Link to original Article in The Australian

THE AUSTRALIAN MONDAY SEPTEMBER 22 2008
36 MEDIA
www.theaustralian.com.au
No worries as
NRMA sports
new tagline
Simon Canning
Branding
IAG’S insurance brand, NRMA
Insurance, has embarked on a
massive repositioning, dropping
its familiar ‘HELP’ advertising
tagline after more than 20 years.
The brand has been running a
series of teaser ads telling people
to ‘‘uncomplicate’’ their lives
before it unveiled the new ‘Unworry’ tagline last night.
NRMA Insurance group marketing manager Lynette Argent
told Media the move was an
attempt to escape the increasing
commoditisation of the insurance
market.
IAG is understood to have
been working on the rebranding
for almost two years.
‘‘For some time now, the
category has been stuck in a rut
and we realised that we needed to
change the conversation, to stop
talking about what insurance
costs and start talking about what
it buys every day,’’ Ms Argent
said.
‘‘At the end of the day, what
our customers buy is the freedom
to get on with living their lives
without having to worry about
the what-ifs.’’
Ms Argent said the insurance
category had ‘‘lost its lustre’’.
‘‘We have become very undifferentiated and so we have been
on quite a journey,’’ she said.
‘‘Our market has become very
commodified and it is very ‘doom
and gloom’.’’
She said research had shown
that after two
years, if people
had not made a
claim on their
insurance they
developed a level
of resentment in
paying
premiums, feeling
Argent
that they had not
got their money’s worth.
The new position is a bid to
invest value in paying insurance
by portraying the freedom from
worry that comes with being
insured.
‘‘We wanted a statement that
reminded consumers what they
get, not what it costs,’’ she said.
Ms Argent said the decision to
step away from the two-decade
old ‘HELP’ positioning — which
had originally come from the
NRMA’s road service unit — had
not been taken lightly.
However, she said that ‘HELP’
had become part of the DNA of
the brand and would be forever
associated with it even though it
was no longer a part of the
marketing.
‘‘NRMA will always have
‘HELP’ as part of its DNA,’’ she
said.
‘‘If we tried to rub it out of the
DNA we couldn’t. ‘HELP’ is
driven from the motoring and
service perspective and is reactive. So lets focus on what they
(customers) get everyday. What
we will be is more human and
less corporate. We know people
can be cynical about big business
Start-up Eleven wants to fill retail space
Lara Sinclair
so it’s important that the brand is
warm and approachable. ‘‘Our
brief was to pull away from the
pack and defy category convention. It is very un-NRMA.’’
Brand consultancy Brand
Council began work on the
NRMA brand two years ago,
while STW-owned ad agency
Human has created the ads for
the campaign.
Human managing director
Kate Walker admitted devising a
new campaign to replace ‘HELP’
was a challenge.
‘‘‘HELP’ has been such a
strong idea for them and it was
going to take something big to
top that,’’ Ms Walker said.
‘‘But we think ‘Unworry’ is a
very worthy successor — it will
have the legs to take the brand
where it needs to go.’’
Media agency Carat has negotiated a massive media buy for
the brand extending from TV to
outdoor, print and radio.
The campaign will also feature
on takeaway coffee cups.
Ms Argent said NRMA Insurance had made a long-term
commitment to the new brand
positioning.
‘‘We are looking at ‘Unworry’
to be our brand position for years
to come,’’ she said.
The ads will use lines such as
‘Unworry’, ‘Unbamboozle’ and
‘Undo what you did’.
The initial ad campaign is
slated to run for the next month
before more elements and product ads are introduced.
THREE senior staffers from retail
agency Ideaworks set up shop on
their own last week, forming a
new full-service retail business
called Eleven Communications.
The trio — former executive
creative
director
Jonathan
McCauley, former operations
director John McLachlan and
former head of art Ryan Fallowfield — aim to fill a gap in the
market between high-end brand
agencies and small, tactical marketing agencies.
