Practice what I preach challenge

I have just written a post over at Marketing Magazine Blog. It is about the fact that Advertising Agencies cannot be trusted with Social Media Campaigns. Putting such a strong case forward I have also backed my argument by laying the challenge of proving that I can teach any company how to have a social media presence.

I think this will be a great opportunity to teach Marketers, how to properly use Social Media. I would really like to get my regular readers to help build on ideas of how companies should best act in this space. So if you know any tips or case studies please let me know.

AMP + Walk of Shame = Great Insight + Rubbish Brand Continuity

AMP had cracked a great insight into Generation Y culture. The walk of shame is a globally talked about meme which is usually hated by all who have to do it. Wikipedia deifine it as

‘A phenomenon in which a person must walk past strangers or peers for an embarrassing reason before reaching a place of privacy. Most commonly, it occurs the morning after a night out at a bar, dance club, or party.’

This shared experience that all Gen Yers have gone through has been beautifully picked up and is now owned by AMP.

It is a great video however as like the Nando’s example it seems like the Ad Agency have cracked a great insight and have just try to retrofit it to a brand. AMP websites, product design and their sponsorship of NASCAR all suggest a different type of brand positioning than their other ads lead on.

However with the amount of online publicity this clip has received (50k+ youtube hits in 6 days), there must be a point where brand continuity takes a back seat and awareness of a product takes over?


No, this must be another AMP?


I think this brand has more in common with the Australian AMP than the brand in the video above!

Catches of the Week

Brand Tags, it seems every blogger and his dog is all over this great invention by none other than my Nakedite brother from another continent Noah Brier.

New student Blogger Simon Oboler started with a cracking post on 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' advertising missing the mark.

Old Ad for Goodyear making woman drive better Via adweek

A must see slide preso on Building your Personal brand via blogging
Via Get Shouty

Viral Video Unzipped! The truth behind the 'Guy backflip into jeans' video
via Gawker

MyBower - When 2 hobbies meet

Me at the 2007 Western Antique Bottle Show, Williamstown

One of my hobbies outside of writing this blog is collecting Antique Bottles. I collect suburban Milk Bottles and Eucalyptus bottles. I am currently the President of the Western Antique Bottle Club one of the last four clubs in Melbourne. Blogging and my bottle collection had been fairly removed till the other month when I was looking in the mail and I found some advertising for a online social network site for collectors called, Mybower.

A pretty simple site however I was impressed with the way they engaged the club. They had already set up a page for the club and gave a username and password for the club to use. Therefore removing the barrier of the trouble associated with setting up a page.

The other day, Zac was talking to me about how annoying it was to have to constantly keep setting up accounts for different sites, I guess this is one solution to that problem. I wonder what other creative solutions will be thought of for this problem?

10 things I want to do in Marketing before I die. 2.Win a Gold Cannes Lion

I really love when the results come out for Cannes Lions, it always give me such great material to blog about. Naked Australia have won a few lions so far but I would love to be a part of a Golden team.

Passive-Aggressive Notes - Webby Award Winner

This was an old favourite website of mine passive-aggressive notes


Thanks to ettf for reminding me of the greatness

Catches of the Week

On Webstrategist, A Chronology of Brands that Got Punk’d by Social Media

On Logic + Emotion, Micro interaction + Direct Engagement

On Whats Next Blog, I don’t want my bank to be funny.
How come I didn’t write this post?

On Studentpreneur, Free Printing for Uni students. I want to bring this to Monash

On Facebook, Melbourne Gen Yers bonding over 2AM lockout via Facebook Group

10 Things I want to do in Marketing before I die. 1.Work for Nike

I will be adding to this list as I go.

1. Work for Nike
I want to be a part of making awesome pieces of art. Like this


And this


And this

Nando’s a marketing headcase!

Does anyone else feel confused with the constant stream of advertising rubbish that comes out from Nando’s? They are clearly a marketing headcase who believe they can change their brand image through readjusting their promotion.

The rest of the marketing elements screams Family-Gen Xers offering, their pricing (highly priced), product (grilled chicken meals), distribution points (store designs that have clearly not been updated since 1992), and employees (the kids who couldn’t get a job at McDonalds).

Yet their advertising message would lead you to believe that they are a young, cheeky, humorous Generation Yers brand.

I ask, What happened to Brand Continuity?????


Here is their latest miss, with the a parody of the Big Brother House
Big Chicken 08


Nando's Fix Gum - WTF?

Skins: Beyond Reason

Skins have backed up their great ad and consumer insight into Sports Celebrities getting paid too much with another advertisement that will surely spark debate.



and here is their other great ad on Sports Celebrities

The Gruen Transfer - A television series looking at Advertising

Here is the promotion for the The Greun Transfer, a 10 part series looking at how Advertising works. Launching May 28th on the ABC. Should be interesting, pity they got Wil Anderson to host this program, he is such a wank.

On reflection there is a great fit for him to host a show looking at the Advertising Industry.

And here is the definition of The Greun Transfer

'The consumer's decision-making consciousness subsides and he or she is more likely to make an impulse purchase because of unconscious influences of lighting, ambient sound and music, spatial choices, visual detail, mirrored and polished surfaces, climate control, and the sequence and order of interior storefronts, etc.

The effect is marked by a slower walking pace and glazed eyes.'

When did Australian banks become the funny men?

It seems like the Australian Banks are all working off the same piece of insight. We all have to be the funny men. It is no longer about hitting people with the facts, it is about creating a inviting brand personality. Who would of thought 2 years ago that an advertising agency most interesting client would be a company in the banking industry?





At the moment my favourite ones are the ANZ Credit Card.


Lastly back in 1982 when the insight was for banks to be hip and cool

E Cultural Hijacking: Greenpeace slaughters Dove Part Six

The original Dove Video

Facebook Hijack