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Opinion | Features
How bosses can build trust by baring themselves to staff
In this guest post, Simon Rutherford, CEO of Slingshot Media, argues that bosses should be vulnerable in front of their staff.
Winston Churchill once said: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Fake it til you make it...as a radio newsreader
In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Emily Hoskins from ARN tells us how to do her job.
What does a radio newsreader actually do?
A radio newsreader has to be switched on from the moment they sit at their desk. At the Australian Radio Network each journalist writes, researches, edits and reads their own news bulletins under tight deadlines – every 30 minutes during the breakfast shift and every hour after 9am.
Keith Reinhard on freedom to fail, winning back Maccas and how agencies can survive
In an exclusive interview in Cannes today, advertising icon Keith Reinhard, one of the founding fathers of what is now DDB Worldwide, talked to Mumbrella’s Robin Hicks about freedom from fear, his favourite ads of all time, winning back McDonald’s and why the most important thing in advertising is passion.Savage counsel - little white lies
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas. This week, he talks about when it’s okay to lie to clients.
Hi Chris,
I often find myself telling little white lies at work – I tell people on the phone that I don’t want to speak to I’m about to duck into meetings. I told my colleague her new haircut was great when really it wasn’t and I praised someone’s work when actually it was kind of shit. After each of these occasions, I felt pretty terrible and wonder if you could tell me how can I speak with candour in the future – for my sake and others.
How to build a culture
How important is a company’s culture and how do you ensure you are breeding a good one? Matt Smith investigates, in a piece that first appeared in Encore.When production companies Cordell Jigsaw and Zapruder’s Other Films merged early last year, bringing the staff together within the walls of the Zapruder building proved to be something of a challenge. While the two companies weren’t strangers to each other due to six months of talks and negotiations, working together on a full-time basis was a different story.
Q&A Damian Keogh
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Val Morgan CEO Damian Keogh reveals his potential alternate career.
Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
I’d say Kerry Stokes, slightly ahead of Harold Mitchell and Kim Williams. He controls the entity with the largest revenue across free-to-air, online, magazines and newspapers. On pure size alone, his influence and leverage over advertisers, media agencies and consumers is unmatched. Harold is still the king in media, slightly ahead of John Steedman, but Henry Tajer and Leigh Terry are the heirs apparent. Kim Williams controls News and that’s a big base to work from.
If a violent game is okay, then so is using a violent ad to promote it
An ad for video game Dead Island Riptide was banned by the ad watchdog. James Whitehead of online entertainment publisher IGN argues that it was the wrong call.A fortnight ago, it emerged that the Ad Standards Board had banned a television commercial for the video game Dead Island: Riptide, due to its depiction of violence – specifically suicide.
Why content makers are leaving our shores
In a piece that first featured in Encore, Craig Anderson says there simply isn’t enough opportunity for content makers in Australia, especially for those making comedy.Last year I had multiple meetings with production companies in Australia and discovered that apart from the odd commercial campaign, there’s no proliferation of paying platforms for comedy. From my own experience there’s iView, which will buy content once it’s already been made (though I live in hope that it will one day be granted the financial power to commission content). I’ve also had the odd informal commission from the SMH iPad consisting of two narrative series and a comical review show. But none of these endeavours were financially viable.
Managing your management style
In an article that first appeared in Encore, Stephanie Brown says the advertising industry often leaves people ill-equipped when it comes to managing staff, especially when they’re promoted into management roles.Managing people is hard. In fact, I actually think it’s the hardest job in the world. With no disrespect intended, I often joke that if my job didn’t involve other people to manage, it would be a walk in the park. I could get about my day’s work in a nice, linear fashion, happily checking off my to-do list as I go. I’m a process-orientated person. I get a kick out of getting things done.
Why the Facebook chase is making brands treat consumers like morons
You know how we look back at quaintly patronising ads from the 1950s and wonder what on earth the advertisers were thinking?
I’ve got a feeling that in a few years time, we’ll be looking at the behaviour of big brands on Facebook the same way.
An entire generation of marketers – or at least a sizeable proportion of them – have lost their minds.
So many have become so obsessed with generating user interactions at all costs, that all thoughts about overall brand perceptions or long term marketing goals have vanished. All that counts now, is generating likes and comments at all costs.
Blog this!
Paid content, sponsored posts and brand ambassadorships – in theory, today’s blogger can be just as valuable to brands as mainstream media. But does blogger outreach actually work? In an article that first appeared in Encore, Nic Christensen investigates.“I get approaches from PR companies constantly,” says blogger and author Kerri Sackville, with more than a hint of exasperation. “I have never done a sponsored blog, on my own site, but that doesn’t stop them from asking.”
