'I hope the others fail': Battle between TV bosses heats up | In defence of that Pepsi ad | Burrowes behind bars | Worner resigns from Swans board

[View Newsletter Online]( [Mumbrella Newsletter]( Big brands, international athletes & Commonwealth Games join Sports Marketing Summit [Mumbrella’s Sports Marketing Summit]([brings the best global and local thinking together.Â](An Australian Diamond and Socceroo, the Head of Communications for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the rise of the KFC Bucketheads, plus top marketers from Swisse, Sanitarium and Heineken are among the latest additions to program. Speakers from Los Angeles Chargers, Cricket Australia, Australian Paralympic Committee and NAB have already been announced. [Book your earlybird ticket]( by April 27 and save $100. Features [‘I hope the others fail’ - Competition between free-to-air networks heats up]( The official ratings season is well underway, and every network is claiming a few victories – but how did the battle really play out? Vivienne Kelly spoke with the free-to-air commercial networks to find out what happened in Q1 and their plans for Q2. The first quarter of 2017 kicked off with a three-way reality ratings battle in which viewers could tune into the jungle (Ten’s I’m a Celebrity), the kitchen (Seven’s My Kitchen Rules) or the altar (Nine’s Married At First Sight). [READ MORE »]( Opinion [Why that Pepsi ad isn't as bad as you think it is]( Pepsi’s latest ad featuring Kendall Jenner bridging the gap between protesters and law enforcers is abysmal says Mammal’s Luke Chess, but in this guest post he argues we’ve all missed the point. Kendall Jenner and Skip Marley have come together to melt the internet, appearing in a much-derided spot produced by Pepsi’s in-house advertising studio, Creators League. Most of the criticism centres on its graphically unsubtle attempt to hijack genuine political expression to sell its product. [READ MORE »]( Dr Mumbo [Dr Mumbo: Yellow is media's new black]( Adland might have a bit of a reputation for attracting desperados, Dr Mumbo is aware. Which may be why it seemed like a good brand fit for industry foundation UnLtd to put together the ‘Adland Gang’ for Whitelion’s Sydney Bail Out event next month. [READ MORE »]( News [Metamucil tells the love story of The Bachelor's Nugget and contestant Ms Meta Mucil]( Metamucil has unveiled the love story of a woman named Ms Meta Mucil and a man named Nugget in a new ad for the fibre brand. A remake of  dating show The Bachelor, the tongue-in-cheek ad by McCann Health shows final contestants Ms Meta Mucil and Ms Connie Stipation compete for the love of Nugget from Colon Town. [READ MORE »]( News [One Green Bean's Crowd Atlas rebrands as Co-maker]( Public Relations agency One Green Bean has rebranded its influencer platform as Co-maker. The rebrand comes as the agency aims to broaden the platform’s focus, by allowing brands to collaborate with social media influencers. [READ MORE »]( SUPPORTED [Nine teams battle it out in Sydney Story Factory Teams Challenge]( The nine teams battling it out in the Sydney Story Factory Teams Challenge have been revealed, with creative, experiential, digital and media agencies as well as a media owner, represented. The competition, which is supported by Microsoft and has been facilitated with the help of media and marketing industry charity foundation UnLtd, challenges the teams to come up with an immersive storytelling solution to help explain what the charity does. [READ MORE »]( News [Brands on notice as The Checkout returns to air following Reckitt Benckiser High Court decision]( The ABC’s consumer affairs program The Checkout returned to TV screens for its fifth season with presenter Julian Morrow from The Chaser saying he is hopeful the show will soon have legal action against it in every state in the country. Speaking to Mumbrella ahead of the show’s premiere, Morrow quipped: “This is season number five so it’s a real testament to how ineffective The Checkout actually is that we keep coming back for new series.” [READ MORE »]( News [The Checkout's season five debut pulls less than 500,000]( ABC’s consumer affairs program The Checkout returned to air last night with just 416,000 metro viewers, a figure which is significantly down on last year’s 653,000 metro viewers for its 2016 premiere. The program returned for its fifth season with presenter Julian Morrow from The Chaser, joking five seasons is a testament to the show’s ineffectiveness. It finished at number 17 on the ratings ladder for Thursday night television, according to OzTAM’s overnight preliminary metro ratings. [READ MORE »]( News [Tim Worner's decision to quit Swans board increases pressure on Seven]( The decision by Seven CEO Tim Worner to resign from the board of the Sydney Swans after weeks of pressure from female fans of the club has increased pressure on the Seven Network to reconsider his future at the helm of the company. The announcement by Seven that Worner had resigned his position with the Swans came a day after the latest court hearing where the network is fighting to maintain a gag order of Worner’s former lover Amber Harrison. [READ MORE »]( News [Culture takes over from consumerism as travel marketers face new challenge]( The head of Futurebrand has revealed a major shift in the motivations of travellers, who have lost interest in travelling to shop and are now shifting to choosing destinations to experience culture. Richard Curtis, CEO of Futurebrand, told the Mumbrella Travel Marketing Summit the evolution in what people sought in travel as globalisation – particularly in areas of retail – meant that people not longer had to leave their home cities to experience international brands. [READ MORE »]( News [Carnival Australia pitches PR account as incumbent agency MG Media Communications closes]( Cruise company Carnival Australia is on the hunt for a new public relations agency across all seven of its brands with the pitch a result of incumbent agency MG Media Communications preparing to close its doors next month. Specialising in travel and tourism, MG Media Communications work with Longitude 131, Southern Ocean Lodge, Capella Lodge, Peter Sommer Travels, CLIA Australasia, Aranui, Air Tahiti Nui, Tahiti Tourisme, Avalon Waterways, Cosmos, Globus, Carnival Australia, P&O Cruises World Cruising, Seabourn, Cunard, Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia. [READ MORE »]( Opinion [Job cuts, one brand and the future: Will Fairfax get it right this time around?]