News & Events

yMedia Management crew member, and PR expert, Tim Holmberg reports back:

Last Wednesday marked the eighth and final workshop for this year’s yMedia Challenge and it was great to see a majority of the teams taking part in our “Room Full of Professionals”. For two hours we crammed a load of fantastic industry minds all into one room for our challenge participants to plumb for information, advice and help. The Challenge officially closes next Monday so this was the perfect opportunity for the students to get an industry opinion on their final touches and troubleshoot any issues that they have been having. With a diverse range of skills and knowledge, ranging from design to public relations to marketing to development, our students were in good hands and many of them were in deep discussion about their projects right until the end of the workshop. At the workshop we also had the extreme joy of handing out invitations to our yMedia Graduation Awards Dinner to all of the team members - We can’t wait to celebrate all of the astounding work that is being produced!

Venue: AUT Business School, Level 6

Date: Wednesday 28 July, 6pm – 8pm

As the close of the yMedia Challenge draws near, we invite all teams to join us for a working session at AUT Business School. 

The room will be full of professionals with technical skills, available to help resolve any difficulties you may be having with your project, the Judges will be represented to share with you what will be expected of you on judging day, and the yMedia Crew will also be on hand to help iron out any issues and to help ensure you’re ready for your final deadline.

This workshop is an opportunity not to be missed by the teams participating in the yMedia Challenge.

Last Wednesday, yMedia had the privilege of having James Hurman speak at our first workshop for 2010: Brand Aid.

Planning director for Colenso BBDO, James has a huge amount of experience in the advertising industry and is a regular workshop presenter and guest speaker. Here are our favorite outtakes from his presentation. Thanks James!

Brand Aid with James Hurman

At first it seems that the branding strategies for organisations such as Air New Zealand may be too big and overwhelming. How could they relate to small community groups and not-for-profits? But the underlying fundamentals are the same. Be inspired, take that thinking, and use it in your world. Air New Zealand is one of the most well-managed brands in the country.

“They don’t have a mission statement, they keep it simple: “Who we are. What we do. How we do it”.

Its refreshing, and it helps their brand become more loved and more engaging.

What is a brand exactly?

We all know brands are critically important, but no-one can tell you what one is. You’ll find many definitions on Google, and you can get some very detailed descriptions. However, in the end a brand is “simply, clearly, why you exist”.

What is a brand good for anyway?

The capitalist view tells us that it adds financial value.”In 1988, Philip Morris purchased Kraft for six times what the company was worth on paper”. Effectively, he paid for the brand. The post-capitalist view sees people like David Packard (of HP) wanting ”to discuss why a company exists in the first place”.

The Harvard Business Review book ‘Built to Last’, contains studies of why some companies did better than others on the stock market. It becomes clear that those companies realised their purpose was more than making money.

Disney is not there to make cartoons, but “to make people happy”. 3M doesn’t just produce post-its, they’re there “to solve unsolved problems”. As Harvard Business professor Theodore Levitt states, “people don’t want a quarter inch drill bit, they want a quarter inch hole”. Forget about what you’re selling, and look at why you are there.

“To give guys the edge in the mating game” - Lynx

“Providing tools for creative minds” - Apple

“To make women feel more beautiful everyday” - Dove

Simply, clearly, why you exist.

If you can get to the heart of that you’ve got a really strong brand platform.
What role does your organisation play in the lives of consumers or your community?
If you disappeared tomorrow, what would the world be deprived of?
What outcome do you create? What’s your “quarter inch hole”?
Who are you and who are you for?

Advertising is losing its major influence. People build brands from all the little things that organisation does, all their experiences with that brand, all the hear’say. All these things have to align under the brand. Brand communications are becoming less and less about ‘saying’ and more and more about ‘doing’. St Francis of Assisi once said “preach the gospel at all times, use words when necessary”.

Recent examples of this include the dissonance between what Telecom New Zealand has been saying about their products and services, and how the company acts and the service performs. Their advertising makes certain promises which have not been kept, and Telecom’s brand has been badly damaged as a result.

On the other hand, Meridian Energy has the most eco-friendly building in New Zealand. This aligns with their brand philosophy, and creates trust and believability.

Getting Practical

The room were asked to group together around the not-for-profit attendees to discuss their “quarter inch hole”, why they exist, and how that might be embodied by a brand.

Through the practical application, everyone in the room solidified their understanding of what a brand encompasses, and came away with a new found appreciation of how these theories affect their own operations.

How do you show support for the blind?

James’ Top Tips
To create a great brand:

1. Clearly understand why you exist.
2. Make sure that everything you do advances that purpose.

yMedia Crew member Aurelie shares her impressions of the Microsoft Imagine Cup held on Friday the 31st of April:

As I stepped in the doors of Auckland University’s brand spanking new Owen G Glenn building, it became instantly clear to me that Microsoft does not do things by halves.

Running late, I was disappointed to find out I’d completely missed yMedia’s Change It event, but glad I made it just in time to catch the sense of the excitement in the air as hundreds of students and supporters gathered in the foyer.

As I listened in on all the animated conversations, I anticipated something great was about to happen. Soon enough, 7:00pm came ‘round and people began heading towards the auditorium.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, and had no idea what an event like this had in store. I’ve never been in a crowd of people with bang-bang sticks before, and I have to say it sure added to an already amping atmosphere!

The speakers all had one major message to put across, effectively summarised by Diane Holland’s catchy phrase: “Small country, big voice”. New Zealand has a knack for raising creative, open-minded people, and this is reflected in our great achievements in areas such as film and digital media.

New Zealanders can be proud of the fact that they are greatly over-represented in award-winning companies (such as Diane’s Massive Software) in the global arena because of their innovation.

When the teams began presenting their technological solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, I was in complete awe. These were uni students. Solving the world’s problems! It was one of the most inspiring things I have seen in a long while.

From being told that as a New Zealander I have a myriad of opportunities available to me, to seeing some of the brightest young minds in the country grab hold of those very opportunities, I couldn’t help but wonder, what else is possible?

In the end, the winning team was OneBeep. Their solution? Going to the root of most of the world’s other problems, by contributing to the education of those most in need. Their system of transmitting digital files via radio waves will allow those lucky enough to have benefited from the One Laptop per Child campaign, to now receive up-to-date educational programmes directly to their desktop through a radio.

An amazing feat, which is sure to give New Zealand a very good chance at winning the world final of the Imagine Cup in Poland. It’s important to remember that we all have the potential to use our imagination to make a huge impact on the world. And thanks to endeavours such as the Imagine Cup and the yMedia Challenge, we can be inspired to think bigger than ourselves.

[Photo thanks to James Hancox, Photo for Charity]