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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.
Naked reproduces Stanley Milgram obedience experiments for WorkSafe Victoria
Naked has launched a campaign for WorkSafe Victoria based on the findings of controversial experiments from 1960′s which found that people are obedient to requests, even if those requests have dangerous consequences.
The psychological experiments of Stanley Milgram were reproduced in a simulated workplace by Naked – and 90% of people did as was asked of them.
Adam Ferrier, partner and psychologist at Naked said: “We wanted to draw attention to the fact that WorkSafe’s public awareness campaign is founded on real psychological insights. We are all susceptible to doing dangerous tasks, if asked to do so by our bosses. For anyone who supervises others the message is simple – don’t ask people to do dangerous things, as they just might do them”.
The campaign is being supported by PR and social media activity focused on WorkSafe Victoria’s Facebook page.
Credits:
Agency, Naked Communications Melbourne
Matt Houltham, Managing Director
Adam Ferrier, Partner
Aliya Hasan, Project Lead
Yann Micuta, Design
Brooke Ward, Research Management
Video, Hub Productions
Peter Carstairs, Director
Tim Mummery, Editor
Simon Hoy, Producer
Web Development, Big Dog Creative
Ged Gaskell, Developer
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Comments
16 Apr 12
9:14 am
Nice.
16 Apr 12
9:47 am
So what’s this saying?
16 Apr 12
9:52 am
This reminds me a lot of the recent NAB “Honesty” experiments … perhaps we could call these the WorkSafe “Stupidity Experiments” …
The WorkSafe “last orders” campaign has been around for a while now – as in this ‘Bakery’ ad from 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJig-1YJl2Y
I’d be interested in the campaign effectiveness to date – Adam, could you elaborate?
16 Apr 12
9:59 am
Sorry, wrong video … I meant this campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Wlf0rpmPk
Freudian slip about the bakery … must be breakfast time
16 Apr 12
3:02 pm
Shocking.
16 Apr 12
5:44 pm
Hardly a reproduction of “infamous” obedience experiments; more along the lines of Robert Cialdini’s social influence and persuasion research.
Is Ferrier claiming to be a registered psychologist? Or one with qualifications in academic psychology?
16 Apr 12
5:51 pm
Now this is what I call social persuasion! (Ad for TNT television drama)
http://blog.anyclip.com/post/2.....-your-life
16 Apr 12
6:29 pm
not really a replication of millgram but still more clever than most.
needs more intense emotional stress.
16 Apr 12
7:26 pm
Les Posen on your website are you claiming to be a real magician or just have magical presenting powers?
The adaptation is much closer to Milgram than anything Caidini has done. It’s a study on obedience not influence. But please contact me directly 0413633344 if you want further explanation / understanding.
Cheers,
Adam (registered psychologist)
16 Apr 12
8:26 pm
Les,
Didn’t Milgram came well before Cialdini?
In fact I’m pretty sure Cialdini references Milgram’s ground-breaking work on compliance. This then leads onto various dilemmas such as the Nuremberg Defence, etc.
16 Apr 12
9:35 pm
Milgrom started his social psychology experiments in the 50s and also gave us the six degrees of separation concept.
Cialdini followed a generation later, as did Barry Schwartz with experiments in social persuasion.
The only thing this ad has in common with the milgram experiments is the faux use of electric shocks, and the influence of someone in uniform. There is no coercion involved in the ad, and no passerby unwilling to assist, unlike milgram. And the “victim” is in full view. In my mind, much more like Cialdini and his explanations of social persuasion.
Adam: my presentation magic site also discusses persuasion and often refers to the neuroscience which helps understand how magic fools us. The same understanding can improve presentations and in my workshop I frequently refer to worksafe ads especially the dad missing from his daughters play. Power of emotion, music and storytelling to persuade and engage.
Check ahrpra registration status because you’re not listed as registered in an all state search.
17 Apr 12
1:09 am
@Les, u sound like a real loser
17 Apr 12
7:56 am
@anon: ad hominem attack from anonymous poster. That’ll raise the level of discourse on mumbrella. Care to explain your “reasoning” behind your cloak of anonymity?
