2015 Annual: The year that was – August
2015 was another year of major change and transformation in the media and marketing world. Mumbrella’s Nic Christensen and Miranda Ward provide a month-by-month recap of the most read and biggest stories that affected the industry.
Cummins & Partners had to apologise to the AFL after the sporting code conceded that its new multicultural round campaign was too similar to the work of an Adelaide-based designer Tyson Beck.
Chris Jeffares, Cummins & Partners CEO, told Mumbrella the agency is “working very closely” with the AFLafter the Herald Sun revealed the multicultural round campaign bore a striking similarity to a design of NBA star LeBron James created by Beck.
An anti-gay marriage group published a full-page ad, which used the views of politicians, families, and religious leaders to highlight its opposition to proposed changes to the law which it claims are “discrimination against the child” raised by a same sex couple.
The full-page ad by the Australian Marriage Forum focuses on statements from some of the leading figures in the debate, as well as from people whose lives have been impacted by same sex relationships.
The ad resulted in former prime minister Julia Gillard seeking legal advice as she believed her words, originally spoken in the National Apology for Forced Adoption in March 2013, had been “taken out of context and misused”.
Cats proved popular for channel Seven with its compilation of cat videos Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud watched by 917,000 metro viewers, after replacing its flop show Restaurant Revolution.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson raised eyebrows in August when he accused Google of “piracy, zealotry and kleptocracy”, labelled LinkedIn a “pretender” and described the redistribution of content created by journalists as “unnatural”. The comments were made as part of a speech at the Lowy Institute Media Awards.
Thomson, who was in Sydney for News Corp’s board meeting, warned that without the proper recognition, and without proper remuneration, well-resourced reporting “will be ever more challenged”.
RedBalloon launched its Father’s Day campaign which was fronted by Corey Wrothington – the teenager who threw the ‘best party Australia has ever seen’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt4XHXzc8_c
The Huffington Post Australia launched. The day of its “soft launch” saw the online publication run an exclusive report on Julie Bishop’s stance on same sex marriage. HuffPost Australia followed up its soft launch by naming the Nine Network’s Today Show co-host Lisa Wilkinson as editor-at-large.
Coles deleted lads mag Zoo Weekly from its magazine range. Lobby group Collective Shout touted the move as a win for its campaign urging the supermarket and rival Woolworths to ditch the title it claims promotes rape culture.
A Coles spokesperson confirmed the decision to stop selling the controversial Bauer Media title, stating “Coles has made the commercial decision to delete Zoo Magazine following a regular range review.”
Maccas asked people to swipe right on Tinder in August, with the fast food chain running a competition to win a ‘luxe’ holiday to Thailand on the dating app.
Media monitoring company Isentia acquired content marketing agency King Content in a deal worth $48m.
Nick Swifte told The Sunday Age and Sun-Herald that staff under 30 no longer stay for end-of-work drinks in the way they used to. He told the Fairfax newspapers: “I like getting drunk. I’m a big fan of it. Working as a media buyer there is booze everywhere… it’s all free.”
TV presenter Jessica Rowe claimed she was “hung out to dry” by Nine’s management over an embarrassing incident which helped end her brief tenure hosting the network’s Today Show. Rowe revisited the infamous 2006 live cross in her new memoir and said that the fault lay with producers of the show.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
Linkedin
topics
AFL
annual
Coles
Corey Worthington
cummins & partners
dentsu mitchell
Google
Huffington Post
iSentia
Jessica Rowe
Julia Gillard
King Content
LinkedIn
Macca's
McDonald's
News Corp
RedBalloon
Robert Thomson
Tinder
Zoo Weekly
