Triple L

The RIGHT way to use QR Codes

2011-11-24T00:34:00.001Z

QR codes are one of those technologies that have been around for ages and to date, there have been precious few examples of them being put to good use.

Marketers seem to like them because they, for some reason, still seem new and shiny.

Let's take a step back and look at what a QR code does. It simply links you to some kind of online content via a URL. How many people actually scan QR codes? Not many, because many people still don't understand what they are, and because there is no standard application for scanning them that comes with all phones.

What's another way of getting people to access your site/content on their mobile phone?

Ask people to text an SMS short code, and send them an automatic reply with an embedded link to your site/content. Everyone understands how to send a text message.
Ask people to search on Google for your content and deliver them a PPC ad. Again, more people understand how to search the web on their phone than understand how to use a QR code.
Ask people to type in a short URL themselves.

There are other ways like Bluetooth push messages as well, but they're expensive and only useful in certain situations.

So why would you use a QR code when you can ask people to do something that they already understand and is just as easy? I don't know.

Are QR codes useful? Yes, but only when used correctly. If you are trying to get your whole audience to access your site or content, then it's probably not the best way to go about it.

However, if you are trying to get individuals in your audience to access a unique piece of content that is tailored specifically for them, them a QR code is helpful, because QR codes are a good way of letting people access content that is located at a URL which is unique and long or complex.

This recent example from JC Penney is really lovely, whereby people can record a personalised video message that is attached to their gift. It replaces the old way of doing it, which would be sending people to a generic website, and then typing in a short code which was printed on the gift in order to access the content.

Well played JC Penney, well played indeed.

FWA Mobile Site Of The Day: Nov 16th

2011-11-16T01:21:00.001Z

The FWA has awarded Clemenger BBDO Sydney with their mobile site of the day for November 16th - and I'm chuffed :-)

Check it out here.

Google+ Brand Pages

2011-11-08T03:04:00.001Z

So this morning Google made a big noise about the arrival of their brand pages, something a lot of social media nuts and community managers around the world have been waiting for with bated breath.

You can see their introduction page here.

I'm sure there is a whole lot more to come, but I must say, given that Google specifically told brands to hold off creating profiles using personal pages until they officially launched brand pages, I am pretty underwhelmed.

There appears to be little visible difference between a personal profile page and a brand page.

See the two side by side here:

The only big visible difference is the five images across the top, which is borrowed from Facebook.

UPDATE: I realised this isn't even a difference - I had just not added those images to my personal profile yet. So there is nearly no difference at all!

One brand who has already made creative use of those images is Burberry, who are using some animated GIF's to bring some style to the page.

Where Google has an opportunity is in the search space, and they have started to exploit that by allowing people to search for Google+ brand pages on Google simply by putting a plus sign in front of the brand name, e.g. '+Burberry'.

Another unique feature to Google+ is Hangouts, the video conferencing facility that supports ten people chatting to each other at one time. It is hard to see right now how big brands are going to take advantage of Hangouts. They do seem better suited to small and local businesses who have personal relationships with their customers. However there may be opportunities in customer service, especially if Google allows brand pages to hold multiple hangouts simultaneously.

It will be interesting to see what brands start to do with Google+ brand pages, because the functionality is pretty limiting as it stands. It's simply a cleaner, less cluttered version of Facebook.

Although it's great that Google+ and Facebook allow you to filter your news feed based on groups, it's annoying that I can't filter out what I don't want to see. Personally I follow a lot of brands on both platforms, and I want to be able to hit a button that allows me to see my news feed without all the brands in it. As it stands on both platforms, I can look at posts from one group or circle at a time, but not from everything excluding that group or circle.

Who will do it first, and begin to allow users to decide when they want to hear from brands and when they just want to hear from their friends? Google or Facebook are you listening?

Australia's Top Mates by Pepsi Max

2011-11-01T01:03:00.000Z

Here at Clemenger BBDO Sydney, we've recently released a mobile and social app for Pepsi Max that stems from the insight that blokes don't spend enough quality time with their mates anymore.

The app is called Top Mates and it's available for iPhone/iPad (download now), Android (download now) and even for other web enabled phones as a web app here.

Guys love a good 'bro-fist' so the app uses Bump technology to allow mates to 'check in' to each other.

Why would anyone bother you ask?

Points mean prizes, in the form of badges and unlockable content.
There is a $30,000 'bro-cation' up for grabs.

If that isn't enough, it also gives you some tools that help you max the time you spend with your mates. There's an excuse maker that syncs with your mates, so that if your girlfriend or boss asks your friends what you were doing last night, you all know what to say :-)

Growin' a Mo

2011-10-13T07:39:00.003+01:00

For the first time I've decided to take part in Movember. I've already got a bit of a beard on, so come Movember 1st, I shall shave it all off and start again for the course of the month, cultivating the mo and only the mo.

If you are feeling kind and would like to sponsor my mo, head over to http://mobro.co/adtyler

Saba is breaking the Facebook rules!

2011-07-07T03:05:00.000+01:00

Some brand still don't get it, do they?

Saba, a fashion brand, are breaking Facebook's terms and conditions by incentivising people to 'like' their Facebook page. Not allowed! It's a no-no!

Vote for me in the Air New Zealand Winter Photo Competition

2011-06-22T03:26:00.000+01:00

Friends, Romans, Countrymen!

Please, please, please vote for me so I can win a trip to NZ!!

Click here to vote!

'Preserve Your Feet' by Shyr Gelber

2011-06-21T01:03:00.002+01:00

Everybody please vote for my friend's design in the Foot Locker Art Prize competition!

Preserve Your Feet By: Shyr Gelber

Matt Moran loses it!

2011-05-10T00:57:00.000+01:00

Masterchef judge Matt Moran loses it on set because of someone wasting food!

Twelevision

2011-05-06T07:30:00.000+01:00

Great idea from some guys down in the Melbourne office of Clemenger BBDO.

It's called Twelevision, and it is a simplified version of TV-based sociel networks like GetGlue, Miso, Tunerfish etc.

It's simplified because rather than creating a whole new social network around TV content, it has just latched on to the existing usage of Twitter that surrounds TV content.

It's currently available for iPhone and iPad, and looks pretty cool, so I hope they bring it to Android soon.

The only minor niggle is the name; Twelevision sounds too long. Why not call it TweeVee or Twelly? Were they already taken?

Anyway, I look forward to using it on my iPad soon.

TV Ads for Doritos Battle of the Flavours

2011-05-04T13:46:00.000+01:00

If you haven't already checked it out, head on over to http://www.battleoftheflavours.com and join the battle for a few minutes of fun.

If you're in Australia you can also vote for your favourite flavour and win some cold hard cash!

Check out the 30 second TV ads...

Virgin Blue is dead. Long live Virgin Australia!

2011-05-04T02:36:00.002+01:00

Latest work from Clems Sydney.

Learning from Gaming

2011-05-02T03:46:00.000+01:00

Just discovered this great preso on what UX and marketers can learn from the world of gaming. Brilliant.

Just add points? What UX can (and cannot) learn from games

View more presentations from Sebastian Deterding

Camping with no reception? Yikes.

2011-04-29T06:20:00.001+01:00

Before I set off for my weekend of camping, I stayed up late on Thursday night, loading up the HTC Incredible S with all the apps I have on my HTC Desire. The beauty of the Incredible S is that I can load up so many more applications without having to always worry about getting the little 'Phone storage is low' icon popping up in the notifications bar. 1GB of internal memory? Awesome.

I loaded up some of my favourite apps, including SocialCam, Tweetdeck, Vignette,Pulse, and of course the all important Swype. I love Swype, it makes texting and emailing so much easier. It amazes me that more manufacturers haven't partnered with them to pre-install their software on handsets.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the place where I was camping had minimal mobile phone coverage, so I couldn't fully experience all that the phone had to offer, but I did play around with the camera to test out the quality of the 8 megapixel snapper. The photos it takes are clear and vibrant, and the filters that HTC have added to the default camera app are great! Here are a couple of examples...

I also enjoyed getting used to the latest version of Android, Gingerbread 2.3. It's quick, easy and simple to use, whilst being fully customisable. I love the fact that I can have animated backgrounds, change the theme and colour schemes. It makes the phone more personal.

Every time I turn this phone on, I'm reminded how awesome the screen is. It's so bright and clear, even on the lowest brightness setting, that it makes my HTC Desire screen look obsolete!

You can see this post at HTC Australia's Facebook Page

Clemenger May Party

2011-04-27T03:07:00.000+01:00

Just got my invitation to the infamous Clemenger May Party. Impressed by the effort that's gone into the invitation.

