FRANKthoughts

Apologies for the blog inactivity… it has been a busy week for FRANk with the move, pitch, projects, etc.

So a tiny post today to keep things interesting!

Diesel is celebrating their 30th aniversary with a big XXX party running parallel across 17 countries (not Australia unfortunately!).  It will be featuring stars such as Soulwax, N.E.R.D., Pete Doherty, Ed Bangers, etc.  Check it out Diesel XXX.

To promote the event, check out this viral video inspired by Safe for Work Porno work!  Diesel has taken images from 70s porno films, replacing “private” parts with well-thought out designs:

We are moving on the 25th and 26th of September to our great new office just around the corner.

Our new address will be:
28 St Edmonds Rd
Prahran VIC 3181

View Larger Map

All our contact details will remain the same.

We’ve lost our balcony but picked up four!

In the lead up to the Beijing Olympics Opening Night tonight, Hitwise showed us an interesting Weekly Market share of visits by country.  Australia and New Zealand has picked up considerable interest in the last two week leading to the Olympics.

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

No doubt each of the UK and US market will have their own local Olympics news sites from major media networks such as NBC, ESPN, etc.  The style, local heroes focus, and tonality will still drive a majority of local visitors to local sites.  In reflection of Yahoo7’s brand flat or little growth in audience numbers, they will be relying on the Olympics and current brand campaign to deliver the audience numbers.

Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends?q=olympics&ctab=0&geo=all&date=mtd&sort=0) also shows Australia and New Zealand is also interestingly driving the top 1 and 2 spot in searching the keyword “Olympics” in the last 30 days.

It’s time for Australia to get excited!

Hot on the heels since the launch of Cuil, there is a new search engine in the market called Viewzi.

When different users search for certain keywords, they may be after the same information for different reasons.  They could be images, news, history, videos, etc.

Viewzi aggregates different search engine (google, yahoo, youtube, etc) and visually displays it based on what you’re after.  Eg. a timeline of news events, celebrity images, site screenshots, down to your simple text results.

Will this be a Google beater?  I doubt so… it’s more complex and Google is still the best in giving me what I want - FAST.  But I don’t really care who is better… it’s just another great tool to help improve my searching experience online.  I can already see how this will benefit me when I need greater depth in my search where Google does not offer.

Ever wondered where FRANk was located?  Find us here!

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1+grattan+street,+prahran&sll=-37.814531,144.954085&sspn=0.010612,0.021672&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-37.84524,144.991164&spn=0.010607,0.021672&z=16&cbll=-37.848878,144.991133&panoid=kd9lLbYhqgawV-btSRWODg&cbp=1,312.3458099258366,,0,-19.163987138263668

We’re on Level 2 (with the balcony) of the grey building.

Often, I see charts or marketing collateral that says things like “Benefits to User”.

Bah!  Stop cramming down the same stuff to me.  A flip solution would be:

“Customer Solutions” and “Making Life Easy”

It is a thin line and subtle difference in words but a flip in approach.

A far better way to approach things is by making it Customer Centric, not trying to shove me rewards and benefits that I would never use!  Fitness First gives international access to their gyms.. whether I like it or not.  Great story but useless to me.  And my guess to a large percentage of their membership.

A customer centric approach really starts from building the right culture within the business.  Finding out what your customers are having problems with within the category and provide a solution to create a better service.

Higher Price becomes justifiable when a greater Value is perceived (time, money, stress, etc).

Alex Bogusky is arguably the Steve Jobs of ad land.  Agency Crispin Porder + Bogusky has won the much coveted $300 million Microsoft account.  The brief:  Make Microsoft Cool

Fast Company June cover story featured Alex Bogusky on it’s front cover with a detail article on the history of the Microsoft brand and challenges it faces.

In recent times, Microsoft has stood by quitely as Apple took a blatant approach to mock it’s largest rival.  Mac vs PC ads are now pop-cult fixtures.  Continual large and innovative ad campaign approaches by Microsoft are often off mark and swiftly dissembled by Mac advocates.  The rapid growth of Google and it’s cult following has also left Microsoft further behind it’s tech competitors.

So how can Microsoft, traditionally viewed as a highly corporate, arrogant, and a bully, be “cool” again?  As Andrew Keller, Crispin’s co-executive creative director says, “To try to be cool is to not be cool”.

Crispin’s award winning and historic work on Burger King, BMW Mini, VW, and Truth, will now stand the toughest test with their new Microsoft account.

The question remains to be seen, can Microsoft beat Apple and Google?

Network Ten has bought an OTP on news.com.au to promote their latest TV Series “Dexter“. It’s the first time I’ve seen a FTA TV channel buying OTPs. With the talk of integration, I’m surprised Ch9 has not utilise NineMSN or Ch7 for Yahoo!7 .

Instead of stopping at just media placements, they’ve also attached a clever “viral” (bit cliche) tool for users. I’ve created one for FRANk.

Watch it here: http://www.networktennews.com/index.php?id=9e82757e

PS. Wait for it to load and watch the whole thing

Isn’t it funny the reason people criticize because deep down, they really care. If they didn’t care, why would they bother?

The same applies to your Brand.

There will always be customers who complain that the service is too slow, staff are not friendly, it’s over priced, etc. They criticize because they believe your brand can be better.  They want you to succeed. They want you to be a better brand so they can engage with you.  Perhaps fostering a positive relationship.

So don’t dismiss critics and complainers. If you can listen to them and address their concerns, you may be able to switch them to powerful advocates for your brand. A great story for them to tell their friends.

 A thought of the day:

Influencers broadcast and advocate a brand or product to their friends and peers. It happens at home, it happens at work, and it happens online. They have an active role in influencing your customers in purchasing your product.

Influencers are typically hungry for information… more so than your average joe. They seek the latest news, to be first in the know, and consume information continuously. They also enjoy sharing this information… proudly in social gatherings, emails, blogs, among peers…. they are great story tellers of your brand or product.

So, there must be a need to feed the influencer’s hunger. Why not give them a story to tell through content (eg. blog or video) and experiences (eg. online and in-store). Help them share their stories with utilities and tools (eg. social media and mobile).