Caffeinated posts from a copywriter/adgrunt. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland. | make contact | RSS Feed | ATOM

Sunday, February 07, 2010
[ Super Bowl Ad Bonanza ]

+ That's right. It's only hours away to the "big game". And, that means, it's also only hours away to the Super Bowl Advertising Bonanza.

Of the info we have about the ads so far (see: Super Bowl XLIV Ads Spoiler at adland.tv), I think some of the best ads might be for Audi, Monster.com, and Snickers.

But, that's just from an ad professional. Typically the top ads from the masses don't always align with what us ad folk find to be the best. It makes sense in a way. We have different standards. And, if you're basing best on entertainment value alone, that's not the same as if you're talking about will people remember who it was for, etc.

Labels: ad review, adbiz, adgruntie, advertising, Super Bowl 10

Monday, January 18, 2010
[ The New Creative Team ]

+In the past, Creative teams didn't need to worry too much about working or teaming up with other groups. Traditional required some love with your producer if you were doing TV or maybe your media department. But in the world of digital, there's much more to making an effective, engaging and awesome piece of communication. And, it involves a lot more people.

From concept to execution, there needs to be a open communication channel between Creative, User Experience, Technology and Media. Each group plays a vital part in how the work comes together.

Creative
Big ideas, great copy, gorgeous visuals. Yes, this is still your domain. But, unless you're some how able to swing a 48-hour day, you might have trouble staying on top of the latest media and technology and user experience news, in addition to the creative world. You need to buddy up with the members of your team who should be. Your User Experience gal (or guy) will help you find what will make sense for those engaging with what you create, often adding invaluable insights. Knowing that you can trust your Tech team to jump up with a great way to get your idea to the people should make you confident. And, of course, your media team should be working with you for the best way to reach the audience and even help bring the idea to life in ways you might not have thought of.

User Experience
Usability. Requirements. These do not only apply to websites. They apply to many of the things we are now creating as communications. Banners, emails, and more all can benefit from getting your User Expierence guy involved. Higherarchy of messaging, the way in which people typically interact with the piece you are building--it all can be made better with User Experience being pulled in at an early stage.

Technology
Functionality. The "New Team" needs you to help keep abreast of the latest technology out there and provide Creatives with best ways to execute their ideas. Your invaluable input helps make the ideas come to life in ways never before imagined. Sure, that might be a bit "high-falutin'" but it is true. Tech is your baby and what you should know inside and out. What might not have been deemed possible in the past changes almost on a daily basis, and it's your job to help the team know what is possible.

Media
Placements, unorthodox partnerships, there's so much you can bring to the table for the group. First off, metrics of how prior efforts have fared help to provide the Creative team with the information to know if their ideas are really working to reach, engage, inform, etc. Without knowing how what you have done did, you cannot move forward successfully into new ventures because you have nothing to base your success off of. Then there's the myriad of vendors, all (or most) who have their own in-house creative teams as well who are ready and waiting to do your bidding (for a price, of course). You provide the information of what type of media space is available or possible. Sure, the Creative gals might have an idea that they think is impossible to pull off, but you know that XYZ Media is working on a new prototype that would make it possible. Perhaps media is even part of the idea. Bringing in the media team when the ideas are gelled, if not before they set, is always a good idea.

In a day and age when new information is breaking by the minute, it's hard for one group in the new team to keep abreast even of the topics in their "domain" (read: time), let alone other areas of focus on top of that. Now, I'm not saying that Creative should not be looking out for cool tech and media or anything like that. But, it's those who do keep up with the latest and greatest in their field of expertise that can really help you push a seedling of an idea into a full-fledged blossoming plant. This is why building the right teams is so vital. Each role is important to the other and therefore, keeping an open communication channel to share ideas, thinking and information is the best way to have a team that produces the best work possible.

Labels: adgruntie, advertising, agency, digital, email, interactive, online advertising, web, wisdom, work

Monday, January 04, 2010
[ Page Fold Myth ]

+ The Myth of the Page Fold is looked at using user testing and eye-tracking technology.

