Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Minimalist Design


I came across some really inspiring and effective ads using a minimalist design approach. They are simple, clean, and surprisingly full of information yet void of junky imagery. The picture above is an ad for Coca Cola with lemon. Here is the link to the page: http://www.noupe.com/showcases/less-is-more-creative-and-inspiring-minimalist-print-ads.html. These ads truly embrace the old adage, "less is more" in their creative and unique design. I thought it would be fun to share, since they truly are impressive. I definitely thought some of them were clever, though I admit some of them were a bit above my head. I enjoy these ads because I try to make my designs simple and straighforward. I think it is important to get the point across as quickly and effectively as possible, and the simpler the better. Especially in advertising, the message has to be pretty obvious to attract and keep attention, which is recently getting much shorter.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011


Jesse Thomas is the CEO and Founder of JESS3, a Creative Interactive Agency. JESS3 designs products and experiences for brands like Google, Nike, Facebook, MySpace, C-SPAN, Microsoft and NASA.

“Likes,” views and followers were all the rage in 2010. Despite the social media community emphasizing engagement instead of reach, media agencies quickly learned that engagement doesn’t scale easily, making it difficult to sell. Enter Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. As consumer use of social media spiked, the leading social networks retooled their advertising products to satisfy the newfound demand from brands. Instead of fizzling out like the popular online communities of yesteryear, they are driving toward profitability after several years of trying to figure out what they wanted to be when they grew up."

"On the flip side, as consumers incorporate social media more into their daily lives, alternatives to the “big three” in the form of niche and location-based social networks have increased in appeal. Advertisers willing to experiment with media campaigns on these networks will have a distinct advantage moving forward as consumers become desensitized to text, display and even rich media ads. Whether they choose to go big or small, the social web equips advertisers with significantly more consumer data points than ever before to improve the targeting and relevance of online advertising."

1. Local Advertising Becomes Relevant Again With Location


"Location-based advertising will continue to grow in 2011 as Facebook expands the technology with its location platform, Places. In addition to Facebook, many other players in the checkin space, including Foursquare, Yelp, Shopkick, and last but not least, Google, will condition shoppers to expect a deal or coupon for alerting friends of their whereabouts. Relevance will distinguish these services from each other as the two biggest players, Facebook and Google, have the most powerful social graph data to customize deals for consumers. Don’t count Groupon out, though. It more than makes up for its comparative lack of technology with brand equity and scale, as its massive sales force will remain dominant in 2011 by further monetizing local commerce beyond the recently launched self-service platform."

2. Silicon Valley Will Be the Next Madison Avenue


"The coolest job in advertising used to be working for an agency in New York City or Chicago, but these days the dream jobs are at Facebook and Twitter. Not unlike Mail.ru Group (formerly Digital Sky Technologies) attracting top bankers from Goldman Sachs, as Facebook and Twitter start generating more revenue, advertising and marketing talent will start heading West to cash in."


3. Influencers Will Be the Celebrities of the Social Web


"Consumers are constantly scouring the social web to decide where to eat, shop and stay; so it comes as no surprise that brands are desperately analyzing Twitter, blog posts and reviews to understand not only who has the largest audience, but how much influence individuals have. YouTube’s Partner Program is being joined by new services such as Klout to create an official layer of social credibility."

"Klout scores are being used by The Palms Hotel in Vegas to gauge discounts for hotel guests, including through the “Klout Klub,” which “will allow high-ranking influencers to experience Palms’ impressive set of amenities in hopes that these influencers will want to communicate their positive experience to their followers.” Creating thoughtful ways to leverage your influencers is the thing to focus on. People have always said it’s cheaper to keep and please the customers you have, than acquire new ones."


4. Small Will Be the New Big for Social Networks

"Despite Mark Zuckerberg’s unwavering belief that an open and connected social web is best for society, early adopters are starting to experiment with new platforms designed to communicate and share media with smaller audiences. Path has shown us the potential of limiting our social networks to 50 people. Fast Society is a new iPhone communication service that allows the user to create small groups to text with on the fly, and the groups last for three days. Facebook also realizes some of us may prefer communicating with smaller networks. Facebook’s new Groups feature allows us to segment our friends into personal, professional and interest-based communities, and openly engage in conversations not meant for our mother or colleagues to hear. Watch for more of these smaller, closed networks to launch in 2011 as people seek deeper connections online."

5. Brands Will Become More Like Media Companies


"Social media has empowered brands to break their own news instead of relying on advertising or PR to disseminate their message. As brands become increasingly comfortable with social media on the whole, more budget and attention will be focused on high quality content created specifically for the social web. We will see more Facebook Pages like Skittles that appear to employ comedy writers to keep the content fresh. It would seem that “a brand’s best bet in social media is randomness.”


6. Facebook “Likes” Will Be Important for Your Brand



"While it’s still unclear exactly how much a Facebook “Like” is worth to a brand, the following video sums up why Facebook is so important."

"Brands will be tripling down on Facebook advertising in 2011, and the process for acquiring Facebook “Likes” has evolved to accommodate this increase in demand. Instead of doing A/B testing between two photos to see which generates more Facebook “Likes,” the savvier brands and agencies are leveraging technology that can simultaneously deploy 10,000+ ad variations to yield the lowest CPA (cost per acquisition) of those “Likes.”


Monday, May 16, 2011

Yet again...


