Advertising – Orizan

Not another ad agency

Empathy is a powerful emotion and we can definitely empathise with everyone on the truth that the world doesn’t need another boring ass agency.

Which leads me to context. In our industry, context is probably the most important consideration in everything we do. Stating the world doesn’t need another agency, suggests the world is already full of agencies (some good, most not). But what exactly is an agency and why are there so many different kinds of agencies? What makes them different and what makes them great? Is boutique/independent/full-service better (or worse) and isn’t it all just marketing anyway?

No, it’s not. Though it is a pretty damn confusing landscape for advertisers.

Constant shifts within the industry, changing perceptions and ambiguous definitions of where we bring the most value to our clients is continually under fire. More often than not, this is generally caused by confusion within the industry around the terminologies we use to describe our own existence in an attempt to differentiate or position ourselves as distinctive within a ridiculously crowded market.

Unfortunately, all this has done has confused an already chaotic landscape for our clients. Now, most of the time, we end up being all things to all people even though we try our hardest not to be, because we can’t even find the clarity in our own offering and were exactly we fit into the overall marketing piece, where we really shine.

Some agencies describe themselves as full service, others are digital, or content agencies. There’s creative agencies who mainly do ideas and design work, but also production sometimes, and if you really need it, have been known to dabble in the world of product design too!

There’s pay-per-click agencies that aren’t digital agencies, there’s marketing agencies that do no pay-per-click advertising and digital marketing agencies out there that are merely social media or pay per click agencies and do no actual marketing (if you don’t agree with me, upskill yourself in marketing or forward your opinionated hate mail to my office). I’m also not getting into a rant around the widely dismissive definitions of what constitutes ’traditional’ and ‘digital’ (is digital out of home advertising ’traditional’ or ‘digital’ – spoiler: it’s 2020. It’s all just, advertising!).

The commonality between all of these ‘agencies’ is the need to create, connect and communicate with an audience. To fight for the shrinking space within a prospects mind that their clients brands can truly own. And the secret is, it takes a highly strategic approach to bring all of those ‘agency services’ together in order to deliver a message to your audience in a consistent, memorable and interesting way. All in an attempt to influence the customer and give that slight nudge to purchase, try, and fall in love with your brand.

It takes great strategic directive, flawless creative execution, quality production work and a delivery or distribution strategy to bring it all together.

How do you do that, when as an industry we’re too busy fighting with each other to see the value we all bring to the puzzle and you (you’re the client in this narrative) know the full service model is limiting, uneconomical and broken.

This is where a strategically led, brand focused advertising agency like Maker Street comes into play. We help advertisers align objectives of the business with the brand and marketing department to uncover and drive creative solutions that help our clients stand out in an interesting way.

And, this modal works for us! Because we’re not ‘full service’ and we don’t really care what ‘specialists’ or ‘gurus’ you have working on your tactical day-to-day marketing efforts. We’re here to assist with high level strategic decisions to help develop brand focused advertising work, and then we leave to let the experts bring that work to life.

What this actually means is that we know how to play well with others and while that also means we don’t always get credit for the work, as long as we’ve helped drive revenue growth in some way, we’ve done our job and ultimately, that’s what’s most important to us.

If you want to sit down with us – you can reach us at hq@mkrst.co

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn

How Polarised Sunglasses Killed Advertising

Okay, the title might be a bit dramatic. But hear us out! Polarised sunglasses had a real impact on outdoor advertising. Have you ever worn your sunglasses while driving and seen rainbows on car windscreens? Or found that you can hardly see your phone screen?

It’s all a side effect of polarised lenses.

Polarised lenses have a chemical injected into them during manufacturing which is laminated into a vertical pattern. This reorganises light rays before they reach the eye, and that’s what causes those funny effects. But how did this change advertising?

As LCD technology improved and became cheaper, it became the more appealing choice for outdoor advertising. LCD screens mean you can have multiple advertisements rotating at any given time. It made it easier for advertisers to target the right audience by advertising at specific times, for as long as they needed.

