Last night I attended a Creative Sydney talk “Local Talent/Global Market”. Creative Sydney is a series of free events held at the MCA Sydney throughout the month of June.
The panel of speakers included James Hackett (Hackett Films), Sean Ashby (AussieBum), Marty Wirth and Axel Moline (Modular Records) and Rob Belgiovane (BWM)
There are many obstacles and opportunities when exporting ideas abroad. The premise for the panel discussion was to explore how diverse Australian businesses have tapped into international audiences and as a result experienced great success.
James Hackett was first to talk – Hackett films is re-known for producing beautiful montages and animation. The success of Dirt Girl has meant this locally produced television series has been exported to global audiences. This project got off the ground due to strategic development that benefited the pitching process. The client invested dollars to produce a 2 minute pilot which provided a tangible showcase for investors.
Hackett explained “although Dirt Girl is considered animation, it’s really live action”. Hackett also emphasized the importance of research and development for new ideas and the importance of “having a few strings in your bow”.
Charasmatic co-founder of Aussiebum, Sean Ashby was next to speak. Aussiebum is the most succesful Australian fashion export to date, turning over 23 million dollars in 2009.
Aussiebum currently exports 15,000 units per week. Ashby is a no bullshit type of personality. He gave a candid account about the Aussiebum roots and how the business came to fruition. In 2001 Ashby was unemployed and disallusioned by the corporate world. He spent many days at the beach swimming, sunbaking and trying not to spend money. Wearing nylon underwear instead of speedos, Ashby’s friends would comment “what’s with the nylon undies”.
From here Ashby launched Aussiebum, “everyone told me it wouldn’t work… best advice I can give don’t listen to other peoples advice…the only reason people are negative is because they don’t want to see you do well and then wish they had the idea”.
Perseverance and commitment certainly paid off. Today Ashby’s label is a global trendsetter. Ashby encourages people to “make yourself a commodity…essentially the brand represents a lifestyle”.
Ashby warns “loose the lifestyle and the passion and you become another statistic”. Today Australia represents 15% of Aussiebum’s market.
Axle and Marty from Modular Recordings were next up. Modular Recordings represents “Forward thinking pop music”.
Amongst their suite of artists are The Avalanches, The Presets, Wolfmother, Tame Impala, and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s . They recently produced the presets video “This boys in love” in which they flew Danish director Casper Balslev to Australia to direct.
Last up was Rob Belgiovane – partner in Australia’s second largest advertising agency BWM. Belgiovane gave recognition to the famous Telstra Bigpond “Great Wall of China” campaign.
Belgiovane explained the success of this campaign stems from its universal message “all parents want their kids to do well in school and can relate to the ad”. At the time the creative team were the youngest team within the agency and it was their first TVC.
Belgiovane recognized the economic downturn as a period for creative indulgence, “when things go bad we do better creatively…the worse things get the less clients have to lose…in downturns creativity is hot currency”.
Social media is king to Belgiovane, claiming, “through social media the population becomes your sales team and they sell it because they like it”.
In conclusion Belgiovane provided a case study about Yellow Pages and the Yellow Treehouse. This was an elaborate concept that saw the project built from resources utilizing only the Yellow Pages.
Colenso BBDO on behalf of Yellow Pages built a whimsical tree house and opened it as a restaurant. Set amongst the treetops this was an extroadinary PR exercise and clever advertising campaign.
The Creative Sydney talks run until June 13. Visit the website today and sign up for some creative inspiration.
Teall Barnes - Marketing Director
