Mr Knowitall

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Meet Mr Knowitall. Thanks to Samsung's new Social Hub, he knows everything about everybody in his social life. To check out this latest piece of interactive, online entertainment from the M&C Group, visit mrknowitall.com.au starring you and your FB friends.

Gold, bronze and aspirin

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Some people are a little worse for wear today, after celebrating our record award haul at the Effie Awards last night. The prestigious AFA Effies celebrate the year’s most effective advertising campaigns. We scooped two golds for The Qantas Frequent Flyer 'Time to Choose' campaign, while the M&C group collected two Bronze Effies for the Optus ‘Tape Recorder' campaign and the Optus ‘Prepaid' campaign. An outstanding result from the team; truly hangover-worthy.

The power of data

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Our CEO presented at the B&T Bootcamp conference in Melbourne this week.

He made a very serious confession followed by thoughts on the power of data.

Check out the deck on Slideshare:

http://www.slideshare.net/davewhittle/the-power-of-data-2010

Food fight!

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

On Monday, two of Melbourne's manliest men went whisk to wooden spoon in armed combat.

Who would make the lightest, fluffiest, most delicious cupcakes imaginable?

After tallying the gold coin donation votes, Raph just edged out Daniel with his Strawberry Cheescake flavoured delights.

But the real winners were the animals, with over $60 going to the RSPCA's Cupcake Drive.

B&T 30 Under Thirty List

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Congratulations to Nicole Ghobrial for making the B&T Top 30 Under 30 list! Well deserved.

Author: @mitch_alison

foursquare Data Visualisation

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

A recent article from eConsultancy (2010) found that digital marketing will account for 24% of all marketing spend this year. Despite this growth, the industry as a whole still finds it difficult to correlate the success of their marketing initiatives.

Mark is different. We aim to quantify the success of every piece of digital work, be it a banner or campaign. To achieve this, we place a strong emphasis on leveraging all forms of Data in both our campaign planning and optimisation.

But one of the problems with Data is that it's pretty hard to digest. That's why we love this foursquare data visualisation from Movity.com. It basically visualised the foursquare data of one of our team @calebo, as he checked into all his fav foursquare locations. You can see it in action here. Can you guess where he's been going?

Author: @mitch_alison

Soothers Trophy

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

We've just commissioned this cool trophy for a competition aimed at promoting our new Soothers website to influential bloggers. We may be biased, but we think it’s pretty freakin’ cool – who wouldn’t want one of these on their desk?

Creative Slam Down

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Ding ding ding!

Ladies and Gentleman. It's time for the Young ADMA Creative Slam Down.

In the red corner, weighing in at a mean 200 pounds, our very own junior creatives, Lee Phillips and Mel Stevens.

In the blue corner: a junior team from Cubed Communications who we’ve never met.

The brief? Make cask wine cool.

Will they cover themselves and the agency in a rainbow-threaded cloak of glory? Or will they be left to drown in a bitter cocktail of Coolabah and redundancy? Come down to The Brood Box, 8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne on the 19^th of August at 6.30pm and find out.

Free booze.

Check out the Facebook page.

Optus Business People 3

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1000

This is a new Direct piece for Optus Business. Specfically, its meant to sell Optus video communication and collaboration software. Check out the video below for an entertaining explanation of the idea.

Sorry Syd..

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1000

In a move that's done nothing to ease the age old Sydney/Melbourne rivalry, the Melbourne office welcomed the addition of two new Digital Designers to the team last week.

Only problem is, fun-loving Steve and adorable Fuji were poached from our Sydney Office.

Let's just say, despite the apparently warmer weather up there - they sure can send a frosty email...

Soothers Sounds

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1000

In 2009 Soothers, in partnership with Nova100, launched their get “Get Sooth-o-nated” campaign promoting a series of live Pop-Up concerts featuring both national and international bands playing in unusual locations.

To extend this and open it up to a wider audience we created a website, soothers-sounds.com.au, where anyone can come and create their very own Virtual Pop-Up Concert.

The mechanic is simple, all you need to do is choose a location for your venue using Google Maps and give it a name. Then, and here’s the fun part, using YouTube, people you get to choose five songs that relate to the theme of your venue.

What’s more, we've created a purpose built Augmented Reality Layar application for use with Android and iPhone 3GS phones that allows you to create and view the venues in real world locations.

