The Five Faces of Social Media
Very often, I will be in a discussion with a client where they espouse the virtues of social media. They’ll suggest that social media is…
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How Facebook Reactions will change social media
Facebook has confirmed it’s now testing a new Reactions feature in Ireland and Spain which may be soon rolled out worldwide. Essentially the Reactions feature…
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Why McDonald’s was right to snub Burger King
Ambush is a key tactic in war and McDonald’s executives have had to endure an ambush of a bizarre nature. Burger King’s attempt to create…
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McDonald’s new unbranded campaigns are actually very distinctive
McDonald’s recently released a series of advertisements which are completely stripped of any branding, yet the brand is still instantly recognisable. The ads show a…
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2015 Super Bowl ad review: PART 2
As I wrote two weeks ago, unbranded ads are a waste of time and money. TSN just released the results from its analysis of the 2015 Super Bowl ad campaigns, which…
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IBM Watson API: Artificial intelligence as a Service
In the past supercomputing was only accessible to large corporations who could afford to fork out tens of millions of dollars to set them up….
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Facebook’s new call-to-action button
Facebook has just released a new call-to-action button for company pages. The call to action button sits on the right hand side of a page’s…
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2015 Super Bowl Ad Review. #WasteOfMoney
The NFL Super Bowl is the world’s most sought after advertising space, however, is it really worth the money? In 2015 over 114 million people…
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Three things we can learn from Apple’s $US18 billion net profit
Apple recently reported a record profit for the past financial quarter. The $US18 billion net profit is the largest quarterly profit to be posted by…
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Why your brand should be as famous as Kim Kardashian’s bum.
Everyone knows who Kim Kardashian is, unless of course you have been living under a very very large rock. Kim Kardashian is…. well famous for…
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Take Bart’s advice – Don’t sell your soul… to the discount devil
In the mid 90’s Bart Simpson sold his soul to Millhouse for a mere $5. After a series of calamities he realised that life isn’t…
Continue reading →Oh dear, I’m up against it here: “People with Easier to Pronounce Names Promote Truthiness of Claims”
A new academic paper has suggested that the longer / harder to pronounce a person’s name, the less “truthiness” they are perceived to have: subjects…
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Location based gaming – is this the next game changer?
Location based games, such as Geocaching, are gaining worldwide popularity. Geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt that’s becoming a huge craze all over the world….
Continue reading →The Power of Search Keywords: Shift your Marketing Strategy from Hashtags to Consumer Intent
Don’t go chasing social media likes or hashtag mentions. Answer people’s questions and intercept their category interest to your brand.
Continue reading →PENSO has launched with coverage in The Australian
After out-learning, out-working and out-delivering for our clients for some time now, I’ve officially launched my new venture, PENSO, with this piece in The Australian….
Continue reading →People hate losing control (of videos) because they don't expect to
Yes, of course people hate those ugly video pre-rolls that appear before video content on YouTube or other video publisher sites. Video pre-rolls are totally…
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To subscribe, or not to subscribe?
The late Frank Thring once voiced a radio ad for Melbourne’s famous radio station, Triple R, dragging out his vowels and consonants in a very…
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The Viral Plague – Why "viral" videos are a waste of time and money
The Virus of Viral A new, virulent plague has afflicted communications agencies and marketing departments all over the world; one that’s based on the flimsy…
Continue reading →20 x 12 – 20 Trends for communicators in 2012
I’ve compiled a list of 20 trends for communicators for the next 12 months. Enjoy! 1. True Digital Communications What many people in our industry…
Continue reading →The Age / SMH: How social media are changing advertising
I am quoted towards the end of the piece: How Facebook and Twitter are changing the face of advertising. I said “Fair dinkum” in the Australian…
Continue reading →Me + Campaign Asia + Social Gaming
I have been quoted in a new piece in Campaign Asia Magazine on Social Gaming. Here’s a link to the piece: Campaign Asia April 11 Social…
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The Ugly State of the Recorded Music Industry
Awards nights are about telling stories and creating stories. The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Awards currently do neither. The night should change – make…
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Cognitive Surplus visualised
People have always created things in their spare time – whether tinkering in their sheds, fixing cars, making quilts, painting, taking photos or other creative…
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Safari’s “Reader” poses problems for advertisers
Apple has just launched an updated version of the Safari browser that can strip ads out and foucs just on the content
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Apple iPad – What's old is Newton
Check out this 1993 ad for the infamous Apple Newton. Now check out this 2010 for the new Apple iPad. I like the subtle hat…
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“Simplicity is clarity, transparency and empathy”
There’s a lot to be said about simplicity. It’s the sign that someone “gets it”. The simpler, the better. As Albert Einstein said: “Everything should…
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Beautiful Information / Data Visualisation
We’ve said a few times that 2010 is the year of data visualisation; ways in which ordinary information can be visualised in a way that…
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The Apple iPad – Initial Thoughts
Every so often, a technology comes along that redefines competition within markets: Email redefined the way people communicate, and in doing so, undermined the letter…
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NEW versus BETTER
What makes things popular? Often, new stuff is popular, just because it’s new. It’s there – and it wasn’t there before. It doesn’t necessarily mean…
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Monopoly’s Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMMOG)
How adland is cutting Big Media out of the future: a great piece from Wired on the Tribal DDB / Monopoly City Streets Massive Multiplayer…
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