Unbranded ads featuring a frog on a goat unveiled as new Trading Post campaign
An unbranded outdoor teaser campaign featuring a frog and a goat which dominated several Australian cities last week has been unveiled as a repositioning of Telstra’s classified brand Trading Post.
A new TV ad went to air last night to support the launch of a new logo across tradingpost.com and Trading Post Mobile late last year. It also follows Telstra’s decision to scrap its printed edition.
Justin Milne, Telstra’s group managing director, PSTN, Fixed Broadband, BigPond and Media, said: “With a long history as the trusted place for Australians to buy and sell, it was important the new creative approach for the Trading Post brand engaged our traditional customers, while appealing to a new group of buyers and sellers.”
The campaign for the first time introduces the two animals and a new catch phrase – with the goat saying “Bargain” and the frog saying “Reckon” whenever they see the Trading Post.
The campaign, created by BWM, also includes cinema, radio, outdoor, online and mobile, with media booked by OMD.
A ‘Bargain! Reckon!’ dance track, mixed by Sydney DJ Peewee Ferris, also formed part of the teaser campaign and is available on the Trading Post website as a ringtone and callertone for Telstra Next G customers with compatible mobile phones.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I think the goat came up with the campaign.
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What a waste of some great artwork.
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Seeing this ad around town has been bugging me not knowing what it was for. Now I feel a little let down
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Heh.. a ‘teaser’ campaign.. isn’t this what you do when you can’t get the final ad ready in time for the media plan? Or vice versa?
By the way – this campaign really smells. It would do a better job selling soap in Poland than making me want to use Trading Post.
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GABBO GABBO GABBO
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A load of MEH!
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A teaser is only as good as the reveal which follows. Sure, it got my interest… just enough to be disappointed in it.
Yes, tt’s got people talking about it. Tick off ‘buzz’, ‘social media engagement’ etc on the list, but leave ‘useful, meaningful brand communication’ unchecked.
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Just had the H&K ‘social media policies’ cross my in-box – so before I voice an opinion I need to let you all know about them at http://www.hillandknowlton.com/principles.
And to avoid any confusion – these are my personal opinions:
1. – Seems like the media buyers did well out of this one!
2. – Given the campaign culminated in a TVC, should the creative of the TVC not be so compelling that it cuts through on its own? (rather than needing a costly build up of teasers)
3. – Given Trading Post is now only on-line – should the ‘promotion’ not target the on-line community exclusively?
4. – ROI on advertising…. can’t see this one doing the sector any favours – hope I’ll be proven wrong though.
5. – The goat saying “Bargain” and the frog saying “Reckon” – was the coffee machine broken when that idea was tabled? What else was broken when that idea was approved?
I’m always learning so keen to be informed if I’m unnecessarily cynical.
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Great. Unfortunately though, another example of marketing that only marketers are vaguely interested in…..consumers? Couldn’t give a croak or a bleet I’d imagine.
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One of the worst adverts of all time…how could Telstra/Sensis pay one cent let alone tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars for this pile of goat drippings?
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Maybe we’ll get lucky and the goat will eat the toad and the whole campaign will die…
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It is kinda sad to see an icon brand go out this way. This as well as their past campaigns remind me of the scene where Homer Simpson falls off the cliff
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“Ribbet”
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Really? Seriously? Did the intern come up with this tripe?
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Oh dear…sorry, but there’s a little bit of me that just really enjoyed this. It’s very single minded, beautifully executed (casting, script etc.), and I believe has the potential to raise Trading Post brand awareness …maybe not to top of mind, but certainly back onto the agenda.
I will make a gross unfounded assumption that there’s a large audience out there who will have had little or no exposure to the Trading Post product or brand as they have only ever used ebay when shopping for 2nd hand stuff. So to generate awareness, to get it typed into a search engine or as a direct URL, TP has selected irreverence over rational to reach this younger target. There’s not a necessity to build a brand here per se – there is a necessity to get a generation of online shoppers used to typing in tradingpost.com.au.
That said, the whole unbranded teaser thing is dangerous way to spend money. Popping a URL on there would have made it no less unusual.
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chk chk boom.
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I’ll be honest, this non-branded teaser campaign caught my attention over the weekend and created some curious ‘car discussion’ with my flatmate. We then awaited the arrival of the full-blown branded campaign with eager anticipation. By 10pm that night my flatmate run into my room almost in tears. Her anticipation had quickly turned into bitter disappointment (and utter confusion).
I think she felt rather cheated in the end and so did I? What the blahhhhhddy hell is that all about???!!!
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I wonder if the disappointment about finding out the brand misses the point a little.
