Business of Media
WPP to acquire marketing technology leader Bower House Digital
WPP is acquiring Bower House Digital, an Australian marketing technology services agency.
Bower House Digital will join Ogilvy’s global network. Founded in 2017 by Bryan Dobson and Meg Quinn, it employs approximately 80 people across Australia and the Asia Pacific region.
The agency designs, builds and deploys digital experiences for clients including Aesop, Bunnings, Bupa, Target and Myer. It specialises in implementing Salesforce Marketing Cloud solutions and was awarded Salesforce’s APAC Growth Partner of the Year in 2021.
Rose Herceg, WPP President, Australia and New Zealand, said: “Companies are seeking one integrated communications solution that combines creativity, technology and data. Bower House Digital’s knowledge in marketing technology will further strengthen our digital expertise in Australia and New Zealand. I’m excited to welcome the Bower House Digital team and clients to WPP.”
Bryan Dobson and Meg Quinn, Bower House Digital Co-founders, said: “Joining WPP and Ogilvy’s global network represents the next stage in our growth. We are so proud of what our company has achieved, the culture we have created and the team we have assembled over the past five years. Fusing our digital marketing knowledge with the creative powers of Ogilvy will build even bigger and better opportunities for our people and clients.”
Guy Sebastian’s former manager Titus Day found guilty on 34 charges
Guy Sebastian’s former manager Titus Day has been found guilty of embezzling his celebrity client’s money, report The Sydney Morning Herald’s Georgina Mitchell and Sarah McPhee.
Day, 49, faced a lengthy trial in the NSW District Court accused of failing to pay Sebastian more than $880,000 for royalties, ambassadorships and performance fees between 2013 and 2020. He pleaded not guilty to 47 counts of embezzlement.
On Thursday, a jury of six men and four women found Day guilty of 34 charges, relating to embezzling $624,675.41, and acquitted him of 13 charges.
Day stood and remained stoic as the verdicts were read out. After the court adjourned, he was comforted by an older man and sank into a chair, wiping his face and holding his head in his hands.
Crown prosecutor David Morters, SC, said Day should be immediately taken into custody following the verdicts, arguing that jail time was likely because Day “systematically, over an extended period of time” took Sebastian’s money for his own benefit. The application will be decided on Friday.
Newsletter start-up Substack is laying off 14% of its staff
Substack, the newsletter start-up that has attracted prominent writers including George Saunders and Salman Rushdie, laid off 13 of its 90 employees on Wednesday, part of an effort to conserve cash amid an industrywide funding crunch for start-ups, reports The New York Times.
Substack’s chief executive, Chris Best, told employees that the cuts affected staff members responsible for human resources and writer support functions, among others, according to a person familiar with the discussion.
The cuts are a blow to a company that has said it was opening up a new era of media, in which people writing stories and making videos would be more empowered, getting direct payments from readers for what they produce instead of being paid by the publications or sites where their work appears.
Entertainment
Ouch! Baz Luhrmann films are all style and no substance, says Karl Quinn
No one makes a splash quite like Baz Luhrmann. Trouble is, that splash is so shallow it barely breaks the surface, comments The Age’s Karl Quinn.
Baz is the King of Bling, the Bedazzler of cinema. His movies are all flash and tinsel. They are noisy, frenetic, hyperactive triumphs of spectacle over substance, and people just love them.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m delighted to see his Elvis sitting at the top of the Australian box office. I’m delighted too that he keeps making these big, bold, expensive movies, and that they keep succeeding, because they play a key role in proving the Australian film industry belongs on the world stage. Sure, it’s not the only gauge that matters, but Hollywood has taken notice of Australia in no small part because of what Baz (and George Miller) have consistently done in this country, on their own terms.
But the films themselves … well, there my taste diverges from the popular to a pretty significant degree. Elvis is a bit of a mess. The Great Gatsby was a bit of a mess. Moulin Rouge with its pop-song mash-ups was a bit of a mess. And Australia was the mother of all messes. Only Strictly Ballroom – which was no less razzle-dazzle than the others, but was a breath of fresh air when it landed – and Romeo + Juliet, a perfectly judged marriage of MTV aesthetic and hyperinflated teen emotion to Shakespeare’s text, stand apart.