NRMA 'Car Inspector' iPhone App

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1000

We're very proud of our latest iPhone App. 'Car Inspector' is now available in the App Store, and it's already doubled its targets. The NRMA Insurance 'Car Inspector' app is a great example of branded utility. It allows you to instantly compare the latest safety, environmental and security information between any new cars in Australia. You can read more about it here or here. Check it out in the App Store and feel free to rate it.

Lunchtime

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach. And the same can be said for a Digital, Direct and Data shop. Ok, we don't exactly march, but lunchtime is everyone's favourite part of the day. That's because we have our very own Lu Beal, who makes the yummiest food imaginable. Here's a sample from today, in Lu's own words:

Sandwiches are here for your taste and pleasure.

Soup today is a Ribolita.... Sorry, I mean a vegetable and chickpea
soup with silverbeet and parmessan. This little lady will be served
with a pumpkin sourdough or an olive and onion loaf. Say hello to $4.50

Brownies are here $1.50

BYE!!!!

Cannes Diary: Day 4

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Whew! As this week progresses, the speakers just get better. Today was director Spike Jones and Mark ‘Facebook’ Zuckerberg. I was trying to be diligent and take notes for you all on my iPhone. In a nutshell, Spike was inspiring. Zuckerberg was too, and just a little bit scary with his subtle world domination plans.

Here's my notes from Spike on creativity:

Best ideas come from a single voice, small group. Search the parks in every cities, there are no statues to committees. No is the most powerful thing you have as a creative person. It's up to you to protect your creativity and your beliefs by using that word wisely. Stop working every now and then. More input = more output. You know when you've found the essence of the idea. Is it exciting? If it's not, and you know it in your gut, don't do it. It will always go horribly wrong.

Mark on Facebook, the future and ads:

They have 1 million developers across the world. 500 million users in six years. He met the British Prime Minister, working with governments and law makers. He thinks Advertisers are operating like developers on Facebook. He likes the Nike World Cup campaign, Starbucks and Toy Story 3. Social bookmarking available with new plugins, so you can now see what your friends are doing across the web. Anywhere. Location based Facebook is coming. The future is highly personalised.

In other Cannes news, the Australian Beach Football team did very well. Hannes helped lead the team fairly close to victory. Beaten by the Dutch. However, I actually think hangovers might be to blame!

Cannes Diary: Day 1

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Cannes, incredible.

It's hard to describe the energy of this place. An advertising Olympic village, is probably closest to the mark. But in this instance you can't pick the winners from their enviable physiques, more their enviable bodies of work. And there is a truckload. We spent all yesterday walking through rows and rows of finalists, until our heads spun off. Trends? Be different, be fresh, be as simple as possible. The Gatorade Replay campaign has been picking up metal based on those insights and it deserves to. It's brilliant. Goosebumps. From Australia, the Toyota Nothing Soft Gets In campaign scored really well because it was all those things, plus funny. Never underestimate the power of humour with the judges!!

So far, we've had just one finalist. Obviously conspiracy theories abound. We drowned our sorrows on behalf of everyone from our agency who entered. And then we ate a kebab. Possibly the best one in the world. Every dark cloud eh? They have great sessions here to soak up. Some are blatant sales pitches, others are more thought provoking. I'm really looking forward to the RG/A workshop today on future digital creative depts. Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg Wednesday, Ben Stiller takes on Jeff Goodby Thursday, and Yoko Ono is here Friday. And stacks more.

Awards? Well there's still design, cyber, film and integrated to come, so who knows? 26,000 entries makes for some stiff competition.

What I do know is that I'm totally re-inspired to create goosebump delivering work, so I can get back to this advertising Olympic village. And find that kebab place.

Optus 'Jetstream Penguin' Facebook Game

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Optus "Jetstream Penguin" Facebook Game from Mark. on Vimeo.

This is a Facebook game we've just created for the Optus "Live Life Without Limits" campaign. It's a short, fun and addictive game for players of ranging skill levels. It harnesses the social nature of Facebook with a running leader board so friends can compare scores. You can play it here: facebook.com/optus?v=app_117517381603053.

Undeniably the last 24 months have seen huge growth in the casual and social gaming market. Casual games have become more accessible to mainstream audiences though Facebook, iPhone and now the iPad. This presents an opportunity for brands that can use this channel to communicate with some very large and passionate audiences.

