Mumbrellacast

This week it’s everything radio as the team look at the results from GfK radio ratings survey seven. In Melbourne, Nine Radio’s 3AW blew critics away with another massive gain, while Sydney saw Kiis FM legends Kyle and Jackie O retain their FM crown. What should the industry expect from survey eight? Media monitoring business Isentia had a rough week, dealing with fall out of a cyber security attack at its business Mediaportal. With rival businesses snapping at its heels and unhappy investors to appease, what does the future look like for Isentia? The team speculate over how much damage the loss will do to the business and whether it can recover when it still isn’t able to provide clear guidance. And deputy managing editor Brittney Rigby sits down with PHD CEO Mark Jarrett. He stepped into the top position at the end of 2019, ahead of a year nobody could predict. How does one settle into their first CEO position when there’s a global pandemic raging and wreaking havoc across the media industry? And what im

Over the weekend the AFL and NRL grand finals were played in back-to-back ratings hits. On this week's Mumbrellacast the team discusses the controversial change from an afternoon to night grand final for the AFL and Australia's push for a local Superbowl TV event. The networks would be overjoyed with the numbers but as the team points out, restrictions made viewing at home more common and viewing in pubs much harder - impacting the ratings. And, what do Australian brands have to gain from making jokes about US president Donald Trump? Just days out from the election, Grill'd is taking aim at Trump's dietary habits, saying 'You are what you eat'. Sportsbet has also launched the a specialised betting hub enabling punters to gamble on the president's unpredictable behaviour. The team discusses the delicate balance of politics in advertising. There’s change at ACM including the retirement of CEO Allen Williams after 30 years, and deals being made with IVE and realestateview.com.au. The team give their prediction

This week, Seven rounded out the commercial free-to-air upfronts season, boasting ‘disruption, but in a good way’. After announcing last year it was time to refresh the content slate and being hit the hardest of all the networks in production by COVID-19, Seven is coming out swinging for 2021 with Holey Moley finally hitting screens alongside the revival of Australian Idol, a refreshed The Voice and Ultimate Tag. The Mumbrellacast is joined by chief marketing officer Charlotte Valente, chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette and director of network programming, Angus Ross, to discuss what Australia should expect from Seven in 2021. The week also saw the first Christmas ads emerge on TV. Michael Hill alluded to the tough times we've lived through, but Kmart invested in childhood joy. With very different approaches to the holiday season in a year like no other, the team discusses how to go about making a Christmas ad in 2020. And, with Group M's Nicola Lewis moving overseas to take up a job with its addressable

It was the week of Ten's upfronts, giving media buyers an insight into what the network will look like in 2021. Bachelor in Paradise won't be returning next year, but three new shows, including Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman's Making It, have been added to the slate. The Mumbrellacast team gives their impressions on how Ten's virtual performance went, and Brittney Rigby breaks down all the network has to offer with key executives Beverley McGarvey and Rod Prosser. Also this week, Gruen returned. Fresh off his success in the Melbourne radio ratings, Russel Howcroft joined the podcast to discuss why talkback radio deserves more ad spend, what keeps Gruen fresh, and how marketers and agencies should be preparing themselves for the continuing onslaught of market changes. And, Tourism Australia revived 'Holiday here this year' to kick off another domestic tourism push ahead of the summer holidays. Starring Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster-Blake, the campaign puts an upbeat spin on the cabin fever many Australians are

"COVID basically has accelerated the digital transformation at the consumer level, at the media level... and then last but not least at the enterprise level." In this special episode of the Mumbrellacast, Mumbrella founder Tim Burrowes chats with S4 Capital founder and executive chairman, Sir Martin Sorrell. Up for discussion is Sir Martin's outlook on the economic climate, why the 'growth' model of S4 Capital outstrips those of traditional holding companies, how WPP is cannibalising itself, and the legacy of David Ogilvy. Sir Martin reflects on previous economic crises, offers his views on whether the 'quadrennial effect' of the Olympics and US election on marketing spend will actually take place in 2021, and explains why he is "quite bullish about next year". He also dives into holding group models; critiquing WPP's recent mergers of Wunderman and JWT, and Y&R with VML, analysing why traditional models need to be dismantled, and explaining why S4 Capital's growth strategy is built for this era.

This week, Ten's The Bachelorette delivered the lowest-rating premiere in the show's history. Despite the shake-up of the format with sister-bachelorettes, the Mumbrellacast team asks, do viewers still care about it? In agency land, the team weighs in on the industry opinion that it's time for independent agencies to shine once more, thanks to COVID-19. Ben Lilley finally put the 'independent' stamp on his McCann-led business, and Aden Hepburn compared starting up his indie, Akcelo, to his 15 years at WPP. As clients continue to demand more for less, is it time for them to look for a more nimble partner? And, Coles released new brand platform 'Value the Australian way'. Featuring Curtis Stone with a lamb chop in hand, plus some everyday Australians, the team might not believe it has reinvented the wheel of advertising, but it does mark an important investment into Coles' brand ahead of Christmas. Plus, Brittney Rigby spoke with Masterchef host, Melissa Leong, ahead of this weekend's launch of its Junior se

"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 te

Kicking off with a bang, Uber Eats and Special Group launched the famous 'Tonight I'll be eating' brand platform into the US this week with help from sci-fi icons Mark Hamill and Sir Patrick Stewart. Hannah Blackiston and Brittney Rigby reflect on the evolution of the brand platform, from getting blasted in the comments, to international success. And, keeping up with agency land, is Thinkerbell's Thrive@55 initiative for interns over 55 years old an obvious play for PR or a valiant move to meet the industry's ageism head-on? Plus, reflective of the tumult created in 2020, the sporting deal sagas keep going. Qantas broke up with Rugby Australia after 30 years, and Seven came back to Supercars, offering $40m less than Ten did five years ago. As sponsorship and broadcast rights dollars keep shrinking, where to from here for Australia's sporting codes? And, Tim Burrowes spoke with Eardrum's Ralph van Dijk and Song Zu's Ramesh Sathiah to announce their new dedicated audio branding venture, Resonance. Learn how

In this week's Mumbrellacast, the team gives you everything you need to know about Nine's upfronts for 2021, including a chat with chief sales officer, Michael Stephenson. So, how exactly does it new audience targeting partnership with Adobe work? Is it really going to put Nine in competition with Google and Facebook? And, will we see more media companies developing their own defence against the cookies? And, what will content look like in 2021? The team was hoping for a shiny new TV show, but instead Nine will be putting a 'refreshed' Celebrity Apprentice Australia and Beauty and the Geek on air (so much for Seven trying to "revive yet another Nine show"). Is Nine just playing it safe in this world of complicated productions? Looking beyond the upfronts, small publishers spoke out against the ACCC's news media bargaining code in fear of Google and Facebook shutting down news in Australia, and industry watchdog Ad Standards upheld the first complaint under its new body image rules.

It was a week of controversy, and the Mumbrellacast kicks off with the king of FM radio, Kyle Sandilands. After last year's comments about the Virgin Mary, he received a slap on the wrist from ACMA. After comparing their own stories about interacting with Sandilands, the team debates how and why he always manages to slip through. Addressing the second big controversy of the week, the team debates whether the Sydney Morning Herald should have named a junior journalist from Domain who was found to have fictionalised quotes in their reporting. Is the fact they weren't caught sooner indicative of an ever-growing problem in the publishing industry? Or can the entire blame be placed at the journalist's door? And, ahead of the launch of the new season of Body Hack on Ten, Todd Sampson revealed what it was like to film in some of the most dangerous places on the planet, only to learn about the pandemic and be called home. The former adman also discusses why he decided to step away from advertising, whether he has o

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