Rugby AU's brand crisis | 'New low' from Daily Tele | PHD appoints global CEO | Two publications launch | Initiative, White Grey and Cummins make hires | Publish Awards open | 'Change is coming', warns Greenpeace in climate campaign | 18 new jobs

[View Newsletter Online]( [Mumbrella Newsletter][Mumbrella Newsletter]( More major players join Sports Marketing Summit program The [Mumbrella Sports Marketing Summit]( will serve up the best in sports marketing from a range of brands and agencies who’ve been pushing boundaries. Did you catch the most recent speaker announcement? Nine’s Director of Sport, the Founder of Sports Geek and Seven’s Network Director of Sports all joined the program. Earlybird ends in just two weeks, so [save $100 while you still can.]( Opinion [The Rugby Australia brand is damned after the Israel Folau ruling]( Rugby Australia has blundered and caused damage to its brand by letting the Israel Folau debacle drag on for weeks, argues Patrick Southam. And with the game already suffering from poor attendances, low ratings and disengaged fans, it’s only going to get worse. Israel Folau will never wear the green and gold jersey for the Wallabies again. That much is clear after Folau was found guilty this week of a high-level breach of his playing contract by an independent panel. The panel will now consider submissions from Rugby Australia and Folau to determine what sanction to impose on the star player after his controversial post on Instagram. [READ MORE »]( News [Bill Shorten hits out at 'new low' from The Daily Telegraph]( The federal opposition leader Bill Shorten has continued his pointed opposition to News Corp, this time voicing his disdain for a “gotcha” article about the life and career of his now-deceased mother. The article in question was in relation to Shorten’s appearance on ABC’s Q&A program, in which he lamented his mother’s missed opportunities and praised her persistence. [READ MORE »]( News [600,000 metro viewers watch final leaders' debate on ABC]( Exactly 600,000 metro viewers tuned into the final debate between current Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Prime Ministerial hopeful Bill Shorten which went to air on the ABC at 7:30pm last night, according to OzTAM’s preliminary overnight ratings. This was ahead of Seven’s prime-time offering of House Rules, which collected 586,000 metro viewers, but behind Ten’s Masterchef, which had 664,000, and Nine’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation’s 628,000. [READ MORE »]( News [Guardian Australia managing director Dan Stinton to speak at Mumbrella Publish plus Publish Awards launch]( Mumbrella has launched the 2019 Publish conference and Publish Awards, with the Guardian Australia’s managing director Dan Stinton confirmed as one of the first speakers. In an industry where newsrooms are shrinking, Stinton will take to the stage to discuss the Guardian’s new mixed revenue model, how the publisher has doubled its revenue over the past three years, and how it’s grown its unique audiences 29% month-on-month to 5.38m. [READ MORE »]( News [Philippa Brown named worldwide CEO of PHD]( The CEO of Omnicom Media Group in the UK, Philippa Brown, will become the global CEO of the groups’s media agency PHD as the holding group continues to shuffle its leadership. Brown moves into the global CEO role for PHD after Mike Cooper was promoted to become CEO of Omnicom Media Group for the APAC and EMEA regions. [READ MORE »]( Features [ABC Life on intense scrutiny, making content for younger audiences, and silencing the critics]( ABC Life launched in August 2018 to a flurry of discussion and debate about where a lifestyle website aimed at young Australians sat within the scope of the ABC Charter. Nine months on, Hannah Blackiston speaks with editorial lead Scott Spark about what the team has learnt and why he believes their role is so necessary in the media landscape. Scott Spark was part of the team that pitched ABC Life, a lifestyle platform with a focus on young Australians which would sit inside the wider net of the network’s digital content. The title was launched under former managing director Michelle Guthrie and its announcement drew criticism for what was presumed would be Buzzfeed-style lifestyle listicles. The Daily Telegraph ran the headline ‘ABC Life means ABC death’ and The Guardian reported ‘ABC in turmoil’. [READ MORE »]( News [Schwartz Media launches two new titles in 'answer to the exodus of specialist journalists from the general press']( Schwartz Media has launched two new titles aimed at the energy and banking sectors. Online titles Australian Energy Daily and Australian Banking Daily come from the Schwartz Pro arm of Schwartz Media, and will be the “answer to the exodus of specialist journalists from the general press”, according to the publisher. [READ MORE »]( SUPPORTED [How to win the minds of progressives – register for Guardian Australia’s breakfast]( Guardian Australia will