05 October 2009

I’m sure you’re all over Vegemite talk by now. Buzz has spread itself across all media (see what I did there?) and you’ve probably never had more conversations about the black paste in your life.

But I suppose that’s the thing. Whether you think it was a good idea or a bad one, or a deliberate one or accidental, never in my life have I spoken about Vegemite so often. And never in my life have I been as passionate about original Vegemite.

I have no plans try the new one, I won’t even consider buying it and I’m totes over the whole “name our product” marketing campaign everyone seems jumping on the bandwagon with.

But fuck it made me realise how much I love original Vegemite.

Posted by Zac Martin

02 October 2009

I almost feel as though I have neglected this bad boy a bit over the past few weeks.

The good news is it’s because I’ve been working flat out with an agency on a pitch. My very first pitch, which I gave to the client this morning. An important part of any young marketer’s career I’m told.

Anyway, unfortunately I can’t give any deets for a while. However I can say my week involved circus training, free breakfasts, lunches and dinners, a hotel spa, a photo shoot and a rocking crew of people to work with. Probably a lifestyle I could get used to…

Posted by Zac Martin

26 September 2009

It was just announced during the AFL broadcast that Kraft’s New Vegemite has officially been named iSnack 2.0.

I hope this is a fucking joke.

But the real purpose of this post is an experiment. Can SEO get this blog to the top of a Google search for “iSnack 2.0”?

Posted by Zac Martin

23 September 2009

This is Prezi. It, or something like it, will hopefully make PowerPoint presentations obsolete.

After playing around with it a little, I’d say it takes a bit to get proficient with the way it works and for your basic presentations I’d probably stick with what you know. But for those of you who love telling stories and laying out your presentations visually, this tool is totally rad to the power of sick.

Posted by Zac Martin

22 September 2009

Here’s an animated banner ad I’ve been seeing a lot on Facebook lately…

Marketing how to avoid one interruptive medium by advertising on another? Perhaps we could establish a Do Not Subject To Banner Ads register and advertise it with cold calls from telemarketers?
Posted by Zac Martin

13 September 2009

There’s a lot I hate about the marketing industry. I hate…

+ How cut throat the industry is.
+ The negative stigma attached to marketers in general.
+ That we can “add value” with “creativity” and make a product more expensive.
+ That we interrupt everyone, all the time.
+ That everyone thinks they’re a marketer.
+ That every marketer thinks they’re a social media expert.
+ That there are so many wankers in the industry.
+ That there’s such a rivalry between the traditional media people and new media people.
+ That marketers think they can segment consumers based on the year of their birth.
+ That we sell products that kill people.
+ How everything seems to be about winning awards. Or how many awards you’ve won. Or how agencies make ads specifically for awards.

But fuck I can’t wait to be a part of it.

Posted by Zac Martin

11 September 2009

Zac and Russel. I’ll probably photoshop Todd in later.

 

I was at an event on Wednesday night where Russel Howcroft from GPYR, although perhaps more commonly known from The Gruen Transfer, spoke.

Talking to a bunch of students about to graduate and looking for jobs, he made one particular point that I thought was quite interesting. Now I’m paraphrasing here but a small part of his speech went something like this…

“Sometimes you need to forget the basics. Ignore what ever it was you were taught in first year marketing at university, specifically the definition about what marketing actually is. This definition completely ignores the concept of “Build it and they will come” and overlooks the idea of making art for the sake of it”.
I’m still thinking about this one. I realise it isn’t always applicable and I wonder how ROI fits in with all of this but worth thinking about, no?
Posted by Zac Martin

09 September 2009

Today I celebrate my twentieth birthday.

What a personal branding crisis! This means I can no longer play up the whole “young naive teenage blogger who doesn’t know what he’s talking about” card. I suppose “young naive twenty something blogger who doesn’t know what he’s talking about” works too. Although it just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Posted by Zac Martin

04 September 2009

Last night myself, Lucio and Simon were sharing a beer or two (actually Simon was drinking wine but let’s not complicate things). We decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do it maybe a couple times a year, and with more people. So here are the deets…

New Media Beers Melbourne
Friday 25th September / 7.00pm
The Cabinet (we’ve reserved the balcony facing Swanson Street)
11 Rainbow Alley (left off Little Collins Street heading to Russel Street)

Should be a good night. And if it was anything like last night it may end with a late night Maccas run and Lucio ordering “anything with bacon please”. If you think you might make it drop me a comment.

Posted by Zac Martin