A little bit of tongue

Written on September 24th, 2009 bySassi Sam in Lifestyle

You’re either a fan of Jonathan Pease (or JP as he’s known) or not but whatever side of the fence you sit on you have to give him kudos for what he’s achieved. I’ve never met JP but we’ve communicated many times online, I even sent him some of my Girlie Drama Jewellery for this year’s Australia’s Next Top Model. He’s a handsome devil and he looks very fashionably glamboyant in the front row at fashion shows with his bevy of modules on hand … (I can attest this ’cause I’ve seen him albeit not from the front row myself).

JP_tongue(s)

JP is well known for his work as the “Model Maker” on hit TV series Australia’s Next Top Model but this week JP is launching a different type of model; a marketing agency that Pease himself identifies as “Australia’s Next Top Agency” – I like his confidence!

Jonathan Pease

The company is called Tongue which they say signals the kind of ideas they’re having for clients… ideas and campaigns that get people talking.

Tongue_logo

“Tongue is the agency model of the future. We’re an ideas company with digital capabilities as our backbone and heritage. Most of our ideas will have a digital element but will also incorporate anything from a TV ad to an event to a short film to a piece of internal communications,” says JP.

JP is Executive Ideas Director and Managing Partner of Tongue with three other Managing Partners – John Du Vernet, Tim Sexton and Lyndon Hale – I don’t know these other guys so can’t comment but I can’t imagine JP shacking up with any dodo’s.

tongue_laughing(s)

So why is this important Girlie Gossip I hear you ask? Well I have a little bee in my bonnet with Australia and our very slow uptake and understanding of the importance and power of online blogging platforms. Us bloggers are feeling very unloved here because our marketers and advertisers just don’t ‘get’ us, and they need to giddy up and catch up with the rest of the world, I personally have been patient for 3.5 years now and I’m running out of said patience. PR’s are finally catching on but unfortunately free product doesn’t pay our bills not that we’re not grateful we really are.

So I am very hopeful that JP, who is a master in his field and very creative, has been working in the marketing field for the past 14 years, seven of which were spent in New York working for agency powerhouse BBDO, his extensive connections within the fashion industry, will be my star in the making for us online advocates who are extremely passionate but unloved and start conversations with us and push Australia forward in the online space in a creative way.

You can check out their site at www.tongue.com.au.

Love,
Sassi
Your Pop Culture Gossip Girl

Tags: Australia’s Next Top Model, Fashion, John Du Vernet, Jonathan Pease, Lifestyle, Lyndon Hale, models, Tim Sexton, Tongue, Tongue Agency

