It was some year for the B&T editorial team. We headed to Tropical North Queensland to report on the Cannes in Cairns extravaganza, took a sojourn to the south of France to cover Cannes Lions and even made the trek over to Melbourne once or twice.
But what did our readers enjoy? Here are the stories that you clicked on the most (original stories, we mean. We received quite a lot of traffic on one XXXX story, but we think those clicks were looking for something else).
10. Is WPP Still The World’s Biggest HoldCo? Sort Of
We’re useless with money here at B&T (something you might have spotted with our financial results coverage). Fortuantely, our parent company’s CFO, John Hromin, isn’t. Back in February, we enlisted Hromin to do the nerdy stuff and crunch the numbers and work out which of the big five holcos is actually the biggest. Sadly, the results were somewhat inconclusive.
9. Karen Nelson-Field: Media Agencies Don’t Get Attention Because They Prioritise Price
This interview with everyone’s favourite marketing scientist caused quite the stir when we published it in May — partly due to the slightly inflammatory headline, partly because there might be an element of truth in what Nelson-Field said.
8. Stan Grant: “We Are Feeding Hate Into The Bloodstream Of Our Society”
Former ABC presenter Stan Grant was one of the standout speakers at this year’s Cannes in Cairns. Having recently resigned his position as the host of Q+A after receiving barrages of abhorrent racist abuse, Grant was also rendered unable to travel to Queensland due to the very real threats on his and his family’s life. Regardless, Grant’s keynote, delivered virtually, was a tour de force in rhetoric and proved a sobering listen.
7. Seven’s Mel McLaughlin: The Women’s World Cup “Was The Biggest Privilege Of My Career”
It was a huge year for women’s soccer in Australia and, correspondingly, a huge year for Seven. The network’s presenter Mel McLaughlin, regaled B&T with her views of the tournament, saying she had goosebumps just talking about the experience.
6. Sparrow Chats With Pat Crowley
An emotional piece, this. Pat Crowley, former CEO of EssenceMediacom chatted with his personal friend, B&T‘s Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham after his youngest son, Levi, was diagnosed with rare form of cancer called VHL (Von Hippel-Lindau). The news came a month after his other son Fletcher suffered a severe spinal cord injury from a mountain bike accident. This emotional chat helped spur donations to Crowley’s GoFundMe page to modify his house to make it accessible for Levi and Fletcher.
5. REVEALED: Australia’s Greatest-Ever Ad!!!
As the most respected organ of truth in the media, marketing and advertising industries (or rag, according to the AFR), it should come as no surprise that our revealing of Australia’s greatest-ever ad, “Not Happy, Jan” by the way, went gangbusters.
4. Telstra Set To Award Its Massive Creative Account To TBWA And Bear Meets Eagle On Fire
Did we break the biggest account move of the year? Potentially. Was it worth our time camping outside Brent Smart’s house for three months to get the scoop? Probably not. Regardless, you lot went nuts for this story. Though, we reckon most of the clicks may have come from disgruntled staffers from The Monkeys.
3. “Hello F*ckers!” Mark Ritson Takes On Segmentation At Cannes In Cairns
It should come as no surprise that everyone’s favourite potty-mouthed marketing professor’s talk in Queensland did the numbers this year. He railed against the marketing nerds who value practices such as audience segmentation and instead talked up the over-arching benefits of a big, impactful creative campaign.
2. “You’re Dead In 18 Months Or Less”: Scott Galloway On The Future Of CMOs
The other end of the spectrum of marketing sages is, of course, Scott Galloway. The deadpan yank delivers his talks at pace, barely pausing for breath, but delivering knowledge bomb after knowledge bomb. In this talk, he told the assembled crew at the ADMA Global Forum that CMOs who are not looking to evolve their roles away from advertising, brand and media budgets towards a role that affects more of the business will be a thing of the past soon.
1. MasterChef’s Melissa Leong On Negative Media Attention: “You’re Still A Human”
This chat with Melissa Leong took place before the untimely and incredibly sad passing of her fellow MasterChef Jock Zonfrillo. That was a moment that changed Leong’s life and captured the hearts of Australia. It’s a cracking read, too.
