All posts by Jason Gemenis

Digital Media, Metaverse, Student Articles, Thought Starters

How the Metaverse will impact Digital Media

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A month ago, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the change of the company’s name to Meta Platforms Inc. Shortly after we could already see the Meta logo when we open our Facebook and Instagram apps.  

The Facebook entry on the metaverse world brought immense attention to something that was already happening. This new world will transform the way we connect in the upcoming years.  

Besides needing our usual gadgets, like smartphones, we will also have to resort to augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets. But regardless of any gadgets or technology, we may need to access this world, we will need content creators to create a whole new universe of content.  

The metaverse will be an extension of our physical lives, and it will bring new ways for us to consume content, communicate, shop, play, and interact with brands. It will also change the way we work, facilitating virtual meetings and business presentations.  

There are endless possibilities of what can be done here. For the tourism industry, for example, you’ll be able to travel without leaving your living room. Retail is already strong on the game and fashion brands are selling digital clothes and creating their own virtual universes.  

Gucci has collaborated with Roblox to sell a collection of digital-only accessories. It was called the “Gucci Garden Experience”. A virtual bag they started selling for U$6 reached the price of U$4.115 at some point.  

Nike is another brand that has created its virtual showroom on Roblox, called “Nikeland”. Users that enter “Nikeland” can try on sneakers and other apparel, all surrounded by colourful designs matching the brand’s visual identity.  

Other brands that had their debut on the metaverse are Balenciaga, Clinique, Dyson, and Vans. Obviously, all the other big players will follow, and content creators working in the metaverse will have to be ingeniously inventive in creating a world, campaign, and interaction that resonates with the brand’s DNA, while effectively engaging with the audience.  

Companies from all segments will be creating their worlds on metaverse platforms. This means potential for endless collaborations between platforms and brands, which translates into lots of business and money to be made.  

Video game companies had a head start, and some of them are metaverse pioneers. The Roblox platform is definitely one of the main metaverse players, with currently 42.1 million daily users. Fortnite has raised U$1 billion for their metaverse building plans.  

The prospects for this year bring us an estimate that approximately 85 million users will experience AR or VR at least once in 2021. “Metaverse” word search on Google has already reached 677 thousand results this year. On Twitter, the #metaverse is used more than 500 times per hour. By these numbers, we can already have an idea of what is coming. 

For the time being, metaverse platforms are free to use. This might be the perfect time to get in there and start familiarising yourself, learn about the tools and features of each one. In the near future, instead of writing blog posts, or Instagram reels, our job as creators will be to create whole universes full of details, immersive experiences, digital products, and who knows what else. 

Since the creation of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and NFT’s, the virtual world is getting stronger and more competitive than our old real one. All these technologies will intertwine, creating endless possibilities for business, payment methods, and profits.  

At this very moment, you can even buy your little piece of virtual land. Earth 2 is currently selling virtual real estate that is going quick and every day more expensive. In about 10 years, all industries will be functioning on metaverse somehow, and now is the time to start thinking about how to achieve that. 

It does not matter if your industry is luxury, games, music, events, tech, or fashion, you will be in the metaverse soon. Avatars that can be 3D versions of yourself, or a completely different version, trying on virtual apparel, going to a concert with friends, playing and travelling. It will be online but it will feel real in your soul and wallet.  

Imagine all the possibilities, and that aligned with the times we are living in. The pandemic is not yet gone, and maybe we will be living in some sort of lockdown for many years to come. This will make the metaverse even more successful, and an ally for us craving connection and fun.  

Microsoft secured their place, and have big plans on the metaverse. They want to integrate AR and VR, using avatars in an office focused environment. Nvidia announced they will be creating avatars using facial tracking, speech recognition, and 3D animation. The project will be called the “Nvidia Omniverse Platform”.  

I believe it’s clear that the metaverse is here to stay, and it is undeniably our future. We must understand how this will impact the digital media industry, and be quick to be a part of this universe. There will be an infinite amount of content to be created, so I hope you get quickly acquainted with this whole new world.  

