Expansion, protection and the influence of earned media
In 2018 we witnessed ball tampering in the men’s Australia cricket team, the allegations that the ATO was seizing funds that weren’t owed from taxpayers, the announcement of a Royal Commission into the safety and care in aged care facilities.
There are two things that this series of events, and many more like them, have in common. Firstly, all were extensively scrutinised and reported on by the media, and secondly, they all reflect how failures picked up by the media in such a way can cause considerable reputational damage.
With 2019 well and truly underway, businesses need to be armed and prepared with strategies to combat potential media issues and recognise the value of media monitoring in overcoming (or benefiting from) the challenges and opportunities that the media’s power provides.
The pace, onslaught and influence of media is growing
Traditional news, social media, online sources and the variety of different influencers continues to diversify and driving decision making more than ever before.
For 31% of millennials, the information on social media is their primary news source
For the wider Australian population, social media as a primary news source increased from 14% to 17% between 2017 to 2018
57% of Australians rank the assessments of social media in their top 3 buying influences
51% favour traditional news formats, down from 55% last year.
With traditional media news formats decreasing in popularity and social media news formats growing, the media is more accessible and the ability to exert leadership to audiences is easier than ever before.
Earned media will influence decisions
Alongside the growing media landscape is the prominence of earned media. Ensuring reach, awareness and customer engagement, the prevalence of earned media means content, commentary and opinions on a company are more widely dispersed. As a result, media influencers have more power than ever to sway public opinions and impact a business’s reputation.
From quoted CEO’s to big-name journalists, the new earned media influencer could hold more power in 2019 if this trend continues.
Protect your business through media monitoring
In 2014, Forbes Insights found that reputation is a key business challenge for 88% of executives and the World Economic Forum found that companies consider 25% of their market value reflective of their reputation.
Without crisis management, the risk of the media impacting your reputation is significantly higher than without any crisis management plan. This is because early warning systems mitigate crisis and the impact risk has on your reputation.
Media monitoring is vital for company reputation and ensuring communicators stay alert, manage risk, analyse the mediascape and make proactive, market effective decisions. In examining and tracking trends, media monitoring identifies influences and communicators, measures success, ensuring for reputation, crisis and risk management.
Loren is an experienced marketing professional who translates data and insights using Isentia solutions into trends and research, bringing clients closer to the benefits of audience intelligence. Loren thrives on introducing the groundbreaking ways in which data and insights can help a brand or organisation, enabling them to exceed their strategic objectives and goals.
Global recognition for Isentia at 2019 AMEC awards with golden wins to take home
Sydney, Australia – Isentia (ASX: ISD) has cemented its global leadership in research, measurement and insights by winning five awards at the 2019 AMEC International communication Effectiveness Awards, announced in Prague.
The AMEC Awards celebrate the exceptional work and accomplishments of research, measurement and analytics for businesses and government campaigns. For the fifth consecutive year, Isentia has picked up numerous awards for work with clients, including golds for Most impactful client recommendations, Best measurement of consumer communications, Best measurement in the public and not-for-profit sectors and Best use of integrated communication measurement/research categories.
Isentia Chief Insights Officer Khali Sakkas said the award wins highlight the strength of Isentia’s team and its innovative work in partnership with clients in Asia Pacific.
“AMEC is the only truly international awards in the measurement space. Winning these accolades in categories for most impactful, and best integrated communications research highlights Isentia’s strength as a global player in research and measurement,” she said.
“Our unique approach, in blending technology and our people’s in-depth experience, is what makes us different and ensures we discover the most impactful insights for our clients. I couldn’t be more thrilled that our pedigree in research and measurement has been recognised by the industry.”
Isentia CEO, Ed Harrison, said, “I’m very proud to be leading a team of this calibre that continues to shine on a global scale. These accolades come at a time of great transformation, focused on delivering world-class, market-centric products and innovative technologies to ensure we remain leaders in the global insights and measurements industry.”
The awards were presented overnight at the AMEC Global Summit on Measurement in Prague, the key global conference on innovation in communications evaluation. These wins build on Isentia’s AMEC record, and reinforce the company’s leadership across Asia Pacific.
