Thinking Advertising? Think MECCA.
From Friday 16 December, 2011, MECCA will be operating out of the JSA Building, 4 Exhibition St, Bowen Hills.
We will be co-located with JSA Creative.
Oh, and couple of other things have changed as well!
1. Darren Gunning will be our new General Manager
2. Our brand colour will be Blue (for a fresh start!)
3. Phone will now be 07 3257 2333 and Fax 3854 1773
We look forward to 2012 in our new home, surrounded by like minded people!
Of course we all know that newspapers ( and magazines ) are edging ever closer to the cliff-of-no-return and will most likely fall off in the next decade or so. The Pad ( or Tablet ) is here and the Pad generation is just about to be born, literally.
Can you image explaining what a mouse is for to any child born after 2020?
Father to son: Well, you see son, we used to use these things (mouse) to navigate the screen, it was way better than lines of DOS code or Run commands like the old days.
Son (now 5 years, born 2020): Dad, if you even had computers back then, and you had to use your fingers on the mouse, why didn’t you just touch the screen? (Vacant expression)
Well, before that time arrives, Creative agencies and Clients alike will have a decade or so of bridging the Pad with Print Media to deliver highly targeted content and communications only limited by effort and creativity.
This little demonstration from Tesco is just the beginning.
Pad Marketing Food for thought:
My Pad knows who I really am.
My Pad knows my browser history, browsing patterns and behaviours.
My Pad knows who I like and what I like.
My Pad knows my life’s history ( Thanks to Facebook Timeline ).
My Pad it is a Database-monster that always needs to be fed and is continually being fed.
Now, imagine the targeting power of the content you could deliver to each particular users Pad? It is almost hard to fathom.
One press ad can now deliver thousands of unique messages or content all delivered with just one person in mind, me, and at that time, to a marketer, I am the most important person in the world.
Let’s all embrace this experience and deliver some great experiences.
After all, once there are no magazines or newspapers it will be too late!
MECCA is moving up in the world! Actually just up the hill a bit really.
From Monday 1 August, MECCA will be operating out of offices at 240 St Pauls Terrace, Spring Hill. We will be co-located with the Interaction Group.
Office and Car park access is via the rear lane off Grenier Street.
Oh, and we have also changed our brand colour to Orange and our Fax number to 07 3852 2781.
We look forward to some of you visiting us soon!
Most of you have probably heard the term “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. If not, then the basic idea behind it is that we can only apply ‘what we know’ to any given situation, though what we know (or think we know in some cases) may not be enough to make a responsible decision.
In the marketing and communications industries we often find situations where both clients and agency professionals alike react based on minimal insight, often diluting the overall success of the task at hand. To be fair, ‘minimal insight’ may be the result of thinking we know, rather than actually knowing, which is an easy hole to fall into.
Some examples:
Typography:
Client/or Agency Account Manager: “Reversed copy is hard to read, why would you use reverse copy on this job, aren’t you people supposed to know this stuff?”
Designer/Agency Art Director: “Yes, technically it IS harder to read, that is why it has to be used responsibly and with experience based on overall communication goals. Designers and communications experts spend years crafting the when and how to apply reversed type. It will be fine.”
Risk: The ‘reverse type is harder to read’ rule flagged could have easily diluted the dynamics of the overall design or communication objective of the Designer/Art Director. In this case the Designer/ArtD at least had the opportunity to discuss and reassure the Client/AccountM, rather then simply being told not to reverse the type.
Headline Size and Position:
Client/or Agency Account Manager: “We need to make sure the headline is read, why isn’t it at the top of the Ad and Bigger?, I would do this (ad) myself if I had the software!”
Designer/Agency Art Director: “Traditionally a ‘headline’ is the text at the top of a newspaper article, attracting you to and giving you some insight into the story below it. An Ad is very different to a news article. An Ad should create a unique ‘space’ so that communication and engagement can happen. This ‘space’ can be picture led, headline led or brand/logo led, but there is NO golden rule. An Ad must be noticed before it can be read, and it must be noticed with brand equity and ethos intact. In this design, the picture is the most important element of attraction, and the headline works even stronger sitting down the bottom because of this. It will work better this way.”
Risk: Same as Typography example. Crisis of ‘blandness’ diverted.
There are many more examples of when A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing that happen in our everyday lives. The next time you need the help of a professional be it for Plumbing, Gardening or Advertising, assume they are acting in your best interest.
Always ask ‘why?’ If you need to understand, but in my experience, professionals will generally explain this anyway as THEY need you to understand. If not, you should find someone that will, but just make sure you aren’t limiting the success of the overall job with a little knowledge being applied as a rule!
Globally there has been a steady decline on click through rates for online display advertising. The average CTR (Click through rate) for banners and display Ads is now at approx 0.2% (or lower depending on sector) on the total number of Ads served, achieving a 1-2% is considered very successful and these results require the right balance between the message/offer, how it is presented by look and feel and the relevance of the website which it appears. Basically it’s not about someone with a computer and a graphic program making up an Ad and serving it on the web somewhere, it still comes back to strategic communication and strategic placement.
The interesting thing about display Ads is that since on average an online campaign will serve 10,000’s if not 100,000’s of impressions of your Ad, then if you think of the Banner Ad like a Billboard or Print Ad, aside from the CTR, the number of possible ‘eyeballs’ is huge. Banner campaigns often drive an increase in web traffic to a site via search engines rather then just clicks, as the Banners create awareness like all advertising, then if the message or content spikes interest, a user will investigate later via Google etc. This is a major strength of online campaigns and is often the holy grail rather than the CTR’s themselves.
