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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.
McDonald’s re-names stores Macca’s in Australia Day PR stunt
Thirteen McDonald’s restaurants around the country will undergo a name-change to Macca’s in an Australia Day-related PR stunt.
The fast food stores will be given the Australian nickname for the restaurant, with new store signage.
Chief marketing officer Mark Lollback told The Daily Telegraph: “What better way to show Aussies how proud we are to be a part of the Australian community than change our store signs to the name the community has given us.”
The name change stunt will run until February 4, when the stores will return to normal.
The first name change will start from today at Engadine in the Sutherland Shire, NSW and at Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point. The roll-out will continue throughout Sydney to Bondi Beach, Gladesville, Glenmore Park and Thornleigh as well as Victorian, South Australian and WA signage on Thursday.
The campaign will run across digital, print, outdoor, social media and PR. The campaign is backed by an ad created by DDB.
Comments
8 Jan 13
11:17 am
Very clever marketing I think, I quite like it
8 Jan 13
11:40 am
Nothing says ‘true blue Aussie’ like an American franchise burger chain selling Big Macs, French Fries and cookies…!
8 Jan 13
11:58 am
“American franchise … chain”
Emotive nonsense. McDonald’s Australia has for over forty years done more to teach young Australians the value of hard work and the rewards of enterprise than a thousand TAFEs, colleges and universities.
8 Jan 13
12:07 pm
Here is a UK version from 2 years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxLtKQZfIU
Very similar, just not Aussie.
8 Jan 13
1:26 pm
@paul the freelance writer they might have taught them the value of hard work but it is a pity they didn’t pay them fairly for it don’t you think?
8 Jan 13
1:57 pm
aaaaah Groucho youre back behind your desk i see. where would we be with out the Queen of the keyboard warriors..?… welcome back!….
8 Jan 13
2:10 pm
Yeah Paul, it’s great that giant multi-nationals have forced the closure of all the small business that used to employ young people, leaving them with no option but to sweat it out in those disgusting Maccas production lines. It’s fantastic how they’re 24 hours too, so school kids are forced into unhealthy sleeping habits. Because it’s not like that’s an extreme detriment to the development, at a time when their bodies need the most rest of their lives.
8 Jan 13
2:11 pm
They earn more than teenagers curled up on the couch, Groucho. Or studying Marxism at university, for that matter.
8 Jan 13
2:13 pm
Do they need the apostrophe?
8 Jan 13
2:20 pm
Love it.
8 Jan 13
3:13 pm
Apparently the restaurant belongs to a guy named Macca @KateRichardson
8 Jan 13
3:15 pm
@paul the freelance writer … Yes, a pox upon all those damn universities for turning out all those doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers… Far better to be a fat prick eating this muck…
8 Jan 13
3:19 pm
#apostrophefail
8 Jan 13
3:42 pm
http://consumerist.com/2013/01.....his-month/
8 Jan 13
4:10 pm
@paul the freelance writer.. …’They earn more than teenagers curled up on the couch, Groucho. Or studying Marxism at university, for that matter”
How silly of me not to realise that makes it right.
And Marx was a good writer, perhaps you could benefit from a little reading.
8 Jan 13
10:41 pm
#hardlyapostrophefail
It’s normally called McDonald’s, with an apostrophe, so it makes sense to have it as Macca’s. That said, it was Richard and Maurice McDonald who started the restaurant, so it probably should have been McDonalds’, then Maccas’.
@paul the freelancer, is most of your freelance work writing press releases for McDonald’s? What a load of garbage The only way McDonald’s has taught ” the value of hard work and the rewards of enterprise” is by encouraging pimply teenagers to get a decent education lest they end up flipping burgers, wiping down tables, and cleaning toilets into their twenties and thirties.
9 Jan 13
9:28 am
Ah great to see Mumbrella’s community at it’s finest.
9 Jan 13
11:38 am
Everyone is certainly back from their well earned break over the festive period…
Love and hugs all round
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
9 Jan 13
11:42 am
I love lamp.
9 Jan 13
12:13 pm
Extremely clever and I hope it’s done with regard with a combination of top grossing stores and top awarded stores, which usually factor together.
9 Jan 13
12:31 pm
Glad to see you guys are on a roll…
It’s Vinnies and deja vue all over again I say
If they really wanted to do something “Aussie” they’d give back Bakery Hill in Ballarat (the site of Eureka) the so imperialistically subsumed
PS @Paul The Freelance Writer – could you possibly change your moniker – I get you confused with the other same-named pro writers – thanx
9 Jan 13
2:06 pm
I’m with Chico. If paul the freelance writer really is a freelance writer how come he posts with such useless and lame comments? Could he be trying to screw it up for the Pauls the proper freelance writers?
@Chris it is unlikely that even Mc Ds would use a writer of this calibre.
9 Jan 13
3:15 pm
I’m with Pitch Doctor on that – it’s like when posters have to use someone else’s name to make their point relevant – and it’s so obvious when a fake Groucho comes along, or a pretend Ad Grunt, or a harping Harpo… etc
The only upside is that one appreciates the Real Groucho even more
9 Jan 13
3:54 pm
About as Australian as Pavlova (NZ), BBQ (Central America) and the saying ‘True Blue’ (US).
9 Jan 13
4:50 pm
One word: Puke.
McDonald’s trying to be Australian? Who do they think they’re kidding?
9 Jan 13
5:04 pm
Yeah, I’m on board. Decent PR stunt. Would probably make me smile for a second if I saw one. Then I’d start to be cynical and find it try-hard. Vinnies made sense. And had more commitment.
9 Jan 13
5:17 pm
Doug Pitt Street store for Virgin was witty – this is average and not really very Aussie
@mike, @stavros – totally agree
hey let’s all go out and paint the town mediocre!
9 Jan 13
5:21 pm
Vinnies had V for Vernacular; this has P for Pathetic
11 Jan 13
9:00 am
Bugga changing it just for Australia Day. I say change it and Leave it at that name for good here in Australia.
11 Jan 13
10:32 am
“Emotive nonsense. McDonald’s Australia has for over forty years done more to teach young Australians the value of hard work and the rewards of enterprise than a thousand TAFEs, colleges and universities.”
All it taught me was how to steal chicken nuggets and beef patties while the manager’s back was turned.
11 Jan 13
12:21 pm
McDonald’s is a big spender in your industry. Why bite the hand…
11 Jan 13
2:16 pm
seems to be a lot of aspiring Marxists on their keyboards today
let’s make it perfectly clear:
in our free and democratic society, nobody makes anyone eat McDonalds and
nobody makes anyone work at McDonalds
now, kiddies, go back to distributing your Green Left Weaklies
17 Jan 13
2:51 pm
Their icecream still tastes like shaving cream.
17 Jan 13
7:30 pm
Anyone have any images of stores that have had their signage changed? Not aware of any in WA just yet
18 Jan 13
8:38 am
Well thought out!
21 Jan 13
2:35 pm
Simple, emotive, low investment & uses assets they have’nt changed for 40 years.. brilliant
23 Jan 13
9:02 pm
What a waste of money. Will anyone actually notice? How lovely it would be to see the equivalent dollars go to RMHC.
24 Jan 13
8:59 am
@neil schofield. No body makes anybody eat at mcdonalds, however they try their best to brainwash the masses to do so, by even associating the giant processed food chain with Australia Day.
About as Australian as mate (UK).
24 Jan 13
9:55 pm
How Bogan
25 Jan 13
11:33 pm
pretty corny and bogan. dislike.