Another Reality Series?
Yeah, it’s another reality series, but we don’t have that many relating to the creative fields.  Sure there are cooking shows, bakery series like Cake Boss, and custom motorcycle documentaries like American Chopper; but it’s not often that we actually get a show relating to our field of marketing and advertising.  That’s what makes The Pitch so exciting!  In the first episode, we see two competing advertising agencies travel to Milford, CT to pitch their ideas to Subway on their next breakfast sandwich marketing campaign.  The two agencies literally are working head to head just to win the job.

What’s Cool
Celebrity Apprentice and The Apprentice are a little similar, because we get to see an entire marketing campaign from brainstorming sessions through the final branding and execution. With the The Pitch, these advertising pitches aren’t made up for the sake of a TV show.  This is the real thing – the big leagues in the marketing and advertising world.  We get to see the agencies’ branstorming sessions, the good ideas, the bad ideas, and even their creative processes. You get to see how they interact with one another.  We even see how some of the creatives’ ideas become things they are personally attached to, while other members of the team don’t always see the value in them.  You also see how hard these advertising professionals have to work, and travel.  It even gives us a glimpse into the private home life for some of them.  Let’s just say it’s not the type of job we’d all like to have.  Unless you like to work to live; working long hours, lots of travel, and

Advertising in a Show About Advertising
Not surprisingly, you have to remember that the point of all television shows and movies are created to also bring in advertising dollars. At one point in the Subway pitch episode you will see them browsing for stock images on the Getty Images website.  Getty is obviously of a traditional stock agency (non-microstock pricing) where iStockphoto is their microstock collection.  Not surprisingly enough, at the end credits, you’ll note that it says “promotional consideration by Getty Images and iStockphoto”.  Talk about a great advertising opportunity, because ever single advertising/marketing/graphic designing creative type (at least that I know) is going to be watching this show. Getty is smart to have added this paid product placement, but it would be nice to see if we could also see behind the curtain to when the ad agencies actually purchase from microstock agencies, as well.  We probably won’t, because that is what the promotional consideration Getty has paid for will mask.

Let us know what you think about The Pitch.  Leave a comment below, and please share this post!

For those that are looking to advertise their blog or website to increase traffic and brand recognition, they just might soon realize that internet advertising almost always costs an arm and a leg.  Not everyone has a huge budget for facebook, google adwords, or other banner advertising services.  Thankfully, there is a brand new free ad banner exchange called Miloads.  I gave it a shot a few months back, and it has generated some really decent traffic.  All you have to do is sign up, and then embed the tiny bit of code in your blog’s sidebar widget.  That’s it!  If you look at our lower right hand column, you’ll see the layout we chose (there are a variety of shapes, sizes, and customization options).  Having used facebook and google advertising in the past, I can honestly say it’s very similar.  You can customize your banner designs and ad content text just like the others.

It takes no more than two minutes to get everything up and running.  When you log in to the Miloads website you can view each of your ad campaigns, track your traffic, and see which ads are getting clicked on the most.  Anyone else who runs miloads on their website will be advertising for other users on the Miloads network, so your ads will appear all over the internet, instantly.  With over 2 million unique ad impressions already, Miloads is definitely an ad banner exchange that will get your ads viewed, and clicked on.  Our website has already had close to 1150 clicks and over 176,00 impressions, in just 2 months.  I’m very impressed thus far.  The statistics will continue to increase and improve as time goes on, as more and more users sign up; and the ad banner network’s reach will expand even further.  There’s no cost, so you have nothing to lose. Try out Miloads today, and see this powerful little link exchange tool can do for your website.

This is a powerful example of how rewording such a simple phrase gets an entirely different reaction. The blind homeless man has a cardboard sign with the words “I’m Blind – Please Help”. An onlooker stops and changes his sign to read “It’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it”, and then the spare changes starts coming in like money is falling from the sky.

Thinking outside the box (as cliche as that expression is) when it comes to slogans and advertising propaganda is definitely necessary. Sometimes being overly simple and direct with your message can cause your audience to overlook it. We all are being inundated with information on a daily basis; so much that we tend to zone most things out, sometimes without even realizing it. Think about this video on your next marketing project, whether you are designing a simple ad, or titling your next tweet or blog post; I know I will.

