Ad folk are frequently told to ‘live the brand’.

That’s just what we did today for the University of Ballarat and UB Tec.

The taglines for these two brands are ‘Learn to succeed’ and ‘Your hands-on career starts here’. We reckon we brought those ideals to life by using students from the Arts Academy as voice over talent in the latest batch of radio and TV commercials.

Thanks Marty, Elise and Nicole! You did a great job – and it looks like you’re all off to successful careers.

We’ve just added 29 new CUBISMs to our flickr. The latest batch includes references to giant diamonds, Brendan Fevola, comedic pugs and creased pants.

Here are our two favourites. See the rest here.

If you’ve ever had a chat with a 5-year old, you’d have noticed they ask ‘why’ a hell of a lot.

Why is the sky blue?
Why don’t plants have eyes?
Why is that dog sniffing that other dog’s butt?

So perhaps I never grew up, because whenever I hear a marketing ‘must-do’, the first thing I ask is why.

Take ‘the power of integration’ for example. We all bang on about it, but why is it so important.

A text book (or your boss) would define integrated marketing as:

A data-driven approach that focuses on identifying consumer insights and developing a strategy with the right mix of channels to forge a stronger brand-consumer relationship.

Yawn.

Much more exciting to look at the ‘why’.

Let’s start with a snapshot of the science that sits behind the method.

It’s called the multiplier effect.

Simply put, when your target market sees, hears and interacts with a campaign in multiple channels, the impact of your message intensifies. So they understand it quicker and in greater depth.

The old adage ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ has been debunked by psychologists.

In fact, it’s just the opposite. We not only pay more attention to a message or brand the more we see it, we become predisposed to like it. So show your audience the television commercial, hit ‘em with some press, get them interacting with your brand in social media, maybe throw an outdoor billboard at them on their way home from work. Their recall will improve because the information is being processed at a deeper level.

Integration also helps you get a fuller message across. Some media lends itself to information, whilst others are better for emotional engagement. By combining media you can include both.

So that’s why integration is a good thing.

On to the ‘how’.

Experts say the key to optmising the multiplier effect is – surprise, surprise – creative.

‘Creative links’ and varied designs strengthen the effect. So to achieve the multiplier effect there must be strong creative links between the different media channels you’re using.

This doesn’t mean taking a still from the TVC spot and whacking it on a billboard.

No, no. It means working with the basic creative idea of the campaign and using consistent visual cues in each channel. This reinforces the advertising content. Because the more we humans see something, the more connections our brains make and the more we remember!

So next time you’re working on a campaign, use the multiplier effect to your advantage.

Why not?

Cheers,
Chantelle

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Imagine our delight when we discovered our freelance web designer, Harry, is also a magician.

Prepare to be dazzled.

Apple did it.

So did Xbox.

And if you scratch around the recesses of your mind, you can probably recall Star Trek doing it too.

There’s no denying it. These days, it’s all about the next generation.

So it’s no surprise that ADMA’s got in on the act and released their latest model – complete with wireless capabilities and extended battery life.
It’s known as [Y]ADMA (Young ADMA): a group of young DMers from all over industry, here to turn you on to the coolest people, events and trends in direct marketing.

A couple of CUBED kids have signed on to be part of the committee. So we’ve been overhearing whispers of secret parties and creative rumbles around the office for the last few months.

Now, finally, they’ve announced their pre-launch party.

And it sounds like it’s gonna get ugly.

The group is kicking off with the [Y[ADMA Slam Down – a creative pitch that pits two DM creative teams against each other in a gloves-off, winner-takes-all challenge.

The stakes? A rad trophy and the chance to bask in one’s own glory.

The bloody scene is set to unfold at the Brood Box (off Little Bourke Street) on Thursday 19th August. We’ll all be heading down to drink the free booze and cheer on Team CUBED.

If you’d like to join us, you can get your tickets here.

And if you want to follow [Y]ADMA’s  shenanigans in the meantime, check out their Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Everyone wants to make it to the finals.

So we were thrilled to find out last week that we made it. The ECHOs that is (though we probably could have turned out a better team than the French had we gone to the World Cup).

To quote the ECHO awards themselves:

“The DMA International ECHO Awards Competition honors the world’s best direct marketing campaigns — campaigns that have raised the bar in terms of strategy, creativity and results. Campaigns recognized by ECHO not only do everything right in terms of marketing and creative execution, they demonstrate insight into audience behavior and earn the involvement of their target markets.”

Of course, we’re by no means guaranteed of picking up a trophy, but it’s an exciting time for CUBED for two reasons. Firstly, this is the first time we have entered work into the ECHOs, and secondly, BOTH pieces of work we entered are finalists.

Bottom line is, we’re damn proud of the work we do for our clients so naturally we’re chuffed to see it recognised on an international stage.

And while we know awards aren’t everything, in shows like the ECHOs the work only gets a gong if it got results.

Our fingers (and Ned’s paws) are crossed. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for October when the winners are announced.

Ahh Guerilla marketing, it’s all good fun ‘til someone loses a passport, gets arrested, fined and faces legal action.

As you’re probably already aware, the FIFA world Cup is in full swing in South Africa. But what you might not be aware of is the 36 women thrown out of the Holland game, questioned, arrested, fined and threatened with jail time. For wearing orange dresses.

