Sydney agency people live in a media bubble and most have never even been to Parramatta, suggests study
More than twice as many Sydney agency people have eaten in trendy restaurant North Bondi Italian as have been to Parramatta, new research from out of home company Adshel suggests.
The survey – based on responses to a “How agency are you?” survey carried out by Adshel – appears to reinforce the perception that many agency people live in a suburban bubble that leaves them out of touch with middle Australia.
A far greater proportion of Sydney’s population is centred around Parramatta, to the city’s west, than in the city’s CBD and eastern suburbs where most agency people live and work.
Only 24 per cent of agency people in NSW have been to Parramatta, while 62 per cent have been to North Bondi Italian – 11 per cent of them in the last month.
According to the survey, 41 per cent of Sydney agency folk live in the city or inner city, compared to just 4 per cent of the public.
Another 25 per cent of agency staffers are in the eastern suburbs, compared to just 5 per cent of the general population.
Meanwhile, according to the 3,178 completed agency surveys, the average agency commute is much less than the general population.
Among the most common journeys to work for agency people is from Bondi to the city, an average of 6.3km, compared to a more typical 11.6km Chatswood to the city commute for the general population.
Agency people travel 6.8km to work on average while the general public commutes 21.7km.
Amother difference in the typical agency person’s experience to the public is that while 72 per cent of real people drive to work, only 25 per cent of agency people do so. A total of 40 per cent take the train, compared to 21 per cent of the public.
Other findings from the survey show that 27 per cent of agency people own between one and five ironic T-shirts, while 12 per cent have more than five.
The most popular music played in agencies is Mumford & Sons.
Nicole McInnes, marketing director of Adshel said: “Most of us who work in media and marketing don’t realise what a bubble we live in. Sydney is much more diverse and multi-faceted than we realise, with the majority of the action happening outside of the Eastern suburbs, CBD and the inner west.”
The “How agency are you?” survey can be completed via this link. (Declaration of interest: The survey was originally promoted through advertising on Mumbrella and elsewhere.)
Adshel infographic (click to enlarge):
(Click to enlarge) | Source: Adshel/ Common Ventures
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A ‘study’ to perhaps be taken with a grain of salt; from my experience this ‘survey’ was gamed (certainly in my email networks to see the different results) due to its simplicity and fun outcome (kudos Damian!) but would hesitate on drawing any strong conclusions.
And @mumbrella, reporting on a survey generated by a PR exercise? Now, now! 😉
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Well der! Why would the intelligentsia want to mix with the bogan masses?
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Doesn’t Sydney end at Mascot?
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Love it. Explains so many things. Particularly why hipsters seem to be appearing in every ad.
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I love it, I’m guessing a lot of this has to do with the # of international media peeps in the market and wanting to live ‘close to the beach’!
What I love more is that these same ppl will sit in a client presentation and say I know who you are trying to target (target audience is suburban working class for example) … because it says so in Roy Morgan 🙂
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Hilarious! I hate to admit it, but this sums me up far too well.
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North Bondi Italian is style over substance so this makes perfect sense.
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Great work. It’s insightful, amusing, and supportive of AdShel’s new positioning (which I wasn’t so sure about at first).
For the record, I have been to Parramatta many times, live and work on the north shore, and have never been to North Bondi Italian.
Feels good to be an outlier…
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Very interesting and really well presented! Us researchers are very aware of the differences in attitude,behaviour and values; hence our tendency to cover the western suburbs and also the south in our qualitative research whenever budget allows it.
How they behave to creative ideas and executions can be very different.
Of note is that I have never had anyone from the agency attend to observe focus groups in the west. Ignore this demographic at your peril is what I say.
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HOW does it show agency people are “out of touch”? There is no methodology there to show that where you choose to live equates to your ability to properly research and execute a campaign. I know Sydney businesses that use agencies in Melbourne, or Perth – are they saying those agencies can’t possibly be ‘in touch’ and therefore their ideas are worthless?
Secondly, what are the figures for Adshel’s own staff, will they reveal those?
What rubbish.
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A good campaign to tackle small world bias & rejection of traditional channels. good work Adshel
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Isn’t this interesting? – and very much in line with the poll MediaScope ran earlier this year titled “Should the advertising, media & marketing industry go west like Julia?” when our ex-PM (remember her?) was spending some time at the Rooty Hill RSL.
As I noted at the time, many years ago a well-known media man of the day (hello Haydon) said “the only time people working in media really see the audiences their campaigns are aimed at is by winding down their window while driving to Thredbo”.
Now with the M2 and M7 ringroads even this opportunity has passed 🙂
Well done to Adshel, Nicole and team for these insights.
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I can’t wait to read the comments underneath!
