Marketing news

Telstra has announced its intention to kill off the print edition of its classifieds paper Trading Post to focus solely on the publication's online offering. Operating as a print publication since 1966, Trading Post has been a standard for Australian classifieds advertising. It was further immortalised in Australian ...

McDonald’s Australia is launching a new campaign around its Angus burger range utilising social media and giving special access to social media influencers. The campaign centres around a nine-part MasterChef webisode spoof entitled Macca’s Chef (view episode one below). The webisodes feature two hopefuls who have ...

An Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) study has found Australians non-voice/text mobile use is growing rapidly. The report, ‘2009 Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index’, revealed 77% of respondents use their mobile phone for a purpose apart from texting and/or voice. The report suggests ...

Toys “R” Us Australia has announced the launch of an online brand destination with ecommerce capabilities focused on hard-to-stock outdoor products in time for the summer sales rush. The US-based toy retailer has drafted digital marketing agency Citrus to create a sales channel, market more effectively off the site ...

Despite a first quarter slowdown due to the global financial crisis, revenues from online advertising in Australia grew by 19% in 2008/09 to reach a total market value of $510 million. According to a report from research company Frost & Sullivan, mobile advertising also grew during the year but is still blossoming ...

A recent Robert Walters report has found 49% of professionals nationally will be looking to move roles when the economy stabilises. Correspondingly, 51% will be happy to stay put. Sales, marketing and communications professionals were the second most unsettled, behind secretarial and business support staff, with ...

Canadian media group CanWest Global has sold its controlling stake in Australia’s Ten Network. Ten representatives told the stock exchange that its former parent sold its 50 percent stake at $1.30 a share to ‘a broad range of institutional and sophisticated investors’. The $680 million sale represents a five percent ...

The global mobile app market is increasing from $4.7 billion in 2009, and will likely be worth $16.6 billion by 2013. According to a report from Brand Republic, a study compiled by wireless market research firm Wireless Expertise, the number of smartphones sold worldwide each year is expected to increase from around ...

The unveiling of the new Vegemite’s name almost eclipsed the AFL Grand Final over the weekend and polarised Australians. Kraft launched a campaign calling for Australians to name their new product, which received more than 40,000 entries. The winner, ‘iSnack 2.0’, was chosen, it has been claimed, to align the new ...

In a case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Federal Court has declared Australialink acted unconscionably and engaged in conduct likely to mislead or deceive businesses. Australialink, a Gold Coast publisher of several online business directories, deceptively targeted SMEs ...

Niche publishers are reportedly taking advantage of the Audit Bureaux of Australia’s (ABA) Web Audit Service, with the number of Australian sites submitting for audit more than doubling in the last month – meaning over three million unique browsers per month are now audited. Sites that have met the stringent measurement ...

According to Roy Morgan, consumer confidence is at 124.9, up 3.7 points week on week and 27.7 points in the past six months. The current rating means consumer confidence is up 23.7 points from September 2008. Roy Morgan asserts the upswing is a result of positive consumer belief for Australia in the long and short-term. ...

Australian agencies collected eight out of 18 awards at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Mixx awards. The agencies were all successful at the domestic awards and included Sapient Nitro, JWT Australia, ZenithOptimedia and Soap Creative. Sapient Nitro’s ‘The Best Job in the World’ campaign continued its ...

Search engine Yahoo! has revealed the creative details behind its first major marketing campaign for seven years. According to a report by Brand Republic the global campaign is focused on personalisation and how consumers can access multiple services and information online, running until the end of 2010. It will ...

SBS has announced that its current director of commercial affairs, Richard Finlayson, will be appointed chief operating officer as part of a realignment of SBS’s senior executive structure. Finlayson will take over day-to-day handling of SBS’s operations including technology and distribution, human resources and ...

A September 2009 study conducted by Roy Morgan Research has found that a majority of Australians (75%) surveyed want greater control over advertising content, compared to 10% saying they wanted less control. According to the study, TV is the medium most in need of more control over its ad content (53%), well ahead ...

Despite marketing and sales being the fourth most popular career choice for Australian university graduates, the industry is well behind other major sectors in efforts to attract graduate talent, according to recruitment website GradConnection.com.au. Dan Purchas, co-director of GradConnection, indicated that the ...

Domain.com.au has launched its Radar search tool in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank and Fairfax Digital. Radar allows house hunters and renters to search according to the property’s proximity to community amenities, facilities and services: whether it’ s close to transport, primary schools, sporting facilities, ...

