James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine

When you run your own business, some days are sooooo much better than others.

Most of us business owners seem to spend such an inordinate amount of time putting out spot fires, resolving unforeseen dilemmas and chasing forever imminent deadlines that it’s sometimes hard to remember the reasons we went into business in the first place.

That’s why, when something good and unexpected happens, life’s all the sweeter for it.

Today is one of those ’sweet’ days.

I am pleased to announce two developments that make me smile; firstly, at the ingenuity of a company that epitomises innovation and, secondly, at the growing reputation and influence of our own Anthill (and you, our proverbial tenants).

Development number one… Google ingenuity taps Australia.

Google understands that Australian business owners think differently from their friends over the pond.

We are tech-savvy but cynical. We are ambitious but largely risk averse (sadly). We rely perhaps too heavily on personal connections and because of that we build most our businesses using word-of-mouth as our primary marketing channel.

Whether this is good news or not, it nevertheless places Australian business owners in an unusual position. A unique position, in fact.

We offer the perfect commercial landscape for a ‘road test’. As Frank Sinatra once declared, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.”

Could this mean that Australia is the new New York?

Either way, Google has developed a new e-learning tool, specifically for the Australian market, called ‘10 Steps to Promote your Business Online’.

And guess what? Anthill readers are getting the chance to road test it before anywhere else!

Development number two… Anthill’s readers are spreadin’ the news.

If Australia is the new New York, I can only assume that Anthill readers must be the new ‘Mad Men’, Madison Avenue’s famous (and infamous) marketing elite, known to ignite a global inferno of jibber-jabber at the drop of a designer cigarette.

Why? Because Anthill readers are erudite, articulate, educated, genuinely curious and driven by the process of creation (and hopefully not immune to flattery).

Seriously, you guys and gals represent Australia’s forward-thinking elite.

As such, we invite you to click here and test this new tool before anyone else.

The really good news is that this new tool was designed to help SMEs wrap their heads around online marketing and get started with a marketing plan, which first and foremost starts with search marketing.

It was developed by Google with an educational aim of helping SMEs understand the online space, whomever they might use to manage their online marketing and wherever they decide to implement their pay-per-click strategy.

By testing this tool, we also hope that you might just learn a thing or two about your business and its online marketing strategy in the process.

If, like ol’ blue eyes, you ‘want to be a part of it’ and shape a new business tool that has been missing in the Australian SME population for years (including the option to provide comments and constructive feedback to Google), click here.

First chance to trial. A new tool from Google for Australian businesses. And the opportunity to reward our loyal readers.

Now that’s what I call a good day in business.

Once you’ve ‘road-tested’ this new online learning tool, you can provide your feedback by completing our three-question survey (click here).

James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine

The high number of phone calls and text messages sent my way in the early hours of this morning had me quite panicked.

What had possibly gone wrong in the world that had people texting me before breakfast?

Well, it seems that Anthill lovers (or maybe just ant lovers) Australia wide felt that I should be made aware of BRW’s foray into ant-related visual metaphors.

Despite the aggrieved tone of some of the emails sent my way, I don’t think anyone can blame BRW for using a compelling image (and, we must admit, common metaphor).

In answer to the most common question…

I don’t think it suggests that BRW is looking for ways to emulate Anthill, even if the image does ever-so-slightly echo the Anthill brand. (It’s a very faint echo in a very long tunnel.)

Nevertheless, thanks to all those people who felt passionate enough to touch base.

We love you ’cause you care.

James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine

Not so long ago, I was visiting a fairly mainstream website (owned by one of Australia’s larger media companies) when a banner ad popped up with an unexpected proposition… “Would I like a Hummer?”

Despite my moderate take on most things, I was surprised.

We’ve all been made lurid offers at one time or another while trawling the never-ending abyss of expressive freedom that is the World Wide Web. But I never expected this from one of the mainstream players.

