Dick Smith has delivered a withering assessment of Australian creativity. At least when it comes to helping him spruik his sauce.
Earlier this year Smith called on the creative industry to come up with an idea to turnaround his OzeSauce brand. He received 250 responses after calling for an “advertising genius” with patriotic spirit to lend their brain to the brand via adverts in AdNews and the Australian Financial Review.
Smith told AdNews this week that despite masses of interest from creatives around Australia, who all gave him some free advice, not a single one contained a “unique, interesting” idea.
Smith pulled no punches in his assessment.
“Not one person came up with a unique idea. It's disappointing. I thought someone could come up with something different but they were all the same shit.”
He remains undeterred though, and will carry on trying to crack the nut. But that doesn't mean splashing the cash. This year Dick Smith has spent $1.7m on marketing. Next year Smith said that would be slashed to $700,000 – most of which will be spent on in-store marketing and packaging.
Smith wants to have Dick Smith products displayed in branded units in Woolworths stores to give the brand more visibility, and said that the brand must pick up efforts to better communicate that its profits go to charities.
Yesterday, Smith unveiled the Dick Smith Foundation, and guaranteed that it would donate $1m to charities chosen by the public this year. In previous years Smith himself has decided where to allocate funds.
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