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Opinion | Features
Woz not great
In this guest post Tony Prysten argues that the thousand dollar price of seeing out-of-touch Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack on his Australian tour was a waste of money.
This week, for the cost of two iPads (yep, two) I went to the Woz Live conference in Melbourne. I was not impressed.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
According to industry experts Encore spoke to, the key elements that define transmedia can be summarised as follows: platform, time, audience, adaptation, and creative collaboration.
Innovation is the remedy for the ailing magazine industry
With magazine circulations plummeting, FHM closing and rumours rife on future ownership of ACP Magazines, Paul Merrill says the only way forward is launching new titles.Eight years ago in the UK, nearly a quarter of all magazine sales came from magazines that were less than four years old. In Australia, the figure was slightly lower, but still significant. Today, the situation is very different. For a start there are so few new magazines. Yes, Masterchef briefly flared, and Top Gear made an initial impact. But Grazia and Alpha fizzled, and now ACP has shelved their plans to launch Elle.
More than a game: broadcasting the Olympics
The 2012 London Olympics will be the biggest televised sporting event of our time. Brooke Hemphill discovers the logistical challenges and technical requirements of producing the event.
From July 27 to August 12, the Australian media will go sport crazy as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, aka the 2012 London Summer Olympics, unfold. The games will be the most televised sporting event of our time as broadcasters look to master every manner of technology at their disposal.
The Voice - Australia's best example yet of social TV
In this guest post, Sputnik’s Rodd Messent has a theory on why audiences have taken to The Voice .I am an addict of Channel Nine’s hit show The Voice. Such is the extent of my addiction I seriously think my housemate might kick me out of our apartment for the semi-frenzied yelling and tweeting that ensues in our lounge room each time the show airs.It’s the first time in almost three years that such disagreement has resulted in less than civil behaviour towards one another, and it’s made me think it might be a microcosm of the large volume of online debate about the show and, correspondingly, an explanation for its success as a social TV experience.Why brands are the US Army - and culture jammers are the Viet Cong
In this guest posting, Dave Burgess, who painted ‘No War’ on the Sydney Opera House, claims that ‘amoral’ advertisers have copied his idea.
Culture jamming is a 28-year-old term coined by the San Francisco-based band Negativland, who declared that the ‘Studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large’.
Branded content is dead. Long live branded content
In this guest posting, Anthony Freedman argues why branded content is making a comeback.
A few short years ago, probably concurrent with the advent of the PVR, a new term emerged within the marketing communications industry; branded content. This was really synonymous with advertiser funded TV shows where programming was created by brands and deals struck with networks to broadcast them.
There were varying degrees of success with this model.
Shock advertising: 30 ads that would give Australia's ad watchdog a coronary
Is shock an underused weapon in Australian advertising, asks Robin HicksToday, Sydney agency The Cabana Boys used an image of a mouth sewn together to shock people with the idea that problem gamblers lie to conceal their habit. Is it the most disturbing image ever? No. Will it get banned by the Advertising Standards Bureau? No. But it did make me wonder why shock is not used more often in Australia – and not just by charities and government bodies. (WARNING: NSFW)
The making of ratings blockbuster The Voice
Jason Mountney goes on the set of Channel Nine’s talent search series, The Voice, to see how the format, based on an international franchise, has come together. What ingredients have gone into making this certified hit that’s rated more than two million viewers on three consecutive nights?
Mike Goldman has one of the toughest jobs on the set of the Nine network’s new talent show, The Voice. He not only has to narrate the show, but also keep the audience from losing their enthusiasm as they realise shooting TV programs takes a lot longer than the one-hour bursts they see in their lounge rooms. A lot longer.
Nine problems stopping The Global Mail from getting an audience
While it’s a shame The Global Mail has failed to make an impact on the media landscape, the signs have been there for some time.I love the concept of a well resourced, philanthropically-funded independent news site. Anywhere in the world, that’s a rare and wonderful thing. In Australia even more so. So I hope that Grame Wood gets to see his investment make a difference.
And I have no inside info on whether Monica Attard’s sudden departure is linked to the site’s failure to find an audience so far.
Regardless, here are nine areas they can easily start to address:
Journalism’s new model?
Does the launch of philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail signal a new era for journalism or is the model destined to be a passing fad, asks Cathie McGinn in this article first published in Encore magazine.With little fanfare, philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail launched in February this year.
The online-only title received a generous five-year funding commitment from businessman Graeme Wood, founder of accommodation website wotif.com, who donated $15million.
Five things that make a great suit
In this guest posting, Gareth Collins argues that the role of a great account manager is to make the work betterI’m surprised at how many suits I meet who don’t know their role in the advertising business. The question ‘what does an advertising account manager or director do?’ is frequently met with answers such as project manager, relationship manager, plate spinner or go between … and those are the nice ones.
Success is judged on the ability to manage a process, be strong administratively and get stuff done. And while a good suit needs to do all of these things brilliantly, if these are the traits that define a great suit, then I’m in the wrong job.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
The top seven...most patronising pieces of communication
Sometimes brands have big ideas. Sometimes marketers get so caught up with a grandiose idea that instead of finding engaging ways to sell breakfast cereal, they start to believe their own rhetoric. And sometimes it’s just lazy marketing. Here are my top seven inadvertently patronising pieces of communication…
1) Last night thousands of women gathered in Sydney’s Centennial Park to take part in She Runs the Night, an event created by Nike.
TV audience measurement – why big isn’t always beautiful
In this guest post, Chris Walton argues that the media industry needs to take a new approach to TV tradingThere has been a significant amount of coverage recently about how successful The Voice has been. Indeed, audience figures of 2.6m+ people are very impressive these days. Based on reports, this is apparently double the size of audience that Nine was hoping for in the lead up to the programme launching.
Qantas apologises after giving tickets to blackface fans
Qantas has apologised after selecting two fans who promised to wear blackface as the winner of a Twitter promotion to win tickets to Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup game.
The pair promised to dress as Radike Samo after the Qantas Twitter account asked fans what they would do to win the tickets.
Qantas selected as the winner of its #GoWallabies contest a tweet from @Pek_Anan saying:
“@QantasAirways We will dress as Radike Samo. Complete with Afro Wig, Aus rugby kit and facepaint #GoWallabies”
The pair had their photo taken with the Fiji-born rugby playe, who has since made public ghis appreciation of the gesture.
However, the blackface created a backlash on Twitter. In 2009 a Michael Jackson tribute act on the Hey Hey It’s Saturday reunion created furore.
Over the weekend the Qantas Twitter account issued a number of apologies.
Meanwhile, Charles Butler, who tweets as @pek_anan, posted his own apologies saying that the blackface was a tribute to Samo, his “favourite player”.
Qantas told Mumbrella that it had run the competition with its own inhouse social media team and that it had not involved any of its roster agencies.
August 29th, 2011 at 11:31 am
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Comments
29 Aug 11
12:19 pm
im sorry but am i missing something – how is this racist? ridiculous preciousness
29 Aug 11
1:04 pm
So if Radike has no issue with it (great try by the way) who was it offending?
In fact he was so unoffended he has made clear his appreciation of the gesture.
So which victim mentality morons are being apologised to and why?
29 Aug 11
1:23 pm
Samo doesn’t look unhappy!
29 Aug 11
1:28 pm
What’s with companies bowing to the insane ranting of a handful of politically correct nitwits in social media? I will provide support and custom to the next company that proudly pushes back in relation to these sorts of non-issues when all the PC whingers appear next time something offends them.
And just to be clear so they don’t hate on me – racism and racial vilification are bad, m’kay – but this was done with all the best intention as a tribute to the guy, it’s not negative towards him at all. Hey, guess what, Radike is black and has an afro, not offensive, just a fact.
29 Aug 11
1:45 pm
A joke…. this isnt racist!! QANTAS shouldnt bow to this pressure. Australia has become over sensitive and fast going backwards to beocmming like America.
There was no slur, and no intent… not even the big guy himself gave a toss!! Go the Fro, whatever colour you are!
29 Aug 11
2:20 pm
Context is everything. There was clearly no ‘racial’ intent so there shouldn’t be a problem – but one again we seem to have imported the American association between putting black makeup on a white persons face and racial hatred. We haven’t had much of a history of ‘blackface’ in Australia (blackface is a specific theatrical device and is different to just putting makeup on – there are negative racial connotations) which is where the American sensitivities come from, so those who were truly offended are either too sensitive or have spent too much time watching American television.
Dressing up or impersonating someone means you take on that person’s physical characteristics – big ears, red hair, etc. If we accept a blanket ban on pretending to be a person of a different skin colour then we effectively close off an area to people like performers, impressionists and comedians who use satire to bring attention to an issue. Should a white comedian be able to lampoon someone like Robert Mugabe? Absolutely.
If the intent of the makeup on the two football fans faces were to ridicule or demonise an entire race then the objections would be fair enough, but it wasn’t, so people need to get over it – there are far more important things in the world to get upset about.
29 Aug 11
2:32 pm
It’s PC gone mad, and people jumping to the defence of those who don’t need it.
These guys didn’t offend anyone, they were not out to be racist or anything but because they’ve painted their faces all of a sudden we’re back in 1890 at a Blackface show.
Give me a break, he happens to have darker skin and big boofy hair. I think they hit the nail on the head. Qantas seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place again
29 Aug 11
2:35 pm
This apology is another example of poor judgement on Qantas’ part, just like most of the other decisions they have made in the last year. No wonder they can’t run an airline.
29 Aug 11
2:48 pm
I 100% agree that this isn’t offensive in my opinion, and the player at the centre of the issue wasn’t offended either.
Sadly, the PC brigade have meant that from a PR perspective, QANTAS were always in trouble as soon as that picture was posted.
Sad, but that’s now the hypersensitive world we live in.
Dont get me wrong, I dont for a nanosecond pretend to understand the racism that went on in the past directed at people of african, aboriginal or islander descent, but I am half european, half asian, and have been taunted when a kid by asians for being half white, and by whites for being half asian, and when I see Chris Liley on TV doing the Asian guy on “We Can be Heroes” or the Japanese mum on “Angry Boys”, do you know what I do? I laugh, because he’s got them down pat, and its satire.
Funnily enough, no uproar on him doing the Japanese mum, but I heard murmurs about his “S.mouse” charcter because he wore dark skin colouring…
29 Aug 11
2:58 pm
Its not racist, its a look a like competition?
29 Aug 11
3:33 pm
Blacked out faces is considered particularly offensive to many in the black community.
Maybe we’ve just got to accept that its a ‘No-No’. And let’s be honest, the wigs alone would’ve done the trick. But ……. i feel for the winners – they’re obviously not racists and nor was Radike offended.
29 Aug 11
3:58 pm
@just thinking i don’t disagree with the sentiment, but what gets me is the pale-faced PC brigade who lead the charge to brand things like this offensive. maybe if you’re not part of the potentially-offended group you don’t get a say.
29 Aug 11
4:16 pm
Perhaps not racist, but Qantas lacked in foresight to think this was ever an acceptable idea.
29 Aug 11
4:29 pm
Gaaaaaah, this story frustrates me so much. I knew as soon as I saw that tweet yesterday that a host of uber-PC nanas would be on their soapboxes moaning about it. What I think I find most ridiculous about it is that Samo himself has said he isn’t offended by it and doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. Then why are there so many people getting offended on his behalf when HE ISN’T EVEN OFFENDED! Sorry for shouting
29 Aug 11
5:48 pm
agree @Trish and guess what we all focus on after the politically-correct numbskulls take to the airwaves? that the guy is black!!!! had they just shut the hell up we wouldn’t be spending all this time talking about his skin colour, which furthers the divide
30 Aug 11
9:12 am
When are corporates going to have the balls to stand up to the mamby pampby do-gooders who squeal like stuck pigs anytime has some fun?
They should have simply told them to stick their complaint when the sun doesn;t shine. And we would have all respected them much much more…
We are so vanilla.
30 Aug 11
9:45 am
It’s not racist at all to me, but as someone earlier mentioned blackface for some reason is a taboo in the USA, and as an international brand, Qantas really had no choice but to apologise once the story went wild.
Gotta consider the American market.
30 Aug 11
11:30 am
Just to be clear, the start of this article is misleading. They awarded tickets to fans who promised to wear ‘facepaint’ – to me that suggests green and gold facepaint, not black. Obviously they then tweeted the image which implies they didn’t see anything wrong with it (which I agree with), but to say they awarded the tickets to fans promising to wear blackface is wrong and unfair to the brand. I’m sure had the fans promised to ‘wear blackface’ Qantas would not have awarded them the tickets, so perhaps you should keep your reporting a little more factual next time… they are already copping a hard enough time as it is.
30 Aug 11
11:31 am
not only is it not racist it is also not funny. Its more like a kindergarten attempt of humour!!