another advertising wanker

Time Out For The Wanker

Nathan Bush — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:50:24 +0000

If you haven’t seen me on Twitter lately there’s good reason you may have assumed I loved Vietnam a little too much and stayed to live a life working in the rice fields. While that is a fair assumption, I am indeed alive and well. However, this blog is not.

I’ve come back to a new job as an Interactive Strategist at independent agency BCM. After one and a half weeks here, I am happy to say that it is a great environment, I am surrounded by some bloody smart people and a there is a really strong passion for creative yet responsible work. So for the next few months I am headfirst into this new role. Combine this with a bunch of personal goals for the year and a greater focus on work/life differentiation… it doesn’t leave much room for Mr.Wanker.

So he’s been put in the corner for a little while (months, years, I’m not sure). However, I’m lucky enough to have the BCM blog, Two Cents, to offload anything which is bouncing around my head. I’ve already written two posts over there:

New Year’s Resolutions From A Social Media Addict (pretty much explains this post)

iMmense Expectations for iPad

The good thing is that if you decide to look over that way you’ll find some posts from people who are often much smarter, funnier and good looking than me… depending on how much I’ve had to drink. I get better as the night goes on.

I’ll be reading more than ever so I look forward to staying in the loop. And I’ve got a bit more free time now so am happy for any guest posts or collaborations if there’s the opportunity. And of course I’m still tweeting at @nathbush. So, despite the tumbleweeds around here, I’m still alive and kicking! I look forward to what 2010 brings.

The Wanker Has A Bath

And that was 2009…

Nathan Bush — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:00:12 +0000

It wasn’t meant to end this way. I was going to finish the year off with a really meaningful post on the next big thing for 2010 or what I learnt in 2009 or some sort of top 10 list which would be easy Twitter fodder. But I’m not going to. I’m done. Spent. Signed off. 2009 is almost over and I’m happy not to poke the beast anymore.

Today marks my last day at DP Dialogue. This brings me to the end of my three and a half year stay in the De Pasquale family. For the past eight months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Gino De Pasquale and Matt Granfield in an agency that is well ahead of its time (as well as being profitable). It’s been exciting, experimental and educational. I’ll be reaping the rewards of surrounding myself with such forward and broad thinkers for a long time to come.

The next step for me in 2010 will be as an interactive strategist in a Brisbane agency. I’ll share the details once I put my foot through the door on my first day.

But for now, my head is here…

On Saturday, Sarah and I will be heading over to Vietnam for three weeks of travel, sleep, drink, food, beaches and wherever the path may lead. We’re going with few plans and little idea. I can’t wait.

So that’s it for 2009. Thanks to everyone who has read, contributed, commented, passed on or complained about this blog. We’ve created a nice little thought community which only grows when a group of people are generous with their time and thinking. I hope you all have a great Christmas, give 2009 a good boot out the door and here’s to a massive 2010!

Hyundai Who30?

Nathan Bush — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:00:37 +0000

You know that Hyundai i30 ad with the cop out of the first season Underbelly? He introduces us to the barista who drives a Hyundai because it suits her lifestyle? In the the 30 seconds it goes to air we’re introduced to her, learn a bit about her and meant to trust her.

“Ooh she looks friendly. I like friendly people. Oooh she’s a barista. I know lots of nice baristas. Ooooh she drives a Hyundai. I want to drive a Hyundai.”

Sadly, it doesn’t work like that. She’s an actress.

But what if it was a real person? What if we could go online and find her online profile dating back to 2005? What if we knew wher lifestyle and what she does on the weekend? What if we could start talking to her? What if we could ask her real questions about her real car and get her real opinion?

Wouldn’t that be cool? I’d consider trusting her then.

No related posts.

2009, When Press Went Digitally Silly

Nathan Bush — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:00:33 +0000

Was 2009 the year that press media got digital? Nope.

But did we see some cool things? Sure we did….

We saw augmented reality come to thew masses through News Limited’s Night At The Museum promotion:

Then there was the CBS ‘ and Pepsi’s full page ad in Entertainment Weekly with an embedded video chip on the page:

And more recently, we had a paper thin USB key which you can rip from the page and direct you to the website…

But no matter how cool these ideas are, did they really deliver value for their advertisers? In these cases, the answer is probably ‘yes’. Purely for the fact that they were a first and got some PR love. But are they long term digital solutions for press advertisers? Probably not. These not-so-cheap gimmicks are just that. Gimmicks. Not much substance behind the technology.

I’m not bashing press here. There is a strong future for magazines and newspapers. But press have to play with digital rather than be digital. The press need to play to their strengths and delivering what readers actually want in a hard copy offering rather than getting too tricky. And if these ideas are strong enough to extend online… eureka!

