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Posted by Zaw Thet
in Creative Best Practices, on January 05, 2009 at 08:10 PM PDT
I got derailed from my “Techie in the Wild” series by the holidays, but I’m back with another guest opinion to start 2009 off right. Kim Luegers is the Emerging Media Director for Draftfcb Chicago, a leading advertising and marketing communication company. As she leads her clients (folks like Coors, Taco Bell, Hampton Inn, etc.)...
Posted by Adam Kleinberg
in Creative Best Practices, on January 02, 2009 at 02:56 PM PDT
I run an creative agency with a strong focus on digital. Here are some of my resolutions:
1. Be thoughtful about our process so we continue to consistently create breakthrough ideas that move the dial for our clients AND demonstrate positive ROI. I think an unrelenting focus on metrics can put us in a box where the best idea might not...
Posted by Adam Broitman
in Creative Best Practices, on December 24, 2008 at 09:29 AM PDT
The digital age has been difficult for many marketers. All too often, marketers put the technological cart before the strategic horse. Facebook (and other social networks) is a breeding ground for campaigns that focus on the features of the platform, without telling a story.This is certainly not the fault of Facebook, rather it is the fault of...
Posted by Brad Berens
in Creative Best Practices, on December 16, 2008 at 10:00 AM PDT
Usability Interface Engineering's Jared Spool has brilliantly quipped that the browser's back button is "the button of death" because it signals a complete failure of a site's navigation.
I'd like to propose that Google (or insert your favorite alternate search engine here) is also a button of death. Here are two examples of what I...
Posted by Brandt Dainow
in Creative Best Practices, on December 10, 2008 at 05:00 PM PDT
This is a BRILLIANT!!! article by Andreas Roell and Sarah Kotlova categorising the types of problem clients
I've had every one of these clients, and the really talented client can combine several of these (especially legal firms and accountants). It's not just true of ad work - I've seen the same thing in web design, and software...
Posted by Daniel Flamberg
in Creative Best Practices, on December 03, 2008 at 12:00 PM PDT
Every profession has a dedicated language; those words, terms, phrases and concepts that serve as both a short-hand for practitioners and as a filter to keep outsiders at bay. In most cases these vocabularies are created or policed by professional bodies much like the medieval guilds protected the trade secrets and prerogatives of their...
Posted by Jeff Berkwits
in Creative Best Practices, on November 18, 2008 at 04:00 PM PDT
As a marketer I'm certainly concerned about making sure online ads for my products don't inadvertently appear in inappropriate locations. Earlier this year when I considered placing some banner ads on an at-the-time up-and-coming, kids-oriented website run by a well-known company (trust me, you've heard of them), I expected to be hit with a...
Posted by Russell Scott
in Creative Best Practices, on November 07, 2008 at 08:46 PM PDT
During this economic downturn (read: recession) as agencies hunker down for the storm, we can rest assured that much like Celine Dion’s heart…marketing campaigns will undoubtedly go on. From where I sit, which is high atop Los Angeles in the fabulous Jetset Studios Towers, the best kind of marketing there is to be found is the...
Posted by Peter Shankman
in Creative Best Practices, on November 06, 2008 at 04:22 PM PDT
Everyone and their mother is screaming about how to get on a blog - specifically, "Why won't that blogger cover us?" It's funny - I get slammed with pitches on a daily basis for things I'd never, ever cover on Shankman.com which tells me one thing: You. Have. Never. Read. Me.
Want a better shot at being covered by any blogger? Don't...
Posted by Evan Gerber
in Creative Best Practices, on November 04, 2008 at 01:18 AM PDT
More often than not, unless one’s title has the words “design” or “creative” in it, people don’t think of themselves as responsible for the user experience of the product or platform they are working on. After all, senior management never touches the product except in the most abstract way, and...
Posted by Zaw Thet
in Creative Best Practices, on October 20, 2008 at 06:30 PM PDT
It has been a couple of weeks since my first post. Sorry to those wondering where I went. In the future I promise not to disappear like Ashton Kutcher post-marriage or Joe the Plumber after his fifteen minutes of fame.
Side note: What happened to Ashton Kutcher after he got married to Demi Moore? Not that I blame him since Demi Moore is...
Posted by Russell Scott
in Creative Best Practices, on October 18, 2008 at 12:20 PM PDT
If I were General Mills, I would be scrambling to rebrand the Jolly Green Giant. Their beloved icon of canned vegetable fame for eight decades could be very easily transitioned to a bold, online space-defining symbol of the Green Initiative. The Jolly Green Giant is an imposing figure, and one who carries great authority, yet he is happy –...
Posted by Michael Lazerow
in Creative Best Practices, on October 17, 2008 at 08:14 PM PDT
Adam Sarner, an analyst with market research firm Gartner, has released a report that predicts that half of all social marketing initiatives will flop.
He presented his findings Thursday at a Gartner IT Symposium in which he projects that 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies with web sites will have undertaken some kind of online...
Posted by Michael Lazerow
in Creative Best Practices, on October 14, 2008 at 01:22 PM PDT
Recently, someone mentioned to me that given the current financial crisis, money spent on branded social media applications and other, less-traditional forms of advertising could fall dramatically, since "no one gets fired for spending money on print, radio and other traditional advertising."
My response? He might be right. Maybe no...