Aussie digital was a world leader – now it’s five years behind
In this guest posting, Xander Black, who recently returned to Australia from the UK, argues that thanks to slow broadband and timid clients, the local digital industry is five years behind
Ten years ago when I first moved to Europe, Australians were the rising stars of the digital space.
It was common practice around the globe, that if you couldn’t get digital talent from New York or San Francisco, your best bet was to get someone from Australia. In the UK they would run recruitment ads saying ‘Prove to us that we don’t need to recruit from Down Under’.
But times have changed… we have to wonder what has happened over the last ten years and why Australians aren’t dominating the international digital market today.
Some people say it was the dot com bust in 2000 that realigned service companies towards more specialised areas in the digital landscape. But for me, the factor that helped the UK move away from us was broadband.
Suddenly digital media exploded across the UK. In the space of a few years they went from a digital desert to one of the most thriving and innovative digital communities globally. With it came online video and interactive advertising, 3d brand experiences and flash driven adver-games amongst many other innovations, which weren’t possible on dialup.
We also started to see specialisation amongst web based talent. In one camp were web and usability designers, content strategists and information architects. The kind of people you’d hire to work on the public face of your online business. People who knew how to present information in a way easy to consume and easy to get to. In the other corner were your new breed of digital creatives who were about ‘ideas’. Not just ‘ideas’ in the traditional creative sense but also what you could do to push the technology in new ways as well. Back in the 60s, these would have been the guys advocating television whilst your old school admen sneered saying ‘That’s not real advertising.’
And in 2006-7 we started to see another huge shift, to social networking. Alongside social networking came mobile web, and a greater focus on data.
Things have been changing rapidly globally… but what’s been happening in Australia all this time? It seems I’ve returned home to find us at a point similar to where the UK was back in 2005.
And it’s not the way the agencies are thinking… it’s the way our clients are thinking. Digital is only now starting to be seen as a ‘valid channel’ by marketers rather than the one thing which unifies all other communications.
And whilst Australia has produced some very innovative agencies and work, the vast majority of digital marketing is done on the sort of shoestring budgets that ATL may have left as a tip at lunch.
So now, 10 years after I first moved to Europe, Australians are no longer the rising stars of digital. The London digital shops are now heaving with South Africans, Brazilians and Swedes who can more easily realise their ideas in their own countries, and use those accomplishments as entry ways into the big markets.
We definitely have the talent here to produce world class work… but our digital agencies are constrained by budgets, old school thinking that isn’t always compatible with digital, and (probably most telling of all) file sizes due to lack of high speed broadband penetration.
ADSL2 at 24Mbps and unlimited downloads used to cost me the equivalent of about $25 a month in the UK. In Australia, only a select elite are privy to the sort of high speed internet which is taken for granted in more mature markets.
The unfortunate knock on effect for us is a smaller market base for our richer ideas and consequently smaller marketing spend. At least this is the case for now, but as time goes on, it’s inevitable that we’ll go the same way as the UK and larger markets.
My hat is off to the agencies who have managed to do amazing work under these difficult conditions. But just imagine how great we’ll be when each one of these problems is resolved.
- Xander Black is the new creative director of HotHouse
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The up-side of being 5 years behind is we can avoid the mistakes of our futuristic colleagues.
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That’s a good point, Leslie.
I wish I could go back in time and warn myself not to buy that iPod Touch on the day it came out.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
@Leslie
What was right 5 years ago may well be wrong now so I can see no advantage in what you’re saying.
Totally agree, the speed, cost and download limits of Australian broadband are miles behind the rest of the world. Thanks Telstra.
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Better to try to talk and stutter than mumble your way through pre-school, the other kids aren’t going to respect you because you’re careful, they’re going to avoid you because you can’t play patty cake.
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So if download limitations were a non-issue, would everything be better, or just bigger?
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If you think Oz’s behind by 5 yrs, multiply that by 2, and you get New Zealand. So much for a highly developed country. First world mentality; third world infrastructure. We have the same ‘supposedly competitive’ Internet package ‘wars’ here. Only I don’t think it is anywhere close to competitive, seeing that it’s more like a cartel.
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I have only ever worked in the online space here in Aus but I have gone from a US media company a few years ago to a bank now and WOW! It is truely the definition of behind the times, I do realise there are not many cross overs from media to banking but general interest in technology and innovation should convert.
I find that the reason Australia tends to fall behind is not so much the speed debate (although this is probably just as significant) it is more closely related to the lack of original content and a companies willingness to truely multi-channel their brand and approach.
How fantastic when a company comes out and does some ‘online video’ campaign *cough* lame *cough*. I think more focus needs to be put into entertaining the audience with what they want rather then just giving them a whole raft of generic feeds with a bazillion ads and hope they come. Its a hard balance but I fear that with fears of no immediate ROI but rather long term appeal this tends to be over looked relatively quickly for ‘cheap and nasty’ approachs on everything.
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As an aussie in Sweden, I definitely see the depth of client-side digital knowledge as well as agency side talent.
While the Internet is fast and cheap (unlimited 100mb plans for $20 a month) the market is still faced with the same bitter quarrels between media, creative and social consultants over who owns what and who gets bigger slices of budgets – which does hold back the brilliant ideas you write about above.
I think Aust is 12 months behind, and not due to internet speeds, but rather industry structure, talent pool and knowledge.
See you in the future!
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When I first arrived in the UK (2.5 years ago) I would have fully agreed with Xander, but after a few years working in digital in both the UK and Germany (client and agency side) I think he is off the mark. Sure there might still be a broadband speed gap, but having worked with several blue chip media/entertainment clients over here, the same issues exist in both markets. Namely, ‘New Media’ (yep, it’s still called NEW) budgets being a fraction of ATL spends (even when they outperform ROI time and time again) and a lack of full integration on both client and agency side. Still too many briefs pay lip-service to media neutral ideas (I’m looking at you BOTH Mr Client and Mr Planner) and the digital teams end up with the often lamented ‘just make the TV spot work online’ directive…… Thanks god there are several leaders in the space still fighting the battle. Nick Emnel at Dare being a great example.
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I’m sure there is a plane headed back there real soon. Enjoy.
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Interesting bit of PR by the new hire at Hothouse. Expect some shit hot work coming from then in the very near future.
How long have you been back in the Australian scene for Xander? A considerable amount of time I am sure to assess the full body of work produced by our best agencies in the past few years, not just the ones that popped into your favourite blogs…?
Some really no-brainer points here which everyone already knows… and some blanket statements also that don’t quite make sense – such as UK hotshops being full of all other nationalities… implying Aussies are no longer cut out for working in the UK… Then followed up with a contradiction that “we definately have the talent here to produce world class work” Hmm… From my experience in the UK and countless Australian acquaintances working in the UK scene this is simply not true. What you failed to mention also is that our work ethic (a point the recruiter was making) is considered extremely high by comparison in the UK.
Few things to throw in:
Greatest Job in the World was the most awarded campaign of 2009 and one of the most awarded of all time.
Yes, in Australia there are significantly smaller pots to work with. One of the luxuries of top tier work in the UK is regular Western Europe wide campaign rollouts which opens up massive budgets. Despite the fractions of budgets we have to work with here, the ingenuity in many circumstances is quite impressive.
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Hi Matt,
Thanks for your comments. On your point re Best Job, I’m aware that it won lots of digital prizes among it’s many trophies, but I wonder: wasn’t it at heart a PR idea that happened to be executed in digital?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I’ve just come back from 10 years in the UK as well (client and agency side) and I agree almost completely with you Xander. What he is saying is that the use of the internet as a strategic, unifying channel for marketing is not embedded here yet.
Its not that the UK has bigger budgets or better creative but is using a better standpoint from which to approach the work.
AND they have faster broadband – 1mps is a total joke as fast and here it always drops out – what you have are very small, backward, expensive pipes and a government dragging its heels on upgrading/regulating which will continue to challenge innovators and the industry in general. In some ways the 5 years is both too pessimistic (with regards to strategic thinking improvements) and too optimistic (with regards to infrastructure improvements).
I think you’re all being a bit parochial and defensive and not seeing what he is trying to say – lets recognise the challenges and look for new ways to push the boundaries and leap ahead in our thinking.
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I fully agree with and support the point that the use of the internet as a strategic, unifying channel for marketing is not embedded here yet and our broadbandis a joke.
What I don’t agree with is claiming that our craft is inferior to those from other countries and Australians are no longer appreciated in other markets. It’s simply quite far fetched and sends the wrong message to those seeking experience in the UK.
Yes Tim, Best Job is a great PR idea but one which also used social media and digital to unify all communications – as Xander suggested.
I’m all for improving our infrastucture and strategic improvements and also have a desire to see these areas move forward dramatically. It is happening… slowly but surely.
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Thanks Naomi, you clarified my point well. And I have to admit this bit of writing has a slightly more provocative headline than I would have written myself.
To clarify my point specifically on the 5 year gap is that at the best of times, ‘Digital; is being seen as another channel by clients alongside TV and Radio. Rather than a central unifying hub for all other channels which is how its perceived amongst the most forward thinking clients in the UK and US now.
Matt – I did not at any point say that Australian creative was not up to par, in fact if you read my article I said quite the opposite (I have seen the waves campaigns like ‘the best job in the world’ have had around the globe). There’s really no need to get defensive as my point is a shift in client side thinking and perception of digital would benefit us all. Trying to shift that perception is rather the point of writing opinion pieces like this one.
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Broadband speeds and downloads are largely moot. It’s really not that crap over here if comparing like-for-like locations.
Until clients (and equally their creative and media agencies) actually understand the full integrated potential of digital, or indeed integration at all, then no needle will shift. Much of this would be helped by greater exposure of effective local and overseas campaigns. (points to Tim)
Digital has rocketed up the agenda with the advent of the iPhone and accelerated with the iPad, yet that is only a good device – a poor idea or execution doesn’t become good because it’s on an iPad. It also doesn’t end with the iPad as many marketing departments and their agencies now seem to think.
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“Broadband speeds and downloads are largely moot. It’s really not that crap over here if comparing like-for-like locations.”
30 minutes from Sydney CBD, no broadband available in a brand new estate of 250-300 properties. Telstra have offered us dial up though…
When I was in the UK I had Unlimited ADSL2+ for less than $20 a month, living an hour away from London.
Plus the wi-fi hotspots are so few and far between here compared to the UK.
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That’s very sad for you, but an individual and subjective sample of one. So not really like-for-like. I expect you would have 3G wireless broadband available though.
This also doesn’t help the clients and their agencies gain a greater appreciation of digital in their fibre-optic served locations.
ps – If I were you I’d have a chat with your estate developer as it’s their call what services are provisioned, or not.
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@Matt
Work ethic? Australians?
WTF?
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Aussies are 5 years behind most things, not just the internet.
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