99%

Wunderman Australia was so close to being crowned the Direct Agency of the Year 2010 at last night's AdNews Awards. Unfortunately, the trophy went to Clemenger Melbourne.

It was such a hotly contested category that the judges deemed it necessary to award Wunderman a rare 'Highly Commended'. Which means we're 99% of the way toward being the best Direct Agency in the country.

We congratulate Clems on pipping us at the post. We'll take the crown for 2011.

Surfin' Frenchie

Augustin Neuve-Eglise, one of our resident Frenchman and Account Directors, obviously didn't come to Australia for the work. He's one of those Europeans who take a trip to our sunburnt country, take up surfing, get sunburnt, and decide to live here as soon as they see their first kangaroo.

He uses a nifty little video camera to capture his exploits. Here's one such vid he's made:


Easter Surf with GoPro from aneuve on Vimeo.

Love is in the air

Valentine's Day at Wunderman Melbourne was kick started by a very clever QR Code campaign by resident coding whizz Brett. These curious codes were located throughout the building, giving clues to the location of a tasty bowl of chocky treats.

There was plenty of love in the air throughout the day, with most of the Wunderkids managing to sneek little gifts of love onto the desks of their colleagues.

Out of Africa

Wunderman Sydney has received a postcard from Natalie Millhouse (nee Enright), our former copywriter extraordinaire. She's fresh back from her extended African honeymoon and settling into married life in Newie (Newcastle).


She writes:
"Dear Matt and the Whole Creative Team,
Fresh off the plane from our honeymoon and suitably loved-up, we'd finally like to formally thank you all for the awesome gift. Hopefully in our future together we'll have plenty of reasons and opportunities to have a bottle of bubbly chilling in it. So, with all the appreciation we can muster – THANK YOU!!
Love, Natalie & Michael Millhouse
xx

P.S. The honeymoon was spectacular. We trekked with gorillas, rafter the Nile, snorkelled off Zanzibar, walked with lions, swam in the Devil's Pool and so much more. Brilliant!!"

The postcard is on the fridge.

The Amazing Race

It began with a harmless enough conversation in the office of Wunderman Sydney. New Copywriter Ben Peppernell jogs to the new offices from Balmain. Thomas Tearle, Digital Strategist and New Business Lead, cycles the same route. Claims were made about how long it takes each man to commute that distance by human-power. Ben could run it in 32 minutes. Tom could pedal it in 22.

The challenge was set. The runner, with a 10 minute head start, against the cyclist.

For the more astute observers, it was a race of ginger proportions. Bets were placed and everyone had their theories on the outcome.

Ben hit the pavement at 6pm with a cheering crowd to send him off. After a quick mechanical check and tyre pump due to attempted sabotage, Tom pedaled off just 10 minutes later, raced across busy William Street and through a major intersection (possibly against the red light, but who could tell against such a speeding blur).

This morning we have the result.

At about 6:25, Tom pedaled his ass up the final hill on Victoria Road, Balmain, and from the top could see Ben ahead at the bottom, pounding the pavement with long strides, headed for the finish line. Tom's legs pumped like never before and he powered down the hill, chasing down Ben. The runner crossed the line and threw his fists in the air like Rocky Balboa, then turned just in time to see the cyclist only 5 metres behind careening down on him. Too late.

Ben was victorious. Man against machine and man prevailed.

Our resident blogger

Our Melbourne creative director Stanley Johnson is something of an expert on blogs and blogging. He writes a regular column about the blogosphere for Marketing magazine, and his popular BrandDNA blog is always a source of news and opinion on the industry.

What we didn't realise is just high highly regarded Stan's BrandDNA blog is.

You see we just found out it was included in a list of the Top 50 Marketing Blogs for 2011, compiled by noted entrepreneur and writer Evan Carmicheal. The list includes the likes of Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott and Hugh Macleod.

Stan was a bit embarrassed when we spoke to him about the accolade. Although he still managed to somehow let slip that this was in fact the third year in a row that his blog had made the list!

To visit BrandDNA click here. To see the Top 50 click here.