Generation WHY?
Gen-Y cops a lot of flack but are they the hardest to retain in the workforce?
One of our clients - specialist recruitment firm, Robert Half - has released this infographic, which visualises how Gen X, Y and Baby Boomers are perceived.
Old Spice is at it again with a killer new interactive ‘Muscle Music’ video! It’s a suped-up mixture of awesomeness and intimidatingly well-timed muscles.
B-M Oz Wins Gold and Silver Stevie Awards
B-M Australia was named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award for the Best Community Program and a Silver award in the Creative Marketing category in The 9th Annual International Business Awards.
More than 3,200 nominations from organisations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted in a wide range of categories from more than 50 nations and territories. The agency also picked up one Gold, one Silver and three Bronze awards for its work in the Middle East.
The Gold award was won for a campaign for the Australian Lung Foundation (ALF) to encourage more Australians to take greater notice of their lung health. B-M created the Show Us Your Lungs campaign, which included viral marketing and social media activation, as well as a mainstream media campaign with serious health messages about the need for Australians to take their lung health seriously. The project engaged millions of Australians and helped to put lung health on the agenda in the media, through word of mouth and among key decision makers and influencers.
The Silver Stevie was awarded for the integrated PR campaign supporting Beam Australia’s Boonie’s Over Beer?! through-the-line project. The strategic use of beer enthusiast David Boon as the face of the campaign provided Beam with a creative hook for communicating the “Over Beer?” messaging.
Congratulations to everyone involved!
KRAFT - Make Dinner Not Art
Ah to be a kid again…
![The Socialympics [INFOGRAPHIC]Developed by B-M Australia
It’s been said that it was the ‘Socialympics” – the first time that social media truly infiltrated, supported, interrupted and facilitated conversation around the Olympic Games. Social media played such a major role in the Olympics that the IOC brought out guidelines to inform athletes what they could and couldn’t do on social media platforms such as Twitter. Throughout the games, there were more than 500,000 conversations in Australia alone during the Olympics, and Twitter estimates that there were around 80,000 conversations a minute about the Games. Both athletes and journalists alike had their social media accounts suspended for breaching either the IOC or Twitter guidelines. One athlete even blamed social media for their underwhelming performance.
In light of this, B-M Australia has developed the attached Infographic, which visualises the conversations had by Australians during the Olympic games. The Infographic shows the most discussed Australian athletes and news stories and breaks down the demographic data to show who talked the most.
Key insights from the Infographic include:
· 4 in every 5 conversations around the Games took place on Twitter, dwarfing every other social media platform· Females talked about Olympics more than men, with 56% of the conversations coming from women· Sally Pearson was Australia’s most talked about athlete, followed by Lauren Jackson and James Magnussen· The most widely discussed news story was that Paul McCartney was paid just 1 pound to perform at the Opening Ceremony· Swimming was the most discussed sport overall, followed by basketball and rowing](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8o51o3tR81qbzw2eo1_500.jpg)
The Socialympics [INFOGRAPHIC]
Developed by B-M Australia
It’s been said that it was the ‘Socialympics” – the first time that social media truly infiltrated, supported, interrupted and facilitated conversation around the Olympic Games. Social media played such a major role in the Olympics that the IOC brought out guidelines to inform athletes what they could and couldn’t do on social media platforms such as Twitter. Throughout the games, there were more than 500,000 conversations in Australia alone during the Olympics, and Twitter estimates that there were around 80,000 conversations a minute about the Games. Both athletes and journalists alike had their social media accounts suspended for breaching either the IOC or Twitter guidelines. One athlete even blamed social media for their underwhelming performance.
In light of this, B-M Australia has developed the attached Infographic, which visualises the conversations had by Australians during the Olympic games. The Infographic shows the most discussed Australian athletes and news stories and breaks down the demographic data to show who talked the most.
Key insights from the Infographic include:
· 4 in every 5 conversations around the Games took place on Twitter, dwarfing every other social media platform
· Females talked about Olympics more than men, with 56% of the conversations coming from women
· Sally Pearson was Australia’s most talked about athlete, followed by Lauren Jackson and James Magnussen
· The most widely discussed news story was that Paul McCartney was paid just 1 pound to perform at the Opening Ceremony
· Swimming was the most discussed sport overall, followed by basketball and rowing
Social Media is in its Teenage Years
The ASB is trying to control the unwieldy teenager that is social media
9 August, 2012
Earlier this week the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) set an important precedent for businesses using social networks such as Facebook. The ASB ruled that Smirnoff, and parent company Diageo, were responsible for policing the comments made by the public on their Facebook page. The decision centred on the premise that when businesses use social networks they become a marketing communication tool – an extension of the brand’s advertising – rather than a networking tool.
The implications of this decision are significant. All businesses operating within Australia and using social networking sites must now consider (if they weren’t already) the level of moderation they will implement within the communities they build online. The risk of over-moderation means page maintenance can border on censorship while no moderation leaves the business liable for offensive comments.
When moderating an online community there’s an important distinction to be made between negative and offensive comments. Negative comments help to balance the conversation and generally shouldn’t be removed, while offensive comments should be dealt with according to a set of predetermined (and public) “house rules”. While resourcing a fully-moderated page can be a challenge, most businesses using social networks should be monitoring all conversations taking place within them.
But with all this in mind, where should the responsibility for offensive comments lie? While the ruling fairly determines that businesses should play a role in keeping their piece of the internet squeaky clean, where is individual accountability? If an individual was to walk into the retail store of a business (arguably also a marketing and communications tool, especially if we’re talking about Apple) and started yelling offensively at staff or customers, who is responsible? While staff would do their best to put a stop to this behaviour, the accountability ultimately lies with the person yelling. If police are called, they would generally lay some form of disturbing-the-peace type charge on the individual, not the business.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA) attempted to hold search engines responsible for online piracy and while that fight isn’t yet over, serious questions were raised about both the balance of responsibility between businesses or individuals versus the platforms that facilitate their actions. At the moment, the internet and its key players are still maturing and that leaves the door open for online behaviour that can push not-yet-established boundaries. Social networks especially are still acting like unwieldy teenagers – enabling bad behaviour in others and to an extent resisting rules set by any authorities that try to impose them.
While governments and businesses are figuring out how to regulate online behaviour, it is clear we need a common understanding of socially acceptable behaviour online, clearer consequences and individual accountability.
Carly Yanco is head of digital at Burson-Marsteller.
Journalism at the Speed of Bytes
A new report into quality journalism in Australia was released today, which identifies the challenges and opportunities for the publishing industry.
Billed as the most detailed report of its kind ever carried out in Australia, the ‘Journalism at the Speed of Bytes’ is a survey of 100 editors, deputy editors and senior editorial staff from the major Australian metropolitan and national newspapers.
Sixty-two per cent of those asked said the most difficult challenge they face is coping with tighter resources, while 56% said it was proving difficult to keep staff motivated.
And this is impacting on the quality of journalism in Australia, the report found.
The report made a number of recommendations, which include:
- Rather than judging “quality journalism” merely as something that readers will pay for, the industry needs to talk to readers about journalism standards and values, to ensure that they understand how the news process works and the constraints under which journalists operate
- Adequate training in best-practice digital journalism, rather than on-the-job training provided on an “as-needed” basis will be critical to ensure that the existing workforce gains a holistic understanding of how digital technology has changed journalism
- The Walkley Awards – and other journalism awards – should be used to showcase and encourage best practice digital journalism performance and standards and need to be reviewed in light of this critical role