-ENDS-
For more information, please contact: Graham White Howorth, OPR Agency 0404 840533
"
["post_title"]=>
string(50) "Global recognition for Isentia at 2019 AMEC awards"
["post_excerpt"]=>
string(80) "Global recognition for Isentia at 2019 AMEC awards with golden wins to take home"
["post_status"]=>
string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=>
string(6) "closed"
["ping_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["post_password"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_name"]=>
string(50) "global-recognition-for-isentia-at-2019-amec-awards"
["to_ping"]=>
string(0) ""
["pinged"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=>
string(19) "2019-07-17 00:27:48"
["post_modified_gmt"]=>
string(19) "2019-07-17 00:27:48"
["post_content_filtered"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=>
int(0)
["guid"]=>
string(36) "https://isentia.wpengine.com/?p=1378"
["menu_order"]=>
int(0)
["post_type"]=>
string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=>
string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=>
string(1) "0"
["filter"]=>
string(3) "raw"
}
Media Release
Global recognition for Isentia at 2019 AMEC awards
Global recognition for Isentia at 2019 AMEC awards with golden wins to take home
Across the communications landscape, teams are being asked to do more with less, while staying aligned, responsive and compliant in the face of complex and often shifting stakeholder demands. In that environment, how we track, report and manage our relationships really matters.
In too many organisations, relationship management is still built around tools designed for customer sales. CRM systems, built for structured pipelines and linear user journeys, have long been the default for managing contact databases. They work well for sales and customer service functions. But for communications professionals managing journalists, political offices, internal leaders and external advocates, these tools often fall short.
Stakeholder relationships don’t follow a straight line. They change depending on context, shaped by policy shifts, public sentiment, media narratives or crisis response. A stakeholder may be supportive one week and critical the next. They often hold more than one role, and their influence doesn’t fit neatly into a funnel or metric.
Managing these relationships requires more than contact management. It requires context. The ability to see not just who you spoke to, but why, and what happened next. Communications teams need shared visibility across issues and departments. As reporting expectations grow, that information must be searchable, secure and aligned with wider organisational goals.
What’s often missing is infrastructure. Without the right systems, strategic relationship management becomes fragmented or reactive. Sometimes it becomes invisible altogether.
This is where Stakeholder Relationship Management (SRM) enters the conversation. Not as a new acronym, but as a different way of thinking about influence.
At Isentia, we’ve seen how a purpose-built SRM platform can help communications teams navigate complexity more confidently. Ours offers a secure, centralised space to log and track every interaction, whether it’s a media enquiry, a ministerial meeting, or a community update, and link it to your team’s broader communications activity.
The aim isn’t to automate relationships. It’s to make them easier to manage, measure and maintain. It’s about creating internal coordination before the external message goes out.
Because in today’s communications environment, stakeholder engagement is not just a support function. It is a strategic capability.
Across the communications landscape, teams are being asked to do more with less, while staying aligned, responsive and compliant in the face of complex and often shifting stakeholder demands. In that environment, how we track, report and manage our relationships really matters. In too many organisations, relationship management is still built around tools designed for […]
The Singapore general election was quick and felt like more of a touch-and-go event, but a lot was observed and could be learnt from media and audience reactions to the event.
We analysed, using Pulsar TRAC, more than 270k mentions across online news, podcasts, TV, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, X, forums and blogs in Singapore between March 28th - May 7th 2025, to see how the conversation was moving and being influenced by media and audiences. Based on this, we listed what we’ve learnt from this year’s election.
Which industries gained the most spotlight?
Chee Hong Tat’s defence of the GST hike shows the PAP leaning heavily on long-term fiscal planning. This was mainly covered by media outlets like the CNA, mentioning how these hikes were to eventually work on providing benefits to the seniors of society and that it wouldn’t be possible if these hikes weren’t in place. Audiences across X and Facebook expressed their concerns around this, but were equally appreciative of open dialogue with the public.
The US and UK covered the election when their media focus was majorly on Trump’s tariffs
The peak in the US mentions were partly a consequence of Trump’s trade tariffs that wasn’t received particularly well by the rest of the world. PM Wong expressed his opinions on how Singapore continues to be a partner to the US but would expect a fair tariff rate in return. Big foreign peaks were tracked by Reuters and The Guardian that framed the election poll as a barometer of regional politics. Many of the foreign media talk about the opposition parties in Singapore and express that a healthy opposition makes for important parliamentary debate on essential matters like rising living concerns and jobs in Singapore.
Social saw the most audience discourse
The Straits Times leads the election coverage with many of its articles being linked or reposted around social media, mostly Instagram, Facebook and Reddit with audiences giving timely updates on speeches, election street campaigning or their favourite candidates, intending to start conversation. CNA and Mothership show the same pattern, each pulling far larger numbers once clips hit Facebook, X, TikTok and Reddit.
Which hashtags saw the most engagement online?
#ge2025 sat far above every other tag, yet party tags #pap and #rp still drove thousands of mentions. On keywords, PM Lawrence Wong outranked party names with the most mentioned on social posts. It’s important to note that these mentions are by audiences on social media like TikTok, X, Reddit, Instagram and Facebook. Lately, even short clips from podcasts around elections are becoming viral, not just on Instagram or TikTok, but even on Facebook that generally hosts long-ish format videos, second to YouTube.
