Students given an excuse to use fake tan

Who would have thought that using fake tan could get you a whole host of prizes?

In conjunction with MTV, Microsoft is running a Back to University competition called the ‘Lighten Up Challenge’.

Students enter the competition as a team to compete in various fun activities such as a Jersey Shore tanning competition where they have one minute to tan their team mate along with a hot tub foam fumble and other activities.

Prizes include an exceptional ‘Back to Uni’ pack which includes an Acer S3 Ultrabook with Windows, Nokia Lumia, tickets to Creamfields and much more!

This challenge is open to students aged 18-25 that are about to or currently attend Sydney and Melbourne university.

Students can access the registration form by clicking on this link.

Amazing Everyday, Every Day.

Nokia's Windows Phone 'Lumia' is coming soon. To celebrate it's arrival on 1 March 2012, we are hosting a month of the amazing everyday, every single day. All captured on the amazing Lumia.

To get a taste, watch the teaser. Then stay tuned on amazingeveryday.com.au from March 1st to see a little piece of the amazing everyday, every day.

Wunderman Valentine’s BBQ

It started as if it was any other day. Coffee was consumed, meetings were managed and emails were exchanged. Yet the staff members of Wunderman had no idea what was in store for them...

Lunch beckoned and our Wundermen and Wunderwomen leapt from their desks to find a beautiful Valentine’s Day BBQ.

From succulent barbeque chicken to thirst-quenching melon (and even a drop of rosé), the Wunderful Serena Wong, Hakan Gogebakan, Tamie Wong, Judit Sandor, Elaine Loke, Emily Murison and Heidi Robinson tirelessly slaved to reward the hardworking staff at Wunderman.

Readers will be pleased to know that very single member of the Wunderman BBQ team were all held responsible by senior management for the resulting rotund bellies and placid smiles.

...So here’s a loving thank you to the team and we all plead for the same performance again next year!

Facebook Timeline for brand pages

Facebook have now announced that it will be rolling out ‘Facebook Timeline’ for all users.

Loyal fans will see then change on the 29^th of February but luckily for the social networking obsessed at Wunderman, many of us have toyed around with it for quite some time now.

Users will be getting a 7-day grace period in which they can delete and hide all the content that they do not what to show. Once users have completed the changeover to Facebook timeline they will not be able to change back.

Wait a second, what exactly is a Facebook Timeline?

Facebook will be changing your wall, and instead of the standard one column on their ‘Wall’, users with the new Facebook Timeline will be presented with two columns. All previous information will also be sorted into chronological order allowing ‘Friends’ to visit any previously recorded events in their Facebook life.

Of course all events displayed on each user’s Facebook Timeline is completely controllable and users can even add or delete any previous event in their life.

Events are organised into five different categories – Work & Education, Family & Relationships, Home & Living, Health & Wellbeing, Travel & Experiences. Each of these is then subcategorised. If that’s not enough, users can customise their life event.

How will brand pages be affected?

Wunderman’s own Facebook insider has disclosed that ‘Facebook Timeline’ will be arriving for brand pages very soon but what exactly are the implications of this change?

At this time it is difficult to say with certainty what will happen but there are some pretty big clues:

• Visit the past in a single click – as mentioned above, Facebook Timeline allows users to go to any point in the page’s history. This means that users will have the ability to see any of their previous campaigns, posts and interactions on Facebook. Businesses may want to think about reviewing their Facebook interaction history, no matter how long that may be.
• · Life events – If the change also allows brand pages to add exact dates events, businesses may want to think about fully detailing their major events since they were first founded. Smaller businesses may even want to show when their employees joined – if employees agree that is.
• · Apps – One of the wonderful things about Facebook Timeline is that many apps show a ‘Recent Activity’ section. This is great for brands to showcase their activities on other social networks such as Pinterest.

Pin your interest on Pinterest

There are lots of social networks that come and go without the average Joe even batting an eyelid, but there is one in the vast digital frontier that is bound to pin down your interest.

