There are logo's that are iconic, and there are logo's that are forgettable. The new Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) logo is definitely the latter.

The station's 'Exercise your imagination' tag line was obviously not an objective in the design brief.

Here was an an iconic symbol, just like that of the American networks NBC, CBS or ABC identities, replaced by a generic typeface.

And the very least it's a total waste of tax payer money.

There is further debate over at TVTonight.com.au along with screenshots of the on air ident package.

Posted by Ashadi at 08:14 AM | Link to this Article | 1 Comments
Archived in: Interesting Articles

There has been way to much talk about banks and we need to kick this blog into a more sexy gear. And what better way to do that than with a promotional site for K-Y personal lubricant.

Poke NY's new site titled Keep Life Sexy is a never ending list of things that peopel equate to being sexy.

The visual design and audio design is quite nice. The sites sections react to the touch rather than the click which I think works well. After seeing this buzz word last month I feel this is a good example of "crowd sourcing" and it's quite interesting drilling down the words and also sorting via age and sex. (Although this sorting mechanism has now been removed?)

There is also a Flickr pool which feeds into the list. Altough as the site is new this is still in its infancy.

The site reminds me of We Feel Fine which gathered people's feelings from their blog posts and displayed it in various visual ways.

Here's Jonathan Harris talking about the site at a recent TED.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 07:20 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Interesting Promotions

With the new Gooby Commbank ad now out and everyone talking about the ad, I thought I might focus on the new tag line "Determined to be Different".

I would have preferred "Determined to be better" as I don't want my bank to be "different" I just want them to be better.

Check out the website for the campaign. It hardly goes into explaining how "different" the bank will be and has me thinking that nothing much has changed. The section titled "Determined to be Different in action is hardly going to make the CBA stand out.

It seems CBA is just repackaging the same old shit. Which is sad, as for me all the big banks in Australia are essentially the same and they could have really made an effort to be "different". In addition to hiring Gooby they could have also had a cold hard look at themselves and launched a new ad campaign and a new direction for the bank. Instead it's just like Coca-Cola launching with a new summer campaign. Same brown fizzy drink only this time it's all about love.

Pops on Expert Hat
I'm no expert and also have no idea on the financial implications but here's a few ideas that would have made the CBA different from every other bank in Australia.

Open All Branches 7 days a week 8-7pm.
It's a crazy notion but people who work full time jobs don't have time to go to the bank. So why do banks require you to take a long lunch break just to sort out your banking? The CBA is opening up their "busiest" branches on weekends but they are still limited hours and open from 9.30-1pm.

Reward Customer Loyalty
Banks seem to focus on attracting new customers and forget the ones they have. I've been with my bank 12 years and receive nothing more than a customer who signed up last week. Why not offer incentives and rewards for customers who stay with your bank every year. It could be as simple as extra free transactions or increase in repayment times.

No ATM fees
Crazy as it sounds I doubt the ATM fees the banks charge really go to help their $3B profits.

Go Green
While other banks have made gestures towards going green or carbon neutral by a certain date why not get on top and be the most green bank in Australia?

They can start by reviewing their paper policy which in my experience with a home loan with them is outrageous.

Below is all the junk I received when I got my home loan, including multiple copies of the same brochures 3 times.

Lastly here's one idea I saw in the USA, a hot pot a coffee in the branch! You wait in line 15 minutes why not get a free coffee while you wait.

I hope that the CBA has more in store for us with their campaign and it starts a real competition between the banks in Australia to really lift their game instead of just lifting their profits.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 06:25 PM | Link to this Article | 2 Comments
Archived in: Interesting Articles

There's just one week left to Enter One Show. Which when you rank it among all the awards out there is in the top 3 you need to enter.

Enter now at www.enteroneshow.org

This year's judges is a who's who of the interactive crowd. In fact that's probably the most solid interactive jury I've seen in a while. They've even managed to track down four females which is impressives as usually these are sausage fests.

Enter the 2008 One Show Interactive and have your websites, online videos, mobile campaigns and more put to the test. One Show Interactive is the most prestigious award show in the industry, and the judges are some of the most respected and sought after creatives in the industry. They come from all corners of the globe to lift the bar higher by honoring a wide variety of work from multinational advertising giants to small regional shops.

-The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2008.

Winners will be announced during the One Show Festival, which is held from May 6 to May 9 in New York City.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 01:49 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Awards

As per the article we posted last night and which has been picked up by a few media outlets, we were right. And to the anonymous poster that pointed out that it looked like Michael Bay production, how right you were!

