LOVE Chrome

OK, now despite the fact that it does everything that it claims in this little gem of a video - how amazing is this?

It's a little slow on the uptake, but give it a chance, it is just beautiful and if you're a Chrome user, you're totally going to get it.

Swoon.

The last agency isn't gone yet

OK, so this little piece of creative has cropped up ALL OVER THE SHOW.

Not sure what you all think about it, but I think it's a bit shit. Not the production, or the cleverness of it, just the overall message. Even though it talks about obsessive blogging, something that I might know a couple of things about, it just really isn't doing it for me.

The Last Advertising Agency On Earth from FITC on Vimeo.

What you have with FITC (and let's be fair - this is from 5 mins of reading) is, as they say, a 'Design and Technology Events' company and this video was produced with S&S Canada to promote one of their events. As they say on their site:

"What will the future of advertising look like? The answer depends on whether or not traditional advertising agencies truly embrace the power of digital to reach consumers and build brands in new, exciting ways. 'The Last Advertising Agency on Earth' is a film is about what might happen if they don't."

So basically what they are trying to do is scare marketers into digital/online because apparently their agencies don't know what they are doing.

Now, this might just be the case in some agencies - what they are talking about, hanging onto the TV script and re-purposing print ads for web banners - however not all agencies are like that and certainly not in NZ.

From what I have heard and witnessed, a lot of the time it is the agencies that are trying to push their clients into online, but just can't quite get there because the clients are not sure. They know television and print and therefore feel safe. You have to remember that like we agencies have to answer to our clients, our clients have to answer to their bosses and boards and stakeholders. Sometimes taking a gamble (especially in the recent climate) isn't worth it in their eyes, even when the research is telling them that is where they should be.

Yes, it is totally our job to make the clients feel comfortable with their decisions and make sure that their advertising works as hard for them as possible, but sometimes, there just aren't enough words to convince them. (Perhaps they need a TVC or newspaper ad to convince them?)

So, I have seen this video reposted on a number of different blogs around the traps in the last week, but there hasn't been a lot of comment that goes along with it. If they are posting it because it is a very nicely shot, interesting piece of work, then I agree. But are they posting it because they agree with what is being said in it?

We agency kids need to stand together through these kinds of scare tactics. What you're talking about are agencies who want to handle digital in a silo. Now, in some instances, I can see how a separate digital agency could be a good thing, but please people, if you don't stand up for your agencies in house abilities to produce great ideas and grand online campaigns, you are handing money to people who are one stop shops of limited online ideas, which go something along the lines of:

This is what I've done in the past.
These were the results.
Look at this small CPC/CPA.
You should do the EXACT same thing.

No recognition of brand awareness (which even Google is now reporting on differently acknowledging view through on the content network), it is all about the click.

What I think we need to be doing is getting the creative teams excited about the possibilities of online, it is a whole new world out there for them to mold and manipulate.

I just really firmly believe that a media strategy should include all media which is being utilised. Whether it be TV, print, cinema, outdoor, ambient or online, a campaign needs to flow together, picking pieces off isn't going to create a cohesive and seamless campaign, and isn't that what we all want for our clients?

This is not news

Dear stuff.co.nz,

Trade Me falling down is not news. It is a bit of a glitch (which let's be fair, you're not exactly immune to yourself) which they jumped onto and fixed. NOT NEWS.

I find it a bit of a joke that this came through my reader today. Not news. It's not even interesting.

If the site had crashed because someone hacked it, then yes - totally news. A site going down? Not so much.

What's more, freaking Fairfax owns Trade Me. Where's the solidarity kids? Not all happy families around the Fairfax kitchen table? I mean, I'd kinda understand if Herald went down, competitor and all, but one of your own?

Tell you what - when Stuff starts pulling the kind of traffic that Trade Me does and it is all smooth sailing, then pick holes all you want, till then, work out what's news and what's not.

Kind regards,

Monica

I will be back

So sorry for the lack of posting. I've been busy, moving to Auckland.
The whole shifting cities/starting a new job/trying to find somewhere to live/going to concerts has taken its toll and I am not overwhelmed with internet access either.

I'll be back. Give me a week or two.

nice buying

So... you're buying a billboard for a show called Packed to the Rafters. I have a visual here.

Now, if you had the option of 3 billboards... which one would you chose?

Personally, the bottom wouldn't have been my first pick. I'd have gone closer to the top. You know, nearer the rafters...

Things I don't know which may change my opinion on this:

Planner/Buyer didn't know what the creative was going to be

Its filler?

There was something booked across the top 2 that had to be pulled last minute.

Either way - even if I was the installer I would have pointed this out. This isn't just me right?

Location FYI - bottom of Taranaki Street, Wellington.

LOVE

What was here - it did not embed properly.

Go and see it here. A-MAZING.

http://www.vimeo.com/9194146

Again, c/- Dan from MSN

Yellow-freaking-chocolate

Right, well I thought it was about time I put my thoughts to this Yellow Chocolate... thing.

I haven't been much of a fan of this campaign since the beginning and you can find out in full, why here or I can give you the quick version:

• They are doing an advertising campaign, a lot of which is driving to their online product, for a product that leaves little to be desired
• Awesome ideas integrating twitter (banner ads and twitter billboards) which as far as I can tell, didn't actually work
• Bad links & a slow loading website

So that was what I thought was wrong with it back in October.

Reasons I am still not a fan of the campaign.

I understand that this is pretty niche and probably cost Yellow a lot of money, but only going with progressive for distribution? Uncool. Way too hard for me to get my hands on the product and it's not interesting for me to go out of my way to get.

The end product (Yellow online) is still shite and what is worse, is that they have a total monopoly on this market in NZ and we don't have a choice. Now, in Hazel's piece in NBR back on 12 Feb there is a quote from the marketing manager about this: "We're a print-based product that's been trying to become a digital media brand and it takes time. It's not just as simple as an IT person going in and fixing it."

THIS bugs the living daylights out of me. The internet is not a new contraption that came along last year that everyone is trying to come to terms with. The internet has been here for a while now, and there was obviously a decision at some point to take Yellow online. This may be a case of, 'we'll have an online presence because we need one' however, the end product, should have been fixed a long, long time ago. I agree, it is not a matter of an IT person going in and fixing it. It is a matter of paying one of the many, many talented people in NZ who can make this product as good as it can be and giving them a slice of your pie.

I was going to continue to rant and rave about this campaign (you know, the people that I have talked to that have tasted it have not exactly raved about it - that it was way too sweet etc. or the fact that there is way too much yellow food colouring in our food as it is, like we need anymore) but instead I am going to make a call. Its a biggie. I hope you are ready for it. I'm going to make a comparison.

Yellow and Telecom XT.

Are you ready for this?

- Both nationwide services

- Both have something of a monopoly on the market

- Both should be providing customers with the best possible service

- NEITHER are delivering to a level they should be

- Both have products which are broken

- Both spent a pretty penny (and if you think about the turnover for each company, we're talking relative comparisons here) on advertising campaigns which only appealed to a niche audience: Hammond & XT - Top Gear fans; Josh & Yellow - teenage girls (this is a quote from Ms Nathan, Yellow's marketing person, in the 11 Feb issue of The Independent) when they really could have invested in advancing their technology rather than deciding they were 'good enough'. Did they decide that they were good enough? Or did they just give up?

So there you go. I have had a number of hits to the blog with people searching 'yellow chocolate'. Now, I'm not sure if this was the kind of information that they were looking for, or if they are searching for bars on sale online. None of that here kids. Just opinions. My opinions. That's the way I roll.

For the record - this is how big the Internet is:

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

Really big.