McLennan right man for job
It’s all change at troubled broadcaster Channel Ten with new directions, new executives and a brand new CEO. Managing director of Adstream Peter Miller says Hamish McLennan is the right man for the job, in an article that first appeared in Encore.I am a bit of a schmuck when it comes to movies. I love romantic comedies. My favourite is One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney.
Q&A with Richard Herring
In a piece that first appeared in Encore, CEO of APN Outdoor Richard Herring talks media.Who is the most powerful person in Australian media and why?
I don’t know if there is one person in particular. The fragmentation of traditional media and new entrants has made it a more level playing field with regards to major influencers. As was demonstrated with the recent media reform recommendations, together, the broader media community still has a very influential and powerful voice.
What one medium could you not live without?
Outdoor – clean, entertaining, evocative and informative.
Q&A with screenwriter Craig Pearce
Craig Pearce, screenwriter for The Great Gatsby, spoke to Encore about working with Baz and writing for 3D.
How did you get into script writing?
I always loved stories and acting and dressing up and being anything but myself and I never realised that was not something other people did. After leaving high school, I did a three year acting course at NIDA but always thought I would one day write. Baz was a good friend and he had a theatre company. He wanted to extend a 20 minute version of Strictly Ballroom. We got it to 45 minutes then he was approached by producers to turn it into a feature film. I started helping him out on the film while they were looking for a real writer but eventually Baz had to go to the producers and say, “There’s this guy who’s my best friend and he is a really good writer”. To the producers’ credit, they believed in Baz so we had two weeks to re-write it.
Savage Counsel - winning pitches
Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas in his weekly Encore advice column.
Hi Chris,
It seems we have to increasingly pitch for everything. Even with existing clients, we’re now expected to pitch ideas, competitively, for every project. We’re winning about two out of five of what we’re pitching for. It’s a huge burden on our time and budgets. What is your secret to winning a pitch presentation? How do we make sure our presentations are a knockout?
Sydney suburb to launch ‘It all starts at Chatswood’ tourism campaign
The northern Sydney region of Chatswood is launching a tourism campaign with the tagline, ‘It all starts at Chatswood’.
The campaign aims to increase tourist numbers to Chatswood – home to marketing title B&T – for day visits and short stays, as well as boosting corporate tenancy in ‘Sydney’s third largest CBD’.
According to a statement from Willoughby City Council, “While Chatswood has long been known as the North Shore’s shopping mecca, the campaign also aims to showcase the area as an entertainment and dining destination with excellent access and public transport.”
The campaign, which is being backed by Destination NSW, is to focus on dining, arts and shopping precinct The Concourse.
Pulse Marketing is behind the campaign, which also has a Facebook page.
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Comments
24 Apr 12
5:23 pm
whut?
24 Apr 12
5:35 pm
I’m pondering just what is assumed to all start at Chatswood.
24 Apr 12
5:49 pm
good to see a council understand the need to promote the area – better to promote that fall off the map like other areas
24 Apr 12
5:50 pm
meant ‘than fall off the map’
24 Apr 12
5:51 pm
If it all starts at Chatswood (whatever it is) I dread to think where it all ends.
24 Apr 12
5:59 pm
I can see where they are going with this. The new development of The Concourse is great! Plenty of great restaurants, hotels and bars all so close to transport. Makes sense to me.
24 Apr 12
7:42 pm
No wonder Willoughby Council wanted to put their rates up this year – to pay for their ad campaign. This is crazy. Chatswood doesn’t offer anything any other major shopping district in Sydney does (except maybe less parking). I hope that the council have thought of a way to deal with the existing (and growing) traffic problem which is already out of control?!
24 Apr 12
7:52 pm
er, guys… if you can’t get your act together by April 1 then it’s best to hold off ’till next year…
24 Apr 12
9:27 pm
what, exactly, is in Chatswood that may be of any interest to a “tourist”?
24 Apr 12
9:28 pm
picture says it all really, a westfield.
25 Apr 12
12:28 am
As a local of the real lower north shore, it’s a regular challenge for me to avoid Chatswood at all costs, despite all these hajj-esque enticements to visit. I hate the place.
25 Apr 12
6:04 am
Chatswood….gateway to lane cove
25 Apr 12
9:57 am
WTF is a tourist going to do in Chatswood that they wouldn’t/couldn’t do in Sydney’s CBD? There is no point of difference. The only thing that starts at Chatswood is the really, really bad traffic heading into the city. Hitting those lights is always a sign of the nightmare to come.
25 Apr 12
10:15 am
Stayed away from shops at Chatswood for 25 years and never plan to return. Its a traffic and parking nightmare. The most dysfunctional shopping area in NSW
25 Apr 12
10:16 am
If Chatswood is a “Tourist Destination” – we are doomed
Its is the place to avoid
25 Apr 12
10:31 am
I live in lovely Chatswood (west) and agree it’s a great place to call home and bring up a family – with good access to anywhere in and around our city (2 traffic lights from my place to Canberra) and some of the best shopping in Sydney (though there are a lot of empty upmarket stores in the ‘during GFC’ upgrade to Chatswood Chase).
