Spinach

Don't bother making bad ads

Sun, 12 May 2013 14:00:00 GMT

I recently read an article in Fast Company entitled ‘Customers don't want ads, they want a conversation’ (http://www.fastcompany.com/3007362/customers-dont-want-ads-they-want-conversation). One of the key points of the article was that "Customers are simply too fragmented, too overstimulated and have too many distractions for conventional marketing strategies to maintain their effectiveness."

The article went on to claim that consumers are no longer interested in traditional advertising, and but want the engagement offered by new forms of communication such social media and collaborative product development.

I see it a bit differently. It's not that consumers don't want ads, it’s just that they no longer have to put up with bad ads. Consumers now don't have to sit at home in front of the TV and watch whatever is on, they have a million other options. They can be on Facebook, or be exchanging tweets or shopping online, or whatever. But most ads will still get viewed at least once, and when they do, a great ad will still grab hold of the target audience and make them think or feel something. In effect, a great ad will stimulate a ‘conversation’ in the target's own head as they start to imagine their life with that product or service. Sometimes, their internal conversation spills out into an actual conversation with their partners, friends and workmates. The impact of a great ad is actually similar to a social media campaign in the way that it engages with the target audience. But the point is that great ads still work.

So my philosophy is actually really simple: don't bother making bad ads!

Craig Flanders

Managing Director

Whatever happened to the ‘big idea’?

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

The early giants of the advertising industry were renowned for their ‘big ideas’ – a truly great campaign could help to sell millions of units and sometimes even shaped modern culture.

Nowadays, the advertising industry press is more likely to be filled with stories of algorithms and mobile apps; double screening and Gen Z, than it is to the celebration of creative genius. However, underneath the hype and awe, even augmented reality apps still only have the two fundamental levers of reason and emotion with which to try and prise money away from consumers.

All of the most successful brands and campaigns will always be built on a ‘big idea’ – something that can be simply expressed, that is widely understood, and which probably works, at least to some extent, on both your reason and your emotions. Of course, modern tools and technologies give us multiple ways to deliver the ‘big idea’, and consumer scientists can help us to better understand how and why they work. But someone still needs to ‘invent’ the ‘big idea’.

I think in all the debate about what technology can now do to deliver ideas, we have lost focus on how to develop that big engaging idea in the first place, and recognise the skills of the people who do it well. Without exception, the best creative people are the more demanding of quality. Great creative people know that their best work is based on powerful insights and simple to understand, well-articulated strategies.

So if you are ‘judging’ a new campaign concept and saying “that’s no big idea”, before blaming a lack of creativity in the authors, you really need to know that it was appropriately underpinned by powerful, quality insights and a simple to the point strategy. For fun, why don’t you deconstruct some of the great campaigns you love? You may be amazed at just how simple and powerful are the strategies and insights on which they were based. It’s not always rocket science, and there is often not a trick in it, just great clarity of thought.

Craig Flanders

MD Spinach

The difference between entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirit.

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 03:11:00 GMT

Our Co-founder and MD, Craig Flanders, shares some thinking about the value of corporate culture and where it comes from.

In my experience corporate culture defies cultivation. The more effort that’s put into defining and formalising it, the faster it appears to evaporate. That’s because creating a good corporate culture is about the people an organisation employs, not the banal and insipid mission statements it writes. When we established Spinach, we resolved to hire people with a strong sense of entrepreneurship. People like us. People who ask questions and challenge conventional thinking, people willing to go the extra mile for our clients, people who were committed to doing ‘whatever it takes’ (before the Essendon Football Club made that motto unsavoury).

But along the way we found a difference between hiring entrepreneurs and hiring people with entrepreneurial spirit. The Harvard Business review article below captures the difference.

blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/02/dont_hire_entrepreneurs_hire_e.html

Canines, culture and creativity

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 05:46:00 GMT

Barney Flanders (our office pooch) featured in mumbrella.com.au recently, the intro below is taken from the article.

This is probably the fluffiest article ever on Mumbrella.

Office dogs.

What, if anything, does having a pooch on the premises add to company culture? Does man’s best friend contribute to the creative process? Or do they, much like procurement types, tend to bark at people and shit on everything?

