Let us state upfront that we don’t set out just to win awards when we tackle a job. In true CUBED spirit, everyone sets out to get results for the client.

But when the work is well-crafted, when we’ve all put in that extra 5% and when that job has got the results, it would be churlish of us not to enter it into the award programs and see how we fare, mixing it with the big boys.

Some you win, some you lose.

Last Friday night, however, we won.

Three times.

Our work for TRUenergy took out a bronze award for effectiveness. Then, 15 minutes later, it was given a gong for for creative too!

As if that wasn’t enough, ADMA’s Direct Marketer of the Year turned out to be our very own founding partner, Mike Chuter.

So thank you to everyone at CUBED who put in the hard yards, to ADMA for recognising for the work (and the founding partner) and, most importantly, to our clients for letting us create work that gets noticed by the industry.

Decision time for the good folk at ADMA was a month ago when CUBED Creative Director and offensive-t-shirt-wearer Dave was flown up to Sydney to be a creative judge. And he tells us judging was tough. Very tough.

Now it’s decision time for all the award hopefuls, industry movers and schmoozers, CEOs, CFOs, MDs, CDs and anyone who likes to steal tableware.

Because for the first time since the infamous 2007 ADMA Awards, the show is once again being held in Melbourne.

Obviously the GFC is going to play a part in who gets to go this year, but with the event a regular sell out, those decisions will have to be made fast. All that in mind, when CUBED were enlisted to help with the award invites, we devised personalised decision trees for five different eDMs, created flash animation for the awards website and designed the invites themselves, all taking visual cues from the original Call For Entries pack.

As expected it’s been hectic but great fun, and our decision to get involved was easy.

As we hope your way of figuring how to get there will be.

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.

Hands up if you missed the 2009 ADMA Awards in Sydney.

For all those who weren’t able to get out of the office, onto a plane, over the bridge and into the city, here’s your chance to see who won, and – more importantly – why they won.

At the ADMA Awards 2009 Showcase, Dylan Taylor, the 2009 Chair of Creative Judges, will present last year’s winning entries and give us a behind the scenes glimpse into what the judges were looking for. So while Shane ‘Kenny‘ Jacobson won’t be presenting in Melbourne, the laughs will be replaced with insights into how to win next year.

Take that, Sydneysiders!

Our eDM for the event went out a little while ago, but there’s still time to reserve your seat.

So if you’d like to see what made the grade in 2009 and network over drinks and canapes, book your tickets here and we’ll see you there.

If you’re an Aussie direct marketer, you may have recently received our little pack of oats in your mailbox.

It was created to promote ADMA’s Guru Breakfasts – a series of presentations delivered by various direct marketing experts. For this morning’s kick-off breakfast, Alan ‘Dr Direct’ Rosenspan flew in from America to explain how to get more from your marketing dollar. (And, perhaps, to track down a decent cup of coffee.)

We’re pleased to report that the Guru Breakfast series is off to a very healthy start. Less than a week after the mail pack hit desks around Victoria, the event had completely sold out.

So if you managed to secure a place at the breakfast table this morning, we hope you found the presentation enlightening, the breakfast delicious and the coffee hot.

And if you missed out this time, keep an eye out for the other Guru Breakfasts ADMA will be serving up throughout the year.

We’re rolling out the welcome mat and breaking out the cupcakes to welcome Stefanie Digianvincenzo aboard as CUBED’s full-time copywriter.

Stef is an award-winning writer who’s been honoured with several ADMAs, including a craft award for copywriting within her first two years in the industry. (It’s a bit like scoring a best actress Oscar on your first acting gig.)

Our Creative Directors, Dave and Kate, worked with Stef previously and are thrilled to team up with her again at CUBED.

So welcome aboard, Stef! It’s great to have you here.

We were excited when ADMA invited us to be part of a live on-stage Gruen Transfer-style pitch against Clemenger Proximity at the ‘Maximising Your Investment in Direct Mail’ seminar.

We were even more excited to win.

The mock brief was to sell NRL to devout AFL club members. Our strategy was to use guilt as an emotional hook to encourage parents to switch from their losing AFL team to NRL’s Melbourne Storm – helping their children grow up feeling like winners.

It’s a nice feeling.

Client: ADMA

Product: Guru Breakfast Series (Tarot Cards)

Medium: Direct Mail

Client: ADMA

Product: Demonstrative Pitch work for ADMA Seminar

Medium: Direct Mail

As part of a Gruen-Transfer-style competitive demonstration pitch, we created a mock mail-pack designed to convert loyal AFL members to NRL. This piece was voted the winner by marketing delegates at ADMA’s 2009 direct mail seminar.