It seems like the new FRANkVizeum hit a big nerve last week. The amount of accusation, slant and bad mouthing we got will make you think we murdered a koala. No, we simply did some harmless chalk/potato+water graffiti on the sidewalk outside media agencies and clients.
But web mobs don’t bother to find out. They simply burn before reading. We love to hear feedback, especially if you disagree. But we expect an adult discussion, with no anonymity.
OK, enough about the trolls, the thing that really bothers me is when someone I respect is heading the mob for no apparent reason. mUmBRELLA, our favorite media news blog got all stirred up about FRANkVizeum.
Tim, I’m really not sure what got you so upset. Is it about the graffiti? About the PR release that in your opinion could have been better written? Your post from the 21 June is full of “clever” phrases that belittle FRANk and Vizeum and most of it is referring to something that happened in 2003! None of it, except your opinion on the PR release, is of any real value. It’s a personal slant. Your post from the 22 June is equally surprising. Is it the legal issue that bothers you? What a stretch. Both posts headlines are so tabloid they’re more suited to appear in The Sun than mUmBRELLA.
Wait a sec… did you also have a crack at our logo for using capital letters? When was the last time you looked at your own logo? The final nail was quoting a troll comment from our blog. Did you bother to check the source? I didn’t think so.
None of the people who commented on this “epic fail” has bothered to read more than one post. No one seems to look at what we do or who we are. No one is following us on twitter.
If you did bother to take a deeper look you’ll know that Martyn, head of FRANkVizuem started an agency blog and twitter in October 2007. This makes him one of the earliest adopters of new technologies and “social media” in the Australian media landscape. All of the FRANkVizeum team is blogging. We have photos and names of contributors, we answer comments and we even have an option for ANYONE to write a blog post. We offer free online strategy sessions (FRANkademy), we’re helping non profits (like Movember) and we constantly writing about environmental and social issues. Is this your idea of wanking?
FRANkVizeum is different and we’re proving it every day. We are on the cutting edge of what you call “social media” and no, we don’t think using graffiti once every couple of years makes us not relevant, old or “cool”. But hey, it’s easier to light the torches and go burn a monster. It’s easier to order a death sentence than to examine the facts. It’s easier to post a slant comment than to give feedback, offer an opinion or start a conversation.
I liked the grafitti idea … no one else is doing it and so it stands out.
by Daniel Oyston on June 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Hi Tamir,
Good to read your comments.
To answer some of them:
I’m not a fan of street stencilling by big brands because it makes all of our environments just that little bit crappier. Although it eventually fades, it can remain for a year or two. I can point to smears on the pavement I have to walk across every day that were placed by the same ambient company that you used for this.
(I love Banksy by the way. You’re not him.)
It’s also an unoriginal way to launch an agency. It’s exactly what Naked did when they launched in Sydney four or five years ago. Only they handwrote their messages in chalk and used it as a recruitment campaign.
And the thing that most amused me was how badly executed the launch of Vizeum was back in 03 when they were derided for their pretentions – “magicians of memory” “chemists of conversation”. So of course my radar was on for the phrases you used – “Warriors”. Really?
It’s great to read that you’re different; that you’re on the cutting edge. I’m looking forward to seeing that in client case studies. Rather than getting into Twitter early, what innovation are you most proud of achieving for your clients?
You’ve got a lot to prove as Vizeum – you’re the last global brand to arrive here; my perception at least is that your Aegis’s second string agency to Carat, in a strategy that’s been imposed from the top down.
It’s nothing personal, that’s just one person’s view.
But please, prove me wrong! Nothing excites me more than writing about agencies doing it differently, and doing great media planning. (It was great to see golds for Australia in the Media Lions overnight). Do keep me up to date with what you’re doing. I promise to cover the positive when you kick some goals.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
by Tim Burrowes - Mumbrella on June 24th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I am not a big fan of generally and just hanging shit one someone/a company. I read the mumbrella post and I thought it was a bit gratuitous at the time and was surprised about the apparent effort that went into being so negative and generally unsupportive of another member of the community. I find most of the marketing blogs similarly unconstructive but usually only in the comments section, not in the body of the blog.
by Rebecca on June 24th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Any product, service, or company that I see promoted via graffiti instantly goes on my blacklist. Never to buy, never to use, never to promote, never to hire.
I’m not sure that street-stencilling is particularly “cutting-edge”. Remember Spin Communications’s footpath-spraypaint launch for Xbox in 2001? They got charged $300 per graffito for removal by South Sydney Council, and Spin has still never lived it down.
by SHG on June 24th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Ummm . . . October 2007 twitter usage doesnt qualify Martyn as one of the earliest adopters . . . around 6 months too late.
But I expect such a statement from WANKvizeum
p.s. you may wish to at least be able to spell the name correctly of your new masters!
by Connor on June 24th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Um.. don’t you guys work in social media? Don’t you think that responding from a p.r perspective just makes it look like you care? One of the reasons that social media is popular is that it allows us to escape a lot of advertisers, share thoughts directly with our friends, promote things that we like and get out of the grip of traditional media who used to control the information. I understand your business is about leveraging that for your clients but naturally people are going to be resistant or sceptical. If you ask people to send their thoughts and then get annoyed then why ask?
by Billy C on June 24th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Cheers Daniel. Tim, thanks for the reply. I agree action speaks louder than words and I will be in touch soon to let you know what we do for our clients. Rebecca, comment threads are usually all positive or all negative. It makes a refreshing discussion when you have both views. SHG I meant cutting edge using online tools. As you don’t have a name or a link it’s hard for me to feel sad for entering your blacklist. Connor try FRANktwitts. New masters? bit over the top don’t you think? funny you didn’t leave a name or link. I’m sure you’re a self employed artist. Billy, good angle. We did use our blog and our twitter to let people know about the launch. But cant we use a few tools at the same time? what’s wrong with that? I never get annoyed about people sending their thoughts. What is annoying? trolls – people who are anonymous. People who use inappropriate language and the ones who have nothing else to say besides: “wank”.
by Tamir on June 24th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
You’re not “one of the earliest adopters of new technologies and “social media” in the Australian media landscape” if you signed up for Twitter in October 2007 – Twitter started taking off at South by SouthWest in March 2007, and there were thousands of Australians using it by then.
If you’re going to claim to be cutting edge, you should at least make sure you are…
by Cheryl Gledhill on June 24th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Thanks Cheryl. ok, I know thousands of Australians were there. I simply don’t know of any other MEDIA agencies that used these tools then. But I might be wrong and willing to cut of my words if I am.
by Tamir on June 24th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Tamir, you weren’t referring to the agency being one of the early adopters, you specifically wrote “This makes him one of the earliest adopters of new technologies and “social media” in the Australian media landscape”
So as for individuals in the media landscape being early adopters of twitter, I think you will find he wasn’t as most of the early adopters were new media types.
At least know your stuff!
by Connor on June 24th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Connor, wow, talk about lost in translation here. “If you did bother to take a deeper look you’ll know that Martyn, head of FRANkVizuem started an agency blog and twitter in October 2007. This makes him one of the earliest adopters of new technologies and “social media” in the Australian media landscape.” – I said an agency blog and an agency twitter. I wasn’t referring to individuals in the new media world but to media agencies.
by Tamir on June 24th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Forget all that crap. I question the colloquial usage of the phrase “Is this your idea of wanking?”!
The correct usage should be “Is this your idea of a wank?” and if FRANkVizeum employees are so out of touch with society on that simple front, it’s the impetus from which other ideas are destined to fail.
by wisey on June 26th, 2009 at 2:58 pm