Remember – the starting point for the agency is the brand. They can’t ask the client to work with something more interesting instead please.
I reckon BWM deserve a fair bit of credit for creating anticipation with a campaign that clearly cut through.
I was never a fan, for instance, of their work for Telstra NextG with (shudder) Brad & Emma. But I think this one may have some legs.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Online ads are here also. Pee Wee Ferris remix song! Should have been Dj Bobo
http://www.bannerblog.com.au/n.....ad_ads.php
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Agree with Ed and parts of Lee. Let’s not get too artsie fartsie about it all. While I don’t believe in teaser campaigns unless it is for a once in a blue moon type of product to purchase, this will work to raise the profile of the Trading Post. It’s random, but I think they need to be to get some discussion good or indifferent. We’re not talking iSnack bad here.
Take a chill pill people.
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They must be dreamin!!! Sorry but it misses for me
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Unbelievably, Sensis (Telstra) paid more than 600 million dollars for the Trading Post. a few years ago.
Now that they have junked the classified newspaper, all they have left is a very ordinary website that could have been built for less than fifty grand.
i guess they must have a bottomless barrel of money somewhere, if they can waste it on a Frog & Goat ad.
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BWM did well with the teasers. The best thing about the reveal is that it is Trading Post, as it made me remember them. So much so I had a conversation about how much i uesd to wait for thursday mornings (or was it tuesdays) for the paper to come out.
However get a new director for the TVC’s. It was so much like watching a regular Telstra ad that I was bored half way through. My mum told me she got a quick laugh though she had no idea what the ad was for.
Trading-post isnt telstra, people have forgotten it. If they showed what trading post was good for in the TVC it would have done much more for the client.. look at ebays ads and tell me which works better for the product.
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What a load of rubbish. It should have been a lizard on the goat, not a frog. Didn’t they put this into research first? Every creative worth their salt knows that you only ever put lizards on goats.
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I’m not saying it was the brand that was a disappointment (I’ve marketed some pretty ‘yawn-worthy’ brands myself over the years). No, it was the ‘scratch your head’ confusion that caused the disappointment.
As marketers we can sometimes think that these campaigns are single-minded and attention grabbing – but the reality is that my friend is now confused why a father bought his daughter a goat and a frog. Maybe she will get it the 2nd time round.
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I wonder if the negative sentiment of the comments on here are for the actual campaign or rather ad peoples dislike of Telstra as a whole?
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Surely it should be a sheep saying ‘BAAArgain’ not a Goat. Jeez. Do I have to do everything myself?
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Lets get a goat and a frog in here to provide clarity
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I have to say i thought it was an extension of the ANZ ad it was next on the panel I saw it on. The colours matched exactly. It worked better as part of the ANZ ad.
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I was going to trade the frog in for something else, but I was tied to a post and got hungry, so eat the frog! I hope it isnt poisonous!?!I I just ‘Googled’ “2nd hand fridge freezers” and couldnt see the Trading Post anywhere..? I might eat my leg next!
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Crimany Anonymous Goat. That’s a really good point…a spot of SEO expenditure to support the ATL would be sensible.
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i’m thinking this is just the introduction of the goat and frog and the story will continue?
if so, then i like it – i think the JCdecaux panels worked well in a “GABBO GABBO GABBO” kind of strategy (to quote mr Vandelay). it could be a nice way to build “BAAAAARGIAN” and ‘reckon’ into the vanacular for trading 2nd hand goods (a bit like michael katon in ‘The Castle’).
but if this tvc is the extent of the campaign then its not so good…
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I invested all my time trying to find out what this campaign meant. When I found out it was the trading post i felt so cheated that I launched a missile into space with nanobots. These nanobots will at some point attach to all the satellites spinning around our globe and download a virus into their central computer systems that will transmit a signal to everyone’s tv to show the X Factor 24 hours a day.
That’s what you all deserve.
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@tbone,
I ‘reckon’ you’re spot on… if there’s more, it could turn out to be a good campaign. If not, then it’s crap.
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I think the great Darryl Kerrigan would say it best. “They paid some wankers millions of dollars to come up with a frog sitting on a goat? And they call that advertising? Tell ’em they’re dreamin’!”
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I work for TPOL, go you good thing!!
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Who came up with the actual idea?
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Also I agree with JACK above – creating cut thru for cut thru,s sake is not advertising even if it gets noticed. However will wait to see if there is more!
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A teaser campaign!?!!
Wow what a step forward for the new decade!!
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Hmmmmm. There’s a lot of jealous people making comments here. As an old creative (now retired) it’s all too familiar young creatives and infant marketers jumping online slamming other people’s work. Jealousy is a very ugly thing! We’ve all done it but hey grow up kids.
