Black Eye

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2009-08-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

Changes made after execution account for a huge percentage of wasted budgets
In our years of experience we have noticed that advertisers who make multiple changes to their work invariably end up in a situation where costs skyrocket, and their end result is poor. With a little communication and forward planning most of these changes would have been avoided.

When the goalposts are moved
Some changes are inevitable and nobody is able to foresee every possible circumstance. The trick is to know how to change the game when the goalposts have been moved. This means reconsulting with all parties and altering the brief to take account of new information.

Understanding everyone's role
Avoiding these changes requires an understanding and appreciation of everyone’s role in the process. Would you tell your electrician which cables to use - make him pull them out and replace them over and over?

Successful businessmen like Sir Richard Branson have realised that although they are the leaders of their companies they don’t need to prove it at every level of the business. They simply set directions (their vision) and leave the getting there to those they entrust to do the job. Sure those employees are made accountable, as they should be. But they are also rewarded and encouraged to feel as though they are in a partnership which respects their contribution.

Loss of incentive
When a service provider like an agency is made to do exactly as told, and are no longer respected as a partner in the client’s success, they very quickly lose incentive. The employees of the agency stop bothering to think a task through or to invest energetic thought into it because they expect the client to change their work anyway. They become much more unproductive and a vicious cycle is begun.

Having worked in numerous agencies, large and small, over the past 36 years I have seen this first hand at every one of them.

Experience is the benchmark
Part of the problem lies in the fact that anybody can buy a computer and some desktop publishing programs and call themselves an advertising agency.

The only true test of an agency is in its experience. Experience in this business can only be measured by time in the field and variety of products or services handled.

Speed dating pitches

2009-05-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

Selecting your agency on the result of a hastily produced one-off pitch idea
You wouldn't choose your marriage partner on the basis of a speed dating session but some clients choose their agency on what they can come up with after a couple of quick meetings and a single paragraph of brief.

I don't pretend to have the answer to the dilemma of finding an appropriate agency and I realise that marriage is a slightly more important endeavour but something more satisfying to all partners is required. Got any ideas? Leave a comment.

Spelling trouble for business

2009-01-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

Don't send me your resumé with a speling error in it - it'll go strait into the bin!
It seems that in these days of SMS messaging many people have become increasingly careless about correct spelling and punctuation. A simple thing such as proofreading material for publication is clearly too time consuming for some. Lately I've seen glaring errors in newspapers, magazines, advertisements and especially emails.

Professional people who have not taken the care to ensure that their communications are carefully checked show a disregard that I fear is a reflection of their business dealings. If their attention to punctuation and other details is so poor, how can I trust them to do the job correctly? It would probably be rushed and perfunctory with no attention to detail. I would even prefer not to trade with this person.

Professional writers make mistakes and overlook the odd typo, but it's a simple thing to take the time to re-read and edit your writing. If not, then you could be missing out on customers.

Holden ads disprove Olympics tie-in value

2008-10-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

Holden and Ford ads come out on top despite ignoring the Olympics

During the Beijing Olympics you would have seen a plethora of ads using a tie-in to the event as a tool to garner brand support. But does this actually work? A new study has shown that consumers may be turning a blind eye to sponsorship messages.

According to the Courier Mail "Results from the inaugural Ipsos ASI Olympics Advertising Study show that using the Olympics as an advertising theme to gain attention and engage the audience was no sure-fire approach for advertisers and brands to get a positive response from viewers."

The study researched 1500 consumers who awarded Holden 'Best of Category' for its Sportswagon ads, Ford came in second with its Falcon ANCAP Safety ad and Holden came in third with its Commodore ad. None of these top three carried any mention of the Olympics. The study measured audience reach, advertising awareness and recognition, impact on consumers, relevance and persuasion.

Seems that gimmicks are no substitute for quality advertising.

Seen & Noted

2008-10-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some nice ads we've noticed. Some show the continuation of the trend towards little or no copy, others are examples of great use of environment and thinking outside of the square.

Hi, I'm a PC ad

2008-10-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Microsoft hits back

Seen the Mac ads where a nerdy guy represents a PC and a hip guy represents a Mac? You probably know that Microsoft has been stung by the success of this famous Mac campaign. So much so, it seems, that they've countered with a new series of TV and online ads.

