Travel Trinkets

I have been privileged enough to travel very many places in the world, which means, I have also been lucky enough to have saved some money to buy everyone at home little souvenirs from each of my destinations. But the gift I’m about to share with you is unlike any other I’ve ever seen – Melbourne mother and business women, Annette Chambers, officially has the most marketable travel trinket ever

Monopoly No More

Hungry Jacks is throwing down just as much heat as their new counter campaign claims - Get your free food at Hungry Jacks instead of at ‘You Know Who.’ How much more clever and ruthless can you get?

Hungry Jacks seems to be very, extremely, confident in the superiority of their food as opposed to their competitors who are giving out small concessions in their monopoly board game imitation. This

Balloons and Internet for all, coming at you from Oceania

Google is set to launch one of its biggest and craziest (in a good way!) innovations yet - Project Loon. This initiative was started from right here in our own back yard as well! The project's purpose is to create widespread and low cost internet access for all areas of the globe in order to further increase the spread of knowledge and the speed with which the diffusion of information occurs. The

Partners in Crime

Master of Marketing students go to Melbourne
Although Salil and I both spent much of our Melbourne shopping weekend with our own vast retail agendas, we came together where, and when, it counted most. Our ‘shop until you drop’ instincts took control as we fought our way through the plethora of fabric, countless discounts, and long fitting room lines during a busy Monday afternoon at H&M. This

Advertising: Our new best friend

Our first course of the semester is finally complete! MKTG6208 Marketing Communications came and went, but not without colourful friendships, a few all-nighters, and one very (hopefully) proud professor (Kate Charlton, featured below).




 (Picture by Elle Liu – Current Student)


The course took its students on an incredible journey through the ins and outs of the creative process within

Wayfinding: Where behavioural psychology mixes with business

Have you ever had that experience where you arrive at a new airport and walk out of the jetway only to follow the streamline of people flowing from the gateway towards baggage claim as if they have all done it and been there a million times? Well turns out, airport architects, construction personnel, behavioural psychologists, business managers, and marketing directors have all put their brains

Traveling the world with your personal brand

What if your whole personal brand as a university student was being an athlete and a student at the same time? And, what if that brand got to represent your country and your university all around the world? It must be an extremely challenging role to play, but the University of Sydney students representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, make it look effortless.

Umbrella Companies

Have you ever been shocked to find out that some of the brands and products you have been so very loyal to for ages were actually subsidiary companies to a larger, potentially less customer centred holding company? Well, Unilever is attempting to be one of the first to break that shock by incorporating all of its subsidiary companies into their newest logo, as seen below.




Research has

FIFA World Cup 2014 – A Global Conversation

Our last post on this blog mentioned one of the many FIFA World Cup-centric ads that are currently being aired across the globe. After watching a few more over the last week, I wanted to profile one particular ad which I believe captured the true spirit of the event in a very relatable, and global context. The ad I am referring to is the ‘Global Issues’ ad which was aired by the U.S. sports

Ads you actually want to watch

A number of current trend studies have indicated a movement from televised advertisement to radio and social media ads. However, there may still be a culture out there specifically gathering to watch ads on TV.

For example, large-scale, international big sporting events, such as the Olympics or the World Cup sees big firms paying millions of dollars for their 30 seconds of not just fame, but

Open a New Friendship

I sit here wondering, there couldn't possibly be anything more brilliant that Coca-Cola could do next. However, their latest campaign “Friendly Twist” just screams consumer insight! You can view the full campaign in the video link below:




It goes without saying that American undergraduate freshman get to college or university without knowing anyone on campus. Often they experience homesickness

The TEDx Sydney experience

I don’t think I have ever had such a fulfilling, inspiring, and exhausting day before TEDx Sydney 2014. I was lucky enough to have been one of the six recipients of the University of Sydney TEDx ticket giveaway from the ‘share your greatest lesson’ challenge, so I attended the TED exclusive studio event with fellow USYD student Ross Ketelbey (B.Sc).




The event stretched my mind in ways I

Why Liking Curly Fries Makes Me Intelligent

As an avid curly fry lover from way back, I was very pleased to recently discover that my love for this fun fried food actually makes me smarter.  What’s more, I was completely unaware of this link which left me pondering the impact of the many other things that I like?

So at this point, I am guessing you are either intrigued or convinced that this paradox is simply serving to disprove my

Fake meats, finally, taste like chicken

‘Beyond Meat’ is a company that produces plant protein substitutes for chicken and beef. A recent production error, discussed in an article in the New York Times by Stephanie Strom (published on 2 April 2014), proved that the ‘fake meat’ has come extremely far from the flavourless veggie burgers that used to be the only option for non-carnivores. It tastes so real that meat consumers did not

Dare to be “back”

Driven by the revolutionary development of technology, digital marketing, and particularly social media, has risen drastically over the last decade. The digital age has made such a large and lasting impact that we tend to expect to see all creative marketing for large brands done in this space.
However, last September, a famous European chocolate brand, Milka, launched a campaign in France and

Rebranding can sometimes work magic for your business

You probably noticed the aggressive media campaign for the newly rebranded radio station, KIIS FM from 106.5 MIX FM, back in the December – January period. Promotional material ranging from posters slapped on bus stops, YouTube videos, TV advertising and media announcements of Kyle and Jackie-O’s poaching from 2DAY FM built up sufficient hype for the newly rebranded station’s launch on the 20 of

From Planes to Trains: Famous Aussie Safety Campaign

How many dumb ways to die are there? So many! Which is exactly what Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) wants their city-goers and train passengers to keep in mind. Preceding Air New Zealand’s more recent take on updating safety announcements, a Victoria state transportation company decided they needed a viral campaign to help lessen train, platform, crossing and station incidences along their busy rail

Analysing “Compare the Meerkat”

This campaign for www.comparethemarket.com (UK) is a brilliant concept that has been rolled out through multiple executions in the UK – 19 to be exact. It featured a TV spot, companion website and social media links. It generated such a buzz amongst the general population in the UK, that it is unprecedented within the Insurance Comparison Industry. It is arguably one of the most successful

A new way to advertise the ‘old school’

You can’t really get more old school than a book. So how, in this day and age, can you capture the attention of people with declining attention spans who are addicted to screens and checking their emails?

Bookworld captured my attention on two separate occasions. Now, that may seem pretty normal; we all encounter ads in our day-to-day lives. However, these were two occasions during which I

And the Oscar goes to…Samsung

If there was an Oscar for Marketing, this year the gold statue would definitely go to Samsung. If you have no idea why this is the case, you must have missed the most tweeted "selfie" of all time. As soon as Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres snapped the celebrity-stuffed selfie, including Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Jared Leto, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence using a