Mumbrellacast

The fifth GfK radio ratings survey dropped this week, delivering a significant boost for AM radio stations, particularly those in locked down cities where listener appetite for news has increased. But things might not be quite that simple. Virgin Australia was the latest airline to tap into a vaccine push in its new brand campaign, unveiled this week. So how does the campaign compare to last week's Qantas campaign, and we look at other new vaccine-based campaigns out now from Telstra and Woolworths. Plus, Calum Jaspan speaks with Havas Group Australia’s Virginia Hyland, Simone Gupta and Laura Aldington, about how the industry shapes up when it comes to diversity and inclusion, and creating better pathways and environments for those entering the industry.

The team breaks down Mike Sneesby's first financial year investor call and questions whether he is still enjoying confidence off the back of his good work as the boss of Stan, as well as why Nine's share prices fell immediately after the call. Ooh Media also revealed financial results this week, with Cathy O'Connor unveiling half-year results for the outdoor company that saw a 23% increase in revenue to $251.6 million. Those results were in line with the wider industry, so what does the back end of the year look like for Ooh Media, and who is going to take a bet on buying Junkee? Qantas has launched a new campaign despite still not having commercial international flights and while much of the east coast of Australia is in lockdown. The team dives into what Qantas and agency Brand+Story did well with this one. Plus, Zanda Wilson chats with Innocean chief executive officer Jasmin Bedir about some new account wins for the Korean agency including Korea Tourism and Supercars.

After taking home Creative, Full Service and PR Agency of the Year at the 2021 Mumbrella Awards, Thinkerbell co-founder Adam Ferrier and CEO Margie Reid spoke to Mumbrella's Calum Jaspan about being independent, the logic behind the full-service model, the "friends with benefits" relationship with PwC and more.

It's a financial reporting special this week on the Mumbrellacast. We break down results from media companies Seven West Media, Southern Cross Austereo, and Here There & Everywhere, as well as holding company Enero Group. This week Optus introduced a new content subscription and membership hub for customers, Optus SubHub. SubHub will complement the recently announced Optus Living Network, and The team discusses whether consumers will bite on SubHub and how much difference it will make for the average Australian household. Plus, Zanda Wilson chats with Meat and Livestock Australia's general manager, marketing and insights, Nathan Low.

Howatson + White co-founder Ant White is set to depart the agency he formed with Chris Howatson just six months after it launched. The team discusses what the implications of White's departure might be for the agency, including what it could mean for key clients. Are Media released its financial report for 2020 this week, showing that advertising revenue has declined but that revenue itself was up $35 million in total to reach $236 million. So how did the publisher manage to grow its revenue despite falling ad spend? This week, industry leaders came together to launch 'The Factsination', a platform designed to debunk myths surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine and encourage Australians to get the jab. Special guest Dan Monheit of HardHat joins the Mumbrellacast to chat about the ins and outs of the platform, and what he hopes it will achieve. Plus, OzTam chief executive officer Doug Peiffer joins Zanda Wilson to chat about the recent launch of the Virtual Oz (VOZ) television measurement system.

ViacomCBS will launch its new streaming service Paramount+, this week on August 11. The platform will replace the existing 10 All Access, and represents a more serious attempt to compete with global and local entertainment streaming services than its predecessor. The company is led at a local level by chief content officer and executive vice president Beverley McGarvey, and chief operating and commercial officer and executive vice president. Jarrod Villani, who join a special episode of the Mumbrellacast this week. ViacomCBS has already promised a “guaranteed pipeline” of content from overseas, and there have already been local originals announced, and in October, Paramount+ subscribers will get to watch all matches of the A-League and W-League, as well as international matches. McGarvey and Villani dive into the ins and outs of the launch, how they'll measure success, and the points of differentiation for Paramount+ in an already-congested market.

Havas Media Group chair and founding CEO Mike Wilson will stand down at the end of the month. The team discusses what his departure means for the agency group, and whether it will impact future integration for Havas with its parent company, French entertainment giant, Vivendi. Weber Shandwick and Jack Morton Australia confirmed to Mumbrella this week that group managing director Helen Graney bought a majority stake in both agencies earlier this year. So why did the deal go under the radar, and what conclusions can we draw from this and other agency sell-offs by IPG both in Australia and across the Asia Pacific region? Google and Facebook have each unveiled new initiatives to support Australian news journalism. Google will team up with News Corp to create the Digital News Academy, which they say will provide digital skills training and new opportunities for young journalists. Meanwhile, Facebook launched its $15 million news fund and the expansion of its Facebook News product to Australia. The team wonders

Ryan Jon is a jack of all trades when it comes to content. While his day job is hosting mornings on KIIS 101.1 Melbourne, he's also a podcast host and producer, digital content creator, social media marketer, influencer and more. Joining the Mumbrellacast, Jon speaks about his current gig at KIIS in Melbourne and new brekky host Lauren Phillips, as well as his time on breakfast radio in Perth and the journey from regional radio to finally hitting the big time in a metro market. Since departing full-time radio, and before he got his current job, Ryan leaned hard into content creation and growing his sizable social following, and he chats about the benefits and burdens of leaving behind a full-time salary to become a freelancer. Join explains what brands do wrong when looking for an influencer to work with, and on the other side, why influencers shouldn't say 'yes' to every brand who gets in contact.

