January 2011
1 post
The Christmas puzzle
Christmas Greetings and a disclaimer.
Here’s the LHR Christmas Greeting:
http://www.youtube.com/v/tXxFriit7h8&hl=en&fs=1”
Here’s the disclaimer: (All good ads have to have at least one!)
All the trappings are there already. Stores decorated. All the special foods. But underneath it all, do I sense what Tom Lehrer advised in one of his songs, “
Christmas time is here by golly,...
October 2010
1 post
The greening of Australia
Drive south of Sydney, and after years of intense drought, suddenly the miracle of a green countryside is evident. Steer a little to the south-west and you come to another place which is newly green as well. We call it a parliament.
What has become painfully evident in the post-election weeks is that we did not elect a government with a significant policy framework, we managed to put into power...
August 2010
1 post
Will it be 2% till "no more"?
Last week it was reported that the print media had suffered yet another decline in newspaper circulation of 2 percent last year.
This of course is attributed to changing generational attitudes about newspapers and the shift to the internet. The implications being that over time the 2% loss will accellerate and the newspaper industry will find itself as a set of vanishing products and brands.
Can...
July 2010
1 post
That was the year that was.
Another financial year gone. And surprisingly not too bad a result.
What was it that made it possible?
Undoubtedly a good team. Hung in through the four day week, the Global Flavour Crisis, and (fortunately for us) the demise of a major competitor.
But in the midst of all that, the advertsing market is in upheaval. Targeting is becoming more difficult. Markets are increasingly fragmented....
May 2010
1 post
Being different...it works
This is a bit of self praise.
The ad on the right was written in haste in a meeting with a school headmistress (am I allowed to use that title now?) and communications person, after they were going to run the traditional Open Day advertisement for their school.
It only took 30 minutes to write and edit the text, and to come up with the Lapel Button copy. But then to persude the school to take a...
April 2010
1 post
The drive for the recognition of me
Increasingly those in the business of recruiting, either corporates or recruitment agencies are looking at the whole social network scene and trying to make use of it in their drive to gain better team members.
Articles and blogs abound on “How to use Facebook/Twitter” to reach people. There is increasing pressure on the person who has to recruit in knowing what to use and how to use...
March 2010
1 post
How suddenly....
The earth seemed to shift a fortnight ago today. Mid morning there was a phone call to say that TMP Worldwide had closed its offices in Australia.
This was amazing news. We always viewed TMP as an unassailable, professional and creative competitor who won awards and were excellent at what they did.
What went wrong for them? We had heard marketplace gossip that they were up for sale. Way too big...
February 2010
2 posts
The future of media? We've found out...we hope!
This week LHR hosted an all-day conference at Darling Harbour about the future of media communications. It was at first blush, for Local Government, but as it progressed others expressed interest so it was broadened.
Steve Allen from Fusion Strategies, Leighton Farrell -Blacktown Council, Fairfax Media, News Media, 2GB, Port Stephens and Auburn Councils all made presentations about both present...
The hacker conundrum
This last fortnight has been destabilising.
A website which we have run for some years without interruption was hacked by some folks from Russia. At one level, you have to admire their nerve. They have a public website which boasts their achievements.
They entered our databases -even though we had a secure site- and put malicious data on. We had to shut down the site.
Then we had to employ a...
January 2010
1 post
As the banker said....
Last week I was in conversation with our business banker about the new year.
His comment was, “I hope we do not have another year like the last…we need that like we need the proverbial.”
True. Yet in the midst of the crisis there were opportunities to do things differently.
LHR has still invested heavily in new technology. In developing software which will give clients a...
December 2009
1 post
Time flies when you're having fun
Goodness!
Nothing since November 10th! But we’ve had conferences (see previous) and it’s been involving to say the least. The conferences turned out to be better than expected and proved to be worth the investment.
And surprisingly the months of October and November were also a boost to confidence. December is shaping up as “interesting”, but you really can’t tell...
November 2009
1 post
Is there a recovery?
What is going on? There are some confusing signs. October was a good (but not spectacular) month of trade.
