When you make a commercial, you have between 15 and 90 seconds to tell the brand’s story and convince people to learn more and to desire more. It’s not easy to do, and it’s not done all that well all that often. When it is done well, we take notice. Right now, Levi’s is getting […]
The post Commercials And Content Marketing Are Advertising’s Meat & Potatoes appeared first on Adpulp.
Here’s some good news. For the holidays, Dell Technologies partnered with Ballet Austin and eSight to equip visually impaired individuals with new technology that enabled them to view a live performance of The Nutcracker at The Long Center in Austin. With over 150 community members in attendance, “The Unseen Ballet” was a special event that […]
AmericanTrucks is a premium sponsor of Adpulp.com. Do you drive a modern truck with drive by wire technology? If you do, you may notice a slight lag in response when using the accelerator. To offer an explanation on this phenomenon, AmericanTrucks’ Justin Dugan created the following video using robots and science to explain throttle enhancement […]
The post Modified Ford F-150s Perform Better On the Road and At the Camp Spot appeared first on Adpulp.
Do you know what I love about brands that focus on providing utility to their customers? I love that they are directly answering the age-old question that every customer has, “What’s in it for me?” I Pledge Allegiance to McDonald’s Lost your passport or cellphone abroad? Just stroll through the doors of one of any […]
The post Burger King and McDonald’s Go Off Script to Create New Value appeared first on Adpulp.
Cross-cultural creative agency the community has launched Bridge Forecast, a first-of-its-kind system that monitors drawbridges in real time to inform commuters of potential traffic delays. Unveiled in partnership with Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables, this smart technology leverages computer vision and machine learning to predict and convey when Miami’s three major drawbridges along the Miami River will rise. By monitoring […]
The post Mercedez-Benz Is Making the Driving Experience Better for All Miamians appeared first on Adpulp.
A company known for its alternative fuels and commitment to sustainability has built a cabin in Finland to showcase its innovation. The Nolla (= zero) cabin, designed by Finnish designer Robin Falck, is located just outside Helsinki city center, on the Vallisaari island. The cabin has been built from sustainable materials and is designed for […]
The post Is It An Experiential Ad for Sustainability, A Summer Home, Or Both? appeared first on Adpulp.
Tyops suck. Poor grammer is worser. If you want to make a positive impression in a text-based medium, you’ve got to get control of your keyboard and your diction. Grammarly helps people say and write what they mean. Automagically! Technology alone isn’t going to help you “Write The Future,” but I like the snap in […]
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Have you heard of Hootsuite Academy? I recently discovered the software company’s array of educational offerings—including both free and paid social media courses. Hootsuite Academy offers social media training for teams and individuals. The training regimens appear to be a smart brand extension and a deep dive into brand utility (that flawlessly connects back to […]
The post What Marketers Can Learn from Hootsuite Academy appeared first on Adpulp.
When Jen Stack, Director of Communications at Colle McVoy, sends me something, I pay attention. I pay attention because Colle McVoy in Minneapolis sends the best branded merchandise, a.k.a. gifts, of anyone in the business. Whether it’s a packet of notecards, chocolates, or a new planner for 2018, it’s always well-made, thoughtful and useful. Because […]
The post Colle McVoy Takes “Minnesota Nice” To Another Level appeared first on Adpulp.
TV is done. Radio is toast. Print is dead. Everything is always coming to an end. Unless it isn’t. Maybe life is circular, not linear. One thing that does not appear to be coming to an end is the endless onslaught of bad advertising. Many companies can’t waste their time and money fast enough on […]
The post Add Value Or Be Labeled An Advertiser (Not In A Good Way) appeared first on Adpulp.
Retail is the point of decision in consumer marketing. When a person stands before a product in the store, it’s decision time. The same holds true for people placing products in an online Shopping Cart. Will the shopper abandon or will she purchase? These are fundamental questions for the country’s greatest retailers to address on […]
The post Brilliant of Reckless? Nordstrom Local Is A Store With No Clothes. appeared first on Adpulp.
One of the reasons I enjoy being a guest on The BeanCast is Bob Knorpp’s expert presentation and handling of important marketing topics. This week’s show is a classic. We begin the hour with a robust exchange about the disconnect between what marketers think customers want from digital experiences and what customers actually want. From […]
The post This Week on The BeanCast: How To Improve Digital Customer Experience appeared first on AdPulp.