Like graffiti on office walls, a dog in the agency is one thing I’ve noticed a lot lately on my travels around adland. I wondered if lap dogs in hospital wards help the healing process, what role do they perform in an ad agency?

The first agency I noticed for its canine credentials was Spinach Advertising, an agency in Melbourne, a city where I’ve noticed plenty of dogs in agencies.

I was at Spinach’s office in St Kilda to catch up with their media director Ben Willee. After walking out of the lift, I was met first by a receptionist, then by Ben, and seconds later a bounding Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Barney.

Barney among friends at Spinach

Happily, I love dogs. And despite Barney’s powerful odour, I was instantly reduced to a coochy goo-ing simpleton.

Spinach first took in dogs 13 years ago, when the agency started.

One of the partners, Craig Flanders, didn’t want to leave his beloved staffy Gracie at home. So he snuck her into the office early and hoped that building management didn’t notice her. Things seemed to go well, and one or two days a week became three or four.

Read the entire Mumbrella story here;

Watching America

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:00:00 GMT

At long last, the extraordinary spectacle that is the US Presidential Election is drawing to an end.

Looking back, it's brought some fantastic moments: Clint Eastwood talking to furniture, Chuck Norris afraid and holding hands, Samuel L Jackson telling bedtime stories, Big Bird on a rampage – it seems every week a new square is added to this crazy-quilt for the Internet to rub against its cheek.

Fig 1. Splitting hairs – just one of many, many election memes.

By the time the last ballot is cast next Tuesday, more than 2 billion dollars will have been raised and spent by the two parties, making the US Elections (once again) the most expensive integrated advertising campaign in history.

Much of that money is being spent carpet-bombing battleground states with television advertising. Heavy investment above-the-line is clearly important, but while we still can it's worth taking a peek below-the-line to see a couple of lower cost campaign elements that are arguably more critical.

These are the aspects of the campaign that transform straight political advertising into a bona-fide movement, particularly for Barack Obama. To see what I mean you have to choose a side and join a movement.

For Obama it's as easy as answering the three-word question attached to his speeches and online materials: “Are you in?”

If you click 'I'm in', which seems innocent enough, and give your email and postcode (Beverly Hills 90210, of course!) suddenly you're part of the campaign team getting personal emails directly from the President and his close advisors.

Fig 2. Dear [first name] - a personal email from the President.

These brilliantly lo-fi, text-only eDMs, sent multiple times a day, are one of the cornerstones of the Obama campaign. They've helped make him the first candidate in history to raise 1 billion dollars, more than $600 million being crowd sourced from emails like this. Not bad for a paragraph of copy here and there.

The next level of 'I'm in' is the Dashboard, the ‘private’ social network for re-electing the President. This is the next generation of mybarackobama.com, the website that helped the President's win office in 2008 – and dual Grands Prix at Cannes.

For the passionate, Dashboard connects you with other supporters and gives you useful things to do. Things like making calls, knocking on doors, going on tour to other states or getting together with other supporters to watch the debates on TV. It's also got elements of gamification, in that it keeps score of your contribution towards the overall epic win of an election victory. This video gives you an introduction.

But nothing really compares to grabbing an American address, like 8852 West Sunset Boulevard Hollywood, CA 90069, and seeing the view from behind the Dashboard for yourself. These guys are the masters of turning message into movement. And, with the campaign at full throttle, now’s the perfect time to check-it-out.

Frank Morabito picks his most iconic Australian Ad - what's yours?

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 02:04:00 GMT

Frank Morabito picks his top 5 Australian Ads of all time in today's AdNews.

Check out his picks here and vote for yours (bottom of the article).

Ben Willee comments to The Age on Alan Jones advertising and sponsorship walk-out

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:02:00 GMT

In the short-term, said Ben Willee, general manager of Spinach advertising agency, the big brands have little choice but to distance themselves. "Advertisers are very savvy. They have their people go on social media to say 'We're pulling our advertising' but that's code for 'We're pulling our advertising until this blows over — and then we'll go back to chasing ratings'."

Mr Willee added that the brands "have to be seen to be doing it because of the social media storm that would blow up if they didn't. I'd be surprised if any of these advertisers are away for more than two months, and most likely it will only be about a month."

