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Opinion | Features
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.
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.
Lynx ‘girl on girl porn’ rugby vid banned by Ad Standards
An online video campaign by Unilever’s Lynx deodorant, in which greased up, scantily clad girls ‘explain’ the rules of rugby, has been banned by the Ad Standards Bureau for objectifying women.
One complaint read: “I believe that this ad has been grossly influenced by the pornography industry and the hidden hype surrounding girl-on-girl pornography.”
The advertiser’s defence was that the video was only posted on YouTube – not on TV – and that it had an age verification function in place to restrict the film to users over 18.
Unilever also pointed out that complaints to the Ad Standards Bureau were largely a result of Melinda Tankard Reist‘s activist group Collective Shout, which encouraged consumers to complain via its Facebook page.
The ASB found that the ad was shot to emphasise physical attributes of the women, “with lingering shots on the women’s breasts, groins and bottoms”, and depicted women as sexual objects.
The ad, which received 1.3m views two weeks after it was posted, was by Soap Creative.
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Comments
4 Nov 11
10:16 am
Lighten up people.
4 Nov 11
10:39 am
I thought it was very helpful in explaining the rules to be honest
4 Nov 11
11:40 am
Lingerie Football League anyone?
4 Nov 11
11:52 am
It is a pretty low effort. It’s not smart at all as a piece of communication. It’s a very tired approach too, not to mention that does objectify women. So they deserve all the flack they get
.
4 Nov 11
1:05 pm
Should they ban this important health message too?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Z9evxZwT0
4 Nov 11
2:22 pm
Booooo! Did the girls in the Ad mind participating? Did they? Precisely!
4 Nov 11
2:27 pm
“hidden hype surrounding girl-on-girl pornography”
Hidden hype? Is that even possible?
4 Nov 11
2:28 pm
Finally someone explained Rugby in a way I could understand!!
4 Nov 11
2:32 pm
How was that pornographic?
4 Nov 11
2:37 pm
Where was the Ad Standards Bureau when all of Lynx’s other ads were produced? Could have used a buffer against that crap.
4 Nov 11
2:39 pm
@ Jo 11:52
1.3 million views in just two weeks… I’m not sure the Unilever clients would agree with your view of “low effort” “not smart at all” “tired approach”. Our industry constantly looks to reinvent things for the sake of reinventing them. Too often we overcomplicate an issue in the pursuit to be ‘smart’. It’s not for everyone but the audience this was targeted for loved it!
4 Nov 11
2:39 pm
Honestly, it is wrong. We all know – including men – that the sexualising of women has greatly worked to our disadvantage. This ad is an insult to self respecting women!
4 Nov 11
2:40 pm
We love “girl on girl” & “boy on boy”…. We’d like to see more advertisers with ads like this!
4 Nov 11
2:50 pm
I am a little miffed at the add. I mean how stereotypical was that!? It is an abomination on the advertising industry.
After all, there was no Asian, black, Hispanic, Muslim, Jewish, red head women oiling themselves up. When are you people going to change?
4 Nov 11
2:55 pm
@ Robbie lol – yes, i can see the ‘audience’ at night in front of the screen. let me guess – guys who have nothing better to do? this is the profile of a guy who busy lynx? any naked girl or guy will attract attention, so does a 3-legged dog.
4 Nov 11
2:58 pm
My main issue with this is that over 18s are not the Lynx target. But of course it’s everyone’s right to objectify women or not. And men.
4 Nov 11
3:01 pm
wtf? What a boring ad. Then again, Lynx as a product truly sucks. Not surprised that their advertising efforts follow suit.
4 Nov 11
3:07 pm
Mission Accomplished.
4 Nov 11
3:22 pm
Funnily enough, the age restriction is on the vimeo site, when you try to view it from there, but not via Mumbrella though…. We’re all adult here, after all..
4 Nov 11
3:34 pm
Yes, Breathless – but I once heard that …. “the older you get, the wiser you get and the more filthy you become” – I’m simply quoting someone else!!!
4 Nov 11
3:35 pm
Corny, overtly sexist and basically a dumb ad….but probably appealing to 15 year old boys who use Lynx!
4 Nov 11
3:39 pm
skimpily dressed women and deoderant are both essential elements in young men’s lives. its logical stuff for Lynx
4 Nov 11
3:42 pm
if only Bill McLaren had been alive to do the commentary
4 Nov 11
3:53 pm
If this ad is a reference to ‘girl on girl porn’, does that make any rugby game a reference to ‘guy on guy porn’? (or would it be guy and guy and guy and guy and guy on girl porn?)
4 Nov 11
4:01 pm
@Nathan if you ask a handful of gay guys, you might discover, Rugby IS considered ‘guy on guy (on a bunch of other guys) porn”
4 Nov 11
4:38 pm
For all the hoopla I was really expecting it to be a bit more graphic, it really is no different to most music videos being churned out these days, Rihanna’s S&M anyone??
4 Nov 11
5:01 pm
So it’s okay to objectifity men for a breast cancer ad in the name of humour (and it most certainly is – I think it’s brilliant)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
But this Lynx ad can’t? Blimey it wasn’t that crass. Double standards and intensely yawnsome.
