Mumbrellacast

Kicking off the week, Nova CEO Cathy O'Connor announced her upcoming move to Ooh Media, succeeding Brendon Cook, and seeing chief commercial officer Peter Charlton replace her. This game of thrones had some succession planning involved. Find out just how everything fell into place. The team debates Darrell Lea’s take on Cadbury, swapping its famous gorilla for an orangutan and a declaration about going palm oil free. Does the ad make a bold statement or is it just a copy that fell short? Facebook threatened to ban the posting of news in Australia, in the latest chapter of its epic battle against the ACCC and the saga of the news media bargaining code. If it follows through it will send publishers into a tailspin, but will it be detrimental to its own business? And, to mark 100 episodes of The Briefing, Tom Tilley stopped by to chat about the news landscape with Hannah Blackiston. How does delivering news on podcasts differ from live radio? How important is diversifying your audience? And where does he get

This week, a COVID-19 outbreak on the set of Ten's The Masked Singer sparked a discussion about whether the entertainment industry should be exempt from lockdown restrictions. Is entertaining Australians constrained at home an essential service? The team debate if it’s worth the risk to keep Australia’s media and arts industry afloat. Elsewhere in TV, Seven and Nine released their financial results to the ASX this week. CEOs James Warburton and Hugh Marks are looking towards green shoots in the industry, but Ooh Media will just be happy when people can go back outside... And why would a marketer kill off a popular brand figurehead? Budget Direct's chief marketing and delivery officer, Jonathan Kerr, stopped by to chat about the evolution of the brand's public faces and his partnership with creative agency 303 MullenLowe. In agency land, there is one less independent playing the media field after Virginia Hyland sold her eponymous agency to Havas Media this week. The Mumbrellacast team asks, 'why sell?' and

This week, Google took a stand against the ACCC's News Media Bargaining Code, saying the proposed agreement which would see it pay publishers for news content is a threat to consumers' free access to Youtube and Google Search. Free TV's CEO Bridget Fair said Google's open letter is an attempt to use its power to frighten people into supporting the tech giant when she stopped by to talk all things TV. Fair discusses how Free TV is taking the opportunity presented by the pandemic to negotiate changes in Australia's content quotas, and how the production industry is getting back up and running. Over in the PR world, a 'back to basics' course was set up by agency Romano Beck, based on their observations that graduates 'can sometimes have delusions of grandeur' about their role in the workforce. Are university courses falling short on training up new PR professionals? Is this course a bad PR move? And, it was insurer vs insurer this week with new campaigns from NRMA and AAMI. Two very different approaches, two

In this week's Mumbrellacast, was it the right move for Ten to line up back to back Bachelor franchises? Sold to viewers as the biggest week in TV for the network, Bachelor in Paradise bowed out, The Masked Singer returned and The Bachelor kicked off - all to lower audiences than seen before. Behind the scenes, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Natarsha Belling and Tim Bailey were all axed by Ten in a move to restructure its news teams. The Mumbrellacast team asks if the cuts were just another phase in Ten's news identity crisis or whether, this time, it's permanent? Industry cuts also included the Coles catalogue, in preference for a personalised digital experience for its customers. Coles' CMO Lisa Ronson popped by to talk about why this decision was made, and the future for customers on Coles & Co. And, how does DDB's new global CEO, Marty O'Halloran, plan to bring the success of the Australian and New Zealand agencies to the world stage? O'Halloran joined Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes to chat about the legacy of Bill Be

How do you make a dating show in a pandemic? Osher Günsberg has the answer on this week's Mumbrellacast. Ten is prepping for a double launch of The Masked Singer and The Bachelor, both of which underwent serious changes in production due to COVID-19. Günsberg describes the upcoming Zoom dates on The Bachelor, and why The Masked Singer set is the safest place in Melbourne. Crikey's Peter Fray also stopped by to chat about the highs and lows of his career in publishing, experimenting with payment models and bringing young journalists into the industry. Fray also discusses how Crikey takes its role as the fourth estate very seriously - more seriously, he would say, than other outlets. Also this week, Publicis Groupe parted ways with its head of futures and insight, Tom Goodwin, after things kicked off on Twitter about the state of COVID-19 and how we measure the impacts of associated deaths. The Mumbrellacast team discusses the increasingly flimsy go-to excuse of "Tweets are my own opinion, not those of my emp

