Optimize Magazine - Fall 2013

Fall 2013

IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

The Psychology Of

Color How to use color to position your brand, influence consumers and increase sales

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HOW TO‌ Write great advertising copy Humanize your brand Leverage mobile marketing

Giveaway!

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welcome

Fall 2013

Fall 2013

expert opinion Read insight from the following contributors in this issue:

The power of color In the Fall issue of our new magazine, we explore the use of color in branding, merchandising and packaging, and reveal how it can help you influence customers, increase sales and grow your business

M

any successful companies over the last few decades have built their corporate branding around key colors. Think Coca Cola red, John Deere green and, more recently, Facebook blue as high-profile examples.

ing for any creative director, designer, branding consultant or business owner.

Elsewhere in this issue, we also look at how many companies are adapting to the rapidly changing world of social media.

Today’s consumer expects to be able to interact with a company or brand on Facebook or Twitter in exactly the same way they would with friends or family – and with the same level of immediacy, too.

This opportunity for instant communication and dialogue is unprecedented in history and, as a result, companies are having to change the way in which they engage with consumers. On page 16, we look at how Callaway Golf has transformed its marketing department into a mini newsroom and TV network to create the rich content that leads to increased engagement and sales.

We also reveal four key mobile marketing tactics you can use, show you how to write compelling advertising and direct mail copy, and reveal the five key factors that can send a piece of content viral.

As a commercial printer, we are extremely sensitive to the importance of color in marketing. Regardless of the medium or the project – from the creation of a corporate or brand identity to the development of product packaging to the styling of brochures and direct mail pieces – color plays a very influential role in evoking emotions and shaping our response to what we see on the shelves, in our mailbox at home and in our email inbox online.

Because of its importance, we invited the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute and globally renowned color consultant Leatrice Eiseman to explain in a little more detail how companies and marketing agencies can use color more effectively in their branding and comRoy Waterhouse munications. The interview President, Hopkins Printing on page 8 is essential read-

Harry Arnett Senior Vice President, Marketing at Callaway Golf, Harry shows you how to adopt open dialogues with consumers.

Rebecca Nordquist An editor at ESPN The Magazine, Rebecca explains how magazines and writers are evolving in the social media age.

From the entire team at Hopkins Printing, we hope you enjoy the issue and look forward to hearing your comments and feedback.

Bryan Karr A creative director and copywriter, Bryan reveals his secrets for writing compelling advertising and direct marketing copy.

04 Insights

14 How to write great ads

Ideas, opinion, news and trends.

Two senior copywriters reveal their secrets

08 The Power Of Color

16 Humanize Your Brand

Color consultant Leatrice Eiseman on how to use color to empower your brand.

12 Mobile Marketing Trends Four effective mobile tactics you can integrate into your marketing mix.

Executive Editor Cindy Woods Art Director Alan Platten Contributing Writers Tim Sweeney,

Why open and honest dialogue with consumers is the key to social media success.

Nick Wright

18 What’s On My Mind?

©2013 All Rights Reserved

Three writers reveal how their jobs have evolved in recent years.

Produced by Fourth Element Creative and The CMO Team

Printed and distributed by Hopkins Printing www.hopkinsprinting.com

03

fall 2013

insights

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | opinion |

Video Marketing »

Six seconds to tell a story How agencies and brands are embracing the new short-form video medium

I

n six seconds, you can post a Tweet, download a document or read a Facebook post, but can you really tell a story or engage an audience in such a short space of time?

Marketers seem to think so. Since Twitter launched Vine in January, companies have been flocking to the free video platform that enables users to create, edit and post six-second clips. Urban Outfitters, Lowe’s, Rolling Stone, General Electric and Adidas are just a few well-known brands already using Vine to support product launches, increase brand awareness and promote other company initiatives.

However, while producing a short-form video may sound easier than storyboarding a 30-second TV spot, Vine’s six-second time limit presents many challenges – the first and most obvious of which is that it is not easy to deliver a compelling and coherent story or message in such a short space of time.

Here are a few pointers to help you get it right: Be professional with your production values YouTube, Instagram and Vine are awash with shaky smartphone videos that are more likely to induce nausea than a desire to discover more about a brand’s products or services. In an ideal world, you should attach your smartphone to a tripod, but a flat and stable surface is a good alternative. If you have to hand-hold your phone, either lock your arms straight or tuck your elbows into the sides of your body.

Embrace stop-motion video Vine automatically loops videos, which means your mini production will continue to play over and over.

To make a stop-motion video (essentially, a very brief time-lapse video), place the camera on a tripod, compose your scene, then press the record and stop buttons as quickly as possible without moving the phone. Make a series of small changes to the scene and repeat the process until you reach the six-second time limit.

Pay attention to sound quality It is currently not possible to add a separate audio track to a Vine video. Background noise can either add atmosphere to your clip or make it sound sloppy and unprofessional. Try to ensure that you

film in an area where you can control the sound quality. And if you have to change location for individual scenes, make sure to keep the sound levels consistent.

Vary composition and angles If your six-second clip incorporates several scenes, you can add impact to your transitions by varying your composition and angles.

