Karl Stefanovic makeover: Today host hires branding expert to fix public image
WITH his popularity waning, his breakfast show’s ratings in freefall and speculation rife he may soon be replaced at the helm of Today, breakfast television anchor Karl Stefanovic has hired a personal branding expert to repair his battered public image.
Confidential
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WITH his popularity waning, his breakfast show’s ratings in freefall and speculation rife he may soon be replaced at the helm of Today, breakfast television anchor Karl Stefanovic has hired a personal branding expert to repair his battered public image and save his $3 million a year job.
The Today anchor has recruited gun Melbourne personal marketing strategist Mitch Catlin to help re-establish his reputation as a serious newsman, restore his credibility and hopefully arrest the alarming ratings slide that has rocked Today since the departure of program co-host Lisa Wilkinson last year.
Former journalist Catlin is the man credited with making the once drab Myer brand cool in the late 2000s and for driving the global expansion of Australian health supplements’ company Swisse in 2012 through its glamorous partnership with actress Nicole Kidman. He also paved the way for Ellen DeGeneres to host a week of talk shows in Australia in 2013.
On Friday as Catlin was busily engaged wrangling another high profile celebrity asset, super model Elle Macpherson, off the plane from LA in Melbourne to attend Derby Day on behalf of Lexus tomorrow, he confirmed the new association with the embattled Stefanovic.
His objective, he said, was to remind Australians of two simple things: “That Karl is likeable and a good newsman.”
He refused to discuss the strategy he will employ to resurrect 44-year-old Stefanovic’s career but added: “I’m looking forward to working with Karl and his manager for a big 2019.”
Stefanovic’s public image has taken some serious knocks following his divorce from wife Cassandra Thorburn in 2016, revelations of tensions between he and his new co-host Georgie Gardner (who conceded “we’ve had our bumps”) and the “Ubergate” scandal in March.
“Brand Karl”, according to legendary television news boss Peter Meakin, was once “charming mischievous and naughty”.
“There was an air of danger about him but he was considered likeable and a good bloke,” said Meakin.
“Clearly his position has shifted a little.”
While Nine refuses to confirm the existence of secret audience surveys that rate the popularity of its stars, TV insiders maintain Stefanovic’s popularity has plummeted in recent years — particularly with female viewers.
He is now trailing behind Nine stars including The Block host Scott Cam, news anchor Peter Overton and A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw in the popularity stakes claim inside sources.
Driving Stefanovic’s eagerness for brand renewal — something he has independently instigated and will finance himself — is Nine’s plans to relaunch Today in 2019.
Sources say Nine plans to position Stefanovic and his Today co-host Gardner as the network’s two biggest news and live event stars and will kick-off the year on January 14 with Today broadcasting from Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, the location of Nine’s newly acquired Australian Open tennis.
Melbourne has created the greatest headaches for Today during the past year and is seen as the market that poses the greatest threat to Stefanovic’s ongoing role as program anchor.
Today traditionally wins its breakfast television timeslot in the nation’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, but is consistently beaten by Channel 7’s Sunrise in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
During the past year Seven has become dominant in Melbourne too and Today has been beaten soundly by Sunrise in that market winning 28 weeks to Today’s seven, a complete reversal of 2017’s results when Today won 26 weeks to Sunrise’s 14.
Today has shed 22 per cent of its audience in that city during the past year with many viewers switching to ABC News Breakfast, which is Melbourne based.
Today’s figures are stronger in Sydney although the program has recorded a large 17 per cent audience decline there in the year to date. Today has won 23 weeks of 2018 to Sunrise’s 12 — 12 weeks it held onto firmly last year when Today won all 40 survey weeks.
Nationally, across five capital cities, Today has won only one week this year to Sunrise’s 34.
To remind Australians of Stefanovic’s everyman appeal, sources say Nine plans to launch a weekly podcast hosted by Stefanovic in 2019 prior to the return of the feel-good transformation show This Time Next Year, which was rested in 2018.
But before that, father-of-three Stefanovic will have to navigate media coverage of his forthcoming wedding to model/designer partner Jasmine Yarbrough in Mexico in December, a union that has done little to advance Stefanovic’s PR cause.
It’s understood as part of his charm offensive, Stefanovic has invited members of Nine’s senior management to his wedding — a move that could go either way for the TV host who still has two years to run on his Nine contract.