Taken out of beta (testing) only 10 months ago, Pinterest has grown from strength to strength (Unique visitors increased by 429 percent in two months!). It is described as a ‘vision board-styled photo sharing website where users can create and manage theme-based image collections’.

Now we’ve all heard of an image sharing social networks before such as Flickr but Pinterest has segregated itself from the rest.

For starters Pinterest requires you to register your interest before you’re allowed to join, and all you have to do is to look at the initial interest generated by Google+ to see that Pinterest has the right formula.

After registering you are bound to feel slightly overwhelmed. You’re immediately presented with an abundance of images with 33 categories to choose from, and as the same as Twitter, the terminology seems alien.

Then again, that’s what is just so good about Pinterest. There are such a variety of images that it’s impossible to get bored and in a similar fashion to Retweeting, Pinterest gives users the option to ‘Repin’ onto their own custom boards.

Of course depending on how interesting your choice of photos in your board and the regularity of updates, people that are also interested can follow your board.

Wait a minute that’s only the picture section. Pinterest also allows people to ‘Repin’ Videos and Gifts.

Gifts are a simple concept where ‘Pins’ are given a price taken from the description. This is simply another form of a wishlist where people can directly link to the items that they desire.

Some big brands such as Martha Stewart, Better Homes & Gardens and the Travel Channel have already started creating a powerful presence that lets users repost or ‘Repin’ to their followers. With links to individual products and clear online branding, Pinterest is certainly one to watch.

Do you use Pinterest? What are your thoughts so far?

Sydney Harbour Light Show

Forget about that little fireworks display that pops off over Sydney Harbour every new year's eve. Here's a far better light show using two office towers that overlook the main ferry port at Sydney Harbour.

Some have wondered how the cleaners ran up and down the stairwells to flick all the switches on and off. Others have just wondered.

Office Fooz

The crew at Wunderman Sydney take their foosball seriously. Very seriously.

So when they could no longer perform even the most basic trick-shots on their table because it had become so dilapidated from overuse that it was being held together by sticky tape and string, frustrations with the shitty old table boiled over and the crew needed to settle the score.

We yelled for Cadel

Tour de France winner Cadel Evans flew into Melbourne for a mere 72 hours this week to celebrate his incredible win on his home turf.

Highlight of the visit was the closing of the city's busiest boulevard to allow Cadel to cycle to Federation Square where a massive crowd had gathered to celebrate his win with him.

Suffice to say a handful of Wunderkids sneaked away from their desks to join the throng!

Serious meeting

Ten people gathered attentively around the whiteboard for the most important meeting we've ever seen in Wunderman. Jeremy Wilson was taking the basketball team, the Wunderhoops, through some play tactics. Jeremy's a strategist, of course.

The Wunderhoops play against other corporate teams – bankers and such. No-one really knows actually. They just turn up, talk some smack, shoot some hoops, push each other around, get sweaty, and hopefully win.

Cheer 'em on.

Winter Wunderland

The Melbourne Wunderkids joined their colleagues from the Y&R Brands Group for the annual 162 Collins Mid-Year Party this week.

The theme was Snow and our creative department had everybody talking when they made their entrance in their superb snowman outfits.

As you can imagine a seriously fun time was had by all. Stay tuned as we may add more photos soon.

Recycled agency lunch

After a particularly hectic week in the Melbourne office many of the Wunderkids took time out for a very special agency lunch at Hare & Grace.

What made it so special? Well apart from seriously good wagyu burgers and fabulous Fat Yak on tap, the eatery was designed by Joost.


Never heard of Joost? Shame on you!

Joost Bakker is a true original in the world of design. He works in and with recycled and re-used materials. He's big on plants and greenery too. Click here to find out more.


Note the homemade tomato sauce. Yummo!

The Little Nation That Could?

The Direct Lions jury is completely gob-smacked at the small European nation of Liechtenstein. Not a single entry has been relegated to the ‘no’ pile.

