An open letter to the South Australian ad industry

Well said Sputnick.

AF, I couldn’t agree more.

Best submitted article in the 9 years of this site.

Well done. U Single handedly just saved the face of the whole of the SA ad industry.

Best submitted article in the 9 years of this site

Good article but missing one key fact – the taxes of the people that are being retrenched are going towards the wages of the people that are replacing them, which changes everything, as opposed to a private enterprise.

Wow. There’s a grown-up in the industry after all. Well said sir/madam.

Its just as reasonable for an SA agency to win business interstate as vice versa I’d have thought.

Applause. Applause. Thank you, Sputnik, for your trademark no BS response. It was much needed on this one!

Well said. And congratulations to the local agencies who got on the roster. The tone of the small minded parochial statement from AADC is the real disgrace here. In fact it makes perfect sense that at least one of the agencies on the roster has National and International connections. Please consider the opportunity of TBWA opening an Adelaide office and keep the anti-Vic sentiments for the footy.

Fair point, but the taxes spent by SATC need to deliver the best possible outcomes for the broader tourism industry – not just the advertising industry supporting it.

My daughter has just finished a degree and was looking for work in this field in Adelaide. Couldn’t get any. She has joined the brain drain from this state and now lives in Melbourne, with work.
While being a local should account for something in the tender process, at the end of the day, businesses need to remain relevant and develop a competitive advantage to benefit their clients. I have been a business owner for over 20 years and my business now is completely different to 20 years ago.
What I hope this loss of work will do for KWP is to get them to go into the room of mirrors and have a good hard look at themselves and see why they missed out, take it on the chin and grow as a business. If you remain static, then you deserve to lose.

I always love the way you express yourself Sputnik and I have great respect for your views. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with you, too, on a couple of shared projects in days gone by.
In this case, I’d have to point to the idea that local knowledge and understanding should be part of the brief of having an account such as this. What really got up my exAdwriter’s nose was the concept of another state promoting OUR state – the state we know, love and understand from a personal experience perspective. The State where some of us were born and through the passing of the years here have come to witness the quirky beauty, the weird idiosyncrasies and the strange foibles that only time and experience can reveal. I think they call that personal experience stuff ‘depth’? I realize depth is surpassed now in favour of immediacy, the most popular and the most ‘on-trend’, but I have trouble respecting this new, fast-world wayfarer. Give me a local with a long history to point to the best (and the worst) aspects of a thing they know like the back of their hand. I can trust them – they’ve seen it and been there. Like a Lonely Planet writer who gets the gig because they’re from there.

It’s almost offensive to give the job of promoting tourism in South Australia to an outsider. A whole other state, with other state preconceptions and possibly prejudices. It’s like being told you’re not capable of promoting who you are; like you don’t know yourself well enough, or that someone else would be better able to tell others who you are, what you think and how you feel. A separate mouth piece that’s located external to the subject, and far away.
The withdrawal of such a large amount of money from the industry in this state that struggles to provide employment opportunities for the existing professionals let alone the upcoming is another offensive element for another conversation.
Seriously. There are myriad of highly talented and capable creative talent in this state – I know because I have worked with many of them and I’ve been in this industry since I was 18 – as have you Sputnik. You are one of those highly talented people. I can only think that perhaps it’s our advertising industry in South Australia that needs to cast its net wider to gather more of our bountiful crop of creatives from those who know SA intimately? Perhaps our cronyism has killed us? All I know is, the situation seems ludicrous to me.

Someone had to say it Sputnik. Great article mate; very cathartic.

And there you have it. Not one suggestion that Melbournes next add writer could come from Adelaide. The real world is this, Melbournian based businesses already have entrenched links to all that is Melbourne. The thought that individuals in the industry over there are going to run around actively treading on toes of businesses there by alluring custom and trade away from their home towners is fanciful, possibly plain ridiculous. Mrs Mac does not use Villies to sell her pies.

aaaand…*mic drop!
Nicely said Sputnik.

I believe I live in a global community and what matters is the right talent for the right job. That’s what drives me. I too, was given grief many years ago for hiring Sydney film directors and not sticky loyally to using Melbourne only people. It was a big deal at the time, but I couldn’t compromise the work just to keep everyone happy. Same with bringing work in-house, moving to digital formats, and probably now offering a global solution too.

