broadcasting, measuring, phdcast, television

Surviving the Crucible: Why We All Need to Calm Down, Back Off, and GIve Wake Up A Fair Go

in the latest PHDcast Nic, Stew, Zee (we’re still experimenting with the nickname – bear with us) and I talk Melbourne Cup brand activations Twitter’s flotation, the point of branded urls, strategy job titles … and the first week of Ten’s new breakfast show – which it’s fair to say has been watched very closely … by Adnews, B&T, and via a Mumbrella ratings game and by an article or two in the SMH.

the context into which Wake Up was born has been unfairly hostile, unduly challenging and way too immediately judgmental. to say that both Wake Up (and Studio 10 which follows it) launched into a crucible is perhaps an understatement, a crucible with multiple drivers:

one, the Ten financial pressure

Wake Up has been given birth by a parent with, it’s fair to say, some financial challenges. last month Network Ten reported a $285m loss and calls for $200m loan over four years to rebuild the product. TV is a cyclical game and networks will at some times be stronger than at others – but there’s no doubt the pressure is on.

two, the predecessor

launched in February 2012, Wake Up’s predecessor was Breakfast fronted by Kiwi Paul Henry, Kathryn Robinson, Andrew Rochford and Magdalena Roze.

Breakfast was axed in November of the same year after the show failed to steal ratings share from Seven and Nine. the show also came in for particular criticism of Paul Henry, who I always liked … he was, it always seemed to me deliberately divisive, callous and radically honest – which if you were in on the joke was actually rather entertaining.

whichever way you took Paul Henry, the debate and fate of Wake Up’s predecessor casts a considerable shadow over it’s launch. but in many ways the challenge that Henry in particular was tasked with addressing is the same one that Wake Up faces, that of being different …

the need to be breaking (bad) conventions

because Wake Up is also dealing with the clear and present need to challenge, break and redefine the conventions of morning TV. the opportunity isn’t to be an also-run breakfast show; another desk with other bright shiny people giving away other prize money to viewers just for being conscious and chatting about the latest political non-announcement. rather the opportunity is to create a genuinely different and distinctive morning TV offering … advertisers absolutely want it and there’s no reason to think that viewers don’t want it too.

in many ways I think this a crystallization of Ten’s current predicament: they need to be different enough to create reasons for viewers and advertisers to go with the smallest mainstream offering, but they need to stay mainstream enough to attract the largest possible (monetise-able) audience.

it’s a fine line to tread and its going to take time. time that the industry, with predictable scorning cynical superiority, isn’t looking to give the show and it’s team. it’s disheartening; as Nicola comments in the PHDcast, “I’m really disappointed, again, in the expected critique. people wanted it to fail … its a week old”.

the truth is that you could have written last week’s commentary six months ago. it was that predictable. time now to step back and give the show and it’s team the time and space they need to craft a third way for commercial breakfast TV in Australia. viewers and advertisers alike need it, it’s our choice whether or not we give Wake Up the opportunity to survive its crucible.

enjoy the PHDcast … here’s team strategy PHDcasters enjoying an awesome afternoon at Melbourne Cup. it is after all the podcast that stops a nation …

buying, debating, phdcast

PHDcast – The Letter D and Number 92 Episode: Departures, Diets and Discounts in Medialand

the PHDcast this week is brought to you by the letter D and the number 92. D stands for Dieting, as Pink Media announces a partnership between Fitness First and Mardi Gras; Departures, as Kyle and Jackie announce their departure from SCA’s airwaves and Discounts, as Adnews reports talk of an unprecedented 92% discount being offered by a media agency.

the discount, alleged to be on TV rates, marks an escalation in a bidding war that is arguably as old as media departments and then agencies themselves. but a perfect storm in recent years has seen a potent mix of procurement driving down client costs, an over-serviced marketplace, and the consolidation of holding groups (which increases buying power placing pressure on media owners).

that potent mix has resulted in run-away discounting and the radical commoditisation of media impacts … and they’re just the direct implications. the indirect implications spin into agency client resourcing, the extent to which media thinking and ideas are valued, media owner revenues (so ultimately impacting quality of broadcast content), and transparency and media neutrality … as agencies are forced to explore other higher margin areas to off-set the margin losses in the core business. I could go on.

so how do we stop the runaway train on which we find ourselves? one of the key problems is that everyone is implicated … everyone has something to gain from the current storm and much to lose by any attempted unravelling.

the money starts with clients. they’ve never had it so good from a CPM perspective … with agencies falling over RFPs to buy media cheaper (and cheaper media). questions of media quality become secondary to cost-saving and value extraction. their walk-away is to pay more for a supplier’s product – which would be brave by anyone’s standards.

from an agency’s perspective, guaranteeing radical discounts rates keeps and gets clients’ billings in the door which maintains the platform for value extraction with media owners on one hand and clients on the other. their walk-away is to explain that a price is as low as they can go and decline the businesses – another brave call given the demands for any major agency and group to demonstrate growth.

the money (in theory) ends up with a media owner … they are the ones at the sharp end of the deal but its a deal in which they’ve had no choice to be complicit. for them to put on the brakes could cost them 20-30% of revenues if a major buying group turns off the taps (a move for which there are precedents in other markets).