]]> http://arenacreative.com/blog/graphic-design/the-power-of-words-in-marketing/feed/ 1 http://arenacreative.com/blog/inspiration/mcdonalds-fry-lights-billboard-ad-in-chicago-creates-quite-a-stir/ http://arenacreative.com/blog/inspiration/mcdonalds-fry-lights-billboard-ad-in-chicago-creates-quite-a-stir/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:17:39 +0000 ArenaCreative.com http://arenacreative.com/blog/?p=2815

What do you think?  Was this a complete ripoff of a concepts, or are people over-reacting?  For more news, reactions, and info about this project, check out fry lights or search online with the term “fry lights”.

Sponsor: Check out the Gluten free guide to fast food eating. Learn how to safely choose the right menu items at restaurant locations such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Chipotle, Subway, Starbucks, Panera, and more.

I had to share this very-well-put-together commercial for the brand new video game installment of Forza Motorsport 4 for Xbox 360.  It’s a live-action trailer entitled “Endangered Species”, narrated by famous automotive guru Jeremy Clarkson.  This is another example of an effective ad spot that doesn’t even show more than a glimpse of the product until the last few seconds.  This method often induces intrigue within the audience;  the element of surprise or curiousity in the product is heightened, especially toward gearheads and car lovers.

Ever wonder how to get paid for testing video games?  Check out http://bit.ly/uqHmLG

I think QR codes definitely helpful IF: 1.) you own a smartphone 2. ) you are a above average smartphone/computer user and 3. ) you hate typing urls and contact info into a touch screen cell phone and/or keyboard.

Yeah, that’s a lot of IF’s. Nevertheless, I’ve incorporated a QR code into my latest business card design on one of the sides, that way for those that might know what they’ve doing, they can have the convenience of not having to type or dial manually when contacting me.

Are QR codes life changing? They’re definitely more convenient, considering most of us now have the tools to read and decode them. How long did it take average people to embrace a new technology, such as computers, or cell phones? I know for a fact that many in the age 50-80 age range are still (just now) entering into the wonderful world of wireless telephones, or even personal computers. Some people embrace technology much quicker than others.

Should you use a QR code in your design? In the end, ask yourself – of what benefit would it be for the target market? Is the product one that has a tech-savvy market? Would it encourage them to visit or contact the intended website with less apprehension?  Is typing on a keyboard really dead?  For those that think of scanning bar-codes with their cell phones as “fun” or “cool” might be a little more prone to it than the rest of the general population.  Maybe awareness of these QR codes will increase over time, and things will change.

What do you think?  Chime in below – and please share this post with a friend using one of the social share links.  To learn more about QR codes and QR code marketing tactics for the small business owner, check out the book by Michael Weir.

Funny enough, I noticed the dunking basketball player stock photo in the montage above is in fact one of our royalty-free images!

Now don’t leave just yet… did you enjoy this post?  Then please be kind and leave a comment below!  Which of the above image manipulations are your favorites?  These posts take a lot of effort to compile, so please share this with your friends and colleagues.

An amazingly executed job by Coca Cola.  All three soccer players are smiling and staring towards the bottle.  The corporate logo is clear and identifiable at the upper left, with a simple, two-word catch phrase “open happiness”.  Why are the guys so happy?  Oh, it’s the cola.  It’s plain and clear.  You see it, and you get it.  And yeah, it only takes a few seconds.  Brand recognition is visible not only in the form of the logo, but also in the product itself.  The photography is excellent, and the image has been stylized in almost an illustrative way to make it stand out from the crowd.

The Applie iPad did it right also.  Logo, upper left hand corner.  It’s human nature that we read from the top left hand side, from left to right.  It’s proven fact.  They placed the logo and product logotype there.  The photo of the woman lounging with the iPad on her lap, shows how portable the product is.  It’s almost like you’re looking over her shoulder.  This billboard has no words other than the product name, but it promotes the lifestyle.  Once again, less is more.  And when is the last time you saw a crop like this on a billboard?  This woman is relaxed, and enjoying her brand new iPad.  Similar to the Coca Cola ad above, the product here speaks for itself. There is no need to busy the ad up with website urls, phone numbers, or any other call to action.