Let’s think about one other thing – the customer. Tourism audience is often not the local community in any case, and a fresh view on it may be what the market wants to do better for the whole state. So, focusing on a few creative people missing out on work when the whole state may perform better is a bit small thinking.

I know that it is difficult as a community to keep work within the area sometimes, and the limitations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The local agency obviously was on the back foot and without the right solutions to keep the account. There are other solutions to up-skill and to provide a bigger and better service without losing the whole account though. I wish more people would look at doing things differently rather than doing the same old thing and losing out. You can’t then be bitter about it. There are other solutions to save good businesses before too late.

It’s an interesting point you raise, but is tourism counter intuitive? I’d hazard a guess, based on anecdotal evidence only, that South Australians are terrible tourists in their own state. More have been to Bali than to the Flinders Ranges. Or Port Lincoln. Or… the list goes on.

There’s two parts to any marketing, understanding the product and understanding the market. Interstaters can learn about the product easily enough, and in their favour they understand the ‘why the fuck would anyone go to Adelaide’ mind set better than most. Certainly better than people who live here. So while I understand your logic, and for sure there’s plenty of merit to it, I’m not entirely sure it’s solid of conclusive logic.

As it’s been pointed out to me also, quite a few of the tourism accounts around australia are held in other states… doesn’t make it right, of course, but maybe there’s something to it.

Nice

Great article – for someone who worked at SATC for many years, the organisation had agencies around the world in every different market. KWP! wasn’t the only agency we used. We also had staff based in Sydney and prior to Red Agency being appointed, the PR agency was also Sydney-based. What made these agencies passionate about promoting South Australia was the product – not to mention many of our international and interstate staff and agency staff were originally from SA. Our key domestic markets were (and I would imagine still are) NSW and Vic. KWP! did some fantastic work for SATC during my time and in recent times but that doesn’t mean they are guaranteed the contract every time it comes up. In fact other SA agencies used to bemoan the fact that they didn’t think there was any point pitching each time it came around given the outstanding work of KWP! No-one knows what was in the successful (and unsuccessful) pitches – but one thing is for sure – it would need to be a step above the ordinary to have won this account. As an Ex-South Aussie, living in Melbourne, I’m looking forward to seeing the new creative and I reckon I will be proud of how a non-SA agency perceives our beautiful State.

Well said Sputnik. It’s sad that this kind of thing still goes on in SA. Why send an communication like this? Who does it serve? It certainly doesn’t serve the industry, it doesn’t serve the image of SA or SA business. As a proud South Australian living interstate I become annoyed when this happens. There is such great opportunity and fantastic creative talent in SA but that chip on the shoulder…..sorry, it’s just got to go.

SATC pitched. Anyone could apply and pitch ‘South Australia’. (One has to assume a fair process.) The fact that an SA agency couldn’t pitch their own state well enough is tragic. Maybe others can see the potential of SA as a tourism destination greater than ourselves. For every person I have met around the world that has been to SA they can’t beleive the beauty, the friendly people, the festivals, the wine and food. Most stumbled and found SA more by accident than by plan and have had great time. Yet, not a regular visit to SA goes by when I mention how great this state is and how we need to attract more people here that someone invariably says something along the lines of “we don’t want people to know about these places in SA. They are our secret.” Goodness me. I love SA but this thinking is why there is a ‘drain’ and probably why it’s hard to promote our own state. Sorry, but the attitude has got to go. We need to attract people to SA in every way, we need tourism, investment and so on to bring commerical growth in the way of spending, jobs and just good energy. We need a growth mindset not this negativity.

As Sputnik said, this is the situation for now. It’s not forever. Adelaide has tremendous opportunity and really is probably one of the best places to live well in Australia. Business may be tough and I also sympathise with those affected (I have been there before) however this kind of behaviour doesn’t add value. It certainly doesn’t help our image and SA as a destination.

Congratulations to Showpony, BlackSheep & Fuller. I really hope you find those opportunities to show your stuff. Congratulations Kimberlee and the team at TBWA. I wish you well. To SATC, one hopes you also give all these talented people the opportunities and the briefs to really allow SA to shine.