Could they be the new Brazil or Belgium?

Only the second and third round of judging will tell.

Each year, the Cannes Lions reveals one or two nations that manage to out-stage all others with their creative genius. Is this Liechtenstein’s year?

This landlocked country in central Europe, bordered by Switzerland and Austria, has managed to prove to the Direct Lions jury that they can do no wrong. The jury members, representing these neighboring nations as well as USA, UK, Brazil, New Zealand, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Singapore, Israel, Germany, Canada, Argentina and South Africa are all entirely taken aback by the small European nation’s effort at the Cannes Lions.

It is not known which agencies within this country have unified to show the world stage their tenacity, creativity and originality, but the results shall prove very interesting and surprising indeed at the Direct Lions Award ceremony on Monday 20 June in Cannes.


Matt Batten
Creative Director, Wunderman
Direct Lions Jury

Happy Days

When Wunderman Sydney pitched for Coca-Cola earlier this year, the client provided all the pitch details on a funky little branded USB. One member of the Wunderman team was so enraptured with it, he contemplated pinching it after the pitch was over. But no need, the pitch was won and a bunch of USBs have just been provided to the agency. Awesome.


This is a great example of a client spending a little extra to make their premiums truly premium. When it comes to good branding, you simply can't skimp.

Too cute!

Always ready to lend a hand whenever people are in need, Melbourne producer Lisa O'Brien was at the front of the queue for the animal charity fundraiser Bark in The Park this weekend. Too cute!

A Warm Reception

Our Sydney office has finally completed the reception area fit-out following the move to new premises earlier in the year. A swanky custom-built reception desk has been installed, complete with logo cut-out illuminated from inside in brand purple (that apparently changes to red for Christmas and green for St Patrick's day). All our national clients have been neatly displayed in purple frames in a French hang, and the big W proudly welcomes all visitors. Sweet.

For Crying Out Loud

Wunderman is a longtime supporter of the industry as a whole. In Sydney, we've just launched a campaign for Creative School and Suit School, run by the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) under the combined banner of Agency School.

Sydney creative duo Amanda Glover and Ben Peppernell used the simple insight that without the course, the people that run ad agencies find it tough to discover and hire fresh, new talent. The campaign uses some of the top figures running ad agencies in Australia as you've never seen them before.

The team pulled in award-winning photographer Steve Greenaway from Pomegranate to shoot the campaign, and he enlisted the help of Limehouse for post-production work to take the images to the next level.

The campaign kicked off with a launch exhibition to finally reveal the closely-guarded images to the industry and get adlanders excited and engaged. The exhibition included an experiential element with a live photo-shoot so attendees could get their own crying image. These images were emailed straight to them so they could update their profile pics across social media platforms to help spread the buzz.

For some added fun, a Crying Hotline has been set up on 02 9766 1799 for callers to send messages of support or unleash their own wailing pleas.

The campaign will roll out over the next few weeks with flyers and posters distributed to universities, and eDMs sent to uni students and lecturers (courtesy of the kind support from our friends at Student Marketing Australia).

The campaign includes (clockwise from top left) our Sydney Creative Director, Matt Batten; Dave Whittle, Managing Director of M&C Saatchi and CEO of Mark; Liz Fulcher, Managing Director of Clemenger Proximity; and Simon Bloomfield and Brenton Bleechmore, Creatives at Ogilvy.

Also featured in the campaign were Rob Morrison, Dylan Taylor, Paul Clarke, Neil Harris, Josh Grace, and Julie Dormand.

You can see all their shots (and enrol for Creative School or Suit School) at www.agencyschool.adma.com.au

This year, Wunderman will also offer a paid internship to one graduate of Creative School and one graduate of Suit School.

A huge morning tea

Our Melbourne office took part in Australia's Biggest Morning Tea this morning. This fantastic charitable event raises much needed funds to help people with cancer.