The new ads have two parts. The first campaign shows numerous people announcing "I'm a PC" and reveal the widespread diversity of PC usage. Not a bad effort, I think, but they lack the sense of humour and directness of the Mac originals, and they don't really tell anybody anything they didn't already know about PCs.

The second campaign is just downright weird. It pairs retired Microsoft founder Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld in a series of suburban vignettes that seem to meander all over the place. In some, it takes over 3 minutes of unfunny Seinfeld-esque interplay about nothing before finally reaching its point, which is "PC - Perpetually Connecting". Beats me what it does for the brand and, worst of all, it's just plain boring.

Breaking out for MacArthur Central

2008-06-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

Our new photo shoot for MacArthur Central is the cat's whiskers

While rival CBD shopping centres battle it out for attention, a smaller nearby centre, MacArthur Central, has struggled to be noticed. Marketing manager, Kelli Robertson, asked Black Eye to create a stronger public profile for this unique multi-use centre.

Our campaign required a new photo shoot to support our positioning statement "For whoever you are today". Part of the campaign is focused on the quality fashion retailers in Edward Street, and uses a deliberately tongue in cheek poster aimed at our larger rival's use of animals in their marketing.

More images from the campaign can be seen here.

We shoot our latest TVCs for Marine Queensland

2008-06-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Brisbane International Boat Show to "Get on the water"

We've just wrapped filming on a series of TVCs for Marine Queensland's Brisbane International Boat Show using the theme "No matter who you are, now is the time to get on the water".

The shoot took just one (long) day and included scenes of a family taking their son wakeboarding on the Gold Coast spit. The concept shows 3 different bored people who are emotionally transformed when they "get on the water".

Cross promotion and interaction on the internet

2008-06-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Web interaction campaigns - do they work?

Just recently Orange (the UK telecommunications company) has launched the internet's very first balloon race across the internet. It's workings are quite complicated so I have quoted NMA below:

"The technically complex project (go to: playballoonacy.com) is a bid to engage with online audiences through blogs and social media. The race will promote Orange's mobile tariffs by inviting users to tag their name onto a balloon shaped like its dolphin, panther, canary and racoon brands. Entrants will be able to track and control their balloon as it travels across the web, with each visited site equalling one internet mile. The user with the most miles at the end of seven days wins a mobile phone package. Players can also get bonus prizes and energy boosts for their balloons."

You can also add your site to be visited by balloons in the contest. You just have to sign up. This is promotion for your own site and for Orange.

Not all interactive promotions are successful

Tahoe, in 2006, gave their fans all the clips and online tools to create a Tahoe SUV ad. What they didn't expect was people to make anti-Tahoe pro-environment ads. The ads made it to youtube before Tahoe could close the site down. Tahoe had the right idea but wrong execution -they could have made an interactive game like the Mini Cooper Strike.

Movies take marketing to another level

2008-04-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hollywood and Viral Advertising
Big budget movies have always been announced with trailers. More recently the web, with its one-on-one audio/video delivery, has become an important tool for movie marketers. Now we are seeing this medium being used to even greater effect.

Recently I was alerted to campaigns involving Gotham City's candidate for District Attorney - yes, Gotham City. It seems the new Batman movie's second tier character, Harvey Dent, is the subject of two in-depth faux websites. This is interactivity which gives potential filmgoers the ability to become immersed in the film's reality before they ever see it in the cinema.

Connect to the sites here:
www.ibelieveinharveydent.com
www.ccfabg.org

How much for a logo?

2008-03-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

That depends.
One question we are asked a lot is - "How much do you charge for a logo?" This is a tricky one along the lines of how long is a piece of string. There are many other questions hidden below the surface.

We have done simple logos for as little as $500 and corporate logo packages for as much as $50,000. For some household name corporations there are reports of half a million dollars or more being paid for their corporate ID package. Is this insane? How do costs escalate to this extent? Coming up with a symbol for a company should be pretty easy, right.

Well, unless I just do a random thing like a pink rhinocerous with a parrot on its back or whatever, there has to be some thought put into the relevance of the imagery, its stated meaning, the concept it is required to communicate and its intended usage. Let's look at some of the hidden questions.

