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Opinion | Features
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.
The experiential experience
Anyone can throw up a tent in a high-traffic area and harass the general public, but what does it take to pull off an effective experiential event? In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Matt Smith investigates.A television commercial can easily be muted and ignored, but try ignoring a purring, squirming cat in your arms. That was the experience awaiting passers by in Sydney’s Martin Place in October last year when Mars Petcare built Whiskas Kitten Palace.
The News Limited paywall isn't about revenue. It's about data
In this guest post, ninemsn’s editor in chief Hal Crawford argues Fairfax Media and News Limited’s new paywalls won’t draw much revenue, but will generate data. And they’re late to the data party.When I first learned that ninemsn’s major digital competitors Fairfax and News Ltd were going to introduce paywalls across their mainstream properties, I was excited.
Every obstacle thrown in the way of their audiences is an opportunity. People hate friction and anything that makes life difficult on a rival site is a chance to get them on yours.
Is this the worst time to be a journalist?
With scores of redundancies in 2012 and a mass exodus of experienced journos, is this the worst time to be a journalist? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen asks the question.In June last year a tsunami of redundancies began to sweep across Australia’s media landscape. They came in a series of waves and in the 12 months that followed, an estimated 1,200 journalists departed the mainstream media.
Are you a conscious leader?
As the advertising and marketing industry struggles to address the issue of rocketing rates of staff churn in their businesses, Slingshot CEO Simon Rutherford argues that today’s ‘conscious leaders’ should be more focussed on creating ‘staff wellness’ in order to deliver high performing teams and healthy profits.
A conscious leader believes the business has a greater responsibility towards the community it operates in. To ensure sustainable long-term profits, people must come first. Awareness, trust, authenticity, transparency, 100% responsibility, connection, compassion, and love: these are the tools of the conscious leader.
Suits: less popular than pest controllers
Advertising suits have a thankless job that is currently being eroded by the changing industry says Naren Sanghrajka in a piece that first appeared in Encore.Not in my wildest, craziest nightmares would I ever have thought I’d say this. But I’m going to. Being a bean counter is far more appealing than starting as a suit in advertising. There it is. I said it. I actually said those words.
Yes, it’s incredibly depressing. But it’s true.
An answer for Adam: What's the future for creatives?
Each fortnight, Adam Ferrier poses a question to the industry. This week, he asks about the future of the creative.
Who or what is a creative? It’s an old thought, but as I continue on my merry journey in advertising I wonder if there is a role for a ‘creative’ and if there is, what that role is?
In the world of film and TV there is not a ‘creative’. There is a director, a writer, a producer, a DOP and so on. From this mix the creativity happens. But no-one is charged with being ‘the creative’.
Australian films stand on their own merit
The argument that Australian audiences only embrace local films once they’ve picked up a gong at an international festival is inherently flawed says Lee Zachariah in a piece that first appeared in Encore.As much as we like to pretend that we collectively fulfil the world’s need for a country comprised entirely of laid-back, mellow beach dwellers, we do seem to get disproportionately excited when someone else mentions us. Our cool exterior drops away as our local news bulletins breathlessly report that CNN or the BBC or really anyone in one of the ‘real countries’ acknowledged our existence.
We feel detached from the world, and therefore crave its validation.
The vindication of Paul Fishlock
Wow.You may have noticed that not much went up on Mumbrella over the last couple of hours.
That’s because I’ve been reading the judge’s findings in Paul Fishlock’s case against The Campaign Palace.
I’d always known that agencyland can be a brutal place. But the picture of the cynical, ego-driven, unsentimental world that comes through in the findings of Justice John Sacker is something else. I recommend you take the time to read it yourself.
The reputation of Young & Rubicam’s global creative director Tony Granger certainly takes a battering in my view. The word “bully” is a hard one to come back from.
And former Campaign Palace CEO Mark Mackay comes across as someone you might think twice about either hiring or working for, based on the evidence presented. The judge calls him contemptuous of both Granger and Fishlock.
Kiwi skateboarding brand Eshe declares ‘Religion is garbage’
A New Zealand skateboarding brand has declared ‘Religion is garbage’ with a series of deliberately controversial posters hitting the streets of central Auckland.
The posters for Eshe Skateboarding, created in the style of the famous cartoon series Garbage Pail kids, subvert religious figures from Christianity, Hinduism and Scientology.
One image shows Hollywood actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise dressed as Ali G, with the slogan ‘Scientolo G’.
They are the second in the series of the brand’s anti-religion campaign that launched in 2010. The first featured an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a bomb strapped to his body and the slogan ‘Tick-tock Muhammad’.
A spokesman for Eshe told Mumbrella: “Skateboarding used to be edgy back in the 90s. Everything today seems very tame, boring and to be honest, the way the religion wants a special exemption from criticism and free speech being held hostage by fanatics, pisses us off. We decided it would be fun to use satire to make a point, rather than yet another boring as hell logo design.”
On whether the campaign was deliberately provocative, he said: “Absolutely. The freedom to be offensive is important.”
The first phase of the campaign featured a subversive image on the leader of Hillsong, a powerful pentecostal church led by New Zealander Brian Houston.