Click here for the the full ad.

Posted by Ashadi at 02:07 PM | Link to this Article | 3 Comments
Archived in: Campaigns

Is this the first work of the Commonwealth Bank's new agency, Goodby Silverstein & Partners?

It was uploaded by someone called 'Zazzzman' onto YouTube 11 hours ago. We've embedded it below, and also added our findings by searching public databases, including IP Australia and Melbourne IT.

We've done some digging and 'Determined to Be Different' is registered trademark #1211855 of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, lodged by CBA's General Counsel John O'Sullivan on November 23, 2007.

In would appear there will also be a website that will reside at http://www.determinedtobedifferent.com.au/

Let us know, what you know!

Posted by eric at 08:55 PM | Link to this Article | 5 Comments
Archived in: Campaigns

Whilst I don't think this is an amazingly lateral, super creative idea, I think it's an excellent business idea that will have customers talking - Dominos in the US has a site where customers can make a pizza online.

And its no drop down menu or radio buttons, its a full on Mini Roof style affair:

Nice work, CP+B.

Posted by pete at 06:50 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Campaigns

There is a seemingly endless supply of contextual ad mishaps, and this is a particularly good example found by David Johnson. It's also an excuse to get a Corey Worthington story on Bannerblog, since every other media outlet is flogging it.

Posted by Ashadi at 09:13 AM | Link to this Article | 3 Comments
Archived in: Media Gaffes

The DVD wars are coming to a close. Here's a great spoof that explains everything that's happened recently.

At least it seems Sony might win this format war.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 12:50 AM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Industry News

Mad Doctor Gleebitz is worried that CWS (Celebrity Worship Syndrome) is rampant in Australia and people cant separate celebrity from reality. Celebrities replacing friends and relatives, emotional transfer of the celebrity's feelings (if something bad happened to their celebrity they'd feel it was happening to them)

All sounds pretty normal I guess and they've been looking for Australia's top 10 sufferers to highlight the dangers of the disease.

http://www.donotvisitthefix.com.au/#/home/

The site is promoting ninemsn's new entertainment site thefix.com.au where users are warned that their massive celebrity content can be harmful for sufferers of this syndrome

JT's dick in a box gets a bit of an airing again

And there's even a posh spice lookalike who chased after Beckham before xmas
http://www.donotvisitthefix.com.au/#/camilla/

Posted by Ashadi at 01:40 PM | Link to this Article | 1 Comments
Archived in: Campaigns

Radiohead got great coverage of their "In Rainbows" album that you could download and pay what you feel like.

Funny that 2008 saw the album was released in record stores around the world and you can no longer download it. Early adopters only thanks! Record labels rejoice as we all realize there still more money to be made with physical CD's.

But don't let Radiohead's PR train fool you into thinking they were the only ones. It wasn't just Radiohead doing this there were other examples all with seemingly positive results.

Steal This Film part I & Part II asked the P2P users to pay a small donation and it seems to have worked out OK.

Revolution let people into theaters for free and had them pay at the end. In the Fox interview below the producer says "we've made over $5 million" which is great for a independent film.

Even comedians are getting in on the act with Steve Hofsetter making triple his normal royalty if he released he latest album on a label. This article quotes "In the first two days of sales, Hofstetter says he has made more money than he did in the first two weeks of his last album."

Trent Reznor and his pet project "Niggy Tardust" had 28,000 people pay $5 for the new album. That equated to 18% of the total downloads.

After reading Trent's quite honest report on his site he seems disappointed. Sounds like he spent quite a bit of money actually producing the album. Also he set the price $5. All the other efforts asked people to pay what they felt. So people may have paid more. Also he could have brought in more smaller donations.

These successes show you don't have to be one of the biggest bands on the world to make this work. In fact the gimmick might even expand your brand beyond your initial fan base.

Will any major brands trial this idea in 2008. Pay what you want for a pair of Nike's? I guess it's easy for digital distribution. You not actually at a lose if 1,000,000 people take you up on your offer and don't pay. But with psychical products there is a production cost.

