Although I never met him, I’m sure that Alexander Bell would be amazed at the world that he had a hand in bringing to life with his work on the ‘acoustic telegraph’ over 130 years ago. Having said that, mobile marketing is so much more than just using a telephone you can walk around with, and the telephone you can now walk around with does far more than transmit your voice. This has enormous potential for marketers wanting to create engaging tools, content and experiences for their target market.

Augmented Reality (AR), allows users to literally see the world the way your brand wants them to see it, through their mobile device. For example, Sony Pictures are embracing this withe their new Spiderman AR App, among many others that are popping up on the App store.

Geolocation, as we’ve discussed in a past entry, is a tool that helps your customers identify where they are in relation to your offers, outlets or other customers, and gives marketers the opportunity to deliver instant, relevant and location aware content. It’s more than just Foursquare now, it can be embedded in almost any App you want.

Biofeedback, now your mobile device can tell you if you’re sleeping solidly, exercising enough or even take your pulse, all through some incredibly intelligent uses of your devices inbuilt technology. Add to that a third party sensor, such as Nike’s Fuelband - and it’s taken one step further. You’ll know exactly how far you’ll have to run to burn off the pizza your phone had delivered to you 15 minutes earlier.

Mobile Wallets, It’s all well and good that your mobile device can help you find your favourite service, access an instant offer based on the outlet you’re in, and allow you to uncover hidden secrets around you – but now, the only plastic you’ll need to reach for when it’s time to pay the bill is your phone. With MasterCard, PayPal, Google and soon rumoured to be Apple all providing you secure methods to pay almost anybody for almost anything – even the ANZ has had a go. It seems as though the morning pocket-patting ritual of “Wallet, phone, keys” will soon be replaced by “phone” – meaning you’ll be able to sleep in an extra 15 seconds – (and using your Sleep app, you can be sure it’ll be REM sleep too).

It’s a massive change that has been taking place for a little while now, and we’ve been keeping our fingers on the pulse. THE DM GROUP have had their fingers on the pulse of this for some time now, so go old school and use your phone to give us a call.

In 1996, I experienced something that really turned me off making public predictions; the success of the Spice Girl’s ‘Wannabe‘ and the band’s subsequent meteoric rise really left me wondering. Sure, after that I was right about Peter Andre, Second Life and MySpace, which only led me to become cocky, and only recently scoff at both One Direction and Pinterest.

I’m back in my box again…

If Pinterest’s skyrocketing user numbers, record online retail sales referrals and number of boards dedicated to hand carved Avocado hors d’oeuvres weren’t proof enough of it’s continued success, it’s win in today’s Webby Awards for best Social Media site must have its founders beaming. The fact that Facebook wasn’t even nominated however (and Google + won the people’s choice award for the same category) is what I found to be of most interest.

OK, so Facebook did pick up an award for the People’s special achievement for Social Change, but could it be that the social times, they are a changin’?

With Facebook fast closing in on the 1 Billion user mark, it would take a braver man than me to predict that the end was nigh, but clearly people are shopping around for different online social experiences, tools and niche environments.

At clickDM, we’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how the social graph is changing, how audiences are responding and how brands need to react to make sure that all opportunities are explored. We’ve got a number of practical applications for businesses in all types of industries already mapped out too.

If you want to see how we can help your business make the most of these changes – or just want a good hand carved Avocado hors d’oeuvre recipe, give us a call, we’d love to chat.

This is a great brand message for Hyundai, moving the perceptions of their audience further into that of a quality car manufacturer. It may not be the most exciting TVC but the message is strong and single minded, ‘Hyundai makes quality steel’. Hyundai has taken a unique selling proposition and created a need for buyers that may not have existed before, ‘my car needs quality steel’.

Who knows if better quality steel means that your car will be stronger, safer and last longer…I don’t. But because Hyundai decided to sell me a unique aspect of their car production which no other car manufacturer has done, it must be true. Now I believe that all the other cars I have owned in my time have been inferior.

I need quality steel. Hyundai has quality steel. Therefore, I need a Hyundai!

John Brunckhorst
Hyundai lover &
Account manager
trademarkDM

Ever wonder whether traditional direct mail still has a place in today’s online insta-world? Consider Christmas cards for a minute.

Millions of us become direct marketers at this time of year, dispatching about 70 million cards throughout Australia.

And when you think about it, the humble Christmas card between friends is a neat example of business principles like relationship management and brand image. How many friends haven’t seen each other for decades but faithfully maintain a connection via an annual piece of cardstock printed with snow and evergreen trees? And what is the dreaded family newsletter insert, if not a slightly dodgy press release cranked out on the home inkjet?

Sure, faster and cheaper media are available today. And e-cards can do all sorts of things you can’t in print. But there’s nothing quite as personal as opening an envelope and reading your friend’s handwritten news. Christmas cards have been around since 1843 and just quietly, I think they’re looking good for a bit longer.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to start making this year’s list.

Prue Oxford

Senior Copywriter

THE DM GROUP

Well Pete happens to find it necessary to tell stories…a lot of them…horrible ones. I don’t mind stories but these couldn’t be any more uninteresting.

