My last newsletter for the year as we wind-down and prepare to bury 2020. I had such different hopes for this year and it blew past like a gust of wind 💨. I’m sure many feel the same.
A year of reflection and reassessment. One for putting bad vibes behind us and finding new resilience. We’re just getting over the 🔥, it’s nice not to have smoke filling the air and social feeds filling with dread.
To our clients 🌻, I say thank you for sticking with us, for giving us a chance to help you remain as viable businesses and put your plans together for stability.
To my team 🦄, Banter is only as good as all of you within it. Together we created our stability, our work-life, our balance, our success. I ❤️ you more than you’ll ever know.
Wishing everyone a summer break 😎 that rejuvenates your soul and fills you with new hopes for a smash-it-out-of-the-park 2021 (and without packing emergency evacuation bags) 🎁.
Banter will be closed on Christmas Eve and re-open on 4th January.
Happy New Year everyone 🎉.
Valentina xxx
A New Gap Year – spread the word
I backpacked Australia on my own for 3 months as a 22-year-old. It was my own home turf adventure that took me to Europe to find out why everyone I met thought Australia was so spectacular. Surely the mystique of 🇫🇷, 🇬🇧, 🇩🇪 was far more exciting than our dusty red and vast land. I went. I saw. I returned. Australia is truly spectacular. I met the backpackers touring our country, picking fruit along the way to experience our diverse countryside and hospitality.
Each year Australian farmers rely on overseas seasonal workers and backpackers 🎒 to help harvest the fruit 🍎 and vegetables 🥦 that land on our plates. But Covid has closed our borders and our farmers need seasonal workers to harvest their crops. Without this workforce crops will be wasted, there’ll be less on our shelves, prices may rise and next year’s harvest may be compromised.
Go And Pick – The New Gap Year is calling on school leavers to create an alternative rite-of-passage by PickPacking their way around the country for the adventure of a lifetime, helping save the livelihoods of farmers 🧑🌾 facing unparalleled labour shortages as a result of COVID and helping put food on the tables of Aussie families.
We need this. If I wasn’t running an agency, I’d be taking off for a harvest season. Probably 🍒. I like 🍒.
Please check out www.goandpick.com.au and provide your support – in any way you can.
Facebook’s Capitalisation on Digital Customers
If you’re STILL not convinced that social is where the customer is, here’s a little something-something to help you get over the line. Facebook has just spent $1b on a five year-old startup called Kustomer – specialising in customer relationship management and has a platform that unifies customer conversations across channels, including messaging, into one view.
The goal: give businesses access to best-in-class tools that deliver excellent service and support. 😃
If you haven’t noticed, messaging has continued to grow as a significant customer service channel. Kustomer already integrates with Facebook Messenger and is working on an integration with Instagram messaging – and will “continue to support the numerous options that businesses have to integrate their CRM platform of choice with our messaging services.”
A little perspective: Facebook bought Instagram for $1b. This is serious 💰.
Are you our next Account Director?
No-one recruits before the Christmas break, right? Wrong.
We have been fortunate to grow throughout Covid and there’s no stopping that growth just because it’s really hot and sweaty.
I’m looking for an Account Director to join us at Banter, based in Bowral. I figure with the influx of Sydney-siders heading to the ⛰️ and people making 🌳 tree-change decisions for their families, there might be some interesting and experienced individuals heading in our direction.
The role is a mix of creating strategies, managing projects and timelines, creating briefs, working with the studio to deliver the dream and jumping from one marketing tactic to another like a graceful acrobat.
If this is you or someone you know, check out the job description and hit me up with an application if you’re interested. I’d love you to share this around too 🙏, plenty of time to consider it, applications close 10th January.
So. Much. Goodness.
The Banter Boast has always been a way to showcase some of our work. What I’ve found is that with a monthly newsletter, that’s only 12 brags a year. This month, I’m sharing a few of our great projects which might inspire you.
FEFO is a purpose-driven risk, health & safety advisory firm helping businesses strive for excellence and prevent harm. Their services assess, assist, and develop Health & Wellbeing capability 🤗. We worked with FEFO to develop and implement their CRM strategy. The work they are doing in mining, construction 🏗️, and a range of industries is changing the practice of wellbeing for companies, delivering outstanding results. Perhaps it’s time for you to make the same assessments and plans for your organisation?
HostPartners are a Southern Highlands based airbnb accommodation 🛌 full-service management partner, who came to us to a) develop their branding, b) design & build their website, and c) establish and manage their social media presence. If you’re a local airbnb host but wish you had your life back and weren’t changing bedsheets & 🧹, then contact Fiona at HostPartners to hand over the reins and regain your freedom.
Delilah & Co Catering is bringing beautiful catering to you with their gorgeous vintage-style food truck that’s the perfect option for feeding a crowd. With so many of us entertaining 🍲 at home, Delilah approached us to modernise their digital presence to showcase the true beauty of their delicious food 🥘 and charismatic van. This website build focused on the photography of the food and making enquiries easy. Salivating yet?
6-minutes of mind-altering animation
The silly season usually contains mind-altering consumption of all sorts of things.
To help your brain unwind or to simply stimulate some OMG moments, watch this incredible 6 minutes of animation seduction. “Transfiguration” follows a central character as it wades across the screen wearing full-coverage suits that evolve with each step. CGI is fascinating and with the growth of animation across all digital platforms, we aim to have some pretty mega exciting news to kick of Banter’s 2021 creative capability.
Hope you love the mind-blowing video and that it can release your brain from the day-to-day of 2020.
Catch you in the new year 😀
