What we’re seeing right now is a tendency for some of the bolder businesses and organisations to face the downturn head-on, proactively bolstering up their marketing efforts for the coming year. For example, with Tasmania's tourism budget recently slashed by $4.3million, some operators are wisely putting their own contingencies in place leading up to the influx of summer tourists.

Remember, 2009 is not half over, it’s only half begun! Opportunities await those willing to have a go. Didn’t someone once say ‘fortune favours the brave’? Absolutely.

Regards,

David Peck
Managing Director
at+m integrated marketing

We are Australia’s first recognised Level 3 Sustainable Green Printer!

Our clients can now proudly know that when they order a printed product from us, they are ordering from Australia’s first recognised Level 3 Sustainable Green Printer. Furthermore, we are the only Printing Company in Tasmania currently able to achieve this accreditation.

Sustainable Green Print (SGP) is an official certification program of The Printing Industry Association (PIA) of Australia, and at+m is the first to achieve this standard. The program is a great opportunity for businesses to be recognised for making changes of varying degrees to their printing processes. 

At an official presentation ceremony today July 16th, Environment Minister Michelle O’Byrne was on hand to help Ron Patterson, PIA Victoria/Tasmania Regional Manager, present the accreditation certificate to our Managing Director, David Peck.

at+m is very pleased to have been awarded this certification, as it recognises our innovation and commitment to cleaner production. It highlights the immense effort that our Company has undertaken on all levels to maintain and improve our Environmental processes to help ensure a healthier planet. We are proud to be leading the Environmental Printing revolution in Australia, and putting Tasmania in the spotlight.

We certainly hope it encourages other Printing businesses to follow our lead. 

Creative Strategy. On brief, together.

at+m is always looking for new ways to add value. One such area is in strategic creative thinking. But we can’t take all the credit. We believe fresh and effective creative starts with a strong and focussed brief. A briefing process that begins with you, the client.

We take into account all of your objectives, expectations, and yes, suggestions too, before exploring the possibilities. Your input is invited and your feedback encouraged throughout. We see it as more of a joint venture relationship rather than the limiting, old client-agency model.

Only after we’ve listened and when everyone’s on the same page, do we develop the big ideas to move your product, service or message forward. Whether it’s a small one-off flyer or a fully integrated campaign, your project will receive the intense depth of thought it deserves. We’ll always tell you what we think, but we’ll also ensure our ideas are on brief and in the best interests of your brand. After all, we’re in the ‘end benefit’ business.

Product Focus: Grand Designs

It’s an exciting time on the design front. We’re about to bolster our creative resources even further with the addition of a new Senior Designer experienced in advertising art direction, corporate identity and packaging design.

This key role within the business works closely with clients, one-on-one at times, and with the rest of the organisation. This latest move will complement the already strong team dynamic led by our two Creative Directors – each with their own strengths and specialties.

As a client, you’ll always find plenty of graphic designers out there. But are their services backed up by an integrated team with a wide range of skills? And the quality control that comes from having the right systems in place? Other agencies may talk about ‘synergies’, we just point to our name.

The pluses are right there for all to see. Offering five divisions – actually, nothing is ‘divided’ really, we prefer to say ‘added’ – with five facets to the business, at+m can take your project from concept to completion.

Lifelink Samaritans

at+m has just created a new awareness campaign for Lifelink Samaritans’ Befriender service. We were more than happy to make our resources available for this very important and worthwhile social cause. Using a simple and colourful graphic approach, concepts were built around the need to communicate with two specific groups.

Those in the community needing someone to talk to in difficult times and those prepared to volunteer their services as a phone Befriender. Look out for it on the buses, in waiting rooms and around various other public places.

Why not show your support and get along to the upcoming Lifelink Samaritans COMING OUT DINNER at the Tailrace Centre, 1 Waterfront Drive, Riverside on Friday 28 August 2009 – 6:30pm for 7:00pm.

You can RSVP with payment of $65 per person to: PO Box 228, Launceston or mahunt@bigpond.com by Friday 21 August. By attending, you’ll be helping raise much-needed funds for Lifelink Samaritans to help pay their hefty phone bill!

Client Focus:

Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees … “Oh Errol”

First, a little background: Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees Ltd. (TPTL) has been managing Estates and writing Wills for over 120 years. They wanted to produce a campaign to increase the number of Wills written with TPTL in 2009. The marketing team believed a celebrity endorsement strategy would be appropriate to achieve the desired results.

In 2008, TPTL went on to sign an agreement with a production company to fly Rory Flynn – daughter of Tasmania’s most famous son, Errol Flynn – to Tasmania to shoot four television commercials about the importance of writing an accurate Will with a trusted company. These commercials, leveraged off Rory’s own story and the messy circumstances surrounding Errol Flynn’s estate after his death.

One in three Tasmanians do not have an accurate or executable Will. In short, the deceased’s estate is often not distributed as they would have wished, with all too often tragic repercussions for those loved ones left behind.

 

The commercials were to become the centrepiece of an integrated marketing campaign. TPTL also decided to support the celebration of his birth by becoming the major sponsor of the June 2009 Errol Flynn Centenary Celebration (EFCC) in Hobart. at+m was given the task of designing and delivering all supporting festival materials including: press ads, media strategies, a direct mail piece, in-branch posters, festival brochure, festival posters, festival invitations and the festival website.

The Errol Flynn Centenary Celebration was to be one of the most successful events to be held in Tasmania in 2009, achieving over $500,000 of National media editorial coverage. From TPTL’s perspective, and perhaps in keeping with the larger-than-life persona of the man himself, the increase in new Wills written has wildly exceeded expectations.

TPTL’s Make a Will campaign illustrates perfectly the true power of a fully integrated approach. Here was a single-minded message delivered in an engaging way through television, endorsement, events, through-the-line print, point-of-sale, web and social media. at+m was proud to be part of this highly effective campaign.

Media in Focus

Media is commonly misunderstood. Advertising is not as simple as putting an advertisement on television and playing it a hundred times, or is it?  It all depends on your product and target market.

Many factors are involved in creating an effective media campaign, including: research, a realistic picture of your target market and their habits and a realistic budget. Media planning and buying must be completely objective, not subjective.

This is where people often make vital mistakes. They pick the shows they like to watch instead of those that are most penetrative of their target market. They do not understand the reasoning behind the placement of adverts, or how to tell which mediums will be effective for their business.

Don’t worry if this sounds like you, because you are not alone. And even if you have an understanding of media, it is often easier to let professional agencies deal with the day-to-day negotiations and planning. They know the right questions to ask, how to negotiate rates and how to organise the artwork.

Media strategy and buying are given high priority at at+m integrated marketing. We have a dedicated Media Coordinator who carries out day-to-day liaison between clients and media agencies.

at+m integrated marketing has established a strong and effective alliance with Australia’s largest media buyer - Mitchell & Partners. This alliance provides our clients with many advantages including:

• The resources of Australia’s largest media buyer;
• The negotiation, strength and buying power of more than $1billion in media spend each year;
• Research resources to accurately identify areas of opportunity;
• Proven media staff to work on your account;
• Access to the many business units of the Mitchell Communications Group;
• Strategy planning and buying; and
• Monitoring.

We have experience in booking into a wide range of local, national and international media, including but not limited to: newspapers, television, magazines, radio, cinema, bus backs, taxi backs, online, shop-a-dockets and billboards.

We can also design your advertisement to suit the specifications of each publication and deliver it straight to the publication electronically using the material delivery system Quickcut.

Our new-look Electronic Proofing System

We’re always looking to add value in everything we do at at+m. The electronic proofing system is just another way in which we’re streamlining our processes to provide you with a better service. Some of our clients are already enjoying the fast-tracked convenience of the new automated system but for those of you who were not aware, here’s how it works. Now, when you receive an email with your proof attached, with just the click of a button, you can notify us of the next step.

Simply clicking on the green button automatically generates a return email to at+m, referencing your particular job number, and including the message ‘Proof APPROVED – please proceed’.

Clicking on the red button sends us an email stating ‘DO NOT PROCEED – changes will be advised for this artwork’. It’s that easy. And less typing for everyone! This new way of saying ‘Go or No’ will save both you, and us, valuable time.