... I was stumbling the internet and came across some pretty funny advertisements. They are vintage style posters advertising current products, including everything from Facebook, to cell phones, computers, and gaming systems. I just thought they were sort of cool to look at, and maybe a bit clever. Nothing I'd really balk at, though they are creative. It's sort of cool to see a juxtaposition of all the technology we have now and how it's advertised, versus what they had 60 or 70 years ago. Imagine getting excited for an improved version of the Hoover vacuum. But in all seriousness, Ads in the 1940s and 1950s had a very definitive and unique style. I can appreciate the effort they must have put into these ads, seeing how much technology has helped me do what I do. I'm not really sure which ones I like best, since they are all pretty fun. But maybe you guys have a favorite!

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/vintage-advertisement-of-modern-technology/

Sunday, May 15, 2011

THE BRAINSTORMING PHASES OF MY UPCOMING PROJECT

        So, since I am still in the beginning stages of figuring out what I should do for the next advertising project, I am trying to brainstorm a few more ideas before I make a final decision of what I want to do. A recent idea that came to mind that also supports my perspective of my parents not approving of anything I do besides me winning games (like “Monopoly”, “LIFE”, and “Clue”) against my siblings is betting. One person in particular that always encourages me to bet is my dad. I definitely don’t mean to brag (and I’m not trying to jinx myself) but, in my history of betting, I have won more bets that I have lost. Recently, I have been winning with bets that I have been making on the NBA Playoff games. A majority of the bets have been with family members. I feel like this information could also be useful for my project; perhaps this can also be included in my “LIFE” game. I was thinking the title/label on the game board could be “GAMETIME” like the original “LIFE” game has “PAYDAY” on the board. Once again, I am not 100% set on one idea, I am just throwing some ideas out there. Feedback and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

"Life" board game ("MY LIFE" Project Idea)


"GAMETIME" (Let's Go Bulls!)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

You don't own your brands.



I found this article by the Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer of Coca-Cola and thought that it would be interesting to share.

I found the article through someone that I follow on Twitter, and his preview of the article was:
"Accept that you don't own your brands; your consumers do."

In this section, the writer talks about two different things. First, he mentions that Coca-Cola learned that they don't own their brand when they tried to introduce the New Coke in 1985. This is an interesting piece of information especially if we think about all of the other companies who didn't learn from Coke's mistake. The Gap, for example, angered customers with their logo change recently, and almost immediately went back to what they already had.

But what I think is more interesting is that the paragraph goes on to explain that Coca-Cola's Facebook page, which has more than 25 million fans, was NOT started by Coca-Cola. As the author says, "a decade ago, a company like ours would have sent a 'cease and desist' letter from our lawyer" but instead they now work with the original founders of the page to create new content. I think that's great! I doubt the people who started it were trying to make money (although, that does happen too, with people buying up domain names and then selling them to big companies for profit). They were just Coca-Cola fans who got on the Facebook bandwagon before big companies like Coca-Cola realized that they could really be a huge asset to the brand. I'm glad that Coke didn't make them stop, but instead embraced that their customers truly do understand the brand (perhaps even better than the people branding it) and allowed them to continue.


Although this piece of advice about not owning your own brand is really interesting, especially for an advertising class, the rest of the article is definitely worth reading also. It talks about how we must evolve with the customers and learn to adapt to new ways of running a brand.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Funny ad for awkward product.


In line with my Kotex post, I am interested in the marketing of products that many find awkward to discuss in everyday situations.
Condom advertisements-for the most part- use humor to take the awkwardness out of their product. Many of us have seen Trojan commercials and print advertisements. While I find Trojan's advertising to be humorous- the humor is a bit low brow and is meant to appeal to the masses. In this way I find the humor in the advertising to be semi creative. It doesn't want to take a risk with its humor, it wants everyone to find it funny.

This condom brand, a company named Tulipan, which I had been unfamiliar with prior to finding this advertising strategy, adds tasteful humor to their advertising. Creating a handout that is interactive, witty and intelligent. A large percentage of the population will require the use of condoms at some point of their life. Many people would not like to be marketed as a person having mindless sex. This photograph implies that perhaps the individual as a person with great, put together life and is simply not in the position to procreate.

The reason many use condoms is to prevent procreation- this is not something to be ashamed of. The interactivity of the handout solidifies the idea that the user is making an intelligent decision in the use of their brand's contraceptives. Everyone wants to feel intelligent.

Eastern Inspiration. Western Innovation.

I love this ad. Kyocera’s phone ad has a very interesting look in which has inspired some of my own work. The print ad reads, “We believe that now is a blink. An instant that passes. So we must always be facing forward. Looking for what has not been seen. And while we understand the importance of enjoying the moment, we take greater joy in all the moments yet to come.” I feel like this statement captures the essence of design. I always look for new ideas and ways of communicating to the public that has not been done already. Chapter 11 suggests that a good print ad grabs and keeps your attention, is relevant, and serves as a call to action. And I believe that this ad does just that. It persuades their audience to go out and buy a Kyocera phone while incorporating a flowing visual one can follow through the piece. In the chapter, there is also a breakdown of all the essential parts of a print ad. Kyocera’s ad includes many of the important parts. The sign off at the bottom right is very clever, and it also has the tagline which I think could have been bigger and more noticable. The body text follows the organic image, or product shot, very well. The main visual of the blue man invites you into the image, and helps the audience to identify with Kyocera phones on a more personal level. I also admire structural image at the bottom of the tree. The white space give a kind of minimal feel, but I think that this ad is anything but minimal.