What made this morning's tea so special was that many of the Wundercrew baked up a storm the night before to provide us with lots of yummy treats. And we do mean lots.

Just seconds after the photo was taken a large plate of bacon sandwiches and a tray of bruschetta arrived. Best of all the little teapot was chock full of cash that we raised for the Cancer Council.

Big shoes filled

We recently had a young fella do work experience in our Melbourne office. Matt Devine is his name and he made such an impression on us we've asked him to join our team.

At the moment we're trying to dream up a nickname for him, because he is seriously tall. So tall in fact he has to duck his head whenever he goes into the kitchen!

With all that height comes a problem we never dreamt of - buying shoes. In fact, as the article above shows, Matt has had so much trouble finding footwear Adidas had to step in and help him.

Click the pic to enlarge, then read full story.

Shanghai Surprise

One of our favourite Wunderkids left us on Friday. Well kinda. Jon Paul has taken up the opportunity to be Digital Creative Director for the Asia Pacific Ford business, based at Wunderman in Shanghai.

JPJ as he is fondly known started his Wunderman career at our office in Sydney, and eventually ended up several years later in our Melbourne office.

Seen here modelling the seriously snazzy manbag we got him as part of his going away present, JP will be much missed. Although we'll obviously be chatting to him about Ford work on a very regular basis.

Are you sure it's a car?

Our sister company Burrows in the UK does some incredible 3D work. In fact many of the cars you see in ads and on websites are not cars at all - they're 3D models and animations created by Burrows. They've done some great work, particularly for our client Ford, as this video shows.

Next generation thinking

Stan and Stoddy attended the AG-Ideas Business breakfast yesterday. It's the centrepiece of a week long celebration of design and creativity.

One of the highlights, according to our boys, was a display of ideas created during a workshop session with school kids. These were on display in the auditorium for every one to see and luckily for us Stan snapped a few to share on the blog.


How many of these children go onto a career in creativity remains to be seen, but when looking at these photos try and keep this quote from U. LeGuin in mind:

"The creative adult is the child who survived."

A wunderful wedding

Although we have no less than four people called Matt working at Wundermelbs we don't have anyone called William or Kate. Which makes you wonder why the Melbourne office spent Friday afternoon celebrating the wedding of Wills & Kate.


As you can see the wedding celebrations pulled quite a crowd. who wined and dined on a yummy range of Royal Wedding themed treats and snacks.

Leading the celebrations were fresh of the boat Matt Morgan and motherland born and bred Lisa O'Brien, who somehow managed to drag Vegemite lover and staunch republican Jules into their commemorative photo.

Wigs of Wunder

The 162 Collins St building was rocking to the sounds of Poison this morning as the kids from creative rocked the eighties to the max. New copywriter Tash and her deskmate Evan got into the groove as of course did Stoddy and Dan.


Not to be outdone by the enthusiasm of the kids, Jon Paul and Stan also took a moment to revisit their youth.

Day On The Green

April Fools day today but there was no joking when it came to Wunderman Melbourne's Day On The Green.


After a very busy week at work the Wundercrew hopped onto the number 96 tram and headed to the idyllic Middle Park Bowls Club for some serious fun in the late afternoon sun.


Stoddy took his bowls very seriously as did the members of his rather weirdly named team The Shuttlecocks.


A great time was had by all as you can probably imagine. Special thanks to all those involved in organising the event and feeding the hungry bowlers with tasty BBQ treats.

Celebrations Galore

Wunderman Sydney celebrated several birthdays (MD Jo Lloyd, Heidi Robinson and Bec Williams) with scrumptious cupcakes.

And Wunderman Australia celebrated a big pitch win with the two offices joining forces in a truly national team. The client can only be called 'they that cannot be named', but they're damn cooler than Voldemort. And a lot more fun. Well done all.

Wunderman ♥ Christchurch

Our Kiwi art director Matt Stoddart made a pilgrimage to Christchurch a week or so before the calamitous earthquake that totally decimated his home town.

So as you can imagine the Wunderkids were keen to pitch in a few dollars to help the people of Christchurch. Luckily Matt knew of a fantastic charitable cause - NZ♡CHCH.

Seen here modeling their new NZ♡CHCH t-shirts are Mario, Matt and Evan. Quite fetching dont't you think? The shirts that is, not the boys!

Locust alert

Nothing like a locust on the windowsill to get the whole office talking!

St Patricks Day

It's St Patrick's Day and of course the Wunderkids joined in all the Emerald Isle fun. Seen here are Vic, Lisa and Libby with a tray of freshly created and fabulously wobbly Irish jellies.


What better way to follow up a delicious jelly than with a pint of Ireland's greatest gift to the world - Guinness.


Our favourite intern JoJo had never had Guinness before, but that didn't seem to stop her from downing a glass or two. Cheers everyone!

Anyone seen Nicole?

Our Melbourne Operations Manager Nicole headed off to the slopes of Europe a few weeks ago. She's been keeping us up to date with her adventures via her Aussie Skier blog.

This particular video she posted is our favourite - all that powder, all that space. In fact it makes skiing at Mt Buller look just a little sad. Don't you think?

New Wunderbub

Wunderman Sydney welcomes a new addition to the extended family. Brent Clarke, Head of Digital, and his wife Vitalba, gave birth to daughter Ilaria at 5:50pm on Saturday 12 March. A surprise to both mum and dad, 2.69kg Ilaria was busting to get into the wide world three weeks earlier than expected.


Mother and baby are the picture of health. As expected, Brent is wandering around the office in a daze.

Congratulations to the Clarke family from everyone at Wunderman.

Country in the city

The City Square is just around the corner from our Melbourne office. It pretty much consists of a few square metres of grass and a hell of a lot of dull beige gravel. At least it normally does.

This week as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival the square has been transformed into a central city fruit and vegie patch. If only it could be this lovely all the time.

Bike-Cam

A little bit of fun in the country on a postie bike fitted with the Bike-Cam Xtreme 2000 Plus (a mini video camera on a stick) using MaxiPro Ultra C'nect (gaffer tape).

Farewell Rabbit

After about 6 years, James Britt aka Rabbit is leaving Wunderman Sydney. He's decided to take his digital developing skills into the big bad world of freelance to become a self-made man. We wish Rabbit well and know we'll see him again in the future.

Rabbit-cam:

Commute sur mer

Paolo Meucci, Senior Art Director of the Sydney office, lives on Scotland Island. Yes, he lives on a freaking island. It's situated in the idyllic waterways North of Sydney at Pittwater, NSW. Surrounded by national park and native Australian bushland, Scotland Island is a small, self-contained community of only 640 residents. There are no bridges out to the island, no shops or cafés, and only a handful of cars.

This means, every morning after getting his kids out of bed and helping his wife begin the chore of feeding them, Paolo walks down to the jetty, hops in his dinghy and motors across the water to the mainland where his scooter waits to make the 36km ride into the city.

Here's how Paolo's morning begins:


Not a lot happens in the video, but it's nice and has inspired us to start video-documenting lots of different aspects of our Wunderpeeps.

David Blaine's record for holding his breath

This is an interesting talk David Blaine gave at TedMed (a subsidiary of the world famous Ted talks). For those living under a rock, David Blaine is the magician who also performs feats of endurance such as freezing himself in a block of ice for 2 days and living in a glass box suspended under London's Tower Bridge without food for 44 days. While many are detractors or disbelievers in Blaine's feats of endurance (probably due to the association with his title of 'magician'), in this talk given to a room full of people from the medical profession, Blaine explains the process of how he actually achieves these feats.

It's 20mins, but worth the watch. While he doesn't start out as the best speaker you're likely to hear, he certainly builds up into a rousing seminar on dedication, perseverance and public relations.