It’s always a thrill celebrating the outstanding marketing and creative work from this year’s Advertising and Digital Media students at Macleay College. Some exciting new careers are off to a great start!
Macleay College’s Bachelor of Advertising and Digital Media final year students recently celebrated the presentation of their major projects. The students presented to an industry panel that included Kristy Chilman from the Brand Architect and the marketing consultant Louise Chamberlain.
The student projects included:
SheFit , a new women’s fitness app developed by Madison Pinkus.
Project Pawsible, a campaign by Madeline Khalil to reduce the stray dog population in Bali.
ReconGeneration, a program to introduce indigenous ingredients to community gardens in schools developed by Mitchell Dodds.
L&S, a new skateboard company by Peter Bieri, creating boards for girls – designed by girls.
Major Project is the capstone unit of the Bachelor of Advertising and Media and prepares graduating students as they launch themselves into the industry. Based on their skills and passions, students are asked to plan, manage and execute all the stages of an original piece of work, to a high professional standard. The project can be: creative (print, audio, moving image etc); a digital media project (app, game, web, video, animation, interactive, social media): strategic media project; or a marketing or account management project.
Click here for more information about the Advertising and Media course on offer at Macleay College.
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Pictured above:
Graduating students (back row left to right): Peter Bieri, Mitchell Dodds, Madison Pinkus and Madeline Khalil. Industry Panel (front row left to right): Kristy Chilman from the Brand Architect and the marketing consultant Louise Chamberlain.
In the tradition of the popular Thinkbox series of shorts that explore some of the greatest TV advertisements in the company of leading Creatives ‘who know a thing or two about making them’, I’ve decided to put forward my own three choices of great advertisements that I had nothing to do with. Now, I’m no Chief Creative Officer of a huge agency, but I feel like I still know a good ad from a bad one. So here goes.
In the age of digital television recorders, advertisement skipping, product placement, overlay ads, Google and pretty much the internet in general, making a TVC stand out above the rest has become tough. Attention spans have shortened, and the point now is to make a TVC that instantly grabs attention and is genuinely engaging. I’ve selected three TVCs that have recently inspired me in my journey through studying advertising; brilliant commercials, old and new, that I admire. (Oh and by the way, if you’ve never heard of it, check out advert.ge on Facebook – absolutely brilliant page constantly posting great TVC’s from around the globe.)
As the rest of the world runs for their lives and civilization crumbles around them, the bar-goers enjoy their last moments together and make the most of theirs. The bartender pours shots of Cuervo, a man plays Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never” on the jukebox and couples tango while destruction around them ensues, because as for these brave souls; ‘tomorrow is overrated’.
The coolness factor is stratospheric here. CP+B’s campaign, directed by Ringan Ledwidge, features stunning visuals and uses an end-of-days scenario in charming fashion as a metaphor for living in the moment. The Elvis ballad, which was the second best-selling single of his career, is conceptually perfect and cuts right through the mayhem. The end tagline, “Tomorrow Is Overrated,” is a fun way to highlight tequila’s reputation as a liquor that can lead to unparalleled nights of abandon – and a way to emphasize the primacy of now in times of uncertainty.
Who would have thought that more than 85 million people would watch the Muscles from Brussels doing his signature split with two Volvo trucks moving in reverse on a highway, backed by Enya’s “Only Time”? Volvo knew.
Directed by Andreas Nilsson, Volvo filmed the short on a runway in Spain in one take after three days of rehearsals. The short was, at the time, the latest in a series of videos Volvo used to promote how easy it was, and is, to steer its new high-tech big rigs – others have featured a woman walking a tightrope between to moving trucks heading toward a tunnel and a hamster steering one up the edge of a cliff.
The series, and the Jean-Claude Van Damme video in particular, are an insanely clever way to get attention to a type of vehicle most consumers usually don’t care or even think about while proving to other brands that they can use short clips to generate a Super Bowl-sized audience for little money when upping the creativity level of their campaigns.
While they sleep, a man’s tongue crawls completely out of his mouth and embarks on a journey to a house party down the road, bringing back home a cold Tooheys Extra Dry.
