The Leadership Development and Executive Coaching firm Carters Hill, launched a new website today.

Carters Hill is a leadership development firm focused on helping leaders perform to their highest capacity.

Digital Tsunami developed a brand identity, designed and printed business cards, and then delivered a web presence which concisely presents the philosophy, solutions and personnel who comprise Carters Hill.

The interface is a clean and effective presence integrating an effective accordion navigation and a highly restrained colour palette featuring monochrome header photographs from the client’s own collection.

Digital Tsunami has delivered many marketing communications solutions to clients in the corporate services, education and training and human resources sectors. View selected projects in the portfolio, view branding, print and web solutions or contact us today to discuss your specific needs.

Spam makes me think.

Mostly, it makes me think of betrayal of trust, and branding.

OK. Just about everything makes me think of branding. The result of 30 years of film and digital marketing!

Of course, spam also makes me think, “I’d like to get less of it”! However, due to multiple email addresses, human ingenuity, the extent and duration of my online exposure, and despite cautious online behaviour and the robust redundancy of multiple anti-spam measures, I consider it a functional inevitability. I rapidly scan it to recover the rare legitimate mail.

Today, I noticed an email for branded welcome mats.
Its’ sender does not consider this offer to be spam, but I do.

Think about it. Wow! A traditional mat at the entrance. Another opportunity to place my logo in public view, a greeting to visitors, cleverly hijacking the eyeline of everyone who enters the office?

Yes. All valid strategies.

Except for one thing.

Why would you intentionally invite visitors to wipe their feet all over your logo?

You brand deserves more.

Promoting your brand is more than simply plastering it on every available surface and in every possible material. Doing that is no different from plastering your message in unwanted messages. Spam.

(Musical interlude). Let’s listen to Mavis of The Staple Singers:

“If you don’t respect yourself,
Ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot“

This lyric reflects the core of branding, advertising and marketing.

Your brand is the representation of your company, product or service.

On launch (and even at the demise) of an enterprise, the name or logo encapsulates the concept which people will recall. (Think Apple. Then think ENRON).

Your company, product or service builds an identity for your brand. In turn, your brand grows to represent your company, products or service offerings.

It should always be treated respectfully to enhance your brand reputation, not denigrate it.

I never cease to be amazed at the destructive treatments which some marketers are prepared to subject their brand identity.

Apart from the branded mat!

Is it just laziness or lack of thought which permits some animators to spin a logo backwards or upside down (as the logo spins on its’ own vertical or horizontal axis)?

Surely, it is preferable to present it as a double sided solid, so that it is always legible and positive. Done correctly, this may even require a lower investment.

Why do clients in English speaking countries allow their brand to slide or the constituent letters to appear right to left, or drift down from the upper right to lower left side of screen. For people who read from left to right, that is the positive direction and the reverse is implicitly negative!

Let’s not even talk about clip art, overexposed stock library images, or the misuse of the colour palette!

Are all these failures just ignorance displayed by companies without the resource of a brand style guide or Marketing Director (for which they are anathema)?

One fundamental reason why some brands are globally recognised, is the rigorous protection of consistency in all brand applications. Fonts, colour schemes, icons, colour palettes, brandlines, all applied consistently, without exception.

In 2000, we developed a non-English language website for Heineken, with the benefit of an online style guide, proscribing and providing the graphical elements, formats and allowable variations across all media. All large multinationals should have this type of online resource.

Increasingly, startups are innately aware of the need for clear and unique branding. Young entrepreneurs and new enterprises are necessarily focused on the name and identity of their brand, and the need for a strong identity to cut-through the crowded marketplaces of VC, business and consumers.

More established companies can gradually neglect their brand and allow it to lose its’ impact.

Any company which respects their own brand, needs to develop it, nurture it, review it and if necessary, refine it, (both the logo and brandline), every five years or so, and impose strict guidelines for use to all internal and external stakeholders.

An if you need a mnemonic to remember this, here it is.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Sing it, Aretha!

…
music:
The Staple Singers (live at Wattstax 1972)

Kane Gang (a vibrant and respectful re-interpretation from 1985)

Do you have a business turnover of $1 million+, and could benefit from an integrated strategy for success?

We have worked with recognised brands across the globe and helped small companies to grow into big successes.

In conjunction with our management consultant partners, Digital Tsunami has devised a Wholistic Success Strategy, incorporating financial, operational and marketing processes, products and services.

Prior to your decision to commence, we provide a FREE 2 hour consultation by telephone. For companies in Sydney, Australia, we will meet with you at your offices.

We will review business operations, financial controls and marketing strategies and discuss our wholistic solution to increase profits.

To express your interest, contact us or complete this simple online form.

Are you concerned that your online footprint is not as effective, accessible or integrated as it could be?

Digital Tsunami will conduct a FREE web audit, analysing your web presence, professional and social media, and provide an introductory report on enhancements which could be made in:

• Accessibility
• Branding
• Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Currency
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Engagement
• Marketing Integration
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social  Interaction
• Usability
• Visual Assets

Complete the simple online form for this great FREE offer.