Until I realised that the puerile part of my brain (that bit that makes me giggle when I hear the word ‘Titmouse’ and has me work in ever creative ways to get my friends from New Zealand to say the word ‘Six’) had led me astray.

Of course, this is exactly what the advertisement had intended.

Because, despite the sexual double-entrendre, the advertisement was, in fact, for something less exciting. It was for a service as dull and completely asexual as financial lending.

Yup, a Hummer is a very large American Four-Wheel-Drive and the business behind the advertisement is called, I kid you not, Debbie Does Carloans, fronted by a website reminiscent of that staple of yesteryear, the old auto-shop calendar (women draped over cars, holding various odd mechanical apparatus, with expressions suggesting that life could never be better).

I’ve included the link above because I’m sure that you’re mature enough to decide whether you want to click through or not.

Plus…

I’m conflicted.

Despite my initial surprise (and obvious curiosity) and even though I was honestly amazed that this sort of blatantly sex-centric advertising still exists (I thought John Singleton had retired?), I can also see the merits of the marketing angle.

The brains behind Debbie Does Carloans clearly knew what they were doing.

In short, they identified a demographic (young, male rev-heads), then created a product specifically designed to appeal to that demographic. Further, the entire concept is based on a history of sexual marketing that brings another dimension to the campaign.

It reeks of parody, with a touch of retro (two powerful tools strong enough to soften even the hardest of cynics).

And, of course, that makes me want to write about it (despite the possible inference that I am cheapening the Anthill brand by leading this blog and our weekly email newsletter with the risqué headline above).

More than one Anthill author has already made the observation that the sex industry is one of the most powerful litmus tests of where technology and business is heading.

We’ve all heard that Gutenberg’s printing press was quickly pressed into service by pornographers, after he failed to make a commercial go of it, assisting massive widespread adoption of the device.

It’s also been suggested that the battle between Betamax and VHS was won as a result of the porn industry’s wide adoption of the cheaper format, VHS.

And finally, the decision by Toshiba to cease production of HD-DVD earlier this year was apparently partly influenced by the fact that Sony’s Blu-Ray alternative has greater disc capacity and, therefore, allows more camera angles, which is of greater appeal to a certain high-volume category of viewing customer.

Yet, the question remains…

Was my initial reaction prudish or justified? While this sort of advertising is blatantly sexual, is it gratuitous? Or more to the point, is this the sort of information Anthill should be writing about?

James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine

If you haven’t guessed already, we love to write about cheeky and provocative companies. But we rarely get the opportunity to talk about our own corporate shenanigans, successful or otherwise.

Today is one of those rare, self-indulgent occasions.

In early February, with news that Australia’s oldest circulating business magazine would be closing after 127 years, we released an email with the eyeball-grabbing title, ‘Who wants to help Anthill buy The Bulletin?’

And wowee! Did we get people talking.

The flood of emails, blog comments and phone calls generated by our rally-to-arms not only opened our eyes to the hidden popularity of The Bulletin (gotta love the loyalty of magazine readers). But it only showed us the faith you, our readers, have in Anthill. To check out the blog comments, click here (bless you all).

So, was it really our intention to buy The Bulletin?

Not in our wildest dreams. (Although, our ‘play’ did give rise to some pretty vivid dreams in the months following.)

The purpose of the email was to grab the collective collar of the Australian magazine industry, give it a good, hardy shake and make known the obvious: We are here and we are here to stay (cue Eye of the Tiger on your cassette tape now).

And what were the outcomes of this chest-beating exercise?

Firstly, the story was picked up by the daily papers and then the industry rags. To read our favourite (’tongue-in-cheek’) item of media coverage, click here. The story was circulated through various blogs and electronic channels, including the prestigious Walkley Awards membership newsletter. It also generated record traffic levels on our website (always good for our number crunchers).

But did all the kerfuffle motivate the powers that be at ACP, owners of this now defunct magazine institution, to pick up the blower and give us a call?

