Mobile as the Status Quo and Responsive Web Design

By Jerrold Smith, Senior Front End Developer

Imagine you’re waiting for a bus and you remember a website that interested you from a recent radio ad. Taking advantage of your temporary free time, you pull out your trusty smartphone and diligently enter the web address into your favorite mobile browser and...disappointment. The website isn’t optimized for mobile and is difficult to navigate via the constant zooming and panning necessary to find the content you’re looking for.

The situation above can be repeated by changing a few elements but always arriving at an all too familiar outcome. Maybe you are watching TV while casually using your smartphone, as 86% of us do, say stats. A commercial directs you to a mobile website that helpfully states “This content is not available on our mobile site. Please visit the desktop website on your computer.” Or maybe the website was built solely in Adobe Flash, which isn’t available on mobile devices, or inexplicably the website simply does not load at all, leaving the mobile consumer with a seemingly empty page. Is this what you want your brand experience to be on mobile?

Content Breeds Content

By Kelley Finan, Director of Content Integration, PR

"Think like a publisher." Gurus of content marketing consistently give this advice to companies wondering how to effectively use content as a marketing tool. While content marketing does indeed require the need to think like a publisher, it also requires that companies change their entire approaches to – and attitudes toward – delivering information to customers.

Today, the customer dictates content. Not just the message, but how, when and where it is delivered. Content is publishing with a purpose. It’s a strategic approach to delivering the information your audiences want, when and how they want it. Companies need to have a content strategy that engages customers and potential customers wherever they are – online, digitally and offline -- and during the various stages of the buying process.

Playing to Where the Puck is Going to Be – Staying Ahead of Changing Consumers

By Adam Deardurff, Senior Interactive Strategist

When I signed up to go to SXSW, I knew I was walking into something bigger, more forward thinking than I ever had participated in before. My expectations were high – to have my mind blown with new ways of thinking, new devices, meeting people that thought like me, eating great food and even catching a little live music.

After wading through the thousands of people, thinking past the Korean BBQ, blues and beer, I knew that one question would be asked when I return home.

“What is the one thing that you would take away from the experience?”

A mind-numbing question but inevitable.

To me, it is simply this: Brands are moving too slow and consumers aren’t slowing down.

Are you in or are you out? Of the product placement game that is.

That is one of several questions in Morgan Spurlock's new movie Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Did Spurlock sell out to the advertisers in order to get money to make his movie, or did he make smart business decisions and buy in to brand integration to help fund a movie he wanted to make?

SBC Advertising held an exclusive sneak preview for Spurlock's new movie, a day before it opens city wide in Columbus on Friday, May 20th. The underlying quest in Spurlock's movie is to fund an entire documentary using advertising dollars from brands such as Old Navy, Sheetz Convenience Stores, Ban deodorant, Jet Blue Airways, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and of course the jackpot title sponsor Pom Wonderful.

A number of provocative questions arise throughout the movie and one of the most prominent was:
Is advertising helpful or manipulative?

In the case of Broward County School District in Florida, advertising dollars served as fundraising support for local schools. The schools are required to implement more school-run extracurricular programs, yet their budgets are constantly trimmed. In this case: advertising = good and helpful

On the other side of the debate lies the fast food industry. With an all-time high American childhood obesity rate, parents and health officials are in an uproar that McDonald's is selling Happy Meals with toys to specifically target children. In this case: advertising = bad and manipulative.

Spurlock presents both sides of the advertising discussion while enlisting the opinions of consumer experts (Martin Lindstrom), public figures (The Donald) as well as the average Jane Consumer on the street.

We think the movie was interesting, and offered a nice balance between presenting the benefits and pitfalls of product placement. As advertisers, we weren't sure what to expect and were surprised to find Spurlock had represented our industry fairly. But as far as whether or not Spurlock himself sold out, we're still figuring that one out.

So, what do you think? Did Spurlock simply raise money to buy in to the marriage of brands and entertainment in order to make a movie? Was this really a documentary about the subject of product placement? Or did he sell out to big brand name corporations just for the money?