I received this envelope...

Pretty, huh?

Opening it up unveils the invitation on an napkin with a gold mark and a lipstick kiss. Classy!

Lovely gold logo...

I wonder whose lips those were...

Going to the URL, I was presented with a short video asking me who I was....

Upon entering my work email address, I met this rather lovely lady who told me all about the party...

The theme of the party is Great Gatsby. Sweet!

Needless to say I'm pretty excited about the party!

Whoop Whoop! Ice cream and mobile phones...

2011-04-25T13:29:00.000+01:00

I've been on a bit of a roll recently. A couple of months ago, I won a competition on Facebook to have 50 tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream delivered to my office on a Friday afternoon. Naturally that went down well with my colleagues.

I've now just won a competition on HTC Australia's Facebook page, giving me the chance to become an HTC Australia Ambassador. Basically, I get my grubby mits on the all new HTC Incredible S before the general public, and in return I let you guys know what I think about it. Yay!

You can see my posts at the HTC Australia Facebook page or alternatively, I'll post them here. Here goes nothing...

I received the phone on Thursday afternoon, when it turned up on my desk at work after I came back from a meeting.

I was giddy like a school girl before unboxing it, and the excitement continued.

And the open box....

My first impressions of the HTC Incredible S are positive. It sits nicely in the hand, with the contoured back of the device providing you with a nice way of gripping it. It feels lighter than my HTC Desire, which is great.

Having turned the phone on, it was immediately apparent that the screen is bigger and better than that of the Desire. The resolution is great, and the details are super sharp.

I'm happy that the phone has 1gb of internal memory, which is a massive improvement on the Desire - for which I was constantly struggling not to go over the storage limit! I'll load it up with apps when I get home, and I'm excited about taking it on a road trip over the Easter weekend, when I can try out the HD video recording and the 8 megapixel camera! I'm going camping so I'll hopefully film a little video blog from the beach!

Doritos Battle of the Flavours

2011-04-14T02:10:00.000+01:00

Exciting new work from Clemenger Sydney, going live in 10 days, 21 hours and 51 minutes...

You can follow the campaign on Facebook here.

The best bit of the campaign is following the banter between the two hero characters, fat, sweaty, hairy El Macho, a Nacho Libre wannabe, and Thai-phoon, a small Muay Thai boxer with attitude.

You can follow them on Twitter and Facebook:

El Macho: Twitter and Facebook

Thai-phoon: Twitter and Facebook

Enjoy the banter, hec, get involved in the banter! If you're tweeting to the characters or about the promotion, please use hashtag #DoritosBattleoftheFlavours

Testing Embedded Video Links

2011-04-04T13:11:00.000+01:00

<a href="http://www.linkedtube.com/3cEwcR4HpwQbb34fefd9a834b88780696c18cc76b0e.htm">LinkedTube</a>

Awesome Tune

2011-02-14T04:38:00.000Z

I haven't actually met Jake Morley, but he's a friend of some good friends of mine, and I have just discovered his unbelievable musical talent.

Loving this tune and video, produced by a friend of mine Alex Genn-Bash. Nice work mate.

Tipp-Ex YouTube Campaign

2010-09-03T08:54:00.000+01:00

This is a really lovely execution of an old idea, popularized by the Subservient Chicken.

It leads to this page, where the user can type in what they want the hunter to do to the bear.

It's unclear how many films they have made, but I can tick these off the list:

tickles
jumps
kisses
pisses
f**ks
farts

What other films have you triggered? I'd love to know how many they made.

Bloopers Reel from the ASX Challenge

2010-08-18T10:23:00.000+01:00

Looking forward to the new series of The Inbetweeners

2010-08-18T04:04:00.000+01:00

Got to get me one of these. Awesome.

2010-08-18T02:07:00.000+01:00

Canon 5D Mark II Aerial Drone - Autonomous GPS Position Hold from perspectiveAerials on Vimeo.

CHECK OUT MY DISCO!

2010-08-06T09:07:00.000+01:00

We ran an event for Mitsubishi last week and I took it upon myself to start a catch phrase....it's getting some traction.

"Check out my Disco!"

Mitsubishi Australia Love That Car!

Breaking News: The ASX has crashed!

2010-07-28T03:15:00.000+01:00

Makeover!

2010-07-23T05:35:00.002+01:00

Every now and then I like to refresh the blog with a new look and feel...

What do you think? Better or worse than the old design?

Electric Cars - the way of the future?

2010-07-20T07:14:00.000+01:00

I've recently been involved in the creation of a microsite for Mitsubishi Motors Australia, in order to tell the world about the i-MiEV; the Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle.

It's like a mini version of the space race. Australian car manufacturers wanting to be the first to have fully-electric cars on the road. Mitsubishi is the first to have one on the road which isn't a super expensive concept car, although you can only buy one now if you happen to be a fleet buyer and fancy buying several in one shopping spree.

Nissan have the Leaf, which they have been shouting about a lot, but there are none actually on the road, so it's still a couple of years away from being available to Joe Public.

Tesla have their roadster car hitting in August, but it will be around the $200k mark, a little bit pricey for Joe Public!

Anyway, I think it's awesome that electric cars are finally becoming a viable option, but only for city drivers covering small distances - the i-MiEV range is 160km - great for a week of short city commutes, but not ideal for long journeys. That's when hybrid vehicles are going to rule the roads I think.

Anyway, the i-MiEV is a step in the right direction, and is a strong signal of intent from Mitsubishi that they are leading the way with technology.

Check out the site - Welcome To Tomorrow

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Welcome To Tomorroe

Ye' Old'e Client Dilemma

2010-05-07T01:33:00.002+01:00

Classic situation - a client wants something quickly, but they also want it to be good, and, oh, by the way, it needs to be cheap. It's just not possible.

The old, cheap, good, fast triangle is a classic tool for showing it. You can have two, but you can't have three.

Gathering Momentum

2010-04-30T08:29:00.004+01:00

I have been hoping that my little Qantas video might 'go viral'.

It hasn't done that just yet, but it's on the up...

UPDATE 23rd July 2010:
Still not viral, but a few more views! Up to 3300!

The 4 Super Powers

2010-04-30T01:30:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not talking about invisibility, super strength, speed or the ability to fly.

I'm talking about the the four super powers that dominate the technology landscape, and in particular, Silicon Valley.

1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Microsoft
4. Apple

Each is great at somethings, and not great at others.

1. Google has a lot going on, but its strength is clearly search.
2. Facebook dominates the social landscape, and it trying to spread its net across the whole web with its new tools.
3. Microsoft is dominant with Windows and its office software which is ubiquitous.
4. Apple owns the entertainment sphere with iPod, iTunes and iPhone.

Will the four continue to exist as they are? Or will they merge, making it one uber-giant-tech-corporation versus another?

Will we see old foes Apple and Microsoft teaming up to take on the relativey new kids on the block, Google and Facebook. Or will Facebook make alliances with Apple and Microsoft, making a threesome the likes of which could surely knock Google off its pedestal?

I don't know the outcome, but I'm excited to see what happens, and if and when another tech giant will emerge and make it a super five?

Watch this space people, watch this space.

Android, Flash and Steve Jobs

2010-04-30T01:17:00.000+01:00

Whilst back in the UK recently (for 4 days) I picked up an Android phone, the HTC Desire. Why did I do that? You ask.

I have been living with a crappy pay as you go Nokia for the last 12 months since I got to Australia but now I am going to be here a while longer I thought it was time I upgraded.

Every man and his dog has an iPhone. In fact, when you search for 'dog' in the App store, you get a lot of results!

I wanted to be different, and being a fan of pretty much everything Google, an Android phone made sense.

And since getting it, I've found it hard to put down. I love it.

That's not to say I won't get an iPhone 4 when it comes out later this year. I might well get one, if it looks awesome.

I'm getting excited by the war between Google and Apple in the mobile space, because the real winner is going to be you and me, the end consumer. Whether Apple end up using Flash or not (looking like not at the moment, thanks Steve Jobs), this battle of two tech giants is going to be great to witness.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Thanks Qantas!

2010-04-30T01:06:00.000+01:00

I was recently on my way back to the UK for an 10 day holiday when I was rudely interrupted by the Icelandic volcano whose name I can't pronounce.

I was flying Qantas, stopping off in Singapore for a few hours for the plane to refuel. However, we didn't leave Singapore for another 6 days. Qantas looked after us nicely, in 5 star hotels, so I thought I would make a little video to thank them. Yes, it's a bit tongue in cheek, given many travelers around the world had such a bad time of it, but my personal experience was a good one so I thought I should share it with the world.

Breakdancing Battles

2010-03-22T09:47:00.003Z

Saturday night at the Carriageworks in Eveleigh - felt like I was watching an MTV movie!

Australia So Far...

2010-03-10T02:36:00.002Z

I've had a fair bit of free time of late whilst deliberating over my next career move, so I put together a very short video comprising clips I've taken over the past 11 months...hope you enjoy and it makes you a teeny bit jealous :-)

Nescafe Strategy

2010-03-03T23:30:00.004Z

Nescafe have a new ad campaign out at the moment in Australia which is a bit hit and miss in my opinion.

The strategy is to encourage people to physically meet (over a cup of Nescafe coffee) rather than text message, send a Facebook message or video chat. I like the strategy, it's based on the nice (if not quite regularly used nowadays) insight that in this day and age people have more and more friends digitally but have less real friends who they often see face to face.

The campaign uses internet abbreviations and terms, like 'LOL' and 'profile picture', and suggests that they are better when done/seen live. The campaign tag line is 'Get A Little Closer'. I like the strategy, but sadly I think they fell down on the execution.

First of all, several of the outdoor ads make no sense at all unless you have seen the corresponding TV spot. That's a waste of outdoor media spend in my opinion. Secondly, it's an advertising cliche that communications work best when the medium and the message work together. This outdoor ad is the perfect example of the medium and message not working together.

If profile pictures ARE funnier live, then this ad should not be a static poster.

I can think of two ways to improve this ad:

Use a video screen so the profile picture at least appears live.
Create a stunt or experiential piece whereby there is actually a real live person standing in the ad of whom people could take pictures.

I'm not saying the agency behind this ad didn't have those same ideas. They may well have had them but the client didn't have the budget for them, in which case, fair enough. But I have to say I would not have let the above ad run because it is an oxymoron in itself.

For your loved one on Valentines Day

2010-02-09T23:52:00.002Z

Love this work from Puma.

An Ode To The Animated GIF

2010-01-18T23:51:00.011Z

What better way to celebrate the 100th post on Lobsters, Lesbians and Lychees, than to look at something that has been around on the Internet almost since it hit the mainstream in the latter half of the 90's? The animated GIF.

There is something about the simplicity of animated GIFs that, in these times of high definition video content, seems to cut through the noise to create short bursts of entertainment.

Some classic old websites were born out of the animated GIF, my personal favourite being the world famous Hamster Dance. Sadly the original website no longer exists because they have commercialised the hamsters, but a glimpse of the old site can be seen here. It was definitely the influence for other animal memes like Badger Badger Badger. The idea still lives on today, with one-off amusing websites like this one by a Lady Gaga fan.

The beauty of the animated GIF lies in its simplicity and its repetition. Some events in life were made to be watched over and over, like these three.

Cat tries using time travel portal but fails miserably
Dog with a sense of humour
Man trips up on escalator (cruel but can't help but laugh)

They're not unlike the flick-books that you used to try to make using your school notebooks (well, I did at least). They just get funnier the more you watch them.

I think, however that my favourite animated GIF site is Three Frames, which limits the GIF's to just....three frames. I recommend following them on Twitter @threeframes.

So in conclusion, animated GIFs have provided me and millions of others with much happiness. Long may they continue into the future!

Great Personals Ad

2010-01-17T22:57:00.002Z

Very creative...

Planner or Strategist?

2010-01-06T05:10:00.003Z

I had a conversation recently about the difference between planners and strategists. Oh yes, and strategic planners!

The way I see it, there isn't too much difference. 'Strategy' and 'strategist' are words that are thrown about often, mostly because people understand what strategy is. At least they think they do. A lot of the time, if people say something is strategic, it's actually just considered important.

Strategists create strategies. Planners also create strategies. The difference as I see it is that planners are more interested in consumers and the way they behave. Their strategies stem from insights that come from any number of places like the consumer, the category, the brand, the market or even the media. They are the voice of the consumer in an agency, always asking "as a consumer of brand x, why would I care about this or do that?".

Strategists are a lot of the time clever people who have an ability to see the big picture and envision where a brand/company should be and what needs to be done to get them there. They are often creative in the way they work but I perhaps they don't speak the language of ideas quite as well as planners.

The planning discipline came about because an intermediary was needed between account service people and creative people. They are creative by nature and are sometimes wannabe creatives. They also cross over with market researchers, because in order to find the insight that unlocks brilliant creative work, they have to carry out primary, secondary and tertiary research.

I think the term 'strategic planner' came about because people don't understand what account planning is and because 'planner' on its own is too general and is used in all sorts of industries - merchandise planner for example. 'Advertising planner' is a bit too narrow a term, and 'marketing planner' is rarely used.

'Digital planning' is a strange term, because a lot of people consider it a unique and niche discipline. I don't think that's the case really. There aren't many planners with digital experience, especially here in Australia. However, traditional account planners don't call themselves 'TV planners' or 'Print planners' - simply because planning is not about the media output, it's about making connections between people and brands, be that through a TV ad, a website, an outdoor experience.

I'd like to see more jobs advertised for 'Account planners with digital experience' rather than 'digital strategists' or 'digital planners'.

Is anybody listening? Do you agree or disagree with everything I've said? Let me know in the comments!

It has been a while...

2009-12-08T11:48:00.004Z

...since I last posted, and a fair bit has happened.

I have now been at Host for five weeks now, and it's been a good five weeks. The first three weeks were spent at one office, and the last two and a half weeks in a brand spanking new office. The new office is beautiful - it was a warehouse that was gutted and custom built for Host so it's very nice indeed. The unique thing about it is the fact that we have one super long desk on each floor with people sat down either side. Check it out:

It's very minimalist which is cool, but possibly my favourite feature are the ladders on wheels which can be seen in the background above - great for sliding along our (currently) empty bookshelves!

Work wise I've been working on Bankwest, a retail bank with one of the best brands I've seen in the financial sector, and so far a little bit for Levis and I'll be doing some work for Tourism Western Australia as well as homeless youth charity Oasis.

Speaking of Oasis, they were the subject of my planning idol submission. You may already know I was shortlisted in that competition, which was great. I made it into the top 11 out of 34 entries, which in itself I think was a great achievement. I then had to present my strategy to a panel of senior planners in fifteen minutes, which I did last Wednesday. It went reasonably well, but obviously my proposal wasn't quite up there with the best of them. I didn't make the top two - who knows, I might have been 3rd, I might have been 11th. I guess it doesn't really matter now!

I've been playing football for my agency in an after-work 6-a-side tournament, which is a good laugh - the standard's not top notch but it's more of a social thing really. I play out of goal because the goals are tiny two-foot wide things, so I'm showing off my less than silky skills in midfield.

Brea is enjoying her job and has found herself a little posse amongst the touch rugby side at work. The team played in a charity tournament the other week at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and they were knocked out in the semi-finals. It was a great day out for me too, watching from the stands. I had a nose around the home dressing room too, which was very classic - not been modernised at all in a long time it would appear.

Righto, enough for now. Thanks for reading!

Bring On The Trumpets

2009-10-30T06:42:00.003Z

I feel like the little gummy bear on top of the book at the moment:

That's because I have got myself a job at HOST, a great ad agency in the heart of Surry Hills - a 10 minute walk away from our flat.

I'm very excited because it seems to have a great atmosphere, some cool clients and are reknowned for some great creative work.

It's a two month contract with a view to permanent work after that, and my role is somewhat undefined as yet, which means I will have to define it!

I start on Monday, so I'm going to have to make the most of this weekend.

Shameless Plug (for a good cause)

2009-10-23T07:17:00.001+01:00

Charity Jewellery Sale, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

Charity Jewellery Sale

My mum is holding a sale of her beautiful jewellery in aid of a couple of charities. It takes place on Thursday November 19th in North London. For more details, please email info@familiesforum.co.uk - thanks!

You can see a gallery of her jewellery at http://www.sharontyler.co.uk

Price Attack - Premium or Budget?

2009-09-17T00:48:00.003+01:00

I watch a fair bit of TV at the moment, and since all Australian channels are commercial companies, I see a lot of TV adverts. There are some good ones, but there are also a great number of bad examples. My favourite bad example at the moment is this spot for a hair care brand called Price Attack.

First of all, I see it and I immediately think it's an ad for Dove, because of the style they have used. It showcases some women who have had good hair days recently, and then some more, and then some more - you get the point after the first three. There are twelve women! Twelve!

What really bothers me is the end of the ad and the final line of copy:

Price Attack.
The Authority in Hair

In my opinion those two lines directly contradict each other. The brand name, 'Price Attack' suggests that it's about good value, cheap hair care products. The line, 'The Authority in Hair' suggests that they are best in the business at hair care products.

