FRANKthoughts

On the weekend I took the kids to see Fantastic Mr Fox. What a wonderful film! It would have to be one of the best ‘kids’ films I’ve seen – quirky, unique, non-stop entertainment underpinned by George Clooney’s brilliance! (Not the point of the story but I thought you should know).

The movie theatre was three quarters full of predominantly Dads with their kids and we all sat through the ads and trailers waiting for the film to begin. Not usually a hotbed of media innovation, the average movie pre-amble is a fairly straight forward affair: first the cheap ads, then the expensive ads, a few movie trailers, a Village or Hoyts plug, lights down and off we go.

On this occasion however we were all shaken out of our comfy daze by a unique and engaging piece of cinema advertising.

One of the expensive ads we saw during the pre-amble was a Federal Govt Spot featuring a melanoma surgeon removing a dangerous mole from a 22 year old girl’s back.

Fairly graphic stuff that had my 8 year old daughter’s hands over her face and my 4 year old boy’s eyes glued to the screen! The message was clear: protect yourself five ways in the sun and you can avoid ending up in his theatre.

A few more ads, a few trailers and just as we thought the movie would begin, the house lights went on, the curtain came down and a male voice began talking about the ad we saw a few minutes ago…. “Hey, that ad to do with skin cancer … was pretty nasty. Did he say 400,000 Australians are diagnosed each year with skin cancer? That’s like 2,000 cinemas like this full of people! They reckon that even short periods of time in the sun unprotected – like the length of the movie we’re about to show – could cause irreversible damage to your skin. So I guess the doctor was right …”

I looked around a saw that most people were listening intently, some nudging each other or simply sitting with puzzled expressions on their face. At the conclusion of this audio-only piece the room went black, the curtain went up and the movie promptly began.

A clever, unexpected piece of cinema advertising and an effective part of the government’s marketing communications mix executed well by the teams at UM and Val Morgan. We certainly took the government’s advice that afternoon at the local pool!

Do you notice the ads in the cinema? How effective do you think they are?

Is it the PR agency? the advertising agency? the marketing department? Whoever it is they need to practice what they preach. They need to be familiar with the tools, to know the language and have guidelines to follow. They need to have something to measure with both short and long term goals. They need to provide value for your customers and business. Can anyone do it?

Here’s something from Seth Godin in his post “Watch the money“: If you’re in the music business but you never buy tickets or downloads, can you really empathize with the people you’re selling to?… if you work for a non-profit and you don’t give money to charity, what exactly are you doing in this job?… Money is more than a transfer of value. It’s a statement of belief. An ad agency that won’t buy ads, a consultant who won’t buy consulting, and a waiter who doesn’t tip big—it’s a sign, and not a good one”.

If there is one rule when it comes to building your brand and business social assets it is to buy it from the people who invest in it themselves. They have probably faced the same problem you’re facing and have the hands on experience to build a sustainable social business solution. Do you think brands should have a community/social officer?

Flicking through the sports section of the weekend paper I was held up by something unusual. At first I didn’t know exactly what it was. Was it the unorthodox ‘fireplace’ format that runs across two pages? Or was it the vastness of the ‘hard working white space’ in the ad? I’d been involved in both of these techniques before so it can’t just be these. There must be more to it. 

Ah hah! Then I realised that unlike regular newspaper ads this did not have a border. Subtle at first, it only took a split second for me to work out that it was an ad for a “Borderless” TV, but it was this split second challenge that had me engaged. In the heavily cluttered world of newspapers, this little example of media innovation was enough to arrest me, make me smile and get me interested in the new product, even when I am not in the market for a telly just now.

The media placement also added to the overall effectiveness of this marketing communications strategy. Newspapers are a highly relevant context in which to display interesting new products, and with Tiger Woods in town the golf pages would be heavily read. Also according to Morgan Plasma/LCD buyers are 32% more likely to play golf than the general population, and over 20% of them watch it on the telly, so a strong target audience composition amongst golf fans.

Great use of press, but unfortunately when I jumped on the web site  the TVs displayed have more borders than Mexico!  You have to dig pretty deep to find any tellies that look remotely borderless which is a bit disappointing given the cleverness of the print campaign. Perhaps a video on the site (and on youtube) showing the telly in action from different angles?

When the world is changing so quickly some organisations will survive and some not. The difference will be in how well you prepare and how good is your solution. Here are three examples of three different industries going through changes. These are my observations and I will love to hear your thoughts:

1.MUSIC: Artists are doing it for themselves – Superstar artists are now using social media to launch their new video/show/single using Ustream.tv and facebook: That’s right both Shakira and Chamillionaire did this in the last week against their record label’s advice and I expect to see many more artists doing this “social media” thing in the near future. So if you’re a record label or a music related business this act represent both threat and opportunity. When your artists know better than you how to reach their audience, there is a problem.  It’s up to you to keep up.