And to return to the original ad, I’m still not sure the message it’s delivering and to whom?
25 Apr 12
1:14 am
@Les everyone:
WRONG#1: Actually Stanley Milgram commenced his experiments from 1961, which is, um, the 60s – a different decade. ie not the 50s.
WRONG#2: Milgram did NOT give us the six degrees concept, in fact he flatly refused to adopt the term or support it before, during, and after his Small World experiments. 6DOS was given to us by Frigyes Karinthy some four years before Milgram was even born. Even then Karinthy was only expanding on the popular theory established in and around Hungary for some time a priori. I’m sure you could contact John Guare, the on-record lead populist of the concept as he’s still alive and appears to be not 4 less 3 degrees separated from you Les, though I understand John, while being on email, is not Facebook.
WRONG#3: Actually Robert Cialdini, a member of the same generation as Milgram (as only eleven years separate their births) did in fact follow with his experiments in social persuasion also in the 60s (ie in the same generation) as is easily evidenced by his official Publications. Furthermore, Robert Cialdini is more of what focussed academia might call an ethnographer or try-hard experimenter who chose (quite rightly in line with his strengths) to gage behaviours and write about theories more than conduct research. A bit like yourself Les only you would be much more in the “try-hard” basket.
WRONG#4: Actually there were elements of clear, applied coercion in the Ad just above if you just want to scroll up a bit and press play (try headphones perhaps?) such as at 1:10 (Experimenter: “… he will get a small shock but don’t worry …). Also, Milgram did cover off with additional experimental conditions which varied the proximity and contact between Subject (shock administer) and Confederate (recipient/victim).
WRONG#5: Actually your blog is not a ‘blog’ as such, but more an attempt at the creation of a mutual admiration society that masks your actual and realistic attainment of creating a self-admiration society. One thing people have taught me in writing and identity analysis is to beware of people who use the word “i” frequently when they write, as in fact it’s not needed at all. Les if we highlight the number of times you are compelled to use the word “i” in your writing, your website lights up like the Times Square Xmas tree with little “i” candles.
WRONG#6: Your choosing to go after a reputable psychology exponent and popular figure in the global marketing industry simply because of your own issues, combined with the fact that obviously the external article creator here wrongly selected the adjective “reproduce” and that all you needed to was see and/or point that out, but you didn’t.
Now, champion, did you have anything more unoriginal to contribute here or are we done and can you stop with the amount of egg you currently have on your cyberface?
I’m ready to go with #7 through #28 of the Les Posen WRONG FILES….
25 Apr 12
11:41 am
@adamC: It’s Anzac Day – are you going to war with me in remembrance of something?
Please follow Adam’s lead and treat correspondents here with some respect even if you disagree with them, and wish to provide corrections. I’m happy to receive them in the spirit of learning, and share with you, if you are in the spirit of sharing.
Furthermore, I’m not going after Adam at all. Unlike your missives, there has been nothing I would call “personal” or ad hominem in correspondence with Adam. And no hyperbole like “lighting up Times Square” or “egg… on..cyberface.”
The last time I commented about a Mumbrella piece by Adam is when he wrote about the outpouring of grief following Steve Jobs’ death last October. I critiqued his article, saying I expected a more nuanced piece from a consumer psychologist. But I believe I wrote in respectfully, although I could be wrong (#29
26 Apr 12
11:03 am
Interesting piece in today’s Fairfax news re la Trobe university replicating milgrams work in the 1980s. Book written by one of the students involved as part of her training saying it has has life long effects.
Shows the need to debrief after such adventures. Hoping naked communications team did so too, apart from having passers by sign consent forms for publication.
26 Apr 12
11:57 am
Les,
The depth of Milgram’s experiments is, unsurprisingly, somewhat greater than the demonstrative replication done here for campaign awareness purposes.
You do appreciate the difference, I’m sure. In which case, don’t set up such godawful strawmen.
26 Apr 12
1:19 pm
Didn’t think I had.
But if you want to see more comments juxtaposing milgram, obedience, and worksafe, suggest you visit http://aworkcovervictimsdiary......periments/
Les