Tag: advertising

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Tell me why I should care

Posted on by Red Slice

Dell recently announced they are “taking a cue from the Apple playbook” and launching a new branding campaign that does not talk about technology. From the NASDAQ article:

The campaign, dubbed "More You," is aimed at personalizing technology and marks a break in tradition for a company that got its start by commoditizing computers. Rather than focus on the specifications of products, Dell is hoping the campaign will encourage consumers to think about features and how they can be used.

So many of us who have been in tech marketing have been beating this drum for years. Yes, when you talk to the IT guys, they care about widgets, features, scalability, disaster recovery, processing speed and the like. But when you start talking to line of business executive (or in this case, end consumers), they don’t care about the whiz-bang technology jargon. They want to know how it makes their lives better.

The best analogy I ever heard about this was from a highly-skilled technical analyst who said, “When I get in the shower in the morning, I don’t care about what the pipes are made of, how they move behind the walls, where the valves are in the house, the speed of water flow by the second….I care that when I turn the knob, water comes out and I get clean.”

Love it.

Too often we get enamored with our own story and communicating every single solitary bit of it in the hopes that SOMETHING will stick.  But what sticks the most for people is not the technical info – you will investigate that as you get closer to making your decision or when you are comparing apples and apples – but the vision of what the product or service will do for them.  Once they are hooked, you can dazzle them with your gigabytes per second and whatnot.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Southwest shows us how to handle a PR crisis

Posted on by Red Slice

Southwest Airlines turned a safety nightmare into a PR coup that proves the brand really does care about its customers.

We’ve all seen the amazingly campy Southwest Airlines ads that tell us they love our bags so much, they get to fly free. Southwest is trying to prove they are the airline that cares about true service, and it’s an incredibly powerful differentiator in an industry that feels like it will eventually charge us for cups of water. And instead of unrealistic visions of clouds and comfortable passengers with miles of legroom  that other airlines show in their ads, Southwest uses humor and personality to say, “Look, we know flying sucks these days. We’re going to try to make it as fun an experience for you as we can.”

This is carried through down to the employee level. I recently flew Southwest and the flight attendant, upon landing, joked, “How many of you checked bags today?” Many of us raised our hands. Then she asked, “And how much did you pay for those bags?” The answer was a resounding shout of “Nothing!” “That’s right!” she said, “Here at Southwest, we love you and we love your bags, too!”

Recently, Southwest was in the news for a large gash that expectantly tore through a 737 fuselage mid-flight. The plane made an emergency landing and everyone was unharmed. This could have caused a brand fiasco, a PR nightmare. But Southwest stepped up and showed why they are a power brand.

How?  According to this WSJ article, by doing the right thing: being proactive and transparent and putting their passengers before profits. The article reads like a 24 episode, a blow by blow of what happened as the PR crisis unfolded. Every action Southwest took makes you love this brand even more.

They transparently kept press and passengers in the loop on the situation. They also stepped out in front of it by  cancelling hundreds of flights and grounding their entire fleet of 737’s until the cause of the tear could be determined. They walked their talk and showed they really do care about their customers.

Turns out Boeing, the manufacturer, said their models were flawed in terms of wear and tear and are working through tests and investigations with the NTSB. The article states they may have created a  new standard for the industry by being so proactive. “The move allayed passenger concerns and helped the carrier adhere to its aggressive inspection timeline with more control over its own destiny..”

The NTSB praised them for taking action before the government forced them to. That is how you control your brand, even thought it ultimately lives in the minds of your customers. You control all the aspects within your power to ensure people will form the right brand impression.

That’s the thing about brand. It’s all well and good to say you stand for something. But its what you do when the going gets tough that either increases your brand loyalty or completely destroys it. This is one of the marks of a Power Brand: to be able to elegantly recover from a crisis, not just intact, but as a way to prove yourself even more.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Tracking your every move

Posted on by Red Slice

I don’t get the whole appeal of location-based apps and ads. I mean, yes, I get that it would make things convenient if my phone could recommend restaurants I was passing by, or a notify me about a special Frappaccino discount at the next Starbucks I was about to hit. When I was single, traipsing around San Francisco in my 20’s, it would have been nice to know where friends were to meet out at a moments notice. But it seems people are just fine with telling the entire free world what they are doing and where they are at every single moment in time.

