Rubioff
Ad tech company Rubicon will lay off 19% of its workforce -125 jobs - as part of the reorganisation it began in Q2. The company is also lowering its guidance for Q4. In its Q3 results it says "this workforce reduction continues a comprehensive realignment of the business which the company began in the second quarter of 2016 to focus on key growth areas". A number of execcs have exited lately, some due to the reshuffle, some before. In March this year Rubicon Project’s, general manager international, Jay Stevens, left. Rubicon's CFO Todd Tappin left in May and its chief product officer Dax Hamman departed in June. In December last year Adele Hanzlicek has stepped down as country manager of AU/NZ to launch her own consulting practice. It is unclear how this will impact Australian staff.
Dulux lands in hot water
The Federal Court has ordered DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd (Dulux) to pay penalties totalling $400,000 for making false or misleading representations about the temperature reducing characteristics of two paint products, in proceedings brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The court found that several product claims by the brand were false or misleading after Dulux admitted that it did not have any reasonable grounds for making certain representations. ACCC chairman Rod Sims says Dulux promised consumer benefits at a premium price, apparently supported by scientific evidence, when in fact Dulux had no reliable evidence of what benefit could be delivered in real world conditions because it had not tested for any reduction in the room temperature of houses painted with these products.
UK mobile network drops adblocking plans after trial
UK mobile network operator Three has dropped its adblocking plans following a one-week trial in June. The company had been working with Shine to implement its network-level adblocking tech, but Three marketing director Tom Malleschitz told Mobile Marketing Magazine he doesn’t believe adblocking is the solution. The reason for the change of plans, then, seems to be the impact on Three’s relationship with other brands. Malleschitz admitted the operator’s adblocking announcement “pissed off” Google.
Affinity, AJF Partnership and Initiative win at IPA Effectiveness Awards.
Affinity was awarded gold and the special prize for Best Small Budget for Narellan Pools, while AJF Partnership and Initiative won bronze for Officeworks, at the IPA Effectiveness Awards in London. The Awards showcase and reward campaigns that demonstrate their marketing payback.
Watch the winning campaigns here:
Macleay College launches modern day arts degree
Macleay College is introducing a new advertising course for the 2017 intake, offering what it is calling the “modern day arts degree”. The course has been developed with input from industry and has digital communication at its core. The aim is to make sure that Macleay graduates leave with skills and knowledge that makes them both attractive to employers but also clued up and able to contribute on day one of their career in media, marketing and advertising. “Career paths are no longer linear. We need to be developing creative thinkers, strategists, problem solvers who can apply a concept to any form of media and are not limited by the media they have training in,” says Macleay College head of faculty Ian Thomson. It is offering the one year Diploma of Digital Media and two year Bachelor of Digital Media courses, full and part-time, at its Sydney and Melbourne campuses from 2017.
Clems CD to lead AWARD 2017
Brendan Willenberg, creative director at Clemenger BBDO, is join Niccola Phillips of M&C Saatchi, as AWARD School NSW head for 2017. The pair have also developed a new application workshop to help students keen to break into the industry. The workshop is a one-day session where industry professionals will take students step-by-step through application tips, tricks, ammo and insider information. Essentially it’s everything a prospective AWARD School student will need to know to have the best shot at crafting a successful application. In 2016, 500 people applied to AWARD School and only just over a third made it in.
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