GroupM reduces media agency portfolio | The Oz to boycott Press Council | Ten signs A-League deal | M&C Saatchi nabs Sophie Price | Em Rusciano's return to air

[View Newsletter Online]( [Mumbrella Newsletter]( Get a front row seat to international sports marketers in less than three weeks [Mumbrella’s Sports Marketing Summit]( brings global sports marketers to you in Sydney. Get your ticket for an intimate session with Kenton Olson, Head of Digital Media for the Seattle Seahawks, who will share how to keep ahead and achieve more success with digital media content; and Simon Farrant, VP Content and Corporate Marketing for Perform Group, who will lay out how leading players globally have leveraged the data from its Opta offering to lift them above their rivals. [Book your ticket now](. News [The Australian says it will boycott Australian Press Council decisions by new member Carla McGrath]( News Corp’s The Australian has said it will boycott all decisions and adjudications of complaints in which the Australian Press Council’s newest member, Carla McGrath, is involved. McGrath is currently deputy chairwoman of GetUp – a left-leaning political activist group – and was appointed by the APC as a member one week ago. [READ MORE »]( News [Maxus and MEC to merge as GroupM reduces media agency portfolio to three]( WPP is to shake up its media agency portfolio, reducing its number of major media agency brands from four to three by merging Maxus and MEC. The move was announced in New York overnight, with local management in Australia this morning referring press calls overseas. [READ MORE »]( News [Network Ten signs deal to broadcast Hyundai A-League and Caltex Socceroos]( Hyundai A-League and Caltex Socceroos matches will be broadcast live on free-to-air commercial television, as part of a new deal between Football Federation Australia, Network Ten and Fox Sports. As part of the agreement, Network Ten will broadcast Harvey Norman’s Saturday night football Hyundai A-League games and all finals as well as Caltex Socceroos matches after the completion of the current round of World Cup Qualifiers this year. [READ MORE »]( News [Sophie Price departs UM to become M&C Saatchi's group head of strategy]( UM’s chief strategy officer Sophie Price will join M&C Saatchi as the agency’s new group head of strategy. The appointment forms part of M&C Saatchi’s bid to “become Australia’s most influential creative company by 2020”. [READ MORE »]( Opinion [Cut the bullsh*t about the death of big ideas and the demise of the creative director]( In the ever-changing marketing landscape, one thing hasn’t changed, and that is the role of the creative director. They remain the guardians of the brand/consumer relationship and technology isn’t about to change that anytime soon, says Spinach’s Frank Morabito. The role of the creative director in today’s ad agencies hasn’t fundamentally changed, nor should it. The people that believe it has don’t understand what the most important part of a creative director’s job actually is. A CD’s job is to define, build and protect the relationship between brand and consumer. That hasn’t changed and no amount of technology coming into our business is going to alter it. [READ MORE »]( News [Sam Geer to replace Sophie Price as UM’s national head of strategy]( UM’s Sydney strategy director Sam Geer will step up to become national strategy officer after Sophie Price announced she was moving across to M&C Saatchi as group head of strategy. Geer has been Sydney’s strategy director for 18 months and the agency said he has been key to its major client work across the likes of Coca-Cola and new business wins including Optus, Virgin Mobile and Lion. [READ MORE »]( News [Leo Burnett’s Stuart Capel joins Blue 449 to lead 20th Century Fox account]( Blue 449 has hired Leo Burnett’s media director Stuart Capel as client partner across the 20th Century Fox business, which the agency won from Publicis Media stablemate Zenith in February. Capel was working across the Diageo account at Leos and was previously business director at Initiative leading the Hyundai Motor Company Australia account. [READ MORE »]( Opinion ['Don't call us': Why PRs should stop calling editors and journalists]( The media has been forced to change in recent years, but businesses have been slower to see that the way they communicated just two years ago isn’t going to fly in today’s landscape. Media Stable’s Nic Hayes explains why you need to put down the phone if you want your message