Am I a luddite? Maybe. I’ve never been an early adopter. But it’s only a few short steps from location-based apps to sinister government tracking devices and I’m not sure I can get on board with that (although they probably know our every move anyway already, given GPS in our phones).  OK, I know, too melodramatic, but on a lesser scale, sometimes you don’t want any powers-that-be – be it your boss, your clients or your mother – to know where you are. How many times have you played hooky from work to take a “mental health day” or told your husband you were one place when you were secretly buying his Christmas present across town?  I revel in my freedom – after all, I fought for it tooth and nail when I was a teen. Why would I give it up as an adult?

I remember living in San Francisco when wi-fi came out at AT&T Park.  People were psyched: you could skip work to go to the afternoon Giants game AND still be productive.  But now, they’d know you were not “working from home.”

Don’t get me wrong. I support targeted marketing. I believe that the better a company targets it’s ads, the less crap I have to wade through that doesn’t apply to me.  There are probably ways to notify advertisers of your location, but not broadcast it to the people in your life, and maybe that’s not so bad. It’s better than telling criminals the best time to go rob my house because I’m in another state.

I’m struck by two film images whenever this topic comes up: one, Minority Report, when Tom Cruise races past a billboard and it knows who he is.  And, two, Wall-E, where we are introduced to a future society of obese humans zooming around on electric Lazy Boys, with their heads stuck in an audio/visual device – thus, inhibiting any interaction they may have with their real fellow human beings. OK, the latter is more about our techno-dependence these days, and I already know the former scenario exists anyway.

Still. I refuse to turn on Facebook Places and the like. I’m holding on tight to the ability to take a day off when I need a break  – without anyone being the wiser.

Do you use location tracking apps or have you benefitted from location-based marketing? Please share your story in the Comments.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Best and Worst of Super Bowl XLV: Do you agree?

Posted on by Red Slice

I don’t.

First off, GO PACKERS! I was excited to see them win if I couldn’t have the Jets in the game. 

Secondly, was anyone else a bit disappointed in the ad fare this year?  Given how much companies are spending these days for a :30 spot ($3.1 million, and that’s just for the airtime, never mind the production cost of the ad itself), you’d have thought you’d get….I don’t know, MORE.

Here’s what Brand Channel deemed the best and worst brand spots. Do you agree?  Please post in the Comments.

I disagree with Telefora as a miss. I thought this was the best surprise of the night as to what I thought was going to be a schmaltz-fest with country singer Faith Hill – as many country songs and videos are known to be.  I loved the surprise of the guys vulgar line at the end, combined with the “we’ll help you say it beautifully” message – because “clearly you can’t.” I also kind of liked the Richard Lewis ad for Snickers, although it was too lame of a bet to try to repeat the magic from last year’s Betty White ads. The reason it worked last year is that it was completely unexpected. Still, I thought Richard Lewis (and Roseanne Barr, for that matter) were nice obscure choices.

I do agree that the Career Builder ad was just tired and lazy, Kim Kardashian needs to go away as a spokesperson for anything and the Go Daddy ad was scary and horrible at the same time. Go Daddy’s branding always makes me sad because they are such a great company with killer customer service and tech support, and they don’t need to go the shock value route. Almost makes me NOT want to use them, which is kind of against the point of brand advertising.

And Salesforce.com, what the heck were you thinking? All that money, wasted on an ad that left people outside of the tech industry confused as to what Chatter does (made it appear like a competitor to Facebook, rather than a collaboration tool a la Sharepoint.)  And securing the Black Eyed Peas involvement to boot? Ay yay yay. Thanks a lot. You just convinced other B2B CEO’s why investing in brand ads is a waste of money. Note to those CEO’s: If you do it right, it is not.

As for Best spots, I had not caught the Chevy Cruze First Date ad, as I was hosting, chipping and dipping our own party. But after viewing it online, I adored it. What a great way to show the differentiation between their FB capabilities and Ford’s. And it was just a sweet spot. And as much as I hate Justin Bieber, the Best Buy ad with him and Ozzy was hilarious. “What’s a Bieber?” is my new catchphrase. The Chevy truck ad was very well done, using references to both Lassie and the Balloon Boy (didn’t know that was possible) I think what was great about these ads is that they showed you can still communicate a brand message and differentiator while producing a clever, memorable ad. This is in stark contract to just trying to create a “buzzworthy” ad that gets people talking, without it communicating the brand position you want.

