In the world of marketing and advertising the rise of social media influencers have given brands a new way to communicate with their customers. It has also opened up opportunities for unscrupulous operators.

The New York Times lifted the lid on fake social media accounts and followers earlier this year and Twitter has recently changed its user policy to address to problem.

One of the biggest influencer agencies in Australia is Hypetap, and its CEO Detch Singh joins us to talk to explain if influencer fraud is scaring away advertisers.

By Grant Blackley, CEO of Southern Cross Austereo

I wonder if for many advertising professionals, particularly those in major city centres, the term “regional Australia” conjures up mental images of farmers and real-life Daisy Dukes, working the land, sheep dogs afoot and flannelette aplenty. With these abstractions, you could forgive advertisers for believing it utter foolhardiness to target the regional audience. This would certainly explain a mere 9% spend in regional by national advertisers.

There is just one problem: almost nine million Australians live outside capital cities, representing 36% of the total population – and they’re certainly not all wearing wide brim hats and mustering cattle.

Contrary to widely held belief, most regional Australians are residing in large towns or cities, all of which are uniquely different. Towns such as Whyalla, Port Hedland and Dalby have little in common with large regional cities such as Canberra, Gold Coast, Hobart, Newcastle and Townsville, yet they are grouped together under one, all-encompassing term: regional.

I know that most national advertisers have access to sales data at a regional level, so it begs the questions: What is deterring national advertisers and agencies from spending in proportion to the regional population, and are hackneyed stereotypes seriously to blame?

Australia’s major regional cities are prospering and tipped for continued growth in the years to come. The Gold Coast is estimated to grow by 9.4% in the next 5 years, while Canberra and Wollongong will swell by 6.6 percent and 4.7% respectively.

Recent studies show the cost of living in Australia’s city centres is increasing faster than anywhere else in the world, encouraging people to purchase homes in regional locations, particularly those within relative proximity to city centres. The federal government has recently committed $222 million in its Regional Jobs and Investment Packages (RJIP) designed to drive economic growth in regional areas, galvanising a positive outlook for regional Australia.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data tells us that people in regional Australia have a lower cost of living than their metropolitan counterparts and have similar spending habits. So why are national advertisers all “fishing in the same pond” in metropolitan centres, when there are largely untapped markets right on the periphery?

It also begs the question: Why are advertisers prepared to pay a premium to reach the customer in a major city centre, when there is a potentially more profitable customer right on their doorstep?

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

Featuring images of South Australia’s past from 1858-2018, The Advertiser is publishing 10 eight-page liftouts and digital photo galleries to tell the stories of notable events, decade by decade.

Matt Deighton, editor of The Advertiser, said: “When the first edition of The South Australian Advertiser rolled off the presses on July 12, 1858, the settlement of South Australia was only 22 years old. Back then it was as a broadsheet and primarily classifieds newspaper consisting of four pages and sold at four pence.

“Over 160 years we have borne witness to the triumphs and the tragedies that have come to define South Australia. Today, The Advertiser has evolved to become an iconic South Australian brand covering local, national and global news to keep our 502,000 weekly readers informed.

“We are no longer just a daily newspaper, but a 24/7 multimedia organisation, providing the news our readers want, when they want it, on whatever device they choose. It is an evolution that continues apace every day,” Deighton said.

“Yet one thing remains constant, and that is an absolute determination to better the lives of South Australians every day. It is for this reason I am so proud to be celebrating our rich 160-year heritage and commit to continue telling the stories that matter. The stories of South Australians.”

Melvin Mansell, editorial director of SA, NT and TAS at News Corp Australia, said: “Today The Advertiser is more relevant than ever, with more readers than at any time in our history, and a determination to be an empowering force for the communities we serve.

“The Advertiser and Sunday Mail are read by three in four South Australians each month – the highest rate for any print and digital news brand in Australia. And we are determined to keep improving to remain the State’s biggest and most important source of news.”

Acknowledging consistent and generous advertiser support for the masthead, Ish Davies, managing director of News Corp in South Australia, said: “Throughout our rich history it has been a privilege to work with the South Australian business community.

“Often times our role has been to advocate and support local business as we are doing today with our business campaign and our $1M marketing gift to small business.

“Yet just as often we have been the fortunate recipient of generous and loyal support from businesses large and small, whose investment in The Advertiser has allowed and continues to allow our brands to play the role of informing, inspiring and advocating for our community as we do. We are forever grateful for that support.”

Advertisers in South Australia were offered the opportunity to align their brand with the power of the unique 10-day print and digital campaign, expected to boost pride, readership and audience engagement.

Advertisers and sponsors for the 160th birthday campaign include Brand South Australia, Training and Skills Commission of SA and Foodland SA.

To maintaining momentum with the successful We’re for You brand campaign, The Advertiser will publish a selection of brand ads, that highlight the 16 decades of bringing the news to its community.

The eight-page decade-by-decade print liftouts and digital photo galleries commenced on Monday July 2 and will continue until Thursday July 12. On the official 160th birthday, Advertiser.com.au will feature a unique homepage execution that converts the modern 21st century site back to the 1850s – presenting modern news in an old-time format.

