Thinkerbell reveals new MD | Howcroft on why Perth needs a rebrand | New boss for UnLtd as Fisher departs | Seven wins the race for addressable ads | 17 new jobs | Life outside the corporate bubble

[View Newsletter Online]( [Mumbrella Newsletter]( As a marketer, how can you make sure you stay current in changing times? Are you free for [breakfast on Wednesday](? Join us at Pier One Sydney Harbour for breakfast and a panel discussion on how to stay current despite information excess. Corin Dimopoulos, Optus’ Head of Brand & Communications, will be joined by other leading experts to talk about finding fresh insights, sparking creativity, solving marketing challenges of the future, creating a culture of experimentation, learning which marketing benchmarks to trust and leading with confidence. Places are still available, so [book your place now](. News [Thinkerbell appoints Margie Reid as managing director]( Four months after launching, Thinkerbell has announced Margie Reid will be leading the agency as managing director. Reid, the former managing director at OMD, departed the media agency in September after 11 years. [READ MORE »]( News [Seven set to be first to market with addressable advertising]( Seven will be the first Australian television network to offer addressable advertising to viewers streaming its broadcasts and catchup content. Today’s Australian Financial Review reports that Seven will make the announcement at its annual upfronts presentation in Melbourne on Friday, while The Australian today reveals that Foxtel has signed a deal with a technology provider which will allow it to offer a similar product in the future. [READ MORE »]( Opinion [Australia's states need a serious rebrand]( New York has it, cool Britannia has it, so why doesn’t Australia have it? PwC Australia’s chief creative officer Russel Howcroft considers why our states need some serious branding work. My recent trip to Perth highlighted the importance of destination brands – brands which help a state, a region, or a city engage with local and international audiences to attract trade, investment, tourism and assist with growth. I have heard this type of marketing called “place branding”. [READ MORE »]( News [Former Pandora sales boss Chris Freel to lead media industry foundation UnLtd as Paul Fisher heads overseas]( Media and advertising industry foundation UnLtd has appointed former Pandora commercial director Chris Freel as CEO, replacing Paul Fisher, who will be leaving in December. Fisher, who oversaw a 34% growth in donations to the organisation over the last financial year, is relocating overseas for family reasons. There will be a month long handover when Freel joins the organisation on November 1. [READ MORE »]( Opinion [Adventures of a coward: the trials and tremendousness of going it alone]( Seven months on from his decision to quit his job, Al Crawford considers why he hasn’t spent the time sipping cocktails in a bikini. I unplugged myself from the Matrix in March, quitting my job in a blaze of ignominy. [READ MORE »]( News [Ten's share falls below 7% for Sunday night as Nine and Seven dominate]( Channel Ten failed to reach an average audience of more than 7% on Sunday night, with no shows in the top 10 or the key advertising demographics – 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54. With a 6.8% share, it was only 2.5 percentage points ahead of SBS, which finished on a share of 4.3%. [READ MORE »]( News [Yahoo7's audience swells to 3m, makes top five news websites]( Yahoo7 has made its way into the top five news websites for the month with its unique audience climbing beyond 3m for the first time this year, Nielsen’s September digital monthly rankings show. The result – a unique audience of 3.027m (up 9%) – is the highest for Yahoo7’s news websites since June 2016, when it reached a unique audience of 3.079m. [READ MORE »]( News [GQ Australia promotes Michael Christensen to editor]( News Corp’s GQ Australia has promoted managing editor Michael Christensen to the role of editor, who is hoping to evolve the traits he learnt from his mother and wife in Australian men, to make them the “best they can be”. It comes more than 18 months after the departure of Matthew Drummond, leaving former GQ editor and News Corp’s director of prestige and lifestyle, Nick Smith as interim editor. [READ MORE »]( //e.mumbrella.com.au/c/18dqZAj9IjJgq9u7QkGgUd Opinion [The answer to Mark Ritson’s voice search problems can be found in the pub]( Following an ominous piece from Mark Ritson on Amazon’s Alexa, Shaun Varga considers how the choice between house white and Guinness might hold the answer we’ve been (voice) searching for. Earlier this month, Mark Ritson penned a piece in UK publication Marketing Week about the perils of voice search for both brands and retailers. It hit the mark, as ever. But I can’t help thinking this is simply a new manifestation of an old problem. [READ MORE »]( News [Dave Hughes promises to fix Australia's problems in upcoming Ten series]( Dave Hughes will host a new comedy and entertainment show, ‘Hughesy, We Have a Problem’, on the Ten and WIN networks in 2018 with the promise of helping Australians get over life’s infuriating problems. Hughes, who will also host a 4.30 to 6.30pm drive show with Kate Langbroek on Southern Cross Austereo’s Hit Network next year, will be joined by a different comedians each week to discuss issues ranging from handling infidelity to solving who gets to hold the television remote. [READ MORE »]( News [Nine wins another ratings week as The Block again dominates]( The Block once again delivered for Nine with the show dominating the week’s ratings, while