If I worked for Lego, I'd immediately bring this guy on board. Why? He embodies everything that the brand stands for- creativity, culture, construction, and collaboration. Sponsor his work in a traveling art gallery, feature him in a behind-the-scenes web series as he pieces together his next project, or profile his work on a micro site devoted to customers living the Lego legacy.
Sometimes, the things people do with products are more interesting and more descriptive than the products themselves.
The Create or Else program, crafted by Oglivy highlights inspirational movers and shakers.
An interesting, short and relevant animation from Barkley that illustrates the most basic idea behind influence. While some customers continue to use older channels of communication, others are using new channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Foursquare to broadcast and publicize their relationship with brands. Are you ready to respond?
In reading Ad Age's recent interview with Carolyn Everson, the new Sales Chief at Facebook, one quote stood out to me.
"The threshold at Facebook is that marketing should be as valuable and useful to the consumer as the rest of the Facebook experience."
This is the mentality that drives the most innovative thinkers in today's communications industry. It brings me back to the Boulder Digital Works Conference held last week where Edward Boches of Mullen, tweeted (something along the lines of) "Why Didn't Bank of America come up with Mint.com? Why didn't Poloroid invent Flickr or Instagram?" I wrote about this a long time ago in a post about "Creating Useful Things That Advertise" and I think it rings even more true today. If we want to stay relevant in the age of the Internet and social sharing, we've got to start creating ads that are just as useful as the product they're advertising.
In her interview, Everson goes on to state, "In general, our industry suffers from the emphasis on click-thru-rates.To us, what's more important than click-thrus is "Are people paying attention to the message and remembering it?" She concludes her argument by stating, "I'm not sure the marketing community understands Facebook's story just yet."
To her, I'd say this isn't just about Facebook. The bigger issue is getting the marketing community to understand how to sell a story, start a relationship, and get people to come back to it. A utility is one thing. Ads are a whole different story. Facebook is close, but it's just one tool in the marketing mix. This is an issue that needs to be attacked from the outside in. In my opinion, it's not just Madison Avenue- no one understands it just yet.
One of the best quotes on content strategy I've ever come across.
“If your goal is to keep your customers engaged, then you better be sure that you are engaged as well. You can plant the prettiest garden in the world, but unless you water and tend it, it will end up dead or feral.Freshness and frequency count, both in the customer’s mind, and to search engines that are judging what’s relevant.But beyond the fear of failure, the exciting promise is that if you maintain your reliability and pertinence, you can create an ongoing relationship with your customers on topics that matter to you both.Demonstrating reliability earns trust, and publishing on a regular schedule can turn that first customer visit into a habit, whether it’s for video, news bits, white papers, or other compelling reasons to return.Whatever you deliver it’s important that there is someone in charge who understands both your messaging priorities, and what keeps customers coming back.”
John Alderman, Creative Director- The Barbarian Group
"In the past, you might have had a copywriter and an art director sitting together to create an idea. Now, you have a copywriter, an art director, a social media person, a creative technologist and a strategist sitting there. Digital is at the core of everything we do. It can’t be sticking out of the appendix. It has to be the spine and the heart.”
A lot of people have been talking about the end of advertising as we know it. As things move to be more social, people care less and less about messages and more and more about conversations. While I agree that this may be trend, it's becoming more and more obvious that advertising will never just end. Instead, it will evolve, for better or for worse, in ways that will force consumers to give it thier attention.
With that, I give you a super cheesy, low-budget promo video for a new product debuting in Chicago's O'Hare airport. I could totally see these in any sports stadium nationwide as well. While it could be considered an annoying medium that brings advertising back to its snaky roots, I think it's kind of ingenious and overall pretty cool.
What do you think? Annoying, or an exciting new ad medium?
I'm not saying this is the solution, but I am proposing that it's a step in the right direction. What can we as advertisers do to earn the attention of unaware consumers: offer up an experience that will literally stop them swiftly in thier tracks.
This needs a bit more branding, and obviously the physics could be smoothed out (seems a bit glitchy when there's nothing in front of it) but I'll be damned if this isn't an amazing way to get someone's attention.
The next step would be to make the screen touch sensitive to allow for further interaction. If users could find out more information about the product, send info to thier cell phone or social networks, who knows what the future of streetside shopping may become.
Last week I was able to attend a presentation on Belief Dynamics from a man by the name of Jack Bruemmer, the Executive Vice President of D’Arcy (1959-1995), one of the most famous STL ad firms from the Golden era that now makes up a good portion of Leo Burnett.
In the presentation, he discussed the following:
“Strategy, what we do before we create ads, is more important, interesting, and is worthy of more attention than we've been giving it.”
As for belief dynamics, it can kinda be labeled as the following: a clear, useful philosophy of how advertising works and a discipline to make it happen.
Belief Dynamics provides a better way to understand the consumer. It helps to avoid false starts and wasted creative efforts. It helps to create advertising that influences consumer behavior. At the heart of belief dynamics? The fact that great advertising is always built on customer insight. Always. And that insight can always be manipulated. Always.
