There are logo's that are iconic, and there are logo's that are forgettable. The new Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) logo is definitely the latter.

The station's 'Exercise your imagination' tag line was obviously not an objective in the design brief.

Here was an an iconic symbol, just like that of the American networks NBC, CBS or ABC identities, replaced by a generic typeface.

And the very least it's a total waste of tax payer money.

There is further debate over at TVTonight.com.au along with screenshots of the on air ident package.

Posted by Ashadi at 8:14 AM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Interesting Articles

There has been way to much talk about banks and we need to kick this blog into a more sexy gear. And what better way to do that than with a promotional site for K-Y personal lubricant.

Poke NY's new site titled Keep Life Sexy is a never ending list of things that peopel equate to being sexy.

The visual design and audio design is quite nice. The sites sections react to the touch rather than the click which I think works well. After seeing this buzz word last month I feel this is a good example of "crowd sourcing" and it's quite interesting drilling down the words and also sorting via age and sex. (Although this sorting mechanism has now been removed?)

There is also a Flickr pool which feeds into the list. Altough as the site is new this is still in its infancy.

The site reminds me of We Feel Fine which gathered people's feelings from their blog posts and displayed it in various visual ways.

Here's Jonathan Harris talking about the site at a recent TED.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 7:20 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Interesting Promotions

With the new Gooby Commbank ad now out and everyone talking about the ad, I thought I might focus on the new tag line "Determined to be Different".

I would have preferred "Determined to be better" as I don't want my bank to be "different" I just want them to be better.

Check out the website for the campaign. It hardly goes into explaining how "different" the bank will be and has me thinking that nothing much has changed. The section titled "Determined to be Different in action is hardly going to make the CBA stand out.

It seems CBA is just repackaging the same old shit. Which is sad, as for me all the big banks in Australia are essentially the same and they could have really made an effort to be "different". In addition to hiring Gooby they could have also had a cold hard look at themselves and launched a new ad campaign and a new direction for the bank. Instead it's just like Coca-Cola launching with a new summer campaign. Same brown fizzy drink only this time it's all about love.

Pops on Expert Hat
I'm no expert and also have no idea on the financial implications but here's a few ideas that would have made the CBA different from every other bank in Australia.

Open All Branches 7 days a week 8-7pm.
It's a crazy notion but people who work full time jobs don't have time to go to the bank. So why do banks require you to take a long lunch break just to sort out your banking? The CBA is opening up their "busiest" branches on weekends but they are still limited hours and open from 9.30-1pm.

Reward Customer Loyalty
Banks seem to focus on attracting new customers and forget the ones they have. I've been with my bank 12 years and receive nothing more than a customer who signed up last week. Why not offer incentives and rewards for customers who stay with your bank every year. It could be as simple as extra free transactions or increase in repayment times.

No ATM fees
Crazy as it sounds I doubt the ATM fees the banks charge really go to help their $3B profits.

Go Green
While other banks have made gestures towards going green or carbon neutral by a certain date why not get on top and be the most green bank in Australia?

They can start by reviewing their paper policy which in my experience with a home loan with them is outrageous.

Below is all the junk I received when I got my home loan, including multiple copies of the same brochures 3 times.

Lastly here's one idea I saw in the USA, a hot pot a coffee in the branch! You wait in line 15 minutes why not get a free coffee while you wait.

I hope that the CBA has more in store for us with their campaign and it starts a real competition between the banks in Australia to really lift their game instead of just lifting their profits.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 6:25 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Interesting Articles

There's just one week left to Enter One Show. Which when you rank it among all the awards out there is in the top 3 you need to enter.

Enter now at www.enteroneshow.org

This year's judges is a who's who of the interactive crowd. In fact that's probably the most solid interactive jury I've seen in a while. They've even managed to track down four females which is impressives as usually these are sausage fests.

Enter the 2008 One Show Interactive and have your websites, online videos, mobile campaigns and more put to the test. One Show Interactive is the most prestigious award show in the industry, and the judges are some of the most respected and sought after creatives in the industry. They come from all corners of the globe to lift the bar higher by honoring a wide variety of work from multinational advertising giants to small regional shops.

-The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2008.

Winners will be announced during the One Show Festival, which is held from May 6 to May 9 in New York City.

Posted by Ashley Ringrose at 1:49 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Awards

As per the article we posted last night and which has been picked up by a few media outlets, we were right. And to the anonymous poster that pointed out that it looked like Michael Bay production, how right you were!

Click here for the the full ad.

Posted by Ashadi at 2:07 PM | Link to this Article | Comments
Archived in: Campaigns