Imagine you walk into a crowded room, full of influential people who could help make your business more successful. You go up to one of them and say, “ I me in the busyness consultancy a partner, with offices in the America and Asia also. Your been working with one of my partners only recently, that is tru, I belief.”

Yes, you’d sound like a fool.

Nobody talks like this, of course, but plenty of people write this way. Almost every day I read emails and blog posts that appear to be written by uneducated morons. Except they’re not. Usually, these are the utterances of senior management types who, you might hope, would have received a decent education and would usually have good communication skills when dealing with individuals one to one.

Yet, when they write something online, they seem to think that appalling grammar and child-like spelling mistakes are quite acceptable. I don’t expect every written message to be a literary masterpiece and everyone makes inadvertent errors now and then. (Besides, pedants who love to nit pick are very boring. ) What I frequently see and read though, verges on being described as incoherent drivel. Quite often, I don’t know what the author is even trying to convey, particularly when they are in rant mode. You’d have to wonder what their peers, colleagues and clients must make of their ramblings. Personally, I find it hard to take these writers opinions seriously and question their professionalism. Surely, I’m not alone in reaching these conclusions.

So, if you’re able to talk like an intelligent human being, but write like someone whose pants are permanently on fire, perhaps you should try reading your own words now and then. You might be surprised how inane your written words may appear. If this is the case, try giving yourself a few extra precious nanoseconds to consider what you want to convey. And think about the kind of impression you are making. 

Do you want to be thought of as intelligent and insightful, or become a paid up member of, what I like to call, the new “illiterati”?  

Posted by Ian Minter

I’m used to hiding behind a pillow as I’m watching the Chaser – their brand of biting satire often cuts to the bone. Even watching seasoned politicians ‘get it from the Chaser’ is wincemaking – but fun.

However, on Wednesday night, as I watched their “Sick Kid’s” skit, I witnessed the demise of a ‘brand’ that was once special to me. As a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald said – “The purpose of satire is to ridicule the follies of individuals and institutions. It is hoped that laughter will lead to changes in the behaviour and the elimination of those follies….As parents who sat at the bedside as two of our children died of leukaemia, we would like to know what change in our behaviourThe Chaser was trying to bring about.?”

The Chaser is a ‘brand’. They have built that brand to the point where millions of Australians eagerly awaited their return to television. Now, the brand is in sudden decline – and it only remains to be seen if it can recover from this.

Companies go to great lengths to protect their ‘brand’. Lawsuits are common – Cadbury tried to sue Darrell Lea for because they felt the colour purple belonged to them. (They lost.)

Sometimes a situation arises that is out of the control of the ‘brand custodians’. For all of the millions of dollars that a company such as Dominos Pizza spends, two teenagers who worked at a North Carolina Dominos threatened to bring down the entire operation by releasing a video of them in the restaurant kitchen.

A sports team is a brand, too. That’s why the Cronulla Sharks are in so much strife – group sex and ‘accidentally’ punching a female staffer in the face aren’t exactly alluring to the sponsors.

Corporations, retail shops, franchises even individual sporting codes (which is why FINA came down so hard on Michael Phelps) are brands. As they erode away, it’s difficult to stop it from crumbling altogether.

Back to the Chaser. I’m not sure that they’ll recover, (although I believe it was possible up to the point of uttering the words “they’re just going to die anyways.”) Perhaps it’s time for them to go their separate ways.

Recently, I took my two year old son out for a morning walk in his pram. As typically happens, we walked past a variety of cars parked by the side of the road.( He likes cars – or anything with an engine really, typical boy!)

My partner drives a white Subaru Outback. I drive a white Renault Megane. A close family friend, David, drives a silver VW Bora. My son refers to these cars, respectively, as “daddy car”, “mummy car” and “David car”.

The cars we passed on our walk were all manner of make, shape, colour and age. There were quite a number of Subarus, and VWs (no Renaults though – does everybody else know something I don’t?).

Without fail, every time we passed a Subaru, my son announced “look – a ‘daddy car’”. Every time we passed a VW it was “look, a ‘David car’”.

The thing that amazed me was the ease with which he identified these cars – it didn’t matter what colour, or shape, or age the car was – my son was recognising the logos.

The major test, as far as I was concerned, was the last car we saw.  He wasn’t fooled by the fact that it was a white car very much like the size and shape of his father’s Suburu –  “Look mummy, a ‘David car’”. Yes, it was a VW.

This made me think about the power of symbols in communication (as a graphic designer, it’s something close to my heart). It also made me think about brand loyalty and how early it begins.

But most of all it made me think about the importance of a logo in brand marketing.

So, when someone tells me they’ve purchased a generic logo from an internet logo website, I think:

a) They can’t be very proud of their company, and;

b) They underestimate the significance of what it says about them.

A logo isn’t just a shape or a name,  it is literally the face of your business. It should be distinctive, memorable and unique. Something that makes a statement about who and what you are. A logo you will be proud of.

A logo so powerful, a two year old will instantly recognise it.

Posted by Jacqui Bundy

Watching a recent episode of Mad Men (based in a New York advertising agency in the 1960′s), where the team realized that they were pitching their campaign to a client who had no intention of appointing them to their business (they likened it to ‘giving birth to a stillborn baby’) brought back memories.

 Not only have I been involved in such pitches, I’m also aware of several infamous ‘stillborn’ pitches here in Australia (no doubt there are many similar stories to be told around the world). Whether or not the advertising agency knew at the time that they were just cannon fodder, I have no idea. However, I do know that, in one particular case, the client had decided who their agency would be well before briefing four different advertising agencies.  

 A tremendous amount of emotion (not to mention time and money) goes into pitching for an account.  Advertising agencies often put the entire creative department onto the project – each team will pour their hearts out and work around the clock to ‘be the one’ who’s campaign is presented. I can tell you from experience that every single creative in every single agency pitching for an account will think that they have the winner (confidence has never been a problem for creatives!).  

 Clients who insist on pitches even though they have already made their decision are both wasting everyone’s time and giving themselves a bad reputation (word gets around, believe me). The time spent on a ‘stillborn pitch’ is time that could – and should – be spent on the loyal, paying clients.  

Besides that, it’s immoral and disrespectful.  

 Personally, I don’t believe in pitches – the best results comes from working closely with a client, taking them through and making them part of the process. With pitches, everyone gets the same brief and no feedback before pitch day. Our agency has also declined to pitch on several occasions (we believe that your gut feel is usually right).  

 If a client knows which agency they want, they should just give the account to them and save everyone the heartache. Trying to appear ‘fair and balanced’ will only backfire on you if the truth comes out (and it will).

And if you’re an advertising agency who knows you’re cannon fodder but remain hopeful that you might just “win them over” – forget it, you never well.   You might have the best concept. You may have the right people. You most certainly have the passion for the product (or service). But you’ll still be lacking the key to success - the deal that’s already been made in the back room.