Bad billboard design has text that isn’t viewable from further than a few car lengths away, and they usually have way too much text.  You can’t read that much text on a billboard, because you’re usually traveling at least 65 mph down the highway as you’re viewing it.  Mostly passengers will have the advantage over the drivers, but effective ads will be brief enough to be noticeable to the drivers as well.  If you ever have the privilege to design a billboard, keep these pointers in mind.

]]> http://arenacreative.com/blog/graphic-design/less-is-more-when-it-comes-to-good-billboard-designs/feed/ 1 http://arenacreative.com/blog/photography/celebrity-lookalike-throwdown-kim-kardashian-vs-old-navys-melissa-molinaro/ http://arenacreative.com/blog/photography/celebrity-lookalike-throwdown-kim-kardashian-vs-old-navys-melissa-molinaro/#comments Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:50:05 +0000 ArenaCreative.com http://arenacreative.com/blog/?p=2373 There’s some juicy celebrity drama going on relating to the modeling and advertising industry. Ooh… yum.

In the marketing world, many times it is necessary to cast specific types of models for the target market.  In this Old Navy (owned by Gap) advertisement, they chose a model named Melissa Molinaro that looks pretty close to the famous celebrity Kim Kardashian (Bruce Jenner’s stepdaughter, star of the reality TV show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”). She’s not 100% identical to Kim of course, but there are some pretty strong similarities in their features.  Watch it, and see what you think.

The first thing I thought when I saw this Old Navy ad a few months ago… woah, who’s the Kim Kardashian lookalike!?  Then next… wow, they’re even knocking off the Black Eyed Peas pretty hard.  They are a trio, each of different ethnic backgrounds, similar to how the group in the Old Navy commercial was depicted.  Those guys aren’t suing them, though.  To add a bit more of interesting knowledge to the story, I read here that Melissa (the Kim Kardashian lookalike) is dating the real KK’s ex boyfriend, NFL football star Reggie Bush.  Could this have sparked the lawsuit?  Hmm… interesting. Oh, what tangled webs we weave.

We know Kim is a gorgeous model, but is she also a singer, like Melissa? Not that I know of.  Melissa actually has a pretty great video here, and the song is actually decent when it comes to dance/pop standards.  This is not the last we’re going to be seeing or hearing about this woman. Here is the music video for Melissa Molinaro’s song “Dance Floor”.

So that’s our celebrity dish post of the year, most likely.  It’s interesting because underneath it all, it comes down to one model looking similar to another.  Would I personally ever want to do a stock photoshoot with a model that looked almost nearly identical to huge celebrity? Like Lady Gage, Rhianna, Megan Fox, or Shia Lebouf? Probably not.  While it would be incredibly tempting, that might have disaster written all over it.  Stock images get used all over the place, in more applications than you might even expect.  Sometimes marketers will use lookalikes almost deceptively, and stock photographers have no control over how or where the images are going to be popping up. Once celebs and their PR people and agents catch wind of these types of things, it’s sometimes time for them to break out their lawyers.  They’ve got plenty of money to play around with as well.  Let this be a lesson for all of us, even if in the end, Old Navy/Gap still comes out on top.

You can read more about the story here on USA Today.

A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. 

The return on investment formula:

I recently analyzed sales from a one hour photo shoot several years ago, during a planned trip. The results were suprising. Here I was thinking that it had been a waste of time with all of the expenses, although after calculating the earnings I was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately not everything you do is going to have a great ROI.

Why is ROI important to the success of your business?  If you don’t crunch the numbers once in a while, you won’t know if you’re barking up the right tree or not.  Be smart about your business analysis methods; try not to get too addicted to analyzing every statistic, to the point where you are wasting your own production time.  Throwing a bunch of spaghetti at the wall is one way to eventually see what sticks, but eventually you also have to use what you’ve learned in order to make wiser business decisions.  You’ll figure out which types of work you do, or specific products you sell, are the most worthwhile; also which types are not as profitable, maybe even a waste of time and money.  This method works whether you sell ipad, iphone, or android apps, microstock imagery, or you are a zazzle pro seller or cafe press store owner.  Everyone has a favorite type of product to produce, or maybe even a photographic subject that’s really enjoyable to shoot.  In the end, you need to take into account the amount of time you’re spending investing in your product, and compare it to the amount of return you’re seeing.  The “long tail effect” also comes into play.