‘‘We reckon there’s a pretty
big gap between the big brand
agencies that can come up with a
great brand idea (and agencies
that can) implement day-to-day
brand promotional work,’’ Mr
McCauley said.
‘‘It gets funnelled off into a
factory (staffed) by juniors.
‘‘Building brands for retailers
is what we specialise in because
that’s what we did at Ideaworks,
but we reckon we can do it
smarter.’’
The last high-profile former
Ideaworks staffer to leave the
agency, co-founder Stephen Kulmar, attacked listed global advertising group WPP’s approach to
business in an aggressive parting
attack, saying it forced agencies
to put profits ahead of relationships.
Mr McCauley said the Eleven
trio did not share the same views.
‘‘We wish Ideaworks well and
we think there’s plenty of space
for both of us to exist,’’ Mr
McCauley said.
‘‘There are a lot of mediumsized businesses that big agencies
can’t tackle properly. A key part
of it is staying small.
‘‘We want to cut out a lot of
the (layering) big agencies do day
in and day out.
‘‘We want to employ creative
people who can deal directly with
clients and solve problems
directly.’’
The name Eleven Communications is a reference to movie spoof
This Is Spinal Tap aimed at
Breaking free: Eleven Communications’ Jonathan McCauley, left, Ryan Fallowfield and John McLachlan
showing the agency will ‘‘go one
louder than 10’’.
Mr McCauley said there were
no official clients, but the agency
was already working on a number
of collaborative projects with
other agencies.
The trio has worked on big
retail brands including Westfield,
BigW, Mitre 10, Supercheap Auto
and its boating, camping and
fishing spin-off BCF.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of experience
of designing brand identities,’’
Mr McCauley said.
‘‘The other thing we have is a
lot of experience in creating retail
environments.’’
A point of difference from
other start-ups will be Mr
McLachlan’s experience running
the operational side of retail
accounts, which typically require
a high volume of fast-turnaround
print, catalogue and point-of-sale
work.
‘‘It’s always been the holy grail
for retail — high-end creative
thinking combined with a ruthlessly efficient delivery mechanism. And that’s what we’ve
constructed,’’ Mr McLachlan
Picture: Bob Finlayson
said. Mr McCauley said the retail
sector had shifted from a WalMart style focus on discounting
to more of a focus on creativity
from the medium-sized chains.
‘‘If you look at it on a global
level, five years ago, the big push
was to engineer costs out of the
business,’’ Mr McCauley said.
‘‘People are expecting more
than just low cost. They want
smart value. They don’t want to
feel like they’re shopping at a
discounter any more.
‘‘I think there has been a
creative renaissance going on in
retail overseas and we’re starting
to see a bit of it here.’’
Mr Fallowfield said Eleven
wanted to take an ‘‘innovative’’
approach to retail creativity.
‘‘Most creative people in this
country don’t understand retail
and don’t really want to,’’ Mr
Fallowfield said.
‘‘But when you look around
the world, people like Ikea, Target and Selfridges are producing
some of the most innovative work
in the business. That’s the kind of
work we are interested in doing in
this market.’’
Reclusive media moguls are the nation’s quiet achievers
From Page 33
His reach extends into Queensland through stations in Toowoomba and Gympie.
Caralis uses the once fabled
2SM in Sydney, which he bought
in 2000 for $8.2 million, to
generate programming for his
‘‘super network’’ stations, ignoring the lucrative Sydney radio
market. It is this kind of counterintuitive decision-making action
that draws fire from many critics.
Caralis shrugs it off.
‘‘That’s just Bill,’’ an associate
who would not be named says.
‘‘He has a very private nature;
there’s nothing sinister about it
. . . it’s just his way. He doesn’t
seek publicity, but he’s a very
shrewd operator and a tough
businessman.’’
He is said to believe his network is worth about $200 million,
although others say this is too
high. But in a sense, it is immaterial: the word from the Caralis
camp is that he has no interest in
either selling or listing his network.
