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The 2006 Caxton Awards Seminar. Millbrook Resort, Queenstown New Zealand
» Colin Wilson-Brown
» Daryl Parsons
» Rob Belgiovani
» Russel Howcroft
» Sean Cummins
» Tony Hale
» Vaughn Davis
» Daryl Parsons
» The Forum
» The Pol Roger Ramble
» The Spontaneous Talent Quest
Overview
The first ever "bring your passport" Caxton weekend was a resounding success.
For the first time in the Caxton's 32 year history, the Kiwis had been invited into the comp. It was great be able to put faces to names and to hear some new and different points of view. It was also good to see that in the award stakes, the newcomers ran off with a very respectable pile of Perspex.
If you've never been to Queenstown, you don't know what you're missing. The conference was held at the spectacularly beautiful Millbrook Resort, The accommodation was excellent, but the location was simply stunning. We found ourselves in the middle of a verdant golf course, surrounded on all sides by spectacular, snow-capped mountains.
Julian Schriber, Peter Holbrook, Shane Dawson, Ben Birchall and Clara McLaurin cleverly introduced our speakers, who were of a particularly high calibre this year. I don't think anyone went away without learning something new. Paul Macintyre, moderating the Caxton Forum for the first time, managed to get a bit more rigour into the event. All the speakers received a good grilling from Paul and from the audience.
But of course, it wasn't all work. The speakers were crammed into two long sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning so that delegates were able to see something of the South Island, Some chose to play golf, some went off to check out Queenstown, some had the shit scared out of themselves on a jet-boat ride, while the smart ones went Pinot Noir hunting at some of the best Central Otago wineries.
After dinner on Friday night, Emma Denouden and Patrycja Lukjanov entertained everyone with their multi-cultural trivia night, and following the award dinner on Saturday night, Steve Browning compered (and was the star of) the legendary talent quest. All weekend he cajoled delegates into rustling up some kind of impromptu act. Eventually he managed to get about twenty individuals, groups and idiots on to the stage for a hilarious show. Curiously, the big prize went to Shane Dawson, whose act was to jump over several chairs without breaking his leg. No one was quite sure why. You had to be there.
Wayne Vinton did a brilliant job at organising the "Pol Roger Ramble". As it was held rather early on Sunday morning, there did appear to be a higher proportion of walkers this year. When it was discovered that the five mile course was actually closer to five kilometres, Wayne quickly invented and applied a complex mathematical formula which seemed to keep everyone happy.
My thanks go to the 2006 Caxton committee of Liz Ross, Paddy Douneen, Garth Aegis, Jane Bryson and Jerry Harris. A special thanks needs to go to Jerry, who leaves the committee this year after a sterling 15 years service. And finally, a very big thank you to Two-de-Force team of Justine, Alice and Pip, who made sure the whole weekend ran like a swiss watch.
Planning for the 2007 Caxton weekend is already underway. It'll be back in Australia, and the clever money is on 'somewhere hot'. I look forward to seeing you all there.
Tom Moult
Chairman - Caxton Committee.
Speeches
Matt & Dave's Brief Guide to New Zealand
I wrote down everything Matt and Dave said during their presentation.
I then put the piece of paper in the top pocket of my jacket and proceeded to enjoy the Caxton weekend.
Very, very much.
When I got back to Sydney the top pocket of my jacket was empty.
So here is what I remember of their brief guide to New Zealand.
Made even briefer...
Organising two famous Kiwi actors to do a screen test at short notice is easy.
Understanding what they are actually saying is hard.
Crowded House is a Kiwi band.
Russell Crowe is a Kiwi bloke.
The uncle in Once Were Warriors is also the dad in Whale Rider.
The mum in Whale Rider is also the female actor in the screen test.
The male actor in the screen test is also the red Power Ranger in the television series.
Helen Clarke is not a man.
What was even more surprising was the fact that New Zealand produce fantastic TV ads.
Not the rubbish we keep seeing at award shows.
