Mumbrella live blog: Thursday, May 22
Welcome to Mumbrella’s live blog, the rolling news diary of all the goings on in the marketing and media space. Refresh the page for latest updates.
Top stories:
- ABC offers costs and apology to Chris Kenny on dog stoush
- Women make up just 25% of creatives, but 70% of suits
- Feature: Where have all the women gone?
- Opinion: Five unspoken truths about gender bias
- Media buyers sceptical on Ten despite cuts
- Droga5 sets up Asia presence after Tiger Beer win
- Maker Studios eyes Australia after Asia launch
5:45pm – Two big announcements today from Mumbrella360. The first is a free breakfast debating the economy with some big hitters courtesy of ANZ’s new BlueNotes offering, and the second is a new Masterclass stream where some of the industry’s brightest will be talking about some of the hot topics of the day. That’s in addition to Buzzfeed, DDB, Lachlan Murdoch, CNN, Facebook, News Corp…we could go on. Program and tickets via this link. Be there.
4:46pm – The ABC has offered another apology and to pay Chris Kenny’s legal costs to settle a legal action he is taking after The Chaser depicted him having sex with a dog in a mocked up pic last year. See the letter here.
4:10pm – The Monkeys was the last Sydney agency on the Mumbrella Awards shortlist, and our judges put Mark Green and his colleagues through their paces earlier today.
3:20pm – McDonald’s internationally has a new ad for the World Cup which features a lot of kids and some insanely brilliant football trickery. Well worth the nearly two minutes of your life to take a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T7zyezBkuY
While the local product ads feature some Brazilian commentators:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkTrIe_1FXI
2.36pm – Media buyers have described Ten’s move to axe morning breakfast show Wake Up as unsurprising but hold little hope for a turnaround in the beleaguered station’s fortunes anytime soon. One senior media buyer bluntly told Mumbrella they were not shocked by the news yesterday given Wake Up had limped along with dismal ratings of between 30-40,000 daily viewers since it launched in November 2013.
12:53pm – Advertising might be trying to fight off the Mad Men stigma, but new figures released today from the Communications Council show there’s a long way to go, as only a quarter of creatives are female. We take a dive on the numbers, and spoke to some senior women and men about the issue here, while Whybin\TBWA general manger Nitsa Lotus offers her insights with five unspoken truths getting in the way of gender equality.
12:10pm – Whybin\TBWA Sydney is the next stop on the agency journey for Mumbrella Awards judging, with the team presenting some of their highlights from the last year, which include the win of David Jones.
11:26am – We can always rely on our readers and Twitter followers for insight. After tweeting the fact Ten is replacing Wake Up with cooking contests, a US soapie and Jamie Oliver (see 9:28am) Stephen Scott replied:
11:16am – TV ratings are in, and there was a big drop for When Love Comes to Town on its second outing for Nine last night, while Ten saw a bounce again.
10:33am – Next up on the creative agency tour for Mumbrella Awards judging is Leo Burnett Sydney, who will no doubt be mentioning the global success of Small World Machines, and a recent win on a certain supermarket account.
10:22am – Kyle and Jackie O are taking on Dubai at the moment, and so far remain out of trouble, which will be a relief to their Kiis FM faithful. And last night they managed to do their bit for Aussie tourism, getting the slogan G’Day Australia projected onto the side of the iconic Burj al Arab hotel.
9:28am – So the big question for morning viewers is what will Ten replace Wake Up with. Well Monday’s TV guide shows us cooking is top of the agenda, with 90-minutes of Ready, Steady Cook instead of the early news, The Bold and the Beautiful at 7.30am and Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals at 8am. Hope you’re hungry folks, Rib-eye steak stir fry all round.
9:10am – Today and tomorrow judging for the Mumbrella Awards 2014 is getting underway, and first stop on the agency tour for the judges is Havas Worldwide in North Sydney.
8:46am – Last night Tiger Beer unleashed its new brand identity which has been developed by Droga5 Sydney to appeal to the Asia market. However, the agency is still cool on opening an Asia office despite the client being based in Singapore.
8:25am – Wake Up goes off air tomorrow, and they’re starting to roll out some of the “best bits” from their six months on air. “We’ve had a lot of fun, and hoping you’ve had a lot of fun as well,” intoned James Mathison this morning, introducing newsreader Nuala Haffernan lip-syncing to songs.
8:10am – Morning all. After the bad news of yesterday let’s start with something a little more light hearted, and a message to Peter van Onselen – never ask a student protester what’s written on her t-shirt. Dr Mumbo has more.