Marketing & Media

Australia’s proposed National Broadband Network (NBN) has been thrust back into the headlines with yesterday’s news that the Rudd Government is taking Telstra over its knee with the firm intention of breaking it in two. Of course, Conroy’s Telstra play is all about the National Broadband Network and competition – more of it means better prices for consumers, and more opportunity for clever Australian startups.

You’ve heard all the pros and cons for social networking. So, I’m not going there again. If you hate social media, run away. Now. However, for those of you who are hooked, there’s a whole new world of words and phrases that you need to be across. So, I felt it was time for a dictionary for our new, social media age.

The nominations are coming in thick and fast, female involvement is close to reaching an all time high (as posted previously) and, next week, mobile billboards will be hitting major CBDs (thanks to your input). However, one or two trends have emerged that have surprised me.

The nominations are coming in thick and fast, female involvement is close to reaching an all time high (as posted previously) and, next week, mobile billboards will be hitting major CBDs (thanks to your input). However, one or two trends have emerged that have surprised me.

Earlier today, Google made one of its most useful online services, the Sydney-developed Google Maps, even more useful for Australian users by adding current traffic information to several cities.

The top two weather apps on the Australian iTunes store are Oz Weather and Pocket Weather. These two are the weather man/girl for your iPhone.

One of the most important skills a business leader can develop is being able to identify what to undertake in-house and what to outsource. As Dean Morelli explains, if you know where your company truly adds value, then outsourcing other functions of the business frees you up to add even more value.

An ex-colleague of mine, the least entrepreneurial person I have ever met, gave me the best piece of entrepreneurial advice I have ever received. She told me just as I was starting mag nation that my most important job would be having a coffee with five random people every week. I smiled politely and filed this one in the back pocket. She was right, though. When I have lived by this rule, my business has progressed. When I have ignored it, we have stagnated.

The truly anarchical nature of the internet (despite attempts to control it) precludes the concept of the captive audience. Now, it’s a buyers’ market – and we have so very many options. Big media take note.

Since 1941 Kleenex have actually understood what it is that hits to the core of being a man who buys tissues. The one thing that is a symbol of unadorned manliness – huge, enormous, large, big and gargantuan-sized tissues that come in massive boxes. In recent months, other consumer brands seem to have caught on.

The US TV series "The Apprentice", like host Donald Trump himself, is not everybody's cup of tea. But we like it. So, of course, we've been looking forward to the upcoming Australian version of the show. The star is Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris, and occasional Anthill contributor Carmen Parnos is one of the contestants. If you haven't seen it yet, here is Channel 9's promo for The Apprentice Australia, which is expected to premiere later this month.

The US TV series "The Apprentice", like host Donald Trump himself, is not everybody's cup of tea. But we like it. So, of course, we've been looking forward to the upcoming Australian version of the show. The star is Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris, and occasional Anthill contributor Carmen Parnos is one of the contestants. If you haven't seen it yet, here is Channel 9's promo for The Apprentice Australia, which is expected to premiere later this month.

Glen Riverstone is the embodiment of an inventor-turned-entrepreneur. Faced with a personal problem, he invented a device to solve it, commercialised the product and exported to 13 countries around the world - all within the space of eleven months.

Underground spam companies are infiltrating popular online games, such as World of Warcraft, by hiring players to accrue and sell virtual possessions of in-game value, such as swords and potions. It’s a new frontier, and the authorities are fighting back, sending virtual detectives into these games to police such activity.

Here's a simple mashup/hack on the concept of comparing search results between Google and Bing. Type your search query in the top box and the results in Google and Bing appear below in split-screen. Handy for those searching for information or, more likely, those seeking to compare how their own site ranks in each search engine for various search terms.

A breakthrough by researchers at the University of Sydney is set to harmonise two of today's hottest emerging trends: cloud computing and energy efficiency.

This series by contributing authors Gene Stark and Jeremy Samuel ponders why law firms aren’t better at marketing themselves. This second instalment explores misconceptions about branding and why law firms tend to play from the same tired corporate playbook.

The events surrounding the death, last week, of Sydney businessman Michael McGurk have attracted greater intrigue and speculation than a Sopranos cliff-hanger. How someone can build a career on intimidation and extortion is beyond this author's imagination. However, the fascinating events surrounding McGurk's demise have got me thinking. What can we, as business-people, learn from the tactics of a stand-over man? Fortunately, I have only one resource to rely on. Gangster fiction!

The next time you get a proposal from a sales rep that quotes your spend as an “investment”, kick ’em in the butt and throw them out of your office. If they can’t pay you the courtesy of telling you the truth by calling it a “spend” or an “expense” or something that smells a lot less like bullshit, then you don’t want to do business with them.

You might, from time to time, forget to give your kids money to pay for their lunch orders. Or perhaps your children have a habit of using the lunch money you give them to buy lollies instead of the alfalfa sandwiches for which it is intended. Either way, mHITs is hoping both parents and schools will sign up for Easy Canteen.