And the winner is...

Judging at an award show last year I came to the conclusion that some agencies put more work and imagination into their 90 second promo videos than they put into the work itself.

Seems I wasn't the only one, as this fun video spoof by students from a Brazilian adschool confirms.

Social media anyone?

What about listeners?

The radio station Nova started broadcasting around the time I returned to Melbourne after working in the UK.

I chanced upon it in my brother in-law's car and was instantly struck by how few ads they ran.

This was a big deal to me as I can't stand radio ads. I really can't.

Not long after I went to Nova's first birthday bash where they made a big fuss out of the fact that they only played two ads in a row in an ad break.

Which I'm sure you can appreciate is about 5 less than the average FM station.

Today I learnt that Nova are dropping their two ad policy.

Why?

According to station executive Cathy O'Connor, "The move introduces flexibility," and it "will allow us to collaborate with advertisers and agencies in new ways."

But what about the listeners Cathy?

Did you ask them if they want more ads? I doubt it.

But then again since when did listeners ever really matter to radio stations?

Dozens of channels but nothing on

Last night I was a guest on the RRR radio show The Enthusiast.

One of the campaigns that they were keen to discuss with me was the new campaign for the Trading Post.

Although I was familiar with the outdoor I had not seen the TV ad.

They also asked me about a controversial KFC ad but I hadn’t seen that either.

Truth be told I can’t remember the last time I watched a show interrupted by advertising.

Yet I have watched a hell of a lot of TV shows over the summer.

Madmen series 3. Gavin & Stacey series 3. Breaking Bad series 1 and 2. As well as both series of True Blood.

I occasionally catch the late night news on Ch 10. But that’s pretty much it for me as far as traditional TV watching goes.

What about you? Have your viewing habits changed in recent times?

Drop or plummet?

Source

Advertising is alive & well

Who says advertising doesn't work?

Who thinks advertising cannot have the reach it once did in this age of media fragmentation?

And who was it that said brands need to hold conversations not just advertise?

Probably me if truth be told!


If you want to see the power of advertising in Australia take a look around you next time you go to a bar or pub.

Chances are you'll see plently of hip young things drinking cider.

It's easy to spot as it looks a lot like an orangey radioactive lager.

Two years ago nobody drank cider down under. Now it's everywhere.

Why?

Because the likes of Bulmers and Strongbow are advertising. A lot.

So next time so snot nosed social media punk tells you that advertising is dead pour them a glass of scrumpy and toast its health.

What next?

Well here we are in 2010. In just a couple of months BrandDNA will be four years old.

When I started doing this there were really only a handful of advertising blogs and social media had yet to become a buzz term.

YouTube was less than a year old and I'd never heard of Facebook or Twitter.

Truth be told the blogosphere has changed completely in just a few short years.

As have my online habits.

Which makes me wonder whether or not I should continue BrandDNA or knock it on the head.

Guess we'll have to see what happens.

Breaking news or broken?

Once upon a time, in an Aussie adland far far away, the only way to get industry news was in trade magazines.

These were B&T which came out every Friday. AdNews which came out fortnightly and the creative’s favourite Campaign Brief which arrived by mail on a monthly basis.

All of these mags are still going, however they seem less and less relevant with each passing week.

Why?

Not because they’re printed. But because they have regular e-newsletters. So by the time the print edition arrives the stories are old and most of us have already read them.

Which makes me wonder how much longer before one of either B&T or AdNews stops printing and becomes an online magazine.

Much like new kid on the block – Mumbrella.

What bugs me most about our trade publications though is their reliance on press releases as content.

This probably didn’t matter back in the old days. But when I see the same “story” in all of the trade e-newsletters it really pisses me off.

Surely these guys have writers on staff to tweak the PR material they are supplied into something resembling a story?

If they don’t I recommend they get some. And fast. Because if the content is essentially the same on all of them then one of them surely has to go.

Future focus

In just four weeks it will be 2010.

The internet has long since shifted from being the information superhighway to an easily accessible tool on our mobile phone.

Prime time is no longer just evening TV. It also includes daytime internet use on popular media properties.

The advertising landscape is almost unrecognisable from when I first decided to toss in my career as a Weights & Measures Inspector and try my luck as a Copywriter.

So why oh why am I still hearing or reading the following terms on an almost daily basis?

Above the line

Mainstream campaign

Digital agency

Is it because people who use the term above the line think what they do is more important?