WPP has confirmed that OMD Australia CEO, Aimee Buchanan, will be taking on the role of GroupM CEO, after the role was vacated by Mark Lollback. The team dives into what the move means for both Omnicom Group and WPP AUNZ, as well as what OMG’s options are to replace Buchanan after her successful run as chief executive. The supermarket wars are heating up again, as Woolworths and Coles take their tussle to more environmentally friendly battlegrounds. Both companies released new brand campaigns over the past week, each with a strong sustainability focus. So which one is winning the battle, and have shoppers noticed the quick transition from plastic toys to long-term sustainability? Week one of the Seven Network’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics coverage has come to an end, and so far the event has been a huge ratings success. There have been teething issues and complaints on social media about the coverage and the 7Plus app, but are these born out of simply being spoilt for choice at these games? Plus, Calum Jaspan chat

New Zealand-hailing Hamish McKenzie co-founded Substack with the goal of helping journalists get paid for writing newsletters. McKenzie worked as a journalist in New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US, and is now based in LA. McKenzie - who has also worked for Tesla, and is the author of ‘Insane Mode’ about the arrival of the battery revolution - joins Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes to chat about his departure from journalism and eventually creating Substack. Substack is only 4 years old, but is already being talked about in the same way that journalists were talking about WordPress 15 years ago. Its valuation is already close to a billion Aussie dollars. McKenzie goes deeper on the Substack model, and why the platform doesn’t support advertising, something its founders have “no intention” of bringing in. He also speaks about Substack Pro, the company’s international ambitions, and what happens if the founders sell out.

Australian television legend David John Leckie died this week at aged 70, with his family revealing the former Seven West Media (SWM) passed away after suffering a long illness. Leckie is widely credited with turning around Seven’s fortunes in the 2000s. Before joining Seven, Leckie led rival network Nine from 1990 to 2001. So what will his legacy be for television, and the media industry more widely? PwC has released the 20th edition latest Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook, looking back on how internet advertising, the gaming industry, as well as print and television, among others, fared in 2020. The team go behind the numbers, looking at the winners and losers, and asking whether the report is as impactful and effective as it was in the past. In the week coinciding with the Tokyo Olympics kicking off, Seven certainly didn't need the bad publicity that came from one of its reported Big Brother VIP housemates, far-right commentator Katie Hopkins, being deported from the country for failing to adhe

South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) executive director of marketing, Brent Hill, was recently announced chief executive officer of Tourism Fiji. Before he joins Fiji’s National Tourism Office, where he will replace former CEO Matt Stoeckel, he joins Mumbrella’s head of content Damian Francis to reflect on his time at the SATC, dealing with being in a tourism role in the age of coronavirus, as well as what he’s looking forward to in his new role. One of the campaigns Hill is best known for is the ‘Old Mate’ campaign, which attracted widespread controversy and criticism over its tone. The spot features a sad old man seemingly regretting not having more fun in Adelaide in his younger years. Hill says he doesn’t regret the campaign, but admits he would change how the release and the communications were handled at the time.

This week the Australian Government released two COVID-19 vaccine campaigns aimed at increasing the rates of vaccination in Australia. The primary campaign, created by BMF, urged Australians to ‘arm yourself’ against COVID-19. Another featured a young woman in hospital suffering from COVID and was first rolled out in Sydney where cases are high and lockdowns have been extended. The team analyses both campaigns, and asks: does the government need a chief marketing office (CMO)? Nine announced on Tuesday that Chris Janz, one of the key players in the revitalisation of Fairfax (now part of Nine), is departing the media organisation. So what legacy does Janz leave Nine, and how will the organisation replace him? This week has seen significant moves and departures in the media and marketing industry. The Mumbrella team runs the rule over some of the key changes, and what they mean for the industry. Plus, The Brag Media CEO Luke Girgis joins Zanda Wilson for a chat about keeping on-top-of a rapidly expanding bus

Siimon Reynolds became an industry personality for being the creative brains behind the 1987 ‘Grim Reaper’ advertising campaign, which warned the public of the growing threat of HIV and AIDS. He later went on to co-found Photon Group, now Enero (which owns BMF, the agency responsible for the Federal Government’s vaccine campaign), and recently returned to Australia after several years in the US. Reynolds, who is now the director of Accelerator, which has since rebranded as DPR&Co, recently joined e-commerce start-up BuyersCircle as chairman. In this episode of the Mumbrellacast he speaks with Mumbrella co-founder and editor-at-large, Tim Burrowes, about what BuyersCircle is, why he's back in Australia, and what's next on the agenda for the rest of 2021. During the chat, which took place before the Government released its new COVID-19 messaging, Burrowes also asks Reynolds how he would tackle the communications challenge of overcoming Australians’ confusion and hesitancy about taking COVID vaccines.

