Friday, 29 October 2010

Five minutes a fortnight – with Jesse Steinfort

Have you ever wondered about what makes a person you admire tick? Or have you stopped to think about how well you know the people you spend the majority of your working week with? It only takes five minutes a fortnight to find out a few choice things about the people who make things happen here at THE DM GROUP.

This week, we get to rock out with our very own, Jesse Steinfort.

• How long have you been at THE DM GROUP?
  I don’t care.
• What do you do here?
  Design.
• Where was your last holiday?
  Holiday? I have kids.
• Are you a PC or a Mac?
  ughhh…seriously?
• If you could take two animals, and combine them into one super animal – what would they be?
  A snail and a crow.
• Really? Why’s that?
  I wasn’t being serious.
• What do you think the DM in THE DM GROUP stands for?
  Derranged man.
• How do you take your coffee?
  Black, like my heart.
• What is your greatest achievement?
  Waking up every day.
• What is your most embarrassing moment?
  I never embarrass myself.
• What’s your favourite quote?
  I don’t have time for this…something from Egar Allen Poe.

Another inspiring and insightful look into the life of the people at THE DM GROUP. Thanks Jesse!

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Wednesday, 27 October 2010

Harrison 4.0

One of the most beloved members of THE DM GROUP, Andy ‘Johnny Depp’ Harrison, has turned 40…errrr 35 years old today.

With his dashing good looks and million dollar smile, he doesn’t look a day older than when he started here 10 years ago.

So from everyone at THE DM GROUP, Happy Birthday Andy!

Here’s to you, Cheers.

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Monday, 25 October 2010

What is quality?

Over the weekend our new multi-channel brand campaign for HOSTPLUS was launched, positioning the award winning super fund as Australia’s quality fund.

The campaign was developed by both trademarkDM and clickDM, working with Burning House and HUB director Barry Malseed.

Our brief was to make HOSTPLUS synonymous with quality without trying to dominate it. And as Stephen puts it, ‘The more you try to define it, the more elusive, the more insincere it becomes.’

Instead, we ask our audience to reflect on ‘What is quality?’ with the conclusion that ‘Real quality is hard to define but we all know what it is’. It’s the reason people choose HOSTPLUS.

The campaign includes three TVC executions featuring real fund employers.

The first with famous Sydney restaurateur Peter Doyle launched yesterday and will be followed by executions with other quality partners in the near future.

The TV campaign is supported by outdoor, print plus a campaign website with interviews of featured employers and member-only offers at choosehostplus.com.au

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Friday, 22 October 2010

Old Spice guy comes to Oz

With over 40 million views on you tube, surely by now everyone is familiar with Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ campaign.

What started out as a brilliant creative idea, turned into one the most successful viral advertising campaign of all time after launching on Youtube. The online launch followed with a TV ad, followed by a massive social media direct response campaign that got everyone, including Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres going crazy for Old Spice.

With the star of the campaign, Isaiah Mustafa landing in Australia this week, we thought it timely to reflect on what made the Old Spice campaign so successful. Was it Mustafa himself? Or was it also the fact that Old Spice were willing to embrace and wholeheartedly back a 100% original, outside-the-square idea – an idea so great it took on an online life form of its own, no doubt saving millions in advertising spend.

Old Spice is now reaping the rewards of the campaign, with overall sales up a whopping 107 percent. It just goes to show the power of a great idea.

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Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Privacy and personalisation, doublethink?

Although the idea of Facebook, or indeed the internet, was a far flung dream way back in 1949, the premise behind George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four has been ringing alarmingly true in recent times. He may have been over 20 years out with his timing*, but the idea of a world with ubiquitous screens keeping a constant eye on the masses, tracking people in their everyday lives and monitoring their behaviour is not so much science fiction anymore, it’s social fact.

The focus on privacy concerns around Social Networking sites such as Facebook and foursquare, the apps consumers use on these sites and the ubiquity of devices like the iPhone and Android smartphones has resulted in a very interesting environment for marketers. The ability to personalise digital marketing efforts through usage patterns and profile information garnered from Facebook and the like can result in an exceptional user experience, which in turn can result in users providing even more information to further customise the experience, and interact with your brand. Alternatively, if not used appropriately, or implemented poorly, it can result in a severe breach of trust and damage the relationship you already have.

This fine line is not always noticeable, and sometimes the allure of being smart for smart’s sake can be too tempting.

*Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) was in fact born in 1984 – coincidence?

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