They found a strong hotspot over the scrollbar because users were looking at it as a cue for page length. It was also found that if you have less above the fold (one large content block as opposed to 2 smaller ones), it encouraged exploration below the fold. What they did find when people didn't scroll was that there was no visual cue to more content below the fold or there were strong horizontal lines acting as a barrier.

1. Less is more – don’t be tempted to cram everything above the fold. Good use of whitespace and imagery encourages exploration.
2. Stark, horizontal lines discourage scrolling - this doesn’t mean stop using horizontal full width elements. Have a small amount of content just visible, poking up above the fold to encourage scrolling.
3. Avoid the use of in-page scroll bars - the browser scrollbar is an indicator of the amount of content on the page. iFrames and other elements with scroll bars in the page can break this convention and may lead to content not being seen.

Our research shows the most effective place for content is above the fold, no surprises there. We are saying that people do scroll. Users scroll if there are cues to scroll and no design barriers to scrolling.

Labels: research, ux, web, work

Thursday, December 31, 2009
[ Adland's 10 by 10 ]

+ Over at Adland.tv, we've been working one some advertising lists for the past decade. A few more will be popping up today. But it's some fun reading to keep you busy as you prepare for your New Year's Eve festivities. :)

Adland's 10 by 10 - Top Ten Marketing Mishaps in the past ten years
Adland's 10 by 10 - Worst Art Direction Disasters in the past ten years
Adland's 10 by 10 - Top Ten new ad space ideas in the past ten years
Adland's 10 by 10 - Top Ten Escalator ads in the past ten years
Adland's 10 by 10 - Top Ten Banned ads in the past ten years. (NSFW
Adland's 10 by 10 - top ten Viral ad campaigns in the past ten years
Adland's 10 by 10 - Top Ten Spec ads that went viral in the past ten years
Adland's 10 by 10 - Top Ten Freakiest Ads of The 00's
Adland's top ten (well, twelve actually) sexiest ads of 2009

Labels: adgruntie, adland, advertising

Friday, November 27, 2009
[ I am Ram vs I am Jeep ]

+ The other day while watching some TV after a long day at the office I noticed two ads that seemed a bit similar. One was for Dodge Ram with based off the idea of "My name is Ram". Shortly after seeing this, there was another ad for Jeep using the concept "I am Jeep."

According to Adage, the "My name is Ram" campaign was created by the Richards Group in Dallas.

The first spot, titled "Manifesto," was narrated by agency founder Stan Richards. The theme is "I am Ram," and it uses a montage of photos as the narrator says things such as "I am fueled by optimism and a can-do spirit," and "I will not yield. I will not coast to a stop. My name is Ram.

And, similarly, the general campaign for Jeep (also owned by Chrysler) was handled by Chrysler's multicultural shop, GlobalHue, Southfield, Mich., with the theme "I live. I ride. I am. Jeep."

According to a post on the Chrysler blog, they claim, "We think the ads sum up the brand's unique lifestyle and re-establishes one of the most recognizable brand names in the world with a new look, feel and attitude." Funnily enough, they don't even mention the Ram campaign on their blog.

So I have to wonder. Did Chrysler get pitched one idea that they decided to use for both brands? Feels like it.

Labels: ad review, adgruntie, advertising, commercial, watch

Saturday, October 03, 2009
[ Chefs on Twitter ]

+ I'm a bit of a foodie and I have to admit that when I realized some of the chefs I like were on Twitter, I was curious to see how they would be using it. I've followed a few and have been keeping an eye on them. (And in all honesty I have been thinking about this post for a while now, just haven't had the time).

One could look at a celebrity chef as a celebrity. But there's something slightly different from them in comparison to say a Justin Timberlake or a Oprah. Celeb chefs are teachers and they inspire. It's not just about finding out what they are doing behind the scenes or getting a sense that you know them from pictures posted about their family or another venue for self-promotion.

Granted there are celebrity chefs that are using Twitter in that fashion. But there are also some who are using it as another tool to give out guidance, provide contests for winning swag, sharing their passion for cooking, and reaching out to converse with their fans.

These are chefs that I follow who I think are doing it right. They are using Twitter in the same ways we tell our clients to...it's honest, it's transparent, and it's giving fans (read: followers) something of significance to enhance the overall value of their brand.

