NY fashion brand Steve Madden has made its inaugural foray into the wine market through a collaboration with Melbourne Winery.
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Australia Marketing Institute Award-Winning Campaign: RSPCA SA Perfectly Adoptable
NY fashion brand Steve Madden has made its inaugural foray into the wine market through a collaboration with Melbourne Winery.
Award-Winning Campaign Drives Change from Awareness to Action
NY fashion brand Steve Madden has made its inaugural foray into the wine market through a collaboration with Melbourne Winery.
Australian Marketing Institute Winning Campaign: Liquorland & Clean Up Australia Partnership
NY fashion brand Steve Madden has made its inaugural foray into the wine market through a collaboration with Melbourne Winery.
Agencies, holdcos to become media owners, fin services with principal trading, retail media products; media owners merge and consolidate for cost-out, not transformation – Media ecologist Jack Myers calls the next three years
Six years ago, media ecologist Jack Myers called it right on the almost total automation of media buying. Now he says extending principal trading models into retail media is the future for media agencies, as more retail media brands – the likes of Uber and United Airlines “that aren’t that interested in selling ads” – sell directly to agencies, who then arbitrage for bigger margins. Myers thinks that presents new competitive challenges for the likes of The Trade Desk (TTD) as holdcos simultaneously acquire FAST channels and digital assets from pressured publishers and hunt TTD’s robust market cap growth versus those of the global agency owners.As media owners, he argues, holdcos are far less likely to hand over 15 cents on the dollar to DSPs when that is margin they could keep. “That doesn’t mean The Trade Desk is going to go away. I just believe they’ll find the holdcos are going to be their competitor, as opposed to their client,” per Myers. “Media consolidation will happen inside of media agencies, which I believe will increasingly become media financial services companies.”While media owners seemingly grasp that they must “come together as a single force to compete with these [big tech] monoliths instead of fighting against each other for a declining share of business”, Myers remains bleak – because most looming M&A and deal-cutting is focused on cost-cutting rather than genuine transformation. A united media front, he says, is “not going to happen. Why? Because that’s not what the leaders of those companies get paid to do. They’re paid to make sure their Wall Street value remains viable, and they do that by holding on to the past until it’s too late. They become the Kodak of the television business.”Across the piste, Myers thinks AI’s total disruption will force company leaders to focus less on quarterly results and more on actually leading their people “through a time when it’s no longer about the answers, it’s about the questions”, he suggests.”In a world where the answers are immediately available through technology, it’s the quality of the questions, it’s the insights that are gained, it’s the use of those insights [that defines winners and losers].”So when it comes to the advertising business and when it comes to people, I have two foundational beliefs. One is that creativity is going to be the saviour of the advertising and media business. Number two, it will only save those who invest in their human talent, and that means investing in the creativity, the ingenuity, the intuition of their human talent,” per Myers. “In order to lead that talent, the qualities that are most required are empathy and ethics… two things that modern corporations are not particularly well-versed in.”However, he sees some immediate potential wins for advertisers and streamers of all persuasions: Getting smarter about harnessing back-catalogue content that powers the bulk of viewing. How? Proactive, bespoke sponsorshFor everyone else, Myers advises getting more fluent in short-form content.”We’re going to see more and more short-form, serial dramas and comedies … where every day there’s a new episode, and it’s going to be across social media. We’re seeing that heavily in China, it’s a big business. So I think we’re going to see more advertising connecting up to the content and being content itself,” says Myers. “When that happens, we need new currency – based on attentiveness, based on brand equity value of the content, attention. So the fundamentals of the industry need to change.”
Intrepid Travel taps Alexa Theofanou as head of marketing for ANZ
Intrepid Travel has recruited Alexa Theofanou as the new Head of Marketing for Australia and New Zealand, effective from 22 September 2025. Her appointment is part of a broader evolution in Intrepid’s global marketing leadership, following Louise Laing’s promotion to Vice President of USA Marketing.
‘Don’t f*ck it up is high on my list’: DoorDash goes hard on brand mascots, local creative in bid to boost preference, consideration – but hedges with retail performance multi-plays
DoorDash is rapidly gaining share, moving from number three to number two in a knife-fight-in-a-phone box delivery market promising to scoot “basically anything that’s not nailed down” to the doorstep within minutes. In a cut-throat market, creative cut-through and distinctiveness are key, says brand ANZ leader, Madison Westall. While rivals are mixing global and local, she’s committing to Aussie humour, insights and attitudes – Bob Katter and all. The firm’s betting on animatronic puppet bags and a brand-plus-performance play to bring home consideration and preference by the basketful. Westall aims to leave the brand cakes in the over long enough to see the rise in business outcomes. But DoorDash is running equally hard, if not harder, on performance, striking deals with retailers across the piste to rapidly move the needle.
Telstra fined $18m for undisclosed Belong internet speed plan changes
Telstra has been fined $18m by the Federal Court for breaching Australian Consumer Law. The breach involved the unnotified transfer of nearly 9,000 Belong customers to a lower speed plan.
Emotive’s ‘brand incubator’ executes El Arquero Tequila campaign
Emotive has introduced its first brand incubator initiative with the the launch of El Arquero Tequila in partnership with Foxtel, Hot Shot PR and Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist.
Assembled Media secures Penfolds account, launches first campaign
Assembled Media has been appointed as the media agency for wine brand Penfolds and has already come out of the gate with ‘The 2025 Collection Release’ campaign.