Coffee Culture

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Without doubt this is the most important piece of equipment at Mark. That’s why it takes pride of place in our building. Our Vibiemme espresso machine is pretty much in constant use. And it’s freely available to all members of staff. For those who don’t know their Flat Whites from their Cappuccinos, we also have a coffee shop with our own barista. But that’s for another blog post.

One Show Interactive

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1000

'Whale Song' has recieved a Merit Award at One Show Interactive. Way to go guys! Check it out on the One Show website.

effie Awards 2010

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1000

The finalists for the effie Awards 2010 (Australia's annual effectiveness awards) are in, and I'm delighted to report that Mark have bagged seven:

WESTFIELD: All I want for Christmas- Most Original Thinking, Best Small Budget.
OPTUS: Tape Recorder: Best Small Budget, Best Return on Investment, Most Original Thinking.
QANTAS: Frequent Flyer: Consumer Services and ROI.

In total, the M&C Saatchi group have 10 Finalists. A great showing all round.

Qantas Boots & Dreams

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1000

To celebrate the Indigenous players in the AFL, we helped Qantas with this unique 'Boots & Dreams' exhibition. It was created using the actual boots of Indigenous players from clubs across the AFL, which were then painted by the group of Indigenous artists at Gilimbaa. The result is a visually stunning combination of Indigenous culture, sport and art.

Rich Media Award For ANZ

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Mark has won the fourth round of Ninemsn’s Butterfly Award for its ‘Sneaky Thief' banners execution for ANZ. The ad, to launch ANZ’s Fraud Money Back Guarantee campaign, features two synched banners and depicts a rather sexy cat burglar crawling along the top banner, sawing a hole through the ‘ceiling’ of the lower banner to reach in and steal an ANZ card.

For more information on the campaign and to watch the banner in action, click here.

The Animal Series by Okayboss

Wed, 26 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000

One of our Art Directors has just had some of his illustrations showcased on Kitsune Noir, an LA based fashion and design blog. Check it out here. Good work Hazim.

Happy Birthday Mark Melbourne

Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Last Friday Mark Melbourne celebrated turning the big numero uno since starting it's operations in Mexico. Photos of the festivities can be viewed by clicking on the picture above.

Optus Football

Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Check out the new game on our Optus Football site. The brief was to develop a game to drive traffic to the Optus Football Sponsorship site on the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. But rather than create a game, we decided to create an experience. A true extension of the moody, atmospheric journey the Football Sponsorship TVC takes the viewer on. Our idea? Break in to the Australian football team’s secret training camp. To further drive traffic, we made the game shareable on Twitter and Facebook and threw in some exclusive content to download as a reward. Well done to Hazim and Matt.

Happy Birthday Bonnie

Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000

To celebrate Bonnie's birthday we covered her desk in goodies. This was followed by a selection of delicious home made cupcakes. The Mark cupcake bakeoff is officially on!

Cottee's Paintball shoot out

Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Yesterday a few of our guys flew down to Melbourne, built a giant canvas, dressed Mark Schwarzer up in overalls and then got a load of kids to kick balls covered in paint at him. The aim was to leverage their association with Mark and drive awareness of their Schools 5 A Side Programme. See the video link on news.com.au here.

WaterAid Cannes Young Lions Ad Contest 2010

Mon, 17 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000

One of our writers @imgc has just entered the 48 Hour Cannes YouTube contest. The challenge: develop a short (max 1 minute) film to promote WaterAid's summer campaign "Don't let it drop" putting pressure on world leaders to seriously address the global water and sanitation crisis. Check out his entry. If you like it please leave a comment on YouTube.

Decade's Top Performer

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Interesting article in Monday’s The Australian newspaper. M&C Saatchi has ben ranked the top new business performer of the decade.

Mark mark III

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +1000

Today we launched the third version of our site, three weeks ahead of our third anniversary.

Most agency websites are rarely updated.

Old content is inaccurate and irrelevant.

So we've built a site that pulls content that the agency creates every day. Content like creative work, case studies, job ads, Google Reader feeds, Last.fm plays, Flickr photos, Tweets, Delicious tags (coming soon), staff photos and embarassing moments from our all staff meetings.

This means more accurate, interesting and relevant content.

And importantly, less maintenance.

Enjoy

@davewhittle

Please send your feedback to: sydney@mark.com.au

Cannes Fever

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +1000

This is a crazy time of year at Mark. On top of our usual work, we have to get all our award entries in. This week it's the biggie: Cannes. We have lots of great work entered, so hopefully we will do well.