Another basic strategic flaw (aside from judging an online campaign solely on CTR’s) is putting all the effort into creating the right Ad/Message but not giving the user an engaging experience if they do decide to Click right then and there or via a search engine. What’s the point of finding a potential customer in the first place if once you have them, you do not put in any effort to engage or excite them? Online campaigns need to be as ’sticky’ as possible, and the later is ignored by both marketers and clients more frequently than it should. This is mostly due to ignorance of how to create ’sticky’ content and the effort it requires. If we step back, web ’stickiness’ is often common sense, we just need to ask ourselves ‘what would we want or expect from a web page (or site)’ once we arrived at the destination driven by particular message or offer.
At the end of the day, we may buy a book because we like the cover, but if the story isn’t ’sticky’ we certainly won’t read it or more importantly, value and share it. The same goes for online web advertising.
Ok, I am not really sure if this qualify’s as an actual blog, but I while commuting to work this morning I had the epiphany that from a marketing perspective “The world is only as small as the size of the screen you view it on”. Which pretty much means we can communicate effectively to any (micro or macro) target market, anywhere and at anytime.
Well, somebody has finally had the vision and budget to start creating the next generation of the Ebook experience.
Traditional Ebook viewers such as Kindle gave a very ho-hum reader experience of just text on a page. For my mind, I never saw the benefit of trading off the tactile experience of a book for a very average screen-text experience, especially when every thing was in predominantly grey tones (yawn).
Then came the iPad. The iPad was designed around user engagement, you can shake it, flip it, touch it (yes, a new kind of tactile experience!). Developers and designers had their hands untied and more creative freedom, everything moving forward from the lauch of the iPad is new territory, we have new ground zero to judge user experience and engagement.
Below is a link to an amazing example of what creativity (with a little budget!) can do for the classic picture book ‘Alice in Wonderland’, and you can get this rocking Ebook for just a measly $9! (Sell, Sell, Sell)
Oh, and yes, all without Flash (which of course iPad does not support), Javascript and other forms of open source, code based animations are raising their heads again and the executions are only limited by inspiration, perspiration, which is of course, has a monetary value.
This approach would also make both Technical publications and Product Manuals (even for a vacumm cleaner!) very, very cool.
I can’t wait to see the Harry Potter version, wands at the ready people!
Remember, true unbridled creativity begins with “what if ..”, then strategy, then refinement, then the execution.
Click to Watch the Alice YouTube promo here
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving ranking in search engine results. IE: Best ranking on Google for first page results, with the Top number 1 position being the ‘holy grail’.
SEO is a very complex journey, a journey that can in fact be never ending to maintain good ranking due to the natural way Google (and other engines) continually reinvent how they value a site for ranking.
To SEO or not SEO, that is the question!
Let’s face it we don’t all have $10–15,000 to invest in a comprehensive SEO program.
The bottom line is some well thought out ‘SEO entry’ strategies based on your specific business and markets is absolutely better than doing nothing.
To demonstrate this MECCA recently helped one of our clients achieve Number 4 position on Google first page results in under 4 weeks (based on relevant keywords for their category), all for approx 20% of what a major SEO push would require. At the end of the day that 20% investment equated to a good result.
6 weeks on we have secured the Holy Grail position of Number 1!
These types of results are certainly not typical for most SEO programs, though it certainly demonstrates that any SEO investment is better than one at all as long as it is backed by some strategic thinking.
Find out how to get MECCA thinking about your business here.
Usually we use this blog to share opinions and insights into the world of advertising and strategic visual communications.
Today however, I use it to as a platform to talk about what recent projects have kept us from blogging since June!
In Point form:
1. Packaging: we have designed a new range of Pet Toy packaging for Play N Learn for Pets
2. Print Ads: new creative and execution for Wonder Pads feminine hygene products (National)
3. Strategic Creative: full creative, multi-channel marketing collateral and website for Opera Queensland Season 2011
4. Strategic Creative: currently working on full creative, multi-channel marketing collateral and website for a new Cosmetic Clinic opening 2011
5. A whole array of other projects and communication solutions!
These are just some of the great projects that have kept MECCA people so busy!
We are surrounded by great products. Some we use everyday and therefore now take for granted how our lives have either changed or benefited by them. Some of these products are for the self, others make our daily grind easier. The one thing all these products share is the fact that we have purchased or received them as gifts etc, either way they have an assigned value beyond just the actual cost.
This assigned value is distilled by either our mind, our heart or our wallet. (More than likely a combination of all 3).
For most product purchases we are influenced by the function(s) of the product itself and the belief in the brand stamped on that product, this is generally all wrapped up in some well thought out and believable looking packaging.
When brand equity is low in the market place (or perhaps a new brand is entering a market) then it is critical that the packaging or labelling speaks for the product with both clarity and emotion. This is the first line of offence in the push forward for product success, and getting this right (or as close to right) from start will create the best opportunity for your product to prosper even without large advertising support, though of course, there is generally always a need for some form of Advertising/PR/Communications as part of your total marketing strategy.
Packaging acts as your silent salesman and therefore you should be concerned about what it is saying to your market.