Blood Nose 
  Originally uploaded by Steve Kay

AUSTRALIAN MARKETING INSTITUTE is calling for nominations for election of members as state councillors.

Over 70 AMI Members are wanted to run for state elections to bring new blood to the organisation.

Ideally suited to members qualified in marketing with a vision of AMI Members becoming the preferred choice of employers and clients, valued by the community and leaders in the marketing profession.

The election will be held on the 24th September 2008.

Existing State Members and marketing laggards need not apply!!

This Advertisement has been made by Gordon Whitehead MMktg, AFAMI, CPM on behalf of  ‘Marketer’s with a vision.’

What’s your vision for the Australian Marketing Institute?

  Social Media Landscape 
  Originally uploaded by fredcavazza

The world’s most powerful people are worried, marketers are worried,
politicians are mainly ignorant and small business owners are confused.

The Advertising Industrial (r)evolution has begun. Social media has
reshaped our understanding of the marketing world which is now in a
continual state of flux.

There are no real Social Media experts yet, no right or wrong…the consumer is back in control. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff say it best in their book ‘Groundswell‘ "Your brand is what your customer says it is."

Advertisers have to understand we have moved to a conversational era,
social media is not something advertisers can do part-time or offload
to the new kid. Advertisers need to commit, understand the social media
landscape and then, try to keep up with constant change.

According to Fred  Cavazza:

“Whether
you want it or not, conversations occur with or without you. What you
have to understand is that it is highly illusionary to think you can
control your brand by restricting blog usage from your employee or by
avoiding social networks."

"Your brand does not belong to you
anymore, it only exist in customers’ mind, which are massively present
in blogs, forums, wikis, social networks… So you have to choose between
suffering and benefiting from online conversations. That is why it is
important to name a social media champion within your organization
(just choose the right job title: Community planner, Social media
manager, Community architect, Social analytics expert…).”

Fred has uploaded a series of great social media diagrams to help people understand – check them out. Also, check out Robert Scobles ‘Starfish’.

Its here…hosted by Wil Anderson – The Gruen Transfer.

It promises to be a fast, funny show about advertising, how it works, and how it works on us.

A panel of ad industry brains will attempt to decode TV commercials. God help them.

And there’s more. It has a segment called ‘The Pitch’, where competing agencies fulfill an impossible brief. Where will they put their egos?

The show is on Wednesday nights at 9pm – don’t miss it.

I just can’t wait and maybe one day they ask me to join their panel.

After all the glitz and glamour and razzamatazz of Kevin Rudds 2020 Summit, I would like nominate this new energy saving light-bulb idea, showcased in this Greenpeace advert.

I especially like the bike headlight, please enjoy:)

Some people hate them…some people love them!

Here’s the Commonwealth Bank’s newest TV ad…this time, its with a boxing Kangaroo and featuring Australia’s Tempany Deckert. What do you think?

According to Al Ries the shape of the logotype should fit the eyes. Hmmm…what do you think creatives? Is he correct? Watch The Ries Report and see if you agree with him.

I don’t think the Commonwealth Bank of Australian made any friends when they engaged the services of Goodby, Silverstein and Partners (USA), to develop their new advertising campaign. 

In fact, you could say, the big Australian Advertising Agencies were really p*#sed-off.

But now the TV commercial has been launched, the buzz is: What the hell were they thinking?

I think their slogan "Determined to be different" doesn’t resonate with me – It’s a boring bank and it just does not fit with the current CBA image!

As marketers and advertisers, we should know that to reposition a large iconic brand such as the CBA is an expensive and time consuming project.

Just changing a tagline is not going to change consumers perception of the bank and using dated eighties Australian images such as Croc Dundee, Koalas and Mad Max may infact offend potential Comm Bank customers.

Now, if the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is really determined to be different, why didn’t they use a regional advertising agency. Now that would be bloody different…just image the CBA announcing the appointment of Sticky Advertising, a small advertising agency based in Newcastle to develop their next campaign. That’s different!

For a big ozzie corporate to look to the USA, is not being different – looking and trusting highly trained talent in Australia and especially regional Australia…IS!

TJAY00 posted the commercial on YouTube, so have a look and decide for yourself:)

Please all constructive comments on the Australian Marketing Institute below, thank you:)