http://www.mediascope.com.au Denise Shrivell – MediaScope
Hi Sass
I thought you may like to know about a new resource entering the market in November which will hopefully go some way to address the issue you raise and help you and your fellow bloggers reach advertisers and marketers.
MediaScope will connect advertisers (of all sizes, agency, direct etc) with digital and traditional advertising opportunities in niche, BTL, emerging and independent platforms. Advertisers will search listings in the MediaScope directory by their key buying criteria – one of the media channel categories will be for ‘blogs’.
While MediaScope will help you highlight your blog to advertisers, I also agree with some of the comments in this thread about ensuring your blog meets the needs of advertisers and sponsors through considerations such as traffic levels, available ad sizes and executions, your target market, USP etc…….the list goes on…….
MediaScope will launch to market in November – there is a brief video intro and further details at http://www.mediascope.com.au
Wishing you all the best
Cheers – Denise
http://www.tomkelshaw.com Tom Kelshaw
@Peter has some good suggestions, and I think the best is his last: sell yourself.
Traditional media outlets have legions of sales staff and account managers hassling advertisers (via media buyers) for their money. How many advertisers (that you’d love to work with) have you directly approached? Numerous phone calls. Flirty lunches. Introductory deals. Ready-made packages consisting of reviews, display, cross-promotion and keyword-rich inbound links to my new campaign pages from your old, high-PR pages/posts.
Blogging for money isn’t just about blogging, it’s also about pimping. Maybe some bloggers haven’t learned to do both yet?
I understand your post was a general tract and not a specific call-to-arms or even request for advertiser attention, and I definitely agree with you there. ven the hottest, sexiest, most vocally promising “digital agencies” sometimes (most times?) just don’t understand how to work with blogs.
Peter
Sassi, what is it that US blogger’s are getting that you aren’t? Surely you dont think they are rolling in cash? The average CPM in the US is <$10 for blogs such as yours and the lucky ones only get that off the back of greedy ad networks like glam media that take up to 50% commissions. On 100K page impressions for a small blog thats $500 a month!
I dont think Mr Pease will be able to help you generate revenue. Perhaps look within instead. Start by throwing up some IAB size banners (so when someone comes knocking with corporate $$ you have the right placements to get on the plan) and get rid of the hunderds of buttons so that advertisers SOV is greater than 5%.
Work harder to create a brand that has a clear proposition that brands would want their banners on (your name with lots of girly pinkness aint doing it) and become a master at traffic generation by living and breathing SEO and Social Media beyond a facebook group or fan page.
Then hire a sales person to call JP 17 times before he picks up the phone and agrees to a meeting to then tell you they normally do CPC campaigns and high reach activity with the top 5.
Ad dollars do not come on a silver platter. You need to do alot more than write blogs to get it.
Good luck
http://thegit.com.au Gordon Whitehead
I personally don’t really care about the new agency. Its just another company trying to capitalise on a business opportunity…that is what businesses do.
But then again, ideas are like a#@&eholes, everyones got one:)
Good lucky to the people at Tongue, but please fix your seo. Maybe switch to a blogging platform.
Kirsty
Here Here Sassi! Don’t even get me started on the state of Australia’s online retail websites. When it comes to online Australia needs to catch up with the rest of the world!
http://likeomg.org heather ann snodgrass
Hey Sam –
Having worked in the US in online editorial development and now here in Australia agency-side, I feel your pain. Four years ago we were going through the same growing pains, trying to convince marketers and advertisers that blogs and online pubs were, in fact, a worthwhile avenue for them to participate in, and now I’m seeing the same thing happen here. It takes time, and as I’m sure you know, there’s a million hurdles to jump over before something actually gains traction.
It’s a bit of a everyone wants to be a maverick, but not everyone has the balls. the great thing is, though, is that Australia seems to be a lot faster on the uptake these days, so I’d venture to say you’ll see more of this marketer-blogger type relationship you crave becoming more commonplace sooner than you think.
H
http://www.sassisam.com Sassi Sam
Hi Boppo – of course my assertions are very generic, my blog is not about making a stand that’s not my audience. I come from a media/marketing background so I do have an idea of what I’m talking about, I’ve been immersed in the blogging world for a couple of years now and I am no has-been but I am definitely no expert. I’m not saying that I have to be paid for my blogging, I have had a business that brings in money for 3.5 years outside of blogging. I’m just voicing my frustrations (along with my fellow bloggers) that we are ‘challenged’ why the US marketers/advertisers can successfully incorporate and engage with bloggers and ours can’t. I’m very brand oriented so for me it’s about engaging with other brands and collaborating together. It’s not a random expectation that I should just get paid for my efforts, I want to collaborate and build a creative and fun online destination.
Cheers
Sam
PS – For the record, I am a strong advocate of transparency.
Geared
RIght on Boppo…. also bloggers “don’t get” how to leverage their relationships with brands/agencies either. Perhaps you should begin looking at why you should be paid and what for first for writing what is essentialy a social tool , rather than expecting it purely because you have a following….
Boppo
Slight problem with your assertions..the quality of blogging is just too varied. Too many blogegrs out there and after 3.5 years you’ve probably come and gone. I Blog therefore I get paid? You’d want to have a bit more substance before people will pay dollars and cents.
Reality Check
Hmm, Tongue… that would be the agency that was caught out astroturfing on Mumbrella, right?
http://mumbrella.com.au/tongue-in-cheek-9522#comment-16032
Discretion prevents me from pointing out how much these guys seem to be just another bunch of digital tryhards who don’t get social media. Seriously, with the exception of Pease, how old do those guys look?
Fraser Thomson
Hopefully JP and everyone at his agency has found out what an IP address is and that you can’t whitewash blogs with anonymous comments – see last weeks mumbrella blog on Tongue.
Otherwise they will always be known as digital muppets.
Pingback: Agencies don’t understand blogs - mUmBRELLA
http://www.stuffthatibought.com StuffGirl
I completely agree that marketers and PR don’t seem to get bloggers – there was a a great discussion about it yesterday on mUmbrella, centreing around the fact that the old guard can’t see a physical return on investment with online like they can with print. Hopefully JP will help change the opinions – fingers crossed!
http://laurelpapworth.com Laurel Papworth
aren’t at least two of that agency cowboys that were involved in unethical “viral” social networking marketing? i.e. Man with a Jacket from Naked agency?
“us bloggers” don’t need ‘em hon