John Penn, the CEO of Fremantle Media Enterprises, spoke to a large crowd at the Waters Edge Restaurant in Sydney last Thursday afternoon (5 August). In addition to MasterChef, Fremantle Media Enterprises produces Australian Idol, The Biggest Loser and Australia's Got Talent.

The mix of lawyers, marketing people and journos were all glued to their seats as Penn waxed lyrical on why people watch MasterChef, including the claim that it promotes "togetherness" because families can watch it together over dinner. He also spoke about brand management, and dazzled the crowd with statistics pertaining to the success of MasterChef and spin-off products like DVD sales and the sale of over 250,000 MasterChef cupcake kit's in the last 12 months.

Penn had barely finished his departing salutations before Watermark principal Karen Sinclair took to the stage.

With tongue somewhat in cheek she told guests they "can't leave yet", and proceeded to introduce Ed, the central character in Watermark's new branding. Ed's name is a nod to the founder of the firm, Edward Waters, with the new Ed depicted in a number of poses and wear­ing a range of attire to highlight his "youth and diversity".

Sinclair didn't miss a beat as she talked about both Ed's and aspects of Watermark's branding and image for a little over five minutes, with Folklaw only spotting one hardy soul who departed before she had finished.

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Folklaw takes its hat off to Watermark for using the MasterChef connection as the warm up guy. Mohammed Ali would have liked the one-two combination.