By Amelia De Oliveira Rodrigues

Events, Success Stories

Macleay Loves a Challenge!

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The Verification Challenge is a competition administered by The Walkley Foundation for Journalism, which manages the Google News Initiative Training Network in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. 

Journalists and journalism students from these areas can enter the competition solo or in a team of up to 5 members. It runs for 12 weeks, started on the 14th of June, and we are just about to enter our last week. 

Every week we receive a puzzle, that usually consists of a picture and a question. The puzzles are made to grow our skills in open-source intelligence (OSINT), fact-checking and verification.

What are the rules? 

We have to use our journalism and investigation skills to solve the puzzles and send the answer back in one week. Only one answer per question can be submitted. 

For a correct answer we receive 5 points, for an incorrect answer we lose 5 points, and if we fail to send an answer, we get 0 points. So, every week we work hard to get our answers right! 

At the end of the challenge, whoever has the most points wins. Hopefully, that will be our team! While I’m writing this we are tied in the first position with 65 points to the A B See team. 

What could you win? 

All they are offering us so far is the fun to be in the competition and upgrade our skills. The Walkley Foundation dropped a hint that there might be a surprise for the winner, let’s wait and see. If we win, I’ll be glad to receive whatever they have for us. 

How did you become involved in the Macleay Melbourne team? 

On the last day of Multiplatform Writing class on Term 2, our teacher Tim Young sold us the idea of entering the competition. I must say he was great at it and convinced me right away. He kept saying it would be fun, and a great thing to add to our resumes, so I couldn’t miss it. 

I am actually studying a Bachelor of Digital Media, but since I have some journalism classes the Melbourne team accepted me with open arms. 

What do you think contributes to the success of your team? 

Definitely teamwork. There are three students in the group, me, Zathia Bazeer, and Jack Murray. Sue Stephenson from the Journalism Program is our mentor and a great help. I’m truly grateful for being part of such an amazing team that never shies away from collaborating. 

What are your favourite parts of this competition? 

I’d say the variety of completely crazy and random things we have to do to solve the puzzles. From searching for planes in the desert of California on Google Earth to getting in touch with people in Ukraine to confirm the launching place of a drone. It’s always a surprise and the puzzles are full of tricks. 

What are your least favourite parts of this competition? 

Honestly, as I’m thinking about this answer, I don’t believe there’s a downside to it. It’s fun, and we work as a team, pulling the threads of each other, searching for clues and answers. Maybe the fact that there are no big prizes, but who knows? We might be surprised! I have my fingers crossed. 

What do you hope to do with your career in the future?

I’d love to make a career in copywriting. My ultimate dream is to do some scriptwriting and work in the movies industry. On a shorter-term plan, get out of lockdown, finally mingle with students and teachers at Macleay College and do some networking. I’ve been working hard on my assessments, studying and learning lots, so I can’t wait to put all this knowledge to practice on my next job. At least now after this challenge, I can rest assured that if everything goes wrong, I can pursue a career as an investigator!

By Amelia De Oliveira Rodrigues

Best of 2017, Marketing Insights, Student Articles, Thought Starters

Welcome To The World Of The Individual

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Demographics Are Dead: Welcome To The World Of The Individual 

Since the mid 20th Century, consumer targeting meant broadcasting out to a specific group of people based on gender, age, and location. Yet in 2017, data collection is far more intricate, and those brackets that we use to define and group people are now far too broad. Is it time for communicators to stop generalising markets, and shift our focus to the individual?

People no longer define themselves within one set of beliefs in the way we did 30 years ago. We have evolved to accept every facet of our personalities, and have multiple defining characteristics beyond our ethnic background, location, religious beliefs or even age. The only way to successfully market to the people of the future, is to get to know them beyond basic demographics and look further into their personality type, habits, and opinions.

Only a few years ago, people began to grow extremely uncomfortable with the amount of data that platforms, such as a Facebook, had on them. Yet it seems more and more widely accepted now that we all carry a complex digital footprint, and in that footprint is everything any brand needs to know about us. Many successful brands follow people on their daily interactions with digital media – from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to sleep. Marketing to the individual based on their digital data is a guaranteed way to increase brand awareness, whether your audience likes it or not. This retargeting model and its breach on privacy is another conversation, but we need acknowledge that when it comes to brand awareness, this method of individual marketing is a stepping stone in getting to know your consumer.

