18 August 2008

Posted at 22:00h in boing boing, gen y marketing podcast, julian cole, marketing magazine, sprite, truth hunters by

Nearly six months ago Sprite ran the Truth Hunters campaign. I blogged about it in February, when it received a fair bit of flack from the Gen Y Marketing Podcast boys and possibly lead to this article about not trusting your advertising agency with digital media by Julian Cole. Well six months later The Long Tail kicks in. Boing Boing ran an article on it a couple of days ago with one of the videos spiking in hits. And while buzz around this campaign increased significantly, Sprite didn't respond in any way. Imagine if they released another video. Or updated the website. Or ran another contest. Social Media doesn't have a short term option....

11 August 2008

Posted at 17:35h in adspace pioneers, fantastic noodles, julian cole, pimp my kettle, the body shop by

I've received a fair bit of flack over my post about the Pimp My Kettle campaign. Apparently I wasn't constructive enough, which admittedly is true but by saying campaigns like this are ruining my career was apparently going too far. Well here is some justification on what a successful social media campaign should look like. Check out Julian's post on The Body Shop. So not only have they established a blog that actually works quite well, they are slowly looking to build up an authentic community. The best part of this, was that after Julian posted that, the author behind the blog commented. Simply using Google alerts this author has created a relationship that has since grown. But it goes one step further. If you were to check out Julian's post on the Pimp My Kettle campaign there is again a comment from The Body Shop. It was actually rather insightful, fits well with the brand and most importantly wouldn't have shown up in Google Alerts. This means that the author is regularly checking out Julian's blog, continuing to build this relationship. And that's how social media campaigns should work. Building relationships by providing value. Not creating false communities around passions that don't exist that will die in three months anyway. So while this is all new and we are still learning our way around, some rules and guidelines have already been set. Ignoring them does hurt my career and gives me every right to bag your shitty campaign if it deserves it....

02 June 2008

Posted at 16:30h in heroes, julian cole, marketing today, peter wagstaff, simon oboler, youtube, zeroes by

Be sure to check out Marketing Today where Peter, Jules, Simon and myself discuss The Perfect Viral in Episode #64. During this discussion a point was raised regarding the effective use of preview images on YouTube. Generally a hot female or a cleavage shot tended to give your video a higher view count. I also learnt, that this preview image is selected from the exact middle of your video. Now take a look at Episode #1 of a fairly quirky series called Zeroes...

28 May 2008

Posted at 22:38h in abc, ddb, gruen transfer, julian cole, peter wagstaff, twitter by

First episode of The Gruen Transfer aired just now. Peter Wagstaff, Julian Cole and myself sat on Twitter during the show as a little experiment, adding an extra element to see their reactions. I only signed up on Twitter today but I'm already starting to see its potential. Wasn't quite what I expected but interesting. This week's challenge was to sell a whale meat campaign. DDB used the quote in the title playing against the consumption of beef. While Jack Watts Currie played on the idea of an angry prawn on a BBQ and at the end of the spot there was a flash of a website. The website actually exists, I find that very cool. Worth looking at, particularly if you're not studying marketing. I assume the ABC will podcast it....

21 May 2008

Posted at 19:47h in julian cole, marketing today, peter wagstaff, ricke clarke, simon oboler by

I have taken the next step in establishing my personal brand and appeared on my first podcast. I encourage you all to check out Peter Wagstaff's Marketing Today, Episode #61. Peter Wagstaff, Julian Cole, Simon Oboler, Rick Clarke and myself discuss the potential of student blogging. I guess, much like blogging, your podcasting ability gets better with practice....

16 May 2008

Posted at 21:26h in analytics, google, julian cole, simon oboler by

Whilst Julian Cole, Simon Oboler and myself sat around discussing the recent increase in student bloggers, the conversation moved to website statistics. We jumped on each others Google Analytics and discovered something interesting. Jules' most popular post is Great Insight and Hot Women: JB's Underwear Girls. My top four most popular posts...

26 December 2007

Posted at 17:26h in fhm, julian cole, most contagious, nando's, the australian by

Like every marketing blog, article or podcast you've read or listened to lately, its time to reflect upon 2007. I have no awards to give out or predictions to make, but merely wanted to discuss the brilliant marketing of perhaps my favourite food chain; Nando's. There's so much going for these guys its hard to know where to start but what stands out most is their advertising. Whether its their commercials, print media or campaigns; they're all brilliant. Their website has just a few examples used in Australia. Their Nando's Fix Gum campaign was genius. Great word of mouth qualities and even more so when they gave away free gum at their stores. Check out the spot here...

01 November 2007

Posted at 21:05h in faris yakob, heineken, holden, house, julian cole by

...then you're probably going to be subject to similar campaigns. Or at least its likely if you drink Heineken and drive a Holden. Julian Cole linked me to an interesting little blog Talent Imitates, Genius Steals written by Faris Yakob. After looking through it just last night and then watching an episode of House, I noticed a rather familiar commercial. The "original" was for Heineken beer, and much like many of the beer commercials it was a pretty kickin' advert...     And the "stolen" is for Holden's new ute, which is also a pretty sweet advert...     Does anyone else spot the similar theme there? Don't get me wrong, I think they're both great ads, particularly Holden's use of Aussie rock band Jet (and their single Rip It Up), but it raises the question as to what level can two campaigns be similar? Where is the line between stealing someone else's creative idea and imitating another? Take a look at You Thought We Wouldn't Notice? and see for yourself. Is it really genius to steal? ...