host an exclusive breakfast event in Sydney next month that will reveal the secrets of reaching progressive consumers. This exclusive session will unveil new research, The Power of Progressives, which examines the attitudes, values and purchase behaviour of this increasingly important demographic group. [READ MORE »]( News [Digital continues to take over Australia's ad spend, reports IAB]( Digital advertising represented 53.2% of Australia’s $16.6bn ad spend in 2018, up from 50.7% the year before, the IAB Australia reports. For the year, digital ad spend totalled $8.8bn, up from 12% the previous year with mobile advertising now making up 25% of the entire market and video being the fastest growing segment. [READ MORE »]( News [Initiative adds Jason Maggs to senior strategy and corporate responsibility role]( Initiative Australia has named international strategist and former Cannes Young Lions winner Jason Maggs as senior director of strategy. Maggs joins from Initiative New York, where he was vice president and director of strategy and social good. He’ll carry lessons from that role across the Pacific, charged with furthering the Sydney team’s work in the corporate social responsibility space. [READ MORE »]( News [White Grey announces new Sydney and Melbourne hires including Warwick Heathwood as strategy director]( White Grey has expanded its client service and strategy teams with a list of new appointments in both its Sydney and Melbourne offices. In Sydney, Warwick Heathwood has been appointed to the role of strategy director. Heathwood joins from SET Creative in New York where he spent one-and-a-half years as its head of strategy. He has also worked in strategy roles at Argonaut Inc in San Francisco and TBWA Sydney. [READ MORE »]( News [Cummins & Partners hires Emma Grant as group account director for HBF]( Cummins & Partners has appointed Emma Grant as group account director, leading the HBF account which the agency won in 2017. Grant previously spent seven months as group account director at JWT. She departed the agency in November 2018, the same month JWT merged with Wunderman to become Wunderman Thompson. Since leaving JWT, Grant has been completing contract work at White Grey. [READ MORE »]( News ['Change is coming', says Greenpeace in campaign voiced by Isabel Lucas]( Greenpeace has launched a new TVC, ‘Change is Coming’, with the aim of attracting Australians’ attention to the issue of climate change. The campaign focuses on the relationship between burning coal and the extreme weather events which have occurred across Australia including floods, droughts, heatwaves and bushfires. [READ MORE »]( SUPPORTED [You are what you eat – how marketers can use recipes to target consumers]( For the first time, advertisers are now able to leverage millions of recipe data points to reach the perfect customer. News Corp Australia’s Fiona Nilsson explains why the breakthrough is such an advantage. On the surface, the recipe pages of News Corp Australia’s food brands – Taste, delicious, Best Recipes and Kidspot Kitchen – are a simple collection of ingredients and instructions. But in 2019, they’re now also data-driven powerhouses, with millions of unique data points for marketers to tap into. Everything from meal occasion to difficulty level and micro-nutrient data has been analysed, as well as all that food and drink. [READ MORE »]( News [Thrive PR recruits six new staffers to bolster sports, food, beverage and tech capabilities]( Thrive PR and Communications has created six new positions across its offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The agency said the hires strengthen its existing expertise across categories including sport, food and beverage, hospitality and technology. [READ MORE »]( Charge up your strategy at Mumbrella's Automotive Marketing Summit [Mumbrella’s Automotive Marketing Summit,]( will go beyond surface issues to help make sense of a critical time in the automotive industry. JET Charge’s Tim Washington will go beyond the clichés surrounding electric vehicles to provide real information, ideas and statistics about their place in Australia, and how JET Charge sees the opportunity unfolding. [Book today.]( Is business growth on your agenda? [The Source]( is your very own little black book of major players in media and marketing. Uncover fresh business leads and sales opportunities, access leading advertisers and marketing decision-makers and stay on top of the constantly shifting industry landscape, FREE for seven days. [Start your trial today.]( Jobs [18 new jobs]( F.Y.I. [SBS launches new channel, SBS World Movies]( [Ad tech outfit S4M launches digital cross-device metrics]( MOST DISCUSSED ['100% beer. 0% alcohol': Carlton Zero takes on soft drinks]( [Nine and News Corp close Your Money joint venture]( [Pete Bosilkovski quits as joint CEO of WPP's VMLY&R]( [Ben Shepherd departs PwC's CMO advisory group]( 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.](