Mobile Marketing

Before the iPhone there was nothing but a void.

The question is, will the mobile market truly serve as a viable arena to truly leverage and sell more product in the future? As an iPhone user and designer myself it seems that the average user goes through three phases of iPhone use including junky, clean up and utility.

Personally I have never been sold on a product on my iPhone as of yet. The future of the apps as a mobile market seems to be in leveraging services. Through making a service fully or partially mobile on one’s phone and being hyper utilitarian you can create a greater hook on keeping a consumer.

So apps can certainly pro-long and enhance a current relationship with a brand/service; but, could it ever create that desire solely on mobile? With the oversaturation of the app store, it seems that the chance of that happening is slim to none.

Non-Existent Hero

Can your hero be non-existent?

Society, across all spectrums, appears to have embraced the idea that one can become a hero to another before their prime has passed or even when it has just started. For example, a few designers and artists that are currently looked up to and studied in art and design schools are still very much active in their fields, such as Barbara Kruger, Michael Graves or Milton Glaser.

My question though is the idea that your hero could actually be someone younger than yourself. The concept of looking up to one that is a fresh up start. An example for me, and a few of the people that I went to MCAD with, is Olly Moss. A relatively younger designer and illustrator in the UK, best know for his movie poster work, that could be at par with some of the greats such as Paul Rand or the Eames.

I don’t think it is unusual because I feel that when one is a great in their field, no matter what their age or industry experience, they deserve the recognition for their ability.

The Importance of Integration

“The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time." -Anonymous

What is the point of making advertising if the voice isn't consistent and whats the point of using a logo if the application is random? Many people laugh off the need to have a singular voice projected for any given company or product/service. The need to follow brand regulations doesn't seem to be a large concern of many creatives and agencies. So why is there a perception out there that you need to?

Lets not forget the consumer. If a specific brand is telling them one day that they are high end and the next day they are offering a coupon in the penny saver, exactly what will the consumer think of that brand? Often it seems that consumers perceptions default to the lowest common denominator.

So than, isn't it important to remain consistent to give the consumer a clear idea? I was once told that advertising should speak in the simplest voice possible so the any given consumer can understand it. They continued to say, it's not because the consumer is stupid; but, it's because they don't genuinely care. All they want to do is read their magazine or watch their show. It has to be simple to stick and the way to do that is to remain consistent pushing ONE attribute that differentiates your brand.

Fallon created an excellent example of a great integrated campaign over multiple platforms for the SyFy show, Alice. Check out a piece of the guerilla advertising, social media and online marketing.

How to Generate New Business

"My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients, he need not dress respectably." -George Bernard Shaw

Can a creative comment on the task of an account manager? A major area of interest to me, as a young creative in the ad world, is the sourcing of new business and the true reason that new clients are won.

At MCAD, I was taught that new clients are won at ad agencies because of a good mixture of great work and excellent pitching schools of the Chief Creative Officer, Executive Account Manager and so on. In the past agencies won clients through well placed compliments and extensive friendships; but, things were thought to have changes with small, new agencies becoming agency of record on large brands.

When working at Campbell Mithun, H&R Block dropped us for DDB Chicago based solely on a strong relationship between the heads of DDB and the newly appointed head of H&R Block. This isn't an isolated event, so are things still the same or is it simply different client to client and agency to agency?

I think it's less black and white than that. It seems strong relationships, developed by the account managers, only get you so far, it's the creatives that have to deliver to finally win over the account. It seems the agencies that are winning are those where there is a strong relationship between the creatives and the account managers.

What Inspires You?

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -Jack London

I believe that seeking out inspiration, not just for a specific project, but as an ongoing process is necessary for all successful creative people. The things that inspire us tend to be so different, and for many, it doesn't always come from the same creative field as our own.

I collected together all of the inspiring things that I have posted on my facebook over the last year. They tend to be from industrial design, graphic design, advertising and things that just made me smile.

Check it out and get inspired: pictoral///video

Brand Power

"Since the crocodile is the symbol of Lacoste, we thought they might be interested in sponsoring our crocodiles." - Silvino Gomes, Commercial Director of the Lisbon Zoo

The discussion of brand relevance in the ad world had been going on for a quite some time yet it became most relevant on Marlboro Friday in 1993. (The first time that Marlboro cut it's price in spite of it's massive branding.) It was considered the death of the brand until the recession ended. When people had extra capital they spent the extra money by going back to the high brands they loved. A formula seemed to arise from that.

With the growth of interactive, came the rise of marketing over advertising. Instead of promising people happiness, simplicity, youth by using a brand. They turned to creating contests and child-like prizes for giving out your user information. The book, "Married to the Brand", points out that when "courting" your consumer giving them deals and price cuts only shortens the potential life of that consumer shopping your store. Instead of creating a lasting relationship through seeing themselves in you, the brand is saying, "Sorry we aren't awesome, here's a dollar for your email information."

The questions isn't wether or not interactive is here to stay or not. The question is when will we figure out how to integrate brand advertising successfully into interactive advertising?

Here's an example of one place I think it did work:

Agency: Big Spaceship

Client: HBO

Campaign: Voyeur

Work Work Work

I decided to take on another book building project with my art director friend, Karlisha Gray, and my copywriter friend, Katie Bode, generating concepts for the Nissan Cube.

It's a foreign car competing directly with the Honda Element, Kia Soul and Scion xB. It's main selling features being the unique interior styling, asymmetrical window, slightly smaller price point, shorter length and better gas mileage. Check back for more soon.

Some initial inspiration we've been pulling includes: Sprite's SubLymonal Ads, Lacoste Red!, and of course, cubism