Within hours of his injury at the first hurdle at the 2012 London Olympics, Liu Xiang’s (刘翔) sponsor Nike, had press ads in China newspapers, praising his spirit of competition.

Sports sponsors select winners, likely winners and high profile events precisely in order to associate their brands with success. Negative outcomes (especially cheating, or unacceptable social behaviour) will usually prompt their dropping of sponsorship contracts.

Within a short time of the race, a million posts on Liu Xiang appeared on the Chinese microblog Weibo, reflecting both his celebrity stature and the hopes he carried on his shoulders.

Advertising creatives are paid to be clever and insightful. Nike’s ad agency Wieden + Kennedy perfectly responded to the nations’ collective anguish with a print ad, which ran in many Chinese dailies.

Continuing a campaign theme of ‘Love sport’, the ad consisted of Liu Xiang’s face and Chinese text (translated here):

Love competition.
Love risking your pride.
Love winning it back.
Love giving it everything you’ve got.
Love the glory. Love the pain.
Love sport even when it breaks your heart.

Just Do It.

This positive approach not only reflects a perspective of sport beyond medallion wearers, but demonstrates the acuity and agility of great advertising.

The partnership of a client and an advertising agency is one which can generate brilliance in communication. A quick-witted creative is complemented by a brave and responsive client prepared to react immediately to capitalise on dramatic circumstances.

It reminds me of a print ad which appeared during the Louis Vuitton Challenge Series prior to the 1995 America’s Cup.

On March 6, halfway through a tough race, the 12 metre racing yacht ‘One Australia’ broke up. In the 2 minutes before the boat sank, all crewmembers quickly removed their seaboots and leapt from the deck. They had no time to don their rarely-worn life-vests. Photographs of the event dramatically showed yachtsmen jumping from bow and stern.

“It’s all about adversity,” stated the team’s veteran skipper, John Bertrand. “We’ll live to fight another day.”

Competing New Zealand boat ‘Black Magic’, was sponsored by popular Kiwi brewer Steinlager. The next day in the New Zealand press, with an ascerbic humor even this Australian yachtie can admire, a double page ad stated boldly

“There’s only ONE thing that goes down faster than a Steinlager”!

All I can say is,  ’Love sport’!

I love Ray Bans.

Always have.

For 40 years, I’ve been a loyal customer and advocate. In the seventies, and since, I have owned many pairs of each of the Aviator, Shooter, Outdoorsman, Wayfarer and Clubmaster styles.

Even the frames for some of my reading glasses are Ray Ban.

My respect for the brand originated in its’ heritage of manufacturing quality film camera filters. Working every day on film sets, I witnessed the approval DPs and cinematographers had for these precision optics. The daylight lenses are ’85′ filters’, the dark lenses are ‘ND’ (neutral density) filters, which add contrast without affecting color rendition, and the yellow lenses enhance contrast and increase depth perception, so are excellent for night driving.

The brand reputedly developed after an American test pilot concerned about eye damage from over-exposure to the sun’s rays, contacted Bausch & Lomb requesting a pair of sunglasses which would provide protection in a fashionable style.

The Ray-Ban Aviator gained recognition after being worn by General MacArthur during WWII. The style was reinvigorated after Tom Cruise wore them in the classic aviation movie, “Top Gun”.

In 1952, Ray-Ban created another style, with black plastic frames and characteristic thick temples. The Wayfarer graced the faces of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Roy Orbison and JFK. Tom Cruise wore them in “Risky Business”. More recently they revived cinematic prominence in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Men in Black”.

A dramatic design with slimmer arms and wire rims, the Clubmaster consistently contributed to the uber-cool reputation of Jack Nicholson on countless red carpets.

However, in 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to an Italian company, and today, according to a recent television report, competition in eyewear retail is an optical illusion. Lesley Stahl of the US “60 Minutes” program, investigated Luxottica Group S.p.A. and lifted the veil on a near global monopoly.

Luxottica manufactures frames for Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Stella McCartney, Tiffany, Versace and Vogue. The company also owns retail outlets and a major US health benefits brand.

One recognised brand stood up to Luxottica. Oakley (beloved eyewear of sportspeople, law enforcement and defence force personnel), mounted a brief but inevitably failed campaign to defy the might of the global giant. In 2007, Luxottica acquired most of the Oakley range.

Coincidentally, in a move which mirrored that of Bausch & Lomb decades before, the founder of Oakley moved into the cinema field, with his 1999 invention and manufacture of the 4000 line resolution digital camera: RED.

Luxottica’s prime competitor is another listed Italian corporation, Safilo Group, which manufactures eyewear for numerous fashion house brands.

Not unlike the diamond business, where De Beers dominates the market to a degree that enables it to swallow competitors and set pricing, Luxottica has a similar degree of control.

Ray Bans, which sold for $29 before the acquisition by Luxottica, now retail for hundreds of dollars (much more when prescription lenses are added).

