As Banter celebrated 5 years ✨ of being in business (and oh how awesome that is), there was a rather big reflection going on these past few weeks. I was asked to be interviewed for the Valiant CEO publication and found myself opening up about how it all came to be. Not the usual questions I get asked which was interesting, but also difficult to answer. I’m sharing this story because as I found out in counselling, talking really does solve problems. That’s what we do at Banter. Talk. Solve problems. Hope you enjoy it.
In 2003 I had the pleasure of working with Anna Cochrane during her days at FOXTEL. ⏩ Fast forward 19 years and we’re together again. Anna joined us at Banter as an experienced Account Manager with a huge marketing back-story. Since her FOXTEL days at UKTV (and Head of Marketing at BBC Worldwide), Anna’s roles have seen her in senior positions at SBS, Freeview Australia, Westpac, and Teacher’s Mutual Bank, as well as starting her own beauty products💄business. We’re thrilled to be able to bring Anna’s experience to our clients’ projects.
Give Anna a wave 👋🏻 when you see her next!
Valentina xxx
The People Want Personalisation: Coles
Data personalisation divides ➗ people. You’ll either love it or loathe it. I love it. And for Coles, the people have spoken: 80% of its customers now expect personalisation in everyday interactions with the brand.
The supermarket shopping experience of the future will not only be driven by seamless and personalised omnichannel experiences that mitigate friction in the buyer journey for customers, they’ll be predictive (FI-NA-LLY!). Coles are ramping up their investment in data with their Adobe suite of tools and with any luck 🍀🤞🏼, the email personalisation that’s been in place for years will start to filter through with predictive recommendations. Dreams can come true: like toothpaste offers based on usage, pairing foods into meals and accompaniments, and milk-top ups in line with pre-purchases and expiration dates.
Insta trials extra links in bio = $
The great cash-in 💰 is on its way, with Insta enabling some creators to add multiple links to their IG bio. This has been in testing for a while now so expect a roll out soon. If you think about the potential premium model at $6 a month for competitor Linktree, that’s a cool $72b possible annual injection for Meta. IMO, writing’s on the wall – Linktree sacked 17% of employees in their latest round of tech layoffs in August (that’s about 50 staff members).
In other Insta news, as part of its new series of updated how-to guides, Instagram has also launched a new, 23-page overview of how brands can use Instagram Reels for promotion and community building, which includes a range of key tips on effective Reels usage.
Boyce Chartered Accountants
As a regional creative agency Banter loves working with other top notch regional businesses. An example of some of this work is with Boyce Chartered Accountants who have offices in Moree, Wagga Wagga, Cooma, Bega, Orange, Goulburn, and Dubbo.
We have created a number of marketing tools 🛠 that can be used to assist Boyce recruit young accountants to regional NSW. We deliver social posts, are creating an Instagram page, designing ads and eAlerts along with website updates to ensure that a country lifestyle is seen as a viable option for recent graduates.
All of these tools help Boyce bring young people to the regional areas of NSW offering them a true work/life balance ⚖️. We look forward to sharing more of our exciting work together soon!
BDCU is getting even better
We’ve been fortunate to work with our local Member-owned bank BDCU, since we started nearly 5 years ago. Over that time, we’ve experienced as both a customer and a client, the evolution of BDCU Alliance Bank, the creation of The Collective Impact, and now, the ongoing growth through the transition of BCDU Alliance Bank franchise to a Bendigo Community Bank franchise. What’s great is they remain locally owned but get to deliver even better banking services.
BDCU approached Banter to help create the strategic communications plan that advised Members of the franchise changes, the impact of those changes on Members, staff, and branches, and the rollout of a campaign to support this development.
This intensive process also delivered:
⭐️ transactional and legal letters advising Members, and local community stakeholders of the changes
⭐️ the scripting and creation of the Chairperson’s video
⭐️the website landing page
⭐️ an integrated campaign creative across multiple channels
⭐️media releases and media buying
⭐️ design of social media assets, email signatures, newspaper ads, website banners, and posters
Our engagement continues with additional creative assets as the transition continues over a 6-month period.
It’s an exciting time to assist BDCU in undergoing this change. We know that our community and local businesses will benefit from BDCU’s new connection with Australia’s better big bank – Bendigo Bank’s 500+ strong network of branches whilst continuing to support the local communities we live in.
Less than 5 min reads for you
This section: Short reads, 👀 not just about marketing.
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On the blog: Hear from our wonderful copywriter, Jane.
She’s talking about writing for inclusivity – and she’s not talking about being politically correct for the sake of it, or protecting your brand from the ⌨️ keyboard warriors (although that is something to think about!).
Jane’s talking about inviting everyone in to hear your story. Terms like “writing for inclusivity” and “inclusive language that respects diversity” can seem a bit daunting. Jane shares her tips on how to open the door to welcoming words for your brand.
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Useful AR application on a construction site
CSD Group Australia caught our eye with their awesome application of a simple QR Code on their construction site that completely changed our world. The simple on-site scan opened up a full AR model of the site, really bringing the vision of the 🏗 construction to life. Love this visionary application.
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How long does it take to write a blog post?
Turns out, it may be longer than you think (and right in line with what I thought). The 2022 State of Blogging report assessed over 1,000 bloggers and what do you know? The more time you invest in your blog writing ✍🏼, the better the results are. The average length of a blog post is 1,376 words in 2022, up from 808 words in 2014. Check out the easy-to-read report for the latest blogging trends and reader expectations.
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M&Ms jump on the NFT bandwagon
Mars Wrigley has partnered with Web3 music label 10:22PM to unveil M&M’s candies that feature images of members from Kingship, 10:22PM’s non-fungible-token version of a rock-and-roll band.
Physical collectible boxes of 🍬 candy have been created for consumers of both Kingship and M&M’s with 4,000 created in total. The Gold edition, the rarest version, comes in a white and gold foil gift box and includes custom-printed candies with KINGSHIP group members Captain, King, Arnell and Hud in individually numbered boxes from one to 100.
Mars will also produce 3,900 exclusive celebratory gift boxes in brown. Additionally, there will be 6,000 gift jars of the candies available.
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Smelling a painting, how wonderful
Visitors to a recent exhibition at Museo Nacional del Prado in Spain had the opportunity to experience the classical painting ‘The Sense of Smell’ in an innovative new way. Using AirParfum technology, the painting—part of ‘The Five Senses’ series by 17th century Flemish masters Jan Brueghel and Peter Paul Rubens—was accompanied by 10 scents 👃🏼 designed specifically for the exhibition.
The technology combined four diffusers with touchscreen devices to give visitors a multi-sensory means of interacting with the painting. Rather than turpentine and oil, the scents represented 10 items shown in the painting, including leather gloves, a fig tree, orange blossoms, and a civet (a small mammal).
AirParfum makes it possible for the human sense of smell to distinguish between 100 different scents without becoming overloaded. The device and technology are used to train professional perfumers. The system works by removing the smell of the alcohol that is used in perfumes and that quickly saturates the nose’s ability to smell more than a few scents at a time. How rad is that!
Catch you next time 😁
