AdNews

A great story can sell. Consumers like to be entertained and will reward a tale well told but have an aversion to being oversold. The exception is when it’s so over the top it’s amusing. The 1980s car dealer Tony Packard “… up the Windsor Road from Baulkham Hills, and let ME do it right for YOU!” Story is what draws us in. We asked Tom van Laer, associate professor of Narratology, The University of Sydney, to explain: “Story is an account of an event or a sequence of events leading to a transition from an initial state to a later or end state, which a storyteller conveys to a story consumer. “The mental state of narrative transportation explains the persuasive effect of stories on consumers. When consumers lose themselves in a story…

Thoughts on the brief? This brief resonated with so many of us at the studio. Our team at Re had a really interesting array of ideas representing how the pandemic has changed our creative process. There were concepts relating to how tech has taken over our creative process, to how confinement has stifled our creativity. Interestingly, there were positive perspectives as well, like the creative ways people have approached working during a pandemic. How did you know you landed on the best concept? I don’t think there was necessarily an ‘aha!’ moment where a particular concept felt like the one. It was when the ‘infinite mirrors’ concept resonated with the AdNews team during our presentation that we felt like we had a winner. Who from the team was largely involved? Initially Andy, our ECD and…

Time in current role/time at the company: 18 months as Head of Culture. How would you describe what the company does? They are here to entertain my bullshit of course. I’m a tyrant in a 6.5 kilo body that commandeers staff for a never ending cycle of treats, belly rubs and chest tickles. What do you do day-to-day? Creating “culture” of course: Sleeping, searching and begging for treatos, belly rubs and chest tickles. I also check everyone’s bags for treatos and dirty gym gear. Define your job in one word: Snacking. I got into advertising because: I get a fancy title, good treatos and they collectively all go into meltdown over my cuteness. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Who is your right-hand person? You mean Personal Assistant, right? Jasmin Bedir, CEO at Innocean. Whose…

Outdoor media has resumed its place as a growth media, as Australians taste freedom from pandemic restrictions. Ad spend, as measured by media agency bookings, showed January just 2.6% behind pre-COVID 2019, according to SMI (Standard Media Index). The Outdoor Media Association (OMA) reported a 25.5% increase to $228.1 million in net media revenue for the March quarter this year, up from $181.7 million for the same three months in 2021. And industry players are forecasting a return to pre pandemic levels this year. Investment bank Jefferis: “Our analysis suggests outdoor ad revenues have commenced a strong recovery phase.” The bank’s analysts see earnings for ASX-listed oOh!Media to fully normalise by the 2023 financial year to above pre-COVID: “Thereafter, the outdoor industry should continue its pre-COVID market share gains that were evident for…

Foxtel Media’s Nev Hasan had woken up at 5am on the day of this interview to watch his football team, Tottenham, thrash Newcastle 5-1 in the Premier League. Hasan, raised in North London, says football was, and remains, a big part of his life. “It’s the core thing I used to play as a kid,” Hasan says. “I also got into rugby union and enjoyed playing that as well but my passion was always football. Like every kid, if I could have been a football player I would have.” Instead, Hasan followed a career in the Australian media industry, first joining in 2006 and going on to become executive director of agency sales at Foxtel Media. Hasan spent much of his childhood in Tottenham before moving to Southgate and attending Ashmole Academy. Once he…

The pandemic changed the way commercial creativity works. Suddenly, everyone was working remotely, dialling in via Teams or Zoom, and doing several things at the same time. More machine than creative craft. That process had in the past involved a lot of non verbal communication. Meetings via computer chips didn’t. And if you thought the pandemic was a smack down for creativity, the resulting hybrid working has its own set of unique issues for creative teams. Scott Huebscher, executive creative director, VCCP: “For me, the pandemic started off as a blow to my personal creativity because like all of us -- it meant staying home and not getting out in the world. Not being exposed to fresh stimuli, not meeting with friends, not walking through the city, not being able to go and…