Agencies, UnfilteredDecember 13, 2018

Creating bad work is a choice: a choice that too many marketing teams make all the time by focusing on fashionable marketing buzzwords and ignoring the basics.

‘How did Facebook, which prides itself on being able to process billions of data-points…somehow not make the connection that electoral ads paid for in roubles were coming from Russia. Those are two data-points. You put billions of data-points together – you can’t put together roubles with a political ad.’

[Sen. Al Franken to Facebook’s General Counsel at the Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing 31.10.17]

Most Marketing is Bad Because it Ignores the Most Basic Data

Only a minority of brands make highly creative and highly effective marketing communications.

Work that’s distinctive, well-branded, emotional, fame-driving, maybe even award-winning.

Work that will drive sales today, sales for years in the future, and deliver returns far beyond what the CFO would get if she kept the money in the bank.

Getting the balance right between long-term brand-building and short-term sales activation, between creating memories and activating them, is important for maximum commercial effectiveness.

BBH – Sheep Driven Marketing Advice You’ll Flock To

Design, UnfilteredDecember 06, 2018

Four Non Profits Get a Helping Hand from the University of North Georgia

University of North Georgia students devised a complete advertising plan for four lucky nonprofit organizations as part of the graphic design for advertising class. Nonprofits were The Bridge Foundation, Buckhead Christian Ministry, Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF), and PAWS Atlanta
University of North Georgia students devised a complete advertising plan for four lucky nonprofit organizations as part of the graphic design for advertising class. Nonprofits were The Bridge Foundation, Buckhead Christian Ministry, Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF), and PAWS Atlanta.

Marketing with little or no budget. Reaching a younger generation that gets its information through social media. Finding creative ways for people to volunteer their time or donate their money for a worthy cause. These are a few issues nonprofit organizations deal with on a regular basis.

And so four Georgia nonprofits received some assistance this fall when University of North Georgia (UNG) students selected them as clients for their graphic design for advertising class.

University of North Georgia students in the graphic design for advertising class taught by Mark Taylor, a part-time adjunct faculty member for visual arts at UNG, devised an entire advertising campaign for four nonprofit organizations. The campaign included designing a logo and direct mailer, generating a magazine or newspaper ad and an outdoor billboard, crafting a 15-second radio ad, and producing a 15-second television storyboard concept.

Film ProductionNovember 27, 2018

Can the Sugar and Drink the Cool Aid…ehmmm, No. Drink Water, Brita preferably.

Sugar Cube Art from the Irish

Harvest Films were retained by Brita to make the vision a reality. After extensive research they were able to locate and commission two world renowned, contemporary sugar sculpture artists Brendan Jamison and Mark Revels, who were excited to be a part of this project. Working closely with Matthias on the dimensions and physical structure of the Sugar City, Matthias was able to design a pre-visualization that would be used to illustrate specific camera movements.

(I’d have thought of LEGO myself as the first pitstop but if you can hire actual sugar cube artists, well cojones to you).

Watch the making of the Ad at Harvest Films

It’s a great 6 minute video explaining the production of the sugar city and the work and detail that went into Brita’s commissioned advertisement.

AgenciesNovember 19, 2018

Ev Williams, CEO of Medium, denounced the current ad-driven model and fired the Ad team

Ads Have Gone Off the Rails

The excessive length and lackluster content of that football ad is but one example of the poor use of ads all over the internet. And that situation is behind the rise in ad-blocking software and the quiet concern about business models at some content sites.

Williams said: “…it’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the internet. It simply doesn’t serve people. In fact, it’s not designed to. The vast majority of articles, videos, and other ‘content’ we all consume on a daily basis is paid for —  directly or indirectly  —  by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals. And it is measured, amplified, and rewarded based on its ability to do that. Period. As a result, we get…well, what we get. And it’s getting worse.”

The Bottom Line

It’s no easy task to either make money online as a publisher or to advertise your product in a world where attention is so fleeting and divided. But the current system of ad-supported web content isn’t working for readers and viewers. It needs to be reset.