Rad Report - 1st Edition

Last week over a few drinks we got to talking about some of the amazing work that's being done out there in advertising and media land and how we should do a better job of sharing it so that we can all use it for inspiration.

And so the Rad Report was born. Every Friday (deadlines pending) we'll bring you our report on what's rad out there - campaigns, social memes and anything else that captures our attention.

Here's the first instalment - let us know what you think!

CHEVROLET VOLT

USA

The resurgence of the zombie genre has hit pop culture in a big way, with Walking Dead rating big in the States, and Zombie Apocalypse survival kits being easily purchased (yes, honestly, Adria’s got one).

It also makes you realise you need a good vehicle.

When Chevvy launched the new electric car Volt they took the idea of fuel efficiency and reliability to a new level with their new TVC, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lhFvJuYM2Y

I give it 4 out of 5 bites for production quality and stepping outside the standard boring efficiency messages.

As a proud owner of a real gas-guzzler it makes me realise that maybe I’m not totally prepared for the zombie apocalypse…

BANDAID

USA

Everyone loves the Muppets, and the new Muppets movie brought our childhood favourites to a new generation. 

This new generation is also at the age where they fall over a lot (no I’m not talking about newly drink-legal 18 year olds), and still believe that Mum can kiss a booboo better. 

Bandaid did one better and used the Muppets to distract kids from their bumps and grazes by using an app and augmented reality to bring the characters out of the sticky plasters and onto interactive screens.

I personally love this, and being quite unco would have loved it to come out over here!

Check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm5-KPW0x3U (yes the kid’s voice is a little intense)

5 out of 5 chickens for sheer radness.

ANTARCTICA BEER

BRAZIL

Thought I’d end on something super simple but really effective.

Three key messages:

1.)   Benjamin Franklin said ‘Beer is proof that god loves us and wants to be happy’.  Deep.

2.)   Crowds can be, well, crowded, and therefore hard to find stuff, and finding stuff is thirsty work.

3.)   Crowds and beer together can impede people’s ability to use technology.

When 3 million people hit the streets of Rio for Carnival it can be pretty tough to find the mobile drinks vendors, so Antarctica Beer created Beer GPS. 

Giant inflatable balloons were attached to the vendors so there was no way to miss where to get a nice cold beverage without the hassle of hunting around for a vendor.

I’ll give this one 5 out of 5 burps for simplicity

Antarctica was unsurprisingly the top selling beer at Carnival.  Considerations for Toilet GPS are in place for future events.

Happy Friday y’all!

The Sky is Falling....

And in breaking news:

“ComScore Study finds 31% of Display Ads Never Seen”

“UH, OH! Facebook Pages Only Reach 17% Of Fans”

Crikey, I thought over my morning cuppa. We are all doomed. Or are we? Let’s break it down:

The only real new news here is the ‘31%’ in the headline. We all know that a percentage of ads are never seen and that’s ok because there are lots of perfectly relevant reasons for this. We all know CPC media buys deliver squillions of impressions and no-one really expects that every single one of them will be seen. Because the buy is based on clicks, wastage isn’t an issue.

As for ad impressions being delivered outside of geographic areas – well duh. We all know that ad serving isn’t an exact science and that some networks aren’t that rigorous with their targeting.

At the end of the day, if you want a guarantee that your ads will be seen (as much as there is a guarantee) then you need to pay for premium placements in contextually relevant environments. Media Planning 101 is to ensure you have the right mix of high reach/low cost placements which deliver cost effectiveness and premium, contextually relevant placements that deliver awareness and give the campaign a presence. The split is different for each brand/campaign, but a good starting point is 60/40 (and which way round that goes will depend on whether your objectives are awareness or response).

Anyhoo – its all a bit of a moot point as the real story behind this is ComScore’s announcement that they have launched a new “Validated Campaign Essentials” report which in a nutshell reports back on campaign wastage.

So on to the headline that Facebook pages only reach 17% of fans. If some of the brand pages I ‘like’ are anything to go by, this is also no surprise. For a start, some of the “content” they offer is so offputting I have ended up in the -5% propensity to buy category more than once. Secondly – the sheer volume of content appearing on my wall in any 24 hour period is overwhelming. And I don’t even have that many friends.

If you are managing a brand page on Facebook it’s essential to have an always on media budget set aside to support the page outside of wider campaign activity. Your campaign budgets should be used primarily to grow connections so that your always on budget can be used to build engagement through judicious and clever use of the sponsored stories product.

What I loved about the blog was the insight into a reporting metric we could all do with keeping an eye on – “average post visibility”. I’ll be adding this to our reporting metrics from here on in. And we could all do with keeping the “Tips for Solving Facebook Post Visibility Problems” close at hand.

So, I can get on with my work today in the safe knowledge that the sky is in fact not falling. Not today at least.

Pencil bookings - a campaign to remove this

Is there really anyone in the NZ market that actually likes the pencil booking system that exists for premium display media? For those of you who don't know, several large publishers (and a few small ones) maintain a pencil booking system.

How does this work? I enquire about availability for a specific placement on a specific date, and it's available, I have the option of 'pencil booking' the placement. This means that although I am not accountable for confirming the booking, I have first right of refusal on it if another media person 'challenges' for the booking. A challenge means they're committed to buying that spot.

Which brings the second point - if I'm investigating availability, and I get told that something I want is 'pencil booked', I'm more inclined not to bother going through a process to get the client to agree to a date, then challenge the booking. I'll find a way to reach the same audience elsewhere.

Over the past few months I've been struggling to understand what value this system provides to anyone, except the few media people who like the security blanket of knowing that they have first right of renewal on placements, and that their media plan will be able to go ahead if the client signs it off. Or the media owners who have a false economy based forecasting system.

I understand that there are dates - e.g launches where a date is preferable. However it's time for clients and agencies to put their money where their mouths are. If you're committed to a date and ready to book, book. But not hold onto a placement because it 'might' go ahead. Let's leave this hokey system back in the dark ages where it originated.