You’re probably thinking that this method of individual consumer targeting can’t possibly work for every brand – and you’re right. Keep in mind that data is power. Not all brands need social media and retargeting to reach their consumer, but all brands do need that vital information on their audience. Think about it in terms of the friends you have on Facebook; you may have never met someone, but based on their daily Facebook activity clogging your newsfeed, you can probably tell exactly what, why, and when they’d buy. Yet from a marketing perspective, this person is probably defined as ’50-65, woman, Eastern Suburbs’.

Let’s get personal. Look beyond classic defining characteristics and get to know your consumer on a deeper level. Consumers are getting smarter, so if we can respect our consumer as an individual with distinctive opinions and beliefs, then we can build a trusting relationship between brand and audience. (Even if achieving that personal relationship means digging deep in data).

By Keira Scurry (Bachelor of Advertising and Media student)

Creative Thinking, Student Articles, Thought Starters

The Power of Art Direction

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A picture is worth 1,000 words

As an art director, you’re in charge of the imagery and layout of an ad all together. You need to make sure that the message you want the audience to receive is portrayed correctly. A well-known fact related to advertising is the “6 second impact”, where you only have 6 seconds of attention from the audience while they’re going through their day. This relates especially to outdoor advertising. If a person is walking down a street and walks by a bus shelter with an ad on it, you only have 6 seconds of their attention. Therefore, you shouldn’t have lots of copy on it that the audience won’t have time to read in such a short amount of time. That’s where the saying “6 words, 6 seconds” comes from, or even better: no words at all.

The phrase “a picture is worth 1,000 words” is developed from an even older saying which is “one look is worth a thousand words.” It appeared in a 1913 newspaper advertisement for the Piqua Auto Supply House of Piqua, Ohio, but ironically uses only words, not images, to invite prospective customers to see its products in their store. The point of it being how instead of explaining all its features and printing photos of every angle, one look at it with your own eyes will say it all. I think both phrases are nice references to how we only have the audience’s attention for a short amount of time, and how that time can be well spent with viewing instead of reading.

Take these great Lego ads for example. All it needs is an image with a strong impact and the product’s logo. Never underestimate your audience’s ability to figuring things out on their own. They don’t need a few sentences explaining the joke. They could have had a clever tagline under the imagery saying something about how great children’s imagination is, but they chose not to, and it made the ad so much better. Without any words to read, you reach out to so many more people as we all have got the time to simply look at the image. It also helps that the logo is well recognizable. The ad also possesses bright, playful colors to catch their attention even more. The art director or creative person behind these posters is a genius in my eyes, I wish I had come up with this idea myself.

This ad for Scotch tape is another image dominant ad that I find very clever. It is so self-explanatory and it also consists of only an image and the logo for the product. There is also Scotch’s slogan underneath their logo which they don’t even needed to ad for us to understand their message.

A picture really is worth more than a thousand words in the advertising industry, and image dominant advertising creates the cleverest ideas and are easily remembered. Here are some more examples to prove my point:

By Charlotte Leite Hansen (Bachelor of Digital Media student)

Creative Thinking, Positive Education, Student Projects, Thought Starters

Digital Design Goes “Hands On” with Positive Education

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Macleay College is the only Australian Higher Education institution running a Positive Education program. As well as teaching our students industry based skills and practical theory, we also address their personal development and mental health through positive psychology.

This holistic approach in learning, is aimed at enriching the student’s wellbeing and emotional intelligence through tailored individual support and encouragement.

It gives the student a better understanding of themselves, their passions, their strengths and their goals. It helps them to better manage their life, relationships and  future careers through a greater understanding and use of empathy, gratitude and other positive emotions.

In a nutshell, the program aims to increase the student’s confidence, sense of wellbeing and happiness.

