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Opinion | Features
Disclosure in Social Media: How transparent should bloggers be?
In this guest post, blogger and digital creative Laura McWhinnie argues for more disclosure in the bloggersphere.
The bloggersphere has always been a bit like the Wild West. Bloggers could post about products to their heart’s content without having to disclose their relationship with the brand. This meant that consumers had no idea who was behind the marketing messages influencing their purchasing decisions. But in 2009 that all changed
Liars, cheats and thieves
Is our industry full of cheats and liars or do people of honour who stand by their word still exist in business? In an article that first appeared in Encore, Cameron Boon investigates. The recent court case involving Paul Fishlock suing his former employer The Campaign Palace brought into focus more than just the struggle of one man. It highlighted that there are some in adland whose word cannot always be relied upon.
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.
Meet Zoo’s idea of a topless woman
Dr Mumbo doesn’t want to be inside the head of Zoo Weekly’s social community manager right now…
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Comments
5 Oct 12
11:28 am
Tacky and several of the comments Zoo is receiving shows that. Fine line between funny and tacky at times.
5 Oct 12
11:36 am
Makes it much easier to spot the misogynists when they use their own facebook account to respond. Hardly surprising given the mentality of the readership, but pretty depressing none-the-less.
Even more depressing than the predictable “which end would you take” is the casual misogyny with which respondent’s well thought out replies are laden.
5 Oct 12
11:39 am
Objectify much?
5 Oct 12
12:45 pm
Really offensive… as usual.
But it wouldn’t have made it past the ASB if they tried to run it on TV or outdoor. I believe they don’t look too kindly on objectifying the human form to the point of actually deconstructing it…
5 Oct 12
12:48 pm
Sorry, but they know their demographic well. And to please your customers you have to be irrelevant/ offensive, etc to the rest. Job done.
5 Oct 12
12:50 pm
If anyone was looking for a list of “Who not to date or be friends with”, the respondents to that Zoo Facebook question are the ideal start.
5 Oct 12
1:07 pm
I agree with I McHunt – I am not the target audience (I suspect with a handle like I McHunt he/she probably is) so could care less but probably spot on for who they want to talk too. If nobody was ever upset, offended or alienated then likely nobody would be inspired, amused or entertained either and what a boring landscape that would be.
5 Oct 12
1:23 pm
Funny thing happened the other day. I was minding my own business watching the tele and along came this ad:
http://bit.ly/T4BneC
It really pissed me off, at first. Completely emasculated men, reducing us boys to little more than pathetic spineless whelps, lost and impotent without our ladies. Shortly thereafter I realised something. The ad’s not aimed at me. I quite like it now.
Now you may love or hate the Lindauer ad, not the point really, and that is there’s no point getting your feminist panties in a bunch about a a piece of humour in Zoo magazine. Come on girls, it’s Zoo magazine. I’m not expecting you to like it, but make half an effort and put it in context. Jeez.
5 Oct 12
1:29 pm
Ok, so because it’s a lads mag it’s offensive and misogynistic to run this kind of content, but if it were NW or one of those other types of trash mags that show a guys abs or pecs etc and makes equally stupid references, it’s fine right?
5 Oct 12
2:02 pm
@Man. No. To the others re context. In a way, fair enough…but suggesting that we should tolerate content because of audience doesn’t cut it entirely as an argument given there are several audience ‘interest groups’ that we as a society have decided not to cater to. Now I understand tho why Mumbrella opened with a comment about the manager/moderator. I’d probably find it hard to allow a couple of the FB comments to remain. Where do you draw the line? If someone posts for example and says all women are good for is oral sex….do you accept that as meeting that audiences needs/humour? What about if someone else posts that a vagina is all a woman is good for and that all the rest can be thrown away as useless. Where is the line drawn re audience interests and broader social acceptance?
5 Oct 12
2:25 pm
But Susan, no one has said any of that. Oh you should realise that the slippery slope argument you’re using goes both ways. In the similar way you could demand that commentary around gender issues becomes ever more sensitive for fear of offending people. And what you’re left with then is sterility. You know, that sort of PC gone mad stuff that people, rightly, complain about in equal measure. It’s the sort of ridiculousness we often see now when people level complaints against ads for either ludicrous, or worse, hopelessly subjective points of view that no advertiser in their right mind could ever have anticipated.
The only way to really moderate this is to look at the context and apply a wee bit of commonsense, which was all I was asking.
5 Oct 12
3:30 pm
Well shit, you wimminz. Welcome to the internet. People get offended by anything, it’s natural. Don’t get so worked up on it, because honestly, it really doesn’t (or shouldn’t) concern you as a person. Zoo is a men’s magazine, it’s expected that some form of humour regarding this sort of topic should come from it.
5 Oct 12
3:59 pm
@Circling Sharks…I do see what you mean and I’m aware this issue isn’t black and white.
Being Friday I’d like to end my discussion here with a brilliant quote from Twitter today. Cos, clearly, all this issue could be resolved by #sensitiveTony. He gets us ‘wimminz’:
From @mrbenjaminlaw #SensitiveTony will yield to the needs of your Goddess Array and is sympathetic to vaginal grief.
He also knows precisely which tampon to get when sent to the supermarket.
Let’s ask “sensitiveTony the ‘zoo’ question.
5 Oct 12
4:37 pm
Tim, have you ever thought of having a subscription for mumbrella for members of the advertising / media / marketing commuity only. Yes I know it will limit the reach but we won’t get stuck with people who hate any kind of advertising and pushing agendas. I’m just sick of seeing all these crap comments from people who just don’t get advertising and the role it plays.
5 Oct 12
5:21 pm
@Paul..that’s presumptive. Some advertisers actually concern themselves with social conscience and social issues. Ref. Kid’s clothing ranges sold in Target.. Ref. the ‘Can’ campaign and the ‘bomb’ advertisement shown during the Olympics. You’d be in a very isolated industry spot if you didn’t recognise opinions like those shared here today are part and parcel of the mix.
5 Oct 12
7:16 pm
However I think I know the answer most men would give unforch
5 Oct 12
11:15 pm
FFS, come on people.
If it was a bloke in the same scenario and in a woman’s mag, nobody would give a hoot, lest start a social media witch-hunt over it. Lighten the hell up.
6 Oct 12
3:30 pm
I agree Susan, however in this case it went from a ‘topless’ girl in zoo magazine to an Abbott bashing post #gofigure
12 Oct 12
2:21 pm
People with agendas feigning outrage at some ad campaigns are really starting to get tiring. I don’t doubt most brand managers think these people are total nutjobs, but have to take action for fear or losing their job or having their brand further tarnished in media.