Author Archives: Mike P

Swallowing the Pip

Like nearly everyone in Wellington I’m reading Lloyd Jones’s novel Mister Pip at the moment. After winning the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Montana Book Awards, and now making the longlist for the Man Booker Prize, Mister Pip is most definitely the flavour of the month.

Although it’s probably not something I’d normally read, the power of these awards and the fact so many of my friends and family members have been talking about it has made me pick it up.

It turns out Mister Pip is quite a simple book that’s basically about the power of a little girl’s imagination after being read Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations.

So, a book about the imagination of reading has got book reviewers excited. Is that a surprise? Here we have people who love books reading a story about the experience and emotional power of a good book’s characters – and they love it!

This train of thought got me thinking about advertising industry awards and how the power of a few can be used to create a buzz amongst the masses.

In the past I’ve worked with ad agencies that use ad awards to leverage sales. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, but I wonder if this train of thought can have an unreasonable influence on a creative approach that ends up targeting industry peers rather than the client’s target audience.

Ad positioning

Part of the fun of parenthood is having plenty of home time and recently I’ve found myself regularly watching Prime’s 7pm sport show ‘The Crowd Goes Wild’.

I quite like the show but what I find really painful is the quality of the ads in their ad breaks. Low budget, owner-narrated ads about garage doors for 3 out of every 10 minutes is just not good TV and it ultimately reflects badly on TCGW and Prime.

The magazine industry is in the same boat. Have a look at any sophisticated fashion or food magazine and you’ll find that the ads can create much of the entertainment. The ads also help establish the magazine’s market and brand position.

So do online ads affect a website’s brand positioning?

In the age of Google’s Content Network and First Rate’s Performance Network it’s possible to get an ambush of text and visual ads from multiple parties on any number on NZ websites. This may be constructive use of empty site inventory but does it affect the user experience? And what about eyeblaster and MediaOne ads that appear over the top of content?

Obviously advertisers want their ads viewed and clicked on and a good online ad will help users when they’re relevant and topical. And most publishers need the ads there to contribute to generating some sort of revenue.

I guess the point is, like with TV and magazines, if online ads appear in an irritating or obnoxious way, the advertiser is not only damaging their brand, but also the brand of the publisher who is hosting the ad too.

Lack of imagination

Yesterday it appears Richie McCaw was released by the NZRU to talk to NZ media about their new All Black video game. (Note for the masses – I’m not a gamer).

How did the NZ TV media respond? Well, TV3 managed to feature three separate interviewers talking to McCaw about his team’s new video game in 3News, Campbell Live and in their late night news.

And we wonder why All Blacks get tired of media.

BTW – watch and wait for Fairfax’s new site Rugby Heaven. Just in time for September.