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‘We’re miles better off in-house’: How Timezone’s in-house agency is killing it on cost, productivity, fix rates and innovation – but avoiding ‘brutalised’, bored, blinkered creatives key

Jacques Bergh, Marketing Manager for Quadrant and LAI-owned Kingpin brand, wouldn’t give up his in-house creative studio for anything. Why? Under 5 per cent fix rates, big productivity gains, 50 per cent-plus cost reductions on campaign work, more consistent brand messaging and ever-more sway with cross-functional business teams. “We’re miles better off as we are now”, says Bergh, who is bullish enough to want to put his team’s work up against any standalone agency willing to challenge him on creativity. He’s not the only one singing from the in-housing song book. Per the In-House Agency Council’s latest report, 78 per cent of organisations surveyed have some form of agency handling the work an external advertising, media or marcomms agency would otherwise do. Yet there are hidden costs and considerations – and keeping staff motivated and creativity alive and thriving are high on Bergh’s to do list.

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South Australia tops economic performance, while NSW and Vic tie for second says CommSec

In a historic first, South Australia has been named the top economic performer in CommSec’s quarterly State of the States report. This marks the first time South Australia has claimed the top spot in the report’s 15-year history. The state outperformed on four of the report’s eight key economic indicators – real economic growth, unemployment, construction work and dwelling starts.

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‘The whole supply chain is locked into a sense of omerta’: Why marketers, procurement, agencies, ad techs and publishers fear derailing programmatic ‘gravy chain’ – where 36 cents on every ad dollar is ‘optimistic’

The ANA’s latest transparency report looks ugly for agencies, the ad tech supply chain, marketers and their procurement departments. Probably why its findings – just 36 cents on the programmatic dollar stand a chance of being seen by audiences – have been met with deafening silence. None of the big agency holdcos have piped up, while Google, The Trade Desk, Pubmatic and other major adtech players didn’t allow the ANA into their systems. Not even P&G played ball. Nick Manning, who co-authored the ANA’s scoping brief, says even 36 cents in every ad dollar landing with audiences is optimistic – because the investigation used sophisticated advertisers like Mondelez, Shell, Kimberly Clark, Dell and HP for the probe – and because it doesn’t factor-in things like agency commissions. And the ANA calculations are based off feeble viewability metrics. “We are talking about a massive global marketplace and it is out of control,” says Manning. Problem is, “nobody wants to derail the gravy train … Enormous sums of money have been made by the large digital platforms, by the ad tech community, by agencies. They’ve all been part of this gold rush.” But the report differs from myriad predecessors because it spells out exactly how advertisers can regain control. Marketers, says Manning, have to lock everybody in a room, forget about what has happened in the past, and hold “a ‘truth and reconciliation commission'”. Then they need to sweep their programmatic supply chain, strip out the dud components, including most of publishing’s long tail, and structure contracts accordingly – including with agencies, who “by virtue of tolerating this, are absolutely negligent in terms of their role”, he suggests. “But without that will and intent, you might as well not bother starting.” Here’s what’s going wrong in the $88bn marketplace, and for those with appetite, how to fix it… Before the open web money gets rechanneled from publishers to walled gardens and retail media.

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‘The whole supply chain is locked into a sense of omerta’: Why marketers, procurement, agencies, ad techs and publishers fear derailing programmatic ‘gravy chain’ – where 36 cents on the dollar is ‘optimistic’

The ANA’s latest transparency report looks ugly for agencies, the ad tech supply chain, marketers and their procurement departments. Probably why its findings – just 36 cents on the programmatic dollar stand a chance of being seen by audiences – have been met with deafening silence. None of the big agency holdcos have piped up, while Google, Yahoo, The Trade Desk, Pubmatic and other major adtech players didn’t allow the ANA into their systems. Not even P&G played ball. Nick Manning, who co-authored the ANA’s scoping brief, says even 36 cents on the programmatic dollar is optimistic – because the investigation spanned sophisticated advertisers and because it doesn’t factor-in things like agency commissions while its calculations are based off feeble viewabilty metrics. “We are talking about a massive global marketplace and it is out of control,” says Manning. “Nobody wants to derail the gravy train.” But the report differs from myriad predecessors because it spells out exactly how advertisers, their procurement departments and agencies can regain control. Here’s what’s going wrong in the $88bn marketplace, and for those with appetite, how to fix it… Before the open web money gets rechanneled from publishers to walled gardens and retail media. 

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Victoria Bitter launches first campaign, ‘Means More’, from The Monkeys – celebrates skill and intelligence in hard work

Victoria Bitter, in collaboration with creative agency The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, has launched a new brand campaign titled ‘Means More’. Directed by Tim Bullock at Scoundrel, the campaign aims to celebrate the skill and intelligence behind hard work, aligning with the brand’s existing ‘For A Hard Earned Thirst’ platform.

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SMEs gear up for growth amid challenges – marketing investment top priority: Commbank research

New research by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) reveals that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are planning to innovate and invest in response to market challenges. The top strategies for growth include investing in marketing (45%) and staff (34%), revising pricing (31%), investing in new product/service development (31%), and diversifying stock and supply chain (13%).

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