By James Manning

He is a longtime collaborator of producer Ian Collie, who we have also featured this week. As well as their work on Jack Irish, the two collaborate on Rake.

• Part 1: Producer Ian Collie on why Guy Pearce keeps coming back to Jack Irish

Andrew Knight

A mere handful of Knight’s career highlights include Rake, now entering its fifth series, three telemovies and two series of Jack Irish, SeaChange, Fast Forward, Full Frontal, The Broken Shore, After the Deluge, My Brother Jack, Kangaroo Palace, Tripping Over, Crash Burn, The Fast Lane and feature films Spotswood, Siam Sunset, and the recent box office hit and Australian Film of the Year, The Water Diviner, starring and directed by Russell Crowe. In 2016 he co-wrote Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge to huge critical and box office acclaim.

When Mediaweek spoke with Andrew Knight recently he was about to depart Canberra after a day of action to promote the Make It Australian campaign.

When asked if he’d been lobbying, he replied, “Lobbying and drinking. It was good to catch up with people, even if there were many whose names I couldn’t remember.”

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This is an excerpt from the full article, which appears on Mediaweek Premium. Read the full article here, or subscribe to Mediaweek Premium here.

With a maximum 180 seconds, the winners must create documentaries designed to make viewers “do a 180” on topics important to Australian women.

“We know there are a million ways to be a woman today, so naturally there are so many topics and issues that tug the heart strings, jerk those tears and fire up women to press for progress,” said Melissa Shedden, editor whimn.com.au. “We were hugely impressed by the insightful and compelling pitches from this year’s Doco180 entrants, which made it hard to select the final recipients. We’re very proud to be able to offer these talented female storytellers the chance to share these important issues with the whimn.com.au audience. Based on the success of Doco180 in 2017 achieving over 1.8 million views across the series, we’re keen to see what 2018 has in store.”

Each team has addressed a range of universal female issues, ranging from body hair and body image, to the reality of gender parity in small business ownership.

The Doco180 season two documentary makers are:

• Blue Lucine and Mariel Thomas’s (NSW) project Asking For It aims to investigate the fear, shame and intimidation that prevents most sexual assault victims from ever taking legal action.Each team has addressed a range of universal female issues

• Can you be a solo mum and still have it all? Director Erin McBean and writer Holly Zwalf (NSW) will create Mother/Lover looking at what exactly it means, these days, to truly “have it all”.

• In A Hairy Problem, director Rebecca Thomson (Tas) will address women’s body hair and how it is still a topic of much public discussion, judgment and shaming. The documentary intends to question if it should be anyone else’s business whether a woman chooses to mow or grow.

• As a female business owner and filmmaker, Laura Clelland (Qld) believes the fight for gender parity has seen the rise of a “girls’ club” where women support other women. In Together She Succeeds, Clelland’s putting her beliefs to the test to discover if there is a darker reality to acknowledge.

• Filmmaker and social worker Hawanatu Bangura (NSW) will direct Inner Demons, unpacking whether being a curvy woman is a blessing or curse. Hawanatu’s film will follow her subject Rosaline, depicting her tug-of-war story and how she banished her demons to become a celebrated mixed race plus size model.

Each team will receive $6,000 to bring its project to life and will be supported by a Screen Australia Investment Development Manager through the entirety of the process.

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Top photo: Hawanatu Bangura and Erin McBean

By James Manning

Seven

After two nights close to 750,000, the midweek episode of Home And Away drifted lower to 696,000.

A phobia of spiders caused some angst on House Rules with 748,000 watching.

The Front Bar then screened in some markets to 278,000 with 182,000 in Melbourne.

Modern Family episodes then did 316,000 and 238,000 screening at different times around the network.

Day three of Wimbledon attracted 216,000.

The Front Bar

Nine

A Current Affair held above 800,000 for its Wednesday episode.

The season final of Young Sheldon series one then did 580,000 followed by a repeat on 483,000.

The AFL Footy Show did 196,000 across the network with 136,000 in Melbourne.

Young Sheldon

TEN

The Project just managed to make it to half a million.

MasterChef didn’t get a lot of time with his royal highness Prince Charles, but it was enough to make it MasterChef Royal Week. The challenge last night in Darwin involved the Prince, who also stopped for a group photo. The audience of 920,000 was the second-biggest this year and it was the show’s best Wednesday this season.

The US dramas followed – Instinct with 450,000 and then Madam Secretary on 189,000.

ABC

Nicky Winmar was the guest of Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery with 505,000 watching.

The season final of Gruen then did 688,000 followed by The Weekly on 575,000. Both shows were down about 40,000 on last week.

SBS

The 4am start to the England v Colombia World Cup elimination match did 180,000. The post-match coverage, which included the penalty shoot-out that kept England alive, did 246,000. A match replay later in the day did 109,000.

Later that night Robson Green’s Australian Adventure did 246,000.