We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Image: assignmentx.com


Sources:
Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
sonyclassics.com 
cdc.gov  

Best Buy a Freshman in the Super Bowl Ad Circus

Did you know that Best Buy has never run a commercial during the Super Bowl? That's a bit surprising given that they seem like a good fit for the Super Bowl ad line up with their myriad of home entertainment systems and big screen TVs.

This year they're joining the circus because Best Buy has big news to share.

They plan to kick off a campaign with a :30 Super Bowl spot that will run throughout the year. Drew Panayiotou, Sr. VP of U.S. Marketing says Best Buy is going to "revolutionize" retailing in one 30 second spots (Really?). Panayiotou also says, "the ad may include a noteworthy celebrity or two." Hmmmm.
Wonder who those will be?

The spot is currently projected to run in the third quarter of the game.

Image: Salvatore Vuono/freedigitalphotos.net

Source:
Best Buy to Make First Super Bowl Appearance, adage.com, 12/3/10    

Has VW already won the Super Bowl ad war?

There seems to be a front runner for the winning Super Bowl ad from VW. Fans of the ad say the "brilliance about the commercial is that it really isn't an advert for a car at all, but more about the imagination of a child playing at being Darth Vader."

Posted on YouTube earlier this week the spot already has over 6 million views.

What do you think - does Volkswagen have a winner?
http://bit.ly/e0j2z3


Image: germancarblog.com 

Sources:
Volkswagen Star Wars Super Bowl Advert, breakingglobalnews.com, 2/4/11 

htt

Pepsi Max Teams up with Doritos to "Crash the Super Bowl"

Last year Pepsi opted out of advertising in the Super Bowl and focused their $20 million efforts on The Pepsi Refresh Project, the much-celebrated program that awards grants for programs to bring great ideas into communities across the country. This year Pepsi Max will team up with their sister brand Doritos in the Crash the Super Bowl consumer-generated ad contest. Doritos has been running the contest since 2007.

Past ads have been enjoyable: Do you remember the young man who told his mother's too-excited date to  "keep your hands off my mamma, keep your hands off my Doritos?"

Or how about the naughty gym rats who steal Tim's bag of Doritos encouraging Tim to don a Samurai suit made of Doritos while flinging the triple pointed nacho chips at the thieves?

Get ready for six more spots this year. Out of 5,600 entries this year, the winners have already been chosen but only six spots will air during the big game: 3 for Pepsi Max and 3 for Doritos.

Check your advertising savvy and see if you can spot the winners out of the finalists here:
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/# 

Image: Paul/freedigitalphotos.net

Source:
Three Lessons from Pepsi's Super Bowl XLV Ad Campaign, forbes.com, 2/1/11

Betty White and Beer - Ad Recap from Super Bowl XLIV

Cool cars, crappy jobs, men, emasculated men, men in underwear, chips, Google, Tim Tebow, Danica Patrick, Charles Barkley, Betty White and of course, beer - lots of beer.

The XLIV Super Bowl brought us all kinds of commercials. Some were outstanding, some...not so much.

Because the past is prelude, warm up for this year's Super Bowl ads by taking a look back at last year's spots. Advertising Age has conveniently archived them here. When you're done, join SBC Advertising on Facebook and Twitter during the game to comment on this year's commercials or compare them to last year's.

Will any live up to Google's Parisian Love? We'll see.  

Image: dailyvsvidz.com 

Sources:
Watch all of the Super Bowl XLIV Ads Here, adage.com, 2/7/10  

New in Ad Tech: Eye Tracking Ad

This ad for Amnesty International is the first-ever poster to employ eye-tracking technology. The poster is an anti-abuse ad that depicts a smiling couple - at least when you're looking at it. When you look away, it shows a man hitting a woman.

According to blog Gizmodo, this is how the technology works -

“The billboard works by scanning its proximity with an eye-tracking camera, which triggers an image switch on the display panel when it senses someone looking at it. The change only occurs after a brief delay, so that observers understand what's going on, and get the message.”
Pretty innovative stuff -- and the medium is a perfect fit.

Now I just want smellavision to become reality.
[via Gizmodo]