JANET CAMERON has to stop
and count when she’s asked how
many stations her company,
Grant Broadcasters, owns. It’s
kind of complicated when you
have to sort out the fully owned
and part owned.
Finally: ‘‘I think it’s 32 —
that’s 27 of ours, and five in a
50-50 partnership with Kevin
Blyton, including 6IX in Perth.’’
And then there’s the Radio Sales
Network, a sales organisation that
sells air time on the 68 stations
she and Bill Caralis collectively
own.
That’s where her three children, Grant, 45, Allison, 42, and
Colourful tycoons a law unto themselves
I commented that I’d always
wanted to use it to build a home.
‘‘No problem,’’ said Alan
Scott, ‘‘I own the quarry.’’
The next issue was how to get
the stone from Mt Gambier to
Melbourne. ‘‘No problem,’’ he
said, ‘‘I own the trucking
company.’’
My visit to Sir William Allen
was at his home outside
Longreach in central
Queensland. Bill owned a stack
of radio stations and was
influential in Channel Ten in
Queensland.
I flew from Melbourne to
Longreach in the big plane, only
to find two smaller aircraft
waiting to take us to the property
— one for people, one for bags!
But the real top banana has
got to be Bruce Gordon, now
approaching 80 and in fine
health. We have regular meals
together, or used to until late last
year. ‘‘We must have dinner
Harold!’’
‘‘Sure Bruce, Tre Scalini (in
Sydney), an early dinner, I’ll
come from Melbourne.’’
‘‘Good, I’ll travel up from
Wollongong,’’ said Bruce.
At 7.30pm still no Bruce and
no phone call. I’d been stood up.
Only a private family can do
that!
Harold Mitchell is executive
chairman of the Mitchell
Communications Group
Dugald, 37, work. Grant looks
after the Sydney operations while
Dugald tends the Melbourne end
and Allison, an accountant, is
chief financial officer.
Grant Broadcasting, whose assets today are estimated to be
worth about $125 million, has
always been a family affair. Janet’s father, Walter T. Grant,
bought 2DU Dubbo in 1942 and,
with a background as an electrician, immediately sought to increase its power. It took 10 years
of battling bureaucracy before he
won.
‘‘It’s still a bit like that,’’ Janet
says. ‘‘It can be a real battle to get
change.’’
Walter Grant died in 1961 and
his wife Christina took over the
business. In 1972 Janet became
managing director and has remained in the position since.
By 1986, GB owned four stations in Parkes, Dubbo, Mudgee
and Nowra. Then, in what she
described as ‘‘the worst decision I
ever made’’, she sold three stations, keeping only Nowra.
‘‘I should have taken a holiday,’’ Cameron tells Media. ‘‘It
was during television aggregation
and the future was uncertain. I
was heavily involved in industry
affairs and had lost the plot in
running the business. There was
too much politics, so when I got a
good offer, I took it. I immediately
regretted it.’’
It was not long before she was
rebuilding the business, buying
the Muswellbrook station in the
Upper Hunter, before adding stations (in no particular order) in
Bega, Wollongong, Ballarat,
Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura, Darwin and Murray Bridge. Earlier
this year, in the wake of forced
divestments by the Macquarie
Media Group, she picked up nine
Tasmanian stations and one
(from Fairfax Media) in Ipswich.
Janet Cameron has had experience with listed companies. She
was a foundation director of the
Gold Coast-based Sea FM, which
she describes as: ‘‘Not a happy
experience.’’ She is no longer
connected with those stations, but
says: ‘‘I was really cross at the
way analysts were never happy
with good, organic growth. They
always wanted you to be buying
something; they wanted to write it
up in a sexy way. I saw it as a
caution about life in a public
company. It’s too sophisticated
for me. I’m a plain-vanilla kind of
person.
