Digital Utility or Branded Experience

A rather large conversation on the creative side of digital advertising is which is more important and effective, utility/marketing or branded/experience?

I feel the best way to illustrate the differences is through examples. Below is a brand experience video for the band Devo created by Mother Los Angeles.

The Devo site and film give off a wanky, dharma initiative vibe that is very distinctive and memorable. Although it doesn’t immediately discuss the product (music) it created a point in the mind of the consumer to make the gradual perception change of that music brand. It inspires the consumer to find out more and potentially purchase it; but, more importantly, it gets the consumer to continue using the brand if they liked the advertising.

Here is an example of a marketing micro-site for Clorox Whiten Your Whites.

The site is paired down to getting as many emails as possible, to the point that it ends up not feeling genuine or interesting. It shouts at the consumer a potential to win something if they give over their email (to be distributed Clorox coupons via email). Although the consumer may or may not use this product from the coupon, the likely-hood that they would be interested in learning more about future products is not likely.

In the end what is more important and effective, utility/marketing or branded/experience? Ultimately it would depend on the goal of the campaign/product; but, for any brand be it a band or a massive retailer, developing a long term relationship with a consumer will potential yield much higher returns and for a longer period of time.

Ad of the Week: Old Spice

Smell like a man, man.

When Old Spice saw rapidly dropping profits, they knew they had to make a change and turned to Wieden + Kennedy. WK found that most people attributed the brand negatively with old men and were won over by the cool sex factor built into the competition, Axe. So what Old Spice did was tap into the factor of being a "mans man" and using a wanky, monty python like sense of humor to grab attention.

Their latest ad, meant to talk to the female buyer as well as the male user, with the line ". . .if he switched to Old Spice he could smell like he's me." The ad was perfectly planned out, art directed, written and produced to deliver a distinctive memorable brand promise that resonates with the consumer. So much so that the actor, Isaiah Mustafa, has since been inundated with friend requests on facebook and is appearing on Ellen this Friday because she became so infatuated with the ad.

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland

Art Director: Eric Kallman

Copywriter: Craig Allen

And check out how they made it in this chat with the creative minds behind the ad.

Blog Post Number 50

I made it, this is blog post number 50.

I started this blog not really knowing for sure where it was going. I knew I wanted to write about advertising, my views on it and sprinkle in some of my own journey as a young art director trying to make it in the rapidly changing ad world. All in all I'm fairly happy with the content that I have been able to put out.

Yet I’m surprised with the effect I’ve had through my blog, website and single day facebook ad campaign. My blog currently stands at having had a little over 400 unique hits last month alone primarily in Minnesota, Arkansas, Texas, California and New York. Through my digital efforts, I got the job I have now at Rockfish Interactive, have had the chance to chat with a number of people at some cool agencies and more surprisingly, to me, was having an effect on other people with my posts.

A number of my posts inspired conversations with coworkers at work, friends & agency people in other states and even inspired an old classmate from MCAD to blog about my blog. Yet I think the thing that I’ve learned the most is the power of digital and social media along with how to maximize the effect of it.

I’m excited to continue to see where this goes and look forward to any and all new conversations it will inspire. Feel free to start a conversation with me through twitter or through email: taylor.snyder@me.com

There Are No Cool Products

In my short time in advertising, I’ve found that there are no cool products, only great creatives. Its those game changing creatives that I want to work with.

I feel its a good practice to seek out agencies that are doing excellent work and shaping brands into something cool because your more likely to find these creatives. Yet to seek out an agency to specifically work on the nike, apple, burger king, etc. account is a miss. The creatives that established that brand may or may not work there still. Although you will be able to work within that brand and create some good work, you may miss out on the chance to learn from those that have been successful at establishing it. So I've found that the best way to work on those accounts that are redefining and thriving is by tracking the creatives that establish them.

Those that can get excited about redefining a stodgy deodorant brand, infusing life into a personality void brand or creating real positive social impact with a soap, are the types of creatives changing the way to advertise.

The question I have, and still have not been able to answer, is can that excitement and energy be taught or does it only come naturally to a select few?

Ad of the Week: Nike

It's a new thing for me to post about; but, every week there is an ad or two that refuels my love for what I do and shifts the way I think about advertising, design and/or branding.

For my first post I'm glad that it is such an excellent ad, Nike's: Human Chain. The piece that makes this ad stand out for me is the simple message, "Everybody gets knocked down, how quick are you gonna get up?" which speaks to me as a type "A" personality. It speaks to not just athleticism; but, also the drive in each of us to want to be successful and push ourselves beyond all constraints and it reinforces the simple message in the well known nike brand, "Just do it."

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland

Art Director: Ryan O'Rourke

Copywriter: Jason Bagley

Music: "Ali in the Jungle" by The Hours

The Need to Brand Yourself

Could marketing yourself yield the same results as advertising/branding a major company? Yes.

In fact, one of the strongest lessons they pushed at my college, MCAD, was the necessity to treat and market yourself as a brand. Although this made some students a bit skittish, it is important more than ever to treat and market yourself as a brand.

Many people believe that with the rise of social media outlets such as twitter, that significantly shorten our attention span, as proof that brands are dyeing when it is quite the opposite. When you have 140 characters to push a complex aspect of a product or the sleekness of a brand, the necessity to push the brand to keep it short, sweet and repeatable is impartially important.

Treating one’s self as a brand forces you to consider truly what makes you different and what your true selling points are. It allows you to create your paired down elevator pitch, and with repetition, gives you the chance to attribute those aspects to a recognizable logo.

So it than no longer is a question of to brand or not to brand and it turns into what is unique about your brand?

Are Brands Dead?

With the rise of short lived digital experiences, the removal of coke from Cost Co and the reduction of major name brands from the shelves of Walmart, the question on many people’s minds is: Are brand names still powerful?

At present, major name brands are putting more attention on creating utility for their consumers and straying away from big budget commercials. An example of this is Pepsi deciding to not run any super bowl ads this year and instead invested that money into charitable giving driven by the consumer. Yet, is this really a mark of straying away from inflating their brand? In the end, we are going through hard economic times and companies are being judged more than ever when looking at what they are doing for their consumers. Pepsi can with hold from doing brand ads and give the money away instead because they already have such a strong brand clout from previous years.

In the future, many are predicting that brands will have to move away from heavy branding because consumers are wanting to live within their means and see it reflected in media. Yet, shifting from showing an extravagant life to one of means isn’t the removal of brand. Branding can just as easily be about living frugally or responsibly. Toyota is an excellent example of this from leveraging their minor green traits they have created a cult following and even in spite of their major recalls, polls consistently show that their consumers still believe in them. By investing in their customer base, their customers are willing to forgive them.

In the past, the great Marlboro Friday scare in 1993 created the declaration that the brand name was dead. Yet since 1993 strong brand names have been established or reestablished to have created stronger cult followings than we have seen in the past including Target, Toyota and Apple. So is this latest declaration another fable or a true shift in advertising?

Although this economic climate could mean the death to some brands often it’s the ones that forget that they need to continue to grow, change and innovate to stay on top. Just because the brands are moving into the digital space doesn’t mean the brand is dead but simply that it is yet again adapting for the better.