OK, so wanted to add one more thing about this. The harsh reality is, as borders become increasingly irrelevant, more companies have centralised to the eastern states. That may change, but for now, that’s how it is. The head offices that used to be here in SA, simply aren’t any more. So those companies are using ‘local’ agencies to where they are… whether we like it or not then, there’s simply not the volume and calibre of business here in SA anymore. We can not like it, but it’s just the way it is driven by commercial realities. SA companies can, of course, pitch for out of town business, but that is not without its challenges. That being the case, less demand, means less supply. And the Catch22 continues. And it’s not purely about ‘talent’ of individuals, but of resources and connected ness. Clems. Y&R. George Patts. Leos. Ogilvy. All gone. Now if a client wants an agency with legitimate international connections that would come in handy for an account like this, how many agencies do they really have to choose from here in SA? I’m genuinely not sure any more, but i’m guessing one or two? Maybe three? That narrows things down pretty quickly. Then knock any that may have conflict of interest within their networks and you’ll see that what on the surface may seem ludicrous, really isn’t. Because it’s about more than just talent.

As much as I hate to admit it, for the foreseeable future I think we have to accept that our industry here will serve clients here, and that means mostly small to medium sized clients, with very few ‘big’/blue chips. We wouldn’t be the only industry to find ourself in this position either. Until there comes a time when big business relocates here for whatever reason (lower cost base?) that’s probably the reality of the situation.

The statement was, quite simply, unforgivable. It’s the kind of thing you say after a few beers, Coopers of course, down at the pub when you’re having a sook off the record. Not something you put on AADC letterhead and send to everyone. It’s truly embarrassing. Given the attitude and small mindedness of some South Aussies, perhaps it will be a good thing to get an outsider’s view of our state… they’ve probably seen more of it than most locals who would rather go interstate or to Bali for their holidays anyway.

Every agency I’ve worked in has struggled when it came to self promotion. Like writing your resume, it’s hard. So it makes totall sense to use someone actually in the target market — outside your state, to sell your state.

And anyway — the tv spots for Melbourne Tasmania, South Australia are usually pretty much interchangable. I’m expecting the next SA one will be too.

BRAVO!

Yeh Sputters, that’s how we got Bank SA (Westpac’s) embarrassing piping shrike – cos they understand our SA psyche!

But not cognisant of all the issues and just as emotional as many of us who are appalled by this crap decision.

The only people working on Melbourne/Victorian advertising of any kind, least of all tourism, are those of our best and brightest who’ve already been lured there – and that’s always been OK but we don’t need State Government money (OURS!) UNNECESSARILY exacerbating the trend.

Local agencies have consistently delivered advertising excellence and RESULTS for SA tourism for years.

To quote your own words: “As a proud South Australian living interstate I become annoyed … There is such great opportunity and fantastic creative talent in SA …

Naive Sputters. When do you reckon we’ll see a truly open tender for Melbourne or Sydney tourism (government) business. And when are we going to really stand up to the truly stupid bureaucratic flunkies’ decisions that help drive off our best and brightest and further weaken our ad industry to the point that you will all have spouted self-fulfilling prophecies?

It certainly will if it comes out of the east coast sausage machine. To understand tourism market segments you certainly don’t have to live there. We don’t and we’ve proved over recent years that not only can we get our heads around interstate and international perceptions but can produce effective advertising and communications to change perceptions and positively influence tourist behaviours. SA has punched above its weight – not much credit to the SATC flunky bureaucrats or to insufficient tourism budget dollars from politicians.

I personally really like piping shrike.

What’s naive is to think the world is fair. And that SATC should have done anything any different to what they did. Since the dawn of time, every agency has used every thing available to them to win an account. “Truly open tender”? If that’s your goal, you may be waiting quite some time I imagine. To point the finger at our “bureaucratic flunkies” is equally naive I’m afraid Ron. (I assume that’s you?) Big business, which supports big agencies, which supports the best and brightest, have been centralising for years. Y&R, George Patts, Ogilvy, Leos, Clems… the list goes on, didn’t leave SA because of the decisions of those people you are referring to, they left because our town isn’t big enough to support the industry the way it once did. It’s sad, but no sadder than Mitsubish, Holden… the list goes on.