See also:
Why I couldn’t help falling in love with Austin Butler’s Elvis by The Age’s Meg Watson.
Television
‘The retching was really fun’: Maya Rudolph’s joy in goofing around on Loot
Loot, a 10-episode workplace comedy created by Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard of shows such as Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock, allows Maya Rudolph to combine comedy and emotional drama in a show centred on the theme of reinvention, writes The Sydney Morning Herald’s Lenny Ann Low.
Loot is also brought to life by Rudolph’s production company, Animal Pictures, which she established in 2018 with longtime friend, writer and actor Natasha Lyonne, best known for TV series Russian Doll. Despite industry presumptions they would focus on female-forward comedies, Animal Pictures’ wide-ranging repertoire includes projects such as feature documentary Sirens, teen queer rom-com Crush and an adaptation of Irish comedy horror film Extra Ordinary.
Mystery Road’s backstory is also the future of Indigenous filmmaking
The character of Indigenous cowboy detective Jay Swan, embodied so wholly by Aaron Pedersen, made the successful transition from big to small screen after Ivan Sen’s 2013 film and its 2016 sequel Goldstone, with an Indigenous story that remained compelling across two acclaimed television series, reports The Age’s Kylie Northover in a 5-star review.
Now Swan returns, but not as we’ve known him. Mystery Road: Origin rewinds Swan’s story to 1999, just as he earns his detective badge, and returns from the city to his fictional hometown of Jardine, a remote mining town in Western Australia, where his estranged father, Jack (Kelton Pell) and brother Sputty (Clarence Ryan) live.
Radio
Brisbane radio icon Bob Gallagher set to return to airwaves as new breakfast host
One of Brisbane’s favourite radio voices is set to get back behind the microphone as the new breakfast host of Classic Hits 4BH, reports The Couirier-Mail’s Matty Holdsworth.
BBQ Bob Gallagher will rejoin the station that launched his career as a teenager in the early 1970s where he worked as a control room operator.
Gallagher had been the program director at 4KQ which recently sold to Sports Entertainment Network and controversially reformatted to 24/7 sport.
He said he would bring an “unmistakably” Brisbane feel to the show and tipped to take the station to the next level when he starts on July 11.
“I absolutely love Brisbane. With the change of 4KQ to sport, I look forward to connecting with all the loyal Classic Hits lovers at my new home,” Gallagher said.
Ace Radio chief executive Mark Taylor said the station had pivoted from an “easy listening” style to class hits format as a natural replacement following the sale of 4KQ.
Sports Media
Seven moves to tear up Cricket Australia deal over alleged Big Bash League breaches
Seven West Media has attempted to blow up its $450 million media rights deal with Cricket Australia, arguing in fresh court proceedings that the sporting body breached its contract and undermined the success of the Big Bash League, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Zoe Samios.
In proceedings filed in the Federal Court, Seven claims that CA breached its contract relating to quality and standards of the BBL, which has struggled to generate high TV ratings.
“Seven’s intention is to terminate the [media rights agreement], conditional on the Federal Court granting a declaration that Seven is entitled to do so,” a statement on the ASX, approved by the board, said.
TV networks must take more care with dressing room vision: Trent Robinson
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has admitted vision of Victor Radley making a crude hand gesture following State of Origin was “unfortunate” before turning the heat back on to the TV networks and urging them to be more careful about what was broadcast from the dressing sheds, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Christian Nicolussi.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo plans to speak with Radley about Sunday night’s footage, which captured him mimicking a sexual act with Roosters teammate Joseph Suaalii.
Host broadcasters Nine, owners of this masthead, did not immediately respond to Robinson’s claims.
Spotted: Tom Morris in Europe after being sacked by Fox Sports
Former Fox Sports reporter Tom Morris has been seen partying in Croatia with jockey Jamie Kah, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
Morris, who was sacked in March after a recording of him making offensive comments about colleague Megan Barnard’s sexuality was leaked online, is taking some time away in the UK.
He has been keeping a low profile, visiting friends and family in London and completing education courses on racism and sexism following the formal apology he made saying he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions.