The old adage rings true: when in doubt put an “i” in front of it. Before Apple introduced the iPod, they were slumping badly as a company. One small, relatively simplistic device (it is really just a hard drive with some buttons on top) not only saved a business, but it also revolutionized at least two industries (the music and audio equipment industry) and spawned plenty of cottage industries.
Anytime something like this takes off, the question always becomes: how do I replicate it? No secret there—start with a great product. Marketing folks often say that the worst thing you can do is use good ads to drive a customer to a bad product. Why? Because when you eventually have a good product—customers won’t believe your good ads. iParis iHilton. iGeorge iBush. Doesn’t generate those same warm feelings as iPod, does it?
When you couple a great product with great advertising and branding devices (the “i” and the iconic Apple) you have what Apple has going for it now: the benefit of the doubt. With the onslaught of hype surrounding the iPhone—one wonders whether Apple can revolutionize yet again. Having not read a review of the actual capabilities or features its success already feels inevitable to me. So what if it drops calls, radiates my brain, and hides itself from its owner like all the rest?
Posted by Rebecca on June 29th, 2007
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For the past month I have been reading a book about “standing out in today’s cluttered marketplace.” I had been looking for a book about marketing or advertising ever since I got into this industry one year ago. Now maybe this is because I am a newbie and do not have the industry knowledge and experience most have, but I thought this book was awesome. There were so many insights and thoughts about marketing from some of the top names in the industry.
The authors, Noah Kerner and Gene Pressman with insight from Andrew Essex all bring different ideas and views from their industry and market. Kerner started out as DJ and became the co-founder and CEO of the marketing agency Noise. Pressman was co-CEO, creative director, and head of merchandising and marketing for Barney’s New York for more than 27 years. And Essex is the CEO of Droga5, a New York advertising and communications agency.
Over the course of the 227 pages they discussed such things as being the next iPod of your industry and what chasing cool really means. One thing I found interesting was the concept of a “cool hunter,” or a “trendspotter.” It never occurred to me that companies actually hire someone to look for what is cool or what is the next upcoming trend. “I can’t imagine having to hire a so-called Cool Hunter. If I had to go to someone else to be cool, I’d just pack up my bags and find a new profession.” Tony Hawk makes a good point, if you are an expert in your industry shouldn’t you already know what is cool and what isn’t?
Without making this blog into too much of a book report and rambling on and on, I enjoyed this book. I think it gives great insight into the marketing industry and the various challenges each market faces. It is a good read for those of us “newbies” to the advertising and marketing industry.
To get a sense of the book and what it is about…visit their website. Chasing Cool
Posted by Kristin on June 27th, 2007
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We’ve long known that for pure ad impact, it’s difficult to compete with television. The medium allows for a truly dynamic presentation of a message and facilitates making that emotional connection with viewers that so often results in hightened ad memorability. A recent study commissioned by Comscore Inc. (comscore.com) suggests that television can do even more. According to their survey, television ads are not only the most noticed form of advertising, they also generate a higher level of trust among consumers. A summary of the report found at The Center for Media Research site, http://www.mediapost.com/research/cfmr_briefArchive.cfm?s=61374 notes that 85% of those surveyed are most likely to notice a TV ad and that 63% are most likely to find the information trustworthy.
Posted by Kelly on June 26th, 2007
Filed under Advertising, Branding, Media, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
It’s sort of an inside joke among the design community, that no matter the project, the client will always prefer their logo to be larger. I’ve noticed a lot of clients have picked up on this phenomenon and will make reference to it during design presentations.
Well, as with most things in life, the best way to pay tribute to something is “rock out” about it. That’s exactly what the hard rocking lads of Burn Back have done. Turn your speakers up to 11 and check out “Make the Logo Bigger”.
Posted by Trev on June 20th, 2007
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If James’ post pointing to the nifty RSS explanation has given you RSS fever, you may want to check out Vienna. Vienna is a slick freeware open source RSS newsreader for Mac OSX. Just download it and configure it to be your default RSS application and subscribing to your favorite feeds is just a click away.
Posted by Trev on June 20th, 2007
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