McCann Erickson has been in Australia for 50 years. There’s a supplement in Adnews this week if you’d like to read about the agency’s history. It covers famous campaigns such as ‘It’s Time’ for Labor, Louie the Fly, Coca Cola’s Sky Surfers and hints at the direction we are taking. Pick up a copy for a read.
However, what I’m most excited about is a bit of fun we’re going to have online this week. We’re calling it an Internet Party – and you’re all invited.
What we’re doing
At 8.50am Monday 23rd November, our new McCann website will go live (screenshot above). Then at 50 minutes past the hour throughout the workday, new content created by our people in Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney will go live. Their brief was simply to have fun with ‘50′. Some people have written lists, some have video’d stuff.
No content – including the About Us, Work and People stuff – will be hosted on the site. It’s all hosted in places like Behance, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, Facebook and so on.
We have an internal incentive for the bit of content that gets viewed the most.
It’s a bit of a social experiment that – while it’s supposed to be fun – is primarily about living what we preach. ‘Doing’ is the only way to achieve real change – not talking. So, through the project we’re hoping people get to experience the power – or perhaps lack of – of their own personal networks, the role content plays in social and search, the unpredictability of being online, how being transparent and authentic is not to be feared, and so on.
What’s in it for you?
1. Money
We have fifty $50 bills to give away to the first 50 people (1 note each) who make something constructive in the honour of 50 (ie in the spirit of what we’re doing), post it online and let us know – either via a comment on this blog, via our Facebook page or via our Twitter account, @mccanntweets.
2. Education
We’re also running a Summer Seminar Series where we’re inviting sales, marketing and C-Level types into the 4 McCann offices around Australia and New Zealand for practical and useful education. We’re asking people to help us shape the content of the sessions.
What do you think?
What do you think about the idea? If you like it, please tweet, email or Facebook the link to someone: www.mccann.com.au. Remember, this is about fun and action – not high-ground ‘my idea is bigger than yours’ sort of stuff.
Happy Anniversary, McCann!
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