This week's Mumbrellacast features a chat with ex-ABC boss Michelle Guthrie, in which she discusses her take on the latest round of cuts at Australia's public broadcaster, why she believes the loss of ABC Life is a shame and how a business can balance audience demands with tight budgets. Sticking with the ABC, a COVID-19 scare on the set of News Breakfast this week sent hosts Lisa Millar and Michael Rowland into lockdown. It has been a tumultuous week for TV, but with the previous week's ratings finally recovered from the hold of ransomware hackers, Seven found out if Big Brother went out with a bang and how Farmer Wants a Wife fronted up against Nine's Australian Ninja Warrior. The tech giants are back under fire as congressional hearings kick off in the US with Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook joining in on the heaviest Zoom call you could possibly cop an invite to. In Australia, the ACCC is suing Google for misleading millions of people by expanding its use their data. Will the tech giants ever be brok

This week, TV ratings came under attack... from ransomware. It's particularly bad timing for Seven as it has not yet learned how the finale of Big Brother performed. Slipping through before Nielsen's OzTAM was struck were the finales of Nine's The Voice and Ten's Masterchef. Rolling into the next reality TV race, what are the Mumbrellacast team watching and looking forward to? And will the bad news for magazines ever end? The eight Bauer titles that were paused at the start of the pandemic will close. The team analyses how Bauer accelerated the decline of the print magazine industry, and unceremoniously farewells the Bauer family from the Australian market. Big moves took place in adland this week too. Australia's Marty O'Halloran will step onto the international stage following his promotion to global CEO of DDB Worldwide. And, ECD Andy Dilallo is set to depart TBWA Sydney with Clemenger BBDO's Evan Roberts to take his place. The change is surrounded by conspiracy theories about COVID cost cutting, but are

This week, Foxtel's new entertainment streaming service Binge opened a competition for TV fans to write reviews of its content with the opportunity for it to be published across News Corp Australia's titles. In light of the thousands of redundancies made in publishing over the last four months, the competition hasn't been received well. The Mumbrellacast team debates whether this is exploitative of people's time and thoughts, or if journalists are just too sensitive? Triple M's Mike Fitzpatrick joined to chat about the network's mental health initiative, No Talk Day, and how he plans to expand it internationally. Plus, is controversial talent a risk or a ratings winner? Fitzpatrick discusses the network's high retention of on-air talent, and working with Eddie McGuire. Also this week: Ten revealed 10 Shake, it's new multichannel harbouring the ViacomCBS treasure trove of MTV and Nickelodeon content; Prince Harry's feud with the royals resurfaced in an ad for Dominos; and the team analyses TikTok's very publ

Adland made a lot of noise this week: Ben Shepherd resigned from CHE Proximity, Kieran Moore left WPP AUNZ, and Ad Standards released its list of the most complained about ads of the year so far. Interpublic sold off another Australian agency to its boss with Richard Curtis taking ownership of Futurebrand five months after Ben Lilley bought McCann. Is this the indicator for something bigger to come? Plus, Publicis Groupe admitted 34 jobs were at risk due to the impacts of COVID-19. The team agrees it is more sad news for the industry but admirable that the business has made it until now to take drastic action. Seven's chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette joined the team to chat about how the network was navigating COVID-19 and what's coming up in the second half of the year. He alluded to what success will look like for the stable of upcoming reality shows, and how Seven is keeping brands involved with Big Brother. And finally, Pauline Hanson was dropped from The Today Show following comments she made about

This week, Junkee Media's co-founder Tim Duggan joined the Mumbrellacast to chat about the week's news and his new book Cult Status. First up, do you see a golden wattle or a golden COVID? That was the question posed to the marketing industry this week when Australia's new brand was revealed. What is it about logos that attracts so much criticism? Why, as Duggan says, are Australians are our own worst clients? Ad spend for May was down 40.4%. Is the world 'Fukt' like the AFR once (accidentally) declared? Who is brave enough to go on record with a prediction about when the market will recover? Certainly not the Mumbrella team - although they do think the worst may have passed. The verdict was handed down this week regarding Geoffrey Rush's defamation case and its subsequent appeal. Mumbrella's Brittney Rigby and Duggan discuss what this means for the media industry. And, Duggan recounts the day he and Neil Ackland sold Junkee to Ooh Media, gives the secret for producing content for young people and provide

