The Birth of eV

The BBC just launched a new version of its iPlayer ap for people with a web connected TV.
The Beeb has an enormous store of content and a less restrictive model than most commercial broadcasters. As both content creator and distributor it can decide its own rules. While this might be a unique position in the market and give the broadcaster a slightly unfair first mover advantage it does offer a glimpse of what ‘TV’ might mean in the future that is converging upon us.

Features of the new app:

•    on-demand
•    advanced search
•    playability on multiple platforms - mobile and static.

Audiences have become used to adding layers of experience to television viewing. TV remains a channel with few restrictions on quality based on bandwidth. It is a fire hydrant compared to the relative trickle of the web. In recent years a significant proportion of the viewing audience have also overlaid secondary media to their viewing experience. Laptops, tablets and smartphones mean engaging with a show can aslo mean engaging with other fans in real time to augment the experience.

The new BBC iPlayer app targets TV buyers who like:

•    interactivity,
•    social networking,
•    TV on-demand,
•    email.

The system can:

•    flip between the various BBC TV and radio,
•    refine content by category or featured content,
•    list favorites.
•    Simultaneously browse while watching a selection,
•    search content by phrase like Google.

The app is initially only for Sony, but will be rolled out for other platforms.
Still it is slick and points the way forward to how we will enjoy eV in the future.

The One & Only™ ...Me…ClanDestiny

I've been busy.
Creating a company takes time. 

And focus.

For the past year (ok, make that two) I have been imagining what the my future might look like.
My history is advertising.

Advertising is history.
What is the point of creating something amidst an enterprise where the business model has been a has-been for at least a decade?

Dead men talking.

I know, I know…ranters will tell me that television viewership is up, that magazines are more intimate than a set of la Perla knickers and that social media increases the opportunities for people to see and share your 'viral' content.
Well...it's not for me.

Short form smart-arsism will, hence-forth be confined to my blog. 

I hung my shingle out a couple of weeks back.

MacGregor Media Limited.
Why such a tedious name?
'Are you not the maverick who imposed Milk Moustache upon the world of Auckland advertising in the early '90's?'

Yes but…

In the spirit of The 1&O™ may I advance my thinking?

I am MacGregor.
(Not McGregor - my father made me return the book I won at school for being the best at art because the inscription was wrongly spelled. 

Not only was I humiliated by both parties I am certain I was thrashed without mercy for the most feckless of crimes the following year…

'Pull up your socks MACgregor - and if I catch you skateboarding without proper PE attire again I shall thrash you boy.
In fact I shall thrash you anyway.
See me in my study!').

A pathetic lesson in identity. 

But one well learned. 

It cast a spell(it right) on me. 

I am me.

And you can't be.

So MacGregor Media it is.
I went one step further and had my family's crest redrawn as my logo. 

We are sheep thieves after all.

My identity as a Scot is leavened by the story of migration. 

I am neither Scot nor Kiwi. 

But I am both and I draw on my children's whakapapa as much as my kith and kin. 

My daughter is Te Aupouri and my son's family hail from Mairangi Bay. 

They are of me and I of them. 

I don't see why a spot of of time traveling can't be allowed in the present/future?

It would be easy to come up with a random, humorous name - Starfish Bluenote or Behind the Knee - but hey…what is the point of having come all this way to give birth to an abstraction.
This grey hair is real. 

My experience is real.

Some of my ideas are really stupid (free broadband in both of NZ's major cities) and others - like Family Health Diary and Idealog magazine have become iconic on the New Zealand media landscape and game-changing, left field solutions to questions unasked (at the time).

People want reality and to feel connected with the products and services they choose.
A little non-fiction?

Solved with a lot of Non Fiction Advertising®

MacGregor Media is about developing media properties that resonate with people.
Agnostic. 

Don't care if it is eV, TV, Web, Social, Sitting round the campfire singing Kumbaya…
If it's media…it's me.

Let me know if you want to know more on the serious plane.

By the way the Gaelic on the crest reads 'Royal is my race'. But, famously we are sheep theives and malcontents and I am a republican.
Adaptable - but not maleable.

Level the playing field. 

Lock up your spinsters.

Non Fiction Advertising® is a Registered Trademark of David MacGregor. All Rights Reserved.

Theo Jansen's Strandbeests - Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention Episo...

Today I attended a conference organised by New Zealand's Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Frankly - my head spun. The international speakers were genius. The ideas that formed were exciting.
I was covering the event for Idealog Magazine - for some reason it was invitation only. It should not have been.
However, let me chat about this video.
Wow.
That is all.

Likemarks™ - the new measure of brand health?

A few years back Saatchi & Saatchi CEO popularised a new take on brands by coining the phrase Lovemarks.
A clever repositioning of his agency that proved popular with clients and staff.

But in the era when brands are scrambling to find meaning in social media, perhaps Lovemarks is a little bombastic - asking too much?

Facebook's 'Like' is ubiquitous. Commercial pages are deemed successful by the number of 'Likes'.

It is, perhaps, a lazy way of expressing approval - and it certainly can't be extrapolated into the kind of passion for the brand that Lovemarks describes. But the people have spoken.

So - I have created Likemarks™.

More thoughtful essay to follow.

John Key disagrees with the BBC

I was lost for words when I saw it. Not a common occurrence. There he was, the Prime Minister of New Zealand on the BBC. How proud he looked (or smug, I can never tell), surrounded by various kiwi tchotchkes – kitsch kiwis and an adorable little bathtub waka.

The interviewer, clearly better informed than we are used to seeing in these parts and clearly intent on preserving the integrity of his show deftly proceeded to (how can I say this delicately?) tear Mr. Key a new one. It seemed our Dear Leader didn’t realize he wasn’t dealing with Petra Bagust and the show’s name was HARDtalk for a reason.

What struck me about the encounter was the sheer folly of feinting almost every difficult question with the catchall statement “Well, I don’t agree with that…”
For example the interviewer asserts that our international advertising slogan is bollocks – New Zealand is as far from pure as it is from our traditional markets.
“Well, I don’t agree with that…”. Key was confronted with data from a report by Dr Mike Joy from Massey University (based on science from our own government’s agencies NIWA and Landcare) - 90% wetlands are gone 70% of our native forests are gone. 40% of our lowland waterways are polluted 57% of bird species are threatened 89% reptiles oh, and all of our amphibians are gone.  How then can we justify the 100% Pure tag?  The response “…for the most part in comparison with the rest of the world we are 100% Pure” Then came the rather obvious riposte “I’m sorry Prime Minister but hundred percent is a hundred percent”. Pure gold.

I don’t want to litigate the merits, or otherwise of the tourism campaign (I always liked the double entendre of New Zealand and New Zealanders having a unique character, rather than the dodgy literal translation).

This is an election year, and potentially the one where social media will make a difference. Rather than waiting for the political parties to set the agenda there is a real opportunity for New Zealanders to actually participate in shaping our democracy. I know we’re an apathetic lot. ‘Sure, here, take a third of my income and spend it on what ever you think is right…new fleet of luxury limos…hey, why not. Why not embark a fact-finding mission while you’re at it. Paris is nice this time of year…can’t join you this time though. Having trouble putting food on the table.”

It’s easy to look at the last Obama campaign and hold it up as a paragon or template for how to win an election (read Yes We Did for an insider’s deconstruction of the tools and techniques deployed). The politicians in New Zealand who use Facebook and Twitter seem to use it as if they are broadcast media. Rarely do they actually engage with their constituents online.

Let’s turn the web into a giant town hall meeting 24 hours a day, seven days a week and set the agenda together. I’m relatively non-partisan. I don’t think any of the parties have a clue. Our opportunity is to harness the brainpower of the country, rather than leave it up to ideologically deluded polis.

My own particular hobbyhorse is developing the creative industries and reducing our dependence on primary produce. It still galls me that the current government’s solution to jumpstart the New Zealand economy was to back a plan for a cycle-way. Fiddling while Rome burned. The recent budget demonstrated that there is no imagination in parliament and even less ambition. Selling the family silver is not a long-term solution. It simply means more money will be exported overseas and the downward spiral – our race to the bottom – will continue and be even harder to pull out from.

John Key’s performance on HARDtalk broadly equates to his leadership stratagem. Just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave. If the facts don’t fit your agenda get some new facts. Cling to power for power’s sake and pull the wool.

Well, power to the people I say. Lets make something happen.

In praise of simple pleasures: Food Alley Review

I don't keep food at home.
There are a number of reasons for that.
Principally: buying uncooked food comes with responsibility.
You have to cook it.
I am OK with pot noodles.
But the subtlety of anything more complex eludes me.
In pragmatic terms I also have to deal with the small matter of having the right equipment to prepare the raw ingredients for consumption. Have you seen the prices of Le Creuset pans or a decent set of knives from Henckels?
Then there is the simple fact that my cooking talent could fit on the head of a pin with room left for a million angels.
So, once I have spent my small fortune (and believe me my fortune is small) on grocery items and the obligatory impulse purchases - have you seen the price of fresh vege and meat?! (...It is criminal. Our prisons are crammed full with lesser offenders.) …I don't seem to be able to get out of a market without dropping forty bucks. Minimum.
I could be cooking peanut butter and jam sandwiches and they would cost me forty bucks.
Then I would set out make my warm salad of toasted walnuts and blue cheese (or PB&J) and it will taste like shit.
Because, like telling jokes the trick is.........timing.
I just don't have it.
So.
Expensive produce only produces a miserable effect and self loathing.
So.
Pointless.
That's why I like to eat out.
It's cheaper.
And I don't have to do the cleaning up.
I live in a hotel in Auckland city.
There is no shortage of choice of eateries in the neighborhood.
Not all of them good.
But for reliability it is hard to go past Food Alley in Albert Street - opposite the Stamford Plaza Hotel, and down a little.
As a creature of habit (usually bad ones) I find myself drawn to the Malaysian stall asking for a Chicken Laksa.
I know the stall owners know what I am going to ask for. But I pause for a moment and scan the menu anyway. It's good to have rituals in your life.
But a Laska it is.
The servings are huge.
I once asked for a half portion.
But it didn't compute.
I might as well have asked for a Magic Unicorn Laksa.
If you don't know the dish-it is the ultimate in Asian comfort food.
Combine 2 piles of noodles - thick ones and vermicelli.
Add a spicy coconut broth.
Top with chicken (or fishy things), deep fried tofu, half a boiled egg, some dried onion (or whatever that crunchy brown stuff is)...
Mung bean sprouts make you feel less bad about the rest of the ingredients.
The confection is a powerfully robust, warming confection that I have a love/hate relationship with.
Hearty. But probably not good for my heart.
It costs nine bucks and, for me, is two meals - I can't complete the task in one sitting. So a dodgy doggy bag is always required.
As for Food Alley. I love the ambiance, the vibe and eclecticism of the crowd. I like that, if my daughter wants an Indian curry or Japanese - then she can have what pleases her and I the international dish that makes me happy.
It is the most family friendly dining experience.
I can't award any stars for decor; or feeling posh.
But as an everyday utility, the equivalent of a street market in Singapore or a hairbrush, if performs its function with elan.
I recommend you try it.
There has to be room for simple pleasure in our dining experiences.

The commoditisation of advertising and the rise of social media

How the dynamics of media economics was turned on its head and how thinking and planning must become the most valuable assets in marketing communications.

The world of marketing communications has dramatically changed in the past few years. You will be familiar with the statistics that are frequently exercised to demonstrate the rise of social media. If Facebook accounts were national population then it would be the third most populous on the planet – succumbing only to China and India. More than 500 Billion minutes are spent viewing Facebook pages every month. I don’t even want to think about the implication that has for the world’s productivity…YouTube has 24 hours of new video every minute.

There is no doubt about the gravity of social media as an influential force in the world. As a subset of the world – that means it influences marketing and marketing communications.

There has been decline in ‘legacy media’. But that decline is less interesting than the rise of social on the business radar.

But here is the nub of the problem. The economics of contemporary media are somewhat different to the economics of post World War 2 mass media.

Rewind: Before 1984 (in NZ) advertising agencies derived most of their income from media commissions. Owners of the media appointed agents to sell time and space (hence advertising agency) to marketers on their behalf. Agencies were ‘accredited’ by the media. This was the equivalent of a license to print money.

If an advertising agency’s client spent a million dollars under the system of accreditation (pre 1984) they received $150,000 for booking the media and a further $50,000 for ‘prompt payment’. Given the terms of accreditation prompt payment was assured.

So, aside from the difficult business of coming up with ideas with which to fill the time and space, making money in advertising was a doddle.

Here’s the other twist: Advertising agencies would relinquish their golden goose if they rebated any of the commission to their clients. They had to keep the cash.

The problem arose when the business was deregulated in ’84 – a curiously out-of-character move by the Muldoon government which had a propensity toward central control and status quo.

From there on marketers (AKA clients) were able to negotiate terms with the agency. A client that spent millions in media could now argue that a week of media planning and buying for a year campaign was worth three percent and not 20 percent of the budget.

Where creative work had been underwritten by media spend it was now something of an orphan. Clients had been spoiled by the fact that creative was thrown in at the cost of an hour but the thinking behind execution was subsidised by the commission and could not be recovered. Planning and house cleaning suddenly had exactly the same monetary value.

While execution could be valued the thinking behind it could not.

And then…along comes no-cost media.

Media buying and selling is a low value service.

Coming up with headlines and pretty pictures is a low value service.

Creating innovative business ideas and communicating them well at the lowest possible cost is a high value service.

The future of marketing communications doesn’t depend on the skill in tweeting or setting up a Facebook fan page.

Marketing needs big ideas that differentiate you from your competition. It relies on people feeling they are part of something bigger than themselves alone – without  simply becoming part of the herd.