Simon-Says

I have to concede that when Pluk launched in New Zealand I was deeply sceptical. Nothing i’ve seen so far changes that position. Pluk asks that you download an App, sit in front of the TV and turn the App on, in the hope that you’ll get excited by some interaction between the TV and Pluk resulting in…a coupon, or more information on a product. In turn, Pluk wants advertisers to go to the extra effort of including Pluk in their ads, for the hope of a handful of ‘engaged’ consumers.

For novelty value, maybe. For sustained behaviour change, I doubt it. Not least because the people most likely to engage are those who we’re constantly told have already abandoned scheduled television. Break down the numbers in New Zealand and I suspect response rates can only be in the dozens.

I’m just not sure the technology is quite ready (or that Pluk will be able to sustain itself long enough to be around when it is). The notion of sitting down, opening an App before the ads come on (because by the time you see a Pluk prompt on air it will be way too late), and getting excited by a coupon seems right now to be too big an ask. So the scale that is required to make advertisers take it seriously, and offer incentives to engage that will make consumers take it seriously is just not there.

BUT, the notion of second screen interactions is a good one. With a bit of luck, Pluk will make it through. Click here for a great report from JWT Intelligence on how the Second Screen is being used around the world, and what we can expect in the near future.

Getting upset over awards shows is pretty futile – they are, after all, simply an aggregate of subjective views in an industry without absolutes. Nor, despite the pressure to do so, do i feel compelled to care too much about them (except when I win one).

That said, I’ll state categorically that Clem’s Ghost Chips was robbed at Axis this year. Echoing the sentiment that has cropped up swiftly on the blogs, here’s a piece of work that signified a huge shift in the category, broke all the formulas of drink-drive ads, and spawned multiple memes, brand extensions (if the LTSA can have such things), and basically blew all that had preceded it out of the water in 2011.

It was also utterly New Zealand in form – idiosyncratic, probably impenetrable to other markets, and all the more culturally relevant for it. At Axis it got a Silver and a bunch of Bronzes. That staggers me. Here was a piece of TV work that genuinely deserved to rise above the multi-media, facebook/twitter/blog awards entries and show just how powerful TV can still be. But it didn’t get there. Why not?

I’ll have a stab at answering that. Several years ago Axis was under attack – accusations of cronyism, judges favouring one another’s work, ganging up on the unpopular kids, and general tactical voting brought the smallness of New Zealand advertising under the microscope. Some agencies publicly withdrew from the show, choosing to focus on international awards instead. So the system was changed, international judges brought in, and this was deemed the right approach to level the playing field. Unfortunately, the result of this seems to be that local nuances are missed by a jury-by-email, and awards gravitate towards ideas that travel well, which like beer, doesn’t necessarily make them the best, just the ones that appeal to multiple palates.

So how then did Ghost Chips come away with a yellow D&AD pencil? Who knows. The fact that the judging is done in person, as the result of debate? The fact that the panel is more anglo in nature therefore more inclined to ‘get’ it? Probably a bit of both. That’s less the point. What I think we missed at Axis was the opportunity to celebrate a great piece of New Zealand creativity (I should point out here that i have no issue with what else was awarded, just that this piece should have scored much, much higher than it did).

But here’s the ultimate irony – if i’m not mistaken, it was Clems withdrawing from Axis a few years ago that led to the re-working of the awards, the introduction of the international judges, and the neutering of local influence in the final winners list. So in calling for that change, they inadvertently created the conditions for their own disappointment.

No system is perfect so perhaps the only way to get through awards unscathed is to know the rules and idiosyncrasies for each show, and enter work that is most likely to appeal to that particular jury. NZ has some experts in this particular game, and they seem to be successful more often than not.

I am in a privileged position. I work at a company that others want to work for. As a result, I receive a lot of enquiries from both New Zealand and overseas. Many, many applications from overseas. As a small company, we have very few open positions, so with regret I have to disappoint most people. Some of those that apply are very, very well qualified, very talented, and engaging in their approach. However, there’s a whole bunch of people out there who seem to think that emailing their cv, en masse, so that all the recipients can see one another, with no covering letter, email introduction or personalisation, will result in success. It won’t. Ever.

This is a communications business. All of the applications I receive are from people who claim to have expertise. But many of them exhibit stroke-inducing levels of ignorance when it comes to the basics of good direct communications:

- Personalisation. Demonstrate that you know the name of the person you are writing to. It strokes their ego and illustrates that you’ve spent 5 seconds tailoring your approach. The clue is in the email address you’re writing to.

- Engage the audience. Accompany your cv with a short covering note that gives a taste of your personality, and suggests a couple of reasons why your skills might be a good fit with the company you’re applying to. Sending a cv without any commentary at all (yes, it happens all the time) is a staggering waste of your own time, unless it contains ground-breaking experience such as ‘invented the internet’, ‘founded Google’, or ‘used press advertising to stop world conflict’. But if you did these things, why wouldn’t you just spend 5 minutes pointing this out in a covering email?

- Send them one at a time. Nothing ruins the illusion of personalised communications like sharing the mailing list with all the recipients.

