98: The Politics of Unmade - Tim Burrowes

The Politics of Everything

Tim Burrowes has done a lot to shape and up-end the modern media landscape. In the decade since its launch, the company he founded (and remains editor-at-large for) Mumbrella earned its stripes as a respected authority on the Australian media and marketing landscape, with Tim becoming a recognized commentator on media issues. In 2017, Mumbrella was sold to the US-owned Diversified Communications in a multi-million-dollar deal.

Under his editorship, Mumbrella was twice named website of the year at the Publishers Australia Awards, while he was named business journalist of the year. He was also twice named Editor of the Year at the British Society of Magazine Editors Awards. He expanded this to a business model driven by running conferences and awards, including launching the icon event Mumbrella360, in which (pre-Covid) more than 3,000 marketers and media executives gather across three days at the biggest event of its type in Asia. While Tim was curator, Mumbrella360 was twice named conference of the year at the Australian Event Awards. Prior to Mumbrella, Tim edited Aussie ad industry bible B&T Weekly. And before coming to Australia, Tim was the Dubai-based launch editor of Campaign magazine, covering advertising and marketing stories throughout the Middle East. Prior to that, he was editor of Media Week in the UK. He began his career on local and daily newspapers, before his first editorship on specialist B2B magazine Hospital Doctor.

Now Tim has a new project as author of a new book Media Unmade, the definitive story of Australia’s media during the disruptive decade of 2010 to 2020, published in July 2021. And today we are discussing the Politics of Unmade.

Tune in to hear:

1. What sparked that desire to start Mumbrella in 2008 and was the idea and the reality different to what you expected it to be?
2. Do you still love journalism and media as much as ever?
3. What does Unmade really mean and does it seem like a negative slant on the disruption we have seen in traditional media over the past 10 years?
4. What other industries are being Unmade as we look ahead and are there lessons from media that relate to other sectors – like energy, tech, or manufacturing for example?
5. Finally: What is your top piece of advice for anyone wanting to navigate The Politics of Unmade?

To connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timburrowes/