5 Nov 11
4:16 am
Melinda Tankard Reist and her cohorts need to get some consistency and get a life. This ad was never on TV nor was it on a billboard or in a magazine. What consenting adults decide to watch on Youtube, Vimeo or any other site on the net is their business only. When was the last time you heard Melinda Tankard Reist come out about the objectification of men by the way? Let me guess…Never. So until she and her cohorts protest the objectification of human beings period – she has no credibility and ought to shut up.
5 Nov 11
7:06 pm
I don’t support equal opportunity objectification. Never have. But I wonder if you can give me any examples Matthew, of the kind that we see regularly employed by Lynx and multitudes of other companies? I’ll be fascinated to see what you come up with.
Mtr.
5 Nov 11
10:55 pm
Okay, so this is an ad to explain the rules of rugby. Hands up, who was paying attention to the rules, and who was somewhat distracted by the lingering slow motion shots of oiled up girls’ butts and breasts?
This is nothing new for Lynx, all of there advertising is sexist crap, offensive to any reasonable women respecting man or woman.
Matthew Cheyne, while objectification of men is also wrong, it is far less common than objectification of women.
7 Nov 11
9:38 am
Hi Melinda,
Here are some ads that objectify men that you requested to look at. I ask that if you consider that the roles were reversed these would be exactly the kind of ads you would be decrying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ature=fvst
http://www.trendhunter.com/sli.....-cluster#5
I put the last one in because I basically have to get to work and that summarises the extent of the other side of the coin. Don’t tell me that it is biased more toward females. It’s just not true.
Just lighten up a bit, huh? 99% of the population really don’t care about ‘objectification’. You really are in the minority. We don’t need to be rescued.
7 Nov 11
10:44 am
Dear Oh Dear
Maybe you are ok not to be rescued. There are many women out there (including children) who are sexually exploited. As a woman I am happy to support. I rather be part of the 1% who are respected for their intellect. This conversation is about more than only advertising. It’s a reflection of our society and our value system.
7 Nov 11
11:03 am
Hi Michaela,
This is my last comment as I actually do have a job and am not going to waste any more time on your blurred crusade.
Our society and our value system IS reflected by us 99% who don’t care about your puritanical attitudes to life. The value system you are trying to mandate through your shrill attacks on what is just a bit of harmless fun to the rest of us is simply misplaced.
The piece of work shown here was only able to be accessed by consenting adults through an age-verification process. No-one was sexual exploited. No one was hurt. No minors became heroin-addicts or were sold into child slavery because of it.
A little perspective, please.
7 Nov 11
11:15 am
Dear Oh Dear
I am happy for you that you have an interesting job and thank you for making the time to reply. Let’s just agree to disagree. Accepting another persons point of view is part of an (adult) conversation. I wish you well. Warm regards.
7 Nov 11
11:15 am
Careful about where you draw connection and causality, Michaela.
No one here is for child sexual exploitation, (where did that come from??) which has nothing to do with this ad from Lynx, unless you think some of these women are under 18?
“Oh Dear” didn’t say 1% of women are respected for their intellect. They said 99% of people don’t care about objectification.
Try to stay on topic. The discussion is about whether this ad is appropriate or offensive. I can clearly see some are offended by it, but also, some are not, and some of those not offended are female.
“Objectification” occurs all the time, as a reduction of the complexity of what it is to be human, in order to relay a simple concise message. Glenn Urquhart made a valid point you have not replied to about the relatively permissible use of sexual objectification (which is not exploitation) for relatively inoffensive messages. Have a look at the entertaining video he posted and consider how that objectification was not offensive.
Some women have no difficulty being sexual beings, being openly sexy, without considering the experience objectification or exploitation. They like expressing that part of their humanity, which should not be repressed. it does not mean they have been diminished, just like your desire to be appreciated for your intelligence should not take away from being appreciated for other characteristics you have.
As for the value system, to be perfectly honest, the exploited ones here are the poor young men considering the lynx product range thinking it helps get chicks.
7 Nov 11
12:12 pm
Like I said, let’s agree to disagree! I respect your point of view.
7 Nov 11
12:21 pm
And if the athlete models in this video had been male baring as much flesh, no-one would have said a thing.
When it comes to sexism allegations, there’s clearly one rule for one sex and another for the other.
The perceived “offence” usually comes from those who feel inadequate when confronted by those fortunate enough to look like these models do. Such people need to get over themselves, and find a talent that can give them a sense of worth.
Simply, stop being so jealous and bitter. Stop imposing your miserable, angry “standards” on the rest of the community.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. And whoever complained about this was undoubtedly a “goose”.
8 Nov 11
12:28 pm
Good to see the vocal minority hard at work, and blurring the lines between church and state.
Last time I checked it was a free country.
8 Nov 11
3:20 pm
@goodone : Vocal minority or silent majority (represented by a few)? It depends on your perspective.
8 Nov 11
3:56 pm
@MattP: Ah…you fool. it’s only those with their nickers in a twist that squeel.
9 Nov 11
8:50 pm
Pretty typical of Lynx with their sexist rubbish. Women in sport obviously exist as the men’s entertainment. Forget about being a female athlete, ladies! Your job is to pose for the real (male) athletes.
15 Nov 11
11:53 am
@Breathless – nailed it you are truly wise.