Last night I sat down with my wife to watch the new series of Top Gear, which we’d recorded from its new Monday evening spot on Channel 9. (Top Gear was pretty much the same as ever – funny, but often irritating for a dedicated petrol head like me. As ever, she would say, “it’s just entertainment”, every time I started muttering about some sweeping, uninformed statement from Clarkson.)

No, the big shock was viewing Channel 9 for the first time in what felt like years, maybe decades. At least that’s what it looked and sounded like to me. What a culture shock! The same old corny “promo” voiceovers (mostly gravel – voiced old blokes), the cringe-making, sensationalist previews of forthcoming shows – the important expose of  “The Bare –Bottomed Bishop” on Current Affair (!) and even some TV commercials that took me straight back to the eighties.

Frankly, it was hard to believe how little the channel had changed while I’d been away – no wonder ratings have been plummeting – didn’t they consider it might be time for a re-vamp? Re-visiting 9 was like seeing a tragic old rock star, thirty years after they last had a hit. Fatter in the face, wider around the middle, hair much thinner, but cut in the same old retro style, desperately trying to cling to the past as if it was yesterday. Terrified to move on, to get a new haircut or, for the boys club at Channel 9, to recognise that women now watch TV too.

Despite my misgivings about the state of Channel 9, the ratings for Top Gear were higher than ever, which is kind of sad in a way. All those Channel 9 viewers could have enjoyed the Top Gear lads on SBS years ago, but they obviously found the prospect of venturing across to SBS, home of “weird, foreign-speaking news presenters and naughty films with subtitles”, too scary a prospect.

Now though, I realise just how frightening changing channel can be – just a short visit to Channel 9 certainly had me reeling in shock.

Posted by Ian Minter

Now there’s a question for you to ponder. For decades, manufacturers and marketers have been thinking big: first, they come up with a popular product and then brief the agency to come up with definitive big campaign idea.

However, today the notion of the big ( USP – based ) idea is changing fast – new mediums allow us to think smaller, with the ability to speak more directly and perhaps more honestly with our target markets.

Instead of selling hard, we have new options – we can allow consumers to decide what product they want, or don’t want, involve them in the product testing process, give them a voice, speak to them more personally, allow them to comment and share their views ( and discuss ) with other consumers.  In the “old” days, it was called soft sell, although now it might be more accurately described as personalised marketing.

This has also allowed manufactures to expand their bases, chasing new customers who might have been beyond the one size fits all approach. In addition to the mass market products, they now have the opportunity to experiment more, broaden their ranges and discover a new breed of customer.

One example is Mountain Dew, who invited customers to comment on the colours and flavours of a new range of drinks.  And, a recently launched Victorian brewer, did much the same thing and allowed beer drinkers to effectively become part of the product testing team and decide what the final beer, called Nelson, should taste like.

John Willshire of, Head of Innovation at PMD Media in London, recently discussed some interesting ideas on this subject in a talk  – “How Do You Socialize Production?”  He explains how technology is really turning our notion of big idea thinking., upside down.

Naturally, this means that we creative marketers have to really think outside the square, more than ever. If we don’t have to talk to everyone at once, we can speak to a few more intimately.

In other words, I think it’s time to start thinking small.

Posted by Ian Minter

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