Being a budding advertising student it never fails that sooner or later one of our Professors are going to throw their hands up and ask the paramount question: What’s the Big Idea?! You see, students (as well as some real world working advertisers) often bury a campaign’s “ah ha! Moment” or “big idea” somewhere deep down in a cloudy mess. Obviously this isn’t the best way to display our potential of producing a leading campaign that is going to get our products off the shelves into the home of consumers.

So I ask you, what’s the Big Idea? How are you building up a relationship with your consumers so you aren’t just another company selling trinkets to them?

Wieden and Kennedy, the marketing agency we should all remember from the 90s, has a pretty impressive client list that includes Nike, Coke, Diet Coke, Electronic Arts (EA for any gamers out there), and of course Old Spice. Why should I mention them? Well W&K can now add to their list of greats as having the most successful advertising to internet campaigns to date.

What’s their big idea? That your man could smell like the man you fancy on TV. We could all learn from Old Spice/W&K on how to best resonate with our consumers and produce a campaign that gets those consumers talking.

“There are very few commercials that are that special…” Ellen Degeneres

Please enjoy the video below for a more indept look at the Old Spice Compagin:

If the video doesn’t open automatically please visit the following link: http://creativity-online.com/work/old-spice-responses-case-study/20896

More often than not companies, when faced with a dilemma, look for the largest “ahh this will fix everything” solution rather than a solution that actually resonates within their consumer base. Companies should be focusing on quality changes and building detailed consumer profiles that focus’ on user-ability; which doesn’t always mean a showy display of the companies finances.

Today I am providing a short video by Rory Sutherland given at the 2010 TED Conference. Rather than ramble on and repeat everything that Rory will say anyways, below I have opted for a short outline about the video. Enjoy. J Rory Sutherland is a personal favorite of mine in the advertising world.

Video Outline; notes.

1. Creation of a new job title: Chief Detail Officer-duties would be to worry about the intricate details that companies often forget, but provide a high user-ability interface.
2. Companies have become completely disconnected for what is important to consumers.
3. Potent change can be disproportional to the amount of money spent.
4. Make memorial quality changes rather than boosting about large expensive changes.
a. example: Hotel Elevator Music
5. Big important problems do not need to have big important/expensive solutions.

If you have some down time check out Rory Sutherland’s blog after you watch his speech below: http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/rory_sutherlands_blog/default.aspx

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo Da Vinci

After much research for the best polling app for publishing polls to Facebook pages seems to be Poll Daddy polls. We have tried several other applications and this one seems to be the best. Advantages of using this app as of today, June 2010, are listed below along with a link to the application.

• Attach a visual to the poll. This app allows brands to attach a picture. (key for polls about new products)
• Easy publishing to Facebook Pages (or profiles). Poll Daddy lays out the step-by-step process for you.
• Sharing the Poll. Links to Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg and others allow for easy sharing.
• After voting on the poll it also gives users the option to share with their friends. Check box can auto-share.

Poll Daddy Polls on Facebook

*RPM is in no way associated with Poll Daddy and this blog post is strictly an opinion.

What started as the newest online trend being passed back and forth between multiple owners has turned into one of the hottest online media tools available today. Skype recorded over 560 million registered users by the end of the fourth quarter of 2009; adding over 39 million new users just in the fourth quarter alone.  In just the year of 2009 Skype accounted for 12% of the global international calling minutes.

What do all these numbers mean? Well it means that Skype has successfully tapped into the world’s calling needs; moving online media into the world of internet phone calls and upping the ante of outdated instant messaging. From Gen X to Y to even Boomers, Skype is quickly becoming a way of life by helping long distance friends and families (and even businesses) stay in touch without the added expense of a plane ticket.

Being just an intern, I travel when school allows and jobs demand. However, being a student in New York City often means coming home to a very long summer in Kentucky where my closest friends are a eons away in states such as Texas, California, and that far  away country called New England. We manage to stay connected somehow though through the use Skype (seeing how you can only go so far with texting and not all phones allow conference calls). Yes…every Thursday night my closest six friends and my myself meet in cyber space on a conference call and argue over the newest melodrama on our favorite TV show, The Real Housewives of NYC. (Team Jill!)

Should businesses learn how to use such online mediums to connect with consumers? Yes. Would we listen…most likely. The key advantage that businesses should focus on is what I, intern Kate, have dubbed as the four easy rules to follow for online media:

1. Keep it easy.

2. Keep it simple.

3. Do not ask us to commit (let us decide)

4. Keep it easy.

Until then; keep it classy.

and one more from Ryan just because…..

