TRADE PRESS: Blood in the TV waters; car brand seeks media agency; M&C launches design house
AdNews
In today’s print edition of AdNews, the paper reports that the three free-to-air networks are engaged in a desperate scramble for revenue, offering huge bonuses to media agencies who guarantee share.
According to the paper, Ten is giving the most away, offering an additional 25-30% of commercial minutage to agencies that up their share. Unusually, this can be placed in prime time rather than the usual offpeak, says the paper. It says that Nine is also offering deals while Seven is denying it. It quotes Seven Network sales boss Kurt Burnette as saying:
“There’s no question buyers smell blood.”
The paper also reports that Ateco, distributor of Chinese car brands Great Wall Motor and Chery is looking for a media agency.
And M&C Saatchi is launching a spin-off design agency focusing on corporate ID and rebranding. Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is a founding client.
The magazine picks out ACP as suffering particularly badly in today’s ABC magazine results. It points to Cleo’s year-on-year decline of 16.9% to 133,107 copies. By contrast, Pacific magazines’ Women’s Health has enjoyed a 15.3% increase to 86,500 copies.
Meanwhile Lee Stephens, boss of media agency group Aegis, writes a column in which he reveals:
“I’ve been losing enthusiasm for mobile marketing as a viable indepdendent channel. A lack of network cooperation combined with no set of standards or consistent industry representation has led to a fragmented market that is missing an enormous opportunity in Australia.”
The paper also offers a catch-up on Naked and Witchery’s girl-with-the-jacket controversy. It features a piece penned by former Naked CEO Mat Baxter in defence of the stunt, which was presumably written before he resigned. He insists that the media we in on the hoax. He says:
“People know that current affairs take an angle on a story that isn’t always 100% true. Did the media run this story knowing it might not be 100% correct? Of course they did. They were complicit.”
In what starts to look like The Curse Of AdNews, the next page also features a man who is no longer in his job. it features an essay from Bram Williams, who has departed Saatchi & Saatchi for a new gig at XYZ Networks. In the article, he suggests that grafitti crews are where ad agency recruiters should be looking.
And the mag’s Off The Record column predits that Mediacom is going to win the Target pitch thanks to boss Anne Parsons’ connections. It also says that there’s no word yet on who’ll be helping on the Australian bid to host the soccer world cup, although B&T called it for Singleton Ogilvy & Mather yesterday.
Digital Media
Questions are asked by Digital Media over the management of holding company Destra during its final months. The newsletter says that chairman David Gordon’s turnaround firm Lexicon received more than $1.2m in fees for its failed bid to save the collasped digital company.
And Fairfax Digital’s finance director Nimesh Shah has been poached to join Friendster’s new Sydney operation.
B&T Today
B&T’s focus is on the new ABC figures today. Its take on the monthlies is here; weeklies is here; and newspapers is here.
More follows…
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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have to agree with lee on his sentiment re mobile. so much opportunity but still more frustrating than it needs to be.
Hi MuM
It appears that the links for
“B&T’s focus is on the new ABC figures today. Its take on the monthlies is here; weeklies is here; and newspapers is here” are incorrect as I am getting a ‘page can’t be found’ message when I click through.
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Hi JG,
Looks like B&T are having technical problems. They can be viewed as a PDF here though: http://www.bandt.com.au/dirplu.....2_2009.pdf
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Thanks Tim
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