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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.
New Sydney-based marketing agency aims to ‘revolutionise the industry’
Founder: Michael Field
A marketing agency has launched in Sydney called Guns For Hire, with a mission “to revolutionise the marketing and advertising industry”.
The agency announced the launch this morning via a flash mob in Martins Place, which opened with a lone guitarist performing Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust, and ended with a rendition of Guns For Hire by ACDC.
Guns For Hire begins life with clients including REINSW, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, wagamama, Marbletrend, Next Director and Stolen Quotes. The agency will be using a model similar to that of Host, where the creative function is outsourced.
The launch press release stated:
As an independent collective, artists, copywriters, digital specialists, photographers and web specialists work independently. Creative teams and individual talent is handpicked for each project – ensuring the best available talent, without expensive overheads.
Guns For Hire launches with three staff in Sydney and two in an office in Melbourne. It is being funded by strategic marketing consultant Michael Field. Field has held previous positions clientside as marketing manager at IT company Recall, Destra Corporation and Aussie Online.
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Comments
20 Sep 11
3:35 pm
Another agency…. its a shame new clients are not appearing in similar numbers.
20 Sep 11
3:36 pm
a revolutionary creative collective launched via a flash mob??!! maybe in 1995
20 Sep 11
3:41 pm
Launching with a flash mob? Seem’s they are yet to outsource any of that creative
20 Sep 11
3:47 pm
guns for hire who hire guns for hire?
20 Sep 11
3:49 pm
This is brilliant!!! These guys are really shaking things up with an idea that has been done to death!!
Maybe they are saving their creativity for their clients. Lets hope so.
20 Sep 11
3:52 pm
Is this the same as Guns for Hire in Perth?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/.....6927120145
http://www.gunsforhiremedia.com.au/
20 Sep 11
3:55 pm
When I hear about a new agency immodestly claiming on behalf of it’s modestly reputed ” talent” that it will “revolutionise the industry” I gag. When I hear that they’re launching this “revolutionary” new agency with a flashmob in Martin’s Place, I want to projectile vomit.
20 Sep 11
4:34 pm
Interesting, there’s already a company by that name in Perth… using someone else’s name doesn’t seem very creative to me.
20 Sep 11
4:37 pm
Note to clients:
The best talent generally isn’t freelancing. It’s employed full-time.
20 Sep 11
4:40 pm
A creative village? Most of us have been doing that for years…we just don’t have to flash mob it!
20 Sep 11
4:55 pm
So they launch with a flash mob, and with a structure similar to another very well established agency. As others have queried and quite rightly, where’s the revolution?
20 Sep 11
4:56 pm
don’t sweat it Anonymous, they were kind enough to toss up the names of a few new client prospects above…..perhaps you could differentiate from them by saying you have creatives on staff, as opposed to being so cheap you rely on freelancers
20 Sep 11
5:17 pm
Citing Destra as a client? May as well have been the safety inspector on the Titanic…
20 Sep 11
5:35 pm
time to update your recent post Tim, as you now have “Australia’s eleven shittest branded flash mobs”
20 Sep 11
5:52 pm
I think the pose of the gentleman in the photo says it all. Not to mention, his tie
20 Sep 11
5:58 pm
So, a tried and tested business model with a name that’s already being used? Revolutionary.
20 Sep 11
7:06 pm
There is no new agency called ‘Guns for Hire’. Check the Business Register if you don’t believe me.
The website ‘GunsForHire’ is run by a company with the ABN “72 132 831 157″. (See the Terms & Conditions page on the site to confirm what I’m saying – http://gunsforhire.com/termsofuse.shtml )
According to the ASIC & then ABN register this is a company called ‘Michael Field Pty Ltd’ – it has NO OTHER TRADING NAMES.
Of course, Michael Field Pty Ltd (active since 2008) could have decided to launch a new agency without the minor point of actually registering it as a trading name.
There’s one problem with that. As a ‘Pty Ltd’ company it is covered by the Corporations Act – including Section 601DD.
That section expressly forbids a company trading under any non-registered name.
(Ref: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/l.....601dd.html )
So it would appear to an outside observer that this agency is actually breaking the law. (That isn’t definite, of course – this is just what it appears to be based on publicly verifiable information. Anyone can confirm my observations for themselves and come to their own conclusions)
The sad thing is that it is just a few mouse clicks to fill in a form with to register a ‘trading as’ name – it is trivial and is just basic business competence.
If true …. what kind of incompetent company would launch a business without doing basic business 101 ?
(PS: As all information I’ve provided is 100% verifiable by anyone else – I don’t need to back this up with my reputation. Because – to be frank – I’m a nobody. Rather than look at the ‘name’ field to decide whether to believe me – why not research the facts to make up your own mind?)
21 Sep 11
12:08 am
the worst
21 Sep 11
11:34 am
Oh dear. It’s all gone horribly wrong.
21 Sep 11
11:46 am
It takes an extraordinary ego for someone who has no track record to state they they will revolutionise an entire industry. His blue chip “experience” and diamond clad launch client list speaks volumes.
Epic fail.
21 Sep 11
12:14 pm
Never heard that before.
21 Sep 11
1:53 pm
New agency … GNUS FOR HIRE.
21 Sep 11
4:34 pm
Micheal, call me perverse when someone gets shat all over by the industry like this I just sooo want them to succeed! It’s all up hill from here – push with everything you’ve got.
21 Sep 11
5:32 pm
@ Peter Rush I get your sentiment, and good luck to the guy in making this work for him and his team. No-one would begrudge him any success he might enjoy, but most of us don’t need him coming along with few if any runs on the board talking about how he’s going to revolutionise the industry. And doing it with a flash mob of all things.
Puhhhhlease!!
I’d rather read about him in 2 years…..”launched quietly 2 years ago, this agency has blah blah blah” so we can congratulate him, not feel pretty much obliged to smash him per the above.
21 Sep 11
6:41 pm
Congrats and all the best Michael for your new endeavour. Always great to see people getting things done.
21 Sep 11
7:30 pm
@15 Grey ghost
come on – personal attacks on a man’s picture and tie are poor form..
21 Sep 11
8:10 pm
I wonder where “ItMustBeTrue-ItsOnTheInternet” works…
21 Sep 11
8:40 pm
The way media is fragmenting and with so many different automated options for clients to utilise. Can people see more niche agencies launching and the big full circle agencies dying..?
22 Sep 11
9:20 am
Good luck to anyone prepared to strike out on their own and have a go.
In saying this, I wish all these new businesses (and I am talking about all industries, not just advertising) would stop putting out press releases promising the world and telling everyone how they are going to change the game, when all they have is a website (sometimes not even) and the basis of an idea.
VC firms and bankers wont even look at a start up , unless the founder has put their money in and has some kind of working product that is used and not just talked about.
Getting a press release into trade magazines and blogs will not get clients frothing at the mouth.
Less time on the internal PR and more time on engaging ideas and enticing pitches please everyone.
Just my $100 worth!
22 Sep 11
11:43 am
I’m all for a guy in the middle screening & finding reputable talent to get work done but this is just another way of saying “we build it cheap & outsource the work overseas…” Isn’t small businesses suffering enough right now?? I’d like to see the money for hiring people to stay IN the country… If small biz have the volume they generally can lower their prices.