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Opinion | Features
Why is advertising so much better in New Zealand than Australia?
Ok, so this isn’t a new observation.
But it really hit home after I watched some TV ads for a kiwi supermarket yesterday that advertising in New Zealand is so much better than much of the crap that is being served up in this country at the moment.
Why is it that Colenso BBDO Auckland can turn something as bland as a supermarket chain into a brand I almost like, while Australian agencies succeed only in either irritating me (Coles) or passing me by unnoticed (Woolies) because the ads are so average?
My memo to your boss
So let me guess?
You really want to come to Mumbrella360, but you’ve got to justify the time and cost to your boss?
Good news! I think I can help.
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.
Questions raised over news sites’ local stats
Australia’s major online news providers have suffered a new blow to their credibility with the publication of analysis that suggests that their local mastheads are receiving a large volume of out-of-state- traffic.
This is an issue because advertisers who choose to go with local mastheads are often paying to target a local audience.
The figures have emerged at the time while controversy is still raging over the use of autorefresh to allegedly massage traffic numbers.
Shepherd gathered the data by examining the little known state-based-reporting function on the Audit Bureau of Australia figures.
It revealed the proportion of traffic that was identified of coming from within each state:
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Brisbane Times 32%
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WA Today 34%
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The Courier Mail 42%
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Adelaide Now 43%
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Perth 47%
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Herald Sun 54%
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The Age 54%
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The Daily Telegraph 58%
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West Australian 65%
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SMH 65%
In his posting, Shepherd asked: “Are the networks pushing people from site to site to try and build topline unique browser numbers?”
The issue arose last year when Mumbrella reported that Sydney based readers of the smh.com.au were being pushed onto sister title theage.com.au.
February 1st, 2010 at 3:59 pm
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Comments
1 Feb 10
4:49 pm
This is getting ridiculous. Name one advertiser on the SMH.com.au website solely dependent on a market defined as metro Sydney?
1 Feb 10
4:52 pm
Hi Terry T,
The SMH is probably a bad example for you to choose, not least because it has the biggest local audience as a proportion, at 65%
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
1 Feb 10
5:05 pm
“Are the networks pushing people from site to site to try and build topline unique browser numbers?”
I believe so. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve clicked a story on SMH and found myself reading it on WA Today or Brisbane Times, even when it’s not a WA or Qld-based story. The only reason I can see for that would be to use the SMH’s brand muscle to bolster the numbers for its smaller siblings.
1 Feb 10
5:30 pm
Sorry Tim, are we talking degrees here or the principal of not reporting interstate traffic? Given that the SMH is listed here as part of this ‘analysis’, my question stands.
1 Feb 10
5:38 pm
I’m pretty sure all RSS feeds for Fairfax websites now direct you to the WA Today version of a story when you click through to read it online. No matter which site you subscribed to the feed on. Definitely the case across most of the blog feeds.
It’s coded very specifically, too. A link that appears to deliver a blog feed from blogs.smh.com.au is hard coded as blogs.watoday.com.au. I can only imagine ‘tweaks’ like that help prop up less populated sections of the Fairfax Network.
1 Feb 10
5:49 pm
I understand the issue of audiences arriving from ‘out of town’ but this information has always been available from the publishers themselves, all you had to do was ask. Often enough their figures would be very close to what Nielsen is now reporting.
That said, I completely agree with Ben when he asks if they are tunneling traffic to help build overall audience figures.
It shouldn’t be new, but if you’re buying a state targeted campaign, use IP targeting and if you’re buying Australia only, ask for it.
1 Feb 10
7:33 pm
Hi TerryT …
And it’s not about metro Sydney … it’s about NSW. I’m not saying the SMH should only be Sydney … where do I say that? I included NSW and VIC to show the difference between these 2 states (where all titles have over 50% domestic traffic from the state they’re based in) and the other 3.
You ask a question around an advertiser looking to use the SMH for NSW only … erm, the NSW govt and its various departments? Bing Lee would be another I imagine. I wonder if their buys on the SMH and Tele are NSW IP only.
I wonder if the WA Govt are aware that if they’re not IP targeting their ads on WA Today and Perth Now are reaching more people who don’t live in WA than do?
My question is – why are so many NSW and VIC based people visiting sites in QLD, SA and WA? If someone can answer that it’d be great because I am stumped!! It can’t just be search and expats.
1 Feb 10
7:35 pm
Just a small correction – the figures aren’t ABA – none of the sites have taken part in the audit. They’re taken from the geolocation tab in Nielsen Market Intelligence.
1 Feb 10
8:32 pm
Umm, do you realise that the IP ranges on which the geo-location data depends changes on a regular basis? There is no consistent list of IP ranges. Over time IPs drift, causing fundamental issues for services like Nielsen’s and any IP targeting systems.