There is a struggle happening for the soul of Adland right now. It doesn’t help that many young, talented people prefer to work in tech, where the perks are stellar and the challenges never-ending. Hell, wine runs from water fountains in Silicon Valley and other pockets of technical innovation like Boulder and Austin.
How are ordinary citizens of Adland to compete?
Insert Contagious, a company that helps brands and advertising agencies understand and adapt to shifts in marketing, consumer culture and technology. Addressing the Adverati at Cannes last week, Contagious execs Nick Parish and Will Sansom helped ad people feel better about themselves and their chosen profession.
Let’s listen in.
Parish and Sansom managed to weave Bill Bernbach, Howard Luck Gossage and Mary Wells Lawrence into their talk. Hey, that’s what I would do if I was on stage. Show your alliances and some knowledge of what came before.
“Creativity should not serve technology. Technology should serve creativity,” reasoned Sansom during the talk. Sounds good. But you know what sounds better? Technology and creativity both in service to real customers’ needs. The question for marketers today is so much bigger than what any ad campaign can offer. The question is how to provide something useful, or something beautiful, that also works as marketing.
Coca-Cola is one brand with answers to these non-rhetorical questions. Whether you drink their soda or not, it’s hard not to be impressed with the company’s innovative efforts to provide clean drinking water in Africa and Latin America.
The post Marketers Are Innovators, So Please, No Lagging appeared first on AdPulp.
Polar is the Brazilian beer for conversationalists. The brand has kindly developed a beer cooler that blocks cell and mobile internet signals, so people can talk again.
It’s a strange world when a beer brand has to develop technology to encourage real time, face-to-face conversation. It’s enough to make a grown man want a beer and a buddy to talk to whist quaffing said suds.
The post Today on TV: In Brazil It’s Handsets Down And Beers Up appeared first on AdPulp.
Digital disruption is more than an annoying ping in your pocket, and it’s not all good. Take the situation facing hundreds of drive-in movie theaters around the nation–if they fail to upgrade their projection equipment to the tune of $75,000 per screen by the end of the year, they will no longer be able to show first-run films.
Clearly, this is a problem in need of a solution and I for one, am pleased to see a progressive-minded brand step-up with an innovative solution.
Project Drive-In, a newly launched national effort sponsored by Honda to save as many drive-ins as possible, is raising community awareness across the nation, and will supply at least five drive-ins with digital projectors.
“Cars and drive-in theaters go hand-in-hand, and it’s our mission to save this decades-old slice of Americana that holds such nostalgia for so many of us,” said Alicia Jones, Manager of Honda & Acura Social Marketing at American Honda Motor Co.
I’m marveling at the perfect fit here. This is precisely what a car company ought to do and Honda is doing it, with help from RPA in Santa Monica.
As part of Honda’s fundraising efforts, there will be an online auction that features tickets to the Los Angeles premiere of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 as well as additional film-related merchandise.
Honda will also launch pop-up drive-ins at Honda dealerships across the country to help raise awareness and build a groundswell of support, featuring a free screening of the first Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs film.
The post Honda Makes Itself Useful, Launches Perfect Public Service-Like Campaign appeared first on AdPulp.
Mass customization. Affordable luxury. Digital disruption.
Welcome to Silvercar, an innovative new rental car company operating today at four Texas airport locations (DFW, DAL, AUS and HOU).
I don’t know about you, but next time I fly to Texas, I intend to leave the airport in a 2013 Audi A4 sports sedan, outfitted with navigation, satellite radio and a Wi-Fi hot spot.
According to Entrepreneur, Silvercar’s iOS and Android apps lead customers through the entire rental process, including unlocking the vehicle for them and automatically syncing satellite radio preferences and phone contacts. Dropping off the car is equally simple; the Audi automatically logs mileage, tolls and fuel used.
Luke Schneider, the company’s CEO says, “Regardless of the city you’re in, you get into your car and your preferences–climate control, radio and seat-positioning settings, itinerary destinations, even favorite restaurants–are already programmed in.”
The post Silvercar Knows What Travelers Want (an A4) And How To Deliver It (Fully Loaded) appeared first on AdPulp.
Media companies certainly have a ton to gain by solving the online advertising riddle that continues to plague Adland, for they will be the direct beneficiary of client dollars invested.
According to Adweek, The New York Times’ 10-person Idea Lab is helping to reshape what it means to be a display ad.
