Marketing 3.0.

22.3.12

Twitter| Celebrates its sixth birthday

Twitter in Plain English

Twitter: picture what's happening now? Twitter, faster than earthquakes! Twitter: discover what's new in your world Is Your mom on Twitter?

Marketing3.0 tip of the day

21.3.12

The drunk thief | Mahiki Night Club / Anti Drink and Drive – 2012

THE ORIGINAL?
Antral Taxi Company / Anti Drink and Drive – 2007
Source : Cannes BRONZE LION,
Agency : DraftFCB Lisbon (Portugal)

The Drunk Thief
Mahiki Night Club / Anti Drink and Drive – 2012
Source : Adsoftheworld
Agency : Bates Pangulf (UAE)

Mahiki, Dubai's newest and hottest nightclub, wished to promote the use of taxis instead of drinking and driving, as one of their social responsibility initiatives so Bates PanGulf created this idea

Category: Public interest
Client: Mahiki
Agency: Bates PanGulf
Country: United Arab Emirates
Creative Director: Richard Nugent
Creative Director: Prasanna Hegde
Art Director: Haja Mohideen
Art Director: vidhu pv
Art Director: Abdul Shafeek
Copywriter: Sheldon Serrao
Creative Group Head: rajaram ojha

19.3.12

Get To Know, and Use, AIDA

http://youtu.be/wVQPY4LlbJ4

The acronym AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, and it is one of the founding principles of most modern-day marketing and advertising. In fact, it's often said that if your marketing or advertising is missing just one of the four AIDA steps, it will fail.

While that's not strictly true (a branding or awareness campaign does not necessarily need the Action step) you need to know about AIDA, and use it whenever possible. It's a rule you need to learn well before you can break it.

Where Did AIDA Come From?

American advertising and sales pioneer Elias. St. Elmo Lewis, a legend inducted into the advertising hall of fame in 1951, coined the phrase and approach. It started way back in 1899, when Lewis talked about "catching the eye of the reader, to inform him, to make a customer of him."

By 1909, that had evolved several times, becoming "attract attention, awaken the interest, persuade and convince." It's not far from the AIDA model that is now used throughout the world.

The First Step of AIDA - Attention

Also called "Awareness," this is the part often overlooked by most advertisers today. It's just assumed that people will find the product or service as interesting as the client does, but that's rarely the case. Sadly, so many ads jump straight to Interest, and thus bypass Attention, that the ad is doomed to failure. An ad can be as clever or as persuasive as you want, if no one sees it, what's the point?

To attract the attention of the consumer, the best approach is called disruption. This is a technique that literally jars the consumer into paying attention. It can be done in many ways, including:

Location: Placing ads in very unexpected situations. This is often called guerrilla or ambient media.

Shock factor: Getting people to pay attention can be done easily with a shock. This can be done in many ways, a very common one being sexually provocative imagery. Of course, whatever you do should be tied to the product in some way.

Personalization: It's hard to ignore something if it is aimed at you specifically. This is no longer the case with direct mail, as it is all personalized. But imagine reading a newspaper ad and seeing your name in the headline. Would you read on?

The Second Step of AIDA - Interest

Once you've got their attention, you have to keep it. This is actually trickier than the first step, especially if your product or service is not inherently interesting to begin with (think of insurance, or banking products).

Many companies have managed to navigate this beautifully by getting the information across in an entertaining and memorable way. Geico commercials do this very well, with the Geico Gecko and Cavemen ads adding tons of personality to an otherwise dry subject matter.

The Third Step of AIDA - Desire (Or Decision)

You've grabbed their attention, and you've kept it. Now, it's your job to create desire. You must turn the story you've told into one that is not only extremely relevant to the prospect, but also irresistible. Infomercials actually do this very well, by showing products in dozens of different situations. "Sure, it's a nice frying pan, but did you know it can also cook a whole roast chicken, and do sides at the same time? And it can make dessert too, plus it's easy to clean and takes up no counter space." You keep layering on the facts, mixing in come character and persuasiveness, until the viewer or reader has only one conclusion - "this thing is definitely for me! In fact, I'm amazed I've been able to live without it for so long!"

In the infamous Glengarry Glenn Ross scene featuring Alec Baldwin (at his very best) this step is called Decision. It's also just as relevant, but takes the additional step to assume the desire has already been fulfilled, and a decision to buy has been reached (or not, if you have done a poor selling job).

The Final Step of AIDA - Action

If the consumer is still with you at this point, you have one job left to do. It is, of course, the most important job, and is often referred to as "closing the sale." In a courtroom, this would be the final summation from the lawyer. He or she has already laid out the case, now it's time to seal the deal and convince you to agree with their argument.