Maybe you’re curious as to whether or not all of the precious time you’ve spent on social media marketing efforts have had a good return on investment?  Well, you can figure that out very similarly.  If you consider all time spent taken to network on sites like twitter or facebook as “straight up work hours” try taking the amount of time you’ve spent, and multiplying it by your normal hourly rate.  Plug that into the ROI formula as the “Cost of Investment”.  On a side note, the Photopreneur Blog interviewed me recently regarding the results I’ve seen from using a facebook business page in my social media marketing efforts.

Here are some of the most popular logo designs on the Behance network. To learn more about each design project and more about each artist, just click on any of the thumbnails below. Most of these even show how each designer was able to produce the logo to fit all sorts of uses for the companys’ marketing pieces.  Some even show the design process, from sketch, to producing the mutliple variations, to the final result.

Just when you think people will run out of ways to sell advertising creatively, they surprise us with yet another.  I was signing up for the social network bebo today when I noticed this anti-spam feature, similar to captcha text (you know, the randomly generated text you have to type in the little box in order to prove that you’re not a spam bot, and that you’re an actual thinking, breathing human).  They actually inserted a paid advertisement into that section!  Talk about creative advertising and marketing… people are forced to read the ad, and see the company’s brand identity and web URL.  I just got a huge kick out of this!

Ihad to type in the message that advertiser chose, “NO HAGGLE PRICES”.  Is this type of advertising effective?  I definitely think so.  If I were in the market for an automobile I might be curious enough to click on the banner, or even type in the URL myself.  It’s the type of ad that is forced on a person, but it definitely doesn’t get lost on the sidebar, yielding a potentially worthless impression, as a traditional web banner ad might.

The line between spam and forced advertising can sometimes be a fine one.  It’s all a little bit ironic, though – isn’t it?  They’re using this feature on their site to prevent spammers from joining and posting spam links, yet the anti-spam tool itself is actually an advertisement.

1. You get all dofollow backlinks to any url you post on your blog. This is great for SEO and developing quality backlinks.

2. There is an endless stream of cool eyecandy, videos, articles and content that you can reblog. What’s the point in this, if there is duplicate text and content?  Well, when it comes to reblogging articles, I don’t really see the point for SEO.  Google and the search engines don’t take very well to duplicate text.  What they do like, is unique text.  So, if you’re going to reblog a video, photo, or other media – try and rephrase the description and keywords, maybe even the title a bit, so that it’s a little bit different.  It might help for a little while, until people reblog the crap out of it again.

3.  Tumblr reblogs create awesome content for tweets and twitter microblog posts. It’s so simple to set up your twitter account, so that every time you reblog on tumblr, it will tweet the description and the link to the site, photo or video you are reblogging. It’s pretty easy to keep the descriptions under 140 characaters, and makes finding cool content to feed to your followers a cinch.

4.  The viral-ness of tumblr is great if you’re trying to promote your youtube videos, photos, music, and more. If people like what they see, then they will reblog it.  Every time it’s reblogged, it will link back to your original post or website!  Every time I post to tumblr I see it as planting a little seed, here and there.  You never know what’s going to start getting popular.  An important thing for this to be the most effective, however, is having enough followers to get the ball rolling.  Remember that content is key, and if people like your taste, the style of the stuff you post on your tumblr blog, they’re more apt to follow you.

I’m no expert, but those are the conclusions I’ve come to – let me know what you think!  Here’s a link to my tumblr stream – please follow me, and I’ll follow you back.

I have always admired the artwork of famous artist Norman Rockwell, but for some reason, never realized that he also produced illustrations and stock art for use in advertisements and marketing materials.  Here are some vintage Norman Rockwell advertisements that feature his unique, photo-realistic illustrative style.  Rockwell’s masterpieces even made the cover of The Saturday Evening Post a number times.  Way before there was Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or even mainstream digital photography, Norman Rockwell was a true creative.

To learn a little bit more about Norman Rockwell and to see some more of his fantastic artwork, check out this other post.

