Content marketing is the hottest buzzword in marketing, but if it’s not original or imaginative can it retain the heat?
It would be a rather large fib to say I don’t spend much time perusing the interwebs. I like to think I’m ahead of the curve, although at times any one of us can’t help but fall behind when a start-up erupts onto the scene changing what we consider to be the standards of social, content, or otherwise. Pinterest was a fantastic example of this in the last year.
It’s hard to avoid repeating material at times, whether through opinion, social media, or just plain interest. There are reasons particular articles pop through every social medium creating massive trends over a singular day; they are reporting rampantly popular news from or about a titular source. How can you not be part of sharing that information? How would you feel to not participate? Would your brand suffer?
Originality is often serendipitous. We can’t be too hard on ourselves. After all, the concepts for the paperclip, telephone, and television popped up at random around the same time, hundreds to thousands of miles away from each other. Let’s not forget that this all happened before we could... Read more
Archive for Jessica Doban 
What Evokes Emotion In Three Seconds? A Mental Exercise In Emotional Creativity
How can you evoke emotion from someone in just three seconds? It needs to be personal...
After having my eyes opened to the fact that the average billboard receives only three seconds of viewing time, it got me thinking, how can you evoke emotion from someone with only three seconds?
Naturally, this came to mind while in my car where the most likely interactions to spur emotion arrive from other drivers. It was simple to find three second experiences that sparked my brain. Being cut off, those too close to the bumper of my car, those incapable of using a turn signal. All simple, little aggravations had the ability to tip the emotional scale in my head and imprint my surroundings into my mind. If I were to retell these experiences, I would most likely state where I was located when the occurrence happened.
After I had wracked up a solid list of a thousand things that could anger me within three seconds, I set off on attempting to create a list of experiences that would bring about positive feelings just as easily. Let’s cut to the chase - this is not simple.
In that case, how do you plan for a positive impression in... Read more
In The Wake of Facebook, Remember Your Brand Pillars
As we all question what will happen to Facebook, it seems that many have become focused on being the “it” thing now, and not being remembered as the one and only.
Emblazoned with an imprint of a sextant, the white bound book with attached grey bookmark appears near holy as it commands attention from anyone who sees it. You’re guided through the life of Florentine Ariosto Jones beginning in Boston, who then traveled across the Atlantic to Switzerland over 140 years ago.
This story is the introduction to one of the best advertisements I’ve ever seen. A catalogue that doubles as a coffee table book; something that, unlike anything you receive on a regular basis through the mail, you’d be hard pressed to trash while tidying up. This could best be described as “forevertisement”. IWC (International Watch Co.) managed to create a marketing piece that looks like something you’d want to save if your home was burning down, and eventually pass along to your great grandchild.
In a world where we are so focused on the next big thing to reach our audience it seems to travel the exact opposite direction of where many brands are going. Unlike any social media campaign or... Read more
Throwaway Marketing – Why We Trash Some Of Our Best Ideas
Walking away from a good idea is difficult, but it's often just as important as creating one in the process of making a concept come to life.
The agitation that flows from a poorly conceived idea can be endless…I recently told myself that I’d create a relevant and inventive post about the backlash issues regarding the Kony 2012 campaign. A week later I’m deleting drafts, accepting that I simply won’t be writing on that topic.
I had overindulged in information about the foundation, and even reached a point where I was researching tax law and angered with each new Google alert, convinced that everyone had somehow found out my idea and stolen it. This was the nod I needed that my idea was no different than any other marketing blogger and I needed to reevaluate.
Walking away from an idea is difficult. I had created a state of personal angst that I couldn’t complete a project I had assigned myself. I found myself wishing someone had said to me that it was a poor choice, that it would simply be washed away with the flood of other bloggers pouring out similar ideas. Yet even then, if warned, would I have walked away from my... Read more
