Google boss admits: 'We let people down' | Netflix commissions first Aussie series | Honda appoints agency | Coles admits 'we're annoying' | Newspaper ad spend plummets | 91 new jobs

[View Newsletter Online]( [Mumbrella Newsletter]( Mumbrella360 networking is now open to book your appointments [m360_enewsletter_header_v3]( The networking portal is now open. For anyone working in the media and marketing landscape, [Mumbrella360’s]( networking afternoon is an essential speed-meeting forum. Book your 15-minute meetings now and fill your afternoon. Meet with Australia’s most influential marketing brands and advertising agencies, including Samsung, MyBudget, Tesla, Hungry Jacks, Nestle, Network Ten, CocaCola, Sephora and ARN. If you haven’t already [booked your networking pass](, it is not too late. News [Google boss Pellegrino admits: 'We've let a lot of people down' on brand safety]( The boss of Google Australia has admitted the search giant has let the industry down, apologising for recent brand safety issues that has been plaguing its video site YouTube. Speaking at the AdNews Media & Marketing Summit in Sydney, Google MD Jason Pellegrino told the room: “Any time someone like me is up here talking about brand safety it has to start with one point and that point is to absolutely apologise – we’ve let a lot of people down in the industry, we know that we need to do better and we recognise that.” [READ MORE »]( Features ['Sorry can be the most powerful move': what brands can learn from the ongoing United Airlines PR crisis]( United Airlines has suffered a number of blows to its brand in recent months, with the airline struggling to get ahead of negative social media coverage. Mumbrella’s Abigail Dawson asks crisis experts how brands can maintain its reputation when facing an on-going crisis. United Airline’s reputation first entered crisis phase in March this year when two teenagers were banned from a flight for wearing leggings, with the crisis entering a new phase just last month when passenger Dr. Dao was dragged off an over-booked flight. [READ MORE »]( News [Netflix commissions first Australian original series Tidelands]( After years of questions about whether Netflix would fund Australian original content, the American entertainment company has commissioned its first local original series, Tidelands. The supernatural crime drama, which will commence production in Queensland next year, will debut exclusively on Netflix globally. [READ MORE »]( News [Newspapers saw adspend plummet by 26.3% in April]( Australia’s newspaper industry was last month hit by another dramatic fall in revenue. According to preliminary figures from Standard Media Index, newspapers saw adspend fall by 26.3% in April compared to the same period in 2016. [READ MORE »]( News [Honda assigns Hill+Knowlton to PR account]( Hill+Knowlton Strategies has been appointed to handle Honda Australia’s PR account following a competitive pitch process, Mumbrella can reveal. Two months ago Honda pitched its public relations account after Wrights PR resigned from the account. [READ MORE »]( News [Fairfax takeover consortium raises bid to $2.7bn, driving share price to six year high]( The venture capital-led consortium attempting to buy Fairfax Media has raised its bid for the company to more than $2.7bn. And TPG Capital’s consortium is now offering to buy the whole company, rather then cherrypicking key assets, an update to the ASX has revealed. [READ MORE »]( News [J. Walter Thompson wins Subway creative duties]( J. Walter Thompson has been appointed creative agency of record for Subway Restaurants. The win will see J. Walter Thompson responsible for all of Subway’s communications, strategy and brand evaluation, as well as creative positioning, digital engagement, social and CRM. [READ MORE »]( News [Newsletter The Squiz rebrands to avoid legal action from US title theSkimm]( Female-focused daily newsletter digest The Squiz has been forced to drop its logo after legal complaints about similarities between the newly launched Australian product and five-year-old US title theSkimm. Launching in March this year, The Squiz was set up by Claire Kimball who was previously Woolworth’s head of group communications and a former press secretary to Tony Abbott. [READ MORE »]( News [Drug cheat Ben Johnson puts the 'roid' in Android in Sportsbet ad]( Betting brand Sportsbet has put some of the world’s most infamous sports cheats in a new ad for its app. The campaign – featuring the message “putting the ‘roid in Android” – features sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his Olympic gold medal in 1988 for doping. He later admitted he used steroids to break the 100m world record in 1987. [READ MORE »]( News [Ahm unveils new brand work following move of creative account to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne]( Health insurer Ahm its showing its customer