Archives for Advertising
Geolocation; localized content hits home
The online user experience is becoming more localized and we expect to see major growth in the coming years as AT&T, Google, Yelp, Foursquare and others get into the action. We already have geo-targeted ads, segmented content and social search serving content in a more personalized way. But now, we are seeing the emergence of [...]
To Microsite or Not To Microsite?
I’ve been part of several conversations in recent months about when to build a microsite, or when a certain type of content is better placed within the confines of the corporate web site. To that end, I developed a quick little graphic that illustrates my thoughts on the matter. In my opinion, your corporate web [...]
Great Clients make for Great Campaigns
A friend once told me that behind every great campaign is a great client. Of course, what they meant was that a client who trusts you take their brand in new directions will likely be a collaborator in the creative process. This could not have been truer than in the case of the latest online [...]
Just Good Food
Like junk food versus a nutritious snack, web content quality is the stuff that either fuels your brand to satisfy your audience or puts weight on your brand with little value for the caloric indulgence. Value in this sense meaning optimizing return on your investment whether that effort takes form as an offline advertisement, a new application, [...]
I hate Fred Meyer’s Holiday Ad
Ahh, the holidays. The time of year when retailers turn the dials up to 11 to clear storerooms and shelves. The holiday ad has always been of particular annoyance to me, particularly those with catchy new lyrics set to old songs, tending to the punny. This year, however, a new low has been set. Northwest grocer [...]
If I Could Tell All Young Writers One Thing…
Passing into the waning end of my twenties during a recession (which makes you age in your career faster) means I can now get away with two things: I can say “back in my day” when referring to anything before 2006. I get to dole out useful information to students and other people trying to get into [...]
On Design Portfolios
I was talking about design portfolios with our supremely talented intern Shawna a few months ago, and the subject of format came up. Her graduation was coming up in June 2009, and she was already thinking about the job hunt, yet another sign of how sharp she is. For those of you reading who aren’t [...]
The Jargon Problem @ Interactive Agencies
This blog post was originally published as the feature story in the Portland Advertising Federation VOX Newsletter on 11/3/2009. Given the current economy, we took it very seriously when a prospective client accused us last week of using too much marketing jargon in our sales pitch. Given a tough problem, we immediately did what any great agency [...]
Status Update: My Self-Esteem Just Plummeted Thanks to Your Poorly Targeted Ads
Anyone with a Facebook account has probably noticed the influx of ads on their status page in recent months. Often bizarre, amateurish or unintentionally humorous, these odd ads are the butt of many jokes from my friends and I. It goes without saying that ads that aren’t properly targeted waste the advertiser’s money, and my [...]
Content Marketing is not what it used to be
For the last 15 years, I have made my living as a content developer. I started off as a photographer documenting and telling stories through static images. At first, this was a pursuit in art and process related to photography but these explorations opened the door to many other mediums. Along this journey I bridged [...]
Sticky Wall 2.0
This year, Pop Art participated in Colaboratory for the first time, Portland Ad Fed’s revolutionary new internship program. We had three different interns over six weeks, from both the design and writing disciplines. Each intern was here for just eight working days (Monday – Thursday), which was some of my initial hesitation in participating in the [...]
Portland Bike and Marketing Freak Out
Local web analytics powerhouse WebTrends recently rolled out a new transit ad campaign to demonstrate their ability to measure offline and online sentiment and conversation using the question, “should cyclists pay a road tax?” Kablooie. Cyclist meltdown and freakout. I’d chalk this campaign up as a “near miss.” WebTrends did a great job of getting the [...]
“Consumers will have these conversations anyway”
Stumbled across this interesting article about the mobile marketing, teens, and conversational marketing, and loved the following quote from Jeffrey Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future at USC: “Advertisers are terrified of [conversational marketing]. In their hearts, many really don’t want to interact with customers because they are afraid that either there will be [...]