If you are about good value, then Price Attack is an appropriate name.

Everyone knows that good quality costs money - that's what the successful campaign for Stella Artois was based upon - "Reassuringly Expensive". That is why in my opinion Price Attack have got a confused identity. They need to decide if they are a budget brand or a premium brand - sticking in the middle will not do them much good.

The Placebo Effect

2009-09-09T05:18:00.002+01:00

I've been making good use of my time recently with regular trips to the physio to cure myself of the shin splints that I've suffered from for about ten years. It's amazing, I've just never got round to sorting it out - partly because I've never felt the desperate need (I'm not a runner anyway), and partly because I never found the time to do the exercises that the physio would recommend.

Well, I've decided I ought to be a bit of a runner, because as much as I cycle, my aerobic fitness doesn't seem to improve all that much. There is a big difference between cycling fitness and running fitness. On top of that, time is something I have a lot of at the moment so I've no excuse not to do the exercises and get myself into better shape!

Anyway, I've been doing the various exercises, and they have undoubtedly helped a bit, and made running a little easier, but I
received my placebo today that will help fix me up. I received my custom made orthotics, or insoles for those not up with the lingo. They were made for me after I walked over a pressure sensitive pad which scanned where all the pressure is going as I walk. The readings are recorded, then sent off to a lab in Canada before they send me back some moulded pieces of plastic to put in my shoes.

The placebo effect is a perceived or real improvement in your health or condition that is not directly attributable to a treatment or medicine.

I wouldn't have called these orthotics a placebo before I went to Interesting South 2009 a few weeks ago, where two interesting chaps talked about the placebo effect.

For example, if you're in a supermarket aisle, and there are two types of asprin available. One is cheap and looks bland, and the other is shiny and has all kinds of promises about how it targets pain fast, but is more expensive. In that situation, one often chooses the expensive aspirin, and when your headache is gone, you are vindicated in your choice so you will choose the same one again next time. The cheaper, bland aspirin would have done the same job!

Anyway, here's hoping that whether or not these orthotics are a placebo, my shins improve and I'll be just like Arnie, the Running Man.

Food We've Eaten And Food We Wanna Eat

2009-09-05T09:51:00.003+01:00

Brea and I decided to write a list of the restaurants and cafes where we've eaten, and those where we want to eat. I thought some people might be interested - probably not though. Tough luck, it's happening anyway.

Been there, done that
✓ Toko, Crown St
✓ Tex-Mex, Crown St
✓ Billy Kwong, Crown St
✓ Bills, Crown St
✓ Organic Cafe, Crown St
✓ Maya d'hab, Cleveland St
✓ Lazy Chef, Crown St
✓ Kawa, Crown St
✓ Pieno, Crown St
✓ Quay, Circular Quay
✓ 360 Bar and Dining, CBD
✓ Cochin, Surry Hills
✓ Ryder, Surry Hills
✓ Betty's Soup Kitchen, Oxford St
✓ Tiger Mottle, Paddingotn
✓ Fifi on Foveaux, Crown St
✓ Casa de Nico's, Darling Harbour
✓ James Squire, Darling Harbour
✓ Din Tai Fung, Chinatown
✓ Nepalese Kitchen, Crown St
✓ In The Mood For Thai, Crown St
✓ Spice I Am, Surry Hills
✓ Coogee Cafe, Coogee
✓ Cafe Congo, Coogee Beach
✓ BBQ King, Chinatown
✓ AboutLife, Rozelle
✓ Cafe Martini, Newtown
✓ Vargarbar, Newtown
✓ Dimitri's Pizza, Crown St
✓ Grande Espresso Bar, Double Bay
✓ Europan, Rose Bay

And those we want to go to soon
✓ Aria, Circiular Quay
✓ Red Lantern, Crown St
✓ Bird Cow Fish, Crown St
✓ Kasbah, Balmain
✓ Blue Ginger, Balmain
✓ Zakira Lebanese, Balmain
✓ Circle Cafe, Balmain
✓ Balinese, Balmain
✓ Efendy, Balmain
✓ Clove, Crown St
✓ A Tavola, Darlinghurst
✓ Monkey Magic, Crown St
✓ Rockpool, Rocks
✓ Longrain, Surry Hills
✓ Table for 20, Surry Hills
✓ Bentley, Crown St
✓ Chophouse, Bligh St
✓ Love Supreme, Paddington
✓ Il Baretto, Surry Hills
✓ Forbes and Burton, Darlinghurst
✓ Millevini, Crown Street
✓ Yullis, Crown St
✓ Cafe Pacifico, Darlinghurst

2009-09-05T04:05:00.002+01:00

Brea starts work on Monday as Programming Services Coordinator at Channel 7, one of the leading TV networks in Australia. I'm super excited for her, I think she's going to really love it.

I on the other hand, am yet to secure a job, not for lack of trying, emails sent or phone calls made. However, I have found something to take up my unemployed hours. The Account Planning Group (APG) is the association for people like me. I did a training course run by the APG in London a couple of years ago now, and attended various events they put on. The APG here in Australia is similar, and they have just launched what they have dubbed 'Planning Idol'. It's like American Idol or X-Factor, but for young strategic thinkers.

To become the 2009 'Planning Idol', one has to answer a brief, which can be downloaded here, regarding the tackling of youth homelessness in Australia. Did you know there are 32,000 homeless youths in Australia? Quite a lot really.

I'm going to be tackling said brief with all my might, brainpower, avengence, love, sweat and energy. The deadline isn't until October 16th, which is my sister's birthday, so don't expect to see anything really soon, but rest assured, I'll be working on it, oh yes.

The End of A Journey

2009-09-05T04:04:00.001+01:00

The End of A Journey, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

My flatmate from London, Charlie, has spent the last six months driving down the West coast of Africa - he set out with our friend Jon to circumnavigate the perimeter of the continent. Sadly, having reach South Africa, their journey has come to an end - for a couple of reasons I think, but primarily because their beloved vehicle, which has driven some serious miles, has finally conked out. The engine would have needed replacing, which would have cost more than the vehicle itself. They wanted to sell it, but were told it couldn't be sold and had to be scrapped. This photo, taken by Jon, tells a sad story. It also makes me laugh out loud. Sorry Charlie.

Maybe next year Charlie and Jon can start in South Africa and drive up the East coast. Still, it won't be the same.

While on the subject of South Africa - if you haven't seen District 9 yet, it's well worth a watch (particularly if you're a guy and like action/alien films). This one is different, it's much more of a human take on alien films.

Moo

2009-08-31T07:58:00.001+01:00

Blue Mountains-45, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

Sometimes I just want to blog a photo I took of a cow, ok? It's a free country.

A Weekend in the Blue Mountains

2009-08-28T02:34:00.002+01:00

A weekend in the Blue Mountians with Brea and dad. Good times - wish we could go back this weekend - so much fun.

It's a Good Day To Be A Brit

2009-08-24T09:10:00.002+01:00

I proudly walked around Sydney today wearing my England shirt. Well done to the England cricketers - I salute you Andrew Strauss!

Heads Down iPhoners

2009-08-13T07:54:00.003+01:00

Walking around recently, I have noticed that the iPhone has created a new breed of people ont he street who are walking but not looking where they are going.

It may be the best phone available at the moment, but it's not very practical to use when not looking at the screen. I know you can have touchscreen devices vibrate to give you feedback when you press a button, but it's not the same. It's easy to get used to a classic mobile phone because different buttons have different feels.

If you have an iPhone and you bump into me, I won't be too impressed, let me tell you.

Cock-a-three

2009-08-12T09:19:00.001+01:00

Cockathree, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

Three cockatoos. That makes Cock-a-three, haha boom boom!

They're amazingly tame, playfully hopping all over this guy who was trying his best to snooze in the sunshine!

Evil Palm Tree

2009-08-12T09:17:00.001+01:00

Palm Tree Skyscraper, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

I found this palm tree, all on its own, looking pretty sad for itself, in the Botanical Gardens. The aim of the processing of this shot was to show how the city is killing the plant life - although saying that, the Botanical Gardens are full of lots of lovely foliage!

Priceless Music Experiences

2009-08-07T05:50:00.004+01:00

For the last two weeks I have been doing some freelance work at a direct response agency in the centre of Sydney called Mercer Bell. It was a great experience - good people, good vibe and a good agency culture. I was doing some work on MasterCard Priceless Music, which is a campaign to get more young people engaged with MasterCard's debit card. It involves various music experiences that money can't buy - check the website out here. Anyway, it's a really interesting and exciting project and the digital potential is limitless.

Anyway, that's finished now for the time being.

