Andersens iDesign 3D Room Planner

The first was the ‘iDesign‘ 3D room planner for carpet and flooring powerhouse Andersens. In an industry where online catalogues simply don’t exist, we’ve worked with Andersens to bring thousands of their products online, in beautifully high resolution. Visitors can browse, filter, zoom and read up on features across the entire Andersens range.

But what good is a massive range of flooring, blinds and shutters if you can’t see how they’d look in different settings? That’s why we created the 3D room planner, allowing customers to switch out walls, floors, furniture and blinds in a range of beautifully rendered rooms to create thousands of different combinations. Once customised, rooms can be printed, shared and saved for future reference.

The tricky part of this project was working out how to deliver a solution that worked just as well on Andersens’ in store iPads as it did on desktops. That meant Flash was out, and everything had to be done using JavaScript and HTML. If you’re technically inclined you’ll appreciate just how challenging this would have been. If you’re not, just enjoy using iDesign on your iPad!

H Squared Responsive Website

The second of the two was for TV production company H Squared. The guys who’ve brought joy to our (TV) screens in the form of Good Chef Bad Chef, Everyday Gourmet and Miguel’s Tropical Kitchen needed an online home that placed content squarely at its centre.

The paired back design lets the show reels speak for themselves, but don’t be fooled by the seemingly simple interface. In one of our first truly responsive projects, the site automatically reconfigures itself to perfectly fit the device a visitor is using, be it a desktop, mobile or tablet. And when clicking and scrolling feels old school, those on touch screen devices can choose to ‘swipe’ through content across the site.

There’s plenty more goodness just about to be unveiled including a huge social campaign, a very sexy iPhone app and even a couple of website, so watch the tweets and stay tuned!

You’d be hard pressed to find a freezer in an Australian home that doesn’t have a Birds Eye product in it, and we’re thrilled to be bringing such an iconic brand to life online. We’re also rapt about another opportunity to collaborate with the talented team at BWM, so watch this space!

You can also check out the full press release on B&T here.

Thanks Lean Cuisine

View the full release on Adnews here: http://radsh.it/jaqxf

People were directed to the page, liked the brand and then answered a couple of simple questions about their lover and their relationship. The form took less than a minute to complete and the teaser video, featuring the now (slightly more) famous Leggo’s crooner ensured people knew what they were in for.

On Valentine’s Day, everyone who entered received an email directing them to their personalised love song, presented as a YouTube video that they could email, facebook share or tweet to others. The five best entries received completely bespoke songs that were longer, more personal and included specific names, dates, events and ‘in jokes’ for the lucky couple.

As a ‘launch’ campaign, the objectives set were around community development and engagement. The initial target of 5,000 fans was smashed within a week of launch, and by the time Valentine’s Day rolled around the community was up over 12,000. Thousands of personalised love songs were delivered on the day giving rise to a swell of positive sentiment on facebook and twitter. Engagement levels have remained strong since, providing an excellent foundation for Leggo’s ongoing social activities.

For a campaign to perform so well there are obviously a number of things that needed to line up. When reflecting on the campaign, there were three things in particular that made a huge difference to the overall success. These were:

1. An inherently social idea
There’s a reason facebook is called a social network - it’s a place where people create and share content with friends and family. Most competition mechanics are personal and only relate to the individual who’s entering; “Tell us in 25 words or less…”, “Complete this survey” or “SMS this number”.

The very nature of ‘Love Songs’ required people to share the content in order to get the benefit. What’s the point in making a lovesong for yourself? In addition to the avalanche of entries, the post campaign reporting showed us that on average, each video we sent was viewed, in its entirety, by the recipient as well as two other people. Now that’s social at work!

2. A ‘money can’t buy’ incentive
The easiest things to give away are product and cash. There’s no question they work well from a volume of entries perspective, but they don’t do much for brand building or consumer engagement.

Leggo’s is all about the passion and romance of Italian cooking, so securing the services of a charming, handsome crooner to write and record love songs for Valentine’s Day was a perfect fit.

It took a little (read: a lot) more effort than writing a giant novelty cheque but the fit, sentiment and talkabaility around the brand made it well worthwhile. Creating a scalable incentive that let all entrants ‘win’ was also a nice addition.

3. Agencies working in sync
To be successful, any campaign like this requires the involvement of multiple agencies, and there’s no way it can work if they’re not truly collaborating. The technology is too new, the opportunity too great and the stakes too high for any one organisation to pretend that they can do it all alone.

