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leveraging editorial influencers is going to require real scrutiny in a way that we perhaps have not applied before.
What do you think will be the most exciting development in your market in the next months?
Australia is a region that is strongly and rapidly pushing a programmatic approach across multiple media channels — and I believe we are rightly seen as being at the forefront of this technology. Moving further into 2017, this will continue its pace with major broadcast players changing their sales models and selling eyeballs across their multiple platform as opposed to separate demographics by platform. While this is certainly an exciting development, it is not without its challenges from a Comms perspective. I think the biggest challenge is understanding the relative value of these eyeballs. As the protectors of our clients’ brands, we cannot allow the media to dictate this and simply use additional platforms to make up for under-delivery elsewhere. I strongly believe we need to be leading the discussion on singular measurement considering the relative strengths of each media to engage our audience.
In your opinion, what categories are doing interesting communications work right now?
Having recently taken back its crown as the world’s most powerful brand, there is one company that has essentially carved out its own category — LEGO.
Alex Pacey PHD Australia
From that was born “Make Lego the Star at Christmas” — a campaign across social media encouraging fans
to send in pics of their LEGO star creations which were used in subsequent advertising. The brand ran content to demonstrate how to make the best LEGO star for the top of the tree as well as pop-up Star making classes across the country. This was all topped off with the unveiling
of a 7-metre-high LEGO Christmas tree in the heart of Melbourne. The results for the most popular brand at Christmas? An additional 19% in sales versus the previous Christmas.
Which clients and brands are standing out now for their thinking in your market?
The brands that do the best thinking in any market are those that reject the notion of “at the moment”.
These companies have a vision and they clearly live it throughout their business and extend it to the messaging and behaviour that the consumer ultimately sees. A great example of that in this market would be Commonwealth Bank. The CBA set an agenda for their business to be the most technologically advanced Bank in Australia. Since that time this vision has given direction to everything they’ve done that is consumer facing — the single best and most innovative banking app, the first bank to pioneer ATM locators, cardless cash, and an augmented reality property app that has been recognised globally for innovation.
The most recent iteration of this has seen them launch their in branch CommBank Innovation Labs that invite visitors
to explore the Bank’s latest products, and provide the tools to work together and generate the next generation of products. They allow customers to witness the stages of the innovation process as they happen, from idea to execution. The flexible spaces are filled with the latest technology to enable faster collaboration and ideation than ever before.
For Christmas2016, LEGO decided that whilst LEGO is Australia’s most popular Christmas gift there was an opportunity to get more under the tree by placing it at the very top of it.
THE EDIT ISSUE 054 | Q14 201176