Yes, another alcohol ad. But prove to me that this isn’t one of the greatest Australian ads ever. I distinctively remember always rushing to the TV whenever I could hear Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” playing. “The tongue beer ad is on!”, I would say. I was 12.
This Tooheys TVC, created by BMF in Sydney, drew dozens of complaints but ranks as one of the best television commercials in the world. The Advertising Standards Board rejected a deluge of complaints about the ad, while Tooheys claims it reinvigorated Australian beer advertising. The advertisement is deliberately distinctive to reflect the diverse and growing consumer appetite for the brand, with a particular focus on younger consumers. At the core of the ad, the tongue is a simple yet strategic device to highlight the importance of taste.
The overall theme of my three advertisements, it seems, is that they all effectively make use of one huge feature amongst the impact of the visuals; that of music. Each advertisement conveys a strong message, but through the added characteristic of music, and specifically popularised music, the ad becomes something else. It becomes engaging.
Rowan James Slade
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
Programmatic ads have changed the game in online advertising, but there’s still heaps of confusion around what it actually is and how it all works. So let’s break it down. Programmatic buying refers to any ad space bought automatically on a web page these can be bought by 1. Bidding for one space or two. Buying it directly. These spaces are bid on its called programmatic real-time bidding (RTB) this is what serves internet users with display advertising on the web.
But where do they do all this buying and bidding? Well, all the interesting stuff happens on Ad exchange. Ad exchange will auction off the space to the highest bidder, then the add will appear when the page is done loading. So basically as a page loads, if it has ad space on it that’s available to be bid on, info about the web page and who’s viewing it is passed on to an ad exchange and an auction will be held. The prices of the ad spaces completely depend’s on how much buyers are willing to pay.
You’ve probably confused, how could there be an auction in a matter of seconds that it takes to load a page?! But that’s exactly how long an auction on ad exchange will take. It happens so quickly because advertisers use a fully automated software demand side platform (DSP) to help them decide which ad space to purchase and to bid on ads for them. This does remove the need for human sales people, negotiation skills and a huge amount of time as these decisions are made immediately and simply the highest bidder wins.
The Use of RTB means advertisers no longer have to purchase ad space for a set amount of money for a set amount of time on websites they assume will bring them traffic instead ads can be specifically targeted to relevant audiences across a wide range of sites and prices and can all be managed in real time!
Programmatic advertising has taken a lot of stress off agency’s when buying ads as the process of buying has become much more efficient and cheap. Agencies no longer have to research the best ad space to place an ad, rely on an admin heavy process and manually place the ad before the ad is even running. Now thanks to programmatic advertising’s marketers can now have faster access to ad inventory, complete pricing control and immediate and seamless delivery.
Sophie Robertson
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!
Content marketing is a strategic way of attracting and engaging a defined targeted audience. Brands distribute valuable or relevant information to ‘pull in’ consumers, rather than using traditional advertising, which focuses on ‘pushing’ out a message.
Content is designed not to interrupt, but to interact.
From simply uploading an image or news article to Facebook, to putting peoples names on coke bottles or Jack Daniel’s sponsoring a YouTube video that shows ‘behind the scenes’ of a music producer, content marketing is on the rise. Boosted by the growth of social media, its effective and getting more and more creative and innovative.
I don’t believe people are ‘fooled’ by it. They know that its marketing based, but it doesn’t matter, if they like it, they will engage and interact.
However, Content is not a new concept. It is simply indirect information or entertainment targeted to a consumer segment market. Brands have been doing this forever…
Whether it’s a Magazine article in “Women’s Weekly,” informing you on how to get the cleanest clothes from your washing machine (brought to you by Cold Power) or MTV interviewing a popular rock band.
Content is not a new concept.It’s just a new word. And we have a shiny new potential lathered platform to use it.
It’s a word advertisers like to throw around to sound smarter. To add a little ‘pizzazz’ to what they’re talking about.
The idea hasn’t changed. It’s been around since the beginning…
How do we advertise without annoying the consumer with the same repetitive message over and over?