But a set of polarised lenses doesn’t know the difference between a billboard, a phone screen, and a radio display. Your sunglasses will block them all. In the summer months when glare is up to three times higher than in winter, most Australians can be seen in their wayfarers and clubmasters.

This means most Australians can’t even see the billboards that businesses are spending a fortune to advertise on.

You wouldn’t think to consider sunglasses as a real-world AdBlocker, but they’re surprisingly effective. Just something to keep in mind next time your campaign plan includes outdoor advertising in summer, especially here in queensland.

What COVID-19 means for Advertisers and how you can stay on top, on the edge of a recession

The global economies been flipped upside down, stretched, poked and prodded in all sorts of places since the spawn of COVID-19. Unfortunately, for a lot of businesses, this is the bitter end.

The fate of trade in both big business and small lay in the (hopefully clean #flattenthecurve) hands of this disastrous virus. Woolies TP stock’s been wiped out, tourism’s taken a nosedive and let’s not even get started on the demise of the hospitality industry. I miss friday bevvies already!

But, what does that mean for the rest of us? The oh so lucky ones who still seem to have a fighting chance. What can we do to cement our footings in the space and come out of this stronger than ever before? The great Australian way.

It’s wise to tighten the straps at home, consolidate expenditure and reallocate budgets. Hell, even just to keep the head above water. In business though, as we edge on a recession, this can be detrimental to your ability to get through this one alive.

Times like these require a total shift in mindset. Quick wins, and thrown together, short run social campaigns, probably won’t cut it in this climate.

In an economy where literally no one is buying anything. Campaign goals (and associated creative) should be shifted from immediate purchase to increasing awareness of the brand in hope to not only sustain brand salience, but also capitalise on a somewhat rare opportunity to win market share in such a short period.

Don’t forget, some industries will totally blow up from this. Home delivery services and apps are being built daily across the globe and zoom has more than doubled its share value since the outbreak. If you’re in an industry that’s seeing a ridiculous amount of growth right now, remember ‘people over profit’ and you’ll have a better chance at sustaining that growth. Quick note, profiteering is highly unethical and mostly illegal—just don’t do it.

It’s important to use this time to revisit your purpose and reposition your business as a stronger, more meaningful brand. Because, when it turns (and it will) you want to be the one already at the finish line, not just starting the race.

Some things to think about;

Most importantly, be safe out there.

Until Durex decide to launch a body condom, stay the f*** inside!

Brand Advertising is Quite Like Dating

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

How on earth are dating and advertising even remotely similar?

So, you’re on a date – It’s going well, you like what you see. You feel the connection, an undeniable spark. This is what’s missing from your life. You want, need and deserve this. But it still takes time to build a trustworthy connection and it’s quite normal to ask questions. “Are they who they say they are? Nobody I know can vouch for them. I need to get to know them before I can trust them.”

Building credibility takes time and people need to feel a positive connection in order to trust. Welcome to the vast world of advertising.

Relationships are something that you need to work on over time. You don’t hand over your hard earned cash over night. You need proof of whether you can trust that things are what they appear to be. When you open your mind to this concept, you will realise that it’s relative to both personal and business relationships.

Think of advertising as a way of breaking down the barriers to build credibility and trust with your customers. When you like someone, you want to let them in. But it’s a process. Think about your personal life. The more present someone is and the more you see them, the more you trust them. The more your friends and family like them, the more at ease you feel to encourage the connection. The closer you become. Well, the same goes for your brand.

Many businesses, small and large often expect to see overnight results when it comes to advertising. However, it’s not always that simple. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great when you have measurability and it feels good when you can see positive conversion rates from your latest ad campaign. However, this is where we need a shift thought process. It’s not always about monetary return.

What do you want your brand to be worth to your consumers?

