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Opinion
How to debunk media myths
In this post, UWS’s Ullrich Ecker, John Cook and Stephen Lewandowsky argue that cognitive science can help PRs form strategies in managing media misreporting.
A growing cohort of commentators has bemoaned the descent of contemporary political “debate” into a largely fact-free zone.
How about simply focusing on what consumers want?
In this guest post, Peter Mountford argues that brands should think more about what is really going on for consumers
Who here is hoping their favourite brand of toilet paper is going to be organizing a flash mob on their way home from work today?
What the Optus web copyright victory means
In this analysis first published on The Conversation, RMIT’s Marita Shelly examines the implications of Telstra’s defeat over the online rights to the AFL broadcast deal
This week’s Federal Court ruling that Optus customers are able to view sporting matches minutes after they are streamed live without breaching copyright is a landmark decision that alters our understanding of copyright law, and has significant implications for the AFL’s broadcasting rights deal.
Does Gina Rinehart’s bite of a chunk of Fairfax make her an oligarch?
In an article that first appeared in The Conversation, Mark Rolfe wonders whether the mining magnate’s move could turn Fairfax into something resembling America’s Fox network.Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart has moved to increase her stake in Fairfax Media, owner of The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and a number of radio stations. Rinehart has already shown her desire to play a role in public life, campaigning against former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s aborted mining tax. She has also demonstrated a willingness to make media investments to ensure her pro-business worldview is promulgated.
What does this latest move by Rinehart mean?
Gillard's Australia Day crisis
PM Julia Gillard’s media adviser Tony Hodges has been forced to resign over the Australia Day tent embassy debacle.
It came after it emerged he had revealed opposition leader Tony Abbott’s whereabouts, leading to both politicians being rescued by police in ugly scenes.
Mumbrella editor Tim Burrowes and advertising practitioner Jane Caro debate the topic on Weekend Sunrise’s masters of Spin segment:
The biggest cock-up I made in business
In this guest post, Chris Savage urges agency staff to live the brand.I still shudder when I think about how incredibly stupid I was when I made the biggest stuff up of my career. And then, 18 years later, I did it again. Do not make this mistake with your clients. Ever.
Hey Groupon. Thanks for fucking up email
In this guest post, Daniel Monheit warns that group deal overload is devaluing email marketingEmail marketing used to be fabulous. Back in the heady days of 2010, brands would work hard to build up well qualified databases, upon which they’d bestow carefully crafted correspondence filled with information, offers and incentives. The recipients, of course would be delighted: “Oh look! An email! From one of my favourite brands! And it’s 40 cents off at Woolies this week!”.
The staggering sway of Harold Mitchell
The Power Index today names Aegis Media chairman Harold Mitchell as the most powerful person in Melbourne. Andrew Crook profiles him.
Harold Mitchell takes pride in dispensing with the niceties. When The Power Index visited his South Melbourne private office before Christmas, fresh remains were scattered all over the boardroom table.
Share a Coke with… the moronic masses
The most-read story on Mumbrella last year, with not far off 100,000 page views, was a fairly humdrum yarn about the launch of Coca-Cola’s name-on-a-bottle campaign.The headline, “Coca-Cola puts people’s names on bottles in ‘Share a Coke’ campaign”, though hated by any self-respecting sub-editor, was loved by Google. And in rushed what can be politely described as the public.
Assumptions kill creativity
In this guest post, Gual Barwell disagrees that the sales success of the Old Spice social media campaign was overstated.Yesterday’s post from Cathie McGinn suggested the Old Spice campaign failed to connect with consumers. Based on the facts and figures, I disagree.
What Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy has done and done phenomenally well is to create a franchise.
The SMH's readers (are wrong) editor
We are now about five months into the reign of Australia’s first readers’ editor. And I don’t think it is working.
It struck me at the time of Judy Prisk’s appointment to the Sydney Morning Herald that the fact that her boss was editor-in-chief Peter Fray was not going to be ideal if she was going to be the independent voice of the reader.
The emperor's new fragrance: Old Spice’s campaign failure
In this guest post, Cathie McGinn slays a sacred cow of 21st century marketing – the highly awarded Old Spice campaign.One of the biggest myths of recent times (by which I mean a story of great heroism and triumph we’d all like to believe but deep down know to be untrue) is the Old Spice social media campaign. It’s been much lauded and awarded as an example of outstanding content, a creative and collaborative way of connecting with consumers and driving a record increase in sales.