It’s not like the material is unimportant because, in truth, we can all relate to the stories he tells. The problem is we don’t care about the people in Pete’s stories. To make a good story work is to get your audience involved and emotionally invested into what happens to your characters.

Take Pete, perhaps you are still reading now because you feel as though you could relate to Pete from the description I gave. If you are going to care about my story, you have to first care about the person or people in it.

Always think about how you will portray your characters to the audience. This seems simple, but is usually overlooked and then you’ll end up telling a story like Pete.

John ‘Pete’ Brunckhorst
Account Manager
trademarkDM

Ever had one of those months where it all just seems to come together?

Our buddies at HOSTPLUS just did, and what a month it was!  November 2011 will be a month that the entire team will remember with a very deserving sense of pride for some time to come.

From the very successful launch of their brand new website (assisted by our very own clickDM team), to a swag of industry awards (6 in total), the team, led by Wayne Sullivan have had a cracker end to a very big year.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) had their night of nights in November, and there’s no doubt that HOSTPLUS came out on top, picking up four awards.

Cook for your Career, a competition designed to engage young and aspiring chefs providing grass roots support for one of HOSTPLUS’ key industries picked up 2 awards, Innovation of the Year, and Best use of Public Relations got the night off to a great start, but it was only going to get better…

The Quality Campaign, developed in conjunction with THE DM GROUP, picked up Brand Campaign of the Year and then went on to win the Grand Prize, The inaugural Comms Award – Campaign of the Year.

Add to that two more gongs from the Australian Institute of Super Trustees (AIST) and it is certainly a month worth remembering.  The Marketing team picked up the Super Member Services Award for Excellence, and Cook for Your Career picked up Gold in the Communication Awards for Excellence.

So to Wayne, Michelle, Jen, Jane, Gary, Nick, Aneta, Matt, Shelley & Andrea and all at HOSTPLUS, a big congratulations from all of us at THE DM GROUP, and here’s to another big year in 2012.

Well Done guys.

Craig Hockley
Digital Planning Director.

Growing up I always worried about Bill Posters.

Who was he? What did he do? Did they ever catch him?

If the makers of This Space Available get their way, old Bill may still end up in front of, well, The Old Bill.

Subtitled the Grass Roots Movement Against Visual Pollution,
the documentary depicts activists ‘who want to reclaim the integrity of their cities against an onslaught of visual pollution.’

Cool.

But for one thing.

Why does a film decrying the visual pollution of billboards and commercial messages have a promotional poster?

Bill Posters would be proud.

Stephen Flewell-Smith
Business & Creative Director
THE DM GROUP

The recent death of boxing ledgend ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier sparked a thought…why was he called ‘Smokin’ Joe?

This drove me to think about the different names of boxers. Or all fighters in general.

UFC’s Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva, George ‘Rush’ St Pierre (a.k.a GSP) or boxing’s ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, ‘The Greatest’ Muhammad Ali and ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson. They had created their own identity, something for their fans or anyone watching, to remember them by. Their career is their campaign and the way they promote themselves is by creating a personality, or brand, for the ring or octagon.

These men didn’t always have these names and of course each athlete must still perform well, but these are the brands that you’ll remember.

So when Joe was told to keep punching till smoke came from his gloves, a legend, a symbol, a brand was born.

Johnny B ‘Dangerously’
Account Manager
trademarkDM

Remember the good old days when YouTube was advertising-free? No 30 second ads before film clips, no pop-up ads tempting us to ‘meet singles into cycling’. YouTube has always been free to use, but now we pay for it with snippets of our time and attention. In other words, we’re subjected to advertising.

‘Getting something for free when you watch an ad’ isn’t a new concept.

Telco’s started offering free international calls years ago – the hitch being advertising messages ran sporadically over your conversations. Next came free video calls from your web browser and, while the connection was being made, an ad ran. Then Skype completely changed the program: free video calls, minus the subjection to advertising. Needless to say, Skype came out trumps.

So where’s it written in stone we have to watch video content through YouTube? When you think about it, YouTube just provides a platform to upload and view videos. So if a similar platform existed without advertising, would you use it? Yeah it would take a while to catch on, but nothing’s as permanent as it seems in the digital world.

People have never liked being sold to, and they never will. For us advertisers, it’s a good thing. It forces us to constantly innovate, and create advertising people will want to engage with. Because if we ever accept the tried and true approaches as formulas, we’ll get left behind.

Andy McInerney

Creative

Don’t be deceived by the youthful looks of clickDM’s new web designer. True to his switched-on generation, Elliot Birch has been working online all his life – in web design, podcasting, gaming and just about anything else he can get his hands on.

Elliot’s a big fan of open-source systems and the way they make useful information available to huge communities of users. He’s also passionate about new front-end web standards. “Getting this stuff right means that websites are more accessible than ever. Even if they’re blind or colour-blind, people can still get all the benefits of your site.” And he’s equally enthusiastic about using emerging technology to keep organisations a step ahead: “With HTML5 and CSS3, we can build great features into your website now that are ready to go as the browsers catch up.”

Even if those aren’t terms you use in your everyday conversation, Elliot and the rest of the clickDM team can show you how they will get your clients talking. Give us a call  if you’d like to talk about taking advantage of what’s around the corner in the digital world.