The Monkeys design tie-up furthers adland’s move into owned product revenue

by Marketing ON 19 March 2013

Sydney agency The Monkeys has joined forces with brand and design agency Maud to enter the product development space, furthering the trend of ad agencies becoming owners of consumer brands.

By taking equity in Maud, the agency sets itself up as a multi-discipline brand and design company with the ability to design and market products for itself as well as for clients, similar to competitor Host.

Monkeys CEO Mark Green hinted at plans to sell products of their own. “Brand and product design start long before advertising communications and we love the idea of being able to shape brands in their creation,” Green said. “This will also allow us to create brands that we own ourselves.”

Creative agency Host has made similar moves into the product owner space with its ‘Rainy Days’ department, formed to “pursue creative, commercial opportunities beyond traditional advertising and communication fee-based client relationships,” the agency revealed in an email to Marketing. “We re-purpose the advertising skill set of consumer and market understanding, strategy, creative and production for a different outcome.”

Host’s Olly Taylor told Marketing last year the agency was to launch its first product, an alcohol brand, in early Spring 2012 and was in advanced conversations with two large multinationals about bringing a number of Rainy Day’s initiatives to market locally and internationally.

It’s believed the new capabilities acquired by The Monkeys, which include Maud’s brand identity, product development, customer experience, digital and film experience, will see them move into the space also.

Founder and creative director at Maud, David Park, said, “Our relationship with The Monkeys will allow Maud to achieve a bigger scale and quality of work. The businesses share similar creative beliefs and it’s a very exciting chapter for us.”

The Monkeys’ Justin Drape, Mark Green, Scott Nowell and Fabio Buresti join Park as partners in Maud.

Recent Maud projects include work for The Star, Single Origin Roasters, Tony Ferguson, Diageo, Semi-Permanent and IKEA Australia. In 2012, the designers collected 11 trophies at the Biennale AGDA Awards. It also picked up a Black D&AD Pencil for the ‘Million Project’ in 2010, created with Droga5 New York.

The Monkeys’ Ikea DIY design app showcased at digital innovation festival

by Marketing ON 14 March 2013

An iPad app created by Australian agency The Monkeys took centre stage at SXSW overnight where its innovative visualisation of home design tool was showcased.

‘KLIPPBOK’, created for IKEA Australia, was used as an example of innovative digital advertising that embraced the evolution of advertising mediums, in the Google forum stream of the global digital innovation festival.

Named after the Swedish word for ‘scrapbook’, the app allows people to engage with IKEA products by designing furniture and decoration layouts and sharing them with family and friends.

“Thirty-five percent of the Australian population now own tablets, so KLIPPBOK is a perfect inspiration tool that empowers anyone to play with home design via IKEA products,” Ben Cooper, director of digital at The Monkeys.

Since its launch in November 2012, KLIPPBOK been downloaded 50,000 times in around 100 countries – 20,000 times by Australian users – with minimal media support.

It has also been profiled in Creative Sandbox, Google’s online showcase of campaigns that blend creative with digital innovation, and was voted FWA’s (Favourite Website Awards) mobile app of the Day on 26 December.

IAB Awards: Leo Burnett shines for taming ‘confusing mass’ of Census data

by Marketing ON 20 July 2012

Leo Burnett Sydney’s ‘Spotlight’ campaign for the national Census scooped the pool at last night’s IAB Awards, taking home three gongs as well as the prestigious ‘Best in Show’ title.

‘Spotlight’, commissioned by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to increase participation rates in last year’s Census, picked up top prize in the ‘Brand Awareness & Positioning’, ‘Brand Destination Site’ and ‘Rich Media & Digital Video’ categories, as well as the best in show honour.

The judges praised the campaign for answering the brief with a creative solution that made the “confusing mass of Census data relevant and interesting to a very hard to impress audience”.

View: Marketing’s case study of ‘Spotlight’s’ interactive film that personalised Census data to engage the public in the process.

Twelve other agencies were announced as winners at the Sydney Town Hall awards ceremony last night, including Ikon Communications who snared two awards – ‘Social Media Marketing’ for its Coca-Cola ‘Share A COKE’ campaign and the ‘Mobile Platform or App’ award for its efforts on the ‘FANTA Playzone’ campaign – 303Lowe who snared the ‘Direct Response & Lead Generation’ award for its IKEA ‘Rent’ campaign and Soap Creative, who won the ‘Product Launch’ award for its Cornetto ‘Enigma’ campaign.

Whybin\TBWA\Tequila, ZenithOptimedia, The Monkeys, UM Australia, FirstClick Consulting, Nomad and George Patterson Y&R Sydney were all also recognised as category winners on the night.

Soap Creative was named the winner of the ‘Creative Showcase Grand Prix’ award for its Lynx Anarchy Invisible Ad campaign, dazzling judges with the world’s first invisible ad that allowed people to experience product first hand. Judges praised the campaign for its innovative approach and success in creating buzz while still driving a clear message to its audience.

Commenting on the pool of entries, CEO of IAB Australia, Paul Fisher, boldly predicted that in five years all media will be digital. Tongue in cheek, Fisher said, “Let’s be generous and share our skills, our ideas and our experience with those in the media industry who are less fortunate than you – those that have never worked in digital. Take pity on those that suffer each day as they battle the limitations of 30 seconds, column centimetres, inside back covers, sides of buses, popcorn buckets and the back of shopper dockets.”

Spotlight, along with Soap Creative’s Grand Prix winning campaigns, will go on to seek more honours abroad by being entered into the US MIXX 2012 Awards. The campaign has already attracted international attention, winning a Gold Cyber Lotus at Adfest 2012, Silver and Bronze awards at the Spike Asia awards and a Bronze World Medal for online design at the New York Festivals International Advertising Awards 2012.

The night’s winning campaigns will also be presented at inaugural IAB Awards Case Study Showcase events in Sydney and Melbourne in August, as well as featured in Marketing magazine’s August issue.

News Australia Sales was the major sponsor of the 2012 awards, which were also supported by AD2ONE, AdapTV, BBC.com, eBay, Facebook, Fairfax Media, Google, Gruden, MediaMotive, Mi9, realestate.com, Telstra Advertising Network and TressCox.

2012 IAB Australia Awards Winners

Category: Brand Awareness & Positioning
Category: Brand Destination Site
Category: Rich Media & Digital Video
Category: Best of Show
Leo Burnett, Sydney – Spotlight; Australian Bureau of Statistics

http://www.thanksforclicking.com.au/spotlight/

Category: Direct Response & Lead Generation
303Lowe- Rent; IKEA

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_AA/about_ikea/rent/index.html

Category: Product Launch
Soap Creative with Mindshare & Ensemble -Cornetto Enigma; Unilever

http://www.cornetto.com.au/

Category: Brand Loyalty & Retention
Whybin\TBWA\Tequila\- The Pedigree Adoption Drive; Mars Petcare

http://www.pedigreeadoptiondrive.com.au/

Category: Cross-Platform Integration
ZenithOptimedia with Holler Sydney – Kick For Your Country; Heineken

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/heineken-rugby-clubhouse/id450375998?mt=8

Category: Branded Content
The Monkeys- The Ship Song Project; Sydney Opera House

http://www.youtube.com/theshipsongproject

Category: Search Marketing – Paid Search
UM Australia and Reprise Media – Beating the Big Four; ING Direct

Category: Search Marketing – Organic Search
FirstClick Consulting- Mission Migration; CMC Markets

Category: Social Media Marketing
Ikon Communications with Ogilvy, Wunderman & Naked Communications – Coca- Cola “Share A COKE”; Coca- Cola

http://www.shareacoke.com.au/home.jsp

Category: Mobile Platform or App
Ikon Communications with Webling, Ogilvy & Naked Communications – FANTA Playzone; Coca-Cola

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/fanta-playzone/id476574314?mt=8

Category: Tablet Marketing
Nomad with Deepend – Wilderquest – Animal Discovery; NSW National Parks and Wildlife

http://www.wilderquest.nsw.gov.au/#/intro

Category: NFP / Public Service Category
George Patterson Y&R Sydney – Signed Finds; St Vincent de Paul Society

http://www.facebook.com/signedfinds?sk=app_222077057836752