So now, anyone who loves Ray Ban has to demonstrate their loyalty as Luxottica requires them to, (in a phrase from yet another Tom Cruise film) .. “Show me the money” !

Post script:

4 days after publishing this blog, an email was received from Ray Ban USA via an automated keyword search and lead-creation / follow-up system.

Over the name of the “Manager – Community Outreach”, this message stated that “we came across Digital Tsunami through mentions of Ray-Ban that you posted and we really liked the content of your site” and goes on to enquire “if you would be up for linking to Ray-Ban’s home page”.

I was intrigued why the brand would want to connect to a partially unflattering article. Was there a genuine interest in conversation and addressing issues? Despite also saying “we .. would be happy to answer any questions or comments”, my response to this request has remained unanswered!

The person named does not even have a profile in LinkedIn (strange for a Community Outreach Manager), which led me to suspect that the name was fabricated and the message little better than spam.

While Google actually ranks ‘citations’ (mentions of a product, without a hyperlink), Luxottica may consider that pursuing an actual link does not warrant the time of an actual staff member or more effort than an automated system.

The technical term for such a blatantly superficial attempt at link-building (in the guise of community involvement), is *FAIL*

View “60 Minutes” video

Read transcript

On the day that we officially recognise the birth of Australia as a modern national entity, we can be proud to acknowledge some of the Australians who have carried the name of Australia to the world.

Whether an individual appointed manager of the New Yorker magazine at the age of 26, a company providing technology to the triple world championship winning Red Bull Formula One Grand Prix team, or a new supercomputer running the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS), the Australia Unlimited website and app celebrate people and organisations which showcase Australia’s natural resources: resilience, creativity and an unquenchable desire to succeed, no matter what the challenge.

At the heart of the Australia Unlimited concept is the idea that Australia’s development has been forged through its enterprising spirit, natural optimism and sense of untold potential.

As a nation, we should also recognise the vast human resource of millenia of experience and culture
of our first nation people. We should be celebrating the art, technology, culture and contributions of Aboriginal Australians and looking forward to a shared future with respect and support.

As an individual, I passionately feel that we should be offering every opportunity in health, education and career growth, and promoting role models of those first Australians who have succeeded in academia, business, entertainment, law, medicine, politics, and so may other sectors.

Activities today will offer boundless community and individual opportunities to participate in the celebrations. On Monday, (when many corporations give their employees a day off ‘in lieu of’ the public holiday), Australians across the country and around the world will be working to promote their particular skills and capabilities for their international clientele.

National pride can be a positive thing, when based in a non-discriminatory, inclusive philosophy. Nationalism for the sake of belonging to a group and aggressively excluding others who do not copy your fervent flag-waving, is a negative. Growth in the former and reduction of the latter can only be good for our country.

Australia Unlimited is a part of the Australian government’s Building Brand Australia initiative.

Reference reading:
australiaunlimited.com
australiaday.org.au/events
antar.org.au
Building Brand Australia
creativespirits.info
indigenous.gov.au
innovation.gov.au/indigenous
reconciliation.org.au

Intensely concise, subliminal television advertisements (known as ‘blip-verts’), were released on an unsuspecting world in 1985.

Some viewers died!

Network 23, (responsible for creating blip-verts), went out of business a few years later.

Blip-verts, Network 23 and its cyberpunk investigative reporter “Max Headroom”, were all fictional!

However, the appetite in today’s developed society for ever-briefer snippets of content, (including video advertising), is moving rapidly toward ‘byte-sized data’.

Twitter has just launched “Vine”: a platform for video. The duration: six seconds, on an endless loop!

Within a few hours, Facebook had blocked links to Vine content. Within a few days, users had uploaded clever short films such as Stalking cursor!!!  and brownies in six seconds (a visual daydream for anyone with the munchies)!

It also raises the common legal issues of any user generated content, which is hosted ‘for free’.

The user will retain copyright of the video content, but must agree to “grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media .. with no compensation paid to you”.

Despite this, a number of companies have already created Vine accounts and uploaded advertising. In some countries, 10 and 15 second commercials are permitted on air, but 6 second stories are ground-breaking.

With the ability of creative people to communicate messages effectively within any media or time frame, and the immense growth in mobile market penetration, it may not be long before we are deluged with six second spots. The duration will certainly impose a rigorous brevity in storytelling, and some cleverness in looping.

The opportunity is almost defined as an abbreviated word association Haiku.

Video.
Brevity.
Vine.

Whether it will cling and cover, or wither, will depend on whether it can achieve rapid critical mass.

About Max Headroom

“Max Headroom” was a quirky television celebrity in a 2D (cell animation) world, who first hosted a music video program in 1985.

Created in Britain and aired in the USA, Max was ostensibly a product of artificial intelligence. The character became rapidly famous for his rapid-fire wit, his rock-solid hairstyle and Ray-Ban sunglasses, his smooth cabaret singing style and his distorted, staccato stuttering, electronically sampled voice.