Lets give them something they’re interested in, and throw our logo in there somewhere or good measure. BOOM. Content.
But you still need a great idea, and how do you sell an idea? What can you use to help sell something that has yet to be proven to work?
You use jargon.
An internally constructed ad language that makes you sound like a wanker, but a wanker that knows what his talking about. Words like programmatic, channels, platforms, integrated, traffic, ideation and organic reach.
You use it to make old concepts sound new again.
Advertisers have the ideas, but they need to sell them to clients. They need to sound fresh, on top of it and impressive. They need to have a bit of the dodgy car salesman approach, or they might lose the account. All agencies have good ideas. But it’s a hard fought fight to see who can sell theirs the best.
Smother the client in so much jargon that they can’t understand what you’re saying, but they think you’re a genius… a wanker, but a genius as well.
Programmatic has arrived and the machines are taking over. The idea of tailored advertising per person is now a reality. So, what does this mean to advertisers and consumers?
Consumers
Imagine a world where you only got what you wanted?
If you got asked the question, would you like to control the ads you see? Most people would say yes. But if you told them they would have to give up some of their privacy, would they be more reluctant? Then remind them that most of this information is already being collected…
Everyone loves something for free and on the net this has never been more available. Though nothing is entirely free. With most free information or services including entertainment on the net, the only price you have to pay is being exposed to advertising. Most of us as consumers have learnt the best ways of getting around this and know we only have to wait a few seconds to hit skip or wait for the little ‘x’ button to close it. However, what if the advertising you were exposed to was only what you wanted to see or what was relevant to your life?
Being able to choose the types of ads your interested in would be a great option. If you have to see the ads anyway, why not choose to make them relevant, maybe even interesting and engaging in portraying your own desirable needs as opposed to just trying to close them as soon as you can.
Advertisers
Imagine a world where you only hit where it counts…
For the advertisers this could be a enormous game changer. If, they were only paying for the media space for consumers, that were interested, or deemed a good candidate. This could potentially save the advertiser plenty of money and let smaller businesses advertise to target consumers who would use their good or services, leading to a chance to grow their business through advertising without having to pay for pointless reach or product outlet.
Driving traffic to your site is always a big push for businesses online and with programmatic you are maximising your potential while saving money wasted on uninterested parties.
Programmatic
So what is programmatic?
Programmatic is the ghost in the machine. It collects data on consumer’s behavior online and through powers much faster than most media experts, which decides who and when is the best time to deliver a piece of advertising. There is a lot more to it than that but like me, is still in its early stages and has a lot more growth and potential.
Once the scary part of ‘they are watching you’ passes and people get the idea they are here to make life, on the overwhelming amount of information on the net more relevant.
Lets work with programmatic to change the perception of ‘advertising’ into ‘relevant information’ and everyone is a winner.
Benjamin Sopronick
Karen Borger, Ian Thomson and I were all fortunate to be accepted into Sydney College of the Arts to study BA Visual Communication and subsequently Award School in the 80s. Over four intensive years of full-time study, we gained a solid grounding in graphic design, art direction, photography, illustration, printmaking, typography, film, creative writing and multimedia. Karen’s first love was photography until she explored and was soon engrossed by film. A stellar international education and an award-winning career spanning advertising, feature and documentary filmmaking ensued.
A lucky break winning the US Green Card Lottery enabled her to live and work as a permanent resident in America. Couple this good fortune with a love of learning and a determination to find fun at every opportunity, and Karen was soon working at the Disney Interactive Media Group in LA. Karen became the Director of Original Content (DIMG), and Filmmaker with the Disney Imagineers WDPRO (Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online). There she enjoyed extraordinary levels of creative freedom, generous budgets and also learned the business of entertainment; the delicate balance between creativity and commerce.
The advertising world has changed inordinately during Karen’s career, and she’s seen budgets for the same scope of shoot plummet from $300k to $10k. Karen still values her background in advertising and the artistry it adds to her career in cinematography and directing.
