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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?
NAB ‘bankers’ tied to lamp posts in Break Up stunt
NAB has built on its award-winning Break Up campaign, which won the PR grand prix at Cannes yesterday, with a publicity stunt that saw two of its bankers tied to a lamp post this morning – one in Sydney’s Belmore Park, the other in Melbourne’s Southbank – to illustrate NAB’s lack of popularity among its rivals.
The activity hopes to gain the attention of commuters as they pass on their way to work and will also be filmed and used as an online film for NAB’s online platforms and in social media.
NAB’s chief marketing officer Sandra de Castro, who downplayed winning at Cannes yesterday, told Mumbrella: “The Break Up started on 15 February, and it hasn’t stopped. We’re not very popular with the other banks at the moment, and need to express this in a range of different ways.”
On the longevity of the campaign, De Castro commented: “We have deliberately chosen this route of differentiation – and we’re absolutely committed to it. The break up continues. What the others [banks] do, is up to them.”
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Comments
22 Jun 11
11:31 am
love it .
theres just so much you can do with this idea!
22 Jun 11
11:48 am
Tie up the Telco leaders to telegraph poles? Is that what you had in mind Richie?
22 Jun 11
11:54 am
Fantastic. Very clever and so nice to see De Castro putting more importance on the strategy and direction rather than the award.
22 Jun 11
11:56 am
Fair play to NAB. They’re busting finance advertising conventions wide open.
Good for them!
22 Jun 11
11:57 am
Fiar play to NAB, they’re breaking the mould when it comes to finance advertising.
I take my hat off!
22 Jun 11
12:05 pm
Love the campaign idea just a shame that NAB hasn’t actually done anything in the past year to make me think they really are different to the other big banks (actually wait, they have. They’ve stuffed up computer systems twice in that time meaning that a mass amount of people didn’t get paid when they should have been. Yep, I really want to change to a bank that didn’t learnt from its first mistake).
Congrats to the agencies involved though, it is a fun idea. Pity the subject couldn’t deliver on the advertising promises.
22 Jun 11
12:06 pm
Maybe I just have a short attention span, but I wish that they would take this campaign in a completely new direction, rather than just rolling out different executions of the same message. Message has been received, loud and clear. It doesn’t feel new and exciting anymore to me.
22 Jun 11
12:06 pm
No matter how hard it tries NAB will always be part of “the big four”.
22 Jun 11
12:17 pm
I hope they don’t get back together. This is too much fun.
22 Jun 11
12:33 pm
Does anyone know what lines the “banker” was using? I think I heard, “help is on its way” or something like that…
22 Jun 11
12:59 pm
Like.
22 Jun 11
1:02 pm
Hi Tom,
This is what the banker says in the video:
“We’ve been ruffling a few feathers with some of the other banks (answering a question: No, NAB do pay really well) … But look, help is on the way so you guys have nothing to worry about. It’s all going to work itself out. I’ll be down in a jiffy, have a cup of coffee, get the circulation going again.”
He was also telling people to go to the NAB branch around the corner and tell bank staff “It’s happened again” and they would know to come down to the park and cut him down.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Alice – Mumbrella
22 Jun 11
1:08 pm
The only point of difference between the big four banks is their advertising.
22 Jun 11
1:28 pm
Its all a crock. How can NAB break up with the other banks when it is a leading shareholder in most of them through National Nominees???
http://www.spankyourbank.com.a.....ed-aka-nab
22 Jun 11
1:34 pm
Agree with Rex. Under the surface they’re all the same, the systems, the processes.
But hey, it’s all about perception isn’t it? It would be nice if all four of the major banks ploughed those huge profits into some worthwhile IT systems that actually delivered better service to customers – that would make a real difference, instead of just talking about it all the time.
22 Jun 11
1:41 pm
This just keeps getting better. Sure, all the banks are pretty much the same – trying to maximise profits for shareholders. Fact is though that with NAB running this advertising campaign, consumers are going to percieve them as being different to the others and will flock to them; as witnessed by the figures released showing massive increases in loan enquiries.
22 Jun 11
1:57 pm
Is it just me, or do these comments reek of astroturfing?
22 Jun 11
2:00 pm
@ Rex – perfect point. Their ads can be as creative as they like but if the product is all the same dross then it’s futile. Why say you are breaking up from the other big banks and then continue to do as any big bank does?
22 Jun 11
2:11 pm
Agreed, actions speak louder than words. This is a fun execution of the idea but NAB must now deliver some exceptional and genuinely different products (including to existing customers!) to prove how different they are . . .
22 Jun 11
2:24 pm
I don’t think consumers are that stupid.
22 Jun 11
2:41 pm
not funny – not interesting – just immature
you may win over the hearts of idiotic young people, but not the big spenders… [edited by Mumbrella].
22 Jun 11
2:50 pm
Fantastic campaign, using social media first rather than just an add-on at the end.
Lot’s of creative potential for this campaign, enjoyed the pianist serenading bankers outside their competitor’s office.
Unfortunately I have to agree with what someone said that all banks are the same and it’s just their advertising that differs.
22 Jun 11
3:25 pm
Astroturfarama.
While cute, this campaign seems to be targetted to the marketing media more than actual customers. Most consumers wouldn’t have a clue about the campaign, nor the fact that it began with a tweet, nor did they witness the experiential elements
what has the real world impact been outside of the readers of media pages and blogs?
Would be a mistake to assume that any consumer believes nab is different. If this is asserted as a campaign outcome can we see the research results please?
22 Jun 11
4:16 pm
I just find the high rotation usage of their TV ads annoying, and as previously stated, their lack of improved performance with existing customers makes me think they should get back in collusions and find out what software they are using!
22 Jun 11
8:11 pm
Sven, you might want to have a look at the Cannes Grand Prix winning vid if you want to know more about the campaign’s results.
Alternatively just do a google search on any one of the many articles that have been written about the campaign’s success.
This is far from a marketing media centric initiative. This campaign has delivered results the likes of which the marketing world has rarely seen before.
Do some basic research before you mouth off like an ill-informed prat.
As for research results I can assure you they’re pretty impressive too. Whilst not for public consumption may I suggest you speak to any CommBank/Westpac/ANZ staffer you may have know or meet and ask them how they think the campaign has gone. They have lost tens of thousands of customers to NAB as a result of this campaign and the brand tracking measures will be making them sh*t themselves.
22 Jun 11
9:10 pm
What have they done to be different? They say they have changed but i dont see it, just talk.
22 Jun 11
9:59 pm
Clem’s staff out in force in the comments. Getting ridiculous guys.
22 Jun 11
10:03 pm
Yawn zzzzzzz, PR and Spin just banks talking to each other, notthing else to say and nothing really changes. .
22 Jun 11
11:19 pm
@ Roger
“you might want to have a look at the Cannes Grand Prix winning vid if you want to know more about the campaign’s results.”
really?
clearly you havent entered any awards lately. if you had of, you’d know its hardly where you would find any honest results. especially having marked some entries from the very same agency recently that read like blah blah blah blah
obviously you need something to enter, but the only people who believe those case studies are the people who made them, and their friends in Cannes
24 Jun 11
9:09 am
Frankly, I have a choice between 4 banks and NAB at the moment is saving me the most money – so I’ve gone to them and will stay with them until one of the other banks save me more money – these advertising campaigns just promulgate the message on who is the cheapest at any given time
24 Jun 11
11:12 am
Personally, I find this particular campaign completely lame. I struggle to believe that it’s improving customer perceptions of NAB.
24 Jun 11
11:23 pm
The fact is they don’t tell/demonstrate anything in the advert confirms nothing has changed. Not many advertisers have that luxury.