Just quality stuff like Auckland Glass, Liquorland...oh no hang on, that was another speech...uh, oh that's right, Novus Windscreens.
Quite possibly the best TV ad ever made.
If you're not familiar with the spot, let me describe it to you.
A group of Novus windscreen installers dressed in company uniform sing the company's jingle enthusiastically (and with straight faces). It goes a little something like this:
Show us your crack,
Novus Windscreens
Show us your crack,
Novus Windscreens
Show us your crack,
Show us your crack
Show us your crack,
Novus Windscreens.
Genius.
But I guess you had to be there.
Make sure you are next year.
It's well worth the trip.
Rob Martin-Murphy
The Furnace
Colin Wilson-Brown cleverly and quite rightly positioned himself as the agencies best ally as clients go through the process of pitching or reviewing relationships. I love the fact that Colin's focus is 'getting the best out of agencies' and equally he is focused on not wasting agencies' money. I like that!
Colin provided invaluable advice to agencies that want to improve their existing relationships or increase their pitch win rate.
Here are some of the pitch lessons:
* Never present work to a government body that may lead to hard questions for the minister.
* The most important criteria for winning a pitch is personal chemistry. If you're known and liked before the pitch you will have a better chance of winning.
* If you don't like the brief or the client don't pitch - saying no gains respect.
* Spend more time getting into the heads of the key decision makers.
* Try to expose creative ideas early in the process.
* In creative pitches present ideas that are thoroughly worked out and ready for production.
* Ensure the CEO has a key role and demonstrate he was involved in the process and cares and will be ultimately responsible for the relationship.
* Don't rely on PowerPoint. Focus on engagement and relevant entertainment. Clients want to hire people they respect and like.
* Never take more than 5 people to the presentation. How many times do we get this one wrong? It's too easy to invite people because they worked hard through the process rather than pick those who will make a difference.
Finally, Colin gave us in the room a reality check listing the most common advertiser gripes about agencies. Quite damning comments like: they don't understand my business; they're not accountable; they talk new media but think television; they don't stand up to the Creative Director; ideas are about gut feel not fact and on it went .....
Rather depressing but too often true.
Importantly Colin finished with some tips that will give hope to those that want to succeed in this ever changing world.
Colin quite rightly observed that the general standard of account management is weak and agencies must employ account managers with real business and marketing experience. He also pointed out that the Creative Director is the most important person in the agency. I used to think I was but when you work with a great CD you realise that your job as CEO is to support his/her efforts. I also liked how Colin proposed agencies use more freelancers or creative hot houses. But this must be balanced with clients desire to build strong relationships with creative.
Other observations included that agencies need to really focus on their operations, media partnerships for channel planning, start to understand clients' data, promote performance based remuneration and critically focus on Effectiveness awards rather than creative awards. I agree with Colin, creative awards are there to attract and motivate agency people, let's stop talking awards with clients who don't care about them.
For the sake of our industry let's learn from Colin's experience and change!
Marty O'Halloran
DDB Australia/New Zealand
It's a brave soul who stands up at an awards focused weekend and talks about the folly of being awards focused.
But Daryl Parsons is obviously a brave soul - in fact, he told us about how he won a client by standing shoulder to shoulder with him in a fight in a gay bar.
Hmm...let's move on.
Daryl poked the sleepy beast that is a Caxton's audience on Day Two by suggesting that doing work to win awards was a misuse of our skills.
They take us away from what we should be doing which is to make money for our clients.
I thought there was heavy degree of Duh factor in this but it did seem to come as a surprise to a lot of people in the room. So Duh to me.
His talk meandered through his topic in various ways.
I've summarised them in dot points for the art directors.
* We're car dealers, not rock 'n roll stars -we are in the business of selling clients' products, not ourselves. An interesting observation from someone looking like a member of a boy band.
* Step outside the obstacles -vague slide but in essence, suggested creative people work with suits on building the client relationship rather than working against them by focusing on awards. Always ask, what does the client need?
* Become mates with your clients - perhaps not to gay bar status but certainly build a relationship of mutual trust.