As you can see in the below video piss take, there are many strengths of press. Let’s hope that in 2010 they can focus and capitalise on these strengths.

BOOK REVIEW: The Cluetrain Manifesto

Nathan Bush — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:49:16 +0000

The Cluetrain Manifesto

by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls and David Weinberger

Reviewed by Gavin Heaton from Servant of Chaos

Gavin (or Mr. Chaos to you) has developed digital communication strategies for a number of global brands including McDonald’s and IBM. He is the co-publisher of The Age of Conversation and The Perfect Gift For A Man. He also preaches a powerful preso and busts a bodacious blog. Moving on…

Gavin loves stories. And he is a great story teller. I had the pleasure of listening to a presentation from Gavin at MarketingNow earlier this year. I also had the pleasure of meeting him afterwards. What struck me about Gavin was his passion for communication and the way that he focused on the journey, not the channel. Gavin often talks about this book (or for some, the Social Media Bible) and he’s also written a post about it.

Overview

The Cluetrain Manifesto was written 10 years ago when we were all in wonderment over online shopping, forums and intranets. It is well ahead of it’s time as it talks about the new expectations of business and the new way of talking with your customers. Written by tech heads, it’s really about communication and less about technology. This is why it remains a must read today.

I consider it an important book because…

You know that saying, “It’s better than being poked in the eye with a sharp stick”? I always thought this saying didn’t make a lot of sense – after all, blindness, even temporary blindness is way down my list of fun experiences. But after reading The Cluetrain Manifesto, that’s exactly how I felt. Blinded.

I had just moved into my first full time marketing role and felt I had only a tenuous grip on the fundamentals. I was assiduously putting the 4 Ps into practice, building out my marketing and promotions calendar for the year ahead and getting the early buy-in of my executive board. It was all shaping up quite nicely. Somehow I ended up on the website for The Cluetrain Manifesto and was immediately drawn into its spell:

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

On the one hand, this seemed to make perfect sense. On the other, it didn’t fit within my newly forming understanding of marketing practise. What happens when the intelligence of markets outperforms the business and brands that you work for? In B2B especially, thought leadership is one of your most powerful storytelling devices – so what happens when it can be discounted? What can you use to demonstrate your expertise? And worse still – what happens when conversation erupts?

There seemed to be no pointers that could help me. I scoured the marketing plans left in the bottom drawer by the previous marketing director. I flicked through the budgets, the collateral and a large file of emails duly printed out and arranged in date order. Nothing. From my desk I could see the company mantra printed on the wall – and with each glance the words seemed to make less sense. I rolled the words around on my tongue. They tasted like cardboard. It was as if each reading depleted the words of what little meaning remained. I couldn’t tell whether I was witnessing the demise of my own new career or the birth of something new.

Already, companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone.

As luck would have it, one of my main projects for the year appeared to sync with this line of thinking. Each year, our company released a book written by one of the senior consultants. My job was to promote the book and to launch it across Asia Pacific. And as the book was about the way that enterprises were more intimately connected through the power of relationships, it seemed that the Cluetrain might just have some pointers that I could use:

Companies that don’t realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity.

Rather than talking about our expertise with relationships – what would happen if we put those relationships to work? I wondered whether we may be able to create or tap into the conversations that were happening at the workplaces of our most important customers. I wondered what this might take and began thinking about how this might come to life – how, indeed, we could work with our consultants to seed these conversations, to get around the barriers and to put a “human face” to the corporate conversations that we wanted to facilitate.

As it turns out the book and its launch across Asia Pacific was a great success. I put together an integrated strategy that used direct mail, email marketing, a microsite, some flash-based cartoon style animation and personal follow-up. Using the principles of the Cluetrain, I designed and crafted a story that spoke directly to the executives (and their gatekeeper assistants) in a way that stood out from the run-of-the-mill marketing efforts of our competitors. Rather than 3-7% conversion rates, we had almost 60% of people respond and show up for our launch events. From that point on, I was sold on the power of storytelling, of non-jargon marketing, and making the medium your message.

If you have never read The Cluetrain, download the free eBook or start with the 95 theses available on the website. It may not change your life, but it might just change the way you market.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Leave your comments below.

Pay peanuts, get gurus

Nathan Bush — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:50:19 +0000

Well, it has finally happened. You guru’s have overexposed yourself and look what has happened…

Gurus for sale at $40K a pop.

But on a serious note, there are a number of vacancies at the moment to start or develop the “digital culture” in a variety of industries. Money’s not everything but can often be an indication of the value placed on digital thinking. I’d be asking some very serious questions about a role such as this.