The new Concourse development in the centre of Chatswood is huge (and empty) and obviously cost an absolute bomb. The locals (an extremely heavy multi-cultural mix) are clearly not supporting it according to council’s forecasts which in turn allowed them to justify the cost.
Westfield’s recent announcement of a reduction of 3 hour free parking to 2 hours is not going to help this and the parking police around here are extremely – how should I put it – ‘enthusiastic and pro-active’.
I personally think it’s going to be a tough sell as a ‘tourist’ destination (I had to read this headline twice to truly believe it) – and my already high rates can be much better spent but guess they are trying something to get out of the hole they dug for themselves through The Concourse.
BTW – can I have my ‘Kangaroo Island’ style payment for saying at least some nice things about Chatswood?
25 Apr 12
2:53 pm
Chatswood.. a “tourist destination”?!?
When in Sydney I stay in a suburb nearby, and I do use the shopping centre at Chatswood, but honestly, there is nothing touristy about the place at all, and unless they are going to manufacture some tourist trap of some sort, its not going to change.
The suburbs are just that – tourists dont want to see suburbs – other than perhaps a brief glimpse from a bus, thus allowing them to say they have seen “how the locals live”.
Tourists want destinations that mean something in the photos they take home – something iconic, and that doesnt usually mean a new or improved shopping centre…
….. or maybe I am wrong… just seems odd to me.
25 Apr 12
3:15 pm
Why in god’s name would you go to Chatswood unless you had to for work?
It is now just the biggest of the soulless, characterless suburbs that seem to dot the train line up to Hornsby. And just about everything the council has done to spruce the place up has only made it look all the more empty and depressing.
And IMO the Concourse is awful – nothing about it is inviting or community-minded. In fact, it looks like it was designed by a former Soviet architect to frighten the locals. A brilliant idea that was utterly botched in its execution.
25 Apr 12
3:37 pm
It all starts with North Sydney would be appropriate. Life BEGINS in the LOWER North Shore.
Mazeltov, Congratulations if this promotion works why not and let’s promote the Lower North Shore in general. Promotion must also extend to the local Chinese and other ethnic communities in the area.
Obviously those critics are not BORN to shop.
25 Apr 12
10:42 pm
Dear “Chatswouldn’t” I think we have a problem. “Soulless and characterless suburbs that doe the train line to Hornsby”? what planet are you on? Have you ever explored any on these suburbs? Stood at Milsons Point station and admired the view of Sydney Harbour, walked down Blues Point Road from North Sydney station and seen the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour, taken the bus to Cammeray and admired The Suspension Bride and Tunks Park,taken the bus or car from Roseville Station and looked at Middle Harbour and the Roseville Bridge, walked along the bush tracks from Lindfield to Gore Hill, explored the culture, sport and facilities that are available from North Sydney to Chatswood ? I don’t think so. The North Shore is filled with community spirit and bushland. Sure it may not be a trendy Balmain full of Basket Weavers and alternate lifestylers or The Eastern Suburbs filled with beaches and Eastern Suburbs Socialites but it has its good points. Please come and explore and you will be surprised what you find.
26 Apr 12
9:38 am
Chatswood is a fantastic Australian Tourist icon – Home of the Big Mandarin (cinema) and also home of the Big Jam (carpark).
26 Apr 12
10:18 am
I’ll buy three please.
26 Apr 12
11:26 am
For lunch, in Chatswood you are spoilt for choice: Amazing sushi, Vietnamese, Malaysian – so much more. Markets on a Thursday with Japanese, Turkish and even Paella. Come and visit and tuck in!!
There are great spots to visit on the Lower Northshore. I would focus more on that, than just Chatswood as the ‘tourist destination’. Lane Cove National Park is awesome, all around Cammeray and North Sydney. What about that lovely old bridge at Northbridge…
26 Apr 12
1:02 pm
What took business away from north Sydney in the first place?
A shit council and really bad parking fines, restrictions on entertainment and licensed venues, closing down of cinema and bars and a whole bunch of other shit… Believe it or not north Sydney used to be the surry hills of Sydney.
If chatswood wants to attract business and people there, it needs to ramp up the cultural attractions, whether that’s music (entertainment centres closing down soon, quick) or good bars and good restaurants with lax trading restrictions.
Otherwise it’s just a more sterile version of the boring place full of knife crime that it was in the 90s.
26 Apr 12
1:11 pm
Who is calling it a ‘tourist’ campaign? Mumbrella or Willoughby City Council?
