This is completely pointless, therefor I completely love it.

“Possibly the first ever 4×4x4 LEGO Rubik’s Cube solver?” touts the YouTube post. I’m bettin’ you would be fairly safe in removing the word ‘possibly’ without too much fear of a tidal wave of litigation. I’m also thinking you could swap ‘first ever’ with ‘first, and very probably last ever’ and still be able to sleep at night.

Still.. all good fun.

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Des Kavanagh, Ogilvy & Mather

(a few thoughts on what’s to come after all that’s happened)

It was, 5O year’s after it’s first brilliant dawning, the last dying of the space age light. Suddenly the bright promise of tomorrow was dimmed and silenced by the brutal crashing of just about everything. And, oh, how most of us raged against that dying light. All of a sudden, all our tomorrows were looking less than rosy. We weren’t happy. We who had been brought up to believe one very simple truism “The future is always better”. Better Technology. Increased leisure-time. Less Work. Blah. Blah. Blah.

All of a horrible sudden the naivety and dishonesty of that truism was carved into stark relief. And fear crept inside so many of us, corrupting and controlling our every thought. The future was scary. Unpredictable. Out of control. What were we all to expect? At this point let me add some boo hoo hoos to my earlier chorus of blah blah blahs.

The future, you see, does not exist. It cannot give us sustenance. Or provide us with hope. The future does not exist. We make the future. We are the parent and it is the child. So. The future has every right to expect us to work hard to ensure it’s success. We must take responsibility for all that may happen. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the future. To give it a chance. Technologically. Ecologically. Every kind of logically you can imagine. Forget fear. Stop asking the banal question, what can we expect from the future. Be liberated by this supposed catastrophe.

Create something. Whatever space or area you want to work in, do so.
New Media. Old media. This channel. That channel. Just labels. They define nothing. They certainly cannot define the future. Because, remember? The Future does not exist. Now, let’s make sure we live to its expectations.

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John Milne, OgilvyOne Creative Director

As you’d expect, there’s some great work among the finalists in the 2009 Cannes Awards for Direct Marketing. What’s more surprising is what’s missing. Paper.

For a marketing discipline which was once jokingly referred to as ‘the folding stuff’, there’s remarkably little of it around this year. Basically, if a campaign hasn’t got a significant digital component it probably won’t win, even though no one suggests that DM is any less effective than it was a few years ago. As a result many entries could equally have won in another category. And in fact the overall winner, The Best Job in the World Campaign for Queensland Tourism, did indeed win a Grand Prix in both Cyber and PR.

It is, of course, only fitting that I should be pointing this out to you in a digital format…

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Roisín Greene, Ogilvy & Mather Group

Research funded by the Department of Health and Children, and carried out by the ESRI and Trinity College. Website here.

There are nearly 57,000 9 year olds in Ireland, with the number of boys to girls almost equal. Nine year olds spend their time in school, at home, and at play. As such their families, friends, and teachers play important roles in their lives. The majority of nine year olds are pretty happy; reporting strong family relationships, enjoyment at school, and hanging out with friends as their favourite pastime.

Over three quarters of all nine year olds live in families with two biological parents. Parents are active in their children’s lives. They spend time with them daily, by eating meals together, watching TV, and playing outdoors. This interest continues into education where they assist their children with their homework, with 75% of parents expecting their nine year old to achieve at least degree level.

Differences between the genders are quite marked by the time a child reaches nine years of age. These differences can be seen in most aspects of their lives, from the expected chores carried out, the most popular hobbies, and future aspirations. Girls are more likely to clean the dishes, be interested in cultural pursuits, and want to be a primary school teacher when they grow up. In contrast, boys are more likely to take out the rubbish, play sport, and want to be an athlete. Differences continue in relation to the health of a child, with girls less likely to meet the recommended amount of physical activity and consequently are more likely to be over weight. In total one in four Irish nine year olds are overweight

On the whole 9 year olds seem to be a happy bunch. They get on well with their parents, enjoy school, and love hanging out with friends and playing sport.

To find out more about this research, the reports can be found at;

No.1 Being 9 Years Old

No.2 The Families of 9-Year-Olds

No.3 The Education of 9-Year-Olds

No.4 The Health of 9-Year-Olds

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Ian Brower, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

The good thing about posing one’s own questions is that one invariably has a quick answer.

Ideas are killing execution.

That’s not to say that ideas are not worth pursuing.

Plainly they are.

But in our quest for the Holy Grail, the Big Idea, the Shining Path, we tend (and forgive the mixed metaphor) to fall at the last fence. More often than not, ideas are badly executed.

I would far rather have a competent idea well executed, than a great one ruined by poor production.

It is possible to have an idea in a second. But to make that idea a reality, be it on paper, film or the airwaves, takes time.

So, are we spending our time wisely?

I’d argue that’s it’s virtually impossible to have an idea that plainly wrong. You’re even less likely to go down a false strategic route.

So here’s an idea. Find an idea that’s not wrong (which, if you accept the above, is not difficult or time consuming) then spend your time executing it well (which is difficult and time consuming).

If this sounds like heresy, ask yourself one last question. What really engages consumers? What you say privately, or what you do publicly?

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Development of the Brand in Retail
The retail environment is where the battle for sales can be won and lost. At Ogilvy, we refer to this battleground as ‘The Last Mile’ and have a proprietary tool designed to help brands win at this key moment of truth.

The Last Mile is the path that the consumer travels, from brand consideration to the final purchase decision. Their path to purchase as they move from consumer to shopper and then from shopper to buyer.

What we do:
• we change what people DO
• turning…
• consumers into shoppers
• shoppers into buyers
• attitudes to action

How
Understanding consumers and shoppers is critical on the journey to purchase.
Ogilvy conduct regular studies to across all major global markets in a number of product categories which constantly track shopper behaviour. The myth is that 70% of shopper decisions are made in-store, however, the fact are that this varies across market and by category.

The study is called SDMIS (Shopper Decisions Made In-Store) and a ‘performance dashboard’ can be constructed to track a brands performance based on different in-store initiatives.

If you’d like more information on how we use this on behalf of our clients here in Ireland, please contact Dave Smyth or Niamh O’Kennedy

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