Dad arrives on Sunday morning for an 8 day visit, which I'm looking forward to. I'm not working at the moment next week, but something may come up at the last minute, who knows. He says he is happy keeping himself entertained during the day anyway!

The Blinds, They Work!

2009-08-07T05:39:00.002+01:00

All the blinds in the flat are now fully functional, thanks to Serge, the man who I think is from Kazakhstan, solely based on the fact that he sounds a little like Borat, everyone's favourite Kazakhstani!

The Magnificent Elsa Chapman

2009-08-03T12:37:00.002+01:00

My friend Alan's sister is featured on the Cordless Show. I haven't heard of it either. Anyway, check out her live performance and interview with the smarmy host here...

The Good, The Fast and The Cheap

2009-08-03T02:09:00.003+01:00

A wise producer once taught me that there is a trade off with all projects, and it can be neatly summed up with a triangle... I love it when you can sum up something so neatly with a triangle. Observe...

Fishing The 'Real Web'

2009-07-31T01:39:00.005+01:00

It has come to my attention that brands and agencies in Australia are definitely behind their European and American counterparts when it comes to digital marketing.

There is still the ethos over here that if you build a website or a microsite, people will automatically come and visit. How wrong they are. 90% of marketing websites sit, gathering dust as real Internet traffic passes them by each day. The fact is, people won't visit a marketing website unless there is a genuine incentive for them to do so.

People don't spend their time on marketing websites. They spend their time on websites which are useful to them, the ones that they go to on a regular basis, like news sites, sports sites, hobby sites and probably more than any other, social sites. These places are the 'Real Web', and this is where people are found online. The 'Marketing Web' is just a whole load of websites created by brands and agencies that exist to sell people stuff they probably don't even need.

People do occasionally dip into the 'Marketing Web' for a short time to get something done, or to see something. However, they are usually tempted in. It's about baiting the hook, and fishing for these people in the fertile waters of the 'Real Web'. The bait could take the form of many things, but it will usually be a piece of content, the bigger brother of which lives in the 'Marketing Web'.

Lessons:

You have to fish where the fish are.
The bait has to be tasty and tempting.
The reward has to be great.

So-fa So-here

2009-07-26T02:48:00.002+01:00

Hurrah, the sofa is here. Finally, somewhere to sit! Check it out in all its glory!

Sticky Mud

2009-07-22T23:20:00.002+01:00

Seems a bit of the mud I've been throwing is beginning to stick...

Watch this space. I'm starting some freelance work, and a few more things are cropping up. Overall, I'm feeling pretty +ve all of a sudden.

2009-07-22T08:45:00.002+01:00

Very peaceful video I took the other day whilst photographing the city at sunset.

The Strategist of The Future

2009-07-22T02:11:00.003+01:00

Whilst I've been pondering what to do with my life, I've looked at various options that would see me change tack slightly in order to find myself a job in Sydney.

There seem to be precious few positions for someone like me, as I am at the moment - a creative, strategic, digital planner. Why is that? You ask. Could be a number of reasons:

Digital just has not taken off here like elsewhere - partly because broadband is still relatively expensive.
Companies and brands are only just beginning to wake up to the real power of online marketing.
Those lucky people who already find themselves in this position know how lucky they are and won't be leaving until we're all 100% past the big R (ecession).

So, I need to change tack. That leaves me with three options, demonstrated by this diagram:

I could become an account manager, a media planner, or a creative. The red part in the middle is where the strategist of the future lies - a hybrid of all three. I come from the creative side I think, so when I can't find a job in that circle again, it makes sense to try one of the other circles in order to reach the ultimate red zone.

New Layout

2009-07-21T05:09:00.003+01:00

Yup, you guessed it. I'm a bit bored of looking for jobs so I decided to find a new skin for the blog. I hope you like it.

I think I've sent over 15 job emails/applications in the last day.

This is me, represented by some rather excellent photoshop illustration if I do say so myself!!

That's a lot of mud that hasn't stuck to the wall.

Oh well, I guess I've still got a good pile left to throw!

Published Photo

2009-07-19T01:20:00.001+01:00

I've had a photo published in an online guide to Brisbane - check it out here:
http://www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=brisbane&sid=sights_water&p=135802&i=135802_11

Internet is here! Sofa Sonear

2009-07-15T06:58:00.003+01:00

We finally have broadband in the flat and it's pretty speedy - about 11Mbps, which I'm happy with and makes downloading the odd video or music track pretty speedy.

Plus, get this - we are almost the proud owners of a sofa to sit on. It's going to be pretty special when I plant my bum down on its soft, soft foam. I might yelp with joy. It should be ready for us to pick up at the end of the week!

It looks something like this, but in more of a blue colour...

Tweetin' Influence Kicks

2009-06-22T02:43:00.003+01:00

Some recent research from an MBA student at Harvard Business School has revealed some interesting statistics about Twitter and people's tweeting habits.

The most talked about finding was that 90% of tweets are generated by only 10% of Twitter's users. Is this really all that surprising? I would have thought it was bang on the truth. We all know Twitter can be slightly addictive, but I think it's only truly the case for people with addictive personalities. It fits with the fairly standard rule for social media content whereby five to ten percent of people create content, about thirty percent of people engage with, talk about and share that content, and the remainder of people just view that content.

It's not a problem that 90% of tweets come from 10% of Twitter members. In fact, it fits with the concept of Superinfluencers, which was introduced by some research published by Universal McCann last year. These people have a huge amount of influence over their networks, both online and offline. They are trusted by their friends, contacts and even random people they have never met because they tweet regularly about certain topics, and they appear to know what they are talking about.

For some reason it's easy to trust a review of a product on Amazon.com or another online store. Even if you don't know the person who has written the review, it is easy to believe them and value their opinion. This trust could come about for a number of reasons, but it's most likely because they have taken the time to write a review, signifying they have had a meaningful experience with the product, good or bad.

Many of us have more influence online than we do offline, so perhaps this explains why the twitter addicts keep going back. They get a kick out of the influence.

Home Update and Broadband Woes

2009-06-22T02:25:00.002+01:00

Greetings, it has been a little while since I last typed some words into this empty box on Blogger.

Well, I'm now comfortable and settled in Sydney. Brea and I moved into the flat a couple of weeks ago, and it's really cool. You can see some photos of it here. We're just waiting on a few things, like a sofa to be delivered in five weeks time, and some dodgy blinds to be fixed. Once that's all done, we'll be 95% settled.

For me, the final 5% of settlement comes when we get broadband sorted at the flat. This, as it often is for some reason, is not proving to be a walk in the park. The previous tenant had his broadband, TV, phone, mobile, kitchen sink etc. all from one provider, Optus. As we only want broadband, we looked at Optus, but it's hugely overpriced, so we decided to order with another provider, TPG. However, it turns out that before TPG can install broadband, the line needs to be converted from an Optus line into a Telstra line. Telstra is the BT equivalent in Oz. We are now waiting for Telstra to convert the line over so we can reorder broadband from TPG.

Net result? We're going to be using Internet cafes for another week or two yet I think.

I also haven't mentioned how miffed I am at the cost of broadband in Australia. To get a fast, ADSL 2 connection it costs an arm and a leg, and to top it all off, the amount you can download is capped. Why should the amount of stuff I download from the web be limited? It's a free Internet! I want to be able to download what I want to download.

Lack of photos

2009-06-03T07:57:00.001+01:00

I know, I know - you are all suffering from the terrible lack of photos I have uploaded recently. Well, the truth is, there are a few random shots I need to upload, but they are social photos more than anything....anyway, I've been meaning to get out in Sydney armed with my camera, and tomorrow I will do it, as long as it's not pissing down with rain like it has been doing for the last few days.

There is a festival on here at the moment called Vivid Sydney which includes a 'light walk', which is a walk ar0und the harbourside where various buildings and places are lit up with interesting art installations- so I hope to shoot some of those soon.

Watch this space.

Sitting in Sydney

2009-05-29T05:24:00.002+01:00

Well, a lot has happened since I last blogged. Where to begin? Hmm. I think I'll work backwards, because it's easier for me. If it's more difficult for you, I'm sorry, you'll just have to grin and bear it.

So I'm now in Sydney, and have been for a week now. I am staying in a nice one bed flat in the centre of the city with a friend from school who is out here for a three month spell with his law firm. It's very convenient. Brea flew back up to Brisbane yesterday for ten or eleven days, because the settlement on her new flat has been delayed, so we will now be able to move in on Tuesday June 9th. She couldn't fit on my friend's sofa with me so she opted for the comfort of her parents' house. Can't say I blame her!