But Ben Willee points out that many advertisers have 12-month contracts, and are likely to fulfil them once the fuss has died down. "Media buyers need to follow big audiences so they'll be back," he says. "There's a very real chance that over the course of the year the impact on 2GB's bottom line could be negligible."

Quotes pulled from this mornings article from theage.com.au - read more here...

5 minutes with....Lauren Clark, Senior Account Manager

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 05:19:00 GMT

1. What is your favourite advertising idea?

There are so many. But one that makes me smile is The Old Spice commercial.

What I love about it is that it was not only an entertaining ad that had a lot of social media share, it was most importantly successful in driving up sales and bringing an outdated grandfather brand back into fashion.

2. What do you love about Melbourne?

I never really appreciated Melbourne until I spent some time overseas. The quality and selection of restaurants is brilliant, from cheap dumplings to 5 star dining.

One of my favourite things to do it to wander down the famous laneways with friends to find the hidden gems. You may have to walk past a few dumpsters, but you can always find a great hidden bar, with amazing and creative themes on the walls and in their cocktail recipes. Melbourne is unpretentious and you always feel at home.

3. Sum up your career in 10 words:

Unexpected beginnings, resulting in, so far, a very happy outcome.

4. What does digital mean to you?

Digital extends the possibility of marketing and interacting with your audience. It provides new, creative and interesting ways in which to engage with your customers and allow them to engage with you. The possibilities only limited to imagination. It is essential in any advertising campaign to be present in the digital space.

5. When did you know that you wanted to work in an advertising agency when you grew up?

When I was studying Media Studies at University I always wanted to be involved in the creative industry, initially wanting to work in film as a Cinematographer. I unfortunately did not have the passion or skill to do so, but while studying Semiotics in a Popular Culture class, I became very interested in how messages can be perceived differently depending on your language, background etc. The class used advertising a lot in its teachings, and while I knew that my creative skills may not be up to it, I definitely wanted to be involved.

6. What did you really want to be when you grew up?

At 15 when I was looking at work experience options I really wanted to be a lighting engineer. This is probably where my interest in Cinematography stemmed from.

7. What gets you fired up about the marketing/communications/advertising industry?

I love the ideas in Advertising, I love looking at a great piece of creative and thinking about the process it must have gone through to go live.

I love getting a great brief that gives our team the flexibility to really shine with their imagination and creativity.

I LOVE it when I see our work in market, and especially when you see the successful results coming back.

8. What do you really enjoy about working at Spinach?

Spinach has a great team. Everyone has a voice and all ideas are considered. It really is like a family. Having worked in a large international agency, I was a bit hesitant to move into a smaller more independent agency. But within days of starting at Spinach, I knew I had made the right move.

9. Which medium do you like working in most?

It is really hard to choose. Visual mediums are always good as you can see ideas and great creative concepts come to life, whether it is for TV, or Digital.

I like the possibilities of outdoor advertising. There are a lot of great ideas that can be executed.

10. What inspires you?

People inspire me. Working in Account Management you need to love working with people, which I do.

People inspire me every day to keep doing what I do. From the creative teams, my mentors and bosses to suppliers and clients. It’s the relationships you build and work on everyday that rewards you for the hard work everyone puts in everyday.

5 minutes with.... Melinda Pritchard, Art Director

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 14:00:00 GMT

1. Which medium do you like working in most?

2. What do you love about Melbourne?

What’s not to love? However, if I had to pick something it would be that Melbourne is a hive of creativity – of all kinds.

Gertrude Street Projection Festival

Hosier Lane

Yarn Bomb Melbourne

3. What are your favourite advertising commercials?

There are many, here’s a few.   Skittles “Taste the Rainbow” is a seriously campaignable  thought that doesn’t take itself seriously at all.

Spike Jonze’s Ikea commercial. It’s beautifully directed and won Grand Prix  at Cannes.

This ad for Brylcreem was shot in one take – Amazing. Even if it did take them over 100 attempts to get there.

4. Sum up your career in 10 words

Pantone
Artliner
Sharpie
A4
A3
Fonts
Apple
Adobe
Command-Z
Twinings

5. What does digital mean to you?

It’s been cool to witness how far digital has come since my first Casio.

Like this interactive digital film clip for Arcade Fire. Even though it’s couple of years old, it’s still one of my favourite pieces of digital creative.

