Series 3, Episode 3

SERIES 3, EPISODE 3 A STUDY GUIDE BY ANNE CHESHER http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-368-7 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au EPISODE 3 INTRODUCTION Gruen Planet – a show about advertising, PR, marketing, spin and everything else they use to make us buy stuff we don’t need. In this new series, Gruen Planet will run an X-ray across the world and unpick the stories that affect us all. Does the most awarded ad on the planet actually work? Is Apple’s formulaic marketing now working against it? Why would a network refuse to run a specific ad? Does a pope need a publicist? How do you sell the footy finals? Each week, host Wil Anderson will be joined by regulars Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft, along with some of Australia’s smartest communications experts. They will take us inside the persuasion business and explain why the world appears not as it really is, but as others want us to see it. Episode 3 Guest Panellists are: CAROLYN MILLER: Communications Strategist BRAM WILLIAMS: Archibald / Williams SCREEN EDUCATION ©ATOM 2013 2 CURRICULUM Gruen Planet has cross-curricula application across several Australian Curriculum subject areas. In particular, Gruen Planet has application as a learning resource in English, Media Studies, Commerce, Economics, Political Studies, Cultural Studies, and Civics and Citizenship. Gruen Planet subject matter and pitch is appropriate for Secondary School students Years 8–10 and Senior Secondary Years 11–12. As a classroom resource or as a reference for individual learning assignments, Gruen Planet offers a variety of contemporary topics affecting our society that deal with ethics, morality, values and culture. SERIES SYNOPSIS Everyone is on the sell. Tyrants. Sports stars. Actors. Criminals. Politicians. Deities. Charities. Entire nations. They’re all trying to persuade us to think, buy or do things that we weren’t thinking, buying or doing yesterday. Host Wil Anderson is joined by regulars Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft, along with some of world’s smartest communications experts. They take us inside the persuasion business and explain why the world appears not as it really is, but as others want us to see it – why everything is spin, branding, advertising and image control. The panellists dissect each week’s events as they unfold. Whether it is a million dollars spent on an advertising campaign or a hundred dollars spent on a haircut or a tie, Gruen Planet is there to decode what is going on for the audience and point out the many strategies brands and organisations use to influence us. Like its parent show, The Gruen Transfer, Gruen Planet offers up and dissects a feast of messaging brilliance and bunkum from over the years and around the world. SCREEN EDUCATION ©ATOM 2013 3 HOST Wil Anderson Wil is a stand-up comedian first and foremost, touring Australia and the world at every opportunity and performing more than a hundred shows a year. His stand-up is a densely written, high-speed ride through one of the most wonderful comedic imaginations in the world. Politics, pop and the banal come together in a Wil Anderson routine, always delivered with more conviction and enthusiasm than any man’s vocal cords can take. Over the last four years, Wil spent a lot of time north of In addition to his Gruen commitments in 2012, Wil was the equator, performing live in London, Edinburgh, Ireland, busy touring his hit live show Wilarious to sold-out venues Montreal and Los Angeles. around Australia, earning rave reviews and winning his third consecutive Bulmer’s People’s Choice Award at the Since 2008, Wil has hosted ABC TV’s highest rating pro- Melbourne Comedy Festival, not to mention being named gram, The Gruen Transfer series – a role that saw him nomi- one of comedy’s hottest acts by none other than John nated for a Gold Logie in 2010. The program has spawned Cleese, proving that this world-class comedian is definitely spin-offs Gruen Nation, Gruen Sweat and Gruen Planet. In at the top of his game. 2013, Wil returned to host a series each of Gruen Nation and Gruen Planet. Wil started 2013 doing live shows in Vancouver, Minneapolis and Denver before returning home with his new stand up show, GoodWil, debuting at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and occupying the prestigious Princess Theatre during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival before returning to live dates in North America and the UK. SCREEN EDUCATION ©ATOM 2013 4 REGULAR PANEL Todd Sampson The eclectic life of Todd Sampson began on Cape Breton Russel Howcroft Island, off the north-east coast of Canada. He grew up in modest circumstances; his father was a factory worker Through his appearances on Gruen Planet, Russel has be- for Coca-Cola and his mother a checkout girl for KFC. come the very public face of