Podcasts become new medium for election content for younger audiences
Yah Lah BUT logged more than a hundred election clips, nearly double its nearest podcaster, The Daily Ketchup. Audio hosts mixed humour, policy, and hot‑takes that travelled into short‑form video. These podcasts have been a growing trend in Singapore, hosted by youngsters who often invite political candidates onto their shows and pose questions that a young Singaporean would like to ask their leaders. These podcasters have seen their content travel fast on TikTok and Instagram reels for quick insights, but still have most of their audience engagement on YouTube.
Singapore’s GE2025 didn’t just offer political drama—it showed how media, both old and new, shape what people see and feel. From viral videos to policy debates, from mainstream reports to TikTok podcast clips, every format played a role.
5 things we learnt from the Singapore general election 2025
The Singapore general election was quick and felt like more of a touch-and-go event, but a lot was observed and could be learnt from media and audience reactions to the event. We analysed, using Pulsar TRAC, more than 270k mentions across online news, podcasts, TV, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, X, forums and blogs in Singapore […]
This was not an election won or lost on policy alone. While political parties released detailed plans around cost-of-living relief, energy, healthcare and education, the battle for attention played out across a different terrain. One shaped by identity, digital influencers and polarised media narratives.
1. Policy set the agenda, but didn’t hold it
At the start of the campaign, traditional media focused on familiar priorities. The Labor government’s May budget led with cost-of-living relief, fuel excise changes and increased rental support. The Liberals responded with proposals for nuclear energy and a plan to cut 40,000 public service jobs. While these issues framed the early weeks, they were quickly overtaken in online discussions by stories with more cultural weight.
On social media, a video comparing Peter Dutton to Donald Trump circulated widely, while Anthony Albanese’s “delulu with no solulu” moment during a Happy Hour podcast interview was picked up by national outlets and widely shared on social platforms. Personality often generated more interest than policy.
2. Messaging strategy went beyond the platforms
Both major parties tried to engage younger voters where they spend their time. Albanese’s appearance on podcasts and his interviews with influencers like Abbie Chatfield reflected a values-driven approach. Dutton’s appearance on Sam Fricker’s podcast targeted young men through a more casual, conversational format.
Mainstream media covered these appearances but often through the lens of political tactics rather than substance. When Abbie Chatfield’s pro-Greens posts attracted AEC scrutiny in early April, the story became more about influencer regulation than her political message.
3. Polarisation dominated public debate
The second leaders’ debate on 10 April marked a turning point, with stark contrasts on energy, education and immigration. Dutton's focus on crime and border control drew backlash, while Albanese was seen as calm but cautious. Instead of clarifying party differences, the debate intensified existing divides.
Online commentary quickly split along ideological lines. Audiences did not just debate the leaders’ points but used the debate to reinforce partisan views, highlighting how polarised public discourse has become.
4. Influencers reshaped election storytelling
Influencers became central to election storytelling. Abbie Chatfield faced strong support and criticism after posting about the Greens and questioning the Liberal Party’s media strategy. The Juice Media released satirical videos targeting defence and energy policies, resonating with disillusioned younger audiences.
Even incidents unrelated to official campaigns became flashpoints. In February, a video from an Israeli influencer alleging antisemitic comments by NSW nurses went viral, triggering political statements and shifting media attention to broader issues of hate speech and accountability online.
5. Culture wars outpaced policy in the final stretch
As the election neared, cultural tensions gained traction. On 12 April, media attention turned to Peter Dutton after reports emerged that his Labor opponent Ali France was leading in Dickson. Around the same time local authorities dismantled a tent encampment in the area while Dutton was campaigning in Perth. This raised questions about leadership and visibility on local issues.
Across social and news media, themes like Gaza, curriculum debates and identity politics took centre stage. Slogans such as “Get Australia back on track” were interpreted as echoes of US political rhetoric. Jacinta Price and Clive Palmer were both linked to similar messaging, fuelling memes and commentary about the Americanisation of Australian politics.
Rather than rallying around shared policy concerns, audiences engaged with content that reflected deeper anxieties about national identity and international influence.
What stood out the most wasn’t necessarily the policy itself, but the moments, memes, and messages that tapped into cultural tensions. The freedom for media and social media users to connect with and amplify these narratives created an arena where some politicians struggled to engage effectively. While some stuck to party lines without fully understanding the patterns driving media and social discourse, others embraced the shift, adapting to the rhetoric that was emerging online. The lesson is clear: in today’s media environment, ignoring what people are saying or the patterns of conversation isn’t an option.
Media and social highlights from the election campaign 2025
This was not an election won or lost on policy alone. While political parties released detailed plans around cost-of-living relief, energy, healthcare and education, the battle for attention played out across a different terrain. One shaped by identity, digital influencers and polarised media narratives. 1. Policy set the agenda, but didn’t hold it At the […]
