B-M Australia

The Guardian has launched a new app called GuardianWitness,...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:07:43 +1000

The Guardian has launched a new app called GuardianWitness, which allows people to be Citizen Journalists by contributing to stories and even reporting on news that the Guardian isn’t aware of yet! Wouldn’t it be great if we had a similar app in Australia?

Vine – the next big thing in social media?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:34:00 +1000

By Charlotte Ferrand, B-M Australia

“Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest…I wonder what the next big thing will be,” I found myself asking a group of top bloggers during a recent campaign.

The resounding answer from at least one of them was ‘Vine’.

Vine, according to the Vine Blog, is “a new mobile service that lets you create and share beautiful, short looping videos. With Vine, capturing life in motion is fun and easy.”

Currently only available to download from the Apple App Store and not yet on Android (although rival app Cinemagram is available), Vine has been heralded as the step-up from Instagram. Rather than taking one still image and having the ability to change the filter to reflect your mood (or to make you look like you have a tan, whichever takes your fancy), Vine allows the user to capture a series of moving images, and loops them together into a quirky 6-second video which can then be shared on Twitter, Facebook and Vine itself.

Like Twitter, you can explore Vine’s trending hashtags; like YouTube, you can embed Vine videos into websites; like Instagram and Twitter, you can create a profile for yourself.

Scrolling through the Vine ‘Popular’ feed I did often get the feeling that I had entered the mind of someone who is having a bad dream with a series of 6-second videos, some with 6 different 1-second shots that seemed to range from bordering on psychedelic, to the just plain weird (Will Sasso ‘I Will Always Love You’ - I’m talking to you here).

Further investigation, however, found amazingly creative and artistic videos – one of my favourite being Table Toast by yelldesign (with 78,225 Likes) or Pinot’s ‘Drawing a rubber egg’ (with 98,747 Likes). It’s clear that this app has the potential to be an outlet for a new type of ‘micro-creativity’ and the good videos are getting a huge amount of impressions. Robert De Niro recently weighed in on the debate, calling Vine an “interesting thing” that could “tell a whole story in six seconds”.

Vine has now been acquired by Twitter, with the two channels sharing a goal of wanting to “make it easier for people to come together to share and discover what’s happening in the world”. Will Vine be the new instant way for us to consume news as-it-happens, like Twitter has so readily become? Except now through 6 seconds of edited amateur video instead of 140 characters?

How can marketers use Vine to their advantage? It would seem the possibilities are endless, particularly for capturing the decreasing attention span of the younger generations. Imagine finding a brilliant way to showcase your newly launched gadget in just 6 seconds, profile your brand’s key values or communicate its personality in a quirky super-short film, or cross-promote an existing social media consumer promotion.

Brands have already started to prove that, when done well, Vine videos can be a valuable marketing tool. According to Adweek, employees at Peanut Butter & Co. used a Vine video instructing the best way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to promote a buy-one-get-one free coupon for National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day. The video went viral with 300,000 impressions and more than 6,000 coupons downloaded.

Love it or hate it, in the six months since it launched, Vine has gone from strength to strength in the US, topping the iTunes free app chart last week, and is now starting to catch on here.

What do you think of Vine? Have you used it? How do you think it could benefit brands? Is it just another way for narcissists to over-share or get their 5-minutes (or in this case, 6 seconds) of fame?

Hopes, aspirations and concerns of 3,000 Arab youth - survey results by ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:26:28 +1000

Hopes, aspirations and concerns of 3,000 Arab youth - survey results by ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller:

Released overnight, the fifth annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey assessed the hopes, aspirations and concerns of 3,000 Arab youth in 15 countries across Middle East and North Africa.

The survey involved 3,000 face-to-face interviews with exclusively Arab national men and women aged 18-24 and is aimed at providing reliable data and insights into the attitudes and aspirations of the region’s 200 million-strong youth population, informing policy- and decision-making of both government and the private sector.