The first phase of the campaign resulted in a number of complaints to New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority – but they were not upheld.
The new poster executions have been printed on limited edition skateboards.
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Comments
28 Sep 12
4:02 pm
I love bashing religion, so I love this
28 Sep 12
4:41 pm
I notice they’re not mocking Islam here…
28 Sep 12
5:05 pm
They are, James. We chose not to post the image.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
28 Sep 12
5:38 pm
Tim, why not?
28 Sep 12
7:56 pm
if they’re mocking Islam I hope everybody in the building where their agency is located has been given due notice to clear out and head for the hills
29 Sep 12
2:30 am
Why?
29 Sep 12
11:35 am
Why would you not post the Islam one?
As for this idea, Blind skateboards did it better about 15 years ago.
29 Sep 12
1:46 pm
Tic, tic, tic….
29 Sep 12
2:21 pm
Love it. It’s a shame we’re so PC these days in Australia.
I wonder though if there is a copyright infringement; it’s a new take on the Garbage Gang collector cards from the 90s.
29 Sep 12
2:50 pm
Great call Tim.
Also causing offense for the sake of it is all well and good, but you don’t have to look like shit doing it.
29 Sep 12
4:35 pm
Hi Jeff and Not The First James,
Is that a serious question? I’m happy to answer it if you honestly don’t know the answer.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
29 Sep 12
5:58 pm
One could argue that Scientology is not a religion, it is a cult. Germany and France treats it as such, even L. Ron Hubbard said it wasn’t a religion.
29 Sep 12
7:10 pm
Yes, it’s a honest question Tim, why would you post the others but not the Islam one?
I’m not a mind reader, seems to be selective prejudice. It’s ok to offend any religion except Islam.
30 Sep 12
8:29 am
Self censorship facepalm!
30 Sep 12
10:34 am
This self-censorship is pretty concerning. Every other religion or belief system can be open to criticism and ridicule, but not Islam. Is this a glimpse into the future of journalism?
30 Sep 12
9:05 pm
I thought the same
It’s obviously topical but so what
Why should you make one rule for some religions and another for others ?
30 Sep 12
10:42 pm
The reason for the censorship isn’t obvious. You are going to have to spell it out.
1 Oct 12
12:31 am
Good to see that with just a few riots Muslims have silenced any criticism of them. They should run courses for Christians, Jews, Buddhists and all the other religions who get criticised just to make sure there is no favouritism. I mean we can’t have the fourth estate ruled by fear can we?
1 Oct 12
8:09 am
All of the complaints about the self censorship regarding the muslim poster… Agreed but be aware that they also chose not to show the one with the Pope being referred to as a pedophile.
Personally I love all of these.
1 Oct 12
8:26 am
Jeff,
My guess is, Tim realises history has shown most religions have accepted that the likeness of their leader may get mocked, and while some members of the Muslim faith have as well, clearly others are still a wee bit touchy on the subject, and perhaps Tim chose protecting his business and staff over one more outbreak of bullshit.
Dave
1 Oct 12
9:17 am
Still waiting for your explanation Tim.
1 Oct 12
1:38 pm
Still not sure why they’d do a campaign done by another skate brand 15 years ago
http://www.retroskatestickers......ds-guy.jpg
1 Oct 12
1:44 pm
Still not sure why it’s ok to poke fun at some religions and not others
1 Oct 12
3:52 pm
Sorry for the slow response, Elbogrease, Worst of Perth, Seriously, Jeff, James et al. It’s a question I wanted to have the time to answer properly.
Bluntly, if you publish images of The Prophet, offensive or otherwise, as night follows day, it is likely that you will be attacked.
As you may be aware, a belief within Islam is that it is offensive to show images of Mohammed regardless of context.
I spent some time working in the Middle East, enough to become aware that those who follow Islam are almost without exception, peaceful people whose belief in the Quran inspires them to lead positive, charitable lives.
However, likes any religion, there are a small number who do not. In 2006, I happened to be in Beirut for an advertising awards event at the time that anger was growing over a series of Danish cartoons. An ad agency I popped into the next day shared the same office building as the Danish embassy.
Fortunately I missed by a few hours the demonstrators torching that building, which you can read about here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4682560.stm
But it was a close enough call to focus the mind.
Is it self-censorship? Yes? Does it suck? Yes.
But I honestly believe that to publish that ad would put me, and more importantly, my staff in danger. And while some principles are worth fighting for, a crass, attention-seeking Kiwi skateboarding brand is not.
I suspect they may not know how much danger they are potentially in.
In my view, their cartoons have little merit. I weighed up not running the story at all, as I worried we were playing into their hands just by publishing this crap. And of course it’s unfair to publish something that’s offensive to one religion and not that which is offensive to another.
But I think I’ve chosen the least shit alternative.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
1 Oct 12
3:57 pm
Thanks for your reply Tim. Shouldn’t have run the story at all as you say.
1 Oct 12
4:14 pm
Very good response and thanks for the honesty, personally I’d just have gone with none.
Cheers.