Whoever created this deserves a lot of credit. It’s certainly very different to most of the stuff that is out there. Half the online stuff doesn’t manage to get more than a few thousand people interested. I like the campaign. It’s fully integrated. Good use of a teaser (it worked!!). I’d like to see where it goes.
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I have been wondering what this ad is for for days. Not as mysterious as I thought…. or as funny.
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Creative Critic — love your comment about the lizard! Definitely need more lizards in ads.
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The only way this idea has a chance of working is through high frequency of TV reveal ad via a $3-$5m media buy.
Will this deliver a reasonable ROI to Trading Post online?
Unlikely.
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When I saw the outdoor ads I thought/hoped it might be some play on an aesop fable … nope, not that clever.
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Awesome posts everyone,
Not having seen OMD’s media schedule, I would hope they went to town on digital media planning as well as all the nice expensive outdoor and TV.
Given they need to change the behaviour of people who are looking for second hand goods and wanting to sell, and they have ditched the printed version, it will need more than TV to achieve.
The Goat and Frog is memorable, for the right or wrong reasons, (as debated in the posts here) i am just wondering if this will translate to recall that drives a change in behaviour.
I also hope the display media BWM have created arent just about how to talk like a goat, and substantiate why listing or purchasing from trading post is better than ebay, gumtree or all the others.
With any luck the sales of goat and all things french skyrockets and it will all be worth it.
Robbo
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Two things: “Goatize” is way too close to “Goatse” for my liking (NSWF) – http://bit.ly/8qk3Ph – and; the premise of the goat and frog only taking in front of the guy (in the ad) possibly inspired by the Loony Tunes cartoon “One Froggy Evening” – http://bit.ly/8xjqLQ – yeah?
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I liked this.
I actually wondered was it was for. I discussed it with friends.
-So yeah. It worked.
Im sure the agency is very upset they did not please a bunch a whining c***t at this blog.
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Being in adworld I noticed it.
Entire weekend spent with 3 adults walking and driving around the City and northern beaches. Within a metre of the ad on several occassions.
I prompted a conversation about it and none of them had noticed the image prior to me mentioning it.
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I just Googled: “2nd Hand Furniture” – no sign of trading post anywhere… I also completed some traffic comparison tests for tradingpostdotcomdotau v gumtreedotcomdotau on a few traffic comparison tools. Gumtree smoke Trading Post(.)
Fish where there are fish guys. If your product is online – surely you would fish hard online to get people grazing your product first, before backing it up with branding? Why be excessive first?
Oh, sorry this is adland – agencies make far bigger profits out of the production costs from a massive TV campaign than they do a digital keyword campaigns… Doh?!!
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I worked there for 7 years in print. Unfortunately, when I saw this ad, I really didn’t know what it was for. I know a goiat & frog will be memorable, but does this really include their traditional user base? I think it really says they are confused with their own identity. As for the outdoor, a goat and a big orange T tells me there’s something to do with telstra, but that’s it. Unfortunatley, for me, it’s Ebay all the way. I think this is a last bid attempt to relaunch the bad press of a very bad business decision to ditch print. It seems the print competitors have it nailed now.
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Have Ebay ever advertised on TV?
Shopping dot com ad’s on TV?
Has anyone ever seen a Gumtree ad on TV?
This Trading Post campaign smells like a typical fail from one of the big powerhouses, rather like how the True Local product has failed. Throw all of the money at marketing when they should be throwing it all at the product(.) This isnt a foul tasting beer – this is an online product that gets USED…
When building a business online, if the product is good it will sell itself (anyone heard of social networking…?) If something flies and is easy to use and wait for it is ‘very useful’ it is valuable and your business will excel. UX is key and if you do not have that down pat – then you can kiss your traffic goodbye.
Hey ho – watch a lot of big companies die a slow and painful death over the next decade. A lot of agencies will also suffer enormously if they continue to reap the rewards from excessive ‘branding’ campaigns on big traditional platforms… Instead of offering smart online solutions and web consultation regarding user experience. We will see.
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Saw the teaser ads around town and thought they were brilliiant. Then saw the TVCs and was completley dispointed. They should have left them as is, perhaps with a logo later. Keep ’em guessing.
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I dont know what every one is complaining about, The ad gets peoples attention doesnt it? Exactly what it is supposed to do. I do believe people should lighten up a bit and reclaim a sense of humour 🙂
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Surely its not that bad a campaign – its a unique answer to a very hard challenge:
Getting people to use trading post to shop will be nearly as hard as getting people to use trading post to sell. And unfortunately one requires the other in order to work.
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