The same is true with selling a product. And once again, infomercials do this well (although it's crude to say the least). After demonstrating the product, and convincing you that you need it, they close the sale with an amazing offer. This is the Call To Action (CTA). They'll start out with a high price, chop it down again and again until it's a third of the original price, and then give you a two-for-one deal and free shipping. You're officially on the hook at that point.

16.3.12

The elements of a good brochure design

When you are a student in design school, designing brochures doesn’t sound like the most exciting task. Nevertheless, it can be a very interesting work if you are not working with brochure templates and let your creativity flow. In this post you’ll find a few things you should keep in mind to design better brochures.

Appropriate format

This is the very first step you’ll have to take when creating a brochure. You will usually discuss this with your client, so try to recommend the right medium for the message and type of product your client has to get across.

For example, a tri-fold or z-fold brochure will not be the best choice for luxury products that require lots of white space and big pictures. You will chose one of these narrow formats when you want to present documents that are easy to hand out.

Of course, it is better if you get creative with the format of your brochure. Nowadays many concert organizers create brochures that unfold into a poster. It makes it easy to send by mail, and practical to hang somewhere in the room to make sure the brochure stays visible all the time. The better looking the poster, the more people will hang it, so be artistic if you create this kind of poster.

Some common brochure formats.

White space

This may sound like dull advice, because it could be given for any kind of graphic design project, not only for brochure design. It is however important to remember to keep some well-balanced white space on your brochure for the sake of aesthetics and readability.

I will not go over how to use white space in your designs, I’ll just assume that you know how to do it as a graphic designer. The problem you will run into will probably be that your client doesn’t understand the importance of white space. In that case, check out that post I wrote previously on Designer Daily.

Example of white space from a brochure by Bluefish agency.

Quality printing

Design isn’t only about nicely layout pages, but also about the end physical product that people will hold in their hands. Brochure printing can sound quite boring, but if you know printing techniques well, it can seriously enhance your design.

Some of my favorite techniques, among others, are:

Letterpress: the inked (or not inked) parts are pressed into the paper, thus creating a nice look and feel.
Die Cut: irregular shapes created by cutting in the paper. It’s great to create some unusual effects.
Varnish: a varnish layer that adds a glossy effect, my favorites are partial varnishes.

If you want to learn more about printing techniques, I suggest that you read this guide to printing techniques on Design Instruct.

The downside of most of these special printing techniques is certainly the cost. You will need to convince your client of the added value for his brochure if you want to use any of these.

Wise choice of colors

Again, this applies to most graphic design products, but the colors is the first thing that people will see on your brochure designs. Color conveys a lot more than just aesthetics, so it’s important to chose it wisely.

Unfortunatly, you will quite often not have much of a choice when picking colors, you’ll have to stick with the corporate identity guidelines of the company you are working for. Nevertheless, be very careful when chosing colors if you have total freedom in that matter. To become a bit better at picking colors, check out Johannes Itten’s book on color, it can be considered as the graphic designer’s bible about color.

Attention to typographic details

Most people who will take the brochure and read it will not notice if you kern the titles good or if your text is justified with perfect space between the words.

Some of the details you should pay specific attention to are: using ligatures, using thin spaces where appropriate, avoiding dumb quotes, avoiding widows and orphans. Of course there is much more to it, but I suggest you read a good typographic guide if you forgot about important typographic rules.

Typographic brochure by loretonoce.com.

Use the right paper

Paper is amazing. It can turn a boring design into something great. Try to convince your client to put some money on his brochure’s paper, because it’s well worth it.

Some of the high-end paper providers are:

Gmund: a german company, their papers are amazing, check out the collection.
Conqueror: one of the most famous brands, they have agreat website to demonstrate their paper’s possibilities.
Neenah paper: another great paper provider, I’m a sucker for their Astroparch paper.

Make sure that you get some samples to show your client, you must see and touch the paper to know whether you like it or not.

Brochure for Four Seasons Resort, printed on Gmund wood grain paper.

15.3.12

How to Measure Those Three Little Words: Return on Investment by Jim Bergeson

In this article, you'll learn...

The basics of calculating marketing ROI
A more nuanced and comprehensive way to calculate ROI

Sure, marketers like to hear those familiar three little words: "I love you." But, let's face it, no three words are more beautiful and pulse-racing to hear while on the job than "return on investment" (ROI).

Marketers are on the hook. Measuring ROI on each marketing activity is critical to proving our effectiveness and competing for scarce resources. Evidence that supports that notion: Nearly two-thirds of surveyed CMOs (63%) think ROI will be the primary measure of their effectiveness by 2015.