Case in point: Groupon. Another pronounced Hit that I call a severe Miss. They went for the shock factor and it backfired, in my opinion. Yes, I know they were poking fun at celebrity PSA’s and yes, I can take a controversial joke as much as the next guy (after al, I’m a Daniel Tosh fan). But poking fun at Tibet, endangered animals and the like seemed just pointless and off-strategy for Groupon, whose brand is supposed to be all about “community”, “supporting local business” and  highlighting the “underdog small business guy.”  That’s what happens when you aim for buzz rather than brand.  Groupon may have just lost me as a customer – not because I’m offended by the ads, but more offended by the marketing stupidity that someone thought this was a good branding idea and wasted all of that money. The ads were just dumb. Period.

When companies get it right, they really get it right and show the world the power of effective brand advertising.  Effective being the operative word.

Until next year…..!  What do you guys think? What were your faves and misses? Please Share in the Comments.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Learn from my marketing misstep, but why this tactic might be great for your biz

Posted on by Red Slice

Forgive me, dear readers, for I have sinned.

Here I am, preaching about building a strong brand so you can choose the right marketing tactics in which to invest. I talk about measuring progress and success so you always know your ROI. But, as is often the case with doctors and consultants, we are our own worst patients/clients.

Let me share with you my faux pas so that you can learn what not to do – and give you a review of a unique marketing tactic that may actually be a good investment for you, depending on your product or service.

AnyLuckyDay.com is a unique and simple marketing concept. The founder, Giancarlo, will create a 24 Hour advertising campaign, Custom Sponsor Video. Multiple Insertions into their Twitter and Facebook Streams and Search Engine Optimized post on AnyLuckyDay.com. You can also purchase optional items such as an email sponsorship and Publishing Rights to your video. All you do is pay him to “sponsor” a specific day for $150 and offer something for the contest winner.

Visitors are encouraged to visit your website and then post a comment on AnyLuckyDay.com to officially enter the contest. I’m always eager to learn how innovative marketing tactics work, so I gave it a shot and bought January 20 as my day to promote my book. I offered three free books as the giveaway.

The process was fairly easy.  Once they got in touch with me (which took a while, because I think they are understaffed), I sent them some information, photos, website links and a copy of the book. They then created the video and allowed me to review it before posting. I would say the hard part is their customer service is not that great, meaning they went a while after I paid without getting in touch with me, and it seemed like I was just being put into “the machine.” Granted, we had some email glitches where some of their emails to me seemed to have been lost or never got to me, but let’s just say that I tolerated it because the price was really not that high. Sometimes price can be an indication of the level of hand-holding you will get.

So the video looked good, the promotion ran, and I was delighted that many of the Commenters were actually small business owners.  I had no idea what his database or follower profile looked like so I went in blind just to try it. Giancarlo even invited me to comment back and created a Disqus account for me in case I didn’t have one.

Results? Here’s the lessons I learned and where I fell down:

1) Failure to set concrete goals: I really didn’t give this promotion any real time or attention because I’ve been so slammed and because it was so cheap. I should have set a few metrics of what I wanted to see increase: Twitter followers, FB fans, Newsletter signups, etc. and determined pre- and post benchmarks. But I never took the time.  Qualitatively, I think my follwers and fans did increase on that day, but since I failed to take a snapshot of Jan 19, I can’t be sure.

LESSON: Set clear goals and capture a “before” benchmark so you can compare your “after” numbers to it.

2) Failure to put a tracking mechanism in place: Because I don’t sell my book directly, I will need to rely on Amazon figures or my publisher telling me if there was a spike in sales. There was a noticeable ranking increase on that day, but how Amazon decides rankings are not from pure sales – it’s a wonky rating system based on sales in your categories. I also don’t have visibility into all my book sales data overall.  And on AnyLuckyDay’s end, they told me they could not provide any clickthrough metrics, and did not provide me with a post-promotion list of “Number of Tweets, Number of Comments, Number of FB Posts” etc., which would have been nice.

LESSON: Create trackable response mechanisms. I should have created a custom URL through Bit.ly so I could at least track clickthroughs and exposure, if not sales. But I also should not have invested in an advertiser that could not provide any tracking info to me from their side.

3) Failure to determine audience fit: OK, I knew upfront I was taking a risk on this one. To be fair, I  am not sure if I ever asked them to provide some sort of breakdown of who their audience and followers are (again, lack of time and attention on managing this campaign on my part). I was lucky that many of them were indeed business owners, but what if they were not?