‘‘To me, radio ownership is all
about providing the best product
and what you’re doing in your
communities. For us, floating is
not on the agenda — we’re
comfortable with our size and I’m
not sure we could grow it and still
keep in touch with the people in
each of our stations.’’
From Page 33
THE NUMBERS
AUDIENCE SHARE
All TV, city metro (6am – midnight) Week 38: September 14 – 20
40
30
22.6%
Pay
TV
20.8%
20.0%
20
3.1%
Weeks 1–38
Source: OzTAM
NETWORK SHARE
ABC
20.10%
16.60%
17.50%
17.60%
21.00%
REGIONAL
Total*
Queensland
Northern NSW
Southern NSW
Victoria
Tasmania
ABC
PRIME/7QLD WIN/NBN TEN/S.CROSS SBS
18.20%
28.10%
28.30%
19.20%
6.20%
18.80%
30.80%
25.70%
18.70%
6.00%
15.50%
24.80%
32.70%
20.30%
6.80%
21.10%
25.90%
29.10%
17.50%
6.40%
17.90%
31.20%
24.90%
20.30%
5.70%
32.10%
– 23.00%
37.5%
7.40%
* Free-to-air TV
SEVEN
27.30%
29.20%
28.40%
28.90%
31.50%
NINE
28.10%
26.70%
30.70%
25.70%
21.90%
TEN
18.90%
22.70%
18.30%
22.40%
20.50%
SBS
5.60%
4.80%
5.10%
5.40%
5.20%
Source: OzTAM, Regional TAM
Gotcha!: Bill Caralis, black coat, in a 1981 rugby league photograph
Rare glimpse of silent
king of the airwaves
Mark Day
Radio
SCOOP! Hold the presses!
This is a photograph of Bill
Caralis, the Super Network radio
owner who refuses to talk to the
media, or allow his picture to be
taken for publication.
All right, it might be 27 years
old, but it’s Bill in his days as
president of the now-defunct
Newtown Jets Rugby Leagues
club. He posed with the Jets before
they narrowly lost the 1981 grand
final to Parramatta.
He is flanked by legendary
players Tommy Raudonikis (left)
and Phil Gould (right.)
It’s a pity that Caralis won’t
talk, because he has a fascinating
tale to tell. His father George
came from Sparta in Greece in
1910 and worked in the Sydney
markets. In 1930, he returned to
Greece, but after the end of the
war in 1954 migrated with his wife
and family to Sydney.
MEDIA MONITOR
RANK/PROGRAM
NETW
SYD
MEL
BRI
ADE
PER
1,895,000 615,000 589,000 328,000 153,000 210,000 14 Bones
2 City Homicide
Seven
1,857,000 511,000 617,000 314,000 202,000 213,000 15 Crash Investigation Unit
Seven
1,287,000 393,000 331,000 270,000 134,000 159,000
3 Find my Family
Seven
1,815,000 482,000 558,000 401,000 156,000 218,000 16 Battlefronts
Nine
1,286,000 385,000 372,000 265,000 148,000 117,000
4 Border Security
Seven
1,814,000 546,000 507,000 356,000 176,000 229,000 17 Seven News – Saturday
Seven
1,284,000 329,000 376,000 283,000 135,000 161,000
STN
Seven
5 Rspca Animal Rescue
Seven
1,813,000 501,000 522,000 389,000 168,000 233,000 18 NCIS
Ten
1,280,000 346,000 367,000 229,000 165,000 173,000
6 The Force
Seven
1,733,000 520,000 499,000 313,000 169,000 232,000 19 Criminal Minds
Seven
1,258,000 321,000 377,000 250,000 160,000 150,000
7 60 Minutes
Nine
8 National Nine News – Sunday Nine
He established a fruit and
vegetable store in Sydney’s Queen
Victoria Building, where Bill
worked long hours with his father,
driving a horse and cart along
George Street selling produce to
help support the family.
After his father died when Bill
was 16, he worked at the Masonic
Club to learn the liquor trade.