Just as technology enables the Times to tell stories in a more visual, more interactive way, it now affords advertisers the same opportunity.
Recently, Idea Lab created an ad unit for Prudential, the insurance giant, which allows people to type in their date of birth and see the front page of the Times on the day they were born.
The ad satisfies the interactivity problem straight away and that’s a big step in the right direction. Plus, if you think of the Times’ archives as a canvas and a data mine, a developer certainly has plenty to work with.
From the agency perspective, the desire for a more complex storytelling vehicle is palpable. No one wants to make banner ads that just sit there. We’re happy to now ask what kind of value these ad units can deliver, and how can they perform more like an App?
The post Using Interactive Technology To Forward The Brand Story appeared first on AdPulp.
We all know what a mess digital advertising is. There are privacy concerns, ad blockers and quacks in every direction offering their innovative new solutions that are far from it.
The good news is brands can play effectively in the people’s sandbox — provided they learn to play a different game, a game with new rules.
Banner ads and YouTube videos are print and broadcast constructs, respectively. The need to push past these formats has never been more clear. But what else can we do in digital? What else should we do?
Dan Hon, an Interactive Creative Director at Wieden + Kennedy, is a champion of brands building out digital services like Nike+ Running.
A general mistake in thinking around digital advertising is that there are two binary choices: either provide utility and essentially create products; or create fluff or entertainment that reinforces a brand and relies on paid attention.
That ignores the tremendous but difficult space in the middle.
I do know what Hon means by the binary choices. I’ve laid them out for clients, and our readers here, for years. What I don’t accept is the notion that building digital services fails to fit into this simple equation. I hate to dwell in semantics, but Nike+ is also a product, and an excellent example of branded utility.
The truth is people are actively charting their own courses in digital via a plethora of mostly free and some paid tools. We are managing our real lives from a digital dashboard. It’s how we keep in touch with friends and family, pay our bills, shop, plan vacations, book travel, make dinner reservations, find dates and so on. Nike+ found a way to be useful, and that’s a fantastic thing. I would love to see this model repeated a thousand fold.
I will merely add that the brand who launches a lifestyle magazine or produces a feature film (both large scale content plays) is also finding a compelling way to be useful. Entertaining and informing people are both hugely useful.
The post Are Digital Services The New Ideal? appeared first on AdPulp.
Drew Neisser and Jonah Bloom, like most business travelers today, need to get their charge on.
Bloom describes the scene:
After about half an hour of staring at the space where a plane should’ve been, we’re granted the announcement we knew was coming: The 3:30 p.m. out of LAX is now the 4:50 p.m., which we all know means it’s really the 6-something p.m. There’s a brief period of eye-rolling before everyone goes back to their business, which in my case means huddling with a dozen other worshippers around the Samsung totem pole to which our BlackBerries and laptops are attached.
If you have the misfortune to run the gauntlet of America’s airports with any regularity, you’re all too familiar with this scene and may even know the totem I’m referring to. It’s an eight-foot, electrical charging station with a little shelf about halfway up its length where devices rest and recharge. It was Samsung that came up with the idea to pay for and install these life savers, hence having its brand name emblazoned on the side.
But does it move product? Again, we turn to the esteemed editor.
Do I think charging stations sell phones? Unlikely. But they’re way more likely to leave me feeling affection for the brand than some mind-numbing airport billboard that has nothing to do with the frustration and boredom I’m experiencing.
Adrian Ho at Zeus Jones is reflecting on leading firms like Google that “don’t really use advertising agencies and instead rely upon innovative business ideas to communicate their benefits and values to their customers.”
Ho also mentions Alex Bogusky’s 2004 claim that “everything is an ad” and wonders how ad people are coping with that news.
Rather than creating “communications objects” that help to grow a client’s business, agencies who champion the idea that “everything is an ad” should instead be helping to magnify and extend the communication and marketing effects of the client’s own business objects. This is a pretty unpopular perspective in creative and production departments because it means that you start with the client’s idea rather than starting with something created from scratch. Perhaps this is is why most agencies aren’t advocating it.
I don’t know that it’s a “not created here” battle. I think 99.9% of us are busy working to sell the communications plans and executions we’re paid by our clients to create. Jumping into this new pool where “innovative business ideas” are king, is a bit scary and many of us likely question whether we belong in this pool.
What do you think, is product development (to give one example) an area where ad people belong?
[via Brian Morrissey]
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