Similar to what is currently being experienced in Australia, the survey found that newspaper readership continues to plummet, from 62% in 2011, to 32% in 2012 and 24% this year. While magazines have experienced a slight gain from last year, only 8% of Arab youth say they get their news from magazines.

By comparison, social media is cited as the primary source of news of 28% of all Arab youth, up from 20% last year. Most interestingly, the percentage of Arab youth who consider social media to be their “most-trusted source of news” has nearly tripled from 2012 to 22%. (The attached slide deck details how and why Arab youth engage with Facebook, Twitter and online blogs).

While television continues to be the most-trusted news source, cited by 40% of respondents, trust has dropped from 49% in 2012 and 60% in 2011. Trust in newspapers is also declining, with only 9% citing print dailies as their most-trusted source of news.

Other key findings include:

• Majority of Arab youth (74%) agree with the statement that “our best days are ahead of us” and 55% are hopeful for an improvement in their country’s economic prospects
• 87% of Arab youth have a greater sense of national identity following the Arab Spring uprisings, reflected in their confidence that the region’s best days are ahead, and 40% increasingly embrace modern values and beliefs
• As in 2012, being paid a fair wage is of greatest importance to young Arabs (82%), while unemployment continues to be seen as one of the region’s gravest challenges
• Owning one’s own property is considered more important than living in a democracy (66% compared with 61%), but young Arabs are preparing to purchase property later in life (45%) and many fear they will never be able to own their own home (15%)
• Rising living costs continues to be the top concern among 62% Middle East youth
• Civil unrest (44%) and lack of democracy (43%) are the biggest barriers facing the region
• Looking across the Middle East and the world, the UAE is the country where most Arab youth would like to live (31%) – and still the country they would most like their own nation to emulate (30%)
• When considering foreign relations, Arab youth view France most favourably (44%), followed by Germany (39%) and China (39%); favourability towards the US is highest in Oman while the UK is viewed most favourably in Egypt

New York City has 11,412 pay phones that are almost never...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:46:31 +1100

New York City has 11,412 pay phones that are almost never used. To find a more relevant purpose for the time in which we live, NYC ran a payphone re-design challenge asking the tech and design community to reinvent its public payphones to make the city more accessible, safer and better informed.

We think the winner of the Best Community Impact category delivered the most clever and efficient concept.

Burson-Marsteller's 50 tips for better tweets

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:02:40 +1100

Burson-Marsteller's 50 tips for better tweets:

Are you a Twitter pro or still learning the ropes? Burson-Marsteller’s digital strategists from around the world have spent two months compiling a list of 50 Twitter Tips that you’ll find useful either way!

This is just about the best billboard installation ever! In a...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:52:41 +1100

This is just about the best billboard installation ever!

In a bid to attract new students for 2013, the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima, Peru, teamed up with a communications agency to create a world-first: a water-producing billboard for a city that sits in the middle of a desert, with almost zero rainfall per year and where fresh, clean water is not guaranteed.

Not only was this campaign pure brilliance, but it found a way to give back to the community and make a real difference to the lives of those in Lima.

Our work with client AG&P nominated for CommsCon Awards 2013!

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:25:00 +1100

We’re proud that our work with client AG&P was nominated for the CommsCon Awards 2013. We were shortlisted in the Internal Communications / Change Management category and have included our nominated case study below. Please keep reading to see what we did.

Overview:
Burson-Marsteller worked with AG&P to successfully implement a major rebrand of the company. They wanted a creative new look and feel that reflected their position as a serious contender in the modular construction space, whilst also raising the visibility of AG&P and its value offer on the global stage.

Not only did B-M manage the complete redesign of the logo, plus all related marketing material, branding, stationary and web assets, B-M also developed an employee communication program to ensure company wide acceptance of the new brand.

OLD LOGO

NEW LOGO

Strategy:
The employee communication program we developed focused on three key areas;

Securing employee participation in the brand relaunch
Generating a sense of excitement and anticipation for this new chapter for AG&P
Executing consistent physical brand rollout throughout AG&P

Tactics:
To ensure staff participation in the rebranding project B-M got AG&P to agree to the idea that their staff could decide how the company mascot Agapito should be represented in the new brand framework, including what role the mascot should have.