- Present yourself well. Old-fashioned of me, I know, but spelling is still quite important in our business. Demonstrate that you re-read your own words, and have an eye for detail. If you’re a recruiter sifting through thousands of applications you don’t need many reasons to put a letter on the reject pile – don’t give them reasons to bin yours.

I’m not intending to belittle the huge import that job-hunting has in people’s lives. I get that. I just wish people would take a little more care with their own futures.

Following swiftly on from my last post on NFC and mobile payments coming to New Zealand, here’s a more worldly perspective on the many ways mobile will become more central to our lives. Section 8, on mobile identity expands on NFC capabilities.

A good read for an Easter weekend.

This week saw the announcement of a joint venture between Paymark and the major telcos in New Zealand to bring mobile payments to our lives. New Zealand already uses cash less than any other country in the world, so this is another step towards a cashless world. For a quick summary and understanding of what’s happening, what you’ll need, and what the opportunities might be, we’ve pulled together a wee summary, below.

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to visit Google’s Project Rebrief by now. There’s no doubt it is a great experience (although i’m not sure about the website itself, which has some annoying little glitches on it, like the text-over-text issue on the screen grab below, and the expandable boxes that expand when you’re trying to reach something else with your mouse).

The notion of taking iconic ads and re-imagining (not sure if i’m allowed to use this word now that they’ve banged a trademark on it) them, is inspired, and the executions are great.

Ostensibly Google have done this to get people (i.e. agencies and clients) to re-think what’s possible, and drive greater use of digital, deeper engagement between traditional and digital thinkers, and generally look to the future. Very noble stuff.

But I can’t seem to shake another slightly more sinister undertone. It feels all a bit like a Red Square military parade to me; a demonstration of the sheer might, bottomless pockets, and capability that Google has amassed. The message in this version is ‘get with the programme, bring us centre stage, or we’ll just bulldoze you out of the way’. I’m sure nothing could be further from Google’s mind, but it does make you think…

When I was a teenager getting sick was the worst thing that could happen. Because if you got sick, you’d miss the party at Rob’s house, and if you missed the party at Rob’s house, Mikaela would find someone else she liked, and the world would come crashing to an end. Underlying this tangible fear, I suspect, was a general sense that to miss out on anything in the fickle world of teenage life was to risk alienation and abandonment.

Well, thankfully i wasn’t alone in such fears. What’s more, they’ve got more pronounced in the digital age, and they’ve even been given an acronym, FOMO (don’t get these letters mixed up, unless you intend to offend). The Fear of Missing Out is real and happening on a social network near you right now, and the clever folks at JWT Intelligence have compiled a report on it. It is with great irony that due to being sick I missed the release of this the other day, so rather belatedly post it now for anyone else who might have missed it.

Stumbled upon this new App last week, thanks to the guys at Made by Many. There’s something quite charming about the ability to capture a small soundtrack to the photographs we take. Yes, sound plus pictures might well be called video, but somehow stills plus sound has a different feel to it. Yet, it’s really the journey of invention that captivates me with the introductory video below. It’s so nice to hear how the idea originated, and the emotional side to the technology output.

I’m by no means a prolific photographer, but in future I’m sure that when i capture images, i’ll be trying to capture the sounds that go with it. In an App world of over-abundance, Picle is one to add to your dashboard.

I have a soft spot for the Guardian. I ran their account for several years, producing work I’m very proud of on a weekly basis. John Webster’s original Points of View ad still stands up to scrutiny as a great story brilliantly told. Now it’s been re-imagined by BBH for the modern era. The three little piggies go to trial, and the world takes note.

Same strategy, different execution. Which do you prefer?

Much uproar last week when Stephen Fry had the temerity to slag off the great nation that is New Zealand. Or, more accurately, to qualify his love of NZ by suggesting that the broadband service we enjoy is in serious need of improvement. Whilst we’re often a little bit proud that visiting NZ feels like stepping back in time, this was a view of New Zealand that hit a nerve.

Unfortunately, he was right. Try watching any streamed content on a Monday night and you’ll see what he means. However, it’s not just the speed of service that is lacking. Pricing around large data bundles needs serious redress.

I have belatedly discovered Sons of Anarchy, and as is my habit when I find something i enjoy, I set about getting up to speed by watching series one, two and three as fast as possible. Having the luxury of Apple TV, this was as simple as pressing 3 buttons and getting stuck in. So, for about the same price as a box set, I didn’t need to leave the sofa. Unfortunately, my data usage took an absolute pounding. So in addition to the $30 or so per season that i paid for the content, I then got stung for 52GB additional data usage, at $2 per GB. Sure, I am probably (definitely) now on the wrong plan to support Apple TV. And yes, if i do enough shopping around, I’ll find a better per-gig rate. But other markets have long ago realised that an all you can eat option is the easiest solution.

Until we can routinely enjoy unlimited broadband, don’t get carried away by any commentary that suggests traditional viewing is dead, that in 12 months time our fridges, televisions, mobiles and alarm clocks will all be chatting to one another and arranging our lives for us, or that Stephen Fry is out of order. No matter how good Sons of Anarchy is, I’d rather go back to box sets than get stung for an extra $100 every month. Unfortunately, that means getting off the sofa.