it’s stalemate.

of course my question on how we stop the train has an implicit assumption … that everyone wants to. I’m not naive enough to think for a second that everyone is sat bemoaning media buying’s current conundrum. ultimately the only reason the stalemate exists is that enough businesses are making enough money for it to be sustained.

new models already no doubt exist and will emerge. necessity is the mother of invention … in which case I can’t think that the need for inventors has ever been greater.

to be continued …

debating, phdcast

PHDCast Special – The State We’re In: Negotiating the Future of Media Agencies at the Agency Symposium

well hello there. I’ve been away taking some time off but I’m back and getting stuck straight into the future of agencies, as discussed at the Agency Symposium in the Hunter Valley last week. this week’s PHDCast discussed the main topics and fall-out from those sessions, attended by the great and good of agency land.

from disruption to efficiency versus effectiveness taking in pitching, innovation and what clients want versus what they will pay for on the way; this week we take on the big topics facing media and agencies right now. all of which comes off of the back of an awesome few days with my industry colleagues in the Hunter Valley. lots to follow up on, and will do so over the course of the next few posts, for now have a listen to the Symposers and let us know what you think … it’s good to be back 😉

broadcasting, content creating, distributing, experiencing, phdcast, popping up, television

PHDcast 02.08.13 – its not the ooh laa la edition of the PHDcast as we talk TV, The Power Inside and Magnum Pop-Up

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morning PHDcast listeners. Nic was in the hot seat this week for the not-the-ooh laa la edition of the PHDcast. bien sur 😉 … awesome job Disco

much of the debate this week was in and around TV watching – how it’s changing and what the implications are, especially for brands. I wrote about some of the aspects of this in my post on Friday, but it’s worth dwelling on a point Stew makes at the twenty minute mark around people watching programmes not channels. I think that’s true but I also think its not quite as clean cut as that, and as the CBS / Time Warner stand-off enters it’s second day – leaving 3 million American’s without shows like Hawaii Five-0 (I know) – it’s clear that there is much more to come as the distribution wars heat up.

also on the cast we got round to talking about the Magnum Pop-Up Experience hitting Sydney. following the success of the store in other cities, the ground floor of Westfield in Sydney’s CBD has for the last three weeks been the latest place to get the pleasure pop-up. you get to design your own magnum … white, milk or dark chocolate plus plenty of toppings, all for a mere $7.

as I say on the cast, it’s a phenomenal example of a brand pulling the trick of landing marketing that gets people to pay for its own existence. and the fact that people are queuing up for it is proof positive of the indulgence for which the brand is known.

phdcast, realtiming, sponsoring, tweeting, viewing

PHDcast 26.07.13: The one with the Hoo Hah’s … Binge TV Viewing, Brands Welcome Baby Prince George and Electroencephalographs, hoo hah!

another week another PHDcast and this week is the hoo hah edition (you’ll see) …

we talk all about binge viewing on TV, from Lost to Game of Thrones; how are programme makers creating (and distributing) content so that we’re encouraged (tricked?) to watch incessantly? how are viewing habits changing and what are the opportunities for brands to monetise the behaviour?

we also talk about how brands welcomed baby Prince George to the world. from Oreos and Starbucks to P&G and the Sun (or Son) … how did brands capitalise on the cultural hoo hah (I know) that was the birth of the third in line to the throne?

all that plus Nestle use electroencepholographs to prove that taking a break is good for you (I know), and new research from MI9 …

here’s Nic channeling Demi Moore, specifically in Ghost … obvs. have a good weekend everyone …

phdcast

PHDcast 13.07.13: It’s PHD Generations as the Interns take-over the PHDcast

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it’s PHD Generations this week as our interns join myself, PHD Chief Exec Mark Coad and podcast regular Stew Gurney. between us we discuss the intern program, our young guns’ perceptions of PHD, agency culture, the current and future state of the media agency, media versus creative and how you solve a problem like Gen Y …

also props to the PHD interns who kicked ass in their presentation back to PHD and OMD over at Pyrmont towers. nice work team, nice work.

applicationing, broadcasting, marketing, phdcast, searching, social media-ising

PHDcast 05.07.13: Qantas, Nissan, Transmedia, #nametheshow, AltaVista and I explain what Grindr is

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this week on the PHD cast I’m joined by Emma Glazier, Lauren Oldham and Peter Hunter to talk all things digital – up first is Qantas partnering with the Wallabies (and Bing) to create content for the Lions’ Tour against the Wallabies.

more content courtesy of Nissan and Mamma Mia, with the car manufacturer using regular contributors to the site to create content / advertorial / adverts for the site. perhaps not great viewed through the lens of branded content, but full marks for customising advertising for the site’s readers.

we also talk about author Goran Racic’s transmedia approach to marketing his new book Loud Evolution.

talking to Mashable, the author explained that:

“I write about video games and new technology all the time. And after covering that area for so long, I started to notice the unique way that different organizations — especially video games — distribute things,” he says. “A lot focus heavily on DLCs [downloadable content] and different expansions, so I thought, ‘Why couldn’t my book be like that?’ When you have something in digital form, you can really go in whichever direction you’d like … In this day and age, there’s so much more you can do to tell a story.”