As part of the program, Macleay College has installed PosEd Kits in many of the classrooms across our Sydney and Melbourne campuses and students in the Digital Design Unit have been putting them to good use in Term One of the Advertising & Digital Media course.

One of our tasks was to take the free VIA Character Strength Test. This is a short ten minute assessment that takes students through a series of questions to determine their top character strengths. Armed with this list, the students are then asked to step away from their iMacs and use their hands to construct or draw visual representations of their favourite strengths.

The PosEd Kits are full of great stuff to get them started like Play Doh, feathers, buttons, coloured fabric, wood and paper. There are also ample large rolls of paper and Sharpies.

To begin with, the students had a lot of questions and curious looks. As they started to move around the room and choose their materials the noise levels increased and they were off and running.  There were lots of comparing notes on each other’s different strengths with most agreeing that the VIA Test had done a good job.

As I moved around the group, there were some initial awkwardness with speaking about their strengths but they were encouraged to start thinking beyond that and  how their personal brand could be visualised into an abstract object or pictorial form.

There was a sense of enjoy in the room so I popped on some music and spent the next hour watching their creations unfold. The next part of the workshop was to take their physical objects and turn them into a digital piece of artwork. The students could take photos, load them up into Illustrator and use this as a template to create a kind of personal logo.

This was the first time I’ve been involved in a workshop like this so there  is some tweaking I’d still like to do but it was one of the most enjoyable sessions I’ve run. It was  one of those days when you get home, put your feet up and smile!

Jason Gemenis is Macleay’s Digital Ninja
lecturing in Digital Design, Advanced
Digital Design and Visualisation across Macleay’s
Dip Advertising & Media, Dip Digital Media,
BA Advertising & Media & BA Digital Media.

Student Projects

And the Winners for 2016 are…

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We are proud to announce the winners of the Advertising & Media Showcase Awards for 2016 for the best student work from the advertising and media diploma and bachelor students at Macleay College in both Sydney and Melbourne. Well done guys!

As part of Macleay College’s Hype End of Year Showcase held in December last year, the 2016 Advertising & Digital Media Faculty Awards where handed out to students that achieved the highest grades for their work throughout the year.

And the winners for 2016 are…

Best Print Ad: Michael Lamb “One Pair of Sneakers” Converse Shoes

Best Typographical Poster: Teresa Solaese “Dachshund”

Best Photographic Project: Chloe Geggus “Savvy Brides” Bridal Dresses

Best Copywriting: Daniel Koublachvili “Link 4 Change” Children’s Charity

Best Outdoor Campaign: Rowan Slade “You’re Not That Guy” Gun Control Campaign

Best Radio Commercial: Brooke Demenezes “Gymbaroo” Child Care

Best Video: Cassandra Sabin “One for One” Tom’s Roasting Company

Best Video: Caitlin Thomas “Super-Tough” Dr. Martens Boots

Best Social Media Project: Ellen Rafferty, Michael Lamb & Aislin Mcleod “Social Studio”

Best Marketing Plan: Daniel Fitzsimmons “Chanel”

Best Cross-Media Campaign: Alicia Sanarko “All Eyes on You” Chevrolet Corvette

Best Portfolio: Cassandra Sabin

AdGrads, Best of 2016

Graduating Class of 2016 ‘Feel the Hype’ at their Final Showcase

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Macleay’s Advertising and Media Diploma graduating class of 2016 came together with friends and family to celebrate 12 months of hard work.

Joined by academic and support staff, alumni and industry professionals, the night was themed, organised and run by the students as part of their final term project.

The students were given a budget and asked to prepare their end of year creative portfolios of video, radio, outdoor, digital  and print campaign works, along with a major piece which took centre stage on the night.

In addition to celebrating the students and their work we were joined by three industry experts who judged the best work presented.

The three exceptional judges: Chantal Abouchar, Grant Flannery and Will Edwards have diverse experience in the fields of Advertising and Media. Working in very different industries and with areas of expertise spanning creative, entrepreneurship and digital, the judges were happy to share their knowledge and advice with our Advertising students.

