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Opinion
The keyboard warrior of Twitter
In this guest post, NBN staffer Scott Rhodie writes an unofficial, personal view on his experience with a hostile Twitter critic.Last night I had a strange incident. While on Twitter I noticed someone saying that Australia’s NBN is already outdated. I wrote a small note back explaining they were incorrect.
And their response? The lovely gentleman (whose Twitter profile says: ‘Father of 5 kids, Loving Grandfather of 10 Grandchildren,and 2 Great Granddaughters. love to give heaps to Pollies and Poofters’) said to me: “Go and lick Gillards C*** out U commie Prick”
What's in a name?
In this guest post, Moensie Rossier wonders about the power of names for brands and marketers.
Brands have been having a bit of fun with names lately, not to mention a fair bit of success. Interbrand just named a headhunting firm Cloak & Dagger. And ‘Share a Coke’ showed how much power there is in a name.
The Coke campaign effectively short-circuited the usual mechanics of communication. It undoubtedly stroked people’s egos. But, I believe, its success stems from the fact that it directly and automatically affected people’s behaviour, rather than doing so indirectly by shaping attitudes.
Best ads from Super Bowl 2012
The Super Bowl is all done and a team from North America won. But as well as some sort of sporting event, it’s the world’s biggest advertising showcase. See the best of them right here… and please tell us what you think.
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.
Vice team launches youth-focused online ad network Populace
Australia’s competitive online advertising market has seen the arrival of another significant player with the creation of Populace, which is backed by Vice publisher Michael Slonim.
Populace claims to reach half a million 16 to 29 yr olds with local sites in the network including Sneaker Freaker, Tone Deaf, The Enthusiast and UnseenTV, along with Australian views of global youth sites Hypebeast, Lookbook, Resident Advisor and Chictopia.
Sarah Jane Owen has been appointed Digital Sales Manager for Populace. Owen previously worked at MTV Australia and OMD, is the founder of online boutique Dirty Rich and a Reebok evangelist.
Populace’s launch advertiser list includes Adidas, Panasonic, Lynx, Bonds, Nike, Samsung, VISA, Converse, Mentos and Rockstar Games.
Populace was founded by Vice’s digital media director Remi Carette. He said: “It’s undeniable that a shift to content-focused marketing is taking place, and for this reason we’ve specifically invited publishers to our network who are generating original content. We’re then placed in a position to bring an advertiser’s message to life in an authentic, integrated fashion.”
Slonim said: “We have the people, content and ideas.”
August 25th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
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Comments
25 Aug 10
2:33 pm
Um, given that we’re in the Populace network, I can tell you on good authority that Remi is a dude.
25 Aug 10
2:35 pm
What has this video got to do with the story? The ‘Sales Manager’ talking about her shoe collection. Thrilling…..no really
25 Aug 10
2:37 pm
Oops – Sorry, Remi.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
25 Aug 10
2:37 pm
Indeed, Remi is a top bloke.
25 Aug 10
2:38 pm
Hi Alex,
Living the brand?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
25 Aug 10
2:41 pm
Remi’s a girl.
I took her out last week. She loves her yum cha.
(Call me, Remi)
x
25 Aug 10
2:46 pm
Congrats, Remi. One of the few great men.
25 Aug 10
2:59 pm
love the concept but wonder what the source is on that user figure … doesn’t seem to be verified/referenced.
25 Aug 10
3:04 pm
SJOwen is to Reeboks what Bob Katter is to suit + cowboy hat combo.
25 Aug 10
3:04 pm
500K uniques
Is that really worth announcing?
25 Aug 10
3:08 pm
Remi is the name of my 8 year old daughter.
Remi from Vice and I did have words about this by email a while ago – good name for both genders it seems.
Populace is also a good name and a strong idea. Seems they have attracted solid early support and I look forward to watching their progress.
25 Aug 10
3:15 pm
Depends on the audience, This Is Old Skool.
500,000 hard-t0 reach uniques. Yes please.
And Really – good question. The number will only have credibility once it’s audited.
25 Aug 10
3:29 pm
@occasional media buyer
Hard to reach? really?
There are lots of publishers and networks or hybrid publisher/networks in the youth space offering the same service
25 Aug 10
4:42 pm
Great to see commenters questioning credibility of home-cooked figures that aren’t audited! (it wasn’t me, I promise).
500k (if real) is a strong figure, considering if a network is much larger you could argue that it stops targeting trendsetters and starts branching into the mainstream .. or broader niches.
Quick analysis of other networks would suggest reach of 100-500k is typical for sub-niche networks, 1-2M for niche networks …
26 Aug 10
10:05 am
un-substantiated sub sites aggregated under one unsubstantiated umbrella. Sounds elusive indeed.
26 Aug 10
12:06 pm
These sites may not be audited, but there is no denying their cultural popularity for youth audiences overseas, which inherently means there would be youth audience locally in Australian finding & using these sites.