The Australian Institute of Management (AIM) has released findings on gender pay differentials. The survey found that despite narrowing, the gap was still unacceptably wide and is broadest at the chief executive level. The report found that female CEOs earn 16.4% less than their male counterparts, a divide that ...

Social networking platform, Bebo, has announced its partnership with Vision of Humanity to launch ‘Peace is Breaking Out’, a global competition for the design community to create a picture of what peace means to them in the form of a new international peace symbol, or logo. According to a poll conducted by the platform ...

An analysis report released by Millward Brown Optimor has revealed that bigger brands are recovering faster than the S&P 500 stock index as a whole, due to strong branding strategies developed by the organisations. Additionally, according to Ben Dixon, managing director of Millward Brown Australia, increasing ...

A new out of home initiative has been launched by Walking Media, offering an eye-catching promotional tool for businesses that aim to engage their target market one-on-one. Promotional models wear backpacks that are specifically designed to hold banners that are approximately 400mm x 900mm, creating walking ...

Interbrand has released its global brands report, ‘2009 Best Global Brands’. Coca-Cola was named the number one global brand for the ninth year, valued at $68,734m. IBM ranked second, up one position from 2008, dislodging Microsoft who moved into third place. GE and Nokia held their 2008 positions at fourth and ...

ninemsn and Channel Nine have launched Australia’s first live news bulletin produced specifically for the web. Covering news, entertainment, sport, finance and weather, the 10-minute bulletin streams will appear live at 12.30pm AEST each weekday. The initiative bolsters the live news content available on ...

Overall consumer confidence is at 121.2 points (down 2.3 points in a week, but up 27.7pts in 6 months) according to a report from Roy Morgan Research conducted on the weekend of September 12/13, 2009. Consumer confidence is now 20 points higher than this time last year, when it sat at 101.2. Of the states, Western ...

Joan Warner, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia, has indicated that the latest figures released by the Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia (CEASA) show radio ad spend is weathering the GFC better than other traditional media. CEASA’s ‘Advertising Expenditure in Main Media’ report for the six months ...

A Pennsylvania State University research team has released data suggesting that one in five tweets are effectively free brand advertising. According to Jim Jansen, associate professor of information science and technology in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), people are using tweets to express ...

The Federal Government has put ‘Brand Australia’ out to tender. The move comes as the Government tries to reposition Australia as an intellectual and cultural Mecca rather than only a tourist destination. It is calling for strategy and branding that will dispel the nation’s ocker image and give Australia a more ...

According to a report on ‘Global Consumer Email’ by digital marketing technologies and services company, Epsilon International, millennials around the globe are receptive to digital marketing messages. The term 'millennials' is used to describe 18 to 25-year-olds consumers. The report indicated that millennials ...

Want to know what the YouTube generation looks like? Google has released an Australian YouTube usage research report, based on a survey of 3,000-plus YouTube users. Conducted by Research International, it reveals that the Australian YouTube community includes the whole family (14 to 17-year-olds only make up 7% ...

Telecommunications industry leaders Telstra, Vodafone Hutchison (operating under the Vodafone, 3 and Crazy John’s brands) and Optus (also on behalf of Virgin Mobile) have indicated to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that they will improve their advertising practices so that consumers are ...

Haystac’s healthcare division and a number of leading global specialist healthcare communication agencies have announced the formation of the Health Collective Network – an international network dedicated to providing health communication programs with global and local connections. The formation of the Network will ...

US online media publisher Sugar Inc has announced it is coming to Australia. Sugar Inc will roll out three Australian sites initially, with more to follow. Beauty site bellasugar.com.au will be first, followed by fashion site fabsugar.com.au and celebrity and entertainment offering popsugar.com.au Sugar Inc is ...

PR firm Weber Shandwick has been awarded a gold medal by PRWeek in its first global agency report card. The report tracks performance over the last 12 months for 24 global agency networks against four key criteria: business development, people, network initiatives and cohesion, and external recognition. The company ...

An August Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) unemployment estimate of 5.8% has been announced, unchanged from last report despite predictions of a rise. It is a similar result announced by Roy Morgan Research last week that showed 7.4%, down 0.2%. However, for the first time the ABS has released a section on ...

