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As designers, we often think that our inspirations are unique. However, as this video proves, even we are susceptible to effective advertising. Designers can sometimes be hyper-sensitive to their surroundings, always looking for visual information they can use. But as we see in Derren Brown‘s experiment, simply being in a space or experiencing a product can subliminally influence us in the same way we try to to visually influence consumers. Weird.
It’s that time of year again when advertising and marketing professionals gather and celebrate the best in the industry, including Central Illinois with the American Advertising Federation Addy Awards held on Friday, February 27 in Champaign and hosted by the AAF Central Illinois chapter. 63 Addy’s were awarded, including the coveted Gold Addy Award to 15 professional and 6 student entries, in recognition of creative excellence to winners from all over Central Illinois from Springfield to Champaign in a wide variety of categories and media including print, television, radio, website and collateral materials. Congratulations to all the 2009 Addy winners in Central Illinois and keep up the great work!
While recently visiting www.howdesign.com, I stumbled across an interesting post, that I thought was worth commenting on and sharing.
The Art Directors Club & Idealist, have created a partnership to bring like-minded creatives & causes together for social change. The two have teamed up to create www.DesignismConnects.org. This new site helps bring together & connect nonprofit organizations in need of advertising/creative services, with advertising/creative professionals who provide those services. On this site, a creative can narrow their search to the causes they believe in, with the skills they offer to find a partnership they would be interested in pursuing.
Both individual and organization can post profiles listing their needs or services. From national to global organizations to choose from, and projects ranging from printed collateral to a TV PSA, I urge fellow creatives to check out www.DesignismConnects.org if your looking for a cause to support! And the same goes for all you nonprofits out there in need of pro-bono talent, sign up now to post your cause projects! What better time to start with the new year approaching and the need to fill a new year’s resolution draws near!
There is an old (really old) saying in PR that “any PR is good – even bad PR.”
Recently I saw a movie that had the now-usual product placement for a certain American brand of beer. While their brand name was visible in an enviable percentage of the movie, the result of the character’s ‘enjoyment’ of said product was someone whose life was a mess. Numerous depictions of drunkenness, inability to hold a job or properly parent their child, and disinterest in anything more than the next beer were the benefits of his imbibing. His life turned around when he chose to not partake of said product.
I am all for creative marketing and applaud those companies who figured out that product placement in movies was a goldmine, but I question the judgment of placing your client’s product where its use is portrayed negatively. While no product or service is 100% perfect, (sorry, it’s true) the role of a marketer is to highlight those attributes that are positive, and to try not to bring too much attention to the negative attributes.
On the other hand, maybe I am just too critical and the fact that the beer name was shown not-so-subliminally hundreds of times is enough to overcome any negative perception. Either way, it’s food for thought.
We had the privilege (well, depending on your Cubs/Cards affiliation) last week to go to a Chicago Cubs game as part of a business meeting with one of our top clients, courtesy of one of their key publishing partners. It was a tough call – spend two days out of the office to build a client relationship, or stay here and get the work out. For any of us at Omni, and pretty much all small businesses, the one thing we all have precious little of is ‘time’. So where and how we spend it is critical.
But, time spent with a great client uninterrupted by phone calls, text messages and emails makes for better communication and ultimately a better appreciation for their challenges. We made the time to attend so we could really focus on issues our client is facing.
As we sat in a strategic meeting with the top editors and media representatives of Hanley-Wood, we were able to uncover opportunities to help our client that might never have surfaced otherwise. I felt we created a stronger bond with our client by taking time to support them and work together on a strategy for their business issues. In doing so, we were able to hear from some very intelligent and savvy editors about their perceptions and suggestions to help our client. It occurred to me that THIS group of people took time out of their very busy days to educate, entertain and demonstrate a partnership attitude with us as well. And that is one of the many reasons we, and our client, like working with them. Taking time makes a difference.
One last comment; I personally did my part to stimulate the local economy by purchasing a ball cap from Wrigley Field when it started to rain at the game. Of course, I cannot wear it at home since my daughter is a Cards fan, but who knows – it may have been just the good luck charm the Cubs needed to win that game.