What is of interest is Trade Shows. We’re booked with a stand for one this month. It is a costly and involving exercise. But we have had passable results from previous efforts.
This time we’ve asked for the delegate attendance numbers in advance. It is not good. Our normal...
October 2009
2 posts
Award! Yes! But it is sort of vicarious
As per previous postings, LHR does not seek out awards. But sometimes they arrive in the most curious of ways.
Port Stephens Council was having difficulty filling some positions. It was mentioned that there were plenty of retirees living in their LGA (Local Government Area) who would fill the bill. But how to get to them? And would they want to work?
The LHR campaign was elegant and simple. LHR...
Did the earth move for you?
Yes. We all know what that is meant to mean in impolite conversation. But all around us there are geotechnical, geographic, geopolitical and geotrading shifts which mean that the old reference points and comfort zones are gone.
For instance, book marketing. The established system was a sort of cozy publisher, distributor, retailer tiered arrangement. What it meant was that the author ended up...
September 2009
4 posts
I wonder what would happen if....
The great temptation in advertsing is to do more than make the best of the product or service. This can be subtle and clever. There is a partcular energy drink which promises “wings”. And it is done on TV with imagination and entertainment.
In one commercial it appears to promise masculine sexual prowess as well. Is this “doing more’? Only those users can tell. But if it...
Oh! Me heart, me heart!
Whenever under pressure, my great Aunt Maude (says it all doesn’t it?) used to utter the classic words above. She did die of something else but it was part of her performance excellence when confronted or shocked.
Aunt Maud could not work in our place. This morning we had a potential client have conniptions because one thing we had done on a test website was exactly as briefed and they...
The SNAP Principle
Thanks to Adage.com and Pete Blackshaw theres a timely reminder about what really works. Pete is talking about his iPhone, but I suspect the idea he has expressed could be applied to what we all do in communication. Consider:
· “Simple: Complexity is our enemy. We yearn for convenience. Our brains can only store so many instructions. Secretly, we’re all in search of one-click (or...
LHR wins no awards...except
It’s award season again in our industry. If I’m honest, (there’s a curious phrase for an adman) I really do care that we have missed out. Even on the shortlists. It is partly jealousy at very clever people who have been able to achieve remarkable approaches to very similar problems and have managed to make their client’s communication outstanding in the best sense.
Interesting. Attractive....
August 2009
3 posts
Is there anyone out there for me?
Being happily married (it’s true!) I’ve not had to try on-line dating. I suspect it’s a scary world. But when you think about it, advertising is just on-line dating. Give me a product to advertise and I’ll try my hardest through creativity, media choice and presentation to establish that, “this is for you.”
Everything we do in our lives is about finding who we...
It's all about perception-that's reality
This week an exchange with a client took place which gave pause for thought. LHR was asked to draft a new recruitment ad for them. We took advantage of a special space deal in a newspaper and drafted something relevant and attractive.
Let’s say the deal was $1000. The client liked the ad we had done. Then someone in the company said that the attractive ad would give the wrong impression in...
The female of the species.......
is more deadly than the male (and so much smarter) or so last night’s television would lead me to believe.
No wonder young men in Australia are having identity crises. Woolworths “Scone”, Foxtel, the GIO “couch/flood” insurance, ANZ Mor-t-gage and particularly the Weight Watchers commercials with others depict the male as without style, less than adequate and unable...
July 2009
4 posts
How much of your mind will you give away?
There is a battle for the mind. In the good old days of advertsing it was called “top of mind awareness.” Who knows what it is called now. But whatever it is called there is no doubt that everybody is still trying for Mindshare.
Our very own Kevin did it this week when he got his 6000 words into one or two homes through the Fairfax media. He’s after your mind and your ascent to...
Grandchildren -another 3D consumer world.
We had two of the grandchildren last week. Two boys. Cousins. One aged 9, the other, 6.
Individually polite and helpful. Put them together and the Taliban could take lessons. What both the beloved and I learned is that there’s a whole new set of negotiation skills required, but that most things are able to be coped with by the chock-top and movie method.
How easily they slip ino the new...
The case of shrinking brand choice
Any trip through the two supermarket majors will bring you face to face (at eye level) -pardon the cliches- with inescapable brand shrinkage. It’s supermarket strategy. Unless you are number one or two brand nationally, they either won’t stock you or you’ll be a loss leader when they choose.
It is in order that the supermarkets get their own brand or three of merchandise in...
The blank page challenge
It’s Monday. All the jokes about Monday aside, it is the beginning of another “blank page” week. In the business in which LHR finds itself, we never know what is coming our way and what the copywriting demands are that we will face.
When the requirement comes in from the client, LHR is faced with the blank page. It is the same for every writer, at every level in the industry. Of course, you...
June 2009
4 posts
The Classics are back
Last week I was in Angus and Robertson in town. At the front there was a table with “Classics” from my reading when I was in my 20’s. No, not Bunyan or any of the real classics, but the adventure books which today seen absolutley simple in plot and development by comparison with the Ludlums of this world.
Guns of Navarrone, Elmore Leonard or the true story books like The Great...
The anonymous blogger recommendation.
This morning, one of the newspapers carried a story about how advertising agencies are now hiring anonymous bloggers to tell how marvellous they are. Is there no end to our betrayal of trust as an industry?
Not only that, is there no end to the self-deception of this practice? Can an agency doing this really believe a potential client is so un-businesslike that they will not check for themselves...
Was Toffler right?
The book Future Shock contained the idea that there might well be “enclaves of the past” where it could be possible to live in a defined “yesterday”. The pressure of keeping up and managing in a rapidly changing living or business environment will occasionally lead me to mentally tune out for an hour or even an afternoon. An escape to the country often helps the personal...
How the cut-out classified brought joy
Me man. Me lust after car. Must be V12. Must be only one of 700 ever made.
Fat chance I thought. Then in the SMH classifieds on a Saturday, there it was. 2 lines -RR PIII and a mobile number. Rang up. Way too much. Disappointment. Cut the classified out and stuck it in the diary.
A month later, skimming back through the diary, (a printed one of course!) there was the classified. Rang up. Agreed...
May 2009
5 posts
The past is full of misdeeds. What of the future?
When I worked in competitions in Canada, we had a “Facimilie Furnace”. The law indicated that every competition had to have the right for a consumer to send a facimile label rather than a real one (proof of purchase) to enter. The facimile furnace sorted that out.
In our electronic nightmare, sorting out the real from the facimile becomes harder and harder. And who is to judge?...
How Paltrow set a new intrusive ad trend
There’s no TV where we have our house. So basically my family buys pre-used videos from the local store and we whack it up on a wall with a projector and an old hi-fi set to give us an approximation of theatre.
Last week we bought Charlie Wilson’s War. It loaded and Gwynneth came on screen. She had a message about AIDS in Africa. I hit the fast forward button. It did not work. For...
"We value your call" is your brand
Cm’on, what do you feel when you get stuck on a line waiting for someone to answer? Why are you treating me this way? I’m trying to spend money with you!
Government departments you can understand. You are their servants. Not V.V. as it should be. They really don’t care. “You wait and I’ll get to you when I’m good and ready.”
But when it is a commercial...
Suddenly, recruitment is an employer's market.
It seems just moments ago that it was impossible to get candidates for a job. Now, as employers are faced with a demandless market for their product or service, and have to scale back, there are candidates a-plenty. It’s having a real trickle-down effect on newspapers, job-boards, employment consultants, ad agencies and, most of all, candidates.
New technologies are filtering candidates on line,...
Will newspaper advertising survive?
Warren Buffet seems to think that newspapers are doomed as a source of revenue and profit. If that is the case, then a whole range of human pleasures will be lost.
Going out of the house (furtively) in your pyjamas to get the dew-laden paper.
Coming back inside with a steaming cup of brew and the tactile enjoyment of that, mixed with the feel of newsprint between your fingers. I’m showing my...