Is it because people who use the term mainstream don’t realise that what they consider the mainstream is now just one channel among many?

Is it because agencies that don’t get digital think it is a specialisation or is it because agencies who only do digital think it is a specialisation?

Regardless of the answers the question remains – As we approach 2010 why are terms that should have faded from use in our industry still being used?

Oops!

Hat tip to Y2.

Ad after ad afer ad

One of the most annoying things about Australian television is the way that programs never seen to start or finish on time.

I always thought this was some kind of ploy by the networks to stop you switching channels at the end of a show.

Turns out that may not be the case at all.

According to the regulatory authority, networks are allowed to air a maximum of 13 minutes of advertising per hour during the evening.

I think you’d have to agree that’s more than enough ads.

Yet our TV networks are blatantly flouting these restrictions.

According to a survey conducted by the Herald Sun, networks often cram in as much as 19 minutes of advertising during an hour show.

19 minutes!

No wonder the shows don’t start or finish on time.

And no wonder so many people say they hate advertising.

Ch..ch..ch changes

When I first started out in the ad biz I went to show my homemade folio to the Grand Dame of Melbourne adland - Claire Worthington of Apple.

She smoked furiously throughout the fifteen or so minutes she spent with me. Bits of ash falling on my folio pages as she spoke.

As you can imagine I was incredibly nervous at the time. Yet she made me feel like I had something to offer.

She remarked on the fact that I was the only Weights & Measures Inspector she had ever met. Then gave me a list of agencies and CDs in Melbourne.

She circled names like Ted Horton and Nick Trumble and told me that they were people similar to myself in that they had had careers in an unrelated field before they got into advertising.

That meeting with Claire seems like a lifetime ago. So much has changed in my life and also the industry that I had chosen for my next big adventure.

On the weekend I was clearing old papers and junk from the cupboard in my study and I came across the list of agencies and CDs that Claire had given me.

As you can imagine the paper had yellowed and it was kinda dog-eared.

The big surprise for me was just how many of the agencies on the list were no longer a part of the Melbourne scene.

Names like Masius, Monahan Dayman Adams, Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB Needham, Wunderman Cato Johnson and dozens of small local agencies.

It's funny how we all talk (a lot) about how much our industry is changing. Yet we never really stop to think about how it always has. And probably always will.

Unhealthy debate

Cigarette advertising was outlawed in Australia many years ago.

So I was surprised to read this morning that tobacco companies in the USA are going fight changes to on pack health warnings because they infringe on their First Amendment rights.

For those of you not familiar with the First Amendment it's the one that guarantees freedom of speech.

Given cigarettes are a legal product I suspect this challenge will end up in the courts.

Where a bunch of legal firms will obviously make a great deal of money arguing a seemingly unwinnable argument.

What a pity that money couldn't be invested in healthcare and education programs.

Creativity can solve anything

I wrote about the film Art & Copy a few weeks ago.

Sadly I missed at the Melbourne Film Festival. Grrr!

Now I've seen the poster I'm even more desperate to see it.

It's an absolute cracker - don't you think?

Check out the trailer here.

Dog of an idea

Call me a cynic if you will - but dog laxatives!?

Surely the ultimate scam ad product.

This ad is one of three that have been popping up on advertising websites.

Hmm!?

Why is it that ads with the scent of scam about them always seem to come in a set of three?

Could it be that a campaign entry at an award show requires a minimum of three ads.

I think it might...

More newspaper news

Ah the irony of it all.

How many is too many?

How many agencies does the average brand need?

Ask an old school adman and he'll tell you just one.

Chances are these days it more likely to be a couple.

But I doubt anyone reading this could guess how many agencies Sony work with in the UK.

Believe it or not it's 130. And no that's not a typo!

Rumour has it Sony are looking to whittle those 130 UK agencies down to just a handful.

Carl Pring, head of UK brand and advertising, told Marketing magazine that Sony UK wanted "consistency in its marketing activities."

Given that Fallon do most of the high profile Sony work, what on earth do the other 129 agencies work on?

Car for animals?

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Subaru ad comes this campaign for the Fiat 500.

It's by an agency called Marcel in Paris.

Click on the pics to enlarge and I'm sure you'll agree that the ads have been beautifully photographed.

But is this really the best way to promote the car with the lowest CO2 emission in Europe?

I don't think so.

But then again they really are kinda random. Which I like.

Tasteful advertising

They don't write headlines like that anymore. I wonder why?

Kids of today