Goran Racic, source

if that wasn’t enough we talk about the response to Ten’s morning show’s (a recurring theme on the PHDcast) effort to get people to suggest a title for the show. kudos to Ten for carrying on regardless with a stiff upper lip and a smile in the face of the banter …

source, @TenMornings

also the demise of AltaVista – more on that here – and I explain what Grindr is in light of the revelation that the most popular app at Cannes was the gay dating (yeah let’s stick with dating) app.

who’d have thought?

your PHDcast crew is below … catcha next week

broadcasting, debating, measuring, phdcast, social media-ising

PHDcast 28.06.13: Elections, Twitter, Hildebrand joins Ten’s Breakfast Show, hello EMMA, and Smelling the Coffeee

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another Friday (almost) means another PHDcast from PHD Australia

in the week that saw Australia wake up with a new Prime Minister, we talk about the social / broadcast media interaction that played out on Wednesday night. how could and should broadcast media keep pace with fast-moving events as the play out on twitter? and what is the role for brands in events like this?

there are also implications for media investment on TV and other channels, with airtime around the election becoming scarce. I spoke with our own Maree Cullum to get her advice for clients on how to help their campaigns weather the election storm.

above pic via news.com.au

also this week Channel Ten announced that Joe Hildebrand is joining the line up for Adam Boland’s new morning show on the channel. we talk about the challenge and opportunity for Ten’s new morning show, and the context and situation for breakfast television in general.

if that wasn’t enough, we get into the ‘can / should media owners produce ads for clients?’, the Readership Works introduces us to Emma – the name of their soon to be launched readership survey, and evaluate the plan to pump the smell of coffee into cinemas for Nescafe Blend 43.

Stew wrote an article for B&T which you can read here – props to Stew for that and for getting olfactory signifyers into the PHDcast conversation …

here are the glasses-tastic Toby, Nic and Chris – your podcast team today with the exception of Stew, who missed the photo opp and Maree who’s Melbs – that’s it … catcha next week for more PHDcast

broadcasting, phdcast, television

PHDcast TV Special: From Masterchef to the Voice, via Ten’s audience strategy, brand integration, and the future of screens

yey, another week another PHDcast from the good people of PHD Australia. this week we’re focusing on TV – the last few weeks having seen the finale of The Voice, and the return of Masterchef and The Block. we talk formats, performance and the current state and future of big reality format TV.

we also talk about Ten’s back to the future audience strategy and the challenges faced by the broadcaster. they want to be seen as the home of event TV … but to what extent can the recent cricket deal, existing content and formats deliver this for the network?

and if that wasn’t enough there’s a quick run around the future of TV … connected TVs, on demand and IPTV, second (and third) screening, addressable advertising and social TV.

enjoy.

PS. if you haven’t seen it totes check out our very own worldwide executive planning director Mark Holden on the future of TV. it rocks.

featured image: iMedia screen, featuring an SBS promotion

conferencing, debating, phdcast

PHDcast Mumbrellaland Special: Reporting from the front line of the media and marketing debate at Mumbrella360

so this week PHDcast regulars myself and Stew were joined by PHD’s Director of Analytics Marcus Lewis and General Manager Martin Hadley to discuss all the reports, debates and dilemmas from Mumbrellaland – the annual Mumbrella360 conference.

I’ve written up my commentaries of days one and two already, which cover my takes on lots of the content. the PHDcast was about getting a bit deeper and debating some of the specific topics and issues from the event.

Marcus gets straight into (big, of course) data, sharing the opinion that whilst its great to see Mumbrella covering the issue, we perhaps need to work harder to get beyond the thinking and theory into practicalities and tangibles. the opinion was shared by Stew, who suggested that for the data session (and many others besides) there’s a sense of ‘I know this already’ … we need more follow through and ‘so now what?’

Stew also noted that for all the debate around content, data and relationships, there’s a gap between theory and practice: “I really hope that we don’t believe our rhetoric too much … there’s no follow through, no real understanding of taking those issues and making them tangible.” Martin agreed, suggesting that Mumbrella360 2014 would benefit from a greater proportion of workshop and masterclass sessions.

on the state of the media session about which I wrote about previously, Martin noted that “the big issue is a disconnectedness between clients, agencies and the media … the marketeer is the one who’s driving the relationship”. it comes down though to briefing and also (I noted) remuneration – citing Rob Dingwall “ideas may not be paid for but they are valued”. Stew added that collaboration is important, but this is something that also comes down to remuneration, with clients needing to be prepared to “pay for the time,the resource and the ability or us to do that.”

the debate also covers Channel Ten and the retreat to the relative safety of live event TV, multi-channel / screen storytelling, branded content (and Stew’s frustrations with the term), and integration, whatever that means any more.

there’s also a quick hello to Nic who is holidaying in Fiji and a shout outs to Vicki and Rob for their birthdays. you can listen to the PHDcast below … would love your comments and feedback either here or at PHD Australia’s Facebook page or via twitter. the PHDcast will be back next week with a TV special.

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