Senate Alcohol Update
Good news, bad news. The findings of the Senate Committee inquiry into the Fielding Liquor Bill were released recently. The Committee firmly rejected the proposals in that Bill and has recommended it not proceed. But the issue has not gone away.
The major recommendations rejected in the Bill were:
- Restrict TV and radio alcohol advertising to after 9:00pm and before 5:00am to stop alcohol being marketed to young people
- Require all alcohol advertisements to be pre-approved by an Australian Communications Media Authority (ACMA) division
- Ban alcohol advertisements that are aimed at children or which link drinking to personal, business, social, sporting, sexual or other success.
The Committee recommended that additional safeguards be put in place by ABAC and others to ensure children are not adversely influenced by liquor ads during sport coverage, a code will be developed by ABAC and other codes prepared for packaging and labeling.
The Committee supported the broad aims of the Bill, but felt it was going about things in the wrong way. They pointed to the Binge Drinking Campaign announced by Prime Minister Rudd as a better way of tackling the issue. It’s also worth noting that promoters of the Bill - Family First - have lodged a dissenting report having clearly lost the battle in the Committee. Be aware, this is not an issue that will go away - alcohol advertising and promotion will change and in the meantime self-regulation and compliance with the codes has never been so important.
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Grow Your Own Talent
We’re recruiting Accredited member agencies earlier this year for the AFA Graduate Trainee Program.
This year a record nineteen NSW agencies, ten Victorian agencies and six agencies signed up in the Program and offered a total of forty-seven Traineeships to bright young graduates. With SA and Queensland signing up for 2009 we are expecting yet another big number. We have also decided to widen our talent net by including TAFE and accredited private college as well as uni graduates.
Participating agencies and links to their websites will be posted in the Graduate Trainee Program section of our website. Applications are now open and “Free Your Right Brain’ has returned! For more information contact Gawen Rudder (02 8297 3807/0419 488 636) or Emma Graham (02 8297 3839) or go to the Graduate Trainee page on the AFA website.
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What We’re Here For
You’ve probably read about them, the three guys - Mark Green, Justin Drape and Scott Nowell - with the distinction of getting ads on the ABC for a beer, bank and anti-ageing cream. The good news is they’ve joined the AFA. Billed in the cover story of the current ‘Campaign Brief’ as the guys who are “…making the competition very nervous,” the Monkeys are not your traditional ad agency for sure - they’re working on a couple of TV series for the ABC, exploring content with Hopscotch Films, producing books, designing web series and creating ad campaigns for FOXTEL, NRL, Fox Sports, Pepsi, Unwired and Yahoo7! But are they an agency? Officially yes, after all they are ‘Emerging Agency of the Year’ with both AdNews and B&T. Go to www.threedrunkmonkeys.com.au
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And Why Roger Joined Too
When Roger Stephens called a friend asking if he knew of a good creative director who might be interested in starting a new agency, he didn’t expect the response, ‘Is there anything wrong with me?’ That friend was Alex Fenton, who was then a senior creative at Whybin\TBWA. The chance marriage of Roger’s strategic mind and Alex’s creative energy turned out to be an excellent fit. Melbourne-based Fenton Stephens opened in late 2005, and in just under three years have grown to 16 staff. They boast a number of credible campaigns such as the rebirth of the Stubbies brand, Isuzu trucks, Everlast sports apparel, and most recently King Gee.
Commenting on the decision to join the AFA, Roger said: ‘our vision is simply to be the most respected agency in Australia. This philosophy impacts on how and who we do business with, and it extends to aligning ourselves with the policies of the most credible advertising body. We’re looking forward to AFA Accreditation, not so much for the recognition, but also the discipline of our staff’s emersion in the range of professional development programs’. Go to www.fentonstephens.com.au
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Not Too Rosie for Nudie
Agencies which have recently undertaken an ACCC update workshop may not be surprised to learn of yet another reminder of the dangers of misleading advertising and packaging. The Federal Court recently declared that the fruit juice company, Nudie, made misleading claims about two of its products, following legal action by the ACCC under three sections of the Trade Practices Act. Nudie represented its new ‘Rosie Ruby’ juice product was solely cranberry juice and its ‘Rosie Blue’ juice product was solely cranberry and blueberry juice, when in fact both juices mostly comprised reconstituted apple juice - 80% in the case of Rosie Ruby and 78% in the case of Rosie Blue. The court granted an injunction restraining Nudie from repeating the conduct for 3 years and ordered Nudie to write to all its retailers explaining its conduct, publish corrective advertisements, establish a trade practices education and compliance program and pay the ACCC’s costs. The corrective advertising statement can currently be viewed on www.lifeisrosie.com.au.
Our legal advisers at von Muenster Solicitirs & Attorneys point out that the case has serious implications for Nudie. They, and their agency will need to re-think their current marketing strategy of using quirky names for its juices, as these names will now need to strictly reference what is actually in the bottle. Nudie will also need to reconsider its current positioning which suggests that Nudie is more honest about its ingredients than other juice companies. For instance, there is currently a section on the Nudie website called “Make sure you read your labels: the juicy fibs the other juices tell,” which explains how other juices are often “just packed full of all sorts of things that aren’t fruit” such as reconstituted juice.
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