1 Feb 10
8:55 pm
yes, but isn’t that a side issue to your original point. (ie what advertiser is limited to one market)
my question still stands – why are so many vic and nsw users visiting website in QLD, SA and VIC? and why do some sites have much larger %’s than others.
1 Feb 10
8:57 pm
sorry, correction – :visiting websites in QLD, SA and WA.”
1 Feb 10
9:12 pm
Was Google perhaps punishing duplicated content in search results, leaving the sites to link to the original article rather than reposting it under localised sections? Or perhaps we’re not as tribal as we used to be and we’re sharing/clicking links outside of our territories?
I’d be interested to know what the entry pages for traffic on these sites are now, are readers still heading to their bookmarked front page and browsing or are we more likely to be clicking on links forwarded by others or coming up in news/keyword searches?
1 Feb 10
9:20 pm
mandi i agree it’d be interesting to know what the entry pages are and what % search is pushing to these sites.
my feeling is if search is pushing a large % over the brand of the search engine for news has become stronger than the traditional news brands. what impact does this have on the audience value to advertisers if such a large % are coming in via a search engine …
1 Feb 10
11:04 pm
Ben, you’re using Nielsen data which itself is reliant on out-of-date IP ranges. ISPs change IP ranges all the time and can change IP ranges from one state to the next. Get it? Your analysis is using inaccurate data. The % figures indicating local versus interstate traffic is wrong.
2 Feb 10
8:56 am
You’re presuming that the ads on each site are blanket and not targeted to begin with. I know with the likes of The West they’re not targeted, but the Fairfax and News site mostly are. Example: if I’m in the United States, I’ll get primarily US ads based on the IP address when visiting local newspaper sites. I’ll usually get Melbourne ads on the Sydney Morning Herald, least on the display ads (and where there’s local ads in their system.)
To answer Ben and the overall point about non-state based visitors: you need to consider that content is universal and a good story on The West or Courier Mail could be linked to from across the world. Every now and then I see a link to The Advertiser on Fark or Reddit for example.
If the papers are doing very basic IP targeting of ads (and I’d argue most do) the statement “This is an issue because advertisers who choose to go with local mastheads are often paying to target a local audience” isn’t really an issue because the company will be offering a local audience for those ads. IP targeting isn’t hard, in fact it’s a basic feature on all ad platforms.
2 Feb 10
9:12 am
TerryT I am using the exact same data the publishers use to demonstrate their audience.
I’m unsure what your issue here is – first off you had a go at me saying no advertiser would do a one territory campaign … now you’re flaming me for using the industry standard data which is a completely different thing.
If I’m reading correctly you’re saying any geo attribution system or even basic IP targeting is way off which I can’t say I agree with you on.
2 Feb 10
9:36 am
Of course sites receive traffic from other states – and countries too. You cant lock out people just because they are in another state…
I frequent the BBC and Guardian websites daily from Australia but see Aussie adverts. I was thinking about this the other day. I am planning a trip to Europe mid year and when I look at UK sites I get Aussie ad’s served up. (I have the strong Aussie dollar and it would be beneficial for UK companies to be advvertising to me, because i am heading over there…)
Geo targeting can narrow ad’s down to very localised area’s – I suppose it can be one or the other:
You get ad’s served up based on where you are or ad’s served up based on where the product is. perhaps the user could choose what ad’s they wish to see…?
“View ad’s where you are” “View ad’s where we are”…
It will only get better and better for the user and the advertiser.
2 Feb 10
10:14 am
I understand that advertisers would want to focus on their local niche market – but in the case of theage.com.au for example, a luxury car manufacturer would not mind cashed up Sydney-siders viewing the advertisement as well.
2 Feb 10
10:15 am
to clarify – i am not saying you lock people out if they’re not from the state … nor am I saying that these numbers are a surprise … I am more questioning the volume of users from VIC and NSW on specific properties and not on others.
You could accept the reasons given (sharing sites, SEO, news aggregators, reddit/digg etc) if the numbers were reasonably similar across titles.
They’re not … WA and QLD in particular have loads of users from NSW and VIC. SA not so much. Both WA and QLD have a well established local ad industry with loads of agencies servicing local only clients. SA not so much (yes still to an extent but not the volume of WA and QLD). I’d say these WA and QLD titles have local only sales reps selling to local only titles.
The issue isn’t at all with traffic coming from interstate … it’s about how this traffic is packaged up and presented to advertisers. That’s it.
2 Feb 10
3:08 pm
Where is the suprise? ANy media planner with a calulator should have known this. The dynamics a pretty simlple and hardly new.
If specific local market coverage is an objective then try using geo-targeted adserving.
A more interesting issue would have been publishers farming impressions to affiliate mastheads to bolster site numbers.
2 Feb 10
3:20 pm
that is an interesting issue stephen – would you want to write something on it?