The last week in Sydney has been great. We arrived last Friday, having driven down from Brisbane in two days through half a year's rainfall - it was some pretty crazy weather. Anyway, we made it safely, having stayed Thursday night in a motel in Port Macquarie.

We spent Friday and Saturday night in a plush hotel in the city because it was my birthday - on Saturday we saw a good play at the Sydney Opera House called "When the rain stops falling" and then we went on a sunset dinner cruise around the harbour, which was beautiful even though the overcast weather blocked the sunset itself!

Having checked out of the hotel we stayed for four nights at Brea's cousin's friend's flat. It was very kind of these two girls to put us up given that we'd never met either of them before!

Last night I met up with my friend Ellie who has been out here nine months for a few drinks, and I met her new boyfriend and another friend called Jess. It's a very small world - it turns out that Jess works for the same agency, New Dialogue, as my friend and ex-colleague Emily. It's quite a small digital media world here in Sydney and it seems most people know most other people, which is cool. Speaking of work, Cat, my other friend from LBi who just moved here as well, has landed herself a job as an associate creative director at an agency called Clemenger, part of BBDO, which is fantastic news for her.

I'm hoping to sort out a job for myself in the next week or so - watch this space!

Way back when

2009-05-13T07:18:00.002+01:00

You know I gave myself a few things to do when I last blogged?

Visit Australia Zoo, spiritual home of wildlife legend Steve Irwin.
Go to a theme park (I think it's called Dream World)
Book some tickets to watch an Ozzie rules footie game and/or Rugby League match.
Apply for some jobs in Sydney.
Think about a short holiday somewhere before we arrive in Sydney.

I have so far done one of those, I applied for a few jobs. We decided against the Zoo as it cost $55 each to get in! The same for the theme park ($75). We are planning on going to watch the Brisbane Lions play Ozzie Rules on Saturday night but we haven't got our tickets yet. We aren't going on holiday before we get down to Sydney, though we are hoping to stay in a beach house somewhere in Sydney for the last 9 days before the flat is ready.

What else is new? Well, I am writing this post from a new laptop, because the screen on my old one died. I took it in to a repair place and they quoted me $1200 Australian dollars, or about £600, so I figured as the laptop was three years old I may as well get a new one, so I now have a shiny new macbook. It's lovely.

We're going out to dinner ce soir for Sarah's birthday - an Italian restaurant in a Brisbane district called Tenerife (a lot nicer than the European equivalent I think).

We're also planning on playing some barefoot bowls on Saturday afternoon, which I'm told is a hoot. I'm unconvinced but I'm leaving myself open to persuasion.

Last weekend we spent a day in Byron Bay (photos here), where there was a triathlon taking place, and a day on Stradbrooke Island, which is the island across from where Brea's house is in Cleveland (photos here). We took a ferry out to the island but Brea's parents kindly picked us up for the return leg on the family catamaran, Longtime. The sail back was very relaxed...I didn't have too much problem finding my sea legs.

Looking forward to getting down to Sydney now; we're going to leave Brisbane at the start of next week, and mosey down the coast so we can be in Sydney for my birthday on the 23rd. Brea has a surprise activity waiting for me, which I'm in the dark about...I think I trust her ;-)

Plans for the four day week

2009-05-05T03:08:00.002+01:00

This week we are going to:

Visit Australia Zoo, spiritual home of wildlife legend Steve Irwin.
Go to a theme park (I think it's called Dream World)
Book some tickets to watch an Ozzie rules footie game and/or Rugby League match.
Apply for some jobs in Sydney.
Think about a short holiday somewhere before we arrive in Sydney.

Where's Andy?

2009-05-05T02:59:00.002+01:00

I'm still in Brisbane, well, Cleveland.

It is taking longer than anticipated to complete/exchange contracts on Brea's flat in Sydney - it looks like it might be as late as June 1st when we move in, but we still hold hope of everything being pushed forward.

In the mean time, we've been busy. In the last week I've been to an art gallery, a performing arts centre, various restaurants, various beaches and met all sorts of people, ranging from cousins to godparents to friends of Brea's. I also had time to fit in lunch with my own cousin, Guy, who is travelling up the coast with seven friends from school in a convoy of three camper vans!

Some random photos of what we've been up to:

Walking on the beach at Broadbeach - this is a view of Surfer's Paradise, the next town up the coast.

A day in Brisbane city, where we met Guy for lunch.

Messing about on the beach in Mooloolaba, on the Sunshine Coast (North of Brisbane).

First couple of days in Oz

2009-04-25T04:35:00.002+01:00

Well, I'm finally here in Australia - it's been a long time coming, and it's been a great couple of days - very relaxed.

The flight over here was pretty good actually - on the first leg I met a 25 year old chef from Hobart in Tasmania, who I will definitely get in touch with when I visit Tazzy. The second leg was spent mostly asleep, although not the best sleep I have ever had - I think I was buzzing with adrenaline, what with hours to go until I saw Brea and what was the start of a whole new chapter in my life.

I arrived on Thursday morning at about 7am. Brea picked me up from the airport and drove me back to her place in Cleveland. It's a beautiful house in what I call a marina, even though she claims it's just a canal. We went for a walk to a local park, and within minutes I saw my first koala (bear) in the wild. I'm told real Australians don't call them koala bears, instead just koalas. I also saw a couple of kookaburras, but sods law states meant that I didn't have my camera with me on the walk. Since then a couple of natives have told me they haven't seen a wild koala for a long time themselves, so I was quite smug! This is us about 7pm in the evening - you can see by this point I was really struggling to stay awake!

Soon after that a spot of dinner and then I was out like a light for the night. I had a good night of sleep, leaving me feeling SO much better the next day.

On Friday we went into the local small town of Cleveland - I bought some thongs, or flip-flops for the English speakers amongst you, and we picked up some food for dinner this evening, as we were having two couples over for dinner, which was lovely. Two of Brea's best friends, Briony and Sarah, and their other halves, Robbie and Mitch. I'd met all but Mitch in the past, so it was good to see them all and they very kindly bought me a welcome gift - another pair of thongs (useful!), a beach towel and a book about foodie haunts in Sydney, which should get used a fair bit!

Today has been pretty chillaxed so far - some laying about on a beachfront park around the corner, and this afternoon the plan is to chillax a bit more - I might go for a swim in the pool, lovely.

Anyway, that's all for now. See you next time for another (boring) update of what is keeping me occupied!

Last Day in the UK for a while

2009-04-21T10:11:00.002+01:00

Well, the time has come for me to leave these shores, just as they begin to warm up, and head for shores that are getting colder each day in Australia. I tried, but there is just no way of making the prospect of the sunny Australian weather sound like a bad thing.

The last week and a half since finishing work have been brilliant, if not hectic. I've seen lots of people I wanted to see, packed all my life together into a single suitcase, and had a big ol' party to celebrate. It cannot however mask my sadness at leaving London - I'll miss the place, and particularly my friends and family, who mean a lot to me. There have been a few emotional goodbyes and I'm sure I have a few left to go today!

I had an awesome last weekend in the barn in Sussex, canoeing, flying kites, playing firsbee and eating BBQ food and pub lunch. The kite was a bit too much fun!

The canoeing was also good fun, especially watching certain people nearly fall into the lake.

Anyway, next time I blog I will be in Brisbane I expect, so that's pretty exciting. Until then my friends, until then...

Clearing out my desk....

2009-04-09T11:05:00.002+01:00

Well, today is my last day here at LBi, and I'm sad to be going, but excited about the prospect of starting something new in Sydney. On that note, does anyone want to give me a job?! Wink wink, nudge nudge.

I've learnt a hec of a lot since starting 2.5 years ago at Wheel - I've worked in 3 offices, five departments, and for two and a half different companies. From Wheel, to LBi Wheel, to LBi. From West Kensington, to Brick Lane, to across the road in Brick Lane. From Client Services, to Production, to Media Buying/Planning, to Account Planning, to Strategy and Planning.

I went to work for Wheel, an agency with a great reputation for creativity and free massages every month at your desk. It was not long at all before it became LBi, a worldwide behemoth of an agency with 1500 people all over the place. It's been a great place to learn, but it wasn't quite what I signed up for. With that in mind, I think it would be nice to work for an agency in Sydney that doesn't feel quite so big, but that's not to say I want to close my options - hec I'll almost take anything ;-)

Personal Technology Consultants

2009-04-09T10:59:00.003+01:00

It's an idea I had a while back that popped into my head whilst on holiday in Antigua recently. There has got to be a market for a small business that looks after the technology in peoples' lives and advises them on what to buy. A business of Personal Technology Consultants, or PTC's.