Australians, in particular the 13-35yo demo, crave content about fashion, trends, music and lifestyle from our UK & American Friends.
I am actually a supporter of auditing, however if Populace or other youth networks can deliver a good media deal, deliver your campaign and get results. Then its ultimately down to that particular agency/client to decide what works & fits for them, regardless of what the audited traffic figures.
A questions for Alex from the ABA, is there a way international websites can be audited for AU traffic numbers?
26 Aug 10
12:37 pm
The least the sites can do is go on Nielsen MI. The audit process may be difficult for a big network without monster rev. expectations
The excuse for most of these yoof sites is that they’re such a “great fit” they don’t need to be measured by an external … problem then is how can you trust the numbers?
no one is disputing the fit of the sites … it’s moreso the accuracy of the number claims. site side numbers generally don’t exclude bots, non human traffic etc etc so the figure is always inflated.
26 Aug 10
1:07 pm
To audit, or not to audit? Any figures that are used to evaluate or promote websites for display advertising should be audited. Being audited is a prerequisite to trade in any other media and the same standard now applies in the online marketplace.
Of course, there are certain media-transactions (like performance buys) where having an audited figure is not as critical, but if a publisher is using figures for any promotional or competitve comparisons, then it needs to be audited to ensure there is a level playing field and to protect media-buyers from wasted buys. If no one was audited than it’s every man for himself, using their unverified home-cooked figures to report they are all #1 in reaching their target audience.
Relying on unaudited figures just leads to confusion and uncertainty – this recent comment thread is a case in point: http://bit.ly/bqCPau
Yes, international sites can be audited for AU traffic numbers. The most common and elegant solution is to geo-target the tracking tag to AU-users only. The same ABA audit rules apply – no publisher-generated traffic can be counted.
27 Aug 10
12:36 am
Dear Sara Jane Owen
I am terrified of female media sales reps.
You know what they can be like: so sleek, so glossy, so urgent, so hungry, so calculated, so polished, so buoyant; so much hard work. It’s terrifying. You know the type. You worked at OMD, you know exactly what I’m talking about. They’re scary.
Do these people have successful relationships? I’d like that ‘audited’. Are there numbers on this?
I think the only women that scare trannies are media women.
But you are fab. I love you.
You will be amazing in this job – put one of those glossy media women in your role and it would never work. You know why. You are perfect for this.
Using your ‘Freestyle Forever’ video thing for the Mumbrella PR thing was genius. It says ‘we understand this stuff’.
Anyone who ‘gets’ the ‘market’ will know this is important. ‘Alex’ doesn’t. Ignore Alex. Alex doesn’t know anything.
You rock, you are my new favorite media person. And you love shoes – I love shoes, do you need a PA?. I’m at the ‘Taxi’ on Friday and Nevermind on Saturday. I can bring references.
X
Lavinia
27 Aug 10
3:06 pm
I think this idea has merit but I’d also question the numbers behind the claims. A quick peruse of the website showed huge disparities in their claimed numbers. The homepage states boldy “500,000 unique visitors” but on this page http://populacemedia.com.au/advertisers/ it lists each site and it’s traffic. Problem is the combined total is 324,000 and that’s with duplication. Which is it I wonder?
If you are going to throw out un-verified numbers at least get the story straight on your own website.
27 Aug 10
3:34 pm
Thanks for your feedback Alex.
@Hipsters don’t Audit I agree, there are some contradictions out there. Some of the other “cool” publishers who push very hard on the audit bandwagon ( fair enough too). But what is the perspective from people if said “cool” publishers are claiming total traffic figures that are purely aimed at grabbing ad $$$, yet their domestic traffic numbers have actually decreased by up to 25%
Is there any point in making the “larger” claim, since we are buying and selling AU eyeballs? and what is the ABA doing about such claims when its irrelevant to the market.
The point of auditing is having transparent domestic figures. Why are said “cool” publishers allowed to make claims especially if they are the ones pushing for better auditing across the board?
Some of these publishers even represent 3rd party international sites. In some cases i have noticed that even though these “cool” publishers are massive audit supporters, Do they roll this out for all the 3rd party sites they represent. Seems like a contradiction??
Do they even have MI on those 3rd party international sites, hmmm i don’t think so.
27 Aug 10
3:49 pm
@To Audit, or not to Audit?
The ABA by default only reports AU traffic figures except in cases where the website is clearly intending to sell only international eyeballs to advertisers. E.g. (Pipelines International is for international workers in that industry, not just AU). I hope that answers your question in regards to how irrelevant traffic is removed from the ABA reported figures. Not sure where the ‘larger claims’ are being made … ?
Some international sites can’t be easily audited due to difficulty deploying tags but it shouldnt be a show-stopper. No reason any Intnl site vying for AU advertising dollars shouldn’t be providing audited figures. Who are you referring to … ?