Tuesday, August 22, 2006

SMH LAUNCHES 'CREATURES' TRADE CAMPAIGN VIA HOST/THE GLUE SOCIETY






A controversial new campaign has been launched informing advertisers and media agencies that there’s more to the readers of The Sydney Morning Herald than they might have once thought.
The Creatures campaign, produced by Host and The Glue Society, showcases the interesting lifestyles and opinions that best define those people who read The Sydney Morning Herald.
The campaign showcases the lives of six ‘interesting creatures’, all of whom have very different lifestyles and opinions, yet read The Sydney Morning Herald because of the daily inspiration it feeds them. They personify the actual readership of the newspaper and the insight into their lives reveals that they’re a diverse and interesting group.
Work on the campaign began in late 2005 when readership figures confirmed that the audience of The Sydney Morning Herald, which had predominantly been categorised as an AB publication, spanned wider than this core. It was felt that Sydney Morning Herald readers were more completely defined by their opinions and attitudes as well as the traditional demographic measure. They read The Sydney Morning Herald because they enjoy the varied and intelligent content across its sections and magazines.
The dedicated, high profile brand campaign of 6 iconic Creatures, includes – Noteboom, Wilhelmina, Mifamwe, Finbaar, Persephone and Barnaby – with distinctive personalities, careers, and lifestyles. The campaign is aimed to engage its target audience of key media agencies and staff, with the thematic line:
All Kinds Of Interesting Creatures Read The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Our family of Creatures have been devised to create intrigue and engagement with our target audience in their working environment,” said Elizabeth Ross, Trade Marketing and Insights Director for Fairfax. “We will use the six exceptional Creatures especially developed for this campaign – who embody key reader demographics and attributes – to communicate the relationships, strengths and effectiveness of The Sydney Morning Herald with the most attractive audiences in greater Sydney.”
The creative team was excited by the challenge of getting a media savvy audience, with a strongly held opinion of The Sydney Morning Herald, to reappraise the paper. For such a task, an interesting and engaging campaign was essential.
The result is a strong media neutral idea that will run out across print, online and direct marketing.
The Creatures have a lively home in cyberspace:
www.interestingcreatures.com.au
The site is complete with profiles, their interests and passions, networking and blogs.
Ms Ross said the Creatures Campaign comprises extensive trade marketing activity including the packaging of sections of the paper with the Creatures to seed key messages, and print and online promotional activity. There will be print ands banner ads on the smh.com.au home page, and public relations awareness.
The production techniques have been a first for many on the international team that includes Jon Burgerman, the renowned UK based illustrator who designed the creatures; local retouching studio Cream, who developed the characters into their 3D form; and Thunderdog Studios in New York who are producing a line of collectible toys.
Host Managing Director, Anthony Freedman, said “With so many partners, a tight working team with a collaborative and flexible approach has been vital to the success of the campaign. Fairfax, Host and The Glue Society have worked closely as partners over the past year, to ensure that every element has met their joint creative, communication and business objectives.”
Says The Glue Society's ECD, Jonathan Kneebone: “In many respects, the readers of a newspaper create its brand personality. The Sydney Morning Herald is unique in Australia as it has a very active readership – people who don’t just sit there, but do things. We needed an idea which could bring the richness of our audience to life in a wholly engaging way.”
Adds art director, Pete Baker: “Creating a range of creatures reflecting the audience’s diversity and complexity without resorting to stereotype has been both fun and challenging. As new features and sections evolve so our range of creatures will broaden over time.”

25 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

According to the SMH blog, the readers absolutely fucking hate it.

6:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bloody great Glue dudes. You've done it again. The blog site is fantastic.

6:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A controversial trade campaign? Are you trying to tell me that someone's managed to upset the advertising industry?

7:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Surely we're not going to criticise anything produced by the Glue Society?

Like the Pakistani's ball tampering, that's just not cricket.

8:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

probably would have worked if the Herald was a japanese comic.

8:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jonathan Kneebone is HOT.

And I don't just mean creatively.

8:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

losing it

9:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Losing it? Buddy you have no idea.
It's the only thing on this blog that doesn't look like an ad. Is it a Cannes Gold? Probably not, but I'd rather have this in my book than anything you've produced Mr.9.21am.

9:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When I first looked at the characters I wondered if the illustrator had just gotten back from a week long psychedelic bush party. But after looking into the site I saw that it's the perfect way to bring the potential of the readership alive. These characters are different, they don't fall into a stereotype and you're forced to look at WHO they are. Awesome. You guys Rockz00r.

10:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yep another media neutral idea working across the board.

gotta give it to host and the glue crew.

They see, and are the future in advertising as we know it.

good work to all involved.

11:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a member of the Glue Society's faecal output framed in a glass box on my mantle piece.

I workship it daily. 9/10 Creative Directors say its improved my creative ability by 140%

11:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey don't be harsh, the idea of respresenting the target audience as quirky characters worked well for WCRS when they used it last year on 3 in the UK.

http://www.memedigital.com/portfolio/three/three_welikeplay.html

http://www.memedigital.com/portfolio/three/three_zoom.html

12:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

11:45, eating it may get you another 50% or so. Let me know if you need some more.

12:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

......jealous perhaps 11.45?

12:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The sun would shine out of Glue's arse it wasn't for the sheer amount of tongues up there.

12:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i wonder if the glue society were working on this at the same time they were directing BBH's Lynx Gamekillers.com , campaign....

take a look, very similar

1:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, the glues have a Character thing going on for them at the moment. Overdoing it a bit me thinks. Gamekillers was really funny. Manga Characters for SMH aren't.

1:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

1:36 is right.

Rita the ETA Eater and Mrs Marsh have been there 20 years ago!

Glue's Cast of Characters

The turd thing - Wizard
Warren - Virgin Mobile
Jason Donovan - Virgin Mobile
50cent - Virgin Mobile
GameKillers - Lynx

2:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This campaign has been done before.

The Glue Society did it with their last client and their client before that.

They use their clients' money to create work that garners attention for The Glue Society. At the expense of their clients.

In that respect this campaign is no different to any of their work.

4:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This campaign is a classic case of decision by committee. What the F### have Glue and SMH been doing- did they even listen their audience? Keep on sniffing.

8:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does this mean the king is in the altogether?

12:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

great point 2:05

different client + new quirky character = latest Glue offering

...all of adland cheers with joy.

2:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

..."informing advertisers and media agencies that there’s more to the readers of The Sydney Morning Herald than they might have once thought. "

4:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Spot on, 12:07. The Emperor's new advertising.

6:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh I get it now - the march of the emperors...yeah

9:10 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home