Congratulations to the 2016 graduates on an hugely enjoyable and successful event. We will be keeping a keen eye on your new careers in advertising and media and we wish you all the best.

Thanks for sharing the hype!

AdGrads

Not bad for just a couple of years out of college! #MadeatMacleay

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AdGrad Kean Edwards has just scored a great job as Senior UX Designer at AnalogFolk in London. We caught up with him for a quick chat after he landed the role…

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“I’m a digital native with a passion for user centred design. Recently moving from Sydney to London, I help businesses reach objectives and create usable experiences people love”.

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“I’m a client facing User Experience Architect with a broad spectrum of skills from user research, experience strategy & UX design. I am motivated by a fast paced, collaborative environment, focused on creating user centred solutions.”

Congratulation from all of us at Macleay College and the AdBare team! We wish you ever success in your new role.

Kean Edwards’ Portfolio: http://www.keanedwards.com

Find out more about Advertising at Macleay…

AdGrads

AdNews features Macleay Graduate Daniel Cutrone #MadeatMacleay

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Daniel Cutrone thought he wanted to get into creative, but after graduating from Macleay College he’s found the sweet spot between creativity and science in the media world as head of investment at Match Media.

I always wanted to get into creative. Growing up I was always fascinated by the advertising industry, judging what I deemed to be smart creative messaging. After finishing school I looked into getting an education in marketing and landed a place at Macleay College.

To get my foot in the door I called all the top creative agencies, applied for all the entry-levels roles available, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. One of the students I studied with had landed a media assistant role and it was through those connections that I found myself in my first role at UM. At the time I still wanted a creative role and hoped I could do a sideways step into a creative agency, but after a few months I really started to enjoy media strategy and implementation and my dreams of working in a creative agency became a distant memory.

I’ve been head of investment at Match Media for just over six months and I get to work with a passionate, motivated and ambitious leadership team that keeps its values and vision close to its heart. I love the people, the pace of change, negotiations, the strategies and the implementation of plans within media, but it’s the sweet spot of creativity and science behind media plans that I underestimated. I found myself swept up in a role which gave me ambitious targets to achieve, opportunities to negotiate and trade, creative thinking and sophisticated tools to develop communication plans.

While I was at Macleay College I got a complete picture of the industry, including creative, legal, media, planning, production, so I gained a pretty good understanding of where media sat in the eyes of our clients.

Media and advertising is becoming the lifeblood of many major companies today. It is replacing the front door or bricks and mortar locations and therefore playing a much more active role for businesses. Today media provides more tangible business outcomes than ever before, when the change of a website or an outcome of a negotiation can impact ROI. It’s an exciting time to work in media.

Find out more about Advertising & Media at Macleay

Industry News

Macleay Lecturer and Graduate Shine Bright at ACRA Awards #MadeatMacleay

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The Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRA) are Aussie radio’s night of nights and the 2016 awards proved that Macleay’s lecturers and graduates can deliver.

Copy writing and Radio Lecturer Cameron Horn was most surprised to win his 5th ACRA in 5 years, when his campaign for Spot Go Cleaning Products picked up Regional Campaign of the Year.

“I really didn’t expect this,” says Cameron. “I just kept eating as they were announcing it. I actually dropped my cutlery when they announced it. I couldn’t believe it.”

Cameron says, the real surprise was in that about 8 clients had rejected the idea behind the Campaign. “Persistence really does pay off. I’ve had this idea in my mind since about 2010!”

The night wasn’t finished for Cameron though, as later, his campaign that he collaborated with Macleay graduate Katrina Fowler for client Carl’s Junior, won Best Regional Sales Promotion.

“I wrote these, Katrina and I voiced them, then our promotions team worked on them at Southern Cross Austereo. The results were astronomical for the client. They were running 700% above their projected targets after the promotion.”

Katrina was also a finalist in the Best Newcomer to Radio category. “Hey, I was just stoked to be a finalist – that’s top 5 in Australia! Awesome!” Katrina said after the event. This follows up Katrina’s nomination as a finalist last year in the Commercial writing category.

Listen to the Spot Go Campaign: