On this afternoon we’re faced with rains and chilly weather, and yet in the face of this, I have never felt warmer. The source of my metaphoric temperature? My esteemed colleague James Mott carrying a torch that whilst not lit, is a flaming beacon of hope and inspiration designed to set alight the hearts of the nation in the journey to the London 2012 Olympic Games

Today Motty is out on the road flying the flag for BD and Coke in a dress rehearsal of the Olympic Torch Relay to make sure that when the real thing comes around, everything goes of without a hitch. You’ll no doubt see coverage of the day on the news later on, but for the story that really matters to us, check out our man running the biggest 800 meters of his life along the high street of Molton Mowbray:

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2012-04-20/olympic-torch-relay-progress/

FYI he’s not 54, silly news people.

Well done Motty!

To launch the long awaited Nintendo 3DS we knew the only way to truly experience the 3D phenomenon was to hold the product in your hands.

We created a truly 360 degree campaign with the consumer at the heart – ‘You have to see it to believe it’.

Initially key bloggers and influential Nintendo fans were invited to an exclusive reveal event, where they would be the first to experience the 3DS.

The reactions we captured were then used to promote the console online and through social media, encouraging others to trial.

Through online advertising and social media we drove people to a Facebook application where they could book a slot at a local experiential event. They could also browse reactions from others who had trialled.

All of this was done so that we could get the console in to the hands of as many relevant consumers as possible.

People were encouraged to share their reactions immediately online from the event itself, completing the cycle.

Heinz Beanz are an iconic, quick, versatile and convenient superfood. However, we needed to remind Australia of this, as engagement within the category was low and Heinz were losing market share, especially amongst young families.

Australians were asked ‘What do Heinz Beanz mean to you?’ and given the opportunity to respond by creating their own Heinz Beanz can online, featuring their story on the iconic label. All cans were displayed in a gallery where people could view, vote and share them on Facebook. The top-10 stories were immortalised on cans in stores around Australia and won their creators a share of $100,000.

The campaign attracted nearly 8,000 entrants of which more than 200,000 votes were cast. beanzmeanz.com.au attracted 141,193 visits to the website generating 847,000 page views. The Facebook community amassed over 8,000 Heinz Beanz fans.

Sales of Heinz Beanz soared by 14% over the 12-week period, increasing market share against its closest competitor by 5% points, with 135,000 new households buying Heinz Beanz over the campaign period, MAT vs last year.

“Independent agencies are the lifeblood of our business, pursuing new ideas and new ways of working, with the flexibility and agility that our rapidly changing industry needs today.”

Julian Boulding
President, thenetworkone

Bob Jane has. Dan Murphy has. The colonel has. Ted did along with his cameras. But Dick Smith didn’t. Harvey Norman didn’t and thank god Ken Bruce didn’t do it from the neck down.

Put my face in the logo please

But do we care what the founder or brand talisman looks like? It actually puts me off.

Distinctive faces can become a brand. Groucho and Hitchcock are testament to this. But ordinary joes mugging in a logo is just wrong, no matter how many tyres or bottles of Cab Sav they sell.

With Matt Duffey leading the troops and with clear instruction to start strongly, BD Brasil flew out the traps, closing down the opposition like men possessed.

After some unsure defending from Iris thanks to some constant closing we began to carve out some openings. It was only a matter of time before we made the breakthrough and it was Tim Dalton who passed one into the net to make it 1-0.. Having taken the opener, the chances continued to pile up though Iris were finding joy on the flanks and on the counter-attack, but were snuffed out by a stubborn BD defence. Dalton again struck with a great effort that curled into the top corner and left the keeper with no chance. Buoyed by a 2 goal lead, BD continued to press – Josh Norris was taken out in the box but the ref played a great advantage and the ball fell to Dalton who completed his hat-trick inside 30 mins.

With the half-time score at 3-0, it would’ve been easy for Iris to have thrown in the towel, but to their credit, back from the dead they came and pegged one back. At this point the tide had turned and Iris began to stamp their authority on the game, however, we kept our composure and kept battling away. A brilliant team move laid the ball on a plate for Matt M’Boge to put the seal on the game with a neat finish.

Three goal margin restored but back Iris came yet again, knowing that their pride was at stake and after we failed to clear the ball they punished us with a decent finish. Too little too late though and with the final result at 4-2 the celebrations broke out, having beaten Iris yet again to add even more misery on a team that clearly weren’t expecting to be beaten so comfortably. In truth, with all the work we’ve put in and determination we had in us, they didn’t stand a chance.

Final Score:-
BD Brasil 4 Iris 2

The line-up:-

Dermot Dever, Samuel Odoro-Ayim, Dan Gerrard, Dan Shone, Matt Duffey (c), Sam Steele, James Perry, Sean Cullen, Martyn Richardson, Tim Dalton, Matt M’Boge. Subs:- Telmo Alves, Aldo Brenna, Colin Knowx, Sam Prior, Josh Norris.

Today, BD’s Beanz Meanz campaign kicked off with the launch of the web site – inviting Australia to submit what Beanz Meanz to them to win a share of $100,000.

http://www.beanzmeanz.com.au/

More to follow…

Since winning three prestigious awards for our Australian WHISKAS Pledge campaign, BD Network has now been selected as a finalist for two more internationally recognised awards: The New York Festival International Advertising Awards where BD Network is the only finalist entry for Australia and the Festival of Media Awards taking place in Switzerland. All fingers and paws crossed!

The core objective of the WHISKAS Pledge campaign was to reinstate WHISKAS as the choice of Australia’s cats. We established that cats have always been the poor relation to dogs, and that their owners did not share the same social traits as dog owners did (i.e. walking). They were largely anonymous, but hugely active online.

Our campaign idea was simple. Allow owners to ‘Pledge’ their love for WHISKAS on their cat’s behalf. Cat owners were incentivised to join the WHISKAS Pledge website with 2 free ‘Oh So’ pouches and the opportunity for cat fame. If cat owners shared ‘how you know your cat loves WHISKAS’ they had the chance to win $10,000 and get their cat featured on pack.

We created and delivered all aspects of the campaign: TV, radio, press, outdoor, experiential, CRM, website IA/ redesign, online advertising, social media and retail activation.

This isn’t the only example of our award winning work this year. Our ‘Gimme Credit – Every Pack Gets 50p’ campaign won the Global Mobile Marketing ‘Best Use of Mobile Marketing in a promotion Europe, Middle East and Africa’ accolade as well as three ISP awards.

BD Network is appointed by Heinz

Heinz, has appointed BD Network as the below the line agency for its beans, sauces and soup brands.
BD Network will work closely with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and Vizeum to develop integrated marketing campaigns.

But not strictly true.

Otherwise agencies would substitute creative departments for cubicles. Brainstorms would be held in huge communal showers. War rooms – wet rooms and board rooms huge Roman spas. Planners would be allowed in the showers but only at briefing stage and account handlers would launder the towels and replenish the toiletries. Emerging agencies would hot-shower. Green agencies would use solar to heat their showers. Think Tank’s would record the showers to see what the optimum temperature and force of flow would be to achieve the best ideas. Sharing the brief would involve sharing the Imperial Leather. Digital agencies would spend hours trying to simulate the shower experience using augmented reality. The Networks would fragment their agencies into different offerings under sub – brands like ‘Deep Cleanse’, ‘Scrub’ and ‘Invigorate’. New Advertising agencies would try and reinvent the whole showering process and integrated agencies would connect the pipes from all the showers and believe that using the same water in every department will give their ideas a magical joined up feeling…

In our hunt for a new agency building, one of the nice to haves on the list is a shower.