How reliable are radio ratings?

In this guest posting, Jason ‘Jabba’ Davis wonders how accurate radio ratings can be, since the data is collated from handwritten diaries.
So, the radio ratings season gets underway tomorrow. After a well-earned break, Australia’s commercial radio stations will renew their obsession with figures to see how many of us are listening. Are they winning or losing the ratings war?
The much feared radio survey is the only way to measure the success or failure of a station’s playlist, talent, promotions or even good old Black Thunder crosses. With six-figure salaries riding on the make-or-break nature of ratings, just how accurate are Australia’s radio survey results?
One-eyed Willy’s rich stuff: brands as movie heroes
I have just spent an entire day on a plane. I can’t sleep on flights, even after heavy sedation. So I watched seven films, back to back. Most of the new ones were truly awful and I couldn’t finish them. So I watched an old favourite, The Goonies. I have probably watched this film more than 200 times since I was a kid. But this time, with work in the back of my mind, one thing stuck out – how much brands were the stars of the film.The gospel of participation is making brands forget about mass reach
In this guest post, Simon Lawson argues that brands are becoming obsessed with getting consumers to participate, rather than remembering to deliver mass exposure.I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot of brands are wasting significant amounts of time and money on ineffective marketing. Large sums are being put behind tactics which end up being too small to have much chance of influencing total brand preference.
Peter Mycock to head MySpace commercial operations
Affiliate marketing specialist Peter Mycock has joined MySpace Australia in the newly created role of commercial director.
Mycock was head of search, affiliate and lead generation at AOL in the UK from 2006 until late last year. According to MySpace: “This newly created role will oversee all commercial operations including business strategy and partnerships, sales team leadership and corporate development.”
Mycock was also previously sales dirtector at Buy.at, a British online affiliate marketing compay.
Mycock said: “I am excited to be joining MySpace at such a pivotal time in the industry, where content discovery, self-expression and understanding the consumer DNA will be critical to enabling the appropriate interaction between publisher, advertiser and community.”
Nick Love, MD of MySpace and IGN Entertainment Australia and New Zealand, said: ‘Peter not only brings extensive digital sales leadership and commercial experience to our team, but also has a first class track record in mentoring and developing people whilst growing revenues and yield.”
Dr Mumbo
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Comments
27 Jul 10
3:01 pm
the name was funny before he got the MySpace gig
27 Jul 10
3:01 pm
My what!?!
27 Jul 10
3:02 pm
mycock hits myspace
27 Jul 10
3:07 pm
I hope he doesn’t blow his opportunity!
27 Jul 10
3:08 pm
I never thought MyCock could land such a gig!
27 Jul 10
3:09 pm
Congrats Pete – and a Charlatan fan also! Happy Days!
27 Jul 10
3:22 pm
Middle name, please.
27 Jul 10
3:37 pm
Nick & Peter should create a consulting team ….. Love Mycock
27 Jul 10
4:03 pm
Wouldn’t a more appropriate headline be ‘Mycock gets head job’?
27 Jul 10
4:29 pm
Hey Nath, I am sure they played around with that one for a while before it got tossed
27 Jul 10
5:05 pm
Be nice to hear and see something of actual value from these guys. Too much hype for such a long time.
Stop talking it up and just deliver !
27 Jul 10
5:21 pm
Mycock must have pretty thick skin to take such a beating.
27 Jul 10
5:23 pm
I feel for Peter, for having to deal with this sort of silly joking. But I bet you guys fought hard to avoid the kazillion obvious double entendres!
27 Jul 10
5:26 pm
How malicious were his parents!
27 Jul 10
5:30 pm
according to reports, his performance so far has been flacid.
27 Jul 10
5:33 pm
I thought mycock was all over ChatRoulette?
27 Jul 10
5:43 pm
Pure gold Nath.
27 Jul 10
6:25 pm
Breaking news: Peter M has fallen from his motorcycle on his evening commute home. MyCock is said to be heavily chafed.
27 Jul 10
6:27 pm
Past colleagues on Peter: “MyCock needs to harden the f*** up”.
27 Jul 10
6:30 pm
You can’t beat a hard news story.