1 Oct 12
4:17 pm
What you’re saying is that you are prepared to show some restraint, respect and politeness because you believe there may be a violent reaction if you don’t. But if you believe there is no risk of any physical retaliation, then you think it is fine to subject people and their faiths to mockery and ridicule. This reveals more about you than it does about Islam.
1 Oct 12
4:21 pm
Well said Tim.
1 Oct 12
4:37 pm
Hi Peter,
I don’t actually think it’s fine to subject anyone of faith to mockery and ridicule, particularly when it’s lazy and stupid, as this work appears to me. But I do struggle with the question of whether we should not cover it as a news story when others do so.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
1 Oct 12
4:45 pm
These cards are great. Now, if we could just amend section 116 of the constitution and curtail the $30 billion in tax write offs that religions enjoy.
1 Oct 12
4:57 pm
The inclusion of Gandhi shows a lack of thought that went into this campaign. He was a Hindu, but hardly a representative figure of that particular religion.
Also, where is the Dalai Lama one?
1 Oct 12
5:09 pm
This is where the media is at these days: Everyone else is crass, tasteless and offensive, so I have to be as well.
1 Oct 12
6:24 pm
Peter Chanel, covering this as a news story simply shows how one brand has chosen to market themselves. Any ‘vilification’ comes from people’s response to that. Given that the content is on a marketing-related website, and not a religious one, it should be pretty clear to most readers what the context is.
2 Oct 12
11:54 am
@Jeff… your link to the original had me laughing out loud… unfortunately, these versions do seem a tad ‘done before’…
Thanks for posting Tim, it’s all news at the end of the day…
2 Oct 12
12:15 pm
Stick with atheism or agnosticism. When was the last time you heard of ‘agnostic tension’ or ‘athesitic wars’?
2 Oct 12
12:33 pm
Tim, just checked out the Eshe Skateboarding site an there are no skateboards showing derogatory attacks on Islam, just all other religions. Waste of time running the story at all about a bunch of gutless morons.
2 Oct 12
1:40 pm
Hi Justan Aussie,
It was there. They may, sensibly, have removed it.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
2 Oct 12
1:58 pm
@Dabug, the $30b tax write off you claim religions “enjoy” is only a small part of the billions of dollars all religions spend on supporting the community, families, destitute and otherwise vulnerable who would otherwise be exposed. Taxing these selfless institutions would only leave less money available to help the poor.
But the facts aren’t anywhere are much fun as any opportunity for you to add your throw away, off topic, anti-religion line, is it?
And this skate board company is demonstrating what desperate lengths people are prepared to go to if your product has no redeeming features.
2 Oct 12
3:29 pm
Props for the response Tim, perhaps my response was a bit of a knee jerk reaction, but given recent events I can’t say I really blame you. It’s one thing to put yourself out there, but it’s not entirely fair to subject staff to the same thing, unbeknownst to them.
You do a great job on the blog anyway, and I don’t doubt there was a lot of two and throwing on how to tackle this topic. I find it interesting that when I looked on the skateboard company’s website, I couldn’t find any pics of the controversial design. I guess that says a lot about them if they’re not even willing to run the pics.
2 Oct 12
6:06 pm
Don’t worry kids, if you thought your religion was missed out, here’s one that Eshe did that didn’t make the original article…
http://i.imgur.com/Bkyas.png
I assume that’s the one that was (shamefully) missed out that we’re all talking about?
8 Oct 12
3:08 pm
Tim, are you sure Brainwashing Brian doesn’t refer to Brian Tamaki instead of Brian Houston? The image looks a lot like Tamaki, a far more sinister religious leader. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Tamaki
9 Oct 12
10:31 am
Actually, I’d say that the refusal to mock Islam (due to fear of violent retaliation) will actually cause more damage to their religion overall. After all, what does it say about your faith when the general populace assumes the standard reaction to criticism is violence?
So while on the surface people may think Islam is benefiting from this self-censorship, the reality is that the whole religion is being damaged by the perception (and often reality) of being associated with bloodshed and violence.
Just compare the reactions of people (even athiests) when, say, proposing a new church for an area, in contrast with a new mosque.
9 Oct 12
11:51 am
@Bob (comment 42)
Spot on Bob! Without a doubt if a proposed mosque was being planned, based on the worldwide violence from Muslim’s recently, there would be a higher chance of uproar in allowing it to be built v a church, a Sikh temple, or a cathedral etc
It is truly sad, however it is different worlds and ways of life and it has always been the big cultural difference, which doesn’t look like changing anytime soon? (Islam v the world…)
Has anyone got an informed take on what the future holds?
11 Oct 12
11:05 am
I checked the website and there no image for Islam? Was it removed?
11 Oct 12
11:22 am
PS
I worked in Afghanistan with NGO’s for 3 years, and it made me even more determined to challenge thinking at home here in Oz
26 Oct 12
12:39 pm
Well said Tim! Damn good response.
26 Oct 12
12:43 pm
@Agno it’s definitely Tamaki. Destiny “church” sells gold rings to members in NZ… Hence the gold ring with a “D” on it. The whole thing was a stupid move by Eshe. Not even remotely clever.