LESSON: Always ask for a audience segment breakdown and try to get any info you can. If the vehicle will not provide it, you should invest somewhere that can.

4) Failure to take time: All of my problems stemmed from just paying for this tactic and not ensuring I thought through it all. If I was too busy to properly leverage this tactic, I should never have done it.

LESSON: Make sure that if you invest in marketing, you have the bandwidth or help to leverage it to its fullest and don’t just throw money away.

AnyLuckyDay.com is a great idea for a variety of products and services just to get a blitz effect. My verdict is still out on whether it’s better for higher-end or lower-end items, as I still don’t know who is in their “tribe” but I would assume something too high-end might not work for more than a one-time sales blip.  You need to remember you’ll get noise because you are giving some items away, but will it lead to any sales in the future? This is such a unique contest/advertising concept that I can’t say with certainty that people with higher incomes are not  in the tribe. Case in point: there were small business owners in the bunch. But if you have a fairly general consumer product, this would be an excellent – and inexpensive – way to get some some buzz going. I know I got the word out about my book to many who may not have heard of it, got some new followers, fans and signups – so to me, that is worth $150.

Have you tried any other unique advertising tactics like this? What was your experience? Please share in the comments.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Art + Social Media = Fabulosity (and Marketing Genius)

Posted on by Red Slice

My good friend and videographer, Philip, sent me a clever social media campaign that I am just now getting around to sharing with all of you (yes, trying to get myself more organized in 2011).  Have you heard of the musical group Belle & Sebastian? They have a sort of a “folksy pop” vibe about them, and maintain a cult following throughout the world.

For the release of their album in August, they did a fun social media campaign that not only engaged their fans, but generated buzz and probably made their SEO rankings zoom off the charts by asking fans to create photo content. The best brand campaigns are the ones that ask your fans to do something (show their loyalty and commitment), promotes your business (what you ask them to do creates buzz for YOU) and creates beautiful content that can be repackaged with the tribe (that’s just my own personal vote.).

Their new album was called Belle and Sebastian Write About Love. When working on art for the album, they captured this image of a hip chick writing the record name in chalk in secluded spots in Glasgow:

 

Write About Love by belles glasgow Photo credit: Belle and Sebastian

So they launched a social media contest, via Flikr, to ask fans to do the same thing (write the album name in chalk in the towns where they live) and upload their photos. Winners would be used in their online TV show, and others would win trophies for “the most striking, scenic, artistic or funny contributions.” Here is the contest page and you can see some of the wildly different, yet artistic and fun entries they received. This insight into the “art” of their fans also probably gave them some valuable intel of their customers.

By doing this fun & spontaneous contest, Belle and Sebastian increased their tribe engagement and loyalty, creating an event that caused people to “check back in” and see how the entries were looking, offered incentives for really putting thought into the entry by offering prizes fans would cherish, and turned their tribe into a slew of field sales reps, promoting their album from here to kingdom come. For every one photograph, imagine the onlookers wondering what the heck each entrant was doing when they came upon them writing the band’s name in chalk and snapping pics?

The moral? Get creative with social media as it can have more arms and legs than you think. The other moral? Promotion does not have to be icky and sleazy. It can actually produce something artistic of which your fans can be proud and which can make them ever more loyal to your message.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Mobile, Mea Culpa and the Brat Pack: 2011 Advertising Trends

Posted on by Red Slice

bratpackLoved this WSJ article by Suzanne Vranica on Monday about the 2011 trends in advertising.  Not surprisingly, interactivity, personalization and new technologies lead the pack in what’s hot for 2011. But just as with fashion, there are a few interesting themes emerging (or re-emerging, as the case may be) that might look good on the catwalk this year, but frighten us the next. The trend that made me squeal with delight is revealed at the end of this post.

So what’s the deal in 2011?

Mobile ads are getting hotter and hotter. Between location-based services and the rise in smart phones, mobile has shown us how “sexy” it can be – now it’s time to up the game. Look out for more ads that enable you to bypass the store completely and purchase directly from the brand ad on your phone. And you know how brand apps followed quickly on the heels of game apps for your phone, enabling you to compare prices, find stores or even find clean restrooms (courtesy of Charmin)? Same will hold true this year for your TV.  With cable set-top boxes and gaming systems, look for more brands to bring apps to your TV set.

Suzanne also cites that longer brand ads will be the norm, as we try to cut through the clutter and offer more engaging, deeper experiences. Such “films” may also encourage the trend of an interactive virtual product demo, like the one that Mitsubishi did with its Online Test Drive for the 2011 Outlander Sport last year.

