By Samantha Hutchinson and Stephen Brook
Well that was quick. It’s been all of a month since CBA tapped former Air New Zealand executive Mike Tod to head its corporate affairs arm, and already his boss Priscilla Brown has headed for the exit.
Staff inside the bank were notified last week that the US-educated Brown – who holds the rather impressive title of CBA’s group executive of marketing and corporate affairs – would be wrapping up around the end of May. Bank sources said Brown would be returning to the US and the decision had been partly prompted by COVID travel bans which had prevented her from seeing her adult children in the US for months and her mother in Africa since the start of the pandemic.
Priscilla Brown is heading back to the US.Credit:
It’s a big change inside the bank where Brown had emerged as one of chief executive Matt Comyn’s highest-profile hires in recent years. A career insurance executive lauded in the US as a “branding and marketing visionary”, Brown also served on the US National Finance Committee for president Barack Obama. It’s those sort of accolades that presumably landed her the gig in June 2019 when Comyn split the corporate affairs and general counsel functions to create a new role with a laser-focus on helping the bank rebuild public trust and a reputation battered by the Banking Royal Commission.
“Priscilla’s appointment will help us continue the changes and improvements we need to make to earn the trust of our customers and the community and build a better bank for the future,” Comyn said shortly after Brown’s appointment, noting that she would report directly to him.
COME IN SPINNER
Despite being in the chair for five minutes, Tod is tipped as a contender to replace his boss, but replacing Brown with a man might not help CBA hit its diversity targets. He will face competition from long-standing CBA executive Monique McLeod, who is chief marketing officer. Others say Comyn could reorganise the role – yet again – before the replacement process begins. Sounds like fun.
RUSSIAN INFLUENCE
Oh dear. Ad Standards, the advertising industry regulator, must have thought it was on a winner when it went after Melbourne influencer Rozalia Russian, the former ballerina dubbed the woman who “reigns supreme as Australia’s ultimate style crush”.
Russian, the wife of nightclub owner Nick Russian, was “caught out” for a January 14 Instagram post where her immaculately manicured hand elegantly clutched a 30ml bottle of Tom Ford Soleil Blanc Eau De Parfum.
“Summer in a bottle @tomfordbeauty,” opined Russian.
Russian roulette for Ad Standards.Credit: Shakespeare
Ad Standards said under new rules from the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics, RR breached the code because her sponsored Instagram posts were not appropriately identified.
She has become the second influencer to breach the code about distinguishable advertising, so she is still setting trends.
Anna Heinrich, the 2013 Bachelor winner who married her reality television beau Tim Robards, posted an advertisement for clothing brand Runaway The Label from February 11 which showed Heinrich in a strapless Runaway The Label green frock, which she captioned: “Turning my apartment into a Runway. Then back to my PJs I go! Wearing: @runawaythelabel.”
The Ad Standards Community Panel ruled Heinrich did not clearly enough indicate the post was sponsored.
It ruled Russian’s post had breached the Ad Standard rules. But it noted that the advertiser did not respond to the Ad Standard community panel’s inquiries.
There’s just one problem. “Rozalia is not a party to the complaint,” a spokeswoman said. “The picture in question was not a sponsored post. Further information will come to light in due course.”
Estee Lauder, which manages Tom Ford Beauty in Australia, said: “We are currently working with Ad Standards Australia to resolve this matter. At Tom Ford Beauty, we do not engage in paid influencer partnerships and the post in question was not sponsored.”
Ad Standards were yet to respond to CBD’s inquiries. If Estee Lauder gifted Rozalia the product, her post could still fall foul of the rules. But it looks like it could end up being red faces at the industry regulator, and there’s not a Tom Ford Beauty product to deal with that.
JOEL’S JOURNEY
History has shown it doesn’t take much to get Labor’s former resources spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon down a mine shaft, but it’s clear a little persuasion never hurt either. Or that’s the attitude Sky News took this month when presenter Chris Smith took NSW’s deputy premier John Barilaro and Fitzgibbon down the Airly Coal Mine in the regional town of Glen Davis for a broadcast on – no prizes for guessing – coal.
As Fitzgibbons’ most recent parliamentary disclosures reveal, the network paid for accommodation in Glen Davis – which is near Lithgow west of Sydney – and hospitality while he was there.
For his part, Fitzgibbon called it one of the more worthwhile whistle stops.
“The live program beautifully showcased the work of our coal miners and the value of the industry to our local economy,” he said. “It was well worth the effort. We stayed overnight at the wonderfully named Black Gold Motel in Wallerawang where we enjoyed some finger food and a few drinks in the restaurant which is aptly named the Crib Room.” The places you go, Joel.
But it’s worth noting that Sky isn’t the only network footing the bill for pollies on location. Queensland Senator Pauline Hanson was given flights and accommodation to Uluru by Nine Entertainment Co – the owner of this masthead – in August 2019 as the controversial politician travelled to the red centre for a story on A Current Affair on the ban on climbing the rock. After getting stuck a short distance from the rock’s base, Hanson changed her tune and said she supported closing Uluru for safety reasons.