FRANKthoughts

This week saw the combined efforts of LeoBurnett Melbourne, Blackwood Communications Group NZ & FRANkVizeum Melbourne help launch SEEK’s new brand advertising campagin ‘If it exists’.

The idea works on the promise that jobseekers can find whatever job they can think of on the website. The TVC’s have been shot in a mockumentary style to explore the work day life of employees with quirky roles such as a cannon safety inspector and a shopping trolley mechanic.

The campaign is running across both Australia & NZ, with our media investment heavily focused on TV, Radio & Outdoor.

Meet the stars of the new TVC’s below (produced by LeoBurnett Melbourne):

Greg Walters is a talented Shopping Trolley Mechanic and Damien Mashall is obsessed with cannon safety.

Have you considered a career change lately?

2.1 million viewers can’t be wrong about the massive appeal of Hey! Hey! It’s Saturday That’s how many people tuned in last night to see Daryl, Plucka and the gang back on our screens for the first of two reunion shows.

Not surprisingly, Melbourne (the home of Hey! Hey!) pulled in the majority of viewers with just over 790,000.

I never once thought Ten’s Celebrity MasterChef would be able to outshine the return of what was an Australian  institution for so many of us growing up, and I’m pleased to say I was right. However, regardless of my opinion Celebrity MasterChef did pull in a respectable 1.3million viewers, which is a great effort!

It is a huge windfall for Nine, which would have still been reeling from the less than impressive launch of The Apprentice Australia, on Monday night. It barely registered on the radar with just under 700,000 viewers.

Ten will be consoling itself in the knowledge that the MasterChef franchise is a slow burn. When it launched earlier this year it barely nudged a million, but it finished with more than 3 million viewers.

Mention also needs to go to Seven who kicked off this huge ratings week with their new sci-fi drama Flashforward pulling in 1.8 million viewers and of course wrapping up last week was Ten’s coverage of the 2009 AFL Grand Final which pulled in a massive 2.9 million viewers.

Nine, meanwhile, are considering whether to commission a new series of Hey! Hey! on a permanent basis. It would seem that the old format still has legs and the intergrated use of Social Media sites such as twitter during the live broadcast has helped catapult the show into the 21st century.

It remains to be seen if Daryl would stay on board as host, but would it work as well without him? I’m not convinced.

Recently I was one of ten lucky recipients to win a $300 gift voucher to spend on the RedBalloon Days website.

If you’re not familiar with Redballoondays they provide gift ideas & certificates available online for over 2000 experiences. From the more extreme such as sky diving and rally car racing to the more subdued such as day spas and cooking classes. There were so many experiences to choose from I didn’t know where to begin.

Trawling through the categories I came a across a gift idea that caught my eye for all the wrong reasons.

Romantic Letter by post – The idea is simple. Have someone else craft an ‘unforgettable’ handwritten love letter to that special person in your life. Written onto the finest bond paper and complete with matching envelope, they will then post it to them all for the small price of $109!

I’m sorry, but when did the art of good old fashioned handwritten communication become so impersonal? I have never heard of anything more ridiculous in my life!

In the age of email, instant messenger, Facebook & Twitter are we losing our basic penmanship skills or is it that we just can’t be bothered? Like most of us I’m sure these days the only ‘letters’ I receive in the post are bills, bank statements and junk mail and I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually sat down and penned a handwritten letter. However, while the art of hand writing a letter should be encouraged, surely a ‘love’ letter should come from the heart and not over the counter. Or am I just an old fashioned romantic?

As Friday afternoons go in the FRANkVizeum Melbourne office, this was just like any other. We were sitting around discussing the week in retrospect……helped with a few beers and debating whether Collingwood could beat Adelaide on the weekend. Deep stuff!

When the question was posed – Has anyone heard of the lying down game? While most shook their heads, those that were familiar with it took us through the concept.

The game itself originated in the UK by two guys from Somerset and has caught on around the world amongst the online social community thanks to a dedicated Facebook page & official website.

The concept is designed for all those who enjoy the sport of lying down in random public places to confuse people.

There are two aims:

1) The more public the better
2) The more people involved the better

Please be aware that the palms of your hands must be flat against your side and the tips of your toes pointing at the ground. Just as if you were standing, but vertically challenged.

This of course sparked one of those ‘FRANKVizeum’ moments, and so began the challenge. Lying face down outside our office and without getting cleaned up by passing traffic; we successfully created the company initials ‘FV’ using eight human bodies (Exhibit A pictured above).

With the photo uploaded here, we were now part of this growing craze, why not try it yourself!

It’s been over a year since Nintendo first launched its revolutionary new game console called Wii. I’m sure by now you’ve either experienced it for yourself or have heard of the unfortunate tales of injury and destruction that has come as a result of using it. If you haven’t, then I suggest you check out Wii Have a Problem, a blog dedicated to reporting wacky Wii-related stories.

I’m usually the late adopter of this sort of technology and the Wii was no exception.

The Australia Day weekend presented itself as my first opportunity to experience the world of Wii. It was in the late hours of a Sunday afternoon BBQ when a couple of the adults decided it was time to push the kids aside and take charge of the Wii. Bowling was the game of choice and I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. I was simply going to have one go and leave it at that.

Two strikes later and I was hooked.

Convinced I could out do the pint sized 10 year old who held the record for the day of 3 strikes in a row, I geared up for my attack. I swung my arm, bent my leg and lunged forward……I screamed in pain! No strike and a butt check that felt liked it had been ripped in half. Despite my pain, I continued on determined to win. Twenty Five minutes later I was defeated. I walked away in shame, for the first time in my 27 years I felt old.

The following morning was the last straw; I crawled out of bed in pain reminiscence of a scene after the first day of the snowboarding season. I was in agony from head to toe, with my shoulder taking most of the impact.

Who would have thought a video game could be the cause.

For those of you who have dared to try it and come out unscathed I salute you, for those yet to venture into the world of Wii heed my words……stretching your limbs prior to play is vital. I think from now on I’ll stick to Sing Star no matter how bad I sound!