It was a sad week for the ABC. Up to 250 job cuts, the loss of ABC Life and the 7:45 news broadcast. Shadow minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, joined the Mumbrellacast and weighed in on the implications these cuts will have on Australia's media landscape and its access to diverse and regional content. Some big moves took place in media agency-land, including Hearts & Science acquiring an agency and a restructure in Carat's strategy team. For Carat, it is one of the biggest moves from CEO Sue Squillace since she stepped into the role last September. Will this be what gets the agency back in the game after a tough couple of years? The team debates Tik Tok marketing. Is it worth it? How do marketers do it? Is the platform just a fad?

This week on the Mumbrellacast: the job ad creating waves throughout the industry. What started as Dr Mumbo diagnosing problematic language in an ad for a “senior executive assistant / office manager / professional governess” at Ultimate Edge Communications, became an industry discussion about discrimination and burnout. Mumbrella's Vivienne Kelly goes behind the scenes on her interview with Aleisha McCall. Over in publishing, the Bauer Media saga is almost coming to a close after it was sold to Mercury Capital earlier this week. Following a merger with Pacific Magazines, hundreds of job cuts and with a number of its print titles on hold, the team wonders what the future will hold for the business. Mamamia's group director of marketing and commercial partner solutions Rob Farmer and editor Clare Stephens join the Mumbrellacast to explore how the publisher has navigated content and commercial opportunities throughout COVID-19.

In this week's Mumbrellacast, the team asks has Australia's media industry missed its Me Too moment? The topic comes about after it was announced NOW Australia, the organisation created by Tracey Spicer to assist victims of workplace sexual harassment and indecent assault, is shutting down. The team looks back on 2018, the promises made and allegations revealed, and analyses what went wrong. The AFL is returning in one of the biggest weeks for Seven this year. The network is promising record-breaking ratings to its advertisers, but will it live up to the hype? The hopes of Foxtel and its sports streaming service Kayo are also on the line, with football a huge draw card for attracting subscribers to both. Luckily, Kayo's chief commercial officer Ant Hearne joined the Mumbrellacast and weighed in on how much the sports streamer has learned about subscribers during lockdown. Alongside Louise Crompton, chief marketing officer of new entertainment streaming service Binge, the pair also discussed the launch of th

This week, Marc Fennell dropped by the Mumbrellacast to talk about his latest podcasting venture with Audible, Nut Jobs. He describes his adventures in the USA to explore the illegal nut trade, explains Audible's interest in storytelling, and ponders if there really is a podcast for everything? Over in adland, a couple of big leadership changes took place. Wunderman Thompson CEO John Gutteridge announced he was stepping down with Lee Leggett taking over. Gutteridge was the last WPP AUNZ CEO to oversee one of its famous creative agency mergers, closing another chapter in the holding group's saga. The team also analyses the slow introduction of a new leadership team over at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. The week in media saw News Corp announce the closure of women's content network Whimn. Was it purely a branding decision? Or is this the latest cost-cutting measure? This was soon followed by a slump in readership of news.com.au and the ABC firmly holding first place. And, how did the first weekend of the NRL fare

It's been called the darkest day in Australian media - News Corp has closed 100 print titles, with 14 to close permanently and what is speculated to be near 1,000 job losses. The Mumbrellacast team breaks down the social, political and financial implications these closures will have on regional areas and wonders what the future is for the industry. The Hallway CEO, Jules Hall, revealed on Mumbrella earlier this week that his agency will continue working from home indefinitely, sparking a conversation about the value of maintaining an office. With benefits including saving on costly real estate and creating more flexibility for staff, plus overcoming the impracticalities of socially distant commuting, the only question is - how do you create and continue company culture? M&C Saatchi's new CEO, Justin Graham, weighed in maintaining the agency's culture while it continues to work from home when he joined the Mumbrellacast to discuss the ins and outs of taking over an agency in the midst of the pandemic. With c