Switching from a wide-angle shot to a close-up to move a story forward is more likely to hold the viewer’s attention than a series of scenes with the same perspective.

3 Great examples of vine video Lowe’s “fixinsix” Campaign

Playstation’s MLB13: The show

Peanut Butter & Co.’s PB&J Coupon

Home improvement giant Lowe’s recently released eight simple home improvement tips and pointers. The campaign, dubbed #lowesfixinsix, uses stop-motion animation to give consumers handy DIY lessons. The subjects include how to unscrew a stripped screw, remove a stubborn sticker and clean a dirty cookie sheet.

To promote MLB13 The Show in the build up to the start of the new baseball season, Sony PlayStation released a selection of video baseball cards featuring a wide range of gaming and baseball influencers. The individuals were tweeted their own card, which featured a game version of themselves sporting their team’s colors.

In April, Peanut Butter & Co. launched a social media initiative to encourage people to download a buy-one-getone-free coupon. The coupons were available on the firm’s Facebook and Twitter pages and promoted on a Vine video showing how to make the perfect PB&J sandwich.

The video generated 300,000 impressions and 6,000 coupon downloads.

INSIGHTS

Direct Mail response rates continue to rise Enhanced personalization, targeting, customization and relevancy are the keys to direct mail’s recent resurgence According to a new study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, direct mail response rates have significantly increased during the past 12 months. The survey, conducted in April this year, highlighted that the average response rate for direct mail is now 4.4 percent for both B2B and B2C mailings – a significant increase in the industry-accepted standard response rate of between one and two percent.

In 2012, for example, envelopesized direct mail letters achieved a 3.4 percent response rate when mailed to a domestic list and a 1.28 percent response rate when mailed to a prospect list. The study also cited a recent Direct Mail Information Service report, which indicates that more than three-quarters of direct mail is opened by the recipients and that nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of those recipients read the contents.

While the findings will make encouraging reading for direct marketers, it is interesting to look at the reasons behind the increase in effectiveness of the printed piece.

Scarcity of printed mail One of the major reasons for the recent improvement in direct mail response rates is the dramatic reduction of printed mail landing in home mailboxes.

As people increasingly turn to electronic/digital communication

for everything from receiving bank statements to utility bills, the actual printed pieces that consumers do receive stand out and get noticed. enhanced personalization In recent years, direct marketers have become increasingly sophisticated in their communication strategies, leveraging targeting, personalization and offer customization to make mail more relevant to recipients.

About the Pew Center Research The Pew Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects making up the non-profit Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

Fall 2013

05

opinion »

My 5 golden rules for

Idea Generation My entire work life is based on creating and selling ideas, so I’m forever trying to control and enhance the flow of my creativity. I’m also always wondering where my next big idea will come from. These are the rules I follow to ensure that the killer concepts keep flowing:

1

Have a curious mindset Personal and life experiences are building blocks for ideas. The more of them you have, the bigger and better your ideas will be.

2

Become an expert You need to know all the rules about your subject in order to be able to challenge them, break them and develop new ideas.

3

Think about the big idea first Don’t fast forward to what the idea will look like as an execution or get too far into the details too early. That will limit the size of the idea. Having ideas is a numbers game. Act instinctively and have as many as you can.

4

Embrace failure We’re in the creative industry so it’s impossible to guarantee success. But if you start worrying about failing or having a ‘bad idea’ you’ll never have a great idea.

5

By Jonathan Pease

“You need to know all the rules about your subject in order to be able to challenge them, break

Get in touch with a younger you Kids don’t know what they don’t know and naturally think freely.

them and

Jonathan is the Executive Ideas Director at Tongue, a Sydney, Australia-based advertising agency.

and better ideas”

develop new

FALL 2013

insights

NEWS | REVIEWS | ideas | opinion |

content marketing »

Engineered

To Be Shared The key factors that can help send a content piece viral

Be funny or surprising

In order for a campaign to go viral, it has to stand out. Making your content humorous capitalizes on our desire to make others laugh and, therefore, becomes more share-worthy. If it’s something they truly haven’t seen before or didn’t expect, it becomes of greater value to the viewer and they’ll want to surprise their friends, too.

Ask yourself this about your content: Would I want to share this?

Help people look cool or clever

In order for your campaign to go viral, it will need to be shared. That means people will have to ‘want’ to share it.

So keep in mind how your content will make the audience feel, and how it will make them feel if they pass it

Mobile & Tablet Apps »

Appy

Hour

The best smartphone and tablet apps every marketer should know about

on. Will it make them look credible, cool, funny or in-the-know? If they’d be embarrassed to sit at a dinner party and explain how they “accidentally” came across your video, they probably won’t be excited to tell their friends about it.

“Most viral campaigns that hit it big are supported by large social media advertising budgets”

Don’t overdo branding

Keep it short

Understand your audience

Your brand should not be THE story, but merely part of the story.

Generally speaking, characters are what make good stories and overly branded content is less likely to be shared on your behalf unless it’s highly entertaining. If your story is crafted in an engaging manner, the brand will show through. Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign is a prime example. Just be sure the content is a true representation of your brand.

