Popular mechanics
When I was 21, I used to get around in an illegally low jet black ‘67 Falcon. It ran 10 inch rims on the back, had a chrome scoop sticking out the hole in the bonnet and gear drive which combined with a straight through exhaust made it sound like the test lab at Boeing. Neither my parents, my neighbours or the cops were impressed.

Me and my mates thought it was the bomb.

I used to spend as much money on tyres as I earned, I was a regular at the Calder Park street drags, at the Sandown Park V8 touring car races and the NASCAR events at the Thunderdome. My Dad would probably tell you no good came of this misspent youth. I beg to differ.

At the time I thought it was both big AND clever to go as fast as I could whenever and wherever I could. To me a red light was just another invitation to drop a burnout soon as it went green again, in fact I have a nasty feeling there’s a hole in the ozone layer that can be directly attributed to me and that car.

But one day my mechanic set me straight. He ran his own sprint car team, just country speedway sort of stuff, but a race team all the same – so I listened to him.

Anyway after one of my somewhat regular visits to fix something I’d broken he told me about the 90% for 90% rule.

It applied to his team then, and it applies to all of us now.

The 90% for 90% is as obvious as it sounds, you go fast, you stay on top of your game, close to the leaders, but you don’t give it 100% until you can see the finish, you keep that 10% in reserve until you really need it.

Whether you’re pushing yourself, or whether you’re pushing your people, expecting to get 100% for an extended length of time isn’t thinking long term. Run anything at 100% from the get go and it will fail before you’re halfway done. Trust me on this.

So if you’re on the ragged edge right now, ease back, focus on what’s important, get it done and get it done well, but hold that bit back for the final lap, because when you need it you’ll be glad you did.

Like I said, obvious really, but sometimes we just need a reminder.

d

P.S. Fletch, tell your parents I’m sorry it was me doing donuts in your court that night.

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Client: AMP (Project Work)

Product: Financial Planning

Medium: DM

This mail pack was sent to tradies to encourage them to set up a meeting with a financial planner to talk about super…and receive the right hand glove to match the left hand one that appeared in their mail boxes.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that different mail packs appeal to different audiences. Some folks like a letter, some prefer an eDM, some want a brochure. And some respond to a DeWalt triple-stitched heavy-duty safety glove.

In this case our target market was a bunch of tradies from Perth.

Late last year, when AMP asked for our help to encourage tradespeople to discuss superannuation with their financial planners, we didn’t mess around with anything as conventional (or delicate) as a letter in an envelope. Instead, to communicate the importance of financial advice we sent out the left hand of a pair of made-tough work gloves.

Our insight was that tradies and financial advisers have something in common: they both offer professional advice.

Our copy went on to suggest that tradespeople see enough dodgy DIY jobs to truly understand the value of professional advice.

And the offer? By just popping in to see their financial planner our targeted tradies not only got a good bit of advice on their super but also the matching right hand glove.

As they say, if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

Client: TRUenergy

Product: Customer Service

Medium: DM

As a retention piece for TRUenergy focusing on their superb customer service we crafted a letter and gave it a twist. Instead of the traditional format – a long letter with a single signature – we wrote a short letter with nine signatures. One for each of the business heads who are committed to looking after TRUenergy customers. Within a day of lodgement, TRUenergy’s switchboard was already receiving calls from people who’d been approached by other energy companies, giving TRUenergy the opportunity to retain these customers. Just the response we were aiming for.

Client: TRUenergy

Product: Smoke Alarm

Medium: Press

We created a series of small space advertisements to show that TRUenergy’s smoke alarm service isn’t just for the fire season.

I’ve got a gripe.

And it’s not one of my usual gripes, like when Foxtel IQ ends my recording of Big Love ten minutes early, or when my hairspray runs out while I’m getting ready for a big Saturday night out.

Nope, it’s far more irritating than any of that.

It’s the inexplicable hysteria surrounding one 13 (or 14 or 15) year-old boy with a signature blow wave and an odd affiliation with Usher.

His name, for those of you who haven’t already caught on, is Justin Bieber. And he’s a Canadian-born pop star who came to fame after his mum posted a video of him singing on YouTube.

He’s had a couple of hits. And even I’ll admit they’re pretty catchy. But it’s not his music I have a problem with – it’s the ridiculous effect his image is having on young girls.

Just the other day, his only Australian gig was cancelled because a stream of thousands of frenzied teenagers – who had spent their night in a camp on Sydney Harbour – rushed uncontrollably towards the concert venue causing various injuries and hospitalizing around 8 girls.

Of course, teenage hysteria is nothing new – you only need to look to Beatle Mania for proof of that.

But here’s where I draw the line.

A 3-year-old? Crying over a boy?! She’s got the rest of her life to be heartbroken, childhood should be sodden with blissful ignorance.

Being ad folk, we all know that JB isn’t to blame for all this nonsense. He’s just a product of a much bigger, much scarier marketing machine.

Which brings me, finally, to my point.

Are these guys operating by some code of ethics? Are there any rules in place to protect kids from being sucked into pop-marketing guff?

If not, there should be.

They did it for junk food and video games. So why not protect young children – like that 3-year-old girl – against the head-honchos at the record companies who’ll sell anything, it seems, to make a dollar.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Stef

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Each year, BRW puts together a list of the 100 fastest growing start-up companies in Australia.

And we’re proud to say that this year, CUBED made the grade.

We ranked number 55 on the list, showing strong growth over the past 12 months – in spite of that pesky global financial crisis. In fact, this is the fifth year running we’ve enjoyed positive growth – not bad for a five-year old.

In particular, our social media strategy was highlighted by BRW as a clear success. In the article, where the social media efforts of six of the Fast Starter companies are compared, CUBED came out on top:

“(CUBED Communications) are doing far more than just trying to accumulate social media ‘followers’, They are focusing on the quality of the contact rather than the quantity. Most importantly they are creating a social media voice – a personality to help drive brand position and recall.”

Whilst we are clearly delighted at the news, we did want to say a big thank you to all our regular blog/facebook/twitter/flickr visitors, contributors and clients – we couldn’t have done it without your support.

The full article is below – click the images to enlarge (unless you have superhero style vision)

Client: University of Ballarat

Product: Learn to Succeed

Medium: TVC

Mums, they’re ace aren’t they?

The things they do for their kids – kiss your bumped knee better, make your lunch, wash your dirty laundry, give your brother bail money.

And then there’s all the ferrying they do. Driving you to school, to soccer, to your friend’s for that sleepover, to swimming, to ballet…

This was the insight that led to the creative work we produced for V/Line’s Mother’s Day campaign. Encouraging Victorians to book their mum a trip to the country where she can put up her feet and relax for a change.

Of course, we also had an insight into the minds of uni-aged kids which led us to develop the poster below – now proudly displayed at the regional universities around Victoria.

PS. Mother’s Day is this Sunday (yep, THIS Sunday). So buy her something nice and maybe she’ll help you out with that laundry.

We couldn’t have more pride (you’ll get it in a minute) for our two Young Lions finalists – Stefanie DiGianvincenzo and Daniel Grech.

Today, they were shortlisted for the Cannes Young Lions competition and next week, they’ll be fighting it out against 24 other finalist teams with just 24 hours to solve a brief.

It’s a huge opportunity for young creatives. The winning team will represent Australia at the Cannes Advertising Festival, which means they score return flights to Nice, accommodation (somewhere swanky we imagine) and a Young Lions registration which gives them access to all the seminars, ceremonies plus the Young Lions party.

Stef’s already packing her bags and Dan’s brushing up on his French.

So congratulations and good luck to our two CUBED cubs.

Go get ‘em kids!