The character’s personality was partly intended as a satire of insincere and egotistical television personalities .. but also was “media-wise and gleefully disrespectful” which appealed to young adults.

Max Headroom was such a success, that a ‘back-story’ had to be invented to explain his origin, which resulted in ”Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future“.

Network 23 hotshot reporter Edison Carter, (played by actor Matt Frewer in pre-CGI-era latex and foam prosthetics and a snappy fibreglass suit), discovered an immense commercial secret (blip-verts), and died while attempting to escape a basement carpark. The last thing he saw before hitting his head on an up-ramp’s boom gate, were the words “Max. Headroom 2.3 m”.

Sources:
Vine
Vine: Stalking cursor!!! http://vine.co/v/bJBDredWvLd
Vine: Brownies in six seconds http://vine.co/v/b5dwBuW016P
Wikipedia: “Max Headroom“
Wikipedia: “Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future“

Corporate communications in 2013, I believe, with focus on three key areas: Mobile. Social. Video.

The Internet is nearly 20 years old, so many aspects have become relatively mature, in terms of technology, suppliers and standards.

SEO, CMS and Usability are familar to most ‘C level’ executives and are generally well-researched and implemented.

So where is the innovation which delivers a competitive advantage?

Mobile

The growth of mobile has been a global phenomenon and will continue. The percentage of advertising spend compared with other technologies over the same time period shows massive growth potential.

The amount of time researching, the amount of time shopping and the value of purchases via mobile, are all constantly increasing.

Companies which do not yet have a mobile compliant presence, will fall behind.

All websites which Digital Tsunami builds this year will be ‘responsive’. This ensures that the content and navigation is adapted to the size of the screen. As an increasing number of traffic online is via smartphones, this ensures that the mobile experience on a handheld device is just as engaging and effective as the website via a desktop or laptop.

Social

The establishment of social networks has grown well beyond personal activities.

It is common today to see a movie trailer end with a Facebook address. 200 million professionals worldwide (and the world’s top companies) use LinkedIn. Brands are using Pinterest to showcase products and engage with prospects.

The plethora of platforms reinforces the need to identify and engage in those platforms which have attained critical mass and which are right for your brand and marketplace.

Digital Tsunami can help you to navigate through the options and deliver a strategy and solutions to maximise impact and engagement with all your stakeholders.

Video

The digital age has made ‘self-publishing’ an easy everyday activity (with no training required)! Anyone with a smartphone can be a produce and publish videos.

However, the volume of content just makes effective video so much rarer! Cut-though is even harder to achieve when looking for a needle in a haystack made of needles!

Do you produce professional video for product demonstrations, do you enable candidates to submit video resumes, do you have live video chat on your site?

The options are extensive, the ability to integrate user-generated content are vast, and your brand is at risk of being devalued!

Digital Tsunami has over 3 decades of experience in professional film and video production. Whether you need a global corporate video or a six-second story for Vine (Twitter’s new video platform), Digital Tsunami has the personnel, resources and expertise to help you achive powerful, engaging and effective video.

Contact Digital Tsunami today.

By now, you may have repeatedly heard that if Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest (by population) in the world.

Facebook is a massive platform for brands.

As a part of a customised eStrategy, Digital Tsunami counsels brands on the use of Facebook pages for their products and services, to access a global market of over a billion consumers.

Ever “Liked” a product, video or post? Apps are increasingly utilising Facebook users to collate, integrate and promote personal data and preferences. If an individual has not manually selected certain privacy settings, a brand can use that data as a recommendation or advertisement on Facebook.

Whilst brand advocates have contributed to the success of Facebook, there are also elements of privacy of which responsible corporations and sensible individuals must be cognizant.

This is not a new issue. MIT published a study “Facebook: Threats to Privacy” in 2005. At that time, approximately 12-22% of users actually revealed their cellphone numbers, with s a noticeable gender difference. Amongst the study respondents, (University students from Harvard, MIT, NYU and Oklahoma), women were less likely to publish their cell number.

More recently, Mashable published a Facebook privacy guide, and just yesterday, promoted SimpleWash, a cleansing agent to remove unwanted and negative content and even photo tags. Other resources exist to advise Facebook users on protecting their identifiable data, such as Reclaim Privacy.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has published a comprehensive and easy-to-use guide to the privacy and security settings for individual Facebook accounts: “A Guide to Facebook’s Privacy Options“.

While brand managers will want to capitalise on brand advocates, as individual Facebook account holders, they may well want to protect their own privacy.
Read more about eStrategy
Read more blogs about Social Media
Read more blogs about Advertising and Marketing
Read more blogs about Statistics

References:
http://www.facebook.com/help/privacy
http://mashable.com/2011/02/07/facebook-privacy-guide/
http://mashable.com/2013/03/10/simplewash/
http://www.reclaimprivacy.org
http://allfacebook.com/facebook-privacy-settings_b31836
http://www.wired.com/business/2010/05/facebook-transparency-tool/
http://simplewa.sh

Foodbank in Australia has just launched a new identity for the brand across the country.