the type of health insurance they really need in its first campaign out of Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. The new campaign follows a quiet shift of the brand’s creative account earlier this year, with the brand splitting with DDB Melbourne. [READ MORE »]( News [The Core Agency wins creative duties for Pet Circle]( Australian pet supplies company Pet Circle has appointed The Core Agency as its creative agency of record, following a competitive pitch. The independent agency will handle brand development, design, digital and integrated advertising for Pet Circle, with the first work to appear over the next couple of months. [READ MORE »]( News [Coles says 'See you later Status Quo' as Casey Donovan steals the stage]( Coles has given its long term promotion partner, UK rock band Status Quo, a break in the latest ad campaign however the supermarket chain has said the band will continue to remain part of the team. The news follows the death of lead guitarist Rick Parfitt at the end of last year, while a new campaign by Big Red has introduced Casey Donovan as the supermarket’s latest face, with the I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here winner singing Status Quo’s remake of their song ‘Down, deeper and down’. [READ MORE »]( News [Ogilvy Brisbane appoints Ben Lightfoot as managing director]( Former Facebook executive Ben Lightfoot has been appointed managing director of Ogilvy Brisbane. Lightfoot joins Ogilvy following a year as Asia Pacific head of large advertising marketing for Facebook. [READ MORE »]( News [MLC shifts focus from retirement to 'best bits' of life with new proposition]( MLC has re-positioned itself as a brand which helps keep ‘Life Unchanging.’ The new proposition for NAB’s wealth management arm is a shift away from its ‘Save Retirement’ campaign, which ran for the last three years. [READ MORE »]( News [The Voice pulls in more than 1m metro viewers to help Nine win the night]( Nine’s The Voice aired its final episode of the blind auditions last night, pulling in 1.051m metro viewers. According to OzTAM’s overnight preliminary metro ratings, The Voice was the most watched non-news program and the only entertainment program to crack one million metro viewers. [READ MORE »]( News [Robot newsreaders join the Whooshkaa platform]( Podcasting company Whooshkaa has added the ability to allow publishers to generate instant podcasts from text, has added the two voices to its text-to-voice service. Since launching in January last year, News Corp, Sky News, Fox Sports, Fairfax, SBS, Bauer Media, Huff Post Australia and NRL have signed up for the Whooshka platform. [READ MORE »]( News [The Hausmann Group launches integrated communications agency Illuminate Communications]( Public relations agency The Hausmann Group has launched a new integrated communications agency, Illuminate Communications. The new offering will sit within The Hausmann Group delivering services to clients in the utilities, corporate, government and financial sectors. [READ MORE »]( News [Strategy agency How To Impact appoints Guy Hudson as innovation director]( Strategic innovation consultancy How To Impact has appointed Guy Hudson to the newly created role of innovation director. Hudson joins How To Impact from the UK where he was the lead strategist and head of Asia Pacific at Founders Intelligence. [READ MORE »]( News [Alien: Covenant tops box office in opening weekend]( Alien: Covenant, which stars Katherine Waterston and Danny McBride, has topped this weekend’s box office earning $3.958m across 310 screens. Fox’s science fiction thriller just managed to beat comedy Snatched, featuring Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, which took $3.368m across 319 screens. [READ MORE »]( Sponsored Post Mumbrella is looking for a Telesales extraordinaire to join the team Mumbrella has an exciting opportunity for a motivated and results-driven telesales executive. We are looking for a cold-calling wizard who loves to be on the phone, nail their targets, find hot leads and won’t give up on closing a deal. Working closely with the Head of Marketing, you will play a key role in helping sell tickets to our growing roster of events, as well as subscriptions to The Source. If you would like to join an award-winning company with a great culture, then we’d love to hear from you. [View full details here](. FYI • [ACON launches new health promotion website]( • [AFTRS Council appoints Russel Howcroft as Chair]( • [Spinach partners with Tealium]( Jobs [91 New Jobs]( MOST DISCUSSED ['White hat vigilantes' threaten SEO audits of agencies]( [Evo Media loses main advertiser after circulation questions and staff payment problems]( [The White Agency and Grey Group Australia rebrand as whiteGREY]( [Dr Paul Priday - creative director, thinker, diversity advocate - dies aged 71]( 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.](