Sports marketing will expand in the sponsorship area but more for the “everyday” athlete and not just the Super Bowl. The trend in health, wellness and lifestyle activities will see more and more companies sponsoring lifestyle sports events, like marathons, triathlons and yoga.

Transparency and authenticity – things that Red Slice has mentioned more than a few times – has finally caught up to larger companies. As we saw with Domino’s recent campaign for changing it’s tasteless formula, the trend will be more and more companies doing the equivalent of “checking themselves into rehab” and writing a tell-all about their recovery. Look for more honesty, confession and “warts and all” advertising to be the norm to engender trust and loyalty. This one should be an interesting one to watch unfold!

Other trends involve government regulations on internet privacy and food regulation (please, please, set a standard for what a brand can call “organic" and “natural”!). And in case you haven’t noticed, as my husband and I have recently, commercial jungles are making a comeback. Remember “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz” or the old McDonald’s jingle that still haunts me (“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun.")? The article quotes Susan Credle of Leo Burnett saying, “Coming out of the depression in the 30’s, happy music became very important.” Oh my.

And the one I’m most psyched about, probably from being a teen who grew up with John Hughes’ films? The Return of the 1980’s! The article states The Brat Pack may be pitching more products as we enjoy an 80’s renaissance. Por que? Well, the country may be trying to recapture the confidence and swagger of the Reagan years to get back on our feet again. Oh boy. Not only will I get to enjoy Rob Lowe in his hilarious role on Parks and Rec (that casting was pure genius) but he might be pushing Audi’s or Snuggies?! Sign.  Me. Up.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Microsoft finds the brand sauce…finally

Posted on by Red Slice

I’m pleased as punch about Microsoft’s new branding directions lately. They are finally starting to connect on an emotional level with some consistency across their consumer products. Hurrah!

OK, I’m not on drugs: I know they don’t necessarily have the rabid fans of Apple. but they are making strides for a company that has previously made all their consumer products feel disconnected (and with poor, confusing names, I might add – but that’s for another post).

After their success with Windows 7 “My Idea” campaign, which showed how users just want technologies to fit our lives and be what WE need them to be, they continued those efforts with Bing. Presenting Bing not just as another Google, but as an alternative to every search engine by being more about finding the right answer versus “search overload proved effective, believable and got people talking.  Bing is indeed a different experience from Google. May not tear Google die-hards away, but their point was not to do that. It was to provide the alternative to those looking for one; for those who were not getting the experience they wanted from Google.

Now Microsoft will be launching it’s brand new Windows 7 phone. A bit late to the party? Hell yes. But from all accounts, I’ve heard this will be pretty sweet indeed. And they were smart about it. Their brand campaign will not be about “another smartphone:” It’s not about competing with the existing phones on the market – Blackberry, iPhone, and Android – but about turning the entire way we look at all smartphones on its head. According to a recent article in the Puget Sound Business Journal. it’s a commentary on our “culture of mobile distraction”. Ads will show horrible predicaments caused by people lost in their phones, texting, playing games, etc and the consequences of that. Then it will present Windows 7 phones as being able to “get you in, and out, and back to life.”

When others zig, sometimes you have no choice but to zag.

Microsoft knows they need to stand out. They need to be a bit edgy, a bit devil’s advocate, because they are lagging in this market. But I for one feel like their brand efforts are finally going in the right direction and are beginning to uniformly stand for something: making technology work for us, not the other way around. We shall see if this new brand effort actually delivers on its promise.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Why I chose Droid over the iPhone: A college student’s perspective

Posted on by Red Slice

Guest post by Red Slice intern, Suzi An

I traveled to Los Angeles for ten days in early July for a class that I took during the spring and I somehow ended up having my phone stolen five days into the trip. Once I returned back to Seattle, I immediately went to purchase a new phone. I was met with a dilemma: be connected constantly with a smart phone or have a simple phone that performs the necessary functions. As a college student, I feel as if I am missing out on having a smart phone because everyone around campus would be walking around with their fancy phones that could do a million things while my phone struggled to keep up with me. Maybe it was fate that my phone magically disappeared because I was immediately drawn in to the world of a thousand possibilities in the palm of my hand.