Devised by the advertising agency Havas (Sydney) the new branding will rollout over coming months, to distribution centres, vehicles, apparel and marketing collaterals. Havas also supplied an animated video which tells the Foodbank story simply and succinctly.

Foodbank is the largest hunger relief organisation in Australia, with distribution centres in all state capitals and a number of regional centres, which has delivered the equivalent of 200 million meals since 1992. This national network of non-denominational, non-profit, state and territory logistics suppliers, provides a warehousing and distribution conduit between food producers, manufacturers and retailers with surplus food and grocery items and the thousands of charities and community groups which feed hungry families and individuals across the country.

Digital Tsunami is pleased to continue its long relationship with Foodbank in Australia.

Since commencing pro bono support of Foodbank in 2000, Digital Tsunami has developed and hosted the multiple federal and regional websites and produced multiple videos. The most dramatic visual changes which have occurred have been in identity.

From the rudimentary appearance and multifarious branding of the late 20th century, the Foodbank web presence has refined and gained coherence and consistency. The latest evolution of the brand, launched today at The Big Breakfast in Sydney, has a simplicity and impact which befits an important, contemporary, nationwide organisation.

This identity was rapidly applied to the responsive, fifth iteration of the Foodbank web presence, which features a welcome page image grid that adjusts content and positioning to the device on which it is viewed. The semi-autonomous state and territory bodies have the flexibility to adjust their site’s key messages and calls to action, specific to four different browser widths.

The responsive Foodbank site features full-screen vectored background images, dynamic statistics, integrated videos, archived publications, donation forms with secure e.commerce, and hierarchical access to a sophisticated and easy-to-use WordPress content management system (CMS).

For the last two years, Digital Tsunami has exclusively developed responsive sites. The relentless growth of all statistics related to mobile device usage, indicates that a responsive site is a necessity for all corporations and organisations.

Contact Digital Tsunami today to discuss the ‘Communications Evolution’ of your brand.

Do you have a business turnover of $1 million+, and could benefit from an integrated strategy for success?

We have worked with recognised brands across the globe and helped small companies to grow into big successes.

In conjunction with our management consultant partners, Digital Tsunami has devised a Wholistic Success Strategy, incorporating financial, operational and marketing processes, products and services.

Prior to your decision to commence, we provide a FREE 2 hour consultation by telephone. For companies in Sydney, Australia, we will meet with you at your offices.

We will review business operations, financial controls and marketing strategies and discuss our wholistic solution to increase profits.

To express your interest, contact us or complete this simple online form.

Are you concerned that your online footprint is not as effective, accessible or integrated as it could be?

Digital Tsunami will conduct a FREE web audit, analysing your web presence, professional and social media, and provide an introductory report on enhancements which could be made in:

• Accessibility
• Branding
• Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Currency
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Engagement
• Marketing Integration
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social  Interaction
• Usability
• Visual Assets

Complete the simple online form for this great FREE offer.

Within hours of his injury at the first hurdle at the 2012 London Olympics, Liu Xiang’s (刘翔) sponsor Nike, had press ads in China newspapers, praising his spirit of competition.

Sports sponsors select winners, likely winners and high profile events precisely in order to associate their brands with success. Negative outcomes (especially cheating, or unacceptable social behaviour) will usually prompt their dropping of sponsorship contracts.

Within a short time of the race, a million posts on Liu Xiang appeared on the Chinese microblog Weibo, reflecting both his celebrity stature and the hopes he carried on his shoulders.

Advertising creatives are paid to be clever and insightful. Nike’s ad agency Wieden + Kennedy perfectly responded to the nations’ collective anguish with a print ad, which ran in many Chinese dailies.

Continuing a campaign theme of ‘Love sport’, the ad consisted of Liu Xiang’s face and Chinese text (translated here):

Love competition.
Love risking your pride.
Love winning it back.
Love giving it everything you’ve got.
Love the glory. Love the pain.
Love sport even when it breaks your heart.

Just Do It.

This positive approach not only reflects a perspective of sport beyond medallion wearers, but demonstrates the acuity and agility of great advertising.

The partnership of a client and an advertising agency is one which can generate brilliance in communication. A quick-witted creative is complemented by a brave and responsive client prepared to react immediately to capitalise on dramatic circumstances.

It reminds me of a print ad which appeared during the Louis Vuitton Challenge Series prior to the 1995 America’s Cup.

On March 6, halfway through a tough race, the 12 metre racing yacht ‘One Australia’ broke up. In the 2 minutes before the boat sank, all crewmembers quickly removed their seaboots and leapt from the deck. They had no time to don their rarely-worn life-vests. Photographs of the event dramatically showed yachtsmen jumping from bow and stern.

“It’s all about adversity,” stated the team’s veteran skipper, John Bertrand. “We’ll live to fight another day.”