* The politicisation of award technique - is it really right that a panel can set the trend for the style of work in the year to come? What about what the client really needs? Yes, there's that point again.
* The politicisation of award juries -Daryl neatly summed up the classic jury make-up even down to the Minister for Kerning.
* The best stuff rarely gets awarded - regionally relevant work can be its own worst enemy.
About this stage I stopped writing down the slide titles but the rest of the talk was much about creating relevant, selling ads for clients, whatever the media or channel, valuing freshness of thought and how this philosophy will lead to a long and rewarding career in the business or metaphorically, " a boat in the harbour".
Daryl's talk raised a lot of hungover eyelids and also quite a few questions.
Like: is it easier to ignore awards after you've won a shitload of them?
Des Hameister
The Brand Agency
The big theme of Rob Belgiovani's speech was "new media". With a doom-laden voice and a suitably funereal soundtrack, R.B. warned the assembled delegates that the end of print advertising as we knew it was nigh. Apocalyptic in his vision, Rob painted a bleak future for those who failed to embrace his "new media". Naturally, I assumed he was referring to the digital world, but I was wrong. Apparently, it's all about airplanes now. With nothing but a good airplane and a reasonable production budget, Belgiovani demonstrated that you can get all the media you want worldwide for FREE. Just ask Lionel Hunt ('Lynx') and David Droga ('Ecko'). Or bin Laden ('Saudi Wahabism'), for that matter.
(Later on, Sean Cummins was quick to claim credit for the whole airplane thing, maintaining that he originated the concept of 'nothing but an airplane' for his Virgin pitch.)
Having accurately spotted the airplane trend, Rob's speech then took flight. He taunted us with the TV spots we'd missed out on by not going to Cannes, and then rubbed it in by screening a lengthy home movie of bikini-clad girls guzzling champagne on yachts around the Cote d'Azur. But just when the envy was getting too much to bear, he dramatically changed tack, forcing us to sit through a seemingly endless and incomprehensible diatribe by a peculiar Greek-French woman with a pointy hair-do who was lecturing a semi-comatose Martin Sheen (why?) and a polite but clearly bewildered Craig Davis on her take on "new media". I, for one, was completely lost. Particularly seeing as she didn't mention airplanes even once.
Unlike the pointy-haired woman, Rob Belgiovani is a captivating performer. He is charismatic, intelligent, articulate and passionate, and those qualities came through in spades. It was impossible not to admire his insights, his observations and his love of the business. But his speech lacked what I admire most about him - his razor sharp sense of humour. Little did we all realise that he was saving his best for the Talent Quest the following night - where his stunning rendition of the Godfather theme, combined with a wonderfully befuddled Tom Moult and a scarily sinister Joe Talcott was, as far as I was concerned, the undisputed comic highlight of the weekend.
That such a great piece of creativity (brilliantly conceived and executed) lost out to a bloke flying over some chairs proves just how far this airplane fad has got out of control.
Rowan Dean
Euro RSCG
When Russel Howcroft started to talk about how agencies could make a decent quid you could see the delegates lean forward in their seats.
Russel's role as Chairman of the Advertising Federation of Australia and new managing director of George Patterson Y&R Melbourne gave his hypothesis some gravity.
Since the plump agency baby was pulled screaming from the ample breast of media commissions, new kinds of financial nourishment had to be found. Agencies had cashed in all their aluminium cans and ripped off all the lead from church roofs from St. Kilda to North Sydney to make up for the loss. It still wasn't enough.
Russel prepared the audience for his preferred income model by gathering quotes from successful clients and their agencies. These quotes underlined the strength of the relationships they enjoyed. All were strong healthy relationships because the advertising they produced made a decent quid for their clients and made them even more famous.
These examples tilled the ground seductively for his concept.
Russel's called his concept, "The Macquarie Bank model... a kind of hedge fund for marketers". As clients take all the financial risks, agencies don't share in the profits he reasoned.
If agencies were to contribute half the advertising budget, charge an interest rate type fee and deliver creative, it would make sense to expect a share of the sales upside.