Just days after celebrating its second birthday, 10 Daily announced it would be closing at the end of this week. It is another sad piece of news for the industry, but despite an email from Ten boss Beverley McGarvey saying it was part of a wider strategic move from Viacom CBS, the Mumbrellacast team can't help but wonder if the closure is shrouded in COVID-19 revenue struggles. Also in publishing, the latest chapter of the Bauer Media saga is its push for some positive PR, announcing that its magazine subscriptions have increased by 60%. Is this a very faint light at the end of the very long tunnel for magazines? Alan Jones received one last strike from ACMA, ruling that his infamous comments about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern breached broadcasting decency rules, but he was let off with a slap on the wrist due to his impending retirement. And in fortuitous timing, Jones' replacement on Brisbane's 4BC Neil Breen joined the Mumbrellacast alongside head of content for Nine Radio Greg Byrne to tal

In this week's bumper edition of the Mumbrellacast, the team bids farewell to 2GB's breakfast radio king, Alan Jones. From the on-air announcement of his retirement, the cultural and commercial impact he had on radio, and the comments of support from Nine's managing director of radio Tom Malone one question must be answered: did he jump, or was he pushed? Ten's chief content officer Beverley McGarvey and chief sales officer Rod Prosser joined the team to give insight into the goings-on at the network. With a new mysterious channel on the horizon, the successful launch of a refreshed Masterchef and operating within a merger and pandemic, it's been a busy couple of months at Ten. McGarvey and Prosser also give a hint at what the rest of 2020's content will look like. Also in media, the team mourns the loss of Buzzfeed following an announcement to staff this week that the business would be withdrawing its Australian editorial arm. It is another sad development in Australia's rapidly shrinking media landscape,

This week saw WPP AUNZ lift the bonnet at its annual general meeting, but don't worry about new CEO Jens Monsees. Despite the fact he stepped into the leadership role just before a global pandemic, he promises Mumbrella's Brittney Rigby he's 'doing fine', even facing a potential $10m loss for the group from H1 CY20. Foxtel hung on to the exclusive rights to HBO's content in Australia. It's a massive win for the pay TV provider, with shows like Succession, Big Little Lies and the upcoming reboot of Gossip Girl a huge drawcard for consumers. The deal has put the launch of streaming service HBO Max on the back burner, but how long will it last? And how many magazines will hit newsstands when publishers come out the other side of COVID-19? Just days after Bauer Media took ownership of Pacific Magazines, 60 staff were cut from the business. As it stands, 140 Bauer and 100 Pac Mags staff have been stood down or made redundant and several titles have been suspended. How will the business piece together its magazin

Straight off the back of revealing the acquisition of Red Engine SCC, entrepreneur and creative chairman of McCann Worldgroup Australia, Ben Lilley, joined the Mumbrellacast to discuss his industry homecoming. Lilley discusses his return to McCann as its owner, his long-term acquisition strategy, and whether a creative classic, like 'Dumb Ways To Die', will emerge in the near future. Across the industry, we've seen the loss of the Logies, further job cuts and salary sacrifices at Bauer Media, Southern Cross Austereo, Domain and IPG Mediabrands, and Princess Cruises named the most trusted cruise brand. It's hard to go a week without mentioning the impacts COVID-19 has had, although some organisations (here's looking at you, NRL) are insisting on forging ahead in 2020. The week in ads saw humans hypnotised to believe they are tigers. The team debates the merits of hypnotism and using people in the campaign instead of real tigers - Netflix's Tiger King may have come into play. Plus, is a rugby tackle on the st

This week on the Mumbrellacast, the team reflect on the state of Australia's media industry after it sank to 26th place on the World Press Freedom Index for 2019. Following the raids on the ABC headquarters and News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst and the closure of AAP newswire, is Australia's reputation as a respected home of democratic journalism at risk? The week in adland saw industry watchdog Ad Standards ban a couple of ads. Despite its best efforts to redefine the term 'whipped', frequent flyer Sportsbet copped a ban for an ad suggesting that Prince Harry was pussy whipped by Meghan Markle. And, an ad for Coles' Stikeez collectables caught the attention of the community panel over the question of whether it amounted to pester marketing. And, what is the value of a pre-recorded radio show? Highlights of the Christian O'Connell show will now air nationally on weeknights, and Stevie Jacobs will be hosting breakfast with his links pre-recorded and inserted into the music programming. As budge