Brand advertising is a form of advertising that doesn’t focus so much on immediate action from consumers, but more so on establishing long term credibility and emotional connection with your brand. Think about it. Connection is ultimately what we, as humans, yearn for. Once there is trust and credibility, people are more likely to be loyal and remain a long term customer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”80px”][vc_column_text]

Want a better connection with the world?
Get in touch, the coffee’s always on us.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_raw_html]JTNDZGl2JTIwc3R5bGUlM0QlMjJ0ZXh0LWFsaWduJTNBY2VudGVyJTNCJTIyJTNFJTNDYSUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyaGFCdG4lMjBkYXJrJTIyJTIwaHJlZiUzRCUyMiUyRmNvbnRhY3QlMkYlMjIlMjB0YXJnZXQlM0QlMjJfYmxhbmslMjIlM0VJdCUyN3MlMjB0aW1lJTIwd2UlMjBtZXQlM0NzcGFuJTNFJUUyJTg2JTkyJTNDJTJGc3BhbiUzRSUzQyUyRmElM0UlM0MlMkZkaXYlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][vc_empty_space height=”80px”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Why is sport such an emotional advertising channel?

It’s 15 seconds till the hooter blows…

Your team is tied up with the opposition and the score has changed hands 4 times in the last 10 minutes. How are you feeling? Stressed and emotional to say the least.

Sport is an entertainment source that for a large part of society has become a way of life, rather than just an entertainment outlet. From Cricket and footy to lawn bowls and darts each and every week the public comes to watch their team slog it out to compete, and ultimately be the greatest. Sport has a way of making dreams happen. Whether that be in a playing or in a spectator sense, it breaks down social barriers, it’s inclusive and has the power to build a platform for something else, other than just the game itself.

A perfect example of how sport touches people’s lives and demonstrates how, at the end of the day, It’s emotionally engaging, was the outpour of grief and respect for the recent passing of Kobe Bryant. Someone who was hailed as one of the greatest basketball players to have ever played. Someone who utilised his position and personal brand for the greater good. People loved watching him play and adored him for the person he was within the NBA.

Closer to home to show how important watching sport is to Australians was Game 1 of the 2019 State of Origin where just over 14% of the entire population of the country (3,460,000) tuned in to watch the match. For 2 hours people were glued to their screens to watch 26 men fight it out in Maroon and Blue – let that simple explanation of what occurred sink in.

Now, as a brand wanting to look for inventive ways to get in front of your customers the above statistics is a huge tick of approval.

It shows that there is a viable channel to target the mass market. Whether it be an advertisement, activation or sponsorship level. The ability to be shown in front of such a significant number of the population who is emotionally engaged with the outcome of the event enables brands to be positioned front, line and centre.

If you’ve ever thought ‘we need to be on that for sure’ you’re not the first brand to think about it.

Yet only a few each year have been able to win the hearts and minds of customers after the event has occurred, why is that the case?

Well, they were able to craft something memorable that speaks to their target market, be it through emotion, humour or shock.

Small Gestures Make a Big Difference

This Valentine’s Day our team took to the streets of Brisbane.

We spent the day handing out chocolates, along with statements of love and appreciation. We had the simplest of goals in mind. To spread an abundance of happiness and engaging people with positive human connection.

The world we live in is fast paced. We’re always jumping from one thing to another, with minimal time to spare in between. The simplest of connection is something we’re missing in our society today. With this in mind, we took the time to say “Happy Valentines Day” to the folk of Brisbane CBD. Some responses were inspiring to say the least.

We have proven how a simple, effortless gesture such a smile and a kind remark of goodwill can completely change the way that people respond to you. We have realised that sometimes, it’s the smallest of gestures that make the biggest impact on people’s lives.

New Horizons Spark a Rebrand

From Hatchet Agency, to Maker Street.

Featured in the Friday morning article by Mumbrella, a platform that discusses everything relevant to Australia’s media and marketing, is the story, vision and birth of Maker Street.