But what was profoundly revealing was that 56% of surveyed CMOs said they feel inadequately prepared to manage ROI. That means the pressure is on to calculate ROI in ways that yield accurate, supportable numbers, particularly pertaining to marketing expenditures.

CMOs who understand financial and statistical analysis are putting themselves on a level playing field with their brethren in other corporate departments, because those CMOs are using the same measuring stick to prove effectiveness.

Measuring ROI effectively will help marketers add value to their organizations and attract their fair share of resources.

Basic ROI Calculation

The math is basic, but the components aren't always easy to figure out. Any solid ROI calculation should measure revenue generated by the marketing campaign, profit margin on the items sold, and marketing-related expenses. Yes, profit margin can be difficult for organizations to quantify because it incorporates the cost of operations, but it's a necessary ingredient to calculate ROI accurately.

Keep in mind that to be able to quantify revenue generated "by the marketing campaign," those campaigns need to have been designed to capture responses in the form of revenue from sales.

In its simplest form, the calculation looks like this:

ROI = Campaign Revenue X Profit Margin / Cost of Campaign

That simple ROI calculation is a solid metric for getting a quick "temperature check" on campaign performance. The basic calculation works for basic comparisons, such as "Campaign 1 is doing better than Campaign 2" or "we improved this month over last month."

That formula is also useful for measuring pilot marketing campaigns, since those efforts are often launched with one-time investment costs or temporary extraordinary expenses that wouldn't apply once project efficiencies are captured in a full-blown campaign.

Though that basic ROI calculation is a good starting point and it keeps things reasonably simple, it lacks several key enhancements. The calculation sometimes doesn't factor in all of the costs associated with the campaign, and it doesn't consider the impact of control groups. Both of those are required to evaluate the actual revenue generated by a campaign.

The Advanced Version

Marketing will need to take a more advanced approach to ROI calculation if it wants to play in the same ballpark as the other departments in your company—and if it wants to be evaluated by similar financial measures.

Advanced ROI calculations should include all of the costs associated with having a marketing department: salaries, benefits, office space, computers, software, Marketing's share of the bills (heat, electricity, etc.), plus all of the direct campaign costs. All of those costs added together would give you the "cost of campaign" figure in the formula.

Also important in advanced approaches to calculating ROI is to factor in dollars generated and purchases generated from both the target group and a control group. Doing so will help you answer important questions, such as whether the average purchase dollar amount was higher from the target group or the control group... or whether the target group purchased at a higher rate than the control group.

If the average number of purchases generated from the control group and the target group is the same, consider the difference in the average dollars generated. Similarly, if the average dollar amount spent is the same between both groups, the most important factor is the difference in average number of purchases generated.

First, determine the number of sales from the target group that would have taken place without the marketing campaign by measuring the average number of purchases generated in the control group. Now, multiply that number by the average purchase amount ($) from the control group. Subtract that number from the total target group revenue to determine accurate campaign revenue. The equation looks like this:

Campaign Revenue = Total Target Group Revenue – (Average Amount of Control Group Purchases X Number of Transactions That Would Have Occurred Anyway)

That calculation factors out the transactions that would have occurred without the new marketing campaign, leaving the incremental revenue gain from the higher average transaction amount of the target group. Taken further, such calculations could enable a marketer to compute statistical tests of significance for the target and control group differences.

* * *

Hopefully, this article will help you apply the tools to excavate the important numbers that improve marketing ROI, and, coincidentally, reveal ways that you can get closer to the customer.

Jim Bergeson is president and CEO of Bridgz Marketing Group in Minneapolis, a BI WORLDWIDE company and member of ICOM, the 50-nation network of independent marketing communications organizations.

Saudi Airlines Welcome to your world

With any product, branding and building influence is a key component for the
development of airlines – especially in today’s competitive world with new lowcost carrier entrants. When combined with the pressures of the rising costs of
operating an airline and increasingly lower consumer price expectations, the
market is ultracompetitive. Airlines are awakening to the need to build their
brands to maintain and shape their market position, which can create loyalty
beyond price.

Is this great ad by @Saudi_Airlines will wash away hundred of stories about corruption and help in rectifying a bad image of the most used domestic airline in Saudi?

An airline brand is essentially the sum of the experiences that passengers have when they fly with that carrier

This ad -at least- was not horse driving although it appears in a scene or two however the ad and treatment presented a story i hope the brand can meet and deliver.

Building brand value and influence in the airline industry means constructing

communities around the product, the service and the experiences that lead to a

strong, trusted relationship. This includes much more creative, and often less expensive, methods to further shared interests and drive innovation.