Advertising creatives gain invaluable training in learning how to get attention, tell a story, deliver a message, leave an impact, and fast! We’re trained to know first and foremost who we’re talking to and to present the single most important message (key insight or proposition) in a few words or seconds. “We make films too; 30-second stories!”
The key takeaway from Karen’s discussion involved the importance of learning visual styles and the history of symbolic references.
“Learn to notice everything.”
Why/how does something capture your attention? What did it lead you to feel, to do? If you’re creating for an era, for example, the 60s, what images conjure up that time for you? Cars, architecture, colours? Ask yourself: if I’d lived in the 60s, with what would I have connected? Cars, food, fashion, music, white goods, sporting heroes?
Using an example of a highly recognisable item of clothing – the ubiquitous Breton shirt, Karen explained its history and relevance in film and advertising. From Coco Chanel visiting the Navy docks in the 1930s, the significance of the 21 stripes – each representing a Napoleonic victory – James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Andy Warhol, the addition of a neckerchief and beret to characterise an artist, and so on.
“Do not underestimate the importance and power of cultural symbols and styles.”
TIP: Conduct thorough research and trace concepts back to the source to gain a richer understanding and appreciation.
“This is Me” showcases Australian children in a factual and entertaining short-form format. As director of several episodes, Karen and her crew hit the ground running – flying into sometimes remote locations, spending a day shooting and flying on the next day. The result is extraordinary and moving storytelling, in 5-minute bites. The series is currently showing on ABC iview. This episode featuring Campbell Remess in Tassie has recently gone viral on Facebook.
Karen currently works between Australia and the US, producing engaging projects with international story lines. Her passion as a Producer is for the development of projects and cross-platform digital media that unites the best methodologies of film-making and the latest in interactive media.
Julieann Brooker is a lecturer in the Advertising & Media Faculty at Macleay College. Study options include a Diploma of Advertising & Media, Diploma of Digital Media, BA Advertising & Media and BA Digital Media.
Inspired by Jessica Walsh’s AGDA keynote presentation Play by Your Own Rules, and Jessica’s design workshop by the same name, Julieann Brooker ran a TypePlay® workshop for our Creative Process students at Macleay College.
The client: Pacific Artisan, a new online shop that sells ethically sourced and produced fair-trade products handmade by women from countries in the Oceania region and indigenous Australia.
The biggest advertising related problem: How to promote yet another online shop in the Australian market, with a minimal budget. No real promotion has been done yet other than infrequent Facebook and Twitter posts.
The creative task: To develop branding and advertising to target socially aware women, aged 35+, and persuade them that the relaunched online shop will provide an easy way to buy unique hip cool products made locally by women living ‘off the beaten track’. To use creativity and design to do good.
Why TypePlay®? Let’s get serious about play. In Dr. Stuart Brown’s 2008 TED talk, Play is more than just fun, he shares how contemporary innovation and creativity has been impeded by the reduced use of our hands. In fact, it’s currently a condition of employment, in problem-solving roles at NASA and Boeing, to have worked with one’s hands.
Play is boosting creativity and innovation for young and old, across several domains, (Brown, 2009), and studies indicate work and play are complimentary, (Staw & Barsade, 1993). Hence, it’s an ideal practice for developing branding and advertising.
“Play is nature’s greatest tool for creating new neural networks and for reconciling cognitive difficulties.” (Brown, p. 127, 2009).
The students made their own rules and played.
Constraints included materials, limited words, and time. They split into groups of 2-4, selected words and brand statements to portray, sketched ideas and tested materials. From a wellbeing perspective, play is an excellent conduit to integrate our lives and ourselves, and especially useful in building trust, a valuable commodity for group work!
The cohort regrouped for a quick critique, then photographed and recorded their work as pics to be used in marketing, the website, and social media.
One team used the products and some props to create a stop motion piece of an island village.
“Nothing lights up the brain like play”, Stuart Brown, 2008.
The rewarding project continued in the Social Media and Digital Design units, and the bountiful creative concepts presented pitched to a panel of judges at Publicis Mojo.
You can browse the Pacific Artisan story, and purchase their authentic range of off-the beaten-track products here.
AdBare 