2.NEWSPAPERS: What will be the new model? Rupert Murdoch continues his war against google and wants to charge for online content. That’s great. Now he’s saying that without eTablets, “Newspapers Will Go Out Of Business.” Do you actually know anyone who owns an e-tablet? Any way you look at it, the newspaper model is broken (now they might charge you for a day pass?) . People are getting their news from other sources for free. Will people pay to get the same content on an e-paper? I don’t believe quality journalism is broken but I feel the delivery mechanism is. In a world where everything is shared by niches what’s the role social media and crowds can play within a publication? I’m sure Murdoch is working on it but if I was working for a newspaper or a magazine I’ll be thinking about it too.

3.ADVERTISING: The rise of the consumer-ambassador – When Coca-cola is doing it you know it’s real but they are not the only ones. More and more brands are using reality type “social” campaigns featuring real people to earn brand recognition, more fans/followers and the holy grail: organic google juice. Think about how many mentions your brand can get when people are constantly adding content, twittering and blogging about it, sharing the content with their friends and their friends friends. When the consumer journey starts with a google search, your first page is the most valued property you have. In this kind of world you need to be sure of what happens when someone is googling you.

We are into day 2 of Darren ‘problogger‘ Rowse’s guide to 31 Days to Build a Better Blog (31DBBB).

Day 1 suggests you develop your blog’s BBQ-moment to crystallise what your blog is about. We settled on ”The FRANkVizeum blog helps marketers understand and exploit the ever-changing marketing communications landscape, with particular focus on brand strategy, media innovation and social business strategy with a twist of frivolous topicality.”

Day 2 suggests you post a comment which includes a list…lists are scannable, succinct, neat, persuasive and viral with many more attributes. I have no intention of replicating Darren’s 90 page work book and suggest the $20 to download it is money well spent.

So here’s my, albeit short, list. My list is one of ‘could try harder.’

1. Prahran Aquatic Centre : for the last 6 years i’ve been a regular swimmer at this excellent 50M pool and really miss the around-the-corner convenience when its not open during the day which is generally mid May to early October. They have my email, mob and address by virtue of me being a season card holder. So i’m checking the opening date for this year and find to my utter suprise its been open since 10th August. Stonnington council please….would it have hurt to tell your biggest fans?

2. Greville Records : awesome music destination in Greville Street. I’m a big fan of supporting local, independent retailers but there come a point when it can become too hard. Ordering music through them is my want rather than heading down to Virgin or itunes. But their inability to provide a reliable service is frustrating especially when you want them to still be around in 5 years. Get organised guys we love you.

3. Across the road is Greville St Bookstore, similar situation. An institution, a destination and a part of the Greville St thing but there is a fine balance between hippy/green/bibliophiles and efficient follow up/customer service. Buy some software lovely ladies.

Ok my list of three is on the gripey side BUT you can never underestimate the value of a loyal, passionate and regular customer. Never take anyone’s custom for granted.

Australian fashion label Saba has turned to Scott Schuman (better known as fashion blogger The Sartorialist) to help promote their new denim collection.  The New York based fashion commentator holds massive sway in fashion circles, with up to 3 million site visitors per month.

Saba sought 17 trend-setters to feature in the upcoming campaign, who The Sartorialist would shoot in the laneways and natural street settings of Melbourne.  Following an invitiation via his blog, over 500 people turned up to a pre-launch party at Cutler & Co restaurant for their chance to appear in the shoot, alongside recognised identities like gallery owner Murray White, AFL footballer Brad Miller and the first editor of Vogue Australia Sheila Scotter.

The campaign really demonstrates the alignment of bought/owned/earned media elements, and an innovative approach to campaign planning.  The bought media campaign (fashion magazines, newspapers and websites) will work with Saba’s owned assets (instore displays, David Jones concessions, Saba’s own website, launch events), and a pop-up gallery in Melbourne’s Duckboard Place which will exhibit the campaign images between 27 July-August 10.

The earned media will include a special blog Saba has set up for the campaign (which goes live on 27 July),  and possibly other social media tools.  Behind the scenes footage from the photoshoot has already landed on Saba’s YouTube channel.

The Sartorialist’s overall popularity and Saba’s decision to execute this campaign demonstrates the rise of social media and the establishment of bloggers as sizeable, credible channels for businesses in their brand strategy.  Hopefully more brands get on board and add depth and interactivity to launch campaigns.