I mean, how many time poor people are out there who don't have time to learn how to use new technologies which will actually free up some of their time? I reckon a fair few.

Ministry of Planning

2009-04-04T10:28:00.001+01:00

Ministry of Planning, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

For some reason this seemed appropriate...

Best Friends

2009-04-03T13:51:00.001+01:00

Best Friends, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

You wouldn't think these two would hang out, but they seemed to like each other.

Walk and Talk

2009-04-03T13:49:00.001+01:00

Walk and Talk, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

Up the palm tree

2009-04-03T13:48:00.001+01:00

Up the palm tree, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

The classic palm tree shot - I couldn't resist.

Beachside Dining Room

2009-04-03T13:47:00.001+01:00

Beachside Dining Room, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

Breakfast every morning in here was pretty delightful, it must be said!

Do The Funky Pelican!

2009-04-03T13:46:00.001+01:00

Do The Funky Pelican!, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

This pelican was making some serious shapes!

DIVE DIVE DIVE!

2009-04-03T13:45:00.001+01:00

DIVE DIVE DIVE!, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

Crabby!

2009-04-03T13:43:00.001+01:00

Crabby!, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

I thought I'd share some of my face photos from my hols in Antigua..

People I work with

2009-03-24T18:31:00.001Z

Gotta get out of here, it's 3.15pm already!, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

I'm going to finish this little series with some other people I work with here at LBi London before I leave for Sydney...

Hope you like it!

Data Recovery Update

2009-03-18T18:35:00.003Z

Last night, after a little Googling around, I discovered that many other people had had issues with the same external hard drive as mine. A large number of them reported it to be the power supply was faulty. So I ordered a replacement power supply from Iomega. I'm fairly confident that it should solve the problem.

So, knowing what I now know, I went into CSD again this evening on my way home from work. This time, the manager, or owner, was working. He is a quiet man of few words, though he does seem to have strong opinions on the way business works.

I went in and asked to have both my hard drives back in the state in which I had given them, i.e. with no data recovered. I told them I wanted to take my hard drive elsewhere. Simply put, Mr Manager didn't like that, as he had apparently worked for two days recovering the data. Now I'm not a data recovery expert, but I'm pretty sure it's just a case of plugging in the hard drive, using some software to choose which files you want to recover, and then clicking a button saying 'Go!'. I'm not entirely sure what he spent two days doing!

After again raising the point that normal businesses agree a cost with a customer before going ahead with work, and having received the same response as from his colleague yesterday, I began to lose my cool. I had signed a document when I originally left the hard drive there, which I was led to believe just said that I agreed to leave the drive in their possession, and that they charge £30 minimum charge, which I paid at that moment. He asked me if I knew what I had signed, and I told him no, because apparently I had signed that I accepted a £60 minimum charge. I asked to see the document I signed, because I didn't have my copy on me. The colleague refused to give it to me, which I could not understand for the life of me. I thought he was just being childish, until he said he would make a copy and give that to me. "Fine" I said. I didn't think at the time, but in hindsight, I can see that he thought I was dishonest enough to take their copy and rip it up in front of them! I accept that if I signed something without reading it, that is my fault, but I also think I was misled as to what I was signing. Anyway, at this point I'm thinking that I just want my hard drives back, and an extra £30 isn't the end of the world right now. The manager continued to whinge that he had spent two whole days working on it, and he gets nothing in return. I couldn't believe what he was saying, and I tried to explain to him that was not my problem, because work shouldn't be done without agreeing a cost beforehand.

I was losing my temper, and the colleague told me calm down. So I did, and I took a seat. There were two options then presented to me by the colleague - come to an agreement on a price for the data, or pay the £30 extra and get my hard drives back. I obviously chose the £30 option, and he then waited for the manager to begrudgingly agree.

At least it's a resolution which doesn't involve me paying another £268. So I said ok let's do it. Then I was told that I would have to come back tomorrow. Why on earth must I come back to this godforsaken shop again? Because they had to spend another day (more of their time wasted!) making sure that the data is deleted so thoroughly off the new hard drive that I cannot possibly reconstruct it afterwards. Something I hadn't thought of at all, but in hindsight would be quite a clever idea ;-)

One thing is for sure; if I get my hard drive back and suddenly the data is not recoverable, I know they have deliberately corrupted it, because if it was recoverable once, it sure as hell should be recoverable twice.

Anyway, I recorded the whole affair on my phone, and in case you want to hear it you can download the MP3 from here.

Data Recovery Rant

2009-03-17T18:32:00.003Z

I apologise in advance, this is another of my rants at apalling customer service. You may remember the last case was with Carphone Warehouse, an international firm. This one is the total opposite; a one-off, small computer repair shop in Clapham Junction.

It is called CSD - and you can see their hi-tech website here.

I have a 1 terabyte external hard drive which I bought about 1.5 years ago, on which to dump all my photos, movies, music and documents.

Sadly, despite the fact that it had been treated with nothing but the finest care, it decided to conk out a couple of weeks ago. I took it into CSD, which is local to my flat, and explained the problem. They told me it would cost £30 to take a look at it and diagnose the problem. That seemed OK to me so I left the hard drive there and off I went.

A few days later I received a call, telling me they could indeed access the data. Great, that's a relief. They asked me to bring in another hard drive onto which they could transfer the data. I have recently bought a 500gb portable hard drive to take to Sydney, so I took that in and left it there. They told me it would cost £60 for the first 20 gigabytes of data, and then £1 per gigabyte thereafter. I didn't think much of it at the time, thinking it would cost about £100 - there's not that much data actually on the terabyte drive anyway.

A few days later again, I got an email from the guy, with a few screenshots of some folders on the drive; not all the folder, just a select few. I chose which ones I wanted saved, expecting him to email me back telling me exactly how much data that came to, and therefore a cost for the recovery.

I received no such email. three further days later, I received a text message instead, saying my data had been recovered and it would cost a further £268 on top of the £30 I had already paid.

Putting aside the cost of the data recovered, is it not standard business practice, in EVERY SINGLE PROFESSION, to tell a customer how much a job is going to cost before doing the job? Builders do it, agencies do it, in fact, I can't think of a company that doesn't do that, apart from CSD in Clapham Junction.

I was not in a great mood before I received that text message, so you can understand my mood after it. I texted the guy back telling him that I thought that was highly unprofessional to do the work before getting the customer's consent.

That was on Friday. I went in on my way home from work this evening. The manager, who was the one who I had been dealing with, was not there unfortunately. His colleague was aware of my case, however, and I simply told him I could not afford £268, and I believe I should have been asked before they went ahead and recovered all the data. I told him I would like to review the data I am recovering properly from a full list, so I can save exactly what I want to save. He then tells me that is not possible, and that it was only out of the kindness of his manager's heart that he had emailed me any screenshots; normally they wouldn't do that.

Once again, I stressed how much I can't afford this amount. He said he understood it's a lot of money, but that's standard for data recovery; a fact with which I don't disagree (although still don't understand - it's only setting a computer to copy some files, it's not manual labour!).

The guys tells me that he made me aware of the costs involved. I don't deny that, he did tell me what it would cost per gigabyte. I then tell him that there was no way I could know how many gigabytes of data I had chosen to recover from some screenshots. They didn't have any sizes attached to them. He then tells me that I should know how much data I have on my hard drive, as it is mine, and therefore I should know how much data is on it. How, in the name of someone I shouldn't name, should I know how much data is on my drive? It's been sat in my cupboard at home, waiting for me to occasionally transfer various files and folders from my laptop onto it. It's just a depository for all my files I'm not using at the moment. How on earth am I supposed to know how many gigabytes is on my broken drive?!?!?!

He told me that in four years in doing this, they have never had a case of a customer being upset that they went ahead and transferred the data without previously confirming the final cost. I literally cannot believe that, and I can't understand how they can legitimately run a business in such a way. I just can't.

I am going to go in again, tomorrow, and I am going to arm myself with a hidden dicatphone. Watch this space for the results. It might get nasty.

Average Costa Coffee

2009-03-12T12:24:00.003Z

On my way home yesterday, I twice encountered this message from Costa Coffee.

Now call me a purist, but I would say that telling people that seven out of ten people prefer Costa Coffee is not a very good message. They may as well say, "Costa Coffee is average, normal coffee. Most people kind of like it, but some don't". I mean hec, why not pull a Blazing Squad on it - "Flip Reverse" it, and tell the public that "3 out of 10 people don't prefer Costa Coffee". I think that might have about the same effect on sales.

I would never run that message unless it was at least 9 out of 10 people who prefer it. It just doesn't make you think, "Well, if 70% of the nation think Costa Coffee is good, then I should give it a go". It just makes you think:

"Meh"

Career Change?

