I was at a recent award ceremony where upon introducing myself to the other table members, I was asked where we were staying. ‘Surry Hills’ I replied, to which a nameless party replied ‘Oh dear, does your agency not have very much money?’…

Now it’s hard not to have a small agency ‘chip’ here. Having worked for a mix of networks and large independent agencies, my new role is within a small yet beautifully formed agency. And, I love it.

Yes the budgets are tighter, the risks greater and we may not always be able to stay at the Carlton in Cannes, but being small is exhilarating. Being independent and small is even better. It naturally makes you an underdog, a ‘working class’ agency if you like and something I generally feel more comfortable with. It’s far more fun to steer a pirate ship than a Cruise-liner.

As a small agency or start-up you have a lot to prove, so rather than investing time in small man syndrome, proof can only come though a great body of work. Ultimately great work comes through graft and all truly great ideas come at a price or a struggle… Look at the best campaigns in Australia today and you can tell they took effort, belief, pain, perseverance, persuasion and balls.

Ambitious small agencies seek rites of passage. Create a body of work that is effective, creative and recognised and the industry accepts you…But the hardest of all is to be patient – enjoy being small, agile, nimble while you can. Sometime we all feel the small agency chip, but it’s that chip that keeps you hungry to achieve more.

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.

http://www.adnews.com.au/campaign/beanz-meanz

After many months of hard grafting, it is always great to see promotions come off the page, graduate from the inner sanctum of the agency walls, hit stores, go live and start generating some buzz. Over six months of solid work (and possibly a few quiet moments in a dark room with a cold beer) has taken us to the launch of the Carling Perfect Pint Experience. What a whirlwind, but now for the science bit….waiting for the entries to roll in.

The Carling Perfect Pint Experience is the biggest promotional activity carried out by Carling for 5 years in terms of reach and spend, with £6 million investment from the brand to see this go off seamlessly. Nurturing a close relationship with Carling’s ATL agency BMB, digital agency Fastweb, plus their packaging, media and PR agencies, BD Network has created the BTL support for the Carling Perfect Pint Experience, giving over 132 million (yep, that’s a small country) opportunities for Carling drinkers to win their own Perfect Pint Experience worth up to £15,000 for them and their mates.

Now… this Experience  – it could be anything from playing 5 a side football in Rio with the locals, to lounging on a yacht in Monaco watching the Grand Prix….the more original the idea, the better the chance of winning. (My request for a day of David Beckham as a personal butler was a LITTLE too far, but you get the idea).

As well as the chance to win the Perfect Pint Experience, there are 12 million other Perfect Pint prizes up for grabs, the majority of which I secretly covet myself… do we think if I go by a pseudonym I could fool the system? A 1 in 10 chance to win is our attention-grabbing headline and prizes on offer are everything from Limited Edition Carling Pint Gasses, Carling Earphones and T-shirts to Carling Cup Final tickets, VIP Isle of Wight tickets, NME Award experiences and £200 Ticketmaster vouchers… all-in-all, up to £22 million worth of prizes available to be won (yep, that’s the funding for that small country…).

So now it is live and Carling perfect Pint Experience is out there for all to enjoy, the only question left is what do I do now I am about to depart from the Perfect Pint World? I guess I’m off to the pub…

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.

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.”

— Jim Jarmusch