Opinion

Opinion 30 Sep 2024 -

To break through the adoption barrier, Australia's biggest companies must lead the charge on Gen AI governance

By Lucio Ribeiro and Vijay Solanki

Generative AI (Gen AI) is reshaping industries at a breakneck pace, unlocking new efficiencies, driving innovation, and transforming how businesses operate. While startups are often seen as the fast-moving adopters of AI, it is large corporations that must play a critical role in leading the charge on Gen AI governance.

Opinion 26 Sep 2024 -

The real reason behind Nike’s US$27.5 billion loss: A cautionary tale of growth gone wrong

By Luke Brown - Affinity Group CEO

Three months back, Nike's share price nose-dived US$27.5 billion in a single day. John Donahue's grand plans to make the 60-year-old athleisure brand into a direct-to-consumer hadn't played out as he had imagined, and now, he's paid for it with his job. On October 13 he'll be replaced as CEO by former Nike stalwart Elliott Hill. Affinity CEO Luke Brown lays out the play-by-play of where it all went wrong, and what business leaders might stand to learn from Nike's mistakes.

Opinion 13 May 2024 -

AANA Reset: A lesson in the virtuous cycle of paid, earned and owned media; share spaces, and aligning to the right cultural movement

By Nadia Cameron - Editor - Marketing | Associate Publisher

In the words of AANA chief, Josh Faulks, this year’s AANA Reset event was designed to bring the biggest and most successful global campaigns to Australia to help inspire local marketing and media industry to better pursue growth. For those lacking big budgets and brand salience, or suffering economic fallout and tackling some of the other 4Ps of marketing (and a fifth – privacy), it can feel aspirational but less practical. But there were some useful lessons around what’s really going on with advertising and media under the surface of the big creative wins.

Opinion Library

Covid: One year on 31 Mar 2021 - 4 min read

S4 Capital chief: ‘Second reawakening of digital’ needs a new creative-data culture

By Michel de Rijk - CEO, APAC, S4 Capital

A new creative culture must now strike a balance between data and creativity to better serve distinct audiences in meaningful ways says Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 APAC CEO, Michel de Rijk.

Covid: One year on 31 Mar 2021 - 3 min read

A baby, a toddler and no village – Arnott’s marketing manager Kate Wright on deleting social media, surviving and new leadership

By Kate Wright - Marketing Manager, The Arnott’s Group + Marketing Academy Scholar, 2021

What happens when you spend 2020 at home with a baby and a toddler and a virus that stopped village life? For Arnott’s Group Marketing Manager Kate Wright, it was reality. Here’s her personal account about the darkest of days and what she learnt about deleting social media apps, herself, NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and leadership.

Covid: One year on 31 Mar 2021 - 3 min read

Beyond e-commerce: The way we search and research online is shaping attitudes towards brands

By Jen Davidson - Principle, Tumbleturn media

A beautiful creative idea executed in an above-the-line campaign can tick all the brand and ad recall boxes. But in this new reality, the next step is likely to be online so connect it all up, says Jen Davidson, because brand loyalty can disappear in two clicks.

Covid: One year on 31 Mar 2021 - 6 min read

We increased media spend 65% but creative still differentiates in a sea of tech sameness

By Brent Smart - CMO, IAG

IAG chief marketer Brent Smart says companies which invested in brand building through Covid will soon reap their rewards. For IAG it was a no brainer – no demand for insurance to convert in performance channels meant Smart doubled-down on brand investment. He's also perplexed by the favourable contracts and terms marketers accept from the likes of Google and Salesforce while agencies get screwed.

Opinion 23 Mar 2021 - 3 min read

Attention local media carpers: Here’s why former Coalition Finance Minister Mathias Cormann might be your hero running the OECD

By Paul McIntyre - Executive Editor

There’s a vocal camp in the advertising, media and related tech industries that are appalled at the ACCC and Federal Government over its bold and brash plan to force Facebook and Google to pay local media for news. Disdain for News Corp aside, they want a broadly applied digital tax. Impossible, until now.

IWD Special 7 Mar 2021 - 2 min read

Hello Monday morning, hello steel underpants

By Katrina Strickland - Editor, Good Weekend

Good Weekend Editor Katrina Strickland dons steel underpants before opening the Monday inbox to often confronting emails about who and what the magazine has covered. She urges women to promote themselves unashamedly to keep countering the skew.

IWD Special 7 Mar 2021 - 2 min read

Go hard, forgive yourself and be present

By Karen Halligan - Director, Media Value Advisory, KPMG

Karen Halligan, Director, Media Value Advisory, KPMG, says the glass ceiling for women that become mothers remains all too real. Go hard and smash it, she urges, and never feel guilty.

IWD Special 7 Mar 2021 - 3 min read

My big breaks were from ‘gender-blind’ CEOs and Chairs…but

By Cathy O'Connor - CEO, oOh!Media

Cathy O’Connor has always felt powerful in an all-male room. Her big breaks came from CEOs and Chairs who looked through gender but… nuanced behaviour still goes un-checked and it starts at the top.

IWD Special 7 Mar 2021 - 4 min read

No more birdies, no more boys clubs

By Victoria Curro - Managing Director, RG/A

There’s a reason women tend not to see advertising as a lifelong career, says Victoria Curro, Managing Director, RG/A. Enough’s enough, and golf needs to go too.