To generate excitement and celebrate the new brand B-M travelled to Batangas in the Philippines to organise and manage a company event celebrating the brand. This event included three executive speeches from the Chaiman, CEO and CFO, two dance routines and one catwalk show with employees modelling the new uniforms.

To reinforce the need for company-wide acceptance of the new brand and associated materials the AG&P CEO sent all staff a personalised letter emphasising the need for everyone to embrace the new brand. In addition they all received mouse pads and pens with new branding.

Results:

1500 people attended the celebratory launch event in the Philippines
The new brand has been embraced and adopted across the company with positive feedback received from around the company

The new brand means innovation and modernization of AG&P that further lead to creation of more jobs and opportunities. – Dionaldo D. Lampa, QA/QC Engineer, Goro Nickel Project, AG&P Nouvelle-Caledonie

I am expecting every employee (local/overseas) to be more active, cooperative to contribute to each discipline they belong in achieving the goal of our company. - Ronaldo Pagdanganan, Material Controller, IGD Habshan-5 Project, United Arab Emirates

In addition, 360 employees responded to the Agapito survey and it was agreed Agapito’s role would now be focused on safety messaging

Burson-Marsteller launches $1.6 million CSR program to mark diamond anniversary

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:26:00 +1100

We’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of our founding in New York by pledging $1.6 million in consultancy time through a new global initiative called the Burson-Marsteller Giving-Back Service (GBS) Project.

The B-M GBS Project is a worldwide community service commitment involving the company’s 2,300 employees in 110 countries. B-M Australia (B-M) is participating in the program and employees will have the flexibility to choose where to direct their efforts, either through pro bono communications services or the provision of ground support to the Australian charities and non-government organisations of their choosing.

“It’s great that we are marking this important milestone by giving back rather than just patting ourselves on the back,” says CEO and market leader, Christine Jones.

“As a company, we have always embraced CSR programs as we believe they are a critical component of corporate best practice. We’ve helped charities such as RedKite; raised money for those affected by natural disasters; and participated in team events such as the City to Surf and Movember. We look forward to seeing how the GBS Project unfolds around the world throughout the year,” said Jones.

Burson-Marsteller opened an office in Australia in 1980, becoming one of the first international firms to establish a presence in this market. Since then, B-M has supported some of Australia’s most high profile events and communications campaigns including:

1988     World Expo in Brisbane

1992     Arnotts takeover by the Campbell Soup Company

1995     Launch of Microsoft Windows 95

1996     Privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank

1997     Privatisation of Telstra with Share Offer (T1)

1998     The Victorian Gas Crisis

1999     Privatisation of Telstra with Share Offer (T2)

2002     Launch of Botox in Australia

2005     Launch of the A-League for Football Federation of Australia

2012     Launch of HP’s world class Next Generation Data Centre in Sydney

2012     Launch of Greenough River Solar Farm, Australia’s first large-scale solar farm

Today B-M works with a number of leading clean energy, professional services, enterprise technology, government, financial services, tourism and FMCG clients through its corporate and public affairs, technology and brand marketing practices.

“Burson-Marsteller Australia has always had a reputation for providing high-level insight and strategy as well as delivering outstanding business results for our clients. We’re very proud of our 60-year heritage and will continue to build on our rock solid foundations,” said Jones.

Note:
To launch celebrations for Burson-Marsteller’s 60th Anniversary, on Tuesday, March 5 in New York, the firm’s Founding Chairman Harold Burson, Worldwide Chair and Chief Executive Officer Donald A. Baer rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite located in New York City’s Times Square. NASDAQ is the exchange on which the shares of Burson-Marsteller’s corporate parent WPP are traded. http://www.nasdaq.com/article/burson-marsteller-to-ring-the-nasdaq-stock-market-opening-bell-20130304-00783#.UTUzXTCmiAg

Bringing the beach to the city, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Intel...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:34:17 +1100

Bringing the beach to the city, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Intel will transform Customs House Square into your ultimate inner city work space. HP and Intel Beach Club will allow you to escape from the confines of your desk and enjoy the sunshine in the fully functional outdoor beach workspace.