1) What is the product?
2) What is the product's place in the market?
3) Who are the target market?
4) What kind of brand personality should it have?
5) What image does the company want the brand identity to project?
6) How do we satisfy the conflicting interests of all involved parties?
7) How many different approaches will be required to be developed?
8) What are the competitors doing with their brand imagery?
9) What method of illustrating this brand is the best to embrace?
10) How do we avoid cliché?
11) Are we creating a unique symbol for the company as well as text?
12) Where is the symbol going to be used and how?
13) How many colours can we use?
14) How do we accommodate the differing values and opinions of those involved?
15) How do the multitude of parties affected by the new or changed identity know how to correctly utilise the identity?

It's easy to see that this whole process can become very time-consuming, making it difficult to quote a price. It helps if we have, at least, a little understanding of what and who are involved. Or we could simply quote every logo very high to cover ourselves. Of course the better the brief, the better value for money can be achieved for our client.

Funny how it always comes back to the brief.

WWF starts WW3

2008-03-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

Does controversial advertising pay off?
A recent campaign by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) aiming to help protection of endangered species, used a heavy-handed demonstration in which animal killing was role reversed.

In an underground passageway in Beijing eight posters were hung depicting endangered animals aiming weapons at the viewer. Mounted in the picture behind the barrel of the weapon was a small laser. When a viewer walked within a certain range of the laser it would set off speakers sounding automatic gunfire.

With over 9,000 passers-by walking through the tunnel every day, the gunfire panicked so many people that they had to remove all the posters after the first day.

The question is, with only one day of exposure and the angst created, was it worth it?

Sure, we know about it now because of the unique delivery of the campaign and images of the posters have been broadcast on several websites. But what was the direct result of panicking all those people?

It turns out only 57 people signed up that day to support WWF. As one news commentator on put it, “maybe they would have had the same result just using the promo boys...”.

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/ambient/wwf_target_practice

Is the hit a hit for Telstra?

2008-03-10T23:27:00.000-07:00

Thinking of using a well know song in your ads?
Use of hit songs in TV ads is widespread. It can be an effective (though expensive) way to generate immediate goodwill and connect with your target market. The other night I caught a new ad by Telstra which used the famous Harry Nilsson song featured in the movie Midnight Cowboy called Everybody's Talking.

At first this song seems a perfect fit. Then I caught the lyrics... and they weren't the lyrics I remember. Those went along the lines of "Everybody's talking at me... I can't hear a word they're saying, only the echoes of my mind." Of course Telstra (and/or their agency) changed these to "Everybody's talking at me... I can hear every word they're saying, with my phone and laptop combine." And it gets worse. Even more inane was the fact that the visuals were an exact rendition of the lyrics.

This turned me right off, and I am in the target market for Telstra's marketing. It got me thinking that advertisers should show a little respect for the special memories or associations their customers have with the song. Otherwise the advertiser, rather than enhance, could actually do damage to their brand. To see Telstra's ad click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhS9_jqh-Z4

Got any other examples of advertisers ruining a song for their blatant commercial purpose? Let us know.

Mobile phone tattoo powered by blood

2008-03-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

Bloody phone!
Mobile phones are great but they could be more convenient. What if you didn't have to carry one with you all the time, or have to keep charging it? What if you had a working phone that was powered by pizza and literally always at your fingertips? Sound ridiculous?

New technology now allows for a Bluetooth device to be permanently implanted beneath the skin and just above the muscle layer. Just push a small dot on your arm and the display appears allowing you to communicate wirelessly using the device.

Two small tubes are attached from the implanted device to an artery and a vein. A coin sized blood fuel cell in the implant converts the blood's glucose and oxygen from the artery to the electricity required to power the device. Used blood returns through to the vein. The digital device's power source is the same as for all of the biological components in the body.

There are also numerous other uses for this unique idea - health self diagnosis, warning beeps when you're over the blood alcohol limit etc. Check out: http://www.core77.com/competitions/GreenerGadgets/projects/4673/

The Human Touch of Illustration

2008-02-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

Illustrations are a great way to stand out from the crowd.
There's something nice about illustration in connection with advertising. Maybe it's because we all have fond childhood memories of afternoon cartoons on TV. Maybe it's just because illustrations are generally humorous, or it could be that illustration humanises a company in some way. On a more earthly level, it may be the organic nature of something created with a pen or brush (even if it is digitised later). The illustration below is by Stella Danalis.

Aside from all these nice feelings, illustrations can be a very valuable tool for advertisers. For a start, they really stand out. Not many people think immediately of illustration when designing a new campaign, preferring instead to look for photography. While photography can certainly create a warm and fuzzy feeling and is ideal for product shots, illustration can take things to a whole different level.

Inside Reliance Petroleum

2008-02-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

Our recent interior branding package for an entire building
Last year our client, Reliance Petroleum, expanded and merged with numerous companies around the nation to become the largest Australian distributor of BP products.

While Reliance is one of Australia's largest publicly listed companies with a turnover to match David Jones, it is unknown to most Australians. Reliance purchase oils and petroleum products from BP and manage the rest: the franchise owners of the servos, numerous depots, shop products and the food offer, and the delivery of products to regional areas. They are also the sole Australian distributors of Castrol products.

During last year's massive restructure and growth a new building was acquired in Hawthorn, Melbourne and we were asked to bring some life to the interior design of the offices.

To begin, we created illustrations based on rough photography of the building while it was being fitted. Once the general concept was approved we then proceeded to create individual digital printing to suit.

We also needed to develop the designs keeping them flexible enough to serve as an easily broken down 'package' that could be ordered by individual depots to suit their particular needs.

The Specialist Agency Myth

2008-02-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

When creating a selling concept, getting the right idea is the crucial part.
So-called 'specialist' agencies would have us believe that they are somehow more capable of creating advertising that sells because of their experience in the product category, but the reality is that most advertising created by specialist agencies is less effective than that created by agencies that don't specialise. How is this?

The truth is, if you can sell a hair product you should be able to sell a car. This is because from hard-edged retail to top-end fashion and everything in-between, selling a product always requires the same strategic thinking process. Good agency staff are experienced in building this strategy and thereby hitting on the emotional triggers of the target market. If you think about it, the person who responds to a TV ad for a confectionary product may be the same person who responds to an ad in a magazine for a for a diet regime or whatever.

Agencies also need to consider the different media available and understand their special needs - a billboard for example, needs to be restricted to no more that 5 or 6 words. Smart agencies know to tailor their creative solutions with the various media in mind, so that they can maintain consistency of message across varied platforms.

The Truth About Retail Advertising

2008-02-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

Contrary to popular belief, retail advertising needs to be stimulating and well crafted to achieve best sales.
The particular creative requirements of the retail environment can be easily misunderstood. Add to this the fact that many agency designers and writers have an attitude towards retail that assumes they are too clever or too creative to 'lower' their standards with it.

The truth is that great retail advertising can be the most difficult, and most rewarding advertising of all.

Those with extensive experience in retail understand its many subtleties. In order to generate the highest possible sales for our clients' investments we need to utilise the unwritten rules of good retail to best advantage.

"Fridge Kills Baby"

2008-02-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

- headline from The Sun Newspaper
The busy world of today places great demands on a press campaign. Your message has to compete with the sensationalised news stories of the day. You can say anything in your ad, but first make sure that it will be read!

Creating campaigns that stand out and deliver your product benefit in an entertaining, simple way is vital. Here are a couple of our ads...

The Face of Your Company

2008-02-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

Logo Design
Your logo is the initial impression you make with your customers and an integral part of your business. It reflects your company’s attitudes, philosophy and values.

Done properly, a new brand architecture can be a great start to galvanising employees around a new brand idea. From there it travels to customers. A brand’s graphics are the connective tissue of a brand strategy and reach consumers’ brains in ways they aren’t even aware of… it’s the difference between getting the wiring of the brand right or wrong.

The Design Challenge

2008-02-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

A contemporary simplicity of style that is disciplined and entirely appropriate.
While it's nice for advertising designers to remain conscious of contemporary design techniques, they should never treat their client's corporate communications as a means to impress their fellow design enthusiasts.

When designing and producing branding packages, from logo designs through to annual reports, advertising agency designers, as opposed to design house designers, tend to be more focused on the ideas that the client wants to express. These ideas are likely to be concerned with the company's bottom line. While this thinking doesn't (or shouldn't) rule out creative design ideas it certainly will rule out ideas that do nothing to enhance the brand. This illustrates the difference in thinking between a design house and an advertising agency.

Typography, layout and powerful visual communication are vital, but only as tools to create the client's most appropriate outcome according to the brief and budget. The best corporate communications enhance the professionalism and service of the client while complementing their core values, thus providing a foundation for a strong brand positioning.