This week’s radio ratings saw an historic result in Sydney, with KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O taking the title of the #1 breakfast show, breaking a 17-year streak held by 2GB’s Alan Jones and more recently, Ben Fordham. So what does the result mean for the media and marketing industry? The team dives into the latest GfK ratings survey, bringing perspectives from media buyers on all five metro markets, as we wonder: are the radio ratings really just one big confidence trick? QMS won Australia’s latest out-of-home advertising account, the City of Sydney, in 2020, but the changeover from JC Decaux’s existing assets to the new QMS street furniture has been delayed again. This time, QMS cited mitigation against potential delays of shipping new assets due to COVID-19, with September now the date for the changeover to begin. So what will the new assets look like, and what will the proposition for advertisers be once QMS’ gets its infrastructure in? Finally, Optus Sport’s VP of TV, content, and product development,

This week’s long-form Mumbrellacast episode is something of a farewell, as departing founder and editor-at-large Tim Burrowes joins head of content Damian Francis to chat about his book, Media Unmade and spending more than a decade leading Mumbrella. Burrowes, who will leave the company he began in 2008 at month’s end, dives into the process of research and the extensive amount of interviews he conducted to create a patchwork of interlinked stories about the last decade in the media and marketing industry. With the full title of the book being ‘Media Unmade: Australian Media’s Most Disruptive Decade’, Burrowes admits that while every decade feels like the most disruptive, the 2010s and years surrounding genuinely saw several of the biggest shifts in Australian media history. As well as going behind the process of writing the book, and sharing anecdotes from the past decade, Burrowes looks ahead to the next ten years and predicts what is likely to drive change moving forward. Burrowes also recounts the hig

Stan Sport has added a third sport to its content slate, announcing a multi-year partnership with football’s Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to broadcast the Champions League and associated competitions. The news follows several recent rights deals for different football competitions snapped up by streaming services, as the sport fragments further. So what does it mean for Stan Sport, and what are the implications for the wider sports broadcasting landscape in Australia? 2021 has seen many brands jump on the LGBTQI+ bandwagon, with 'rainbow washing' of logos and branding becoming more and more popular. In a preview of his feature on the topic, Calum Jaspan brings perspectives from Opr and Ogilvy Health CEO Richard Brett, and Getty Images and Istock head of creative insights Asia Pacific, Kate Rouke, about the mistakes brands make when it comes to rainbow washing, and why brands need to go beyond the rainbow and actually do something meaningful. As a new financial year begins, the team looked

Paul Cowan, former leading ad-man in the UK, now turned client-agency consultant, joins the Mumbrellacast to talk about some of the mistakes still being made in the account relationship, and how to fix them. Over the course of the interview, Cowan touches on several chapters covered in his new book, 'Connecting with Clients', such as the optimism bias with which 'problem accounts' are viewed, as well as 'the forced relationship' which can be the cause of tension in the client-agency relationship. Cowan's time within agencies, and then working externally to pinpoint and solve some of the internal issues that crop up within these volatile relationships, gives him a unique perspective on how the industry has changed over the past few decades. The conversation also covers Cowan's views on how Covid has changed the momentum of the industry, whether creativity can be sparked from remote working, and what he would tell himself, were he starting out now.

It’s been a big week of movements in the media and marketing industry, with some key departures across the board. Leo Burnett CEO Melinda Geertz has announced her departure, and she'll be replaced by recently installed Sydney CEO Emma Montgomery. Meanwhile, Nikki Warburton has left the CMO role at Audi. The team dissects these key moves and what they mean for the wider industry. With the Olympics now less than a month away, the Australian Olympic Committee launched a new campaign with M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment encouraging kids to ‘Have A Go’. Meanwhile, Seven revealed the details of its ‘Favourite Ad Of The Games Campaign’, a contest aimed at creatives with a $1 million prize pool worth of spend across major Seven sporting events up for grabs. Trust and transparency are the traditional factors when choosing to go with an independent agency over larger, holding company-owned agencies. But with the establishment of the IMAA (Independent Media Association of Australia), and more direct digital media bu

VaynerMedia recently opened its doors in Australia under the watchful eye of business director Amy Bradshaw, who has been charged with getting Gary Vaynerchuk's marketing agency off the ground locally. Bradshaw has worked for VaynerMedia since 2017, in New York and London, and so her move to Australia presented a perfect opportunity to fulfill Vaynerchuk's previous assertions that it would only be a matter of time before the business was in operation here. In this chat with Mumbrella's Damian Francis, Bradshaw speaks about the disconnect between media and creative in many marketing agencies, and suggests that while some holding companies today are merging companies that offer media and creative, it's not the same as a truly integrated offering. She says that's why VaynerMedia's seamless integration of the two sides of its business will make it an effective agency in today's marketing landscape. Bradshaw admits there is pressure and expectation on entering a market that is crowded, hyper-competitive and qui