From 27 November to 30 November, HP and Intel Beach Club will be set up as an outdoor productivity area with group zones for meetings. HP staff will also be on site to help with any technology needs.

During the week guests will also be able to simply sit back, relax and enjoy the sunshine. Comfy beach chairs, coconuts and sun umbrellas set the scene, transforming Customs House Square into the ultimate summer location.

Some great reactions from the public in this video!

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:56:00 +1100

Some great reactions from the public in this video!

Generation WHY? Gen-Y cops a lot of flack but are they the...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:57:11 +1000

Generation WHY?

Gen-Y cops a lot of flack but are they the hardest to retain in the workforce?

One of our clients - specialist recruitment firm, Robert Half - has released this infographic, which visualises how Gen X, Y and Baby Boomers are perceived.

Photo

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 16:38:35 +1000

Old Spice is at it again with a killer new interactive...

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:08:02 +1000

Old Spice is at it again with a killer new interactive ‘Muscle Music’ video! It’s a suped-up mixture of awesomeness and intimidatingly well-timed muscles.

B-M Oz Wins Gold and Silver Stevie Awards

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 10:00:22 +1000

B-M Australia was named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award for the Best Community Program and a Silver award in the Creative Marketing category in The 9^th Annual International Business Awards.

More than 3,200 nominations from organisations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted in a wide range of categories from more than 50 nations and territories. The agency also picked up one Gold, one Silver and three Bronze awards for its work in the Middle East.

The Gold award was won for a campaign for the Australian Lung Foundation (ALF) to encourage more Australians to take greater notice of their lung health. B-M created the Show Us Your Lungs campaign, which included viral marketing and social media activation, as well as a mainstream media campaign with serious health messages about the need for Australians to take their lung health seriously. The project engaged millions of Australians and helped to put lung health on the agenda in the media, through word of mouth and among key decision makers and influencers.

The Silver Stevie was awarded for the integrated PR campaign supporting Beam Australia’s Boonie’s Over Beer?! through-the-line project. The strategic use of beer enthusiast David Boon as the face of the campaign provided Beam with a creative hook for communicating the “Over Beer?” messaging.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

helloyoucreatives: Colourful clouds created by Rob and Nick...

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:47:53 +1000

helloyoucreatives:

Colourful clouds created by Rob and Nick Carter

(via @designboom)

KRAFT - Make Dinner Not Art Ah to be a kid again…

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:42:00 +1000

KRAFT - Make Dinner Not Art

Ah to be a kid again…

The Socialympics [INFOGRAPHIC]Developed by B-M Australia It’s...

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:51:00 +1000

The Socialympics [INFOGRAPHIC]
Developed by B-M Australia

It’s been said that it was the ‘Socialympics” – the first time that social media truly infiltrated, supported, interrupted and facilitated conversation around the Olympic Games. Social media played such a major role in the Olympics that the IOC brought out guidelines to inform athletes what they could and couldn’t do on social media platforms such as Twitter. Throughout the games, there were more than 500,000 conversations in Australia alone during the Olympics, and Twitter estimates that there were around 80,000 conversations a minute about the Games. Both athletes and journalists alike had their social media accounts suspended for breaching either the IOC or Twitter guidelines. One athlete even blamed social media for their underwhelming performance.

In light of this, B-M Australia has developed the attached Infographic, which visualises the conversations had by Australians during the Olympic games. The Infographic shows the most discussed Australian athletes and news stories and breaks down the demographic data to show who talked the most.