For the record, I may live in Bondi and have eaten at North Bondi Italian many times, but I drive to work and believe North Bondi RSL is a much better place for a beer!
Oh, and I venture out West all the time – for field trips to study the natives, naturally!
Hats off to the peeps at Adshell for a genius way of getting everyone’s attention in the industry about their offering.
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I’m not surprised by this as it appears to be an industry that only employs a certain demographic of person.
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They didn’t mention anything about the “cost of a ‘bag’ ” question.
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another great reason why companies should buy there media direct, rather than being “guided” by some 20something over worked, underpaid junior burger who is to lazy to research anything other than TV, Radio & Online
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I had a look at the survey and it seemed severely skewed to achieve the answers it was looking for. Some of the questions didn’t even have an option that was even remotely close to what I should have been honestly answering. I didn’t end up completing it as I didn’t feel it was an honest representation of me.
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Brilliant. You have applied research to what struck me a few weeks ago, while sitting in a pub between the Hunter and Newcastle, among those who weren’t working the mine’s shift that day. There I was reminded that if I want tap the motivators of the general Australian consumer, I’d better turn my back on the values that seem to have manifested themselves where I work and live (inner west and norther beaches).
‘Average’ Australia tends to value different things to those from the city, and to my mind better things. And those values are much more defined, even if some of them may not be acceptable at the latest inner city small bar.
I learn every time I get out there. And I find myself more content, with no need for a big watch, a skinny jean or near $10 for a schooner.
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Hahaha, I love it – The people trusted with making media bookings and decisions for consumers – seem to be the ones most completely out of touch with them.
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that’s awesome
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Visiting North Bondi Italian is great, but if you’re feeling like a change from fine Italian food you could always visit Mamasan.
You’ll often find the Executive Head Chef of Icebergs (& North Bondi Italian)
eating at our bar – when he’s got the night off.
cheers!
Adam Hunt
Senior Executive Vice President Beer-Puller-In-Chief,
Mamasan Bondi.
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1% of people take a segway to work?
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How sad. I work in an agency but I live in “South-West Sydney”. Most days, I need to lie about where I live to be taken seriously by my co-workers.
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Hillarious yet depressingly predictable. I would dearly love for this to get a run in the mainstream media.
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Mumford & Sons are the most played music in agencies? Clearly the utter tedium of their surrounds has rubbed off on their work….
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The trend would likely be the same for many metropolitan newspaper journalists. It seems it’s mandatory to live in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney or the inner-inner west, such as Newtown or Erskinville, if you work at the SMH.
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Ugh, Mumford and Suns. No working in agencies for me.
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this should win over the agencies – painting them out to look like entitled, out of touch alcoholics wearing ironic t-shirts who barely step out of the inner city.
What’s immeasurably worse is linking them with listening to Mumford and Sons.
Adshel to be immediately removed from all briefs.
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Give them a break – most have used up all their savings to get all the way from London to inner sydney and it is unfair to expect them to spend what little they have left over after paying for their bondi flat etc to mix with the locals except of course if it is for their once in a lifetime opportunity to talk about actual success in tennis, cricket (for now) and cycling (pity about the soccer) ;-p
Seriously – relying on data, research etc is important but sometimes observing your customers ‘in the wild’ and better still mixing with them and empathising with them provides insights that money can’t buy and unveils prejudices and assumptions that only detract from the contribution made to either creative strategy or media buying.
Assuming this data is broadly representative then highlights how much opportunity there is for better media planning from more balanced and diverse inputs. Having said that, I assume many of these people may live inner sydney now but came from backgrounds that are more diverse (melbourne doesn;t count 😉 so I suspect the picture is not that bleak.
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just because you haven’t experienced parts of Sydney doesn’t make you a non-expert. For those who are working on anti drug campaigns, you don’t need to be an ex meth addict to respond to a brief on the badness of meth.
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Can somebody please provide me some more alternative restaurants in the North Bondi area?
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Wow….talk about every stereo type being reinforced with data! Country of birth compared to the general population was absent I note…..This could lead to racial stereotyping… but may explain the fascination with eating in Bondi !
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The QR code takes you to Meme Cats. Bravo!
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People don’t want people from Parramatta in their ads and the fine people of Parramatta don’t want to see themselves in ads. Researching this is rubbish. People want aspiration not reality. Reality means most people don’t need half the products you’re trying to sell them.
A great/fun piece of research and turns the spotlight on a segment of the marketing fraternity not use to it. That said I suspect that if you undertook the same research for marketing, PR, publishing, media, communications, CBD accountants, lawyers, advisors-financial and otherwise you’d get a similar result. For someone who works with clients from Arabic, Lebanese and Asian origins-most Australian born by the way, I get to visit, enjoy and explore the great communities west of Balmain. If you haven’t ventured out further out, you’re the people missing out.