Little Big Shots and The Bachelorette gave Seven and Ten an appearance in the week’s top ten most watched shows. Nine again won the week due to The Block’s performance with a metro audience share of 21.8% against 18.4% for Seven. Ten edged out the ABC with 13.3% and 13.0% respectively while SBS attracted 5.4% of city viewers. [READ MORE »]( News [Twitter renews Melbourne Cup deal and extends VRC and Channel Seven partnership]( Twitter has renewed its partnership with the Victoria Racing Club and extended its deal with the VRC and Seven Network to include additional races and live content. Twitter, Channel Seven and the VRC will also offer live streams of Victoria Derby Day, Kennedy Oaks Day, and Emirates Stakes Day through their websites and apps. [READ MORE »]( News [Cam Blackley exits BMF to join M&C Saatchi as CCO]( BMF’s executive creative director, Cam Blackley, is departing BMF to join M&C Saatchi as its chief creative officer of both the Melbourne and Sydney offices. In a statement, Blackley said: “These four years have flown by, because I’ve spent that time alongside colleagues who are incredibly talented, great people and have a wonderful sense of collective ambition. BMF has a very strong line-up of creative directors in Alex, Jen and Ant with outstanding work already in development for 2018. [READ MORE »]( News [News Corp pitches in to help The World's Biggest Garage Sale]( News Corp Australia will be one of the partners of this year’s World’s Biggest Garage Sale to be held in Brisbane on October 28, the company has announced. Started in 2013 by Queensland couple Yasmin and Leigh Grigaliunas to raise money for cancer research, this year’s event will donate proceeds to The Courier-Mail Children’s Fund for sick and disadvantaged children. [READ MORE »]( News [NRMA shows off its motoring services beyond roadside assistance]( Motorists organisation, NRMA, has launched its latest ‘Everywhere You Go, We Keep You Moving’ campaign, showcasing the organisation’s product and services offering beyond its well-known roadside assistance service. Created by Y&R, the ads are again backed to a cover of 500 miles and show the services of the NRMA through the eyes of a customer. [READ MORE »]( News [Flatliners trailer deemed too 'violent' for broad audiences by ad watchdog]( The trailer for the thriller film Flatliners remake has been deemed too ‘violent’ for a broad audience, the Ad Standards board has ruled. Aired during on-demand episodes of Seven’s family program Little Big Shots, the trailer sparked a complaint to the Ad Standards Board because it contained “graphically portrayed violent scenes including someone being suffocated with a plastic bag”. [READ MORE »]( News ['People are crying out for something different': The business of satire]( Satire is a great, if risky, way of promoting a brand and cutting through a noisy market but for stand alone publishers it’s a difficult way to make money, the audience at last week’s Publish conference heard. Melina Cruikshank, chief editorial and marketing officer at Domain, described how the Avalon Now series was a great example of content marketing but speed and being prepared to take risks was key to its success. [READ MORE »]( News [Better Homes and Gardens helps Seven to a Friday night ratings win]( Seven’s Better Homes & Gardens along and The Chase Australia gave Seven an easy night’s win in Friday night’s OzTAM television ratings. Across the five metro TV markets, Seven attracted 22.2% of the evening’s audience with Nine scoring 16.2%. Ten, ABC and SBS followed with 14.1, 11.8 and 4.8% respectively. [READ MORE »]( News [Lion relaunches 1970s Tooheys branding for summer beer campaign]( Lion owned beer brand Tooheys has resurrected its 1970s red and white can in a campaign that will see rugby league star Nathan Hindmarsh promoting the New South Wales based beer over the summer. The latest series follows a campaign earlier this year that resurrected the New South Wales beer’s 1980s advertising jingle and introduced Hindmarsh as the brand’s new face. [READ MORE »]( News [Pedestrian and Smirnoff launch pop-up gym centre]( Youth publication Pedestrian and Smirnoff Pure have launched a pop-up gym, aiming to create an “inclusive” place where everyone can exercise. The ‘Nothing to Hide Gym’ will include classes such as Electro Flow Yoga, Fury Yoga and Shut Up & Groove therapy, and hopes to break down barriers that prevent people form having a good time. [READ MORE »]( Sponsored Post Elevate your digital display advertising strategy at Mumbrella’s Digital School In the first week of the upcoming [Mumbrella Digital School](, you’ll discover new opportunities in display advertising – including formats, dynamic creative, retargeting, programmatic buying, multi-screen opportunities and measurement. Ensure your digital display ads go beyond simple banners and buttons. Attend the full course and get six weeks of essential training to get you started on your digital journey. [Book your spot now](. FYI • [GHO grows strategic and creative resources following launch of CoLAB]( Jobs [17 New Jobs]( MOST DISCUSSED [Media agencies defrauding clients by asking for kickbacks to recommend software, says Salesforce boss]( [Nine CEO Hugh Marks hits back on Lisa Wilkinson departure: 'It's not just a pay thing']( [Lisa Wilkinson quits Today after contract negotiations break down, joins Ten's The Project]( ['Entirely transparent media agency' Avenue C launches]( mumbrella.com.au Sent By Focal Attractions Pty Ltd 46-48 Balfour Street, Chippendale, NSW, 2008, Australia If you would rather not receive this newsletter, you can [unsubscribe]( or [manage subscriptions here.](