiction. Publishers will be pleased to learn that he is working hard on the next generation of magazine readers: he has spoken to hundreds of thousands of school children over the past decade, promoting the importance of literacy.
Source: Publishers Australia
Publishers Australia extends early bird deadline for Magazine Week
Publishers Australia has extended its early bird offer for Magazine Week until next Friday 12 October.
The announcement: Read more »
ACP’s Stanton takes helm of MPA as Parkes joins staff
Stanton
Australia’s major magazine publishers look set to try again to work together to promote the medium after a couple of years of near inactivity.
Magazine Publishers Australia has announced former Freeview head Robin Parkes as executive director. It follows a long period without the MPA having staff following the departure of Helen Kingsmill about two years ago.
Meanwhile Pacific Magazines boss Nick Chan has handed the chairmanship of the MPA to ACP boss Matt Stanton. Last year Chan acknowledged: “We’ve done a shit job of actually branding our medium.”
The MPA executive is made up of the CEOs of the three largest magazine publishers: Chan, Stanton and Nicole Sheffield of NewsLifeMedia. Stanton told Mumbrella: “Hiring Robin is our biggest investment. This is a statement of intent from us. There are misquotes and misunderstandings about how strong magazines are – we need to get the message of how engaging the are for consumers.
The MPA is also a member of Publishers Australia which represents Australi’s smaller and niche magazine publishers. Magazine Publishers Australia (MPA) gained representation on the PA board last year.
Foxtel’s Julian Delany joins News.com.au as GM
Digital platform News.com.au has appointed Julian Delany to the newly created role of general manager.
The appointment is the latest in a series of high profile changes at NewsLifeMedia, since managing director Nicole Sheffield took the reins in March. Read more »
Gardening Australia editor made redundant amid restructure at NewsLifeMedia
In another round of restructuring at NewsLifeMedia, the editor of Gardening Australia has been made redundant, and a ‘homes’ desk created to work across numerous titles.
Nick Smith, publisher of the company’s home and lifestyle group, which includes both Gardening Australia and InsideOut, told Mumbrella that Claire Bradley, editor of InsideOut, will replace former Gardening Australia editor Jennifer Stackhouse, to become editor-in-chief across both titles. Read more »
Kerrie McCallum appointed editor-in-chief of Sunday Magazine
Kerrie McCallum, who yesterday stepped down as editor of InStyle Magazine, has been announced as editor-in-chief of Sunday Magazine.
McCallum will begin in October at the NewsLifeMedia publication, reporting to managing director Nicole Sheffield.
Zara Curtis moves to TV role
Production house FremantleMedia has hired Zara Curtis as the first general manager of content division Spring. Curtis was formerly commercial director at NewsLifeMedia. Spring launched in September 2011 with a remit to produce sponsor-driven content for FTA, digital and subscription channels.
Curtis’ exit from News Limited’s magazine arm is the latest in a series of high profile departures from NewsLifeMedia in the three months since Nicole Sheffield took the reins at the lifestyle publishing arm of News Limited. Read more »
GQ’s Nick Smith steps up in to publisher role
The shakeups at News Limited’s magazine and lifestyle arm NewsLifeMedia have continued with GQ editor Nick Smith promoted into a new role of publisher of the company’s home and lifestyle group.
Smith will be responsible for GQ Australia, Australian Golf Digest, Big League, Country Style, Vogue Living, Gardening Australia, InsideOut and homelife.com.au.
Smith’s promotion came after new boss Nicole Sheffield axed lifestyle group editor Mark Kelly and Richard Waller of Inside Out. Smith will also remain as editor-in-chief of GQ, which has a bimonthly print edition. Read more »
NewsLifeMedia boss installs ex-LifeStyle Channels colleague Sharyn Whitten as comms chief
NewsLifeMedia boss Nicole Sheffield has installed a new director of communications – former LifeStyle Channels group colleague Sharyn Whitten.
Whitten was with Foxtel’s LifeStyle Channels group for over 10 years, latterly as head of publicity and talent management.
She replaces Kat Vidovic, who headed up communications for what used to be known as News Magazines. Freelance PR Barbara Messer filled in the interim while Vidovic was on maternity leave.
The move is the latest in a string of people moves instigated by Sheffield, who was appointed CEO in March.
Sheffield commented: Read more »
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