BRAND BACKLASH; CYBER SPIES.

BRAND BACKLASH; CYBER SPIES.

Welcome to this week’s business and media intelligence update.

BRAND BACKLASH 

Are the days when big corporates plough big bucks into sponsorship deals with sports clubs over?

It’s certainly becoming a pressing issue, as Netball Australia, the Freemantle Dockers and Cricket Australia have discovered.

And this time, it’s not the fans but rather the players questioning the sponsorship deals, which in the cases above, involved three of Australia’s largest and best-known mining and energy conglomerates – Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, Woodside Energy and Alinta.

While companies large and small are spending millions on efforts to address environmental and social concerns, it seems there is a growing trend among athletes to oppose any sponsorship deal that involves their clubs accepting money from mining, energy and gambling organisations.

CYBER SPIES  

Cyberspace has become the new playground for spies as online attacks and data breaches continue to rise globally and catch out companies such as Optus and Medibank.

But what do cyber spies do and what kind of skills do you need to join Australia’s top security agencies ASIO and the Australian Signals Directorate?

Well, you will need to speak a few different languages, be a whiz at ICT (information communications technology) and be able to keep a secret before you become the next James Bond for the cyberworld.

ARE YOU A DESK BOMBER? 

When you’re in the office and need to speak to a colleague who’s also there, do you send them an email, instant message? Or do you wander over to their desk unannounced?

If you’re the latter, you might be a “desk bomber”, according to Financial Times columnist Pilita Clark. Yes, it’s a thing.

Mary Jane Copps, the founder of a Canadian phone use consultancy The Phone Lady, recommends that if you are anxious about “desk bombers”, you should stop texting or emailing anyone for at least three days and only talk to colleagues face to face.  Who would have thought …

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