Jamie Oliver (@jamie_oliver)
On Fridays at 2pm, Jamie Oliver does a #JamiesTwitchen competition where he asks a question and the winner receives an autographed cookbook. It engages his followers on a weekly basis. He also shares pictures of his personal and chef life (including his cooking program), shares behind the scenes videos and interacts with his followers by answering cooking questions, etc.

Tyler Florence (@TylerFlorence)
One of the unique things that Tyler Florence does through Twitter is his #twtlish. Five recipes are posted to his website on Mondays. Then on Friday, the winning recipe is made and discussed during #twtlist cooking class. The full recipe is posted to his website and then he walks through with tips or advice and answers follower's questions on procedure, ingredients, etc. It's like having a professional chef right there with you. I think it's brilliant. (It looks like in recent weeks, there has a been a bit less with this, but I'm sure it's to do with all the tweets he's got about filming and whatnot.)

Additionally, Tyler also posts pictures of his life, his work and the usual stuff you'd expect as well.

I do think that his personal website could benefit from a bit of an overhaul to also include his Twitter feed so people who stumble across it would get a better sense of some of the cool ways he's reaching out to his fan base.

Rick Bayless (@Rick_Bayless)
Followers of Rich Bayless get to see shots of new recipes as they are worked out in the kitchens of his restaurants and other behind the scenes type of stuff. But, Rick also responses to his followers by answering questions like "How long can you keep roasted poblanos?" with tips on how to do it properly. In fact, Rick even posted something yesterday explaining why he likes Twitter which you can read here. Here's an excerpt though:

On Twitter, I can do three things: I share photos of what’s going on in the restaurant (behind the scenes as well as finished dishes I’m really excited about); I share photos of cool food (and food-related things) I find outside my restaurant (markets, restaurants, events either in Chicago or away from home), and I answer some of the questions that are posted to my Twitter account.

Because I love being able to more fully open my world to folks through the Twitter portal and because I love being part of the community Twitter can create, I’ve decided to devote 15 or 20 minutes to it each day. That amount of time is typically what I can find while I’m waiting on a meeting to start or waiting for an elevator or drinking a cup of coffee.

I really love that he gets it. Partly, I think because I've been watching his cooking shows for years on PBS and for me, personally, it's exciting to see the evolution.

Christopher Kimball (@cpkimball)
As founder of America's Test Kitchen, Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country, Kimball brings a lot of the same features as one would expect to his tweets. He posts tips and tricks (like how to get wax off your supermarket purchased fruit) common in Cook's Illustrated. He also responds to follower questions and even gives hints to the testing results they are doing for the magazine/TV show. Often he links to his blog where he posts photos with commentary on their shoots or highlights when you can sign up for what seems to be a monthly live online Q&A chat. Overall, he does a great job expanding upon the brand he has built for his shows and magazines.

Paula Deen (@Paula_Deen)
I question whether or not this is maintained by the real Paula Deen. Either way, Deen is using Twitter in a way that engages fans by interacting with them, hosting contests (or announcing contests at least), and giving some insider information about her life (thankfully not a ton about butter).


Now here are a couple celebrity chefs that are missing out. If you're not going to do Twitter right (as a brand/celebrity), you would probably do better to figure out another strategy for how you use it as a channel, or if it even makes sense for you to have one.

Bobby Flay (@Bflay)
Flay doesn't talk to anyone for the most part. It's pretty much him just broadcasting out into the ether. I find it surprising that he has almost 30,000 followers (and following NO ONE back) with pretty much nothing but news about his appearances. Yawn. I'm guessing many signed up thinking they'd get some thing more interesting out of him, but haven't bothered to unfollow (out of laziness or forgetfulness.) Either way, this Twitter account could also be maintained by an intern at FoodNetwork or something as far as I can tell because it lacks the personal, transparent touch that we see with all the other celebrity chefs who are tweeting well.

Giada De Laurentiis (@GDeLaurentiis)
Giada doesn't tweet much. And when she does the majority of them are self-promotional...new book, new show, etc. Recently her tweets have been about her travels but still not that interesting. She could definitely look to some of the other chefs I've listed to see how she should or could be using Twitter. From the first tweet in Feb 2009 through the rest of her 40 tweets, there has not really been much of any value to any fan. Somewhat surprising to me, she has over 25,500 followers (and following NO ONE)...I bet they're all waiting to see if she's going to do *anything*.