brand marketing and advertis- Although neither of them had any formal education, Todd ing in Australia. In fact, according to media mogul Harold entered university at sixteen on a full scholarship, studying Mitchell, Russel Howcroft has become a brand himself. biology and economics and then went on to complete an Mitchell awarded Russel a much-coveted Charlie Award on MBA by age twenty-four. the basis of personal brand creation. And while Russel was pleased to be recognised in such a fashion, his mum was Todd is the national CEO of Leo Burnett Sydney, one of the particularly pleased, as she is a huge Harold fan! world’s leading communication companies – it was recently ranked as the seventh most creative company in the world. Russel has recently joined Network Ten as one of its He is the co-creator of the Earth Hour initiative, one of the most senior executives. Prior to this role, Russel was largest environmental movements in history, reaching more Chief Executive Officer Australia/New Zealand at Young than 1.4 billion people in more than 5500 cities. & Rubicam Brands. He fell in love with the advertising industry after doing a week’s work experience at advertising The Financial Review and News Limited ranked him as one agency McCann Erickson while part-way through a mar- of the most influential executives in Australia. He has won keting degree at Chisholm Institute (now part of Monash CEO of the Year twice and has featured on the cover of University). His father had started working in advertising at BRW magazine. the ripe old age of forty-five after a career as a cartoonist and businessman, and he suggested that his son give it a Todd is undoubtedly one of Australia’s freshest and most go. Russel, who hated university, managed to extend his interesting TV personalities, with a unique ability to com- work experience into an eighteen-month job. bine intelligent insight with humility. As well as appear- ing in the Gruen series, Todd is also a regular guest on In his early twenties, Russel headed to London and spent the Network 10 news show The Project and has featured five years working at Lowe Howard-Spink, one of Britain’s on CNN, Sky News and the ABC’s Q&A program. He is top creative agencies. His major account was Heineken currently starring in the groundbreaking documentary beer, and his work on that account was considered one of Redesign My Brain on ABC, which explores our ability to Britain’s best ad campaigns of its time. dramatically improve it using science. Russel returned to Melbourne in 1995 and co-founded Outside of work, Todd is an adventurer and has climbed to Leonardi Brandhouse. He spent the next eleven years run- the top of Mount Everest, unguided. ning his own agencies with various partners, before joining George Patterson Y&R, Australia’s oldest agency brand, in 2006. The group included The Campaign Palace, VML, IdeaWorks and Brand Asset Consulting. Russel is also the former Chairman of the Advertising Federation of Australia and has been a regular com- mentator on radio in Melbourne. Russel’s other passion is reflected in his position on the board of the Melbourne Football Club. SCREEN EDUCATION ©ATOM 2013 5 GUEST PANEL Bram Williams Bram Williams has developed communication strategies for all kinds of brands in all kinds of media. He began in radio with Triple J, switching to advertising in 1993. After Planning Director stints at McCann-Erickson and Euro RSCG (creating campaigns for Bacardi, Levi’s, Coca-Cola, General Motors and Volvo), he was head of strategy at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia (Toyota, Tooheys and Sony). In 2009, Bram was founding Strategic Partner of Archibald Ingall Stretton, New York. He returned to Australia and with Stuart Archibald founded Archibald / Williams in 2012. Bram has lectured in planning for the AFA; authored a monthly AdNews column and been a returning panellist on ABC TV’s The Gruen Transfer. EPISODE STRUCTURE Carolyn Miller Each episode of Gruen Planet comprises Carolyn is a freelance communications strategist who has of segments which run back-to-back been working in the advertising industry for over fifteen years, at ad agencies including Moon Communications, to make up the show. Shaping the DDB and Euro RSCG. She has worked on a variety of content into these segments enables the clients including Dettol, Mortein, Jaguar, Westfield, HTC, producers to focus on different elements Nurofen and is also a non-executive director of the board for Family Planning NSW. of various marketing campaigns while maintaining a consistent show structure throughout the series. SCREEN EDUCATION ©ATOM 2013 6 How Do You Sell EPISODE 3 AFL and NRL Grand Final In this episode of Gruen Planet, you can almost smell, almost touch, almost taste the Rugby League and Aussie What Would Kim Jong-un Do? Rules Grand Finals.

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