02 February 2013

Posted at 16:47h in Uncategorized by

I'm a big fan of side projects. Particularly those that support your main gig, even if it's indirectly.It goes without saying that the most successful people in this industry are the ones that do something on the side. Launching a line a bottled water, managing a band, running a resource for Juniors and a building a fashion blog are a few that come to mind from people I've worked with.I've tried to have a few of these projects over the years. I built and sold a website which taught me some crazy good stuff and I'm pretty sure my local hockey club is the only one in Australia to have an SEO strategy.In fact this blog was too once a side project while I was a student that resulted in my first job. Sadly when your side project essentially becomes your full time job it's hard to keep passionate about a little old blog in my case. Hence why I'm lucky to post once a month these days.With that said, this year I've got two major side projects I want to tackle. Within the next few months I want to launch a product, and after that develop a mobile app. That should be enough to keep me busy, and give me some time to think about what comes after that.So what's your side project and how does it support your main gig?...

27 January 2013

Posted at 16:42h in Uncategorized by

Maybe I've been in advertising too long, but I can't help but feel brands get it pretty tough. Especially brands that actually contribute toward a customer's life. Some of them meaningfully. Yet all we see is brands being criticised and abused. Particularly on social media. But what would happen if consumers thanked the brands they liked? Or recognised the role they played? Turns out most people are pretty skeptical. Although my posts did generate some 'random' likes. I don't think we'll be seeing 'Thank The Brands You Like Day' anytime soon. But I think it's an interesting concept....

08 November 2012

Posted at 22:14h in Uncategorized by

Last month I wrote about how I think email is not used enough by brands. This month I've been thinking about other channels and platforms marketers don't leverage enough.And the big one that keeps coming back to me is why have we never seen a brand use torrents?Yes it falls into a gray area that not a lot of brands could get way with, but we need to remember of course that torrenting itself is not illegal, only the torrenting of illegal content.Although most media usage reports seem to ignore it, we know video consumption through torrents is prevalent, and in many demographics ubiquitous. So why don't we see any brands playing in this space?Even if they don't have quality branded content to release through torrents, why are no brands leveraging torrent sites through display media? Surely the lack of competition makes them fairly cheap placements and I imagine a "real" banner ad would stand out among the rest of the spam.It would be pretty ballsy for a brand to do either of these, but it would be pretty effing awesome....

07 October 2012

Posted at 14:23h in Uncategorized by

We regularly talk about the distribution of content through YouTube, blogs, social networks and other digital bits and pieces. But I think we often overlook a hugely under appreciated platform; email. Take this example sent around a few days before the Brownlow. Philip Brown, a Quantitative Strategist at Commonwealth Bank, put together a report with a model and analysis on who he believed would win the Brownlow Medal using a few seasons worth of data (which you can download it here if you're interested). He emailed it to a few of his colleagues where it was quickly forwarded on around the industry and then on to broader audiences (where I received it). It's well targeted, interesting and shows how smart the brand is with data. And it doesn't even matter that I dropped $100 on it and lost my money because the predictions were wrong. And if you're even remotely interested in footy, you probably received the  'Red Carpet Analysis' PowerPoint the day after the Brownlow from a friend. Another piece of content distributed very successfully via email. Email has this crazy potential for amplification (and sometimes longevity) being forwarded again and again and again. As a platform it's ubiquitous, not going anywhere and cheap to leverage. And personally, I think it's way underused by brands for distributing content....

26 September 2012

Posted at 20:53h in Uncategorized by

Clients are increasingly getting better at digital. It's taken some time, but we're now at a point where most clients understand digital's potential role, importance and place. And this is only going to get stronger (particularly as younger marketers step into decision-making roles). As a result, many brands now have the basic digital hygiene factors covered. They're in social media, creating content, leveraging video, thinking about SEO and search, using analytics and are across mobile. And I think a lot of people who call themselves "Digital Strategists" are going to start sweating when they get asked what to do next. What happens after a brand ticks off the digital basics? Because once they play the "Let's use Pinterest" card, I think they're going to start running out of answers. Dare I say it's time for Digital Strategist 2.0s....

23 August 2012

Posted at 16:47h in Uncategorized by

Yesterday I finished up at George Patts.I started my first day as an intern with a mohawk doing community management. Two and a half years later I leave as a Digital Strategist, with a lot more on my head, and hopefully a bit more in my head.And on Monday, I start a new gig at CumminsRoss....

14 August 2009

Posted at 00:55h in Uncategorized by

It's about this time each year that Year 12 students start attending open days across the country to determine which university they'll attend next year. Of course the course they get offered plays a big part in this, but I know that the student life on campus is something many consider. It's the reason I chose Caulfield over Clayton for those of you playing at home.Year 12's attend open day, but all the universities look good at open day. They ask their older enrolled friends, but probably get mixed results. And the websites are all the same with way too much generic information. So where does today's Year 12 student turn to? I know if I was about to graduate high school one of the things I'd do is check out the university's Fan Page on Facebook.Here's some of the more popular universities' Fan Pages...

16 January 2009

Posted at 00:04h in Uncategorized by

Okay okay, let's talk about yesterday's post. To clarify; + I am not your stereotypical Gen Y. + Traditional media can still be effective for Gen Y. If anything, I'm an innovator and an early adopter of technology. Most teenagers don't know what a blog is, let alone write one. Most of the popular haven't heard the term RSS. And I certainly do not believe traditional media is dead to Gen Y. My point was more so about the business models, and how people keep trying to push them on a generation that won't accept them. The post was deliberately provocative and certainly a conversation starter. Like every other self obsessed Gen Y, I do like to stir the pot every so often and earn me some attention. If anything, I wanted people to take out of that post the fact that there are people like me, who do not consume traditional media at all. So if you're a marketer who wants to target me specifically, heritage media is a no go. The other point to take out is that in a generation or two's time, there's going to be a lot more people like me and the current business models are just not going to fly. I don't know how to finish this post, so I'm going to throw it over to you guys. SMS 0400 949 184 either "A" or "B" to decide how I can best finish this post. Option A Most importantly, brands need to start getting it right today. You can't win a marathon if you're only just learning to crawl. Option B Most importantly, brands need to start getting it right today. You can't land on the Moon if you're only just inventing fire. ...

08 December 2008

Posted at 14:08h in Uncategorized by

My BFF, Simon Oboler, just had a rant about people who don't respond to emails. And I must say, I've been a recent victim myself. Recently I got in touch with someone at an agency. We had a chat about the possibility of working there and they said someone would be in touch by the end of the week. I received an email saying they'd call me in a few days. I never got a call. About a month later I followed up with an email as a polite reminder. Never got a response. We're now about two or three months from the initial conversation I had about working with them. This is not a rant about the fact I didn't get a job. I really don't mind. But I did expect someone to get back to me. With the number of recent graduates making calls and sending emails lately, surely these people realise that not only are personal brands being tarnished here, but organisation and agency brands too? My opinion of the agency isn't what it once was. And we all know what Gen Y's do with brands they don't like...