Significant seven: Media ideas
Over the next few days, we are publishing highlights from this year’s Mumbrella Annual.
1 Youngcare, old people in a box
Two old people and a wheelchair-bound man in a Perspex box was one of the more unusual sights at Martin Place on a weekday morning. The point that young disabled people should not be put in old people’s homes was powerfully made in an enclosure that looked, felt and even smelt like the real thing. Encouraging the public to write what they thought about the issue on the side of the box helped garner support for the charity and generate added publicity. The medium truly was the message.
Agency: inhouse
2 Say Yes Australia, Parliament House
The Say Yes pro-carbon tax campaign started badly with a TV ad with Cate Blanchett that was slammed by the media. But the campaign then took a grass roots approach. After collecting thousands of reasons why people supported the tax via its website, these pledges were published in books which were sent to MPs. They were also written on placards and placed outside Parliament House. From above, the placards read ‘Say Yes To Clean Energy’.
Agency: Republic of Everyone
3 Remembrance Day, blank page for a minute’s silence
Silence is a very difficult thing to convey in the pages of a newspaper without the use of words. The Adelaide Advertiser succeeded with a blank page and only the famous Remembrance Day slogan ‘Lest we forget’ running at the bottom, next to the date 11/11/11. A clever use of the medium, which was given added impact with a reference on the cover leading the reader through to the Remembrance Day message on page 11.
Agency: Clemenger BBDO Adelaide
4 Peroni, TV ad in a magazine
On opening The (Melbourne) Magazine in The Age and The (Sydney) Magazine with The Sydney Morning Herald, a recreation of the classic Calendario Peroni ad would start to play. The reader could even change channels between two versions of the ad. The premium Italian beer got more standout than it would have done on TV and cut waste with tighter targeting of its well-heeled male audience.
Agency: Ikon Communications
5 Transport Accident Commission, wake-up call
There is not much more that can bring a driver to his senses than the sight of an enormous oncoming vehicle. So an image of a truck face was stuck on the back end of a truck, with the message ‘Maybe it’s time for a powernap?’ Yet another strong idea by an agency that has served up effective communications for its oldest client for more than two decades.
Agency: Grey Melbourne
6 New Zealand Fire Service, Don’t drink and fry
Cooking while drunk is one of the biggest causes of house fires in New Zealand. And according to research it’s men who are mostly to blame. So heat sensitive stickers were placed in urinals in bars and pubs. When urinated on, they revealed the message that a real fire wouldn’t be so easy to put out – so ‘Don’t drink and fry – eat before you go home’.
Agency: M&C Saatchi
7 AAMI, Facebookers in TV ad
People who ‘like’ AAMI’s Facebook page had the chance to appear in a TV ad featuring Rhonda, a woman proclaimed a heroine for not claiming on her car insurance. The profile pictures of 80 Facebookers were exported into the TV spot, in place of existing characters in the ad. A technology first that will probably become a lot more common in Australia next year.
Agencies: Badjar Ogilvy, DTDigital
This list first appeared in the Mumbrella Annual, which is currently on sale priced at $10 for access to the digital edition or $20 for both print and digital access.- Both can be ordered through Realview, via this link
Carbon Cate ads ended swiftly when the uproar started!!
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It is man with a disability and man using a wheelchair, not disabled man and wheel chair bound. The person always comes first.
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The Peroni thing? Really? What a few thousand gum glued low res players. The sound of one hand clapping, surely.
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The “Say yes Australia” campaign was a communications catastrophe – an absolute disaster. It made that issue a non-issue, from which it is never likely to recover.
In fact it changed the issue from a grassroots issue to being perceived as one for the latte luvvies and champagne socialists. You couldn’t have done it worse if you tried.
It should have been in your Top 7 disasters list.
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