Mumbrellacast: Richard Curtis on Futurebrand, controversial ads and Bauer’s transformation to Are Media
“What’s important to me is taking risks, because if we take the right risks, the rewards make it all the more worthwhile.”
This week the Mumbrellacast team was joined by Futurebrand Australia’s CEO and new owner, Richard Curtis, to discuss the ins and outs of his takeover of the Interpublic agency.
Noting his “favourite thing about this is that the media industry now has Ooh and Are”, Curtis also offer his views on Bauer Media’s rebrand. After being bought by private equity business Mercury Capital earlier this year, the industry knew a name change was coming, but is Are Media the fresh start it was expecting?
The team also deep dives into Facebook’s ban of a Modibodi ad that alludes to period blood with the colour red. Curtis says when utilising controversy, it has to make sense for the brand, and the team agrees this time it does. But with Facebook’s ‘higher set of standards’ for ads operating on its own playing field are we about to see more bans of this sort?
Plus, the content quotas for children’s television have been relaxed in a move that was welcomed with open arms by TV networks and condemned by the screen and production industry. The team speculates on the future impacts of this decision and whether the decision was the right one.
In the news
- Bauer Media embarks on its rebrand (21:10)
- Facebook takes on Modibodi and ‘The new way to period’ (32:53)
- Content quotas are scrapped, but not everyone is happy (41:07)
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