Searching on Google. Shopping on Amazon. Connecting on Facebook. The biggest ideas for brands online are experiences. For example, great as the Mac vs. PC television spots are, on the Mac section of the Apple site, little Bill and little Steve are an afterthought.
Archive for the ‘Interactive marketing’ Category
Rich media, indeed.
In Interactive marketing on August 25, 2009 at 1:31 pmThe Most Interesting Man in the World had 161,209 fans the last time I checked his Facebook Wall. He may be uniquely fascinating, but he’s far from alone among advertisers on line. Whether it’s beer or mutual funds, distributed digital assets are growing explosively. Obscured by the focus on creating the next overnight viral sensation has been the rapid growth of Facebook pages and applications, YouTube channels and paid presence on specialized sites like ExpoTV (a video review site) that gradually accrete users over months. Mix these with smaller sites or site sections that are updated more frequently and you have a living digital Web presence on multiple urls, with comfortable room for user participation. Mad Men it’s not…but it’s definitely where advertising is being seen more and more these days.
The new artisans.
In Interactive marketing on June 11, 2009 at 4:27 pmThe creative revolution of the 60s was built on a foundation of craft and the explosion of media after WWII. It took an army of writers, art directors, comp artists, mechanical artists, illustrators, photographers, producers and so on to produce all the work businesses needed. There were print ads (for magazines, newspapers, trade publications), TV (national and local and direct) and brochures (handouts, leave behinds, direct mail). The combined cost of media and production relative to returns was a bargain, and advertising was at the heart of how companies got customers. But in the 1980s, the costs of media went up and the marketing crafts started to shrink. Read the rest of this entry »
Getting the right clicks > getting the most clicks.
In Interactive marketing on June 2, 2009 at 4:44 pmWhether in print, TV, mail banners, landing pages or Web sites, there’s nothing wrong with a healthy dose of accountability. But relying on calls and clicks as the only measure of success is a really big mistake. It’s also a really easy one to make. After all, you’re creating “winners” or “controls” even as you’re simultaneously driving your business into the ground.
Why parity products can’t win, no matter how good the advertising.
In Interactive marketing on May 14, 2009 at 3:29 pmAmazon just announced the Kindle DX. It’s a larger version of the Kindle, designed with newspaper and magazine readers in mind. I’m not looking for ways to spend more time staring at a screen, but I have to admit to being tempted by the DX. Or rather by, the landing page for it, since I have yet to see the actual product. Like the iPhone, the Kindle DX is advertised with a well-written and designed demo.
Good applications know the difference between doing things live and doing them online.
In Interactive marketing on May 7, 2009 at 10:17 amYou can’t play golf online, but you can play online golf. The real world game is so different from the digital one that they are really two separate experiences with a loose thematic relationship. Checking your bank account online, on the other hand, is pretty similar to reading a printed statement. Only better, in the sense that more information is available much faster. Whenever we think about how to do something digitally that has a real world analog, it’s necessary to think about what’s the same, what’s different, what’s worse and what could be better. Read the rest of this entry »
