We are looking for a flexible creative to join our team as a Graphic & Multimedia Designer. Our diverse range of projects will have you designing for a variety of platforms including print, web, iPad apps and video.

To fit with our team, you must have a great attitude, be hard working and have a self motivated commitment to continual professional and personal development.

The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate the following attributes:

• Excellent conceptual design, finished art and user experience design skills
• Ability to interpret a brief and respond with appropriate creative solutions
• Experience in Motion Graphic Design and Animation
• Experience in HTML authoring, CSS and mobile application design
• Experience / understanding of Digital Video Production & Post
• Excellent communication, presentation and client facing skills
• An understanding of marketing, advertising and brand building
• Ability to effectively manage time and stress, and thrive under pressured deadlines

Remuneration for this position is negotiable inline with experience and proven capabilities.

To apply for this position, please submit the following:

1. An application letter in response to the above listed attributes
2. Your up-to-date CV
3. Examples of your work

We are looking for a smart, self motivated and professional software developer to join our expanding team.

The person we employ will have an active interest in developing for a range of digital environments, with an eye towards good user experience and design. They will also demonstrate an ability to quickly learn new technologies, platforms and frameworks.

We require someone with a thorough understanding of the following:

• PHP
• HTML
• CSS
• WordPress
• Javascript & jQuery
• mySQL
• SVN

It would also be beneficial if you have experience with:

• App development (iOS / Android)
• Photoshop
• Flash
• Basic Unix/Linux admin

Remuneration for this position is negotiable inline with experience and proven capabilities.

To apply for this position, please submit the following:

1. An application letter in response to the above listed attributes
2. Your up-to-date CV
3. Examples of your work (code samples welcome)

The Position

We are looking for a well rounded and disciplined agency creative who can think strategically, and translate strategy into innovative creative visual communication pieces.

Working for a variety of clients, across a challenging variety of industries, you will need the ability to quickly understand diverse communication objectives and target audience insights, and apply your strong conceptual and problem solving skills to arrive at creative and effective outcomes.

As part of a small creative team, your contribution will be highly visible and critical to the agency outcomes. You must be able to work autonomously as well as contributing to collaborative processes. There is no place to hide in this role, you must be a team player who wants the ball when the game is on the line.

This role requires:

• Highly developed understanding of marketing, advertising and brand building
• Excellent conceptual design and finished art skills
• Flexibility to work across different media (print, interactive, video) and different styles
• Understanding of and ability to write copy advantageous
• Excellent communication, presentation and client facing skills
• Ability to effectively manage time and thrive under pressured deadlines
• A commitment to continual professional and personal development

If you enjoy flexing your creative muscle on a daily basis in a dynamic, fast paced small agency environment, we’d love to hear from you.

Ready for the challenge?

We are looking for someone who can make a unique contribution. Convince us that you have what it takes. Please send an application letter outlining your experience and qualities in relation to the requirements stated above, your resume, references and examples of your work. Please address all correspondence to Paul Cleveland, Creative Director paul@enso.com.au

Please no recruitment agency solicitations in response to this posting.

As we continue to move from the information age to the conceptual age, I am a firm believer that creativity, and the creative industries, are becoming a more significant and even critical component of the emerging developed world economy.

It’s an argument championed by Daniel Pink a few years ago in his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future. With the future in its hands, the creative industries are certainly an exciting place to be, and the Creative3 forum is the place to learn, share and network with the industries best.

Creative3 is an exciting industry forum focusing on the point where creativity, investment and enterprise meet.

Hosted by QUT Creative Enterprise Australia, and taking place in Brisbane from 14-16 April 2010, this first of a kind event boasts an impressive range of keynote speakers providing their insight and support to creative businesses.

This is shaping up to be a must attend event for anyone connected to the creative industries, as well as those who realise the importance of investment into a significant part of the emerging Australian economy. From entrepreneurs to venture capitalists, this forum has much to offer, including Australia’s first investment pitching session with prices valued at more that $100,000 up for grabs.

Learn more about Creative3 at the creative 3 website: http://creative3.com.au

As part of their commitment to sustainable business, CUNA Mutual Group Australia established a sustainability program consisting of 4 specific workgroups focusing on workplace, marketplace, environment and community. A visual identity was required to support the program its associated communications.

STRATEGY/EXECUTION

Enso developed a core logo for the program that represented the idea of sustainability and the human contribution of the workgroups towards it. This logo informed the visual direction of a series of 4 illustrations, each of which embodies the spirit of its associated workgroup. Workgroup t-shirts featuring the logos were manufactured from organic cotton and printed using an environmentally friendly digital printing process using vegetable based inks.

Since last week’s announcement, the web has been abuzz with discussions and reactions to what is quite possibly Google’s boldest project in years: Google Wave.

It appears a Wave is a live communications object that 2 or more people can participate and interact with at any time. It’s a bit like a blend of an email, IM, wiki and social networking tool all rolled into one.

The big news however, is the proposed open source nature of the protocol that powers the wave. This effectively allows any service provider to build wave servers and wave clients, much as they can with email servers and clients. The success and ubiquitous nature of email is largely due to its open standard protocol, and Google’s move to position Wave as an open standard, both client and server side, dramatically increases the likelihood of mass adoption.

It is for this reason that there has been much commentary heralding the beginning of the end of email’s reign as the king application of the internet. While we heard similar arguments with RSS, Facebook and twitter, it does seem plausible that Google’s new, open protocol for direct and group messaging could chip away at email’s dominance over the next decade or so.