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has published a new industry regulation, 'Environmental Claims in Advertising and Marketing Code'. The move comes in response to the growing number of ‘green’ claims made by Australian advertisers. AANA consulted with its own members, community groups and ...

bwired has announced it will partner with Nintendo Australia to drive the gaming giant’s online performance across multiple sites. The partnership is built on the implementation of bwired’s website management platform, coreDNA and comes after extensive testing of bwired’s design and development capability across ...

Optus and Bell Shakespeare are inviting Australian students to select a Shakespearean phrase and reinterpret it for the ‘Make A Scene’ competition. The best national entry will be awarded an Apple iPhone 3G as well as $5,000 cash for the individual student and $10,000 cash for their school. 'Make A Scene' is run ...

The AFL has launched an anti-violence campaign. Coinciding with the build up to the AFL Premiership, the AFL Players Association (AFLPA) has added to an anti-violence campaign entitled ‘Just Think’. This installment was the initiative of AFLPA general manager, Matt Finnis. Prime minister Kevin Rudd launched the ...

Bupa Australia has launched a new campaign. The campaign seeks to relaunch the three retail brands under Bupa’s umbrella on a single creative platform. ...

Triple M launched its Hot Breakfast radio show. Hosts Eddie McGuire, Luke Darcy, Tony Moclair and Mieke Buchan debuted their new show with guests Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and John Brumby. ...

Fernwood is seeking to reinvigorate and reposition itself with a new campaign. Coinciding with Fernwood’s 20th birthday, the campaign seeks to reposition the brand as bold and the key to unlocking women’s confidence. Joanna Bradley, Fernwood’s head of marketing, said the strategy was developed in consultation with ...

Advertising revenue at metropolitan commercial radio stations has fallen by around 4% in the month of August to a total of $50.43 million, compared to the same month last year, according to figures recently released by Commercial Radio Australia. Chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner ...

The AFL and Telstra have trumped global powerhouses like the NBA, NFL, EPL and UEFA to win an inaugural Ultimate Sports Websites Award 2009. The award for 'Best Website Style for a Federation or League Site' was published by global marketers SportBusiness, to pay homage to the increasingly important role an effective ...

M&C Saatchi has announced it is launching an Australian Sport and Entertainment company. M&C Saatchi announced it would launch a Sydney division of its Sports and Entertainment company. The division will mirror its New York and London counterparts, focusing on exploitation of brand sponsorship rights in ...

Habbo and Summit Entertainment have announced a partnership to extend the Twilight franchise to the virtual world. The partnership will allow Habbo to offer its users an exclusive Twilight experience with themed virtual furniture and accessories. Users will be able to decorate their personal rooms with virtual Twilight ...

Standard Media Index (SMI) data indicates Australia’s advertising market may be recovering. Figures were down on the previous year, but average spend across channels was up 9% in August compared with July. ...

Entertainment group mcm media has announced the launch of a new business division, Audible Intelligence. To be headed up by creative director Andrew Tanner, Audible Intelligence is a creative and audio production house specialising in radio commercial production, including concept development, scripting, audio production ...

 A business guest survey has found Hilton is the preferred hotel within Australia. The ‘BRDC Asia Pacific Business Hotel Guest Survey’ found Hilton is the ‘Number One Hotel Brand’ and the ‘Leading Choice Hotel Brand’ in Australia for the fifth consecutive year. The BRDC – a market research agency – survey ...

The Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) has responded to regulatory proposals tabled by the Federal Government’s National Preventative Health Taskforce (PHT). The AFA expressed concerns that the timing of the proposals would impact employment. “Our membership and our industry partners are particularly worried ...

More Australians will enjoy this summer in their own country instead of travelling abroad than last summer according to research from outdoor advertising operator APN Outdoor. The survey of 500 Australians from across the country found that during the 2009/10 summer, 68% of people will take a summer ‘staycation’, ...

A study has found Australians will boycott organisations based on what they see on social networking sites. The study, commissioned by RightNow Technologies and conducted by StollzNow Research, found that nearly a quarter (23%) of online Australians have boycotted a company after reading a negative comment on social ...

The Australian has announced major editorial format changes and a new branding campaign. The newspaper will feature an extra page of both World News and The Wall St Journal as well as a renewed features section titled A Plus. A Plus will house a daily feature, two pages of arts and entertainment as well as a revamped ...

The latest ‘Digital Tracker’ research has found a significant upswing in Australian home’s digital TV capabilities. The research, conducted by the Federal Government’s Digital Switchover Taskforce, found an increase of 6% in digital TV capabilities for the April – June quarter. The upswing means 53% of Australian ...