Hatchet Agency rebrands to Maker Street Press Release via Campaign BriefClick the links below to read the full article on:

B&T, Mumbrella , Campaign Brief New horizons and new opportunities meant we needed to realign our brand, in order to reflect our invigorated vision and capabilities.

In 2018 we put down roots in the rumbling heart of Fortitude Valley. With large goals in sight, our small team of creatives completely immersed themselves, seeking out a great deal of opportunity. With this, our nimble “Hatchet Agency” had seen significant growth.

After a successful year, our vision and goals were adapting. The agency landscape is complex at the best of times and we have so much pride in the human heart that Hatchet Agency demonstrated. We wanted to continue doing what we love. This meant it was time to recognise that we were beginning to stumble. Things weren’t mending as easily as they once did.

We bolstered our strategic arm and realised that it’s not enough to show and tell. People want new experiences. We believe empathy is needed to understand what makes people tick and Maker Street recognises the changes in clients and their consumers’ expectations and in our industry.

As humans we crave the satisfaction from being part of building something bigger.

We’ve seen that some of the biggest ideas can come from the smallest teams. With that, we’re excited to announce that 2020 is looking at some fresh, new partnerships which can transform some of those ideas, into a reality.

Break your Advertising V-Card: Getting the most out of your agency.

As a business owner, with every decision, no doubt at some point you’re asking the questions. How long will it take? What’s the cost? And what resources do we need?

This may elicit a very complex spreadsheet, project timeline or list of new requirements for resources for the task to be achieved. In some cases, partnering with an agency can feel like a natural extension of your team in order to fulfil the endeavours of your business at a much more effective cost.

From the minute we leave our homes, we’re instantly being flooded with information, content and some good, but also some very bad advertising.

Which makes competing in any market for such a small percentage of share in your customer’s mind can be very difficult, time-consuming, overwhelming and for some, very expensive.

But it doesn’t have to be, you just need to find the right partner with the right advice to help you find somewhere to start.

Unfortunately, in a lot of industries, there are individuals or organisations that paint an ill-picture for the majority of service providers with poor execution, blow-out of initial budgets or an un-promisable understanding of what you want to achieve in your business.

With any organisation, your clients choose you based on your story, why you exist and what’s in it for them. Which begs the question, are you telling the right story?

We’ve put together some tips for a few things to remember when hiring an advertising agency, so you don’t get caught up in something you can’t break free from. Hopefully, these tips will help you have a more meaningful and prosperous relationship with your agency partner.

Be clear on your budget and actual spend.

Your budget will always be the cornerstone of a decision, particularly with advertising so try to be as transparent as you can on what you can budget for your creative and media spend. It’s up to the agency to let you know what they can and can’t do within that budget — if their response doesn’t sit well with you, find another agency that aligns more with where you’re currently at in your business.

What if you don’t know what to spend?

List what you want to achieve out of your advertising and prioritise it. From there you’ll be able to establish a list of goals and reasonable outcomes. However, as a rule of thumb and depending on the health of your business, around 7–10% of your gross revenue would be quite a nice and healthy budget to get you moving towards some real results.

“I don’t know what I’m asking for, but know what skills I don’t have”

Ask if the agency will provide you with a workshop. This is a great way of establishing a relationship, but more importantly provides you with the opportunity to gain insight as to how an agency can help with your business, especially if you’re unsure on where to start. Remember, the insights and materials you gain from a well-run workshop won’t go to waste as you can use the information internally to better your own processes. A great workshop will draw out what you want to achieve and what your new business goals. For example, it could be that you need a better digital and social marketing strategy put in place to boost user engagement for your products, or you might need to run an integrated campaign for an event you’re trying to launch, or maybe you need to go right back to basics and find the true essence of your brand to better understand the value that you offer your clients.