2009-03-10T15:20:00.003Z

My photo hobby is very, very slowly becoming slightly more than a hobby. Glass Pear, a great band, led by the brother of Jem and including a guitarist from Thirteen Senses, have asked me to do a photo shoot, after I took some photos of them at their gig a week or two ago.

I don't know exactly what they're looking for but I'm excited at the opportunity.

I'm also taking more photos for LBi, including some shots of the worldwide CEO, Luke Taylor, for the annual report. I already took some of the UK CEO for the same publication, which you can see here.

Oh, and by the way, in case you didn't know, I'm leaving LBi just before Easter to move across the world to Australia to be with my beautiful girlfriend Brea in Sydney. I can't wait to get out there.

Amplified Journeys

2009-03-03T11:54:00.003Z

Finally, an idea I would have thought have been done ages ago, has been brought to life by Harmon Kardon. Amplified Journeys is a Google Maps mashup with music playlists. You tell it your origin and your destination, and it gives you a route and a playlist of music defined by a genre or artist to listen to along the way. It's all hooked up to iTunes so you can buy the music.

Pretty darn cool if you ask me - question is, will anyone actually use it?

James Hill

2009-03-03T11:24:00.002Z

I stumbled across this guy, James Hill, via the wonderful world of Flickr. He's an ozzie living in London but moving home very soon.

His blog, Sultana Sandwich, is an excellent combination of photographic geekery and other life stuff - he's in the final 50 for that famous Gold Coast job, kudos to him.

He seems like my kind of guy.

MGMT Kids on iPhones

2009-03-02T16:05:00.001Z

Geeky? Yes. Good song? I think so. Combination = geeky gadget music. I like.

Skittles.com - They've got the right idea - or do they?

2009-03-02T15:30:00.003Z

Image courtesy of This is An Ad.

So Skittles have, quite boldly made their homepage, www.skittles.com, a live page on Twitter showing a search for the term 'skittles'.

It's brave, yes, because as you can see in the image above, it offers a completely uncensored view on what people are saying about Skittles, but is it sensible? I agree with their approach - they have their photos and images on Flickr, their videos on Youtube, their friends on Facebook, and chat about the brand on Twitter. I'm just not sure that it works as an introduction to a brand. If you stumble upon Skittles.com, you're not going to know what the hell it's all about. Secondly, as it's just a prepopulated search page, there is nothing stopping me engaging with chat about M&M's on the Skittles homepage. That's pretty daft.

I like their thinking, and it's definitely a step in the right direction for brands in the new world, but it's going to leave them open to a lot of debate and ridicule to begin with. Kudos to them though for being the first to do it.

Reverse Snobbery

2009-02-27T10:07:00.004Z

I was chatting to Matt Watts, one of our wonderful creative peeps, at the coffee counter this morning. He said it was the first time he had opted for a free coffee from our coffee bar on Friday morning.

"Why?", I asked.
"I'm addicted to the coffee from Pret-a-Manger", replied Matt.
"Fair enough", I mumbled.
"I guess you could call me a coffee snob", he remarked.
"But Pret-a-Manger is hardly upmarket for coffee", said I.
"True", he said as he received his coffee.

It got me thinking.

Snobbery is traditionally uni-directional, in the north to south direction. e.g. She is a fashion snob, only shopping at Prada and Gucci.

But surely snobbery can work in the opposite direction, too. e.g. he is such a McDonald's snob, he'll never eat at a Michelin starred restaurant.

So there we have it, my thought of the day. Snobbery is bi-directional.

FFFFound

2009-02-26T16:17:00.002Z

Ffffound this photo - so cute - I feel compelled to share it...

The Great Spitalfields Pancake Race

2009-02-24T16:16:00.001Z

The Great Spitalfields Pancake Race, originally uploaded by andy_tyler.

Took some photos today at the pancake race - sadly we didn't have an LBi team taking part, but it was a cracking event. Lots of fun, brilliant costumes, high-paced, frantic pancake tossing and team spirit!

Yum.

Snobby Water

2009-02-17T10:50:00.005Z

On my way in to work this morning I decided, for the first time ever, to pick up my lunch. I was passing a little cafe by Bank Station on Threadneedle St, called Napket, which I have passed many a time but never actually entered. I bit the bullet and went in. I've always been a bit put off because of Napket's tag line, which is "Snob Food". It ought to be good then!

I bought a salad in a tub, and I was choosing a drink when I came across a new brand of mineral water I had never encountered. Naturally, being in a shop whose tagline is "Snob Food", this water was not cheap. £1.99 for 330ml, or four times the price of a can of Coke. OGO wate, as it is called, is beautifully packaged. It comes in an aesthetically pleasing spherical bottle, and the small print on the bottle is illegible from the outside - you have to look through the spherical bottle in order for the water and shape of the bottle to magnify the text to make it readable. Very clever.

Of course, anyone who, in their right mind, chooses to regularly buy this brand of mineral water, is either too rich to care or too style conscious to be seen drinking any other "conventional" bottle of water. Still, I do love the beautifully designed packaging and it seems to have a strong brand identity.

Having arrived at work, I found a free plastic fork in my bag with the salad. But it wasn't just any fork - Napket have taken plastic forks to the next level people.

Very on brand - I do have time for it. I won't make Napket a regular haunt, but I may pop in from time to time when I'm feeling snobbish.

SO many photos

2009-02-16T12:34:00.009Z

I keep seeing people with digital cameras, everywhere I go. They are everywhere.

I remember getting my first digital camera, a Sony Cybershot DSC-S75, back in 2001. It was pretty blooming chunky, cost £550 and took 3.3 megapixel photos. It was fantastic, I loved it, taking thousands of photos before it finally conked out.

Nowadays I'm a bit more into my photography, and I have one of these:

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I keep seeing cameras everywhere. It's crazy. A few thoughts spring to mind.

Digital cameras have become so standard now, in a matter of eight years. I can now pick up an 8 megapixel camera for less than £50. There can't be many technologies that have become so omnipresent in such a short space of time.
There are millions of digital cameras all around the world. I'm going to take a guess that the average digital camera takes 2500 photos in its lifetime. If I say that there are 100 million digital cameras in the world, which I think is a huge underestimation, that would mean there are 250 billion photos out there. That's a lot of photos. A lot of photos indeed.
How many of those photos actually shift from a digital file into a physical print? I would say about 0.5%. That means that photo printing companies like Jessops, Snappy Snaps, and online photo printing services like Photobox, are going to be competing pretty fiercely for those 1.25 billion photos.
Those times when your parents get out the photo albums of you in your childhood, in order to embarrass you in front of girlfriend, will be long gone. What a shame that is, not.
It leads me to think of an interesting business idea. I don't think I'm going to share it just yet, until I have thought it through a bit further, and perhaps make millions from it.

Notes From The Underground

2009-02-16T11:56:00.003Z

I got handed a free paper this morning outside Clapham Junction station. What's so special about that? You ask.

Well, it was not
a) The Metro
b) City Am
c) The London Paper
d) The London Lite
e) Sport Magazine
f) Shortlist Magazine

Nope, those I occasionally pick up, but this morning was different. Admittedly, I was making my way into work a little later than normal, but I was happy to receive a copy of Notes From The Underground.

It describes itself as "The free creative writing paper". And that's exactly what it is. How refreshing it was to be entertained on my commute to work - some really beautifully written poems and short stories.

My favourite was a little excerpt about a bird:

The Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo

These birds are enchanting fellows and, like youngsters and tourists, are drawn to fountains where they splash about and get into mischief. On a more serious note they spread diseases such as Hepatitis B and mumps, which can be contagious. I had a toy one as a child that I used to love playing with bu the Social Worker said it was actually a real dead one that had been stuffed with sawdust, and she took it away.

by Serge Bird

I would read this every morning, it's much more inspiring than Metro! Here here!

Fortunately they have a website, which I'm hoping they update often! Time will tell.

Cheap Starbucks Coffee

2009-02-13T09:44:00.004Z

From Brand Republic

Who'd have thought it? Starbucks, a global conglomerate that has built its business on selling coffee for $4 a cup, is starting to give customers the option of buying instant coffee, known as Starbucks Via for $1 a cup. Apparently it tastes as good as the real thing! If that's true, I think it could be a bad move for Starbucks - why pay over the odds for real coffee if an instant substitute tastes just as good?

The answer is that it clearly will not taste as good as a real cup of coffee. Otherwise, Starbucks revenue for the next year is going to be about 25% of where it has been previously.

Still, it's a bold move in difficult times to drum up some more business - good luck to them I say.