Smoke and mirrors
Smoke and mirrors is actually a classic technique in magical illusions that makes an entity appear to hover in empty space, sometimes passed off as conjured spirits. There’s a simple “sciencey” explanation for this. Sounds cool – huh? Since this technique was documented in 1770, we have gone on to incorporate the phrase into real […]
How to win – tips on successful bid writing
We live in a very competitive world and if you want to win that next project, writing compelling and effective proposals is a must. When a business or government entity is looking for a partner for a specific project, often an Expression of Interest or Request for proposal will be released. The responses received will […]
Can you survive on word-of-mouth alone?
The short answer is no. What!? A blog that answers the initial question in the first line and doesn’t make you read all the way through to the call to action at the end? Crazy right!? Make sure you tell all of your friends how crazy we are. WHY IS THE SHORT ANSWER NO THOUGH? […]
The true cost of false advertising
“You’ll feel better on Swisse.” This is the slogan that Swisse, a Melbourne health and wellness company, was forced to defend against false advertising claims. In March 2012, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) forced Swisse to cease using the slogan as it could not be proven that people did actually feel better when using the […]
Four reasons to choose an independent marketing agency over a big corporate
The people upstairs approved your marketing budget, your team is clear on campaign objectives and your pitch brief is ready to roll. Now it’s time to create a shortlist of agencies to pitch for the work and get things moving. You’ve only ever engaged corporate marketing agencies in the past, and their work has mostly […]
What makes a killer advertising campaign?
It’s a hard question and there are many views on what makes an advertising campaign great. Is it winning awards? Is it shifting more products? Or growing the public awareness of your product? In order to determine if a campaign is successful or not, you first have to determine what the desired goal is for […]
Who says conservative brands can’t have a bit of fun?
“If people aren’t talking about you, they’re not talking about you for a reason. And the reason isn’t that they dislike you. They’re not talking about you because you’re boring.” ~ Seth Godin Conservative brands get a raw deal. While their more youthful, sexy and luxurious cousins have a wonderful time being implemented in all […]
Authenticity speaks for itself
Recently, we saw an ad made by the Liberal party go viral. For all the wrong reasons. The ad attempted to depict a regular tradie, on a regular building site, saying some regular things to convince voters. But unfortunately for the Coalition, Australia saw this. Ironically, the advert was mercifully mocked by the very people […]
Freelancers versus agency – Who wins on strategy?
First, this isn’t going to be a shameless plug for agencies from someone working in one. Full disclosure, I used to be freelancer and, I did some awesome creative (ahem, if I do say so myself!). But it boils down to this: more people equals more ideas, skill sets, experience, resources…The list goes on. More […]