Key insights from the Infographic include:

·         4 in every 5 conversations around the Games took place on Twitter, dwarfing every other social media platform
·         Females talked about Olympics more than men, with 56% of the conversations coming from women
·         Sally Pearson was Australia’s most talked about athlete, followed by Lauren Jackson and James Magnussen
·         The most widely discussed news story was that Paul McCartney was paid just 1 pound to perform at the Opening Ceremony
·         Swimming was the most discussed sport overall, followed by basketball and rowing

Social Media is in its Teenage Years

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:41:55 +1000

Reblogged from B&T Magazine:

The ASB is trying to control the unwieldy teenager that is social media

9 August, 2012 Carly Yanco

Earlier this week the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) set an important precedent for businesses using social networks such as Facebook. The ASB ruled that Smirnoff, and parent company Diageo, were responsible for policing the comments made by the public on their Facebook page. The decision centred on the premise that when businesses use social networks they become a marketing communication tool – an extension of the brand’s advertising – rather than a networking tool.

The implications of this decision are significant. All businesses operating within Australia and using social networking sites must now consider (if they weren’t already) the level of moderation they will implement within the communities they build online. The risk of over-moderation means page maintenance can border on censorship while no moderation leaves the business liable for offensive comments.

When moderating an online community there’s an important distinction to be made between negative and offensive comments. Negative comments help to balance the conversation and generally shouldn’t be removed, while offensive comments should be dealt with according to a set of predetermined (and public) “house rules”. While resourcing a fully-moderated page can be a challenge, most businesses using social networks should be monitoring all conversations taking place within them.

But with all this in mind, where should the responsibility for offensive comments lie? While the ruling fairly determines that businesses should play a role in keeping their piece of the internet squeaky clean, where is individual accountability? If an individual was to walk into the retail store of a business (arguably also a marketing and communications tool, especially if we’re talking about Apple) and started yelling offensively at staff or customers, who is responsible? While staff would do their best to put a stop to this behaviour, the accountability ultimately lies with the person yelling. If police are called, they would generally lay some form of disturbing-the-peace type charge on the individual, not the business.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA) attempted to hold search engines responsible for online piracy and while that fight isn’t yet over, serious questions were raised about both the balance of responsibility between businesses or individuals versus the platforms that facilitate their actions. At the moment, the internet and its key players are still maturing and that leaves the door open for online behaviour that can push not-yet-established boundaries. Social networks especially are still acting like unwieldy teenagers – enabling bad behaviour in others and to an extent resisting rules set by any authorities that try to impose them.

While governments and businesses are figuring out how to regulate online behaviour, it is clear we need a common understanding of socially acceptable behaviour online, clearer consequences and individual accountability.

Carly Yanco is head of digital at Burson-Marsteller.

London 2012 Olympics Aquatic Center Diving Pool designed by...

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:16:50 +1000

London 2012 Olympics Aquatic Center Diving Pool designed by Artist Gary Davis

Journalism at the Speed of Bytes

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:11:18 +1000

A new report into quality journalism in Australia was released today, which identifies the challenges and opportunities for the publishing industry.

Reposted from Mumbrella:

Billed as the most detailed report of its kind ever carried out in Australia, the ‘Journalism at the Speed of Bytes’ is a survey of 100 editors, deputy editors and senior editorial staff from the major Australian metropolitan and national newspapers.

Sixty-two per cent of those asked said the most difficult challenge they face is coping with tighter resources, while 56% said it was proving difficult to keep staff motivated.

And this is impacting on the quality of journalism in Australia, the report found.

The report made a number of recommendations, which include:

Rather than judging “quality journalism” merely as something that readers will pay for, the industry needs to talk to readers about journalism standards and values, to ensure that they understand how the news process works and the constraints under which journalists operate
Adequate training in best-practice digital journalism, rather than on-the-job training provided on an “as-needed” basis will be critical to ensure that the existing workforce gains a holistic understanding of how digital technology has changed journalism
The Walkley Awards – and other journalism awards – should be used to showcase and encourage best practice digital journalism performance and standards and need to be reviewed in light of this critical role