Monday, November 15, 2010

VML Presentation on the Impact of Emerging Media

At the Four State Regional Technology Conference I managed to see several presentations, but the VML showcase about the Impact of Emerging Media, presented by Joe Grigsby, was particularly insightful. Grigsby defined emerging media as the “consumer behavior trends that transform how they connect to content, to each other, and to the broader society.” He divided this into two basic categories: social and mobile.

He started off with some pretty impressive stats for social media. As of this year, two thirds of all media is digital, and 76% of all broadband users are active contributors to social media. Facebook alone has over 500 million active users. Grigsby stated, “If Facebook was a country, it would be the 3rd largest,” larger than America. He also mentioned that Facebook is overtaking Google as the “starting point” for the Internet. After learning these statistics, it is pretty obvious that social media as a profound effect on consumer behavior. Consumers participate in discussions about a product or a brand within social networking whether a company participates or not. These discussions are often more powerful than marketing acts because consumers trust other consumers twice as much.

If marketing is reach and influence, then social media has the reach, and friends have the influence. The greatest value that marketing can have is where business goals and consumer goals overlap. Social media has the capacity for listening, sharing, participation, awareness, and community. Having something of value to say can get people talking and listening. It is important to have good community management by talking about topics unrelated to products and direct advertising, talking about the idea or lifestyle associated with the business, and be prepared for good and bad feedback. Integration is important too.  “Any one thing by itself will fail. He recommended linking your business website to Facebook, twitter, and other social media outlets, and share information from the website on as many sites as possible. A business should encourage activation through paid media campaigns, event invitations, on site activities, influencer outreach, social media promotions, content, and search optimization. A good example would be Facebook ads, where you can target a very specific demographic with information highly customized for them. Finally, measure social participation and track the success of your objectives.

The second category is mobile, which is no surprise with every company trying to make money releasing an iPhone app.  This mass market value is growing dramatically with the expansion of increased network speeds, flat rate data plans, and device capabilities. In 2011 there will be more smart phones on the market than feature phones. About 30% of Facebook activity takes place on mobile Internet. When using mobile media for marketing, it becomes very important to understand your target audience. Know what devices are used, and how they are used. Design something that the people will want to use. Text messaging can be used for alerts, event notifications, special offers, sweepstakes, voting, and surveys.

The general goal of using these forms emerging media is to connect and activate your audience and connect the physical marketing to digital.  Going into this I was well aware of how these emerging technologies could be used, but the presentation really put the true power of social and mobile media into perspective.

Friday, November 12, 2010

News Paper Ad

Project Specifications

Target Audience:
  • Low/Mid-level income groups
  • People lacking health insurance
  • more open minded audience
  • Any age group, generally adults
Call to Action:
Visit the website (www.8gateshealth.com)

Budget: $100

Three Ads in Series

Ad
Size
Cost (page area x $4)
1
1(1.83) x 2
$8
2.
1(1.83) x 5
$20
3.
3(5.75) x 6
$72

Production Schedule:
October 7th: Begin project and form plan
October 12th: Determine campaign, budget, and ad sizes
October 16th: Complete thumbnail and rough sketches and begin work on digital files
October 19th: First ad digital file complete
October 23rd: Second ad digital file complete
October 26th: Third ad digital file complete
October 28th: Project Deadline

Project Synopsis
My goal for this project was to inform people of the services provided by 8 Gates Natural Health LLC by drawing as many people to the website as possible. I targeted the demographics listed above, but I also left the ads vague and mysterious and kept my design clean and contemporary in order to welcome any audience. I did this too attempt to bring in a larger customer base. Many people are skeptical about natural/Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and if I can get them to a website, I can get them to all the information, where the audience can decide for themselves. I used the 8 Gates logo, or a variation of the logo in all of the ads to form some brand recognition through the repetition of the ads.  The ads are designed to run in a series.

The First Ad


The first ad is an attention getter. It has a lot of white space, high contrast and a big visual statement. It is my intention, with this ad, to introduce the business and connect people to the website, where more information can be found. I added the 8 Gates logo, but kept it small to emphasize the large ad and the powerful symbol in order draw as much attention as possible.

The Second Ad

The second ad is still a smaller ad, but still uses and emphasis on white space to get a readers attention. I presented a new message and a simpler design with just text and the logo. I'm trying to inform readers a little bit, but still trying to draw people to the website for more information.

The Third Ad

The third ad is the coupon ad. It provides information on current deals and offers, but still links to the website where a reader can find the address and more information. I used a variation of the logo to serve as a border around the text, and used the web address to complete the border on the bottom to give it a fully boxed in feel. I also put an emphasis on the 10% off to immediately get a reader's attention to the offer.

Overall I am very happy with the results and I will probably put them in to use for 8 Gates Natural Health in Kansas City, which is a real business my sister started over 6 months ago and I have been doing all the design work for her including the website and business cards.

Copyright Statement
All materials and designs used in this project are original material designed solely by Kevin Chrisjohn and are the property of Kevin Chrisjohn and 8 Gates Natural Health LLC.