Interactive Shopping: Nordstrom’s 2: Macy’s 2
Interactive Shopping, Social Media and Customer Service — these topics are closely related, because the most critical elements of success for a brand are: Relevance: Do you matter to your customers? Can your product or service create superior value for them? Engagement: Do you reach out to your customer? Do you have methods and platforms for marketing, [...]
Leading with Interactive Starts at Home (or Work)
Like good manners and learning to read, it has been said that positive behaviors start in the home. At Pop Art, where our mantra is Lead with Interactive™, this principle holds true. The way we approach online interactive begins in our offline work space. The 3rd floor of Pop Art is an open floor [...]
The Good Leads!
I was recently a panelist at a Software Association of Oregon event at which we discussed “Winning Game Plans for 2009″. A good deal of the sales issues touched on, were getting back to basics, especially; sales basics! Finding the right person in an organization to sell to, what is the message that that person [...]
Twitter 101: Tweeting for Fun and Profit
Everyone is talking about Twitter, and everyone wants to know how to handle a business Twitter account. As of recently, one in ten online adults in America are on Twitter. And trust me, if you spend just two weeks actually trying to tweet, you’ll be addicted too. Some Background Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service [...]
Tools of the trade have changed; but not the interactive mindset.
I recently had the good fortune to sit down and have lunch with a Portland icon, newspaper and sports reporting legend; Dwight Jaynes. Jaynes was the Oregonian’s lead sports columnist in 2000, left to join KPAM, as a radio talk show host. You might remember Dwight as one of the Portland Tribune’s first employees. The Tribune [...]
Interactive Shopping: Nordstrom’s 1: Macy’s 0.
At Pop Art, we preach that “Interactive” and “Online” are not synonyms! Companies should invest in making their brands and customer relationships more interactive — this means interacting better with your customers, both online and in-person. Based upon my experiences in the past 24 hours, I think Nordstrom’s gets it, but Macy’s doesn’t. Yesterday, I was [...]
CMO Leadership: Putting your agencies to work for you!
As an interactive agency, Pop Art works with many other agencies. Sometimes we are agency-of-record for a client, but most often, our clients employ 2, 3 or sometimes dozens of marketing agencies and consultants, and we are just some of the actors on the stage. Having multiple agencies can be very expensive because of the necessary [...]
Gen Y Can Smell a Fake, or Why I’ve Watched Bike Hero 4 Times This Week and It’s Only Monday
By now, everyone’s seen the “Bike Hero” viral video on YouTube. If you haven’t, please, please watch it now, or else none of this will make sense. While you’re at it, watch the “Runaway Jeans” viral video too. Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way, the big “Watching Comprehension” question: Did you notice [...]
Motrin Messes with Mommy-Bloggers and Loses
This morning, Annie told me about a Motrin ad that a bunch of mom-bloggers were angry about because it was critical of babywearing. She was really upset about it, and convinced that it was an intentional slam on mothers. Since I work in marketing, and Annie majored in Sociology, we tend to have conversations like [...]
Wizard of Oz Writer’s Wonderful Window Display
At the end of the 19th Century, the advertising industry was transformed by two things: technology advances including mass market plate glass and electrics lights, and by the imagination of L. Frank Baum. Best known as the author of The Wizard Oz, he was also, I learned recently from a fact-sharp friend, the founder of [...]
Mobile, Mobile Everywhere!
“…iPhone owners were responsible for nearly one out of every 1,000 Web page views last month (Nov. ‘07). This erases any doubt that the future of mobile devices most certainly includes the Web. …Through September (‘07), Apple had sold 1.4 million iPhones. …, according to research company, Gartner, Inc.” — December 11, 2007 WSJ article, “Web [...]
Earning Mindshare for your Brand
Will you recognize me? Call my name or walk on by? One of your biggest problems is earning mindshare from your customers. As I like to remind salespeople, “Billions of potential customers don’t even know that your company and its products exist!” And those that know about you, aren’t necessarily thinking about you, or thinking [...]