Personally, I don’t think many people can get away with wearing tangerine, but surely this is a case for the fashion police as opposed to the actual police?

Not if you’re FIFA.

You see while a lot of us in adland regard big sporting events as a chance to do some tactical advertising, the organisers of these events are getting increasingly tired of advertising smart arsery muscling in on the official action.

A good bit of eye-catching tactical mischief can not only get a client on a tighter budget in front of an audience of millions, but also gives the impression of a brand with a sense of humour.

FIFA, however, doesn’t appear to have a sense of humour. What they do have is lawyers.

They’ve already released the hounds on Bavaria, the Dutch brewer who distributed the offending dresses. And to be fair, Bavaria already have previous form – four years ago in Germany at the 2006 World Cup, a bunch of Dutch supporters ended up watching a game in their underwear after they were told to surrender their Bavaria branded lederhosen.

In April FIFA stopped local low cost airline Kulula airline from advertising itself as “The Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What.” Clearly this time they mean business.

One could argue Bavaria should have known better.

And the world is watching, in 1997 at the International Rugby League World Cup in France, during the Ireland v France game, underwear brand DIM deployed the DIM DIM Girls as ‘cheerleaders’ in the crowd. Dressed in their undies they obviously got quite a lot of attention. And got on the wrong side of the IRL.

The next IRL World Cup is in 2011. Dare the Dim DIM girls run the risk of having to hand over their outfits at the gate?

Question is, will this be the event that’s going to turn a bit of tactical advertising into something of, well, a home goal? It certainly ups the ante. I doubt it’s going to stop agency creatives from coming up with the ideas – after all, creatives do get a perverse sense of glee at messing with anything they know they shouldn’t. But are the previously brave clients going to be quite so cavalier? The appeal of a cheeky bit of guerilla advertising will lose a lot of its shine if the resulting law suit sends your company broke.

However it plays out – one thing’s for sure, this story, not unlike the World Cup itself, is gonna be worth watching.

d

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The first anniversary’s always the best isn’t it? Both of you planning a little something special. A bit of a surprise.

Second one’s pretty good too.

Of course, by years three and four, the shine has come off things a bit.

And by year five most of us get brownie points just for remembering the date.

What a wonderful world it would be if every year was as exciting and full of promise as the first. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to happen unless you’re married to Heidi Klum.

But we all still like the idea, right?

So that’s the angle we took when we created a new piece for TRUenergy celebrating the TRUenergy Value Bundle. It’s  a neat little package that bundles your gas and electricity together and gives you an 11% rebate year after year after year. It’s TRUenergy’s way of saying ‘Happy Anniversary’.

Go get yourself some TRU love. Click here and sign up today!

I have a confession to make.

I’m obsessed with crumple zones – you know, the weak points at the front and back of your car.

See, before crumple zones were first introduced in the 50s, car safety was all about designing cars to be stronger.

Tougher.

Able to take a crash like John Wayne could take a punch.

Problem was – doing this may have helped the car to better withstand a crash, but it meant the occupants took the full force of the impact.

So we should all thank our lucky stars that Mercedes engineer Béla Barényi started thinking passengers would be safer in a car that could absorb the kinetic energy of a crash. Instead of following the thinking of the time and developing a tougher, stronger, more John Wayne-like car, Barényi designed one to be weaker.

Brilliant!

The weak points at the front and back of the vehicle would crumple in a crash, absorbing energy to protect the passengers.

Now you may argue that this thinking wasn’t a big deal – after all, it’s based on high-school physics. But high-school physics had been around much longer than the automobile and nobody else seemed to make the link.

Barényi’s thinking was revolutionary.

And here’s what keeps me up at night:

What else are we looking at from the wrong angle?

What else are we trying to make stronger, when we’d be better off making it weaker?

What conventional thinking should we be putting to rest? Or at last challenging?

60 years ago, conventional thinking said that to make a car safer, you had to make it stronger.

20 years ago, conventional thinking said that nobody in their right mind would trust someone they’d never met on the other side of the world to honour a sale made over the internet. eBay turned that thinking on its head and paved the way for other micro-commerce sites like Etsy and Amazon’s marketplace.

Today, conventional thinking still tells us that you must never bastardise a logo, yet Google’s very successfully done the complete opposite. Not only has it not damaged their brand, it’s built them a fan base!

And just last week, thought-leader Seth Godin made a post about working fewer hours, not more, to compete more effectively.

So what other conventional thinking should we be challenging?

Love to hear your thoughts.

xk

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Hard work pays off in the end. Everyone knows that.

But guess what?

Easy pays off too.

As part of our work for AMP last year launching their simple superannuation offering, we had to get two rather cynical audiences onside – which wasn’t so easy.

One audience was financial planners. The other was the general public, whose interest in superannuation is even lower than Stef’s interest in Justin Beiber.

So what’s the best way to talk to these audiences?

Straight up.

Instead of beating around the bush, we asked the financial planners if they wanted new clients and demonstrated how easy it is to get them:

And Joe Public?

A different sort of demonstration. One that shows what the product means to you.

Easy.

Like the man says, it’s not rocket surgery – sometimes the most obvious answer is the right answer.