It’s important to identify what you are selling and what the consumer wants to get from your product. For instance, Kodak originally thought they were selling cameras. Then they decided, they were actually selling film. Sure the camera is the first step, but the film is how they maintain the relationship. Years later they truly identified what they were selling. They were selling memories.
Looking at other big brands from the golden era further expands on this idea. For example, Michelin became a huge tire brand back in the day. They didn’t get huge by selling tires (technically) they got huge by selling safety for one’s family and one’s children. Crest did the same thing with their “Look mom, no cavities” campaign that didn’t sell toothpaste, it sold the key to being a good mother.
In the scenarios above, we can look at it like this: the IT is the actual product a brand is selling. So in the Michelin example, the IT is expensive tires. The ME is what the consumer is buying (in theory) so, in this case, the consumer is buying something that qualifies them as a safe driver and a good parent. The THEM is all of the other influences that affect the decision making process, so in this case, the idea that this brand of tires is the only safe option for my family, my friends, and those that depend on me.
All behavior is based on beliefs. Beliefs “program” behavior. To change behavior, you must change certain beliefs. Advertising works to create, strengthen or alter beliefs to make people behave the way advertisers want them to.
IT beliefs engage the mind. ME and THEM beliefs engage the heart and soul. IT beliefs help you understand. ME and THEM beliefs make you care.
Whatever your beliefs, one things for sure. Strategy is more important than ever. What we're selling isn't always what it seems. And changing beliefs is always a necessary step to change a behavior.
Sorry this is cryptic, it's a tough idea to wrap your head around. I wish I had the presentation because it was definitely worth posting. The folks at D'Arcy were on to something. I wish I woulda been around sooner to understand just what it was.
I’ve meaning to get to this post for a while now. My interest in the way we behave online has been growing over the last few years, and ever since the first iAd pop up in my mobile RSS, I’ve been anxious to approach the topic of online advertising and how I think it’s changing.
People, in general, aren’t as affected by advertising as they have been in the past. Not very often do you find someone who’s actually anxious to see an online banner ad. I know firsthand that this is the case. On a movie review site where I act as an editor, Popcorn Jury, I picked up a few banner ads and placed them front and center in highly visible locations. Their message was tailored to the content (Netflix, Groupon, and Movie Trailer ads) and traffic is always pretty steady. So how many clicks do I get on an average day? I’d say a good estimate would be 1-2. The content just isn’t compelling.
I decided to take things a step further and test a social theory. I would use social media to ask people to click my banner ads. Could a personal outcry to fans and followers truly encourage uninterested individuals to click on an advertisement? You bet it can. I made $13.00 that day (as opposed to the usual .32 cents).
What does this prove? It proves that people, not the medium, are the true platforms.
Before I get myself into trouble, please note that I’m not discounting the advertising industry or promoting PR. Quite frankly, I don’t think PR is doing anything out of the ordinary right now either. People aren’t watching PSA’s, people care little about what they see on the news, and editorial content is getting lost with the declining readership of each and every issue. What I’m stating is this: we need to make advertising engaging for people who don’t necessarily want to be engaged.
One thing that I believe to be a game changer is the use of new platforms like the iAd network. These ads aren’t just clickable; they are highly interactive and offer an experience to a consumer, not just a premeditated message. Take for instance the Nissan Leaf ad below. I’m not interested in a car, most definitely not an electric one, and I would never click on a banner ad promoting one. However, when you see something like “meet the future” and the minute it opens up you're treated to an interactive, cinematic story, you can’t help but become interested in what the product has to offer and encouraged to click around.
Looking at another example, the True Blood takeover that took place on the Variety.com iPhone app.For people that clicked on the entertainment section of the app, they were treated to a nice surprise when their fingertips smeared blood on the screen of their mobile.Next, blood begins to drip down the device.Sure, it’s disruptive, but it’s functional and innovative, and consumers accepted it with open arms rather than getting angry.What’s even better?Once clicked, the trailer loads immediately in Quicktime, not requiring an open browser, more clicks, or a website redirect that takes time and energy away from the consumer experience.
Don’t think that this engagement is constricted to mobile alone. Take the AT&T Augmented Reality head ball banner ad that allows users to put their face in the game and swivel their head for a quick score. It’s this type of engagement that gets consumers talking, sharing, socializing, and spreading the word about a brand. The click-through rates on these ads alone are worth the price of admission.
Don’t get me wrong; none of these examples truly solve the problem that marketers are always inherently asked, “Does this drive sales, increase market share, etc?” But if you’re going to spend money on banner advertising as a medium, you need to do something engaging, entertaining, and out of the box. People aren’t clicking on the promotion; they’re waiting for the experience. It’s up to advertisers to provide it.
Right now, there’s no clear structure as to what online advertising does and how we’re supposed to react. We aren’t sure what to do, so 99% of the time we don’t click. If the site is trusted, we feel more comfortable, but at the same time, rarely do we react. It’d be great if we could just click on an ad coupon on the side of the webpage, and instead of taking us to a whole new site in a whole new window, we’d just be prompted to print. Make is simple, make it safe, and make it secure, but most importantly, make it something we want to click on.
