New name, logo, and campaign; but same mission statement
One of Australia’s key anti-piracy groups IP Awareness Foundation (IPAF) has changed its name. The group announced “The IP Awareness Foundation, the film and television industries’ peak body for the promotion of copyright, creative rights, piracy research and education resources, has rebranded as ‘Creative Content Australia’.”
Having the word ‘creative’ to the name adopts a softer tone and mirrors a similar initiative in both the U.K. and U.S. This consumer-friendly name puts emphasis on the group’s support for artists and other creators.
Source: creativecontentaustralia.org.au
The IPAF is backed up by heavyweight supporters, like the Motion Picture Association, which includes Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Paramount Pictures Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporations, Universal City Studios LLC, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. as members; and this support is enough to shape Australia’s anti-piracy policy.
Recently, the IPAF produced a report that concluded that piracy in Australia is actually decreasing. With this noticeable progress, IPAF is now starting with a branding exercise and new appointments for management as part of their plans of the next stages of its campaign.
General Manager – Studios, The Walt Disney Company Australia and New Zealand Walt Disney Studios Jo Bladen, Co-Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer Village Roadshow Graham Burke and CEO of Hoyts Group Damian Keogh are joining the group’s existing board members.
Creative Content Australia’s Executive Director Lori Flekser says, “The aim of our organization has always been to contribute to a more informed debate about legal access to film and television content.”
“Graham, Damian and Jo, along with our existing board members, are passionate about promoting the value of copyright. They are invaluable advocates of Creative Content Australia’s research, educational resources and consumer awareness campaigns. While we are starting to see a change in attitude towards piracy, there is still much work to be done.”
Burke who previously had an aggressive stance and still holds the core belief that pirates need to be held accountable says “[Our] research finds that Australians say they are now much more aware that the industry is increasingly making more movies and TV shows available in a timely and affordable way, and I’m looking forward to seeing Creative Content Australia produce new consumer campaigns to highlight the benefits of accessing content legally, as opposed to the great damage caused to our creative industry by piracy.”
However, Burke’s comments to Forbes suggest that he supports the new campaign which promotes education as a way to move forward than punishment. This is a good start and in order to continually protect intellectual property, movie companies as well as the entire entertainment industry should really step up and make this campaign work.