Get Noticed or Get Out
The marketing world is a pretty rough place.  Mediocre in marketing just doesn’t cut it anymore.  You’ve got to be memorable, and get attention.  People have just about seen it all nowadays, and have been desensitized to most forms of advertising.  TV commercials that don’t stand out from the rest are just plain ignored.  Print ads without appealing photos or graphics are worthless.  Websites without any sort of call to action are pretty much ineffective.  Nowadays you have to be clever in order to really grab the attention of those potential clients or consumers.

Shopping Bag Designs That Work
How powerful is shopping bag artwork?  I’d say that it’s pretty valuable, especially in urban areas or heavily trafficked shopping malls.  Think about it.  In larger cities most people walk or take public transportation, everywhere they go.  Their purchases are going to be carried, and in turn, these consumers become walking miniature billboards for the stores they just visited.  It’s free marketing for the company they purchased from, whether they like it or not.  And it is cost effective, with just the small price of the printed bag production costs.  Many of the shopping bags in the above video are incredible.  Realizing how the bags are held, the designers laid out the imagery and product artwork according to the way the bags are used.  They not only utilized the space of the bags, but also the negative space.  So yeah, this means that sometimes negative space can even be off the page, or off the product packaging.  There are sometimes holes, cutouts, or even drawstrings that can really be creatively combined with the overall designs.

You Can Face the Book of Faces
There are two ways of going about your facebook social networking efforts.  You can add anyone and their cousin as a friend, and try and grow the largest following as possible.  Or, you can focus on just keeping it more personal with friends family or colleagues; leaving twitter to be the more “public” of your social media repertoire.  On facebook, make sure you at least create a page you use for just your business.  This isn’t just the traditional style profile page, but more of a business page that people can click “like” on.  Whenever they do, their friends will see it, and perhaps they might “like” your product or service as well.  Facebook is definitely a more up close and personal style social media experience.  Unlike twitter, things you post can hang around a heck of a lot longer.  Twitter tweets are short lived, and many times only last a day or two, even when retweeted frequently.  On facebook, you can post things that will have a much longer window for views.

One Crazy Party
Twitter is like one big party, full of interaction and lots of information, opinions, photos, videos and ideas being exchanged, similar to facebook in many ways.  At first glance, those familiar with facebook might just think twitter is a bunch of status message posting.  I thought it was pretty dumb, at first; until I actually understood its potential.  It can be a little bit frustrating at times, while other times really gratifying. I see it almost like a crowded room full of people, everyone is trying to talk at once – you might be able to get 5-10 people to hear you when you tweet. Then BOOM a response, and interaction – “oh my goodness, someone is alive on this thing!” Okay, so now their tweet got the attention of  10 or 20 more people, and maybe some of them clicked on your name. Now there’s a slim chance they might follow you or interact. Some of those people might actually click on your website link in your profile, to see what you or your business are all about. Ah coveted targeted web traffic, attained from social networking efforts. Some days are easier than others.

Beware of Distractions Along the Way
Watch out for these innocent little games and applications on facebook that are potential time wasters.  Before you know it, you could be checking your account every few hours to see if your corn has fully grown to harvesting point, or to see if anyone in your Mafia has sent you an energy pack.  You’ve got enough on your plate and probably little spare time to kill with these addicting diversions, so if you want to mess around, save it for a more appropriate time of day.  If you can’t handle that, don’t get started at all.  I actually had to block a bunch of the games on facebook, because they were sucking away too much of my time.  Another thing to be wary of is that when you visit these websites, they are chock full of links to interesting media clips, articles, photos, and more.   If you don’t keep a handle on yourself and limit your time viewing them, you might find your efforts of social media pretty painful to your daily productivity.  I speak from experience… it happens.  You can easily blow away a half day or more on these ridiculous websites.  You can go from twitter or facebook to vimeo, youtube, or countless other internet websites and blogs.  Before you know it, you’re just wasting time on the internet, instead of doing anything productive.