The Wilderness Down Town - Arcade Fire

6. When did you know that you wanted to work in an advertising agency when you grew up?

I’m pretty certain this show had a lot to do with it...

7. What do you really enjoy about working at Spinach?

The opportunities, the people, the culture and that our office is an easy bike ride along St Kilda beach from home.

Betsy in Spinach's Foyer

8. What inspires you?

My talented family and friends. This is Mum in her studio. Holding a tribute exhibition for her a few months back was a highlight this year.

Betty Pritchard in her studio

9. What’s the most fulfilling thing you’ve done lately creatively?

Steven and I created a poster for Father Bob’s foundation to help raise money to feed St Kilda’s homeless. Father Bob and Henri were delightful to work with and always so grateful. It was a great project to work on.

10. What did you really want to be when you grew up?

Andy Warhol. For a while there I lived on just lollies and Cambell’s Tomato Soup,  because that’s what Andy did. Andy was a shoe illustrator and commercial artist before he started the Factory and became famous. I guess he helped steer me on the path towards my 15 minutes of fame.

And now look, I’ve got 5 minutes with Mel, only 10 to go...

Saturday In Design

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Spinach got out-and-about all over Melbourne last weekend for Saturday in Design. For any lover of design, interiors and architecture, this event is a great one for the calendar.

The day began a little past midday at the delightful Great Dane furniture showroom in Johnston Street with a cocktail courtesy of their pop-up whiskey bar.

With a show bag and event access pass now in hand it was time to take in some other joys Fitzroy had to offer.

Next stop Tait Outdoor – a warehouse design collective that featured retro inspired outdoor furniture (and a quite tasty complimentary chicken soup!).

A short shuttle bus ride later and we were at SMEG in Richmond to see their denim fridge installation (you heard it here first). SMEG put on a fabulous spread: prosciutto, olives, salads and a huge wheel of Parmesan – made at SMEG’s own farm in Italy – all washed down with champas and some cool tunes from the DJ.

The bus dropped us next at a special installation in Cremorne called “How we create”. There were loads of shipping containers to explore, each displaying different manufacturing techniques, like how to make plastic cups.

We voted for our favourite carpet sculptures at Interface, decorated a competition cup cake or two, saw some beautiful lighting solutions at Inlite and then made a couple of other little stops to check out life-sized model cows, sparkling graffiti mirrors and eat some more complimentary nibblies.

Last stop was Space Furniture, and what a great end to the day. Multiple levels of eye-catching design and loads of good looking comfy chairs to try out and to rest our weary feet.

And that was only about a quarter of the showrooms open to visit throughout the event!

Tips for next year: Get yourself registered with Saturday In Design, wear your coolest rags and your most sensible for walking dress shoes.

The importance of social media investment

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 03:22:00 GMT

We see a lot of clients face a lack of understanding from internal colleagues about the cost of social media. It takes time, effort and money to do it right. And while getting buy-in to fund out-of-hours management of your social presence can be difficult, it is nonetheless an essential and cost-effective way to mitigate brand damage.

We saw this week how a 36-hour window can make a big difference to how your customers perceive your brand, when Target took two days to respond to a customer post on their Facebook page.

Funding the ongoing management of your social presence is an essential consideration for every budget holder, as is juggling the investment decision between maintaining the existing and extending into the new. The pressure to capitalise on new channels and technologies that continue to appear must be carefully considered.

For fashion forward brands being an early adopter of social spaces such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest is critical to staying competitive and relevant. And as new channels emerge and customers flock to them, this makes more critical the questions of ‘where should I be?’ and ‘what can I afford to do?’

Digital is on customers’ terms to fit into customers’ lives. It’s 24/7, and at the very least manning the customer service desk is expected in the hours that your physical store trades.

Planning a resource structure that adequately extends into hours outside the normal trading hours is essential. Customers expect a seamless transition between all touch points across the store and the online presence – closing the customer service desk in-store during trading hours isn’t an option – so don't do it online.

Some clever companies are enlisting team members on maternity leave into part-time social media roles so they are fully covered. The benefit is that they’re highly skilled, understand the brand and have a lot to contribute. They’re an untapped resource in any businesses and worth seriously considering!

But I would say, resist the urge to be everywhere and get what you are doing right in the spaces you occupy right first.