to reach the media. The media has gone through significant change in the past 12 months, across print, radio, television and online. Cutbacks both in financial resources and human personnel have taken a toll on the industry and changed the way they broadcast and publish. A lower head count affects the way media sources content and stories. I am afraid to say that this isn’t the end of the cull that is going on in the media sector. There will be more to come. [READ MORE »]( News [Em Rusciano tells listeners: I'm not sure I'm ready but I'll be back on Monday and we'll figure it out together]( Em Rusciano will return to Sydney breakfast radio on Monday, the 2Day FM presenter has told her followers. The singer, comedian and presenter stepped away from broadcasting and social media last month after losing the baby son she had been expecting. [READ MORE »]( News [Kim Feitelberg joins VCCP Sydney as executive planning director]( Creative agency VCCP Sydney has hired Kim Feitelberg as its executive planning director. Feitelberg joins VCCP after freelancing as a brand and communications strategist for three and a half years for agencies including BMF, The Moon Group, The Works Sydney and The 6am Agency. [READ MORE »]( News [Lion Dairy & Drinks launches campaign to make milk matter again]( Lion Dairy & Drinks has launched ‘Milk Loves you Back’ featuring brand ambassador and former AFL player Shane Crawford, to remind Australians of milk’s goodness. In the one-minute video by AJF, Crawford talks about how drinking milk helped him achieve his goals in AFL. [READ MORE »]( News [News programs dominate Thursday night but Ten's Masterchef wins across the key demos]( Thursday night saw Seven and Nine’s news offerings dominate OzTam’s preliminary overnight metro ratings, with Nine News and Seven News, the only programs to reach more than 1m metro viewers. Nine News attracted 1.013m metro viewers ahead of Seven’s 1.004m, while the 6:30pm editions attracted metro audiences of 959,000 and 971,000 respectively. [READ MORE »]( News [Concrete Playground partners with Mazda3, launches search tool to create personalised activities]( Digital publisher Concrete Playground has partnered with Mazda3 to launch an interactive search feature, which lets users locate and plan their food, culture and lifestyle activities. The brand-sponsored tool known as The Playmaker is part of Concrete Playground’s newly revamped website and gives curated suggestions to users based on where they are located, the time and what sort of activity they would like to do. [READ MORE »]( News [Clemenger BBDO bolsters senior team with two new hires, Sabrina Riedel and Natalie Taylor]( Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has appointed Sabrina Riedel as digital executive producer and Natalie Taylor as head of its content division, Flare. Riedel joins Clemenger BBDO Melbourne from The Monkeys, where was was an executive producer for almost two years. [READ MORE »]( News [Contiki celebrates 55th birthday with throwback to ads from 1970s]( Contiki has celebrated its 55th birthday by re-releasing four ads from the 1970s across social media. Some of the ads feature Contiki’s old jingle “Contiki holidays if you’re not young it’s a scandal, Contiki holidays as much fun as you can handle”. [READ MORE »]( News [McDonald's officially launches 'Mix it up' Chicken Big Mac in new campaign]( McDonald’s has launched ads to promote its new Chicken Big Mac burger and Cheeseburger Shaker Fries as part of its new ‘Mix it up’ campaign. Created by DDB, the two 15-second ads highlight the combination of the Big Mac with a McChicken burger – creating the Chicken Big Mac – and McDonald’s fries with its cheeseburger – creating cheeseburger-flavoured shaker fries. [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 • [Fans given a chance to win X-Men prizes in new #ThankHugh campaign]( • [Jesse Northfiled joins Think HQ as project lead]( • [Dropbox recruits Le Tran as new head of communications]( • [Ooh Media reaches 50 New Zealand shopping centres]( • [Universal Pictures searches for Australia’s most ‘Despicable’ creation]( Jobs [109 New Jobs]( MOST DISCUSSED [Adam Ferrier, Jim Ingram and Ben Couzens launch new agency Thinkerbell]( [Hahn SuperDry launches content series 'Beer With An Entrepreneur']( [Deloitte appoints Ten's Matt McGrath as chief marketing officer]( [First State of Origin clash sheds 360,000 viewers but still easily wins night]( 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.](