Competing New Zealand boat ‘Black Magic’, was sponsored by popular Kiwi brewer Steinlager. The next day in the New Zealand press, with an ascerbic humor even this Australian yachtie can admire, a double page ad stated boldly

“There’s only ONE thing that goes down faster than a Steinlager”!

All I can say is,  ‘Love sport’!

I love Ray Bans.

Always have.

For 40 years, I’ve been a loyal customer and advocate. In the seventies, and since, I have owned many pairs of each of the Aviator, Shooter, Outdoorsman, Wayfarer and Clubmaster styles.

Even the frames for some of my reading glasses are Ray Ban.

My respect for the brand originated in its’ heritage of manufacturing quality film camera filters. Working every day on film sets, I witnessed the approval DPs and cinematographers had for these precision optics. The daylight lenses are ’85’ filters’, the dark lenses are ‘ND’ (neutral density) filters, which add contrast without affecting color rendition, and the yellow lenses enhance contrast and increase depth perception, so are excellent for night driving.

The brand reputedly developed after an American test pilot concerned about eye damage from over-exposure to the sun’s rays, contacted Bausch & Lomb requesting a pair of sunglasses which would provide protection in a fashionable style.

The Ray-Ban Aviator gained recognition after being worn by General MacArthur during WWII. The style was reinvigorated after Tom Cruise wore them in the classic aviation movie, “Top Gun”.

In 1952, Ray-Ban created another style, with black plastic frames and characteristic thick temples. The Wayfarer graced the faces of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Roy Orbison and JFK. Tom Cruise wore them in “Risky Business”. More recently they revived cinematic prominence in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Men in Black”.

A dramatic design with slimmer arms and wire rims, the Clubmaster consistently contributed to the uber-cool reputation of Jack Nicholson on countless red carpets.

However, in 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to an Italian company, and today, according to a recent television report, competition in eyewear retail is an optical illusion. Lesley Stahl of the US “60 Minutes” program, investigated Luxottica Group S.p.A. and lifted the veil on a near global monopoly.

Luxottica manufactures frames for Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Stella McCartney, Tiffany, Versace and Vogue. The company also owns retail outlets and a major US health benefits brand.

One recognised brand stood up to Luxottica. Oakley (beloved eyewear of sportspeople, law enforcement and defence force personnel), mounted a brief but inevitably failed campaign to defy the might of the global giant. In 2007, Luxottica acquired most of the Oakley range.

Coincidentally, in a move which mirrored that of Bausch & Lomb decades before, the founder of Oakley moved into the cinema field, with his 1999 invention and manufacture of the 4000 line resolution digital camera: RED.

Luxottica’s prime competitor is another listed Italian corporation, Safilo Group, which manufactures eyewear for numerous fashion house brands.

Not unlike the diamond business, where De Beers dominates the market to a degree that enables it to swallow competitors and set pricing, Luxottica has a similar degree of control.

Ray Bans, which sold for $29 before the acquisition by Luxottica, now retail for hundreds of dollars (much more when prescription lenses are added).

So now, anyone who loves Ray Ban has to demonstrate their loyalty as Luxottica requires them to, (in a phrase from yet another Tom Cruise film) .. “Show me the money” !

Post script:

4 days after publishing this blog, an email was received from Ray Ban USA via an automated keyword search and lead-creation / follow-up system.

Over the name of the “Manager – Community Outreach”, this message stated that “we came across Digital Tsunami through mentions of Ray-Ban that you posted and we really liked the content of your site” and goes on to enquire “if you would be up for linking to Ray-Ban’s home page”.

I was intrigued why the brand would want to connect to a partially unflattering article. Was there a genuine interest in conversation and addressing issues? Despite also saying “we .. would be happy to answer any questions or comments”, my response to this request has remained unanswered!

The person named does not even have a profile in LinkedIn (strange for a Community Outreach Manager), which led me to suspect that the name was fabricated and the message little better than spam.

While Google actually ranks ‘citations’ (mentions of a product, without a hyperlink), Luxottica may consider that pursuing an actual link does not warrant the time of an actual staff member or more effort than an automated system.

The technical term for such a blatantly superficial attempt at link-building (in the guise of community involvement), is *FAIL*

View “60 Minutes” video

Read transcript

On the day that we officially recognise the birth of Australia as a modern national entity, we can be proud to acknowledge some of the Australians who have carried the name of Australia to the world.

Whether an individual appointed manager of the New Yorker magazine at the age of 26, a company providing technology to the triple world championship winning Red Bull Formula One Grand Prix team, or a new supercomputer running the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS), the Australia Unlimited website and app celebrate people and organisations which showcase Australia’s natural resources: resilience, creativity and an unquenchable desire to succeed, no matter what the challenge.

At the heart of the Australia Unlimited concept is the idea that Australia’s development has been forged through its enterprising spirit, natural optimism and sense of untold potential.

As a nation, we should also recognise the vast human resource of millenia of experience and culture
of our first nation people. We should be celebrating the art, technology, culture and contributions of Aboriginal Australians and looking forward to a shared future with respect and support.