Get in, get out. Leave the audience wanting more. Like a good newspaper columnist pulls you in with a strong lead, so, too, should your content.

People are impatient and on to the next thing quickly, so dive straight into making things interesting and connecting your brand to the story. Ending on a high note that delivers the element of surprise and leaves the audience well aware of your brand presence is another smart practice to follow.

Even the most creative marketing plan will fall flat if you don’t plan how you’ll disseminate your content. Develop a clear-cut map of how you’ll push your material to the masses, starting with the people in your immediate network. Lastly, recognize that most viral campaigns that hit it big are supported by large social media advertising and PR budgets that drum up attention for them. It’s actually very little to do with luck. n

Dropbox

Evernote

Flipboard

You probably already know that Dropbox makes sending large files, photos, documents and videos around the office a cinch. But the app also allows you to move files between your phone, tablet and computer.

Save a document or photo in the Dropbox folder on your phone and it immediately saves to the folder on your computer and tablet.

Evernote began as a note-taking app, but it’s so much more. Popular among journalists and marketers, who are constantly filtering ideas through their busy minds, the app allows users to sync notes across computers and devices; save, sync and share files; organize notes by notebooks and tags; and even record voice and audio notes.

Ready to share your notes? You can do so via Facebook and Twitter.

Flipboard allows you to create your own magazine comprised of news and stories you care about or want to share.

Search for topics, people, hashtags… whatever. Then create an online magazine of articles videos, links and photos that pertain to your preferred subject matter.

Using Flipboard Editor you can manage your magazines from a convenient dashboard and then share it with your friends or fans.

INSIGHTS

Fall 2013

talking points »

sound

bites

Email Marketing Tactics

Overheard Recently

That Work

“The maneuverability and accountability of digital media has set new expectations in optimization for all media.”

Personalized messaging and relevant, targeted offers are the keys to a successful email marketing campaign Outside of maybe gambling in Vegas there aren’t many things in life in which a 25 percent success rate is considered impressive. Yet if a brand has 25 percent of its consumer emails opened, it is considered to be “connecting” with its database.

Viewed by many as the silver bullet to email marketing, personalized communication has been shown to raise email open rates by 20 percent or more. That said, today’s consumers are no longer delighted by personalized communications, they expect them. Simply inserting your customers’ names in an email doesn’t mean you’ve found a way to their wallets, or even convinced them to navigate their mouse to the “open” tab.

Utilize tailored copy and creative “Personalization should not be restricted to just inserting a salutation in the introduction or subject line,” says Wei Tan, Director and co-founder of The Orchard, a digital agency that specializes in email marketing. “Personalization also includes the ability to insert tailored copy and creative. Merging content

based on individual profiles enables you to deliver targeted messages more effectively.”

Develop trust with valuable content Providing your database with content that is of value to them is an essential step to setting future expectations that your email will be worth opening. However, to send personally relevant content to your customers you must first know their preferences, where they are in the purchase process and, depending on your business, even their personal interests.

Analyze click-through behaviors “Carefully analyzing click-through activity can go a long way to establishing user content preferences,” Tan explains. “This will allow you to start building profiles and tailoring more targeted content. The holy grail in more accurate content targeting is having your web analytics and CRM integrated into your email platform, which will allow you to send trigger based emails based on behavior and interactions.”

Pinterest

Postling

How can a marketer or brand not possibly want an app that describes itself as “a tool for collecting and organizing the things that inspire you?”

Pin things like links, images and blog posts to Pinterest and your pins link back to you. You can create “boards” that organize your pins by topic and invite others to follow you. Cool imagery draws followers and potential consumers. When you follow others, or even just one of their boards, their pins show up on your feed – a compilation of everything that is pinned by the people you follow and who follow you.

Postling enables you to manage your social media accounts from one app on your iPhone or computer. Using Postling, you can monitor your entire social media inbox for Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr and Wordpress and publish to them, too.

The app even sends a summary of what you might have missed the day before and lets you schedule posts for certain times of the day.

The Hewlett-Packard Test In 2012, Hewlett-Packard published a case study on the effectiveness of targeted messaging in its B2B emails.

The company targeted two percent of its United States database to test the effects of dynamic email content by placing content that was related to the consumer’s recent online behavior in prevalent locations in the email. The technology giant found that those receiving the dynamic content had a 300 percent higher open rate and 600 percent higher click-throughs.

Lisa Harder Owner/Partner of Human Element Communications

“How do good writers get to the point where they are actually satisfied? They write. Lots.”

Bryan Karr Associate Creative Director, Leo Burnett

Twitter and Facebook Let’s admit it. All too often, you learn far too much about happenings in the world – and your friends’ personal lives – via Facebook and Twitter. One allows you to stay connected to virtually every one you’ve ever met in life (and see far too many cute baby photos) while the other has helped stage revolutions. It’s hard to create a Best Apps list without them on it.

“Remove 50 percent of the copy on your page, then remove half of what’s left.”

STEVE KRUG Web User Experience Consultant

“