Labels: adgruntie, advertising, food, social media, social networking, twitter, work

Friday, September 25, 2009
[ MA MadMen ]

+Very droll.

Labels: adgruntie, advertising, MadMen, watch

[ Kindness on the Interwebs ]

+ Just watched this video of a talk by Social theorist Jonathan Zittrain who suggests The Internet is made up of millions of disinterested acts of kindness, curiosity and trust. He provides some nice examples and ideas that jive with what we've been talking about in-house here. The bigger question (which of course he doesn't answer) is how do you take this thinking and apply it?

Labels: adgruntie, advertising, social media, social networking, watch, web, work

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
[ Great PSA ]

+ Love this sarcastic PSA to "save the insurance companies". "Who's really supporting it besides 80% of the American people?" "What's so American about competition?" "They need to make big profits so they can give their employees health insurance" Ha! Watch below.

Labels: adgruntie, life, watch

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
[ Work-related rah-rah for Dunkin' Run iPhone app ]


+ In this week's Adage, which I was just flipping through (yes, I get a *gasp* paper version), I came across this article about marketers getting wise to designing apps with a purpose.

Earlier this year, my company worked on the Dunkin' Run for Dunkin' Donuts--one of our clients here at Studiocom. As we built out the overall platform, and especially as we worked on the mobile components including the iPhone application, we used this "app with a purpose" as our mantra.

It's fantastic to have our Dunkin' Run iPhone app listed in the Cream of the Crop apps of the article in Adage. We're psyched. Overall, we've seen good feedback on it. And in the future we look to build upon it. So, go team!

Now that the rah-rah part is over, I'll reiterate the overall theme for the article as well--it's important to look at what a tool like an iPhone app can provide to the end-user. Apps that are fun and fluffy can be the right path, but it all depends on what is right for your brand and the customers. Every app we create for clients we ask ourselves (and the client) certain questions to figure out what makes the most sense. Because, who in their right mind wants to blow money on building something that no one will use? User-testing, interviews, research are all important factors in figuring out the strategy. Sure you can just wing it, and you might be successful. But the majority of the time, it takes real planning to achieve success.

Labels: work

Tuesday, August 04, 2009
[ Brands and their own social networks ]

+ Facebook. MySpace. Bebo. LinkedIn. Orkut. DeviantART. There's a plethora of social networking sites out there. And brands are now jumping on the bandwagon. Earlier this year, Sears launched MySears and MyKmart which they call interactive platforms to "allow customers to share their insights, experiences and product reviews."
And now Lane Bryant, plus-sized clothing store once part of the The Limited empire, is doing something similar with the launch of their Inside Curve which they describe as "an ambitious social community with up-to-the-minute insight on style, trends and behind-the-scenes features."

Supposedly it is available now through the Lane Bryant site, although the one banner they had promoting it down at the bottom of the page near the footer doesn't click to anywhere. And this rotating banner is the only way it seems they are promoting the fact that they have this community. Not a great way to start off. Perhaps they figure the bigger push will be through their email database. A google search lead me to find it at InsideCurve.LaneBryant.com.

The company already has a Facebook and Twitter presence and is hoping the new site will increase interaction. I'm sure there are some who are passionate enough to sign up for yet another site, but will it help them make a dent in their most recent quarterly results of a 13% decline in same-store sales (as of May)?

I wonder the same thing for MySears and other brands that attempt to create their own networking site around the brand, rather than using existing networks that people are already on and using as a way to bring people together around the brand.

As a citizen of the internet, would you be more likely to interact with a brand on a network you are already using or would you prefer to have yet another place to join? I suppose it depends on the technographic of the audience as well. If they are into signing up for places all over the net, perhaps you have a good chance of success--although signing up for a network and participating in it are two completely different things.

Granted I will give props to these brands for trying. But I'd also hate to see people get a bad taste in their mouths for social if these sites are not as successful as they probably expect them to be.

Labels: adgruntie, branding, social media, social networking, web, work