At this point, I’ll defer to my circumspect response when approached by Australia’s leading source of political gossip and corporate skulduggery, Crikey.com.

“No comment.”

Am I averting a dangerous breach of some carefully crafted non-disclosure agreement or am I simply adding fuel to the fire of controversy? (Heh heh.) Only time will tell.

In the short-term, we hope our subscribers got a giggle (at least a surprise) when they received our current edition and that we didn’t confuse too many news agency proprietors with our own little attempt to ‘revive The Bulletin’.

The image below is currently available as the reverse cover of our Apr/May edition…

…The Bullantin (Australia’s leading source of Ant-related news).

Click here (or the image) to read the headlines.

James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine (wearing his publisher’s hat)

We like to think that we know a thing or two about business magazines. (We read a lot!)

I recently entered a heated debate about magazine advertising - What to look for, what works, what doesn’t.

Of course, you’ve got to get the fundamentals right - target audience, frequency and reach - but effective print advertising is about more than that. It’s about engagement - connecting with passionate readers.

After chatting with the Anthill team, we’ve devised some of our own unscientific and highly biased tips for evaluating print advertising options.

Be advised, the comments below are highly biased.

But they do honestly reflect how we see the world and our industry.

Step One: Read the Editor’s Note.

This is the bit at the front of the magazine where the editor (at Anthill, that would be me) waxes lyrical about the goings on at the magazine. If the Editor’s Note puts you to sleep or, worse, simply outlines what to expect in the current issue, our advice is simple. Run! The editor’s opinions and outlook should reflect the personality of the magazine.

Firstly, if the Editor’s Note bores you, the rest of the magazine will bore you also. And unless the magazine is a highly specialised B2B title (ie. Hammers & Spanners Quarterly), this is bad news for advertisers. Why? Advertisers should be seeking engaged readers, dummy! 

Secondly, if the Editor’s Note seems half-hearted (or doesn’t have a name attached to it), it’s a safe bet that he/she doesn’t love the magazine. Yes, you heard me correctly. Like any evolving organism, magazines need love to survive. I think that you’re probably already familiar with my attitude and approach, so I won’t go on. Instead, see my comments below about ‘community’ (Step Three).

Step Two: Check to see whether photos and illustrations have attributions.

This is a more general observation that we make time and time again when checking out other magazines - from business to ballet. In short, do the photos or illustrations in the magazine say who is responsible for the artwork? Is someone being credited for their creativity and talent? If not, then there are two possibilities (two assumptions) that we think are reasonable.

The first possibility is that the editor doesn’t love the magazine or he/she doesn’t respect the staff and contributors. (I don’t know which is worse.) Magazines are a team effort. Staff and contributors should share the credit (or the criticism when things don’t go quite as planned).

The second and more likely posibility is that the photos and illustrations are ’stock’ (from a photo-library). Sometimes ’stock’ artwork does offer the most creative solution (we use it occasionally). But, in most cases, it is used as a short-cut, at the expense of local talent.

Most publishers guilty of this crime will claim that the commission of new artwork is prohibitively expensive (we’ve never found that to be the case). But if the budget is still too tight, social networking sites like Flickr offer a great pool of untapped talent just looking for a ‘big break’.

In our view, a lack of attribution signals lazy publishing (like clip-art in a PowerPoint presentation). Again, this signals a lack of love, which is bad news all round.

Step Three: Check out the magazine’s website.

I’m about to expose possibly the greatest myth that surrounds the business of magazine publishing: Business magazines are purchased as an ‘information resource’.

This was certainly true twenty years ago, when the alternatives were few and far between. But today, unless the magazine is, once again, a highly specialised B2B title (ie. Underwater Welders Monthly), you’ll find that most successful over-the-counter business magazines are picked up as a ‘lifestyle product’.

This is because magazine readers, like all consumers, respond to products that reflect their own sense of identity (or an identity that they aspire to adopt). That’s why successful magazines can easily evolve into communities of like-minded people.