26 Apr 12
1:12 pm
@ MetalMother. I work in Chatswood and spend most of my time on the North Shore so I’m not just talking out my proverbial.
I’m not saying the entire area is a write off but it’s going to take quite the campaign to sell me on the charms of the likes of St Leonards, North Sydney and Chatswood.
26 Apr 12
1:30 pm
@Chris
Totally agree – having lived in Chatswood for most of my life and seen it degenerate from a nice leafy suburb to a giant Westfield, maybe Willoughby council should focus on getting the infrastructure right to cope with all the new high-rise developments it keeps approving rather than promoting it as a “tourist destination”. The roads peobably haven’t changed since the 1920s but there’s now 10x the people travelling on them!
And while they’re at it, maybe they can take a leaf out of Crows Nest’s book and have some cafes and restaurants to create some life on the street – if you drive through Chatswood after the Westfield’s closed I swear you can hear the tumbleweed…
26 Apr 12
2:17 pm
Greetings Chatswouldn’t I agree that selling Chatswood and the Lower North Shore as a tourist destination takes a lot of blood, seat and tears but it can be done. Just by starting with the natural wonders of the area (and some man made) is a start. Suspension Bridge,Roseville Bridge, leafy streets, views of Sydney Harbour, parks and gardens etc. Depends what audience we are selling to. ie. families, teenagers, overseas tourists etc.
26 Apr 12
2:50 pm
Is this story for real?
26 Apr 12
3:09 pm
I dont think this campaign is aimed at getting people from overseas to Chatswood… That has already been accomplished. Its more about geting people to Chatswood to spend money. If you walk outside Westfield, you will see other old shopping malls empty, stores closed on the street… retail is crap… and the more the Westfield types suck people away from street retail, the more councils need you to come, spend, and bring life to the streets.
26 Apr 12
3:21 pm
Like Denise at Mediascope I couldn’t beleive my eyes when I saw that headline.
I have lived happily in Willoughby for over 21 years and for the life of me of would never have thought of Chatswood as a tourist destination. Spare me!!
26 Apr 12
5:57 pm
The elephant in the room is that councils everywhere are carbon-copying each other’s marketing strategies (like everything else from sustainability to ‘diversity’) and ‘selling’ their municipalities’ tourism credentials – whether they have any or not.
26 Apr 12
6:14 pm
not being from sydney i have no particular opinion on the destination, but “it all starts at/with…” is lazy marketing.
26 Apr 12
6:15 pm
The Chinese/Malay/Japanese/Vietnamese food is amazing.
Maybe a tourist destination for those unable to get to Asia and keen for a shop.
26 Apr 12
6:22 pm
And there I was thinking all this time that “it all starts with ‘V’”!
26 Apr 12
6:49 pm
Okay social media has made this debate take flight. If you want Chatswood to become a tourist destination/or not and you have complaints about the current design of the Chatswood CBD, shopping, transport areas etc. then you need to let Willougby Council know and be proactive. Is there a current design for the Chatswood CBD?
27 Apr 12
10:06 pm
Local council advertising rarely rises above the mundane, stereotypical, hackneyed slogans that Willoughby City Council has chosen. Probably selected by a marketing committee from three ‘possibles’ – sorry folks you’ve failed to win many friends here.
I do live in the area and would love for there to be a more vibrant restaurant, cafe, bar, and music scene. The new Concourse fails to deliver as an earlier post noted – such a waste of millions. The City of Sydney is doing an excellent job revitalising the CBD with small bars, cafes in lanes, etc. (where I work) so that is starting to attract my $$ and social time. WCC take note!
28 Apr 12
11:10 am
To Tim Nicholas and other writers on this subject, it is obvious that Chatswood needs a night life that needs to cater for a variety of age groups ie teenagers to adult bar, cafe restaurant goers etc. I see no reason why the Councourse area from the station down to the first cross street ie the pedestrian mall cannot become a vibrant/safe//price friendly after hours precinct. It could also be designed to be a family friendly/teenage/seniors area during the day. Chatswood is not just a shopping precinct and not just a Westfield precinct, there is the fabulous Chatswood Chase that is very classy. What is needed is a group of like minded people to get some something organised and start the discussion rolling.
28 Apr 12
3:38 pm
It all starts at Chatswood….. I honestly can’t think of what they’re trying to say.
Chatswood as a suburb is nice in a sliced white/chinese/japanese bread way. Affluent and those who want to be seen as such etc.
Chatswood as a shopping destination is frustrating. Westfield has no soul and is about 5 degrees too hot in Summer. The Chase is the opposite but in a “I still have to walk to Westfield” to buy something from those shops way.
This campaign looks like someone is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. I guess if you don’t look like you’re doing something then you don’t have a job or budget next year.