Next Level Ideas

When ‘the least likely to be shite’ option is perfect

23 December 2009

The word ‘engagement’ gets used a lot by marketers these days - in fact a few new synonyms would be helpful for the digital strategy I’m working on at the moment.
For a lot of brands, creating content that consumers want to engage with is absolutely the right approach, particularly if it’s around a shared passion [...]

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Flavors.me - bringing together your content from across the web

15 December 2009

UPDATE 18/12/09: Get your free Flavors.me invite code here:
Just go to flavors.me/signup and enter invite code ‘nextlevelideas’ to try it out for yourself.

In the spirit of seamless segues, I’m kicking off the new blog design by mentioning a forthcoming social media enterprise that is also all about the content - Flavors.me.
Currently in beta, Flavors.me is [...]

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Redesigning the blog around the content

15 December 2009

Like many people with a blog, I don’t update it as much as I’d like.
Recently I’ve been trying to convince myself that this was not a result of my own laziness. Rather, I concluded that my previous image-led, magazine-style design was better suited to long-form articles than short posts and links. Predictably, this realisation resulted [...]

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What Vegemite can learn from Ford

30 September 2009

Vegemite’s decision to name its new variant ‘iSnack 2.0′ has stimulated a lot of debate on Twitter and Australian marketing blogs in recent days, culminating in Kraft’s decision to axe the name just four days after it was unveiled.

‘iSnack’ bombed because the name has no relevance to the product, coming across as an opportunistic attempt to jump on the Apple / web 2.0 bandwaggon.

One company that has a better record in this area is Ford…

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Infomercials: still treating consumers like morons

21 June 2009

As winter draws in down under, it’s tempting to spend more time in front of the TV. The downside is that you’ll find yourself subjected to a worrying trend: the rise of the infomercial.

While infomercials are hardly a new concept, in recent months, they seem to be interrupting prime-time breaks with alarming frequency.

At a time when consumers are increasingly choosing to fast-forward ads or rejecting traditional media altogether, isn’t there a danger in bombarding those that are still watching with infomercials?

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