My first reaction to seeing the demo was “Wow, businesses are going to love this, how much more efficient is this going to make multi-participant email conversations”. 

My second reaction was “Perhaps this is a little too complicated. Email is simple and straight forward, yet how many corporate dramas are created by the accidental or misuse of the ‘reply all’ button. How will the workplace cope with such a dangerously flexible and complicated communication tool?”

My third reaction was “This platform is going to enable marketers to engage with customers in some seriously cool ways. With the ability to build extensions and gadgets, and the communication being a live object, this is going to radically change the electronic direct marketing game.”

My gut feeling at the moment, is that marketers need to watch the wave very carefully this year, as adoption is likely to be rapid, opening up a new line of communication with the consumer. In the short term, it is likely to be yet another channel we need to manage. In the medium term, with developers building gateways between wave and platforms like email, twitter and facebook, Google Wave could become a central aggregator to our currently fragmented online communications. In the long term, it could even knock email off its block. However with many people sporting a multi-decade email habit, I don’t see this happening anytime soon.

One thing’s for sure, at Enso we’ll be keeping a very close eye on Google Wave and its implications for changing the game of email marketing as we know it.

Every year, Enso donates creative marketing, design and production services to select charitable causes.

We are very happy to have recently worked with the fantastic Y4K committee, providing creative design services for the promotion of the 2009 Redkite Y4K Colour Ball.

The Colour Ball, an annual evening of exciting entertainment and networking with young Sydney professionals, is shaping up to be a memorable event in 2009 with the theme of “Ultra Violet”.

It all happens on Saturday 4th July at Sydney’s Darling Harbour, so gather your friends and enjoy one of Sydney’s best nights out for a great cause.

Redkite supports children, young people and their families through cancer.

For more information, and to secure your tickets, visit the website at http://www.redkite.org.au/colourball

Hope to see you there.

“Email is the tightest link ever forged between buyer and seller. Email is the heart beat of the internet.”

These words were delivered by Stan Rapp, 82 year old veteran of direct marketing and chairman of marketing agency Engauge, at the Email Evolution Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona earlier this year.

Stan Rapp is often credited as the pioneer of one-to-one direct marketing, and the above statement is one that should be carefully considered by anyone involved in brand marketing.

Unfortunately many organisations are not giving email marketing the limelight it deserves, and these are the same organisations that are unknowingly leaving money on the table. Some organisations have the perception that email is ‘cheap’ and subsequently fail to invest in the strategic planning and resources required to deliver their customers value and generate return. It is true that email marketing is very cost efficient, and well executed strategies are delivering returns far above those delivered by any other channel.

Email is rapidly evolving from an auxiliary marketing channel into the central brand-relationship, and direct-sales channel around which other marketing activities are being organised. Savvy marketing departments are realising this, and with the current economic situation, are reaping the cost effective benefits of investing in the channel.

Simms Jenkins recently published a brief but interesting interview with Stan Rapp at iMedia Connection titled “Why email marketing deserves more respect”. A must read for all marketers yet to realise the true value of email marketing.

This is one of my all time favourite presentations on the fundamentals of branding, and a great piece of design as well.

At Enso we direct clients to this presentation all the time, especially when they come to us with an obvious gap that needs to be bridged between their business strategy and their brand design.

Download the presentation by Marty Neumeier here.

Marty Neumeier’s book The Brand Gap, is fantastically succinct, and an absolute must have in every brand or marketing manager’s library.  It’s one of the most worn books in Enso’s brand, marketing and strategy library and is an inspiring read every time I pick it up. A great reminder of what brings innovative brands to life.

If you don’t already own this book, and you work with a brand in any way, you need to own it!

Check out and buy the book from Amazon here! The best money you’ll ever spend on your brand (besides coming to Enso of course!).

Check out Enso’s new look website

Yep, 09 is a year of change, you can smell it in the air, and Enso is no exception. Previously known as Enso Studios and Enso Consultancy, things are consolidating and simplifying as we roll out our new look, full service, integrated creative communications agency simply known as Enso. Enso is quite simply here to do what it takes to make your campaigns successful.

Also be sure to check back later to see our case studies section as we continue to update it with insights into some of our recent work.

Enso is making things happen for you in 09

OK, so I’m sure you’re aware of the economic downturn, but are you excited? You should be. A whole new world of opportunity is opening up, and Enso is here to help you make the most of it. Sure, your industry might be headed for lower overall sales and trimmed profits, but that doesn’t mean you can’t gain market share, mind share and strengthen customer relationships. In fact, it is the ideal opportunity to focus on these pursuits while your competitors may be in retreat.

And rest assured that Enso is here to make things happen for you. We’re committed to delivering even better value and new creative processes to ensure that you can achieve more with less. In 09 we’re delivering the big agency outcomes, without the big agency overheads – I told you you should be excited.   

Enso to launch Cannonball V3 at ad:tech Sydney

Boy have we been busy, and boy do we have something to show for it! Email marketing is going to be big news in 09 (just check out this month’s other articles) and Enso delivers the biggest news of all. The all new version of Cannonball is set to amaze at ad:tech Sydney on March 10.

Cannonball is the Enso engineered, world class email marketing platform, and the new version contains innovations that will knock your socks off. For a sneak peek, check out:

www.cannonballcommunications.com.au