From an agency's point of view it sounds good but it would be a real test of a trusting relationship. Is it fiddle-proof? I see a contract document weighing at least ten kilos and lawyers getting a lot richer which is not the idea.
God speed to all the agencies that wish to sail this course as it may suit some where it's nice and simple in its construction. We may finally end up with a workable, evolving pile of different schemes ranging from royalties, taxi meters, project fees and more. If none of those options really work for some agencies, I can see them getting out their hacksaws and knocking off the copper pipes from the local orphanages.
Ray Black
Sean Cummins is a love him or hate him kind of guy. Personally I love him because I admire success. And that was what Shaun was here to talk about - Why he started his own agency and what has made it a success.
Sean started his own agency in 1997.
The why bit: "You get to a level then you have to do it yourself."
What has made it a success?
Tip1:
Confidence is important when you start your own agency
"You don't listen to Wayne Kingston when he says DDB is a brand and Cummins is not a brand."
"I inherited a tax debt $250K and creditors $150K in first 3 months. Then my partners left. So I threw a $30K party to change industry perceptions of the agency"
Tip 2:
Put your name on the door.
"It is a powerful to be able to meet the person with their name on the door. It makes it a personal business."
"It's actually very exciting to have your name dignified in the annals of Australian Corporate history."
Tip 3:
Create an environment that clients want to come into.
"We used $30 balls instead of chairs. The agency is open plan. It's like the whole agency is a corridor so every conversation is a corridor conversation"
"I like purple walls."
Tip 4:
Exploit your experience.
"Whatever categories you have worked on means you an expert in that category. You know category language, rhythms and bear traps. Sell the fact you are a category expert. It really works."
Tip 5:
You must show passion.
"We asked our clients: Why did you choose us? The answer - Because we love your passion. The main thing I've learnt is that I'm not much better than anyone else. All I have is enthusiasm about what I do. Enthusiasm for the task at hand is a powerful thing."
Then some personal tips:
"I write campaigns, not ads. And I like writing campaigns that last a long time."
"Write in pencil. It makes you feel like a craftsman."
And finally the single most important tip:
"The one thing that will stop you is doubt. If you doubt it, don't do it."
"Because it's a people capital business you will always go through shit but you come out the other end."
Nine years later, that's what Shaun has done. He's gone from 3 people to 90 people. Opened in Brisbane. And become extremely successful.
But after hearing all his tips and tales, I believe we learnt more about his success by watching the man himself in action.
Sean's success and purely Sean. Well done mate.
Fysh Rutherford
Twenty20 Communications Group
There's something fishy about newspapers.
Tony Hale, CEO, The Newspaper Works.
Deep breathe in (inhale). Deep breathe out (exhale). There's nothing like a
Breath of fresh air. And Tony Hale's Caxton speech was exactly that.
As the founding CEO of The Newspaper Works, Tony's mission is to push
creativity in newspaper advertising by promoting new and innovative ways to
use the medium.
So the main message of his speech was that the current standard of newspaper
advertising is not as high as it could be (that's the fishy bit). And this
is not good for advertising agencies, advertisers and the newspapers.
From Tony's perspective, he can see that the quality of newspapers has
improved but the technological advances aren't being treated as
opportunities because agency creatives aren't aware of what's possible.
To demonstrate this point, Tony showed numerous examples of newspaper
advertising that push the boundaries of the medium, including ads that merge
with the editorial, ads called Spinal Taps that appear in the gutter, ads
that fold out up to eight pages, and ads of non-traditional shapes and
sizes. He then asked the creatives in the audience to put up their hand if
they were aware of these new types of ads. Only a few hands went up.
As a result, Tony urged media people and creatives to work together before
the ads are booked and look for opportunities to use newspapers in
interesting and relevant ways.
For his part as the CEO of The Newspaper Works, Tony will continue to push
creativity in newspapers and play a unifying role between creative and the
media. Because as he said at the end of his speech, Newspapers can't afford
to have its live blood approached with passionless intent.