When I walked into the retail store, I noticed that T-Mobile had a wall dedicated to shiny and sleek Android phones. Being attracted to sparkly and shiny things, I ended up walking towards the long white wall and staring at a cell phone that essentially looked like the iphone but in Samsung form. I was mesmerized. All thoughts of buying a non-smart phone had completely vanished into the consumer’s abyss. I knew that because T-Mobile does not carry iphones, this was the closest I would ever come to own such a device. My mind flashed back to the TV ad campaigns that Android had put out within the year. All I could think of was what the Droid actually does. The high-tech machine robot in all the commercials had gotten me intrigued by all the possibilities that this phone could do. I carefully pick up the sleek phone and the bright screen turns on. I tap the screen and see that the fallen-leaves-on-water wallpaper moves as if my finger had dropped into the water. It was a little much for me but it was fascinating to see this phone interact with me. I then see all these different applications that were on the screen. I slide through at least 8 screens where each was had at least two apps on it. Long story short, I made my decision in less than a second. I wanted a smart phone just like everyone else so that I could check the weather or stalk people on Twitter or play awkward games like The Moron Test (which I passed, I’m not sure if that means I’m a moron…).

Obviously, I purchased this ridiculously expensive phone and my friends and I compared it to the iphone and their ad campaigns. Now, when most people think about the iphone, they think of AT&T, poor reception, and dropped calls. There is no image that I associate with the iphone, other than the sleek Apple whereas with the Android, I associate it with a hi-tech robot that is able to do everything I want it to do. That’s not a very positive way for the iphone to be perceived but no one seems to care because it’s an Apple product. It is highly desired, easy to use, and profitable. Apple products are undoubtedly popular among college students and because the iphone came before Android, Apple is going to win over customers because people are familiar with the brand. Apple practically infests my campus (to which I undeniably contribute). Although I am a huge Apple fan, I cannot seem to shake the Droid away. It most definitely Does. I’ve spent more time fiddling with my Droid than I have with any iphone. The Droid commercial lives up to its name and I get excited every time I see the small green robot pop out of the corner of my screen. It is as if he’s saying, Hello, I’m here to make your life easier.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

2010 Advertising Trends

Posted on by Red Slice

Guest blog by Red Slice intern, Suzi An

The advertising environment in 2009 was dark and gloomy due to the budget cuts, causing the industry to face a new reality and evolve. Mainly, businesses and brands hopped on the social network and consumer-generated media bandwagons to create more personal interactions with customers. Ultimately, this brought customers closer to a product or brand, just as marketers had hoped.

So how are businesses (and traditional marketing and ad agencies) expanding to reach all audiences and adapt to the changing world in which their customers live?

  1. Optimizing media convergence: As companies reduce their budgets in TV, radio and print, they will put more money and efforts into the online community where the metrics can be measured. To accurately measure activity and link online ads to offline purchasing is crucial in today’s marketplace. In addition, the increase in online shopping has many “old school” companies finally looking to advertise online. In order to deliver a better return on investment, companies will need to close the skill gap – or start hiring really smart people who get it – to more appropriately understand and harness the power of this media convergence.
  2. Adapting to smart phones: It seems that smart phones are slowly taking over the world. Almost everywhere we look, someone is jiggling around on his or her fancy sleek phone. So it’s more important than ever to understand in what direction media is headed and what customers are using in order to stay ahead of the game. If mobile media is where everything is occurring, then that’s where the industry needs to be. Meaning, advertising companies will customize campaigns to cater to smart phone media in a more innovative and creative way.
  3. Cross-media ad campaigns: In addition to mobile advertising, we see media shifting into new territories such as online and offline video games. In Grand Theft Auto, you may drive past a billboard for McDonalds or some other giant company brand. Because the video gaming community has seen rockstar growth, companies understand that this is a successful and innovative way to promote interactive branding campaigns across screens.
  4. Social media: Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t get away from social media. It’s taking over how we interact with anything and everything. This platform will provide a new sales channel for establishing brand and product awareness, taking campaigns further away from traditional advertising and text-based ads. Many of the rules are being made up as we go along, but tons has been written about the proper etiquette for “selling” in social media – and what communities will and will not accept.
  5. Valuable and innovative ads: Because this generation of consumers is always looking for something new and lives in a world of constant connection, companies are looking for more creative advertising and content for the online community. This is why we have seen an increase in viral ad campaigns.

What will the next year bring us in advertising? Please add your thoughts in the Comments.

Source: http://www.gourmetads.com/blog/2010-advertising-trends

Source: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/talking-back-top-five-advertising-trends/