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Opinion | Features
Why is advertising so much better in New Zealand than Australia?
Ok, so this isn’t a new observation.
But it really hit home after I watched some TV ads for a kiwi supermarket yesterday that advertising in New Zealand is so much better than much of the crap that is being served up in this country at the moment.
Why is it that Colenso BBDO Auckland can turn something as bland as a supermarket chain into a brand I almost like, while Australian agencies succeed only in either irritating me (Coles) or passing me by unnoticed (Woolies) because the ads are so average?
My memo to your boss
So let me guess?
You really want to come to Mumbrella360, but you’ve got to justify the time and cost to your boss?
Good news! I think I can help.
Woz not great
In this guest post Tony Prysten argues that the thousand dollar price of seeing out-of-touch Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack on his Australian tour was a waste of money.
This week, for the cost of two iPads (yep, two) I went to the Woz Live conference in Melbourne. I was not impressed.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
According to industry experts Encore spoke to, the key elements that define transmedia can be summarised as follows: platform, time, audience, adaptation, and creative collaboration.
Innovation is the remedy for the ailing magazine industry
With magazine circulations plummeting, FHM closing and rumours rife on future ownership of ACP Magazines, Paul Merrill says the only way forward is launching new titles.Eight years ago in the UK, nearly a quarter of all magazine sales came from magazines that were less than four years old. In Australia, the figure was slightly lower, but still significant. Today, the situation is very different. For a start there are so few new magazines. Yes, Masterchef briefly flared, and Top Gear made an initial impact. But Grazia and Alpha fizzled, and now ACP has shelved their plans to launch Elle.
More than a game: broadcasting the Olympics
The 2012 London Olympics will be the biggest televised sporting event of our time. Brooke Hemphill discovers the logistical challenges and technical requirements of producing the event.
From July 27 to August 12, the Australian media will go sport crazy as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, aka the 2012 London Summer Olympics, unfold. The games will be the most televised sporting event of our time as broadcasters look to master every manner of technology at their disposal.
The Voice - Australia's best example yet of social TV
In this guest post, Sputnik’s Rodd Messent has a theory on why audiences have taken to The Voice .I am an addict of Channel Nine’s hit show The Voice. Such is the extent of my addiction I seriously think my housemate might kick me out of our apartment for the semi-frenzied yelling and tweeting that ensues in our lounge room each time the show airs.It’s the first time in almost three years that such disagreement has resulted in less than civil behaviour towards one another, and it’s made me think it might be a microcosm of the large volume of online debate about the show and, correspondingly, an explanation for its success as a social TV experience.Why brands are the US Army - and culture jammers are the Viet Cong
In this guest posting, Dave Burgess, who painted ‘No War’ on the Sydney Opera House, claims that ‘amoral’ advertisers have copied his idea.
Culture jamming is a 28-year-old term coined by the San Francisco-based band Negativland, who declared that the ‘Studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large’.
Branded content is dead. Long live branded content
In this guest posting, Anthony Freedman argues why branded content is making a comeback.
A few short years ago, probably concurrent with the advent of the PVR, a new term emerged within the marketing communications industry; branded content. This was really synonymous with advertiser funded TV shows where programming was created by brands and deals struck with networks to broadcast them.
There were varying degrees of success with this model.
Shock advertising: 30 ads that would give Australia's ad watchdog a coronary
Is shock an underused weapon in Australian advertising, asks Robin HicksToday, Sydney agency The Cabana Boys used an image of a mouth sewn together to shock people with the idea that problem gamblers lie to conceal their habit. Is it the most disturbing image ever? No. Will it get banned by the Advertising Standards Bureau? No. But it did make me wonder why shock is not used more often in Australia – and not just by charities and government bodies. (WARNING: NSFW)
The making of ratings blockbuster The Voice
Jason Mountney goes on the set of Channel Nine’s talent search series, The Voice, to see how the format, based on an international franchise, has come together. What ingredients have gone into making this certified hit that’s rated more than two million viewers on three consecutive nights?
Mike Goldman has one of the toughest jobs on the set of the Nine network’s new talent show, The Voice. He not only has to narrate the show, but also keep the audience from losing their enthusiasm as they realise shooting TV programs takes a lot longer than the one-hour bursts they see in their lounge rooms. A lot longer.
