-
Opinion
Video: How to win new business
Mumbrella Question Time saw the panel asked the secrets of winning new business. Read more »
Let’s stop the anonymous vitriol
In this guest posting, Peter Bray, boss of The Brand Shop, takes issue with negative comments from anonymous posters on Mumbrella and elsewhere.
There are very few ads that I vehemently dislike. There are also very few ads that I really love. But most ads I see on Mumbrella and other blogs I can usually take something from, whether it is information about the brand, a bit of inspiration or a “watch out”. I’m open to learning as much as I can from others, and encourage those around me to do the same.
My basic assumption, however, is that because an ad has been produced by a professional agency, and had the approval from the client, then the end result must be doing something right. Therefore, without knowing the practical rationale behind the ad, for me to have a strong opinion about whether it is great advertising would be kind of arrogant. There is a reason that awards shows ask for information about why an ad was created: they are rarely judged on end product alone.
So as someone who enjoys watching the work that our industry creates, I am stunned at the level of vitriol stemming from some people’s comments in both this blog and others. Read more »
Read his lips
This is several weeks old, but worth a look. It’s certainly an original way to deal with media criticism.It features Air NZ boss Rob Fyfe responding to weekly current affairs magazine The Listener using the medium of sign language. Read more »
Let’s not be too positive just yet – the nail is still there
It’s more than a year since News Ltd’s marketing boss Joe Talcott used the memorable analogy of a dog whimpering on a nail to describe the structural change the industry needs to go through. Read more »
The AdNews numbers that mislead the market
It’s always a tad tawdry when competitors attack each other, but I hope you’ll bear with me…
Whether cynically or through incompetence, AdNews has been misleading its advertisers by providing them with data that seems to suggest they have six times their true online audience.
Allow me to present the evidence. Read more »
Technology will help us own the agenda – all day, every day
In this opening speech to the Future Forum of the Newspaper Publishers Association, News Ltd CEO John Hartigan argued that news organisations have the opportunity to become more rather than less relevant.
Today I want to talk about a tipping point that heralds the most exciting era for journalism. The most exciting era ever.
This tipping point is already upon us. It has arrived at lightning speed, with the explosion in demand for mobile devices.
I am not consigning newspapers to the scrapheap. Not by a long shot.
But this tipping point is going to change journalism forever. In my opinion, very much for the better. Read more »
The real time shit sandwich detector
In this guest post, Clive Burcham of The Conscience Organisation, relishes the instant feedback of social media.
I’ve been making brand driven content since 1996 and often I’ve been so close to the work that I couldn’t tell the difference between if we were chomping on a shit sandwich or savouring the crème de la creme. From an audience perspective, we wouldn’t know the difference for weeks or months. What excites me most now is that we know within 24 hours if we’ve developed shit or cream. Read more »
SMH shows how to make a home page takeover work
When you’re a commercial organisation, balancing the needs of consumers with the need to make money through ads is tricky.
Among the organisations that sometimes goes the wrong way in my view is Fairfax, with its autostart video ads, for instance.
But today, a bit of unreserved praise Read more »
Inside the Foxtel factory
Having been at the launch of Foxtel’s new season the other night, nine points occur… Read more »
ABC News 24 – a handy service for niche journalists
It may not have many viewers yet, but ABC News 24 saves specialist journos having to leave their desks, argues Delimiter’s Renai LeMay
When media commentators discuss the future of journalism, they usually agree on at least one thing: It will involve much fewer generalists and more reporters dedicated to exhaustively covering niche fields. Read more »
The seven ages of Carlton Draught’s Made From Beer
Today sees the launch of “Slow Mo”, the latest instalment of Carlton Draught’s irreverent Made From Beer series.
It’s been quite a run – from the highly awarded Big Ad, to the comedy of Flash Beer, to the debacle of the abortive banned Tingle campaign. These are the seven ages of Made From Beer… Read more »
Real consumers don’t have ‘brand conversations’. They use search
In this guest posting, Simon van Wyk argues that much as marketers might wish otherwise, most consumers don’t have emotional connections with brands
I have a background in marketing, but my understanding of branding seems at odds with the 2010 opinions I see from social media commentators, marketing and advertising agencies. Read more »
Hot, censoring atheists: Google’s insight into what punters think about pollies and journos
One of the charms of Google is autocomplete, where it takes a punt on what you’re going to ask, based on what the rest of the world has been wondering previously.
And it certainly gives a few insights into the high quality of political debate about the Labor leaders in the run up to the election.
Take NSW premiere Kristina Keneally… Read more »
The copyright-busting election
This is rapidly turning into the copyright-infringing election. Read more »
Digital Fail: The gaping void in digital training is failing our industry
In this guest post, Amnesia Razorfish’s Iain McDonald warns that the industry has fallen badly behind on digital training.
Before I get accused of trolling with that headline, I’ll state what I think is obvious: The current education system isn’t producing or nurturing enough ‘digitally skilled’ individuals to sustain a growing a digital economy. Read more »
Yellow Pages goes the testimonial route
Yellow Pages has launched Testimonial – a new campaign created by Clemenger Proximity Melbourne featuring real business owners who have benefited from advertising in the directory.
The TVC builds on the brand’s strategy of justifying to its advertisers that their investment in being in the directory is money well spent.
The ad features 23 real business owners from all over Australia, who advertise with Yellow Pages. No paid talent was used . They describe in their own words how they have benefited from it. They paint numbers on a large yellow canvass which relate to the results they have achieved.
The TVC launched yesterday and will also be supported by press advertising. As the deadline for being in the Yellow Pages directory approaches, the campaign will include a cut-down 15-second TVC reminding people to book. This will be supported by press, radio and direct marketing.
Credits:
- Agency: Clemenger Proximity Melbourne
- Creative Team: Matt Stoddart and Stefanie DiGianvincenzo
- Production Company: Fiction Film Company
- Director: Jake Robb
- Media agency: OMD
May 11th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
-
Follow Us
-
Email Newsletter
Latest Jobs- Junior Producer - Sydney
- Senior E-commerce Marketing Specialist – Travel sector - Sydney
- Product Manager - Online Media Company - Sydney
- Marketing Executive - global technology company - Sydney
- 1192 Account Director, Melbourne - Melbourne
- Communications Strategist - Sydney
- Brand Strategist - Sydney or Melbourne
- Senior Account Manager, Sports Marketing - Sydney
- Graduate Analyst - Digital Media, $35,000 to $50,000 depending on experience - Sydney
- Head of Content & Ideation - Sydney, NSW, Australia
Comments
11 May 09
11:04 pm
Its nice and all, but by no means a classic like “not happy Jan” and “Goggo Mobile”. I guess some markets’ advertising needs to be pragmatic…
12 May 09
11:28 am
Um… I didn’t see that kind of response. I just listed with a new site.
http://www.bloo.com.au I think it’s brilliant.!
They’re advertising everywhere in Perth, They listed me in google and have a “click to call” product where my customers can contact me for free.
This is my little plug for them.
12 May 09
1:41 pm
cant remember the last time i actually opened up the yellow pages.
businesses are better off spending that money on paid search on google and using true local. take advantage of the google stimulus package with $75 free credit too.
12 May 09
3:34 pm
I have no barrow to push. Don’t work for the agency or the client. Don’t work on any direct competitors.
This ad works for me on a number of levels and I think it’s a really good effort at maintaining the relevance of the YP in the current marketplace, certainly within specific business examples and target groups. It feels to me that the use of the talent demographics and the selection of businesses is highly deliberate and in keeping with the relevance positioning, as well as being a reflection of who the current users of the print YP most likely are (i.e. older, stick to their local environment etc). There’s no one here who’s hip, planning global domination or walking around with a bluetooth ear piece. Nice strategy and casting.
So, does it work for everyone? No, and I don’t think it’s meant to. Obviously as time and technology goes by, products like the printed YP will need to adapt further or perish under the Google juggernaut.
12 May 09
3:35 pm
Thats my comment above. I don’t mind giving my name to my opinions…just pushed the button way too quickly!
12 May 09
3:48 pm
The Yellow dinosaur, ads great they always are as they have $$$ and want to keep people paying to be listed.
I get these books wrapped in plastic dumped at my door each year and i guess that proves reach when your selling ad space.
But like most people reading this, it goes in the bin[recycling after plastic removed]
This year i even emailed the dont send me one next year list..I wonder if I’ll still get one?
Keep the spin going, but i think little businesses are getting smarter and dont just have local paper and yellow pages to promote their business any more.
12 May 09
4:07 pm
mal,
“…most people reading this” are not the target market as per the point I made above about specific business examples. If you’re reading this you probably don’t run a local driving school or contract out mini-skips. I’ve run my own business and for me YP weren’t relevant because all my business came from personal referral as I would expect from the industry I’m in.
No one said local paper or YP are the only options for small business. Not even the ad says this. To clarify, the ad is targeting listings and I think reflects the demographic of the user. Obviously, thats not you.
12 May 09
4:17 pm
Rachael,
sorry I think you missed what i was saying. We are not in disagreeing.
I was saying people like you have wised up.Why pay inflated ad rates when it doesnt deliver clients. [in your case WOM]
Or they may deliver 8 million books. [so you pay to advertise to that many people] when only a fraction of those are actually used.
My point was people have now have so many more channels and options than 10 years ago.
I think we are really talking about two different things.
12 May 09
4:27 pm
Mal
Coupla things.
The ad focuses on response, not reach as a metric, which is something I fundamentally agree with and I think somewhat lessens the impact of your argument.
Secondly, like I said, I don’t have anything to sell that might lead me to use words like ‘dinosaur’ or ’spin’ in relation to this conversation. I was trying to take the conversation away from the barrow pushers and inject some independent critical thinking.
And you?
13 May 09
8:23 am
Rachael, no need for the condescending tone.
We seem to be talking about different things, which i have tried to show.
I wasn;t referring to Yellow pages ad..which i said is great creative etc etc.
Each of those[real] people in the ad pays to advertise in the YP.
That amount is based upon the reach, so my point is YP has massively overstated reach as they deliver YP books to all households and businesses if they want them or not. Therefore inflating the real numbers of people the person business will reach.
So businesses are paying a premium they dont need to.
Secondly i was calling the Yellow pages the the yellow dinosaur NOT you,meaning the print version is extinct.
Independent thinking…i have no problem with, but we were talking about different topics.
you the ad , me the ad rates charged to customers by yellow pages. clear
13 May 09
9:05 am
Rachael & Mal,
By being front of mind, your debate has achieved one small, positive outcome for the brand. When I got home last night, there was a large pile of Yellow Pages Local sitting in my building’s mail room. For the first time in the two and a half years I’ve been in the country, I took one.
Cheers,
Tim
13 May 09
9:39 am
Tim,
great outcome and I’d expect you to be appearing in stage two of the news ads.
real people real books
13 May 09
2:47 pm
Your points are well made Rachael – well considered and well expressed. I make it Rachael 1 – Mal 0.
Regarding the “rate based on reach” issue, isn’t this a lot like the difference between CPC and CPA in the online world? It’s not how they set the ratecard, it’s how much they charge that is the issue. At the right price I’d buy a medium that would reach all 21.5m people – you’d be mad not to as you just never know who might be interested in your brand, product or service.
A little maths. Typical click-through-rate is 0.3%. With around 7.25m households and 21.5m people, you would only need 21,750 households around Australia or 64,500 people to “act” and you’re on par.
13 May 09
3:05 pm
My yellow pages is sitting under the monitor. Don’t think I will be using it any time soon while I still have online connectivity!
In fact I don’t even use Yellow Pages Online because it’s so difficult to find what you are looking for and they just keep shoving paid adverts in front of you.
If your business targets 60+ people, the book would work for you. But I would like to see a study showing how many under 30’s have even opened a Yellow Pages book in the last 5 years.
It’s over priced and it under delivers. Even if they have testimonials from 50 different business people, that’s just a drop in the ocean when compared to how many other people have used it and it’s not worked.
13 May 09
3:52 pm
Mal, it’s not personal but I do I tend to become condescending when I am being patronised by commenters who clearly have a vested interested in the subject but don’t openly disclose that fact. This topic for some reason had become a broad decrial of the YP as a product versus the whole of the internet…and in my view, this misses the point. Also your comment ‘people like you have wised up’ threw me a little because I always thought I was pretty smart in the first place but there you go. BTW, It never occurred to me that you were using the word ‘dinosaur’ as an insult to me, although of course the ‘kids’ in my office will find it hilariously on point no doubt! I was trying to point out that when you use words like those you are exposing your lack of objectivity.
To clarify the clarificating of the clarifications….my previous comments were about the advertising. In terms of the product, which is a different subject entirely, like any mass medium, it lives and dies by it’s ability to deliver the right level of response (right numbers of the right people), at the right price, with the right intention. In the ad, they’re implying that they can deliver on a cost per response metric. Personally, I’m a cost per acquisition kind of gal when that is the goal. Does YP do either? I would imagine it depends (right people, right price, right intention…).
No doubt for many, the price is too high (because there is too much wastage etc) and for others (depending on their target market and offer), the price will be right.
For the record I don’t own a copy of the YP either. I also don’t listen to Alan Jones, watch Australia’s Funniest Home Videos or listen to new music on Myspace.
13 May 09
4:10 pm
Sarrah, So’s you know Roy Morgan looks at use of directories vs demographics as part of their media consumption survey if you want to look it up. If you’re targeting 30’s and under though, you’re almost certainly right that it would be a waste of time.
13 May 09
4:29 pm
Five will get you one that Rachael has forgetten more about media (traditional and digital) than Mal has ever learned.
13 May 09
4:38 pm
whenever we talk about yellow pages on our blog (frankmedia.com.au/blog) there is usually an impassioned response from some YP cohort.
All said and done there has to be a more user and environmentally friendly option. As twitter gains pace its worth considering twibs…twitter’s business directory. Embryonic at the moment with approx 12,000 listings.
By the way if you no longer wish to receive YP then call 1800 810 211 or emai bookdelivery@sensis.com.au
Trackbacks/Pingbacks