The client has a huge role to play here as they set the rules of engagement. The Leggo’s brand team did an exceptional job getting the traditional, digital and media agencies involved at the outset, creating an environment where everybody could contribute their expertise and take the idea from strength to strength.

With Love Songs behind us, we’re all busy working on engagement strategies for the community that continues to grow, all while planning the next big campaign for later in the year.

On the day they launch, both brand team and agency are proud as punch - but it seldom lasts. ‘Build website’ gets crossed off the to do list. New projects take attention and priority. The stats stop getting reviewed. Products don’t get updated. ‘News’ becomes embarrassingly old. Rust sets in, and before you know it, the site’s abandoned. Nobody visits. Nobody cares.

Cue tumbleweed.

On 29 February, Facebook announced that it was rolling out a string of new features, including ‘timeline‘ for brands. The keynote presentation made only subtle references to timeline doing ‘everything a website could do’, but dumping one for the other makes sense for plenty of brands. Facebook is forcing all brands with a Facebook profile to adopt Timeline by the end of March.

Of course, the timeline roll out has brought the usual bitching and moaning that happens anytime someone rearranges our toys. But the overwhelming sentiment around it has been positive - and for good reason.

1. It’s really easy (and comparatively cheap) to set up

Taking a leaf from apple’s book, Facebook have found a nice balance between flexibility and control. They’re well placed to make many of the important decisions on our behalf and have done exactly that. They’ve settled on a format, outlined best practices, implemented rules to keep everything friendly, and cleared the hosting, technology, screen size and mobile compatibility hurdles that so many brands stumble upon. They’re also far more likely to maintain ‘best practice’ standards than most (read: free upgrades!).

At the same time, Facebook have left plenty of room for brands to really own their timelines with high impact visuals, native features like pinning and support for custom apps if they’re that way inclined. This means that brands can get started on their ‘online brochures’ without the raft of specialised skills that have typically been purchased from website companies. Facebook have already engaged the best UX, UI, programming and infrastructure guys going around. Brands just get to add the fun bits on top.

coca cola timeline

2. Party where the people are

Part of the reason brand sites become ghost towns is that it’s just so damn hard to get people to visit them. Sure, you can paste your URL on the back of packs, in your email signature or as the last quarter second of your TVC, but we’re really asking a lot of people - especially if your content is no good (more on this shortly). Launching a standalone brand site in 2012 is like ignoring the beach party with half a billion attendees in favour of setting up shop on a deserted island. Sure, there’s plenty of space and you can walk around naked but man it’s lonely!

People love staying within the Facebook environment, and the new ad products Facebook have (coincidentally) launched in line with timeline give brands so many efficient options for drawing traffic it’s practically a no brainer.

3. It forces the focus on doing great things today and tomorrow, not yesterday

While the big selling point for timeline is that it lets brands communicate their history in an engaging, visual way, the very nature of Facebook forces us to prioritise the here and now over former glory. Like it or not, the latest updates are always on top, and the more current, engaging and human they are, the better. Contrast this with a typical website’s focus on ‘our products’ (ie ‘things we’ve done well in the past) and it’s apparent that times are a changing.
I’ve been in and out of enough companies to know that anyone still in business has a million brand, product and people stories to tell. Hidden truths about the way they operate, innovate or reward staff. Quirky things they do to add value, solve problems or service their customers every single day. Timeline provides the perfect way for brands to turn these tidbits in to valuable interactions, all while dialing up the human side that so often gets lost in big brand comms.

Yes, if we were any good at keeping things updated we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place, but updating facebook undoubtedly requires less time, effort and planning than writing a new news piece for brand’s website.

But what about…?

Of course there are exceptions. I’m talking about shutting down the basic brochure sites that nobody loves (or finds particularly useful) anyway. In its current format, timeline is no substitute for sites with heavy content requirements, well considered user flows or serious functionality (especially eCommerce). In these instances, Timeline provides some exciting opportunities to complement, rather than usurp existing brand sites.

So lets be honest. If you’re running a ghost town, it’s time to shut up shop and join the rest of the world over at Zuckerberg’s place. It’s quick, easy and I promise, nobody will miss your old site.

*This piece was also picked up and published on Mumbrella http://radsh.it/REJal

“You’re going to find it hard to get things right, because you’re in New York
and anyone who’s any good at tech works in Silicon Valley”.

And that’s when it hit me. The reason why Australia’s best traditional agencies, working with the most prolific clients and the biggest budgets cant manage to put out anything remotely passable as decent Digital work.

Anyone who’s any good at Digital works at an agency that actually believes in it.

Not believes in it as a way to tack another $30k on to a campaign budget or something for the new interns to play with. Agencies that believe that the future of our industry is Digital. It’s opt in. It’s creating valuable experiences, not interrupting them. It’s building efficiencies and reducing costs for our clients, just as much as it’s growing their revenues. It’s not what it’s been for the last 70 years. And it’s awesome.

People who subscribe to this view don’t last six months in traditional agencies. They suffocate, or are crushed under the weight of endless banner campaigns and microsite rollouts based on print ads. Their brilliance, ingenuity and ambition goes unnoticed in the opulent shrines dedicated to 30 second spots, catchy jingles and 10% commissions.

The people best placed to lead this revolution are the ones being told to keep calm and carry on. Think the same. Digital is just another channel.

Is it any wonder they leave?

As the talented few are driven to the upstarts, the inevitable next wave of great agencies continues to gain momentum. Without the right people, the traditionals have no choice but to keep pushing Digital to the bottom of the list, ignoring its fundamental differences and churning out more of the same.

They’ll keep enticing the superstars of tomorrow with huge salaries and exciting job titles, but just as quickly kill them with bureaucracy, old habits and outdated beliefs that just wont die. They’ll blame the turnover on “typical gen Y’s”, and one day wonder where it all went wrong. Just like the newspapers.

*This piece was also picked up and published on Mumbrella (http://radsh.it/UAydh)

The article talks about the HardHat journey so far, as well as the challenges and opportunities that await those who jump straight in to the deep end. Be sure to check it out here.

With the international quasi-holiday of love almost upon us, we’ve been working hard with the guys at Leggo’s and BWM to make sure this year’s Valentine’s Day is extra special.

We’ve secured the services of one of Australia’s most talented, handsome (and if you believe the talk around the water cooler, “totally dreamy”) crooners to write free, personalised love songs for all. All you need to do is jump on the Leggo’s Facebook page, answer a couple of quick questions to get him started, and then sit back, relax, and know that you’ve got Valentine’s Day covered.

On Feb 14, your free, personalised love song will arrive in your inbox, ready for you to share with your better half.

What are you waiting for? It only takes a minute and will definitely be better received than exotic soaps, scented candles or a box of chockies from the servo. Get started.

But that was before Groupon, Cudo, Living Social and the rest of their deal-a-day cronies came to town, bringing an onslaught of ‘hand picked special offer’ emails with them. The average Australian is now waking up to more emails than they could ever hope to read, let alone action. By the time we’ve poured our morning cuppa, most of us have already ignored/deleted a dozen of them touting cut-price pedicures, two for one laser hair removal, $12 teeth whitening and all you can eat Nepalese food.

Logic dictates that the more emails we receive, the less attention we can give to each. Like so many mediums that have come before it, email is now cluttered beyond recognition.

But it’s not completely over. Switched on marketers can retain email as one of the sharpest, most effective tools in their arsenal - though it’s tougher than ever. Quality will always prevail, and the pointers below will help ensure that the daily deal posse don’t completely screw it up for the rest of us:

1. Subject lines: The good news is, if you screw this up you’ve got nothing else to worry about. A subject line needs the same degree of attention and expertise you’d give the headline in a print ad- after all, they serve the same purpose. Call the value out up front, include calls to action and test, test, test.

2. Content: Being helpful is always a winning formula. Include different sorts of content at the start, and then track what recipients are actually interacting with. Add more of the popular stuff, remove the bits nobody cares about, and watch your interaction levels (and ROI) skyrocket.

3. Eyes on what’s next: Social media can hardly be considered ‘next’, with brands already clamouring over each other to ask fans about their new year’s resolutions, tips for cooking on a budget and who’s going to win the Grand Final. But with half of the world’s population on Facebook, there’s still plenty of room for brands to interact, engage and transact with consumers in this exciting, ever changing environment.

Until people realise that daily deals sites are an annoying, non-sustainable fad, the eDM zealots among us have certainly got our work cut out. In the mean time, we know that our inboxes will continue to be pummeled, and we need to keep one eye on the new opportunities turning up every day to keep our brands relevant.

*Update. This post was featured on Mumbrella on Wednesday and appears to have ruffled a few feathers. Check it out (and all the comments) here: http://mumbrella.com.au/hey-groupon-thanks-for-fucking-up-email-72101

Leggo’s have been ahead of the game for over 100 years - these are the guys who taught Aussie families how to cook Italian when meat in a can was considered exotic! The brand has so much to share with consumers in terms of expertise, recipes and heritage, and we’re excited to be helping to bring this to consumers in a way that only Digital can. Stay tuned!