Des Hameister
The Brand Agency
Vaughn Davis is clearly a big fan of self-flagellation. Not only did he brave an audience of hard-core award-obsessed creatives to deliver a speech espousing the Magic that is Retail - he actually contacted the organizers of the Caxtons and asked to speak. Freak.
But despite the tough crowd and the almost sacrilegious subject matter he did alright. In fact, in true retail-genius style - he actually made a bunch of strangers (well a couple of people at least) buy something they didn't want.
And in the end he did it using a classic formula -- what I call the 'Three Ss' of Retail: Suck-up, Startle, Self-promote.
1. Suck up. In a patently transparent attempt to win the crowd, Vaughn boldly declared "Retail is rubbish." He even played a trio of woeful TVCs to make the point (only problem was they were so rubbish most of the audience dug them - particularly that first glass repair ad - truly top-shelf). And then, just when we were feeling all superior and good about ourselves Vaughn moved straight to the second 'S' - to a bit of Startle work and a whole bunch of tough love.
2. Startle. "The reason retail is rubbish is because we don't care". Because it's hard. The deadlines are tight. Lots of crap goes into retail ads. Only problem is, argued Vaughn, our clients care. And because most clients are retailers (in NZ 18 of the top 20 spenders in Newspapers are retailers; 15 out of 20 on TV) - and big brand ads can often be obtained from overseas "...there's less of a career future in 'brand advertising' if you work in Australia or New Zealand." Yet despite this "All the money is in retail - yet the creative talent is in brand." The bottom line: if we don't all buck up our ideas quick-sticks it's dole time. Fortunately, Vaughn claims it's possible to keep your job and do good retail. Onto the third 'S'...
3. Self-promote. Unlike many others, Vaughn kept this to an obscenely restrained 22 minutes of his speech. He took us through an idea for Liquorland that permeated all areas of the business and all communication. And by the end of his speech most of the crowd was visibly hankering for a discount bottle of bourbon. So, good stuff all round (for retail).
Bram Williams
Saatchi & Saatchi
It's a brave soul who stands up at an awards focused weekend and talks about the folly of being awards focused.
But Daryl Parsons is obviously a brave soul - in fact, he told us about how he won a client by standing shoulder to shoulder with him in a fight in a gay bar.
Hmm...let's move on.
Daryl poked the sleepy beast that is a Caxton's audience on Day Two by suggesting that doing work to win awards was a misuse of our skills.
They take us away from what we should be doing which is to make money for our clients.
I thought there was heavy degree of Duh factor in this but it did seem to come as a surprise to a lot of people in the room. So Duh to me.
His talk meandered through his topic in various ways.
I've summarised them in dot points for the art directors.
* We're car dealers, not rock 'n roll stars -we are in the business of selling clients' products, not ourselves. An interesting observation from someone looking like a member of a boy band.
* Step outside the obstacles -vague slide but in essence, suggested creative people work with suits on building the client relationship rather than working against them by focusing on awards. Always ask, what does the client need?
* Become mates with your clients - perhaps not to gay bar status but certainly build a relationship of mutual trust.
* The politicisation of award technique - is it really right that a panel can set the trend for the style of work in the year to come? What about what the client really needs? Yes, there's that point again.
* The politicisation of award juries -Daryl neatly summed up the classic jury make-up even down to the Minister for Kerning.
* The best stuff rarely gets awarded - regionally relevant work can be its own worst enemy.
About this stage I stopped writing down the slide titles but the rest of the talk was much about creating relevant, selling ads for clients, whatever the media or channel, valuing freshness of thought and how this philosophy will lead to a long and rewarding career in the business or metaphorically, " a boat in the harbour".
Daryl's talk raised a lot of hungover eyelids and also quite a few questions.
Like: is it easier to ignore awards after you've won a shitload of them?
Peter Withy
KWP! Advertiting
Andy Iles
De Pasquale, Queensland
Shane Dawson
The Campaign Palace, Melbourne
'Dunks'