In short, a magazine without an effective online community, in our opinion, suggests one of two things - the creation of the online community is outside the financial reach of the publisher (which is hard to believe nowadays, since a wordpress blog can be built from a bedroom in minutes) or the publisher is concerned that if he he/she builds it, they might not come.

If a business magazine doesn’t have a suitably advanced online community, our sad assumption is that the print magazine is either purchased out of obligation or is not purchased at all (provided to its target audience free of charge). In which case, the publisher should justifiably fear the launch of a website, likely to be populated only by ‘tumbleweeds’ and drifters, like the proverbial ghost town.

Of course, if you want to check out the effectiveness of a business magazine’s website, or any website for that matter, there are a few online tools. The best free one that we are aware of is… http://siteanalytics.compete.com/

In summary…

Successful advertising is about engagement. And it is impossible to engage with uninterested readers. In short, it’s not hard to determine whether a magazine’s readers are passionate or apathetic. And that’s our unscientific and highly biased guide to effective magazine advertising.

If you think that we’re kidding ourselves, don’t hold back.

By James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine

If this sounds like you, we may have just furthered your ambitions.

When asked to create a cover about the power of crowds, Anthill designer Lydia Sumner took our request quite literally, dragging together over 300 head shots to create the words Funky, Sexy, Cool.

Not so coincidentally, this is the name of the Aussie (NY-based) social networking outfit that plays no small part in our Apr/May edition as the focus of our cover story (wheels within wheels).As such… if your glorious mug has appeared in Anthill Magazine, chances are, this month, you’ll be able to brag to your friends, colleagues, spouses, offspring, neighbour’s cat that you recently became a cover model.

Call mum now!

To check out the cover in detail (and who’s on it), click here.

Or get to your local newsagent (newsagent finder, click here).

More on the power of crowds…

I came across this book recently (one of the perks of being an editor is that you are sent cool stuff). It’s about the power of crowds and how social networking tools are influencing the structure of organisations.

If you like books by Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point and Blink) or the guys who co-authored Freakonomics, you’ll probably like this also. Because I’m not sure whether it is available in Australia yet, I have set up an Amazon account (click here).

Anthill helped put together Pitch Club’s third event, held in Melbourne late last month.

I had a great time, watching nine eager business builders pitch their cunning concepts to an audience of supportive fellow entrepreneurs and investors.

But one aspect of the night stood out as memorable above all else.

The most ill-prepared, disorganised, unpracticed pitcher, a ring-in, who raised his hand at the last-minute to fill an unforeseen scratching, took home the coveted Pitch Club Crown (an Anthill cap, a bottle of Moet and the admiration of the Pitch Club crowd).

Some of the more experienced pitchers on the night were perplexed. And for good reason. At Pitch Club Melbourne, the concise, articulate and very, very smooth were left for dead by the stuttering, self-deprecating, albeit endearing, banter of our winner.

To check out the video teaser, click here.

So, how did this happen?

My unscientific opinion is that most Australians don’t like their mates to skite. They don’t like tall-poppies and they hate anyone too fond of the word “I”.

Attend any Australian rock concert and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

Silverchair will begin a set by politely making small talk with the audience. Crowded House will explain the meaning of a song in quiet, purposeful tones.

However, attend an American rock concert… and… well… you wouldn’t be surprised to hear those famous five words brayed at you with the force of a Marshall amplifier:

“Are you ready to rock!”

I’ve wondered this for years. While US teens are being taught in the school of positive self-assertion (sometimes a little too much, me thinks), Australian kids are being told to tuck their shirts in and speak when spoken to (unless your name is Corey and you like to party).

Let’s face it. Australians have their own way of getting a message across.

But here’s the question: Is our way the better way?

When given the chance, do our tall-poppies shine or do they quickly turn into wall-flowers when put under the international sun-lamp?