It was the only time he worked
for a boss.
He established the Marrickville
Cellars drive-in liquor story, and
dabbled in real estate development. Later he owned the huge
Camperdown Cellars and pursued
his great love of league through
his presidency of the Jets.
In 1982, he retired to the Gold
Coast. But the lure of the deal led
him to his first radio purchase —
2RG Griffith — in the early 80s,
followed by stations in Parkes,
Dubbo and Mudgee in 1985. Since
then it has been a non-stop
growth curve. He and wife Pam
remain the sole owners of 36
stations of 35 translators.
Most mentioned items: press, radio,
NETW
SYD
MEL
BRI
ADE
PER
TV and internet, September 13-19
1,298,000 333,000 404,000 228,000 155,000 178,000
STN
Seven
1,686,000 495,000 483,000 320,000 188,000 199,000 20 Spicks & Specks
ABC1
22,386
Malcolm Turnbull
18,650
AFL Finals
18,022
NFL Finals
1,252,000 413,000 354,000 228,000 109,000 148,000
1,637,000 576,000 422,000 336,000 177,000 126,000 21 Home and Away
Seven
1,247,000 367,000 352,000 250,000 124,000 154,000
1,490,000 359,000 462,000 283,000 161,000 225,000 22 Midsomer Murders
ABC1
12,166
Lehman Bothers
1,485,000 388,000 391,000 314,000 171,000 222,000 23 Better Homes and Gardens
Seven
1,233,000 394,000 324,000 209,000 140,000 166,000 0
1,232,000 345,000 431,000 253,000 96,000 106,000
Seven
1,426,000 409,000 349,000 338,000 142,000 189,000 24 Australian Idol
Ten
1,224,000 380,000 348,000 246,000 139,000 111,000 beginning of the week it was Brendan
12 Two and a Half Men – Wed
Nine
1,376,000 394,000 432,000 271,000 132,000 147,000 25 All Saints
Seven
13 Today Tonight
Seven
1,325,000 341,000 353,000 261,000 167,000 204,000
Seven
11 Medical Emergency
THE TOP 10 MOVIES
METROPOLITAN
SYDNEY
MELBOURNE
BRISBANE
ADELAIDE
PERTH
GEOFF HANDBURY is happy to
take a back seat at his ACE Radio
Broadcasters network of Victorian stations these days. His farmer
son-in-law, Rowly Patterson, is
the group’s chairman and a
grand-daughter sits on the board
as a non-executive director. He is
satisfied a family succession is on
the cards.
Handbury acquired the 50 per
cent of ACE that he didn’t own in
1995 when it operated four stations in Western Victoria. Now it
has 13 stations, mostly AM-FM
combos, in Horsham, Hamilton,
Colac, Warrnambool, Swan Hill,
Gippsland and Albury in southern
NSW. As well, the company
publishes the Weekly Advertiser
newspaper in Horsham and Ararat. It is valued at more than $50
million.
Handbury is the brother-in-law
of Rupert Murdoch, chairman of
The Australian’s owner, News
Corporation. He was married to
Rupert’s sister, Helen, who died
in 2004. Their daughter, Judy, is
married to Patterson, who oversees a 3000ha farm near Lake
Bolac in central Victoria.
‘‘I spend a couple of days a
week on the radio business,’’ says
Patterson. ‘‘It’s a great way to
keep in touch with the communities around Victoria.’’
Asked to describe the attractions of being privately held, he
says: ‘‘We can run our own race
at our own pace. We don’t need
shareholders, and we have a
quality approach to our structures, our values, our staff and the
impact we have on the communities we service.’’
RANK/PROGRAM
1 Packed to the Rafters
14.6% 10 Seven News – Monday-Friday Seven
0
maybe one or two of them will
want to take over.’’