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@lucky…. it doesn’t need to show agency people are out of touch. The advertising they produce communicates that well enough.
Seriously though if you read our trade rags and ingest some of the tripe industry types are audacious (ignorant??) enough to put their names to, it is obvious that they live in a self confirming world.
If these people carried those attitudes into your average pub in mid to outer Sydney or Melbourne it would quickly be given a reality check.
Too many aspirants and not enough substance.
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Of course most of them have never been to Paramatta….they are all from the UK! Why would they visit Paramatta?
I cant believe that agency people are really the tossers that this infographic makes out….couldnt possibly be.
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Cant remember the last agency lunch that Adshel hosted in Parramatta
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@Mumbrella – How about a Melbourne based survey? It’d be interesting to see if the results are any different
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@damian and others wanting a change.
Bondi area guide
http://www.au.timeout.com/sydn...../bondi/139
If you want to come and join North Bondi Lifesaving Club you’ve got until 28 September to get fit.
@Tracy – what’s a QR code?
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This was a problem even at uni. Mention you’re from the west and people look at you like you’ve just confessed to having leprosy. Then follows an awkward conversation where they try to work out just how far out into woop-woop you are, ending when you give up and pick Parramatta as a reference point they’re sure to know – to which I once had the response “Is that near Pymble?”
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Not the most scientific of surveys (and yes, I completed it) but this is a great piece of PR and an excellent piece of content marketing. Hats off to them.
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Inner city dewellers miss out on some really amazing parts of Sydney by wearing blinkers. I dont think it is just media and advertisers, its all sorts of ‘other stereotypes’.
The ‘west’ (and like the West-Kardashian baby, North West) is growing quickly, has increasing disposable income and shopping centres without pay-by-the-hour shopping. SMH this year named the best cafe in Sydney which is a Parramatta resident … quick hipsters … come on over! West-side is the best-side!
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@ Paul, now you tell me!
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Ha! Fascinating considering that according to Census 2011 Close to 50% of trips into the Sydney CBD are via train and train is the main way people get to work if they work in the CBD, over any other form of transport. A million trips a day are made by train in Sydney. That would suggest more than 21% take the train to work as the population of Sydney as a whole is 4.6 million and a lot of those people would be children or elderly who don’t work. Very suspect numbers!!
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@bobby dazzler Lol doesn’t Sydney end at Mascot? I wonder why they would of called it the sydney Olympics or why anyone would ever refer to various suburbs as south, west, or north areas of Sydney
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Adshel…Can I please be introduced to someone in the 10%? …A brilliant brand strategist out west who drives to work and occasionally washes their own car?
My company is a manufacturer of automotive products (someone’s gotta do it). We want to launch a new mass market brand in automotive consumer products for people who take some pride in their vehicles. Ideally the strategist we work with has interest in and knowledge of both the automotive industry and the consumer products industry. The latter is easy.
Adshel’s results help explain our challenge to find the right person to guide us as we grow our business.
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Here you go Damian, turn left at the northern end of Campbell Parade and you’re practically there..!
http://tinyurl.com/qekdmhx
M
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Carlton Draught’s creative team definitely comes from Western Sydney these days going by current creative executions in market
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A great job by Adshel and this has no doubt achieved their attention grabbing objectives. But, lets not pretend that marketing managers & directors are ‘slumming’ it out west with the bulk of sydneysiders. Just because you’re in Mosman and not Bondi doesn’t exactly make you a man of the people, does it?
All this survey confirms is that professionals tend to live in the inner city / pricier suburbs.
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@oaul … you don’t *have* to be, but it helps.
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Agency people…don’t worry about this. Clients will forget about this story after the next lunch.
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Move to Melbourne to see and experience real Adshel coverage… And the best city on earth. Enjoy!
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Brilliant! I love things like this. “It’s funny because it’s true…”
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Why is this important? Everyone in agency land knows there is nothing interesting in Australia outside Bondi (unless the agency is paying).
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Naked caught in a “comment for columns” scandal with the PM and sacked? Would be great to see Mumbrella’s take.
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Excellent campaign Adshell. Very nice.
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@Susi – 5:31
Hi Susi – while you’re correct that 50% of trips to the CBD occur via the train, only 12% of Sydney’s working population actually works in the CBD.
Add to this the fact that the million train trips taken daily are counted in both directions (to work and back).
Finally, not all of the trips taken by train are to the city – many of them are to the other commercial centres of the metro area (Chatswood, Parramatta, Liverpool, St Leonards, Blacktown, Penrith).
Hope that helps to clarify some of the stats and makes them seem a bit less suss.
