version3.0 » Work

What next?

duncan — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:47:17 +0000

After an incredible 3 (which turned into 6) months helping to get &some up and running I am now on the look out for my next adventure. I had the pleasure on working with the team to define and establish the brand, get a few awesome projects under our belt, as well as providing a dash of hype (including a piece on TV3′s Nightline in which I embraced my inner computer geek talking about the Kinect hacking we were up to).

So now I am officially on the look out for a new way for me to fill my time, preferably in an in interesting and meaningful way. Do you have something in mind? Know someone looking for a kick ass digital & brand strategist? I would love to hear from you – duncan at version3 dot co dot nz.

In the mean time I am really enjoying having some time to sample a plethora of Auckland beaches while the temperature allows, get properly fit again, and devote countless hours to spec’ing out my new dream mountain bike. Maybe I’ll even figure out what this blog is supposed to be about.

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&some new adventures

duncan — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:39:25 +0000

After nearly six amazing years here at Orcon I am off on a new adventure come the end of September. I am off to join Maya, Trent & Steve at the super awesome &some.

I started at Orcon right out of university as the marketing assistant, effectively establishing the marketing team here. It was an amazing oppourtunity and one that I will always be incredible thankful to Seeby Woodhouse for. In the six years since then Orcon has been through some massive change, growing from about 20 staff to almost 200, being acquired by Kordia, and increasing revenue several-fold. In that time I have been through 4 different roles and have had the chance to be involved with and run some incredible projects, and work with some really talented people, particularly in the last 2 years.

A few of the brightest highlights have been:

Developing and implementing a brand strategy that has seen Orcon establish a defensible niche within the New Zealand telecommunications market
New Zealand & Iggy Pop, Together Incredible: Working with the godfather of punk himself on what seemed to a lot of people like a crazy project, pulling it off in style and taking home a shed load of metal (a record 9 Axis awards including New Zealand’s most creative business, and of course our Caanes Grand Prix) and even getting a mention in Vanity Fair
The PurpleSpheres project: 8 Kiwi & Australian digital artists (and various special guests) put in a house for a week with a brief to create cool shit. I was lucky enough to tag along for the ride.
Being invited to some incredible events and having some fantastic conversations with some of the coolest and smartest people in NZ
Building a great base of passionate Orcon fans
Working with some super talented people

I have been doing a little bit of reminiscing, looking back through old photos and projects. Things sure have changed from these early days:

There are a few people that I would like to really thank for helping me out, teaching me a huge amount, making my life easier, and just generally making the last six years awesome. Can’t give these guys big enough ups:

A couple of great bosses that I had over the years: Larrie Moore & David Joyce, who both taught me a lot (probably more than each of them realise)
Charlotte Speed, Taryn Hamilton & the rest of the marketing team that have been so great to work with over the last couple of years
Michael Redwood & the crew at Special Group
Quentin Reade & the crew at Pead PR
Neil Gaught who is now off in London at Gaught Conlon
And of course Scott Bartlett for believing in me and backing me in my role.

There are a whole lot of other people who have contributed in varied and important ways, but I don’t want this post to go on forever, I will save that for my boozy leaving speech.

It is going to be tough to say goodbye to something that I have invested so much of myself in, but at the same time I am really really excited about what I am going to get up to with the crew at &some. They are an amazingly passionate and intimidatingly talented crew, and together we have got some really big ideas, and some huge plans. No doubt I will be sharing some of them with you over the coming months.

Right now my biggest concern is being the only Kiwi working with a Glaswegian and two Australians.

(if you want a sneak peek at what &some have been up to check out the &some YouTube channel)

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You can’t please everyone

duncan — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:18:05 +0000

The past few weeks have been INSANE. I have been pulling huge hours to get our brand new, kick ass Orcon/Play Live WIth Iggy campaign up and running (going to write a proper post with a bit of ‘behind the scenes’ on this when I have a chance to breathe). We launched last night, and my inbox has been flooded with messages from all kinds of people almost unanimously saying how much they love it.

I say ‘almost’ because there was one exception. This is the email that my mum sent:

Subject: hullo

Hi
What on earth is this Iggy Pop thing about?
It’s awful……sorry…..get rid of it as soon as you can! …or tell me
why this is a good idea.
Cheers
mum

I love you mum, you make me laugh. I promise I will explain why this is a good idea, and hopefully one day I will do something that you do like.

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Customers or Fans?

duncan — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:46:15 +0000

Is your brand trying to attract customers, or build a fan base?

Customers are fickle. Fans are loyal (so long as you reward their loyalty).
Customers don’t forgive you. Fans do (so long as you make it up to them of course).
Customers have to be acquired, one by one. Fans recruit more fans.
Customers are suspicious, and take everything with a grain of salt. Fans trust you, and will hear you out.
Customers will rush to join the angry mob. Fans will defend you, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Of course all of this only happens if you take care of your fans. And when they can do all this for you, why wouldn’t you?

Awesome photo courtesy of notsogoodphotogaphy on flickr

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What I am doing this week…

duncan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:57:44 +0000

So, this week I am hanging out in a house with some geeks/designers/coders/thinkers from around NZ and the world who are all here to make stuff.

What’s it in aid of? Why building Orcon’s brand of course.

Fun times ahoy!

Check out the action at www.purplespheres.co.nz.