Coke has unveiled a new Viral Video in the Happiness Machine. It was great to hear Adam Brown explain the idea and execution from the powerhouse brand’s perspective. Brown acknowledged that Media Impressions is an easy way to track social campaign success and in this case YouTube views as a measurement for success. Coca-Cola and Adam Brown believe this is their first video developed exclusively for online communication and distribution only.

One of Brown’s key notes was to fish where the fish are and YouTube would count for one place with plenty o’ fish.

The video tells a story and is content that people care about and can identify with – check it out for yourself.

Below are 6 Steps to Social Media Planning according to Shel Holtz

1. Identify Goals (Awareness, Loyalty)
2. Set Strategy
3. Establish Obectives (Measurable Tasks) for a great reference check out KD Paine’s Measurement Blog
4. Select Tactics (YouTube, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter)
5. Measure Against Objectives
6. Make Adjustments and Repeat

Thoughts?

Listening to Shel Holtz, the host of Podcast For Immediate Release, really got me thinking about what customers really want when they follow a business on Twitter or become of a Fan of a business on Facebook.

What are your reasons?

Below are some top reasons that Shel offered:

The majority of Facebook users become fans of businesses because they want deals. They crave exclusive coupons, updates on deals and expect to have access to deals that they can only get by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Twitter users have different expectations of brands. (Twitter Logo accounts as Shel referred to them) Twitter users expect to be engaged in conversation with the business that can occur nowhere else and on a real-time basis. I think users feel empowered by having the ability to have one-to-one communication with the brand.

Both make complete sense, so when considering tone and social strategy consider these two items of interest and user expectation for each medium.

I will try to have several more posts from this conference put on by Ragan Communications at Coca-Cola HQ in Atlanta. You can also track conference Hashtag #RaganCoke on Twitter.

-Ryan Hilliard, Interactive Marketing Manager

It feels insensitive and perhaps too soon to talk about marketing while the people of Haiti are desperately searching for loved ones and food and water in the wake of the 7.0 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks that shook the capitol of Port au Prince on Tuesday.  However, I am humbled and proud of the role social and mobile media has played in the relief effort this week.  As of 11:00PM on Thursday night, The Red Cross reached $3 Million in donations via text messaging, but by Friday morning that number had more than doubled to reach $8 Million.  This jump is no doubt due to the incredible support for this campaign through other media channels, social media being a major contributor.  The social media formula that has caused it to be a cannot-ignore marketing tool for companies has now become a humanitarian tool. The open communication format allows for an outpouring of supporters and fundraising requests that provides top of mind awareness and constant motivation to help.  The real time conversation that can sometimes be the bane of some companies’ and celebrities’ existence now provides them a captive audience just wanting someone to tell them how they can help.

Mobile has also been a key tool in fundraising efforts because of its ease of use, pure and simple.  In times of crisis where swift action is necessary, people feel the immediacy and want to donate using the quickest method possible.  Mobile is unique because it only takes a few strokes of the keypad (or touch screen) to make a difference.  That, coupled with the fact that The Red Cross uses small donations of $10 or $20 as the default amount allows just about anybody to help, even if they can’t afford much.  Even the most user friendly websites can’t offer one step instant donation.

With The Red Cross collecting unprecedented amounts to aid the people of Haiti, I can’t help but feel a sense of justification for social and mobile media that should cause skeptics of its purpose and staying power to pause.  Many skeptics like to point out the destructive forces of social media while clinging desperately to the notion that they still have control over their brand, but for once I hope this proves as an example of the comradery and philanthropic spirit that social media can foster.

This year we followed an Advent calendar theme, so you’ll need to click on windows 1 through 25 to see everyone.

Follow this Link

Right Place Media 2009 Ecard

Cheers to a Merry 2010!

Online Display Marketing is still relevant. Huh? Banners? Yeah.

However, our reliance on “the click” must be re-evaluated moving forward. Online Marketing being so measurable can be both a blessing and a curse for this reason. ComScore has referred to the overwhelming reliance on the value of a click and click-through-rate as “click crack.” Marketers, I am not devaluing the click, it is vital to digital campaigns.

With that said only 16% internet users clicked on display ads in March 2009 and that rate could decrease in the coming years.

What to do? Use the medium how it was intended to be used for marketing – value every impression, use available targeting and develop memorable creative for a good offer.

Targeting Options for Online Display:

• Geographic
• Demographic
• Behavioral
• Contextual
• Retargeting

CPMs can vary depending on the complexity of targeting.

No matter how good the media placement and targeting with a weak offer and/or poor creative the ads the campaign will most likely NOT be successful. And most of the time there is no difference in price to add flash.

If you’re one of the 84% of online users that do not click on display ads then consider if you remember ads? Why do you remember those ads? That is why we as advertisers must remember – to value each impression as if it was our own.