( Over the years, Fairfax Media has made a series of missteps as it tried to transform from a traditional media company to a digital one. This time around, Mumbrella’s Miranda Ward sees signs that lessons have been learned. If there was ever an example of a publishing company that failed to get the transition to digital right – it’s Fairfax Media. [READ MORE »]( News [McDonald's launches 'snaplications', invites Australians to apply for jobs through Snapchat]( McDonald’s has launched Snaplications which gives Australians the chance to apply for a job with the fast-food chain through a Snapchat lens. Created by VML Sydney, Snapchat users can now select a lens which sees them in a McDonald’s uniform. From there, they are able to send a 10-second video submission to the McDonald’s Snapchat account, @Maccas. [READ MORE »]( News [Crisis management part of the new travel marketing mantra]( Crisis management has moved from a peripheral issue for travel marketers to a daily requirement as they wrestle with everything from flight delays and cancellations to terrorist incidents and aviation disasters, the industry has been told. Katherine O’Neill, head of marketing at Trafalgar, said crisis management had become an important measure of a business’ success in the modern age. [READ MORE »]( News [DDB recruits global talent as Nicolas Smith, Damian Martinez and Alex Newman join agency]( DDB Sydney is building up its creative department, appointing creatives Nicolas Smith and Damian Martinez as senior art director and senior copywriter respectively, and Alex Newman as senior art director. Smith and Martinez join the agency from Wunderman Argentina, where they held the roles of creative directors. [READ MORE »]( News [Former cricketer Matthew Hayden helps out his everyday Australians with Century batteries]( Former international test cricketer Matthew Hayden and rugby league player Andrew Ettingshausen are showing consumers how reliable Century batteries are and why they should be manufactured in the brand’s first major marketing push in 12 years. The ad, created by Market 2 Market, sees Hayden helping a family on the side of the road, his friends set up a TV while camping, and re-start a boat out at sea. [READ MORE »]( News [Direct Group acquires Reader's Digest business in Australia and New Zealand]( Multi-channel direct marketing and media company Direct Group has acquired the Reader’s Digest business in Australia and New Zealand. Reader’s Digest has been operating in Australia and NZ for over 70 years and publishes and distributes the Reader’s Digest and Handyman magazines and also has a business marketing books, CDs, DVDs and other home entertainment products, along with vitamins, insurance and general merchandise. [READ MORE »]( News [Mazda crafts a road using giant scissors in latest CX 5 ad]( Mazda Australia is asking consumers to imagine a driving journey tailored specifically to their needs in a campaign aimed at showing how the new CX 5 offers a specially crafted ride for each individual. The new ad sees the CX 5 travelling through a mountainside along a road which people are stitching together specifically for the car’s route. [READ MORE »]( News [Social Soup offers 'more intelligence behind influencer marketing programs' with AI offering]( Social Soup claims it is now able to match influencers faster with brands as well as provide better measurement of a campaign’s success thanks to a new artificial intelligence algorithm which has put “more intelligence behind marketing programs”. Social Soup has partnered with Amazon to develop its new analysis tool called Rekognition which it says will enable brands to see 2,000 different attributes and photos that influencers are taking. [READ MORE »]( Sponsored Post Book your place at breakfast and hear how leading brands are leveraging diversity There is now an incontestable business case for diversity. Organisations with ethnic and gender diversity at senior levels financially outperform their competitors. This is sometimes referred to as ‘The Diversity Dividend’. Under a marketing lens, we explore how diversity leads to better ROI, improved creative outcomes, and more meaningful insights and innovation. Join us at the [IAA Leadership Breakfast]( to hear how leading brands are leveraging diversity to deliver tangible benefits to business and making our industry a better place. [Book your place]( on May 2 at Doltone House, Hyde Park Sydney. FYI • [Red Agency appointed to Gosford Classic Car Museum’s PR account]( • [Director Matt Weston joins The Woolshed Co. Roster]( • [VicRoads appoints Icon Agency to ‘Travel Happy’ campaign]( Jobs [71 New Jobs]( MOST DISCUSSED [Sky News drops Outsiders from schedule after sacking of Mark Latham]( [Ten bumps Biggest Loser to lunchtime after fortnight of ratings failure]( [Fairfax Media to slash jobs as it restructures editorial across metro division]( [Google surrenders with third party verification for advertisers on YouTube but downplays exposure]( 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.](