Nine problems stopping The Global Mail from getting an audience
While it’s a shame The Global Mail has failed to make an impact on the media landscape, the signs have been there for some time.I love the concept of a well resourced, philanthropically-funded independent news site. Anywhere in the world, that’s a rare and wonderful thing. In Australia even more so. So I hope that Grame Wood gets to see his investment make a difference.
And I have no inside info on whether Monica Attard’s sudden departure is linked to the site’s failure to find an audience so far.
Regardless, here are nine areas they can easily start to address:
Journalism’s new model?
Does the launch of philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail signal a new era for journalism or is the model destined to be a passing fad, asks Cathie McGinn in this article first published in Encore magazine.With little fanfare, philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail launched in February this year.
The online-only title received a generous five-year funding commitment from businessman Graeme Wood, founder of accommodation website wotif.com, who donated $15million.
Five things that make a great suit
In this guest posting, Gareth Collins argues that the role of a great account manager is to make the work betterI’m surprised at how many suits I meet who don’t know their role in the advertising business. The question ‘what does an advertising account manager or director do?’ is frequently met with answers such as project manager, relationship manager, plate spinner or go between … and those are the nice ones.
Success is judged on the ability to manage a process, be strong administratively and get stuff done. And while a good suit needs to do all of these things brilliantly, if these are the traits that define a great suit, then I’m in the wrong job.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
Westpac compares rate rise to cost of bananas
Westpac has launched a PR campaign to its customers, sending them an email with an accompanying animated video justifying its interest rate rise by comparing it to the cost of bananas.
The email was sent after the bank lifted its standard variable mortgage rate by 45 basis points last week – nearly double the Reserve Bank’s 25-basis-point increase earlier that same day.
The voice over in the video tells customers that “once upon a time” there were big fields of banana crops, but a storm came and damaged the crops, diminishing supply. He goes on the say that because of the storm, the price of bananas went up and it then cost more to make a banana smoothie, in turn pushing the price to buy a smoothie up by 50 cents.
The voice over goes on to say:
In 2007 the world of money changed. The money that banks needed to buy started to cost them a lot more, just like the bananas for the smoothies. All across the world there was tremendous worry and fear. This created a knock on effect and soon money to buy at any price was in very short supply.
When a storm blows in we have to ask ourselves some very serious questions. We need to baton down the hatches but still ensure our foundations are safe for future storms.
At times we have to make decisions that make us unpopular, but being popular is not our focus. Our focus is that we remain a healthy Australian business so we’ll be there for Australian families when they need us.”
Earlier this year Westpac launched a new ad campaign featuring the tagline “We are a bank you can bank on”. It was created by ad agency The Campaign Palace.
December 9th, 2009 at 9:35 am
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Comments
9 Dec 09
10:21 am
Wow – what a massive condescending own goal giving this story even more legs. Unbelievably they claim it was originally produced for internal use – no wonder the sector’s got problems if their own employees need kids explanations of their business.
I’m guessing they are ‘A bank you can bank on’ if you’re a shareholder – shame for the customers.
9 Dec 09
10:38 am
Disgraceful, condescending, contemptuous.
If you’re a customer of Westpace, I call on you all to visit a branch in nappies and sucking a dummy today, because that’s how the bank sees you.
9 Dec 09
12:15 pm
At some point most companies make decisions that they know are going to be unpopular with their customers. Few support them with banana analogies. What the fuck were they thinking?
9 Dec 09
12:20 pm
….although I suspect they wanted to ‘batten down the hatches’ rather than ‘baton’. Sub eds, these days, eh?
9 Dec 09
12:38 pm
“We need to baton down the hatches but still ensure our foundations are safe for future storms.” Hmm, lets see their Profits and Cash status, shall we…http://www.asx.com.au/asx/stat.....d=01011329
9 Dec 09
1:17 pm
It’s a little bit like comparing agency workers to dogs. I am still laughing at the posts relating to that article. For me it is my Mumbrella highlight of the year.
9 Dec 09
1:22 pm
I think banks would get more sympathy about the cost of credit if they weren’t posting profits in the billions of dollars and effectively running a monopoly business guaranteed against failure by the government.
Not quite the same for banana producers.
9 Dec 09
1:30 pm
Film no 2.
An allegorical tale about pouring petrol onto the dying embers of a fire, featuring the Wiggles
9 Dec 09
1:35 pm
So what Westpac is saying here is that previously they had not battened [note spelling!] down the hatches to protect against grey animated storm clouds, but had assumed that red animated dump trucks would magically solve their problems.
Curiously, the Macquarie Dictionary lists another meaning of batten, “to become fat”, and a phrase “to batten on” meaning “to live in luxury or prosper at the expense of (others)”. Indeed.
9 Dec 09
1:41 pm
Fark… what a steaming pile of condescending sh!t. I don’t know many milk bars that turn $3.4 billion profit…
9 Dec 09
1:47 pm
This video comes across as though the bank is crying poor…. while still making $3.5 BILLION during the “crisis”. Poor Wespac.
9 Dec 09
1:49 pm
I know there’s some shyte out there, but who at Westpac actually approved this?
And which agency did it? The Palace? Lavs? Or someone else?
We need answers – and at least one scapegoat!!!!
9 Dec 09
1:52 pm
Am sorry, that is a big L
9 Dec 09
1:52 pm
Hah! Crikey has just published Crikey clarifier: the difference between home loans and banana smoothies by Adam Schwab.
A sample:
9 Dec 09
1:55 pm
At the time of my earlier post, I’d yet to see the actual video, and was commenting on quoted lines and context.
Now I’ve seen it, I feel like I’ve just been spied through the magic mirror on Romper Room. How old and simple do you think your customers are, Gail?
This is one of the most reprehensible ways of communicating an issue that I have ever seen as a marketer.
I find it mind-numbing that executives, paid very well indeed by the very profits that are boosted by their rate rises, actually signed off on this as a right strategy to engage and communicate with their customers.
Westpac really have shown contempt for their customers by saying that they needed to weather the storm by stealing their socks so generations beyond can also hear how much after tax profit they’ve banked.
It may contain facts (although the comparison to banana prices is so far off to be laughable), but the tactical execution really is appalling.
Tim, this surely must go down as a massive PR disaster and beacon for how never, ever to deal with negative public sentiment.
9 Dec 09
2:02 pm
I don’t know about everyone esle, but was the sound as muffled as the logic?
Sure I understand that A+B =C. It’s just that when A+B = 2*C that I get confused. I wish they would use that sort of maths when making deposits!
9 Dec 09
2:12 pm
wasnt it the case that interest rates increased as the economy got better?.. and the red trucks were helping them to keep the rates artificially low..
9 Dec 09
2:18 pm
You can bank on the fact that they all came up with that one.
9 Dec 09
2:30 pm
Yes, it was presented in an extremely condescending way, compounded by the simplistic graphics and horrible analogy, but I have to ask:
Does anyone here really believe that a similar over-simplified explanation is unwarranted? Perhaps it’s your own view of the world which is somewhat restricted by the people you deal with every day, because I can tell you, the world I see every day is packed full of some mighty simple people.
Some of them might feel slighted by the ‘play school story time’ nature of this video, but if you asked them to explain the concept prior to seeing it, I’m willing to bet mortgages to bananas that they couldn’t.
I wish for a minute that this site were frequented by the kind of person I’m talking about. The kind whose idea of financial planning is putting $40 aside for a slab on the weekend. You all would be in the extreme minority.
Is it a hit? was it well done? was it even particularly accurate? No… obviously not… but I do believe the occasional over-simplified message is necessary, as I think /most/ people glaze over between the sport and the weather forecast, when watching the news.
Most people are disengaged and therefore ignorant. I won’t say stupid, even though that’s the word that first comes to mind.
9 Dec 09
2:35 pm
let’s get one thing straight – this was not a PR campaign – it’s direct marketing
the lack of PR sensibility by the marketing people is astonishing and provides solid evidence as to why marketing should report to corporate communications within organisations
Of course Westpac expected to cop flak over the 20bps rise, but probably thought this would pass
What they didn’t expect is that marketing would ensure people remembered being shafted
The email video is a good way to make a direct point re moving in lock-step with official rate rises, because as Milorad said the target audience is unsophisticated
The problems are the banana smoothie analogy, which trivialises the importance of rate rises to the average mortgagor, and the timing – it comes at least 6 months too late in the cycle and right now it only highlights that the most recent rise is just greedy
Marketing may have assumed that the average punter won’t read the bourgeois press – but the extra 20bps story got carried everywhere in print and online
9 Dec 09
2:40 pm
oh, and it makes marketing’s spend on millions in prime time TV look incredibly stupid as well
research studies conducted in the late 1990′s in the US by AT&T’s Public Relations research department suggest:
* when there is ‘normal’ news coverage, news and advertising work together, and incremental advertising has a positive impact on attitudes
* in times of widespread and extremely positive news coverage, the incremental positive impact of advertising is much less than in normal times
* in times of widespread and extremely negative news coverage, incremental advertising does not have a positive incremental impact, and may even have a negative effect
* advertising can, and should in some circumstances, be ‘turned up and down’ according to the level of unpaid news coverage
9 Dec 09
2:45 pm
This makes me very angry. For, they knew that securitizing loans out of sub-prime mortgages was fanning the growing storm. F-wits!
9 Dec 09
2:57 pm
Aidan – part of the problem was that sub-primes were not being reported as sub-prime by the (American) lender, and therefore attracting more investment than they would have otherwise. Off-topic I know, but important.
I also think the popular assault on their 3.5bn proffit margin is misunderstood. Shareholders are only shareholders because the shares remain attractive. If they were a co-op instead of a company, their profits would be extremely low and customers would be better off in the short term, but they would attract no investment whatsoever. Nobody would buy into westpac if there was nothing in it for them, and soon enough there would be no westpac.
“but why do the profits have to be so high?”
Because that is what attracts from the market. To beat this poor stinking analogy to death: If you were buying a banana, would you rather a fresh bright yellow banana, or a spotted brown one? The bank needs to keep itself looking nice and appealing in order to avoid rotting.
Believe it or not, that IS better for all of us.
9 Dec 09
3:09 pm
Aside from the obvious condescending tone, it did make me wonder if all Bananas were indeed produced on small island’s located in the tropics…
after some a brief bit of research apparently not…India takes the (banana) biscuit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana
Or was that ‘small’ island supposed to be a graphic representation of Australia – a relatively small banking market (island) by international standards in which they (man with watering can) control, along with the other 3, the majority of the market (the 2 x banana trees)…
9 Dec 09
3:39 pm
Do they really believe that the customers care? Fail!
9 Dec 09
3:42 pm
Westpac is my mortgage lender and I am outraged at its condescending BS about its over the top rate rise.
Bananas go up in price when there is a major weather disaster or crop failure and that’s understandable as it’s all about supply and demand since we are on a remote island.
The banking sector is 100% responsible for the recent world recession, and their ill-thought out financial decisions have brought some of the most respected financial institutions in the world to their knees (RBS in the UK)! This rate rise will add a reported $235 million to Westpac’s multi-billion dollar profits this year. When will banks start caring about their customers and not just their shareholders? And why is it that home owners are the ones that have to foot the bill every time the government and the RBA want to control inflation?
The quote from one of Westpac’s senior execs yesterday that “Westpac is not the Jetstar of the banking world” outraged me even more than this direct marketing campaign crap, though I haven’t actually received it from them – I wonder why?
I have been in contact with other lenders to seek a better deal and I will take my business elsewhere, which I have told Westpac today. NAB is looking likely to get my vote since its increase was the lowest.
9 Dec 09
4:23 pm
i got a letter from Peter Hanlon, says “The money we lend comes from two sources.” bla bla bla Hey Peter the money i borrow can also come from more than one source. so i will be changing loans asap
9 Dec 09
4:57 pm
So that’s why bananas are so expensive. At least I have learnt something. Thanks Westpac! (Note sarcasm).
9 Dec 09
5:43 pm
As a home owner paying off a mortgage, i find this completely insulting. I may not be an economist, but having been through the process of comparing banks on home loan rates, making applications, and jumping through the thousand hoops they put up to get approval, i like to think i know enough about interest rates to not be spoken to like a mong with crayons.
11 Dec 09
11:49 am
B – A – N – A – ANUS
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