All of this information can be sourced from the NSW Bureau of Transport Statistics by the way, and happy to clarify further if needed. =)
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You can see it here, Story of the day:
https://mumbrella.com.au/comment-for-content-naked-fired-by-labor-after-offering-media-rudd-interview-in-exchange-for-ads-167608
Congratulations for wasting everyone’s time with this garbage. “What is the average price of a bag?” – Grow up you idiots. I’m off to do a survey about Adshel’s inability to do anything useful and productive with their time. I’m fairly sure the OMA would like to see their members grow the outdoor industry and not produce this rubbish.
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Sigh. Here we go again.
‘Advertising people’ are out of touch with the common man, so therefore how can they make ads that talk to them? By this reasoning, then the only people who can make effective advertsing are the consumers.
Only women can sell tampons,
Only an 8 year old can write an ad for Lego,
Advertising to retirees is, by definition impossible, because the only people who can come up with the ads are retired.
And only dogs can write ads for Pedigree
(before some wag jumps in and says, “people buy dog food, not dogs” – I know. I was being facetious).
I’m kinda done with this. Go and get your ads made in Paramatta then. Sheesh.
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Advertising agency’s are so far removed from reality.
I live on the North Shore and even I am bored by the casting in most ads. It looks like most agency’s just cast form within their lobby, extraordinarily lazy casting. Many seem to just advertise to themselves and not their customers target market. As an advertiser I would ask for my money back.
I am feed up being targeted by a 20 something bearded male. I switch off and boycott the product.
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@boalio……..your last line says it all unfortunately
If you lack any form of empathy with your target market,(the common aussie battler )and sound like you have contempt for them, chances are you fail to have any true insight into them other than the syndicated Roy Morgan Data..
Its fair to say however that many clients struggle with this as well given our little North Shore bubble where we work and live!
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I’d just like to know why the illustrated person representing the 78% living in Greater West & Other has a sad face and a disheveled tie. Talk about stereotyping!
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Instead of “how many bags” it should read “how many grams did you need today?”
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‘Like’
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Once you move out of the city, how many people actually dwell outside adshel panels? I would say this number diminishes greatly as numbers at each bus stop fall, and greater number of people drive.
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Hi Vince, I think the messages on the bus shelter panels are mainly intended for the people in the vehicles walking past, rather than the ones waiting for the bus.
Cheers,
Tim
To Ad agency people you can add PR hacks, journos, creatives and anyone that has anything to do with TV programming. It explains why none of these people can create anything that even remotely resembles the mainstream population….maybe they should catch a morning/afternoon peak hour train from Penrith, Campbeltown, Richmond, Hornsby or Cronulla and they would see what ‘average’ Australia looks like and no, you won’t find it in Devonshire St. Surry Hills or King St. Newtown.
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What percentage of agency staffs oversized spectacles actually contain prescription lenses?
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This is a survey of agency people. The assumption here is that they decide who’s cast in commercials. It’s actually the clients who do that – terrified brand managers who want their ads to look like the ads made by other brand managers(who didn’t get fired).
It also ignores the fact that many campaigns are researched (hacked) to death on people from Paramatta.
And if you think Paramatta is where the “real ” people live, you obviously haven’t been to the South/West.
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@client I think you would be surprised at the empathy and insights I have into the ‘average aussie battler’. They are my mother, brothers sisters, cousins, friends etc.
I’m just tired of this constant devaluing and disrespect, from clients and from within our own industry, with regards to what advertising creatives do for a living. It’s pretty patronizing to say that people that have spent 20 years of their life dedicated to this craft (and I mean dedicated, 60+ hrs a week pretty much means you don’t have a lot of life outside) don’t really understand the people they are talking to outside of some Roy Morgan data and the people at their ‘hipster cafe’..
If this is really how clients think, then why are they hiring agencies?
I guess the industry only has itself to blame.
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Funny, insightful, logical and a bit sad at the same time.
Even though I wasn’t strictly “agency”, I must still have a a little bit in me, when I got to the QR code bit (OK, and the T-shirts), there was a shock of recognition – yes, that’s me, and then I laughed so hard I just about knocked over the mystery beer on my desk…
In a perfect world where politicians and town planners had their act/s together, most people who work in an office all day, should be able to get to work by public transport, pedal power or walking.
In my opinion, the idea that 67% of Sydney “agency people” can do so, while 72% of the general public rely on cars, is a sign of collective systemic political policy failure, not a sign of some sort of unreality or living in a “media bubble”, on the part of people working in the Ad industry.
Although …seriously guys, only 24% of you have ever been to Parramatta? Good grief. Back in the day (way, way back), even I managed to get out there a couple of times!
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@JPalmer the question was ‘have you ever been to parramatta mall’ not parramatta suburb as the article suggests. I’m sure the outcome would’ve been different if they had just asked if you’ve been to parramatta.
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Go The Eels!
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