Ensure to have a totally transparent and honest conversation

Firstly, if you’re the business owner, lose the ego and be ready to be vulnerable. A good advertising agency isn’t trying to trick you up on what you’re not doing — but there to help you plan and implement what your business might be able to achieve at every stage in the buyer’s journey to create a better and more memorable experience for your customers.

Ask questions about any technical terms, write them down and use as a reference for future use. Request reports and data on a consistent and accountable time frame. For example, each Monday of the week or the last business day of the month.

Consistent reporting of the data captured will help you to make better decisions and provide you with the insights you need to scale and grow your business.

This will ensure you have a trusting an open relationship with your agency if they’re representing your brand — you want them to be telling an honest story and that comes from your willingness to trust their creative process.

Clear briefing is essential.

As the client, you may have an account manager who will work collaboratively with the strategists and the creative team on an internal brief based on your discussion. The creative brief is a critical document in the creative process that links the client’s expectations with the agencies creative.

Talk about some bad outcomes that could happen from a bad brief and that spending the time to get a creative brief right is time well spent because it controls the creative process. A lot of (most times) times though, a client won’t ever see a creative brief. It really depends on how clear the problem is stated in the beginning.

Using an advertising agency is an excellent way to supercharge your brand story. You open a door to an expert team with skills and capabilities that helps you stay ahead of the curveball (and your market) without the expense of finding, hiring and managing an internal team of your own.

Want to know more?
Get in touch, the coffee’s always on us…

How to Define a Budget for Advertising

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]

We always see a fair bit of confusion when it comes to advertising budgets.

This poses the question: What’s the difference between Advertising, Marketing and Sales? They’re all the same thing, right? Well, no.

Marketing is essentially an umbrella that covers the overall selling of the product or service which includes market research, product planning, sales, distribution and pricing.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Put simply, while advertising can still fall under your paid, earned or owned media banners, it is still a message where you’re in control.

Marketing and Sales are very different, marketing is about the consumer needs of the product/service and selling is about the transactional cycle of the product/service.

It’s easier to break down if you think of your budget as three separate components within your organisation.

what are we trying to say? And how/where are we going to say it?

the question: What are our consumer’s needs in order to see these messages? Promos, Offers, Referral fees, Discounts etc.

What are the steps being taken during lead generation in order for it be a paid transaction? A phone call, Email, Follow-ups — i.e. Communication methods of nurturing, engaging and creating a commitment with the client.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

So how are you now going to allocate and define your advertising budget?

Here’s 4 methods used by successful independent businesses and our take on them:

Begin with the total gross sales of last year or the average sales for the past few years. Allocate a percentage of that figure for your marketing budget (a lot of small to medium-sized businesses try to set aside about 7–10% of annual revenues for marketing).

For your advertising component of the marketing budget, this needs to align with your business goals and possibly the lifecycle of your business.

For example, a business goal might be that you want your product to expand your audience reach or it might be that you want to focus on social networks like Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. The weight of each advertising goal is going to impact the percentage you set aside.

Let’s make up some numbers.

Your sales are $4million annually and you’ve decided to allocate 10% on your marketing, creating a $400,000 budget where you might choose to have 40% ($160,000) go towards your annual advertising initiatives.

The benefit of this method is that it’s easy to understand and relatively safe as its based on previous sales.

Have a look at trade associations or any industry publications as they can normally provide an average amount or the percentage companies are spending on advertising, and you could adapt this to your company.

With this method, you need to be wary that you’re comparing your company to a similarly sized business in terms of both resources and revenue.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Workshop the specific objectives you want to achieve and map out the tasks required to meet those objectives.

Then determine your budget by estimating the costs of carrying out those tasks. If you can’t afford to do them all, prioritise and focus on the top few. Advertising can be a long term investment, your campaigns can be forward thinking so that your objectives can be achieved over a number of years, with the previous tasks all being a building foundation.

With a method like this, you would want to allow for some contingency in case your estimations aren’t accurate. The other thing to note is that this method takes a lot of trust and belief in the risk because if an Ad flops, it can be pricey.