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5 Ways Foursquare Will Change Business

Nathan Bush — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:00:08 +0000

I went all out a couple of weeks ago and made a prediction on the ‘next big thing’. No, it wasn’t Tony Abbott. I was talking about Foursquare. I won’t go into what Foursquare is but Mark Pollard has a nice overview of the functionality and his experience with it here.

I just want to rattle off a few dot points on why I think Foursquare will change the marketing game for business. Here’s how:

It’s going to make social media relevant for small business. Ma and Pa’s Local Fish Shop will no longer be able to ignore social media because they’re small and rarely discussed. The talk is a comin’. Foursquare isn’t all about long term brand building and publicity stunts. It is about immediacy, locality and decision making. If I’m in a new area looking for lunch, I’m going to assess where the positive reviews are coming from and avoid anywhere with negative reviews. Decision made in under 60 seconds and without even seeing a shop front.

You have 60 seconds to make me happy. Following on from the immediacy, it’s not only knowing what is being said about your business but helping shape it. I get served up a dud pizza, I’ll write a review while I’m sitting at the table. I get booted out of a nightclub, there’ll be a nice alcoholic fuelled rant in the cab home (not that this has ever happened…) As a business owner you will have a very limited amount of time to rectify the situation. If you treat your customers like shit, you’ll cop shit.

Foursquare will feed other media. It’s going to hurt directory sites like my247 and whereis. It’s also going to halt the progress of apps like AroundMe. When Foursquare reaches a mass audience it will be the primary source for peer to peer reviews. These sites can try to fight it. However, I think they will feed into it by publishing feeds (similar to Twitter feeds) from Foursquare to supplement their location based directories.

It’s not about the desktop anymore. The Foursquare site is ordinary. But the mobile application is great. Mobile delivers more content, more relevance and more functionality than the homepage. We’ll see a greater focus towards mobile as the primary driver as augmented reality and location base services become more widely available. Foursquare will lead the commercial charge for local and social mobile applications.

We’re going to creep ourselves out. It’s intrusive. Naturally, people are going to freak about their privacy. Mark Pollard makes a great point of having no control of who and what people can tag. Can someone publish where you live? There will be legal cases (a la Google Street View) which will seek to answer these questions. We’re going to see new laws and guidelines about what kind of information can and can’t be published.

So there’s my initial thoughts on how I think Foursquare will impact business and their marketing. Do you agree? Have you got another point to add? Or is Foursquare just a storm in a Second Life teacup?

How The Tie-In Has Turned

Nathan Bush — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:55:40 +0000

Is it just me or did the advertisers used to support the television programs? When did programming start attaching themselves to the advertisers?

60 minutes supporting toyota

“60 Minutes proudly supporting Toyota. Fifty years of feelings.Oh what a feeling Australia!”

60 Minutes, 22 November 2009

The Death of the 3 Minute Ad Break

The Book Depository: 10% Off Christmas

Nathan Bush — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:13:22 +0000

As part of the Wankers Book Club I’ll be posting the best deals from the best book retailers.

The first is a code from The Book Depository which will give you 10% off all purchases.

To view the deal visit here.

Valid between 20/11/2009 and 11/12/2009.

No Talking Back When It Comes To Sun Safety

Nathan Bush — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:29:52 +0000

Bloody hell it is hot. So hot that it means delicate skin people like me have to put sunscreen on before we open the bedroom window in the morning. Yet for our olive brothers it means tan time. And for every lobster nose this summer there will be a sun safety message. Here’s the latest from the NSW Government:

Pretty full on. But do you accept the message or fight it?

My initial reaction was that it would not be effective in changing the behaviors of the young people they are talking to. The commercial ignores the fundamentals of new communication: it talks at them not with them. The 1960’s radio announcer voice combined with a scare message would immediately put a barrier up and block the message. “You can’t tell me what to do!”

And I was partly correct as shown in the YouTube comments:

“I’ll tan if I tan.. I’m not going to tan on prupose at a tanning salon, but I’m not going to be all paranoid everytime I go outside either. Living your life in fear of EVERYTHING is no way to live.”

“I totally agree …. I am going to smoke , Drink and drive , do a little petrol sniffing and some speed. I am going to do all those things , and it will be all ok as long as im not afraid.”

But I was also partly wrong as shown in these comments:

“i’m scared to go outside now ! lol”

“Omg, I’m always swimming outdoors and got a massive tan. I’m so worried now!”

The website doesn’t help either. It arms the public with information but lacks interaction. So I’m still on the fence with this one. What do you think? Is it an ad where the message is so serious and the consequences so severe that there is no room for discussion? Or does the authoritative tone put a big barrier up between the message delivery and the intended audience?

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