27 Jul 10
6:41 pm
This is good news for MySpace – I head he’s very hands-on.
27 Jul 10
6:49 pm
Leave mycock alone!
27 Jul 10
6:57 pm
“Vacancy Filled by Mycock” or “Love Gets Hands on Mycock” may have been more appropriate headlines.
27 Jul 10
7:00 pm
I hope all these comments don’t bring a tear to Mycock’s eye.
27 Jul 10
7:29 pm
Guys just leave MyCock alone- hands off please.
27 Jul 10
8:21 pm
Come back after a few hours to check out this article again and mycock comments have really grown lengthy.
Biggus Dickus…brilliant
27 Jul 10
8:35 pm
I heard they took a long hard look at Mycock
27 Jul 10
8:48 pm
Steven @ #24, MySpace have created this PR nightmare. They should be brave enough to take Mycock on the chin!
27 Jul 10
9:14 pm
It takes BALLS to post that entry
27 Jul 10
10:21 pm
@ not amused – it’s just that Mycock is bigger then average so I am saying take it easy
27 Jul 10
11:59 pm
Fair go people. We’re talking about a talented individual here.
28 Jul 10
12:19 am
Your point is well made Private. Mycock is an upstanding member of the online community.
28 Jul 10
7:03 am
Private @ # 30, People are having fun with the name which has no bearing on the individual nor their ablity. I would hazard a guess and suggest the majority here have never met Peter and had it not been for his colourful surname, would not be commenting at all.
Keep your head up Pete.
28 Jul 10
7:47 am
Mycock’s quote in the article is a load of wank. No pun. Well, a little pun.
Nevertheless, a memorable entry for mycock I’d say after reading the comments.
28 Jul 10
9:29 am
Welcome Pete, great to meet you at the IAB’s last week and looking forward to working with you
28 Jul 10
9:41 am
Im sure mycock will fit right in
28 Jul 10
9:43 am
Looks like mycock is getting ahead in life
28 Jul 10
10:19 am
Please tell me his brother’s name’s Pat…!
28 Jul 10
10:29 am
Geez… it’s the REAL Mycock from MySpace here. If anyone would like to have a chat about MySpace, my name or indeed my… erm… cock then do let me know. Hit me up at peter.mycock@myspace-inc.com… It was meant to be pmycock@myspace-inc.com – thankfully the good folk at MySpace & IGN Entertainment took pity on me and opted for the full-name email address.
Must say I’m secretly thrilled to have caused a bit of a stir on arrival.
Look forward to meeting you all in due course.
28 Jul 10
10:36 am
Ha! Good onya Peter!
28 Jul 10
10:51 am
hey pete – nice to Meat you and thanks for throwing your hat in the Ring!
Seems you’ve got a good head on your shoulders humouring all these comments. Myspace is a hard gig, but I’m sure you’ll pull it off. Just ensure you get all the local troops to come together as one, lest the gig blows up in your face..
all the breast!
-ps. regards to brother phil
28 Jul 10
10:55 am
Love Mycock Head mySpace
28 Jul 10
11:43 am
Great to hear from you Peter, hope all goes well and look forward to meeting you soon.
28 Jul 10
11:45 am
my cock is on the way up it seams
28 Jul 10
11:48 am
I think the joke is done now people.
28 Jul 10
11:53 am
Apparently Mycock stood to attention after being touched by all these comments.
28 Jul 10
11:58 am
“Mycock comes in rear entrance to sidestep waiting media throng.”
28 Jul 10
2:47 pm
…….this highlights the combined mental capacity of the australian media industry…and another thing…not one comment from a woman apart from Miss V who most likely is a man woman much like me so doesn’t count . Any wonder companies have to ship the real experts on media in from London you bunch of losers. Back to your cocks boys.
28 Jul 10
4:40 pm
I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!
28 Jul 10
4:44 pm
Well you count me in as well Francine. They are all so juvenile aren’t they! We women have to stand firm against this male-dominated uprising.
28 Jul 10
4:58 pm
Right on sisters
28 Jul 10
5:00 pm
I faked it. Sorry.
28 Jul 10
5:00 pm
MyCock is twitching at the chance to explode all over the media scene
28 Jul 10
5:16 pm
Never has one comment thread become so tired so quickly. Time for me to close it, I think…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella