Foxtel paid four agencies for creative ideas for new $10m subscription campaign

The industry knows what type of client Foxtel is, however agencies are defines by what they say ‘no’ to.

Everyone involved in this process should be congratulated. What the fuck is wrong with trying things differently to get good results.

So wait, four agencies pitched and this lousy done to death TVC is the best they came up with…..wow….just wow

And once again the new package pricing is not available to existing customers – at least not on-line through the My Account process.

Here we go with another time wasting “cancellation” phone call, just to coerce the new package out of them..

You guys suck, and if that’s the best TVC creative you can get out of 4 agencies, I shudder to think what the briefing process was like.

Goodluck to the media buyers who will cop the brunt when this undoubtedly underperforms. 30″ tvc’s driving aquisitions of users they are losing to digital? Ludicrous to follow a tv first approach.

epic…really? feels like something a decent editor could have put together in a day or two. at least he was transparent with all concerned which has to be respected

Did someone just watch the trailer to Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedian documentary an adapt that?

The Good.
Why not pay 4 Agencies to pitch and try something different to improve your business and attract new customers?
The Bad.
The creative. Terrible.

Kind of offensive to Clems – what agency would want to use another’s creative? Lucky theirs was chosen but if Foxtel really respect their relationship with Clems, they should demonstrate more trust next time, or just go out for pitches.

Foxtel is clearly very concerned about the new packages affecting the revenue they get from existing customers. The My Account function has been spectacularly downgraded and functionality removed so you can’t see the cost associated with your current package. Payment history has been removed entirely. They forgot to update the Support Pages which reference how you used to be able to do it, prior to the new package launch.. https://www.foxtel.com.au/got/support/accounts-billing/view-bills.html

If you’re an existing customer, you have to call, wait on hold and then hopefully give up all going to plan…

Sounds like a smart way of doing it if you ask me. Minus the research of course, cause then you end up with lowest common denominator stuff like this and the point of using four agencies is gone.

So they briefed multiple agencies, flew all the way to London, then chose an idea their internal promos team could have done out of North Ryde.

If the agencies were paid properly, then I reckon this is smart. The output looks the same as always though….

Yeah agreed, their promo producers could executed this concept. And knowing their team, I suspect they would have nailed it.

@MyAccount Obfuscation HD IQ3
Just do what I did, call to cancel then accept the 6 months half price and then once that has completed, cancel. Then signup for a VPN service to get around the geo blocking and enjoy the same content for much cheaper prices direct from overseas.

I’m confused, did they pay four interns to do this?

My experience as often being ‘one or the other 3’ who were invited to pitch new creative, was more an excuse to entertain bored marketing execs whilst they continued to run with more of the same from their rostered agency, it somehow made them feel less bad about taking the ‘safe’ approach. The idea of flirting with danger, ie ‘a good idea’ is usually all an Aussie marketing director can handle, few have the balls to actually pick and run with a good idea and sell it through senior management.

So wait, four separate full-line creative agencies pitched for this campaign and then WAIT… THIS WAS DEEMED THE BEST…?! either the other three were worse, or the internal FOXTEL team were asleep… I would say the latter.. WOW, just WOW – this looks like a uni project gone wrong…the V/O talking to the content on screen – #CRINGE… I hope this spells their demise

The moment a client says ” we want to get extra creative opinion” you should tear up their contract and get them out of your boardroom. Every creative in your agency will have been in that put-down. And if you agreed, you weren’t standing up for your own agency’s creative ability.

Foxtel’s casual and unprofessional approach: “if you are going to use agencies and get them to do stuff.” sounds very like an intern trying to talk up his first print flyer brief to an agency: “I got them to do stuff!” And the results are pretty well on the same level.

Agencies should stop working for free. Project pitches without fees must stop. If clients paid for work, including pitches then agencies would be balanced and resourced properly. Everybody benefits. Is a pitch not worth paying for? Hats off to Foxtel for this – however, it shouldn’t be. This should be the norm.

this is so bad…my thoughts are the ‘other’ agencies probably had a clause in their contract that if their creative idea was picked Foxtel would have to pay a higher premium.

Foxtel probably had an internal fight with procurement/finance regarding the cost – thus they had to stay with Clem’s idea which has be put together on a shoestring budget…

Anyone from Clem/Foxtel willing to comment?

Agree with Sam. VO talking or responding to grabs from shows in promos is awful. Creative is also cliched. “If you’ve made just one TV promo in your lifetime… you’ve probably made one like this”.

Foxtel Creative would have done a better job in house for a fraction of the money spent on this. Money that could have been better spent improving the customer service experience online or in their god-awful call centres.

23 People at Clems made this….

I’m sorry if some of you are disappointed, but we’re not. We’ve never researched and tested and iterated a campaign more thoroughly. This work cuts though and delivers exactly what we asked it to. We have had so many calls and made so many sales our trunk lines have required an emergency upgrade this morning, on day 2 of the campaign. People get this when they see it, Foxtel is cheaper, I can afford it now and exisiting customers have had a huge amount of extra content added for no extra cost or they can choose the packages is they prefer. Take a look at @foxtel our customers love this! Ed.

well he would say that, wouldn’t he!

Still a bloody foul ad

Ed,

if that is the case, sounds like you could have had a blank screen with a super saying $25 and people would sign up.

Not sure what is worse, the ad, or the justification that it’s great.

And here’s me thinking the ad is meant to be the interesting bit, not the process.

“We’ve never researched and tested and iterated a campaign more thoroughly.” – Maybe that’s why there is no idea. It’s just line and price..

“We have had so many calls and made so many sales our trunk lines have required an emergency upgrade this morning, on day 2 of the campaign.” – because it’s $25 Foxtel! Hence why a line a price campaign is working?

Beg to differ Ed, but unless I’m missing something, this new $25 deal is not available to existing customers. If it is, and happy to stand corrected, why can’t I select this offer from My Account settings??

@Ed Smith

Facebook page looks 50/50 on the ‘love/hate’ front.

Maybe if the self-service functionality was returned to My Account to allow package changes you might save yourself and customers the hassle of long waits and costly trunk line upgrades..

Wow I’m suprised at that Ed Smith…with so so many people now downloading or borrowing programs on thumb drives…You Tube etc etc..people can watch what they want when they want now without having to pay anyone a cent. 10 Million dollar campaign…jeez thats an awful lot of $25 per month subscriptions…US film distributers Often launch a movie way way before it gets launched in Oz…Youngsters frustrated with delays getting programs/films in Oz are just downlaoding said product before it even hits Australian shores…the game is changing quicker than the big boys realize…. Even with “live” sports… you can pay a minimal fee to say the “NRL” and get it streamed onto your device for a buck or go the pub……so why bother with pay anymore? I’d be interested in the age groups of these new customers and I would be interested in how Foxtel wasn’t overcharging in the 1st place when it can cut prices like this…I love Game Of Thrones…Haven’t missed an Ep…and all watched within hours of being played in the USA…

Urgh, just awful, and smacks of creativity by committee.

And I’d hazard a guess that half those calls to the call centre that are melting down the switchboards are from pissed off subs asking why it’s not available to them? I’m a high paying subscriber and I get Showcase added to my sub for free and the boxset thing. Big deal. Now the AFL is over it’s time to dump this dinosaur.

I’ve worked in promo departments for 20 years (stack of awards) and I come across half a dozen spots a week that are better than this. Holy crap. That’s not to say the idea is bad or that a very basic 90’s style promo can’t reel in the great unwashed (which is the aim and who it’s speaking to), but seriously, you spent money externally on this Ed???? Why???? Did you have a wedding invite in London?

@Ed Smith : research is like vegemite – too much and it tastes like shit. If you use it as an aid to judgement instead of a substitute less people will hate you. Well, maybe not.

Foxtel are demented if they think that this will grow their customer base when effectively they are providing a half price offer to new customers and having existing customers subsidise the discounts. When I did try to express my disgust at their behaviour, being as polite as possible, through correspondence and numerous phone calls in September I was told not to worry and to be patient and wait for the great new deal for existing customers coming in November… then a couple of weeks ago I got a letter telling me that I was getting a few extra stations for my existing outrageous subscription fee .. nothing else, take it or leave it. So as requested I have been patient…. very patient for over twelve years!! In essence writing to them didn’t work, talking to them didn’t work, evidently being patient was futile, so I am left with one single option…Leave IT!
No ad campaign can fix an organisation this bloody stupid

Torrents of laughter can be heard from loungerooms and media rooms right across this big wide tech-savvy land!

an idea that has been done to death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_xgZmziM0U

Seems as though there are some smart marketers at Foxtel, in terms of keeping the creative simple and to the point, I’ve been on hold to purchase and just sore this http://community.foxtel.com.au/ facebook post, their phones are literally ringing off the hook!

Good for you Foxtel, not trying to market to yourself and the industry and instead delivering the right message to the right audience.

This is a stop-gap on a bigger problem.

I think Foxtel could have done this way better – the problem still remains if you want a selection across packages you get owned in terms of the price (this will happen in several scenarios eg. any 2 person house!)

They obviously know ideally you will want channels from both packages so the ‘Epic new Price’ is really a misnomer anyway. I would be paying a minimum of $50/ month and still be missing a few channels that are key (to me).

This may drive short term results but is short-sighted in my view.

Really fixing it would cost a few bucks today but retain customers through real value (content and programming that they actually watch) and give customers a reason to remain loyal (because they’ve been fair and reasonable) and have the lionshare of content that the customer enjoys.

It’s not a hard equation, I think it’s been made based on dollars rather than customers and usage which is where they’ve got it all wrong (at least from a long term perspective).

Short term, it’s boring copy but we’ve obviously all seen/heard about so it has worked to that degree. Informed = YES. Acquired new customers = Not me.

Waiting on a viable competitor that isn’t directing me to turn around (if you know what I mean…)

‘It’s Foxtel, but not as you know it’
Same line CHE created recently for Mazda CX5
http://www.mazda.com.au/cars/mazda-cx-5/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZXpXBrtODs

Same people or did someone leave some scamps lying around?

Or is this what you say about something when you don’t know what to say?