THE TOP 25 TV PROGRAMS
16.5% 9 Seven News – Sunday
10
ROSS McPHERSON and his
brothers Chris and Paul are the
definition of mini multi-media
moguls. Their McPherson Media
Group company, publisher of the
Shepparton News and a dozen
other small regional newspapers,
has a finger in all the major new
media growth areas — an internet
service provider, a telephony re-
seller and a web design and
marketing division. It also operates a commercial printing operation.
The McPhersons have been
part of the Goulburn Valley in
Victoria since 1888, but in the
1960s sold 25 per cent of their
company to The Age to fund new
presses. After Fairfax took over
The Age, its interest grew to 47
per cent.
In 1998, the brothers saw an
opportunity to reclaim their heritage, and took 100 per cent
ownership. Ross, 57, is executive
chairman, Chris, 54, is CEO and
Paul, 59, runs the Melbourne
commercial printing operation.
The group is valued at around $80
million.
‘‘We’ve had lots of offers and
opportunities to consider floating,’’ Ross says.
‘‘But we love the business and
the challenges of building multimedia platforms. We believe we
have a good feel for what country
people want, and being private we
can set our own goals and operate
at a scale that suits us and our
region.’’
The last time the brothers
considered selling into a float was
when Fairfax paid $155 million for
the Albury Border Mail.
‘‘We thought that was an
insane price, but we decided we
were having too much fun,’’ Ross
says. ‘‘If we walked away with a
bucket of money we would simply
become investment managers.
What sort of life is that?’’
Ross McPherson says he and
his brothers have eight children
between them, and most have
worked in the company at some
stage.
‘‘They’ll need to make their
way on merit,’’ he says, ‘‘but
Scene from
In Bruges
Box-office takings last weekend (Thur-Mon)
TITLE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
The Mummy
Tropic Thunder
In Bruges
Make it Happen
Hellboy II
The Dark Knight
Taken
Mamma Mia!
Harold & Kumar
Baby Mama
WEEKS IN
RELEASE
$$$
SCREENS
1
4
2
2
3
9
5
10
2
4
3,509,055
757,330
472,679
463,740
459,611
424,725
406,156
370,099
363,376
173,108
362
261
113
166
224
213
182
246
131
161
3,524,115
8,823,045
1,483,161
1,345,147
4,069,338
44,619,506
6,333,120
30,069,047
1,165,381
2,368,505
12,000
16,000
20,000
1,212,000 431,000 356,000 164,000 129,000 132,000 Nelson who ended up with a nasty
THE TOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITES
Week ending September 13, 2008
DOMAIN
MARKET SHARE
1 Photobucket
www.photobucket.com
23.00%
2 Flickr
www.flickr.com
20.09%
3 ImageShack
www.imageshack.us
4.65%
4 Picasa Web Albums
picasaweb.google.com
4.52%
5 Digital Photography Review
www.dpreview.com
1.94%
6 ImageVenue.com
www.imagevenue.com
1.94%
7 Canon Australia
www.canon.com.au
1.75%
8 Slide.com
Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia
8000
After calling a snap leadership vote at the
RANK NAME
$$$
TO DATE
4000
www.slide.com
1.54%
9 PBASE
www.pbase.com
1.44%
10 Panoramio
www.panoramio.com
1.30%
Source: Hitwise
surprise when Malcolm Turnbull defeated
him narrowly to become the new federal
Opposition Leader.
The AFL Finals and NRL Finals coverage
was neck and neck this week at second and
third on the Media Monitors Index, with four
Victorian teams to battle it out for the AFL
flag for the first time in more than a decade.
The New Zealand Warriors were the surprise
packet of the NRL finals.
One of America and the world's largest
merchant banks went to the wall this week
after the US Government refused to bail out
the ailing financial giant, while Merrill Lynch
was sold to Bank of America.
The launch of the long awaited and much
anticipated Costello Memoirs was largely
overshadowed by the Liberal leadership
vote, although there was extensive discussion about Costello's comments in the
book about Janette Howard's influence.
Data and analysis provided by Media Monitors Australia