Don’t Forget to Comment on Blogs (even this one)
I don’t care what anyone says… blog comments are another form of social media.  Just like forums were the old style, blog post comments are getting to be the new style of the old web forum format.  There is an initial blog post (or story) and then a section for comments and feedback below.  Now with commenting systems like Disqus, IntenseDebate, and others – blog post comments are getting even more advanced.  I really am enjoying the Disqus system.  You can have all of your comments in one place, follow other users, and even connect your twitter and facebook accounts into your profile.  Interaction and replying to other people’s blog comments has now gotten so much easier, and connects you even further to other individuals with common interests.  Every time you post a comment on some internet blog, you are giving your own website quality backlinks that might lead to clickthrough traffic.  If you say something intelligent or interesting enough, you might even spark the interest of other readers enough for them to want to check you out.  Make sure you have a gravatar icon set, so that you don’t look like the default.

Semi-Automation Beats Frustration
The good thing is, you can automate posting your updates to a degree with free services like twitterfeed utilizing RSS feeds. The trick is to not overdo it… and at least post a few times a day, so you don’t just look like some stupid spam bot. I feed all my blog posts via RSS into my social networking pages, and a few other blogs that I know my followers enjoy.  My own blog posts are information I know I would be sharing on twitter and facebook anyway, so why not automate it to auto-post?  It makes your life 10 times easier and is a huge time saver.

Twitter Tooling Around
There are many other tools you can employ to schedule your tweets for later, like when you’re going to be busy working, or away from the computer.  One of these is hootsuite, which is totally free.  I’ve never used tweetdeck, but that is another popular twitter tool.  Hootsuite runs right from your web browser, while tweetdeck (I believe) needs to be installed on your computer. JustUnfollow helps you unfollow tweeps that don’t follow you back very quickly and easily.  Wefollow is a great directory that helps you find people you are interested in both targeting as your main audience or interacting with.  Follow Friday Helper helps you to give those appropriate #FF tweets more thoroughly.  There are tons more, but these are just the ones I use most frequently.  Most times I simply tweet from the twitter homepage.  Since the latest redesign, it’s gotten much more user friendly and functional.

Do you want to hold a contest on twitter, and track entries via hashtag? RowFeeder is the free tool for you. What I love about Row Feeder is that you can dump all instances of every tweet (tracked by any keyword or hashtag) into google doc spreadsheet, or excel document (even .csv file).  It’s great.  Then just use a random number generator and choose the winner(s).  Take the number, choose the row in the spreadsheet with that number, and bingo – you’re done.

Some days you will get to post and interact more than others, but that’s the most important part.  You don’t have to be so direct with everyone on twitter, just to achieve some sort of social media presence, but it definitely is the most effective if you interact and build some relationships.  That’s traditionally what good business and good sales is all about anyway, isn’t it? Sure – you need quality, value and so on – but make sure you take advantage of these free marketing efforts (with only the cost of a little of your time) to promote yourself or your business on the web.

Also be sure to check out The Social Networking Academy community, with free programs and tools to help you get the most out of your social media marketing efforts.

This other commercial from diabetes care club takes the cake.  First off it starts off with acting so corny that it will make you bust out laughing.  Then check out the man’s beard thing (is it fake? is it real? who knows?) at :10 and then later at :31 it’s magically turned from black to grey!  The guy has aged 20 years in about 21 seconds!!  Amazing!!

These are companies that sell medical supplies.  The last time I checked, the medical industry was and probably always will be doing pretty well.  It’s just mind boggling.  Did these companies let these things go on purpose, in hopes that the videos will go viral and get distributed around the internet for kicks and giggles?  You know, the concept where annoying or corny marketing tactics, while annoying and low budget, do at least get the point across and the company name in your mind.  Maybe having more than a $25 budget for a commercial shoot is a good thing, especially when the commercials air every single day, and repeatedly.

I thought this was great. As designers we’ve all probably seen (or maybe even had to use) lame B-Roll stock imagery or footage at one point or another.  This is a pretty hilarious spoof on stock footage, or B Roll material as some might call it. Stock can get really corny sometimes, especially when the actors aren’t as talented as they could be.  The late night infomercials seem to always have the cream of the crop, and this clip here is definitely highlighting the exact types of clips you would find in those types of advertisements.  Videographers, graphic designers, and anyone else producing stock will have a laugh at this clever skit. Embedding was disabled, so click the photo to view it on youtube.

WE GOT THAT B-ROLL!!!

Ever heard the term “viral marketing” but wasn’t 100% sure on the entire process, or what it means? Well, if you are still curious, this video will clear it up nicely for you.