Prioritisation is the key and building your presence in line with what you can afford to do and staff - these are key decisions that need to be made before planning to expand the empire.

New Head of Digital and eCommerce at Spinach

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Spinach is thrilled to announce the appointment of retail digital specialist Kate Storey in the newly created role of Head of Digital and eCommerce.

Kate has more than 14 years experience in Australia and the UK working on some of the world’s biggest brands including British Airways, Mercedes Benz, adidas, Audi, Orange and Ministry of Defence UK.

Kate’s past experience has focused on delivering complex programs across multiple platforms and channels including web advertising and marketing campaigns, social media strategy, and rebranding and strategy development. Most recently Kate was with the Sussan Corporation where she specialised in eCommerce development and production.

Here’s what Kate said about her new role at Spinach, “I’m very excited to be joining Spinach at a time of exponential growth in the digital market. Retail marketing is highly focused on the eCommerce platform and Spinach is committed to delivering leading edge solutions to its clients. I’m looking forward to tackling client challenges and helping them to meet their objectives.”

Thanks Spinach, love Betty.

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:00:00 GMT

My class was advised by my business teacher to begin thinking about possible work placements for the semester break. We all left it to the last minute and in the end most of my mates opted for the easier option, and ended up at fast food chains or supermarkets for $5 a day. I didn’t want to resort to that; I wanted a job that I could gain experience from, and was more likely to pursue than flipping burgers.

I still remember when my dad came through the door and announced he got me a job at Spinach. I was hesitant; I though it was a factory or something. Further research on spinach.com.au assured me that wasn’t the case. At that point though, I didn’t really care what the job was, I was just glad I could finally fill out my work placement paperwork so I would pass my course.

I have been very passionate about advertising and production; however, I didn’t think that the things I was learning in VCE really represented them. I mean, I absolutely LOVE my media and visual communication & design class; surely the ‘real world’ isn’t THAT fun & easy? So I thought it’d be best to look for other career paths.

On my first day at Spinach, I was completely mesmerised by the office. Pool table, green walls, spinach cans, life-size cut outs of each employee; it actually looked like fun!

I was welcomed by everyone and felt really comfortable in the office. They let me sit in at boardroom meetings, presentations, and even took me off-site with them to meet clients.

The staff were kind enough to have had organised for me to go to Channel 7 and have a tour around the place. To top it off, my tour guide was Channel 7’s voiceover guy, John Deeks! I got to see firsthand the production elements of the network and was lucky enough to sit behind the news desk; I bet my classmates wouldn’t be able to do that at McDonald’s!

I can say for sure that the employees at Spinach have really given me a memorable experience. They are friendly, enthusiastic about what they do, which I greatly admire. I will - without a doubt - reapply for work placement at Spinach during my next school holidays.

I absolutely loved the experience and exposure I had in the industry and can definitely say it’s something I want to pursue. Thanks Spinach!

Betty Karikis

Year11

Spinach’s General Manager and Media Director joins the full service agency debate.

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:00:00 GMT

It’s an exciting time in agency land. Media agencies are buying creative agencies, creative agencies are hiring media people, media companies are hiring creative people. It's fantastic to see a healthy debate about collaboration and the resurgence of the full-service model.

Read the full story here

Pinterest Rates on the Rise

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 14:00:00 GMT

With over half a million Australian users and growing, Pinterest is not a social network to be ignored.

Pinterest is a visual discovery network or a pin-board on steroids. Users scan images and can like, comment on or re-pin images and video. It's well integrated with other networks like Facebook and Twitter and fans report it being highly addictive.

At first Pinterest was popular with arts and craft, fashion, design and food related imagery, but that has changed almost overnight and you can find visual inspiration on anything from cars to unicorns.

Not surprisingly, brands are jumping on the bandwagon. Pinterest is a great website traffic driver and an ideal way of putting product photography where people are hanging out.

The username land-grab is happening now so we recommend that your brand secures your username as soon as possible to avoid fans, detractors or even competitors taking it before you do.

For brands with websites that include social media integration and sharing, now might be the time to consider including Pinterest along with Twitter, Facebook etc.

So, if you want help securing your username, ideas to help your brand get noticed, or just to talk more about why there's so much interest in Pinterest, then contact me at spinach.