As an individual, I passionately feel that we should be offering every opportunity in health, education and career growth, and promoting role models of those first Australians who have succeeded in academia, business, entertainment, law, medicine, politics, and so may other sectors.

Activities today will offer boundless community and individual opportunities to participate in the celebrations. On Monday, (when many corporations give their employees a day off ‘in lieu of’ the public holiday), Australians across the country and around the world will be working to promote their particular skills and capabilities for their international clientele.

National pride can be a positive thing, when based in a non-discriminatory, inclusive philosophy. Nationalism for the sake of belonging to a group and aggressively excluding others who do not copy your fervent flag-waving, is a negative. Growth in the former and reduction of the latter can only be good for our country.

Australia Unlimited is a part of the Australian government’s Building Brand Australia initiative.

Reference reading:
australiaunlimited.com
australiaday.org.au/events
antar.org.au
Building Brand Australia
creativespirits.info
indigenous.gov.au
innovation.gov.au/indigenous
reconciliation.org.au

Intensely concise, subliminal television advertisements (known as ‘blip-verts’), were released on an unsuspecting world in 1985.

Some viewers died!

Network 23, (responsible for creating blip-verts), went out of business a few years later.

Blip-verts, Network 23 and the cyberpunk futuristic vision of “Max Headroom” were all fictional!

However, the appetite in today’s developed society for ever-briefer snippets of content, (including video advertising), is moving rapidly toward ‘byte-sized data’.

Twitter has just launched “Vine”: a platform for video. The duration: six seconds, on an endless loop!

Within a few hours, Facebook had blocked links to Vine content. Within a few days, users had uploaded clever short films such as Stalking cursor!!!  and brownies in six seconds (a visual daydream for anyone with the munchies)!

It also raises the common legal issues of any user generated content, which is hosted ‘for free’.

The user will retain copyright of the video content, but must agree to “grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media .. with no compensation paid to you”.

Despite this, a number of companies have already created Vine accounts and uploaded advertising. In some countries, 10 and 15 second commercials are permitted on air, but 6 second stories are ground-breaking.

With the ability of creative people to communicate messages effectively within any media or time frame, and the immense growth in mobile market penetration, it may not be long before we are deluged with six second spots. The duration will certainly impose a rigorous brevity in storytelling, and some cleverness in looping.

The opportunity is almost defined as an abbreviated word association Haiku.

Video.
Brevity.
Vine.

Whether it will cling and cover, or wither, will depend on whether it can achieve rapid critical mass.

About Max Headroom

“Max Headroom” was a quirky television celebrity in a 2D (cell animation) world, who first hosted a music video program in 1985.

Created in Britain and aired in the USA, Max was ostensibly a product of artificial intelligence. The character became rapidly famous for his rapid-fire wit, his rock-solid hairstyle and Ray-Ban sunglasses, his smooth cabaret singing style and his distorted, staccato stuttering, electronically sampled voice.

The character’s personality was partly intended as a satire of insincere and egotistical television personalities .. but also was “media-wise and gleefully disrespectful” which appealed to young adults.

Max Headroom was such a success, that a ‘back-story’ had to be invented to explain his origin, which resulted in “Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future“.

Network 23 hotshot reporter Edison Carter, (played by actor Matt Frewer in pre-CGI-era latex and foam prosthetics and a snappy fibreglass suit), discovered an immense commercial secret (blip-verts), and almost died while attempting to escape a basement carpark. The last thing he saw before hitting his head on an up-ramp’s boom gate, were the words “Max. Headroom 2.3 m”.

Sources:
Vine
Vine: Stalking cursor!!! http://vine.co/v/bJBDredWvLd
Vine: Brownies in six seconds http://vine.co/v/b5dwBuW016P
Wikipedia: “Max Headroom”
Wikipedia: “Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future“

Corporate communications in 2013, I believe, with focus on three key areas: Mobile. Social. Video.

The Internet is nearly 20 years old, so many aspects have become relatively mature, in terms of technology, suppliers and standards.

SEO, CMS and Usability are familiar to most ‘C level’ executives and are generally well-researched and implemented.

So where is the innovation which delivers a competitive advantage?

Mobile

The growth of mobile has been a global phenomenon and will continue. The percentage of advertising spend compared with other technologies over the same time period shows massive growth potential.

The amount of time researching, the amount of time shopping and the value of purchases via mobile, are all constantly increasing.

Companies which do not yet have a mobile compliant presence, will fall behind.

All websites which Digital Tsunami builds this year will be ‘responsive’. This ensures that the content and navigation is adapted to the size of the screen. As an increasing number of traffic online is via smartphones, this ensures that the mobile experience on a handheld device is just as engaging and effective as the website via a desktop or laptop.

Social

The establishment of social networks has grown well beyond personal activities.

It is common today to see a movie trailer end with a Facebook address. 200 million professionals worldwide (and the world’s top companies) use LinkedIn. Brands are using Pinterest to showcase products and engage with prospects.