I guess the Hare Krishna's have been doing this for a long time with their free food in exchange for a donation of some kid. And I know there have been many "Pay what you feel" restaurants in the past that get by the same way.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 09:35 AM | Link to this Article | 1 Comments
Archived in: Interesting Articles

Britney Spears locked herself in out server room and started causing havoc. So the site was down for 12 hrs today. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You'll need to clear your cache and reload if it's looking a little funny still. We have moved it over to a new (Britney Proof) host. Those in Australia will notice a significant speed increase in page loads.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 07:56 PM | Link to this Article | 1 Comments
Archived in: BB News

With over 920 examples of the best in online advertising we thought it might be interesting to focus on a particular subject and showcase the best exmaples. Sex in advertising has been a staple of traditional advertising and it seems digital has it'd fair share. I present below 26 of the sexiest ads on Bannerblog. They range from blatent sexual imagery to innuendo to the down right sexist. Although all good examples of online advertising and many of them award winning. These are presented in their sections in no particular order.
Sex sells so use it
Sexy but in a creative & fun way
Sexy in a subtle way (all require audio)
Sexy or sexist? This is a male dominated industry
Something for the ladies
In bad taste but for a good cause
If we've missed any let us know and we're always open to submissions. Also feel free to suggest the next topic of focus.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 10:42 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in:

An interesting technology from the Australian Centre for Visual Technology called VideoTrace. You can download the paper describing the technology here

The simple models it generate are perfect for Google Earth 3D models, low poly video games and Michael Gondry film clips.

With the huge coverage multi touch screens, photosyth and other international based technology has been getting lately it's nice to see some Aussies doing something interesting too.

The next Siggraph is in LA during August with the first Asia Siggraph being held in Singapore in December 08.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 09:53 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Technology

AMC are premiering a new original drama series on Jan 20 called Breaking Bad. If it's half as good as their first effort Mad Men then we are all in for a treat. After checking out the first 5 minutes online I have to say I'm intrigued.

View the experience here. An interesting fact is that all the graphics are shot as video. There's no 3D which is very evident with the test tube section. Also the experience is random giving you a different experience each time you visit. Although the random element isn't really sold into the user.

It reminds me of the early Hi-Res sites where you are taken through a journey rather than left to navigate freely. The sound design is top notch. Actually follow the instructions and turn your speakers up as this really heightens the mood.

Also it took me 3 minutes to realize it's the dad (Bryan Cranston) from Malcolm in the Middle. My fav character from the show. I had no idea he has been in so many different productions.

The online experience is by Mono and Unit 9. Mono reflecting AMC's success with everything they touch turning to gold and coming from no where to be a major player in the last 12 months.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 01:04 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Site Launch

We reached another milestone and forgot to celebrate. We posted out 900th banner and are well onto our way to 1,000. Which agency will win their place in the history books as the agency behind the 1,000 banner :)

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 10:45 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: BB News

I checked my ASX watch list for the first time in a while and I was surprised that the four major listed digital media companies are all sharing a sliding share price for the last year (Jan07 to Dec07). Despite this being the best year for digital media and with another bumper year to come? Commquest can be excused as it's only been listed for less than a month.

STW Group, Blue Freeway, Commquest, Q limited and Hyro represent almost all the listed digital agencies in Australia. If you need to brush up on your web talk and buzz words browse the list ;)

I should have bought Apple shares.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 09:31 AM | Link to this Article | 3 Comments
Archived in: Industry News

Wired have reported on the top downloads on P2P networks for 2007. See the full article here.

Now I've never heard of Akon or half the rappers in the top 10 of music I do know a little bit more about the film side of things. And looking at the report it makes me wonder.

The top then movies downloaded in 2007 according to Wired are:

1. Resident Evil: Extinction
2. Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End
3. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
4. Ratatouille
5. Superbad
6. Beowulf
7. Transformers
8. American Gangster
9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
10. Stardust

I'm not 100% sure the data is accurate though (these networks don't exactly provide logs) as "I now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" being the #3 movie. C'mon. The Simpson's movie was everywhere on the networks and had a greater global appeal than some B grade comedy. And Stardust? That's certainly not the film for the "P2P crowd, which is made up largely of younger males."

This also shows that while music seems to be suffering because of P2P, all the films in the top download list did pretty good in the box office. Yep even Chuck and Larry pulled in $120 million.

So film distributors needn't be worried about P2P downloads, Box Office earnings were the biggest yet $9.68 billion with ticket sales staying steady from 2006.

29 sequels in 2007 brought in 22% of the earnings, or $2 Billion dollars. Compared to the 346 original screen plats that brought in $3.3 Billion.

I look forward to "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry 2" coming to theaters soon.

Anyone else interested in Box Office earnings on films should check out The Number's 2007 Summery or read Open Wide.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 10:10 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Industry News