Set aside just enough money to sustain the business or enough for the family, then spend the rest on marketing.

Lots of fast-growing businesses go for the age-old “you have to spend money to make money” but it can be risky.

If you don’t set aside the appropriate operating costs to sustain your business and then rather than creating a proactive energy for your business’s growth, it becomes a reactive environment (safe to say, we don’t love this method).

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Personally, we’re in this industry to see businesses flourish with the help of our Advertising Creative Agency #hatchetagency. We love being part of an organisations’ story and seeing a business grow from strength to strength, which ultimately takes time — there’s no quick fix. The best method we’ve found is to be more proactive about where you want your business to go and how you’re going to achieve that.

Obviously, everything in business costs money, so getting your budget to align with where you want to see your business grow in 2, 5, 10 years is crucial in setting a budget that works for you and your business. We take a consultative approach to this important stage of any business — whether you’ve been in business for 10 years or 2 years, a business workshop can be a great way of being proactive towards your goals. So come time for budget-setting, you are equipped with the knowledge of where your headed and can prioritise and allocate your funds accordingly.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Want to know more?
Get in touch, the coffee’s always on us

[/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]JTNDZGl2JTIwc3R5bGUlM0QlMjJ0ZXh0LWFsaWduJTNBY2VudGVyJTNCJTIyJTNFJTNDYSUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyaGFCdG4lMjBkYXJrJTIyJTIwaHJlZiUzRCUyMiUyRmNvbnRhY3QlMkYlMjIlMjB0YXJnZXQlM0QlMjJfYmxhbmslMjIlM0VJdCUyN3MlMjB0aW1lJTIwd2UlMjBtZXQlM0NzcGFuJTNFJUUyJTg2JTkyJTNDJTJGc3BhbiUzRSUzQyUyRmElM0UlM0MlMkZkaXYlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Top 3 Advertising Campaigns of 2019

2019 is rapidly dwindling from the presence of our rear-view mirrors.

With that being said, we decided to look back on the most creative, inspiring big name ads of the year. So, our team got together and reflected upon some of the most enjoyable ads, with plenty to be recalled over the past 12 months. These were named the Maker Street top 3.

The sound of Coca Cola

Synesthesia at it’s finest.

Coca Cola ad “Try not to hear this” by DAVID The Agency encompasses fine crafted, detailed imagery with a punchy tagline that we found utterly mind-blowing. The first visual ad by Coca Cola has it’s audience hearing exactly what they see. With 126 years of this iconic brand being engraved into our subconscious, the company in short, has us hearing sounds with no audio at all. This ad is above all, so simply, refreshingly brilliant.

Agency: DAVID The Agency

Little Duck goes to Disneyland

BETC have nailed it with “The Little Duck” for Disneyland Paris.

This is a fine piece of advertising. As a result, I’m almost convinced I could grow up to be whoever I wanted. Cinderella? Snow White? The agency has us inspired. Firstly, with their undeniable triumph. This new spin on advertising is a revitalising change to the usual Mickey Mouse ears that appear in most Disneyland ad’s.

Secondly, with their ability to demonstrate what Disney does best. Pulling on our heartstrings, this animated story inspires the dreamer. It surfaces that little bit of magic that lives inside all of us.

Agency: BETC Paris

Apple’s new bounce

Apple continues to blow creative, innovative advertising out of the water. New 2019 ad “Bounce” shows their continual ability to exceed our expectations. Unsurprisingly, their latest art piece, a black and white wonder used to debut their new product: AirPods Pro.

We could feel the music in our souls, which as a result, had us in an office groove.

With the soundtrack, “I Learnt Some Jazz Today” from young aspiring artist Tessellated, along with the bouncing cityscape, this 2019 piece of advertising had us on the edge of our seats, enjoying the satisfying visuals this film encompasses.

Agency: TBWA/ Media Arts Lab