The plethora of platforms reinforces the need to identify and engage in those platforms which have attained critical mass and which are right for your brand and marketplace.

Digital Tsunami can help you to navigate through the options and deliver a strategy and solutions to maximise impact and engagement with all your stakeholders.

Video

The digital age has made ‘self-publishing’ an easy everyday activity (with no training required)! Anyone with a smartphone can be a produce and publish videos.

However, the volume of content just makes effective video so much rarer! Cut-though is even harder to achieve when looking for a needle in a haystack made of needles!

Do you produce professional video for product demonstrations, do you enable candidates to submit video resumes, do you have live video chat on your site?

The options are extensive, the ability to integrate user-generated content are vast, and your brand is at risk of being devalued!

Digital Tsunami has over 3 decades of experience in professional film and video production. Whether you need a global corporate video or a six-second story for Vine (Twitter’s new video platform), Digital Tsunami has the personnel, resources and expertise to help you achieve powerful, engaging and effective video.

Contact Digital Tsunami today.

By now, you may have repeatedly heard that if Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest (by population) in the world.

Facebook is a massive platform for brands.

As a part of a customised eStrategy, Digital Tsunami counsels brands on the use of Facebook pages for their products and services, to access a global market of over a billion consumers.

Ever “Liked” a product, video or post? Apps are increasingly utilising Facebook users to collate, integrate and promote personal data and preferences. If an individual has not manually selected certain privacy settings, a brand can use that data as a recommendation or advertisement on Facebook.

Whilst brand advocates have contributed to the success of Facebook, there are also elements of privacy of which responsible corporations and sensible individuals must be cognizant.

This is not a new issue. MIT published a study “Facebook: Threats to Privacy” in 2005. At that time, approximately 12-22% of users actually revealed their cellphone numbers, with s a noticeable gender difference. Amongst the study respondents, (University students from Harvard, MIT, NYU and Oklahoma), women were less likely to publish their cell number.

More recently, Mashable published a Facebook privacy guide, and just yesterday, promoted SimpleWash, a cleansing agent to remove unwanted and negative content and even photo tags. Other resources exist to advise Facebook users on protecting their identifiable data, such as Reclaim Privacy.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has published a comprehensive and easy-to-use guide to the privacy and security settings for individual Facebook accounts: “A Guide to Facebook’s Privacy Options“.

While brand managers will want to capitalise on brand advocates, as individual Facebook account holders, they may well want to protect their own privacy.
Read more about eStrategy
Read more blogs about Social Media
Read more blogs about Advertising and Marketing
Read more blogs about Statistics

References:
http://www.facebook.com/help/privacy
http://mashable.com/2011/02/07/facebook-privacy-guide/
http://mashable.com/2013/03/10/simplewash/
http://www.reclaimprivacy.org
http://allfacebook.com/facebook-privacy-settings_b31836
http://www.wired.com/business/2010/05/facebook-transparency-tool/
http://simplewa.sh

Foodbank in Australia has just launched a new identity for the brand across the country.

Devised by the advertising agency Havas (Sydney) the new branding will rollout over coming months, to distribution centres, vehicles, apparel and marketing collaterals. Havas also supplied an animated video which tells the Foodbank story simply and succinctly.

Foodbank is the largest hunger relief organisation in Australia, with distribution centres in all state capitals and a number of regional centres, which has delivered the equivalent of 200 million meals since 1992. This national network of non-denominational, non-profit, state and territory logistics suppliers, provides a warehousing and distribution conduit between food producers, manufacturers and retailers with surplus food and grocery items and the thousands of charities and community groups which feed hungry families and individuals across the country.

Digital Tsunami is pleased to continue its long relationship with Foodbank in Australia.

Since commencing pro bono support of Foodbank in 2000, Digital Tsunami has developed and hosted the multiple federal and regional websites and produced multiple videos. The most dramatic visual changes which have occurred have been in identity.

From the rudimentary appearance and multifarious branding of the late 20th century, the Foodbank web presence has refined and gained coherence and consistency. The latest evolution of the brand, launched today at The Big Breakfast in Sydney, has a simplicity and impact which befits an important, contemporary, nationwide organisation.

This identity was rapidly applied to the responsive, fifth iteration of the Foodbank web presence, which features a welcome page image grid that adjusts content and positioning to the device on which it is viewed. The semi-autonomous state and territory bodies have the flexibility to adjust their site’s key messages and calls to action, specific to four different browser widths.

The responsive Foodbank site features full-screen vectored background images, dynamic statistics, integrated videos, archived publications, donation forms with secure e.commerce, and hierarchical access to a sophisticated and easy-to-use WordPress content management system (CMS).

For the last two years, Digital Tsunami has exclusively developed responsive sites. The relentless growth of all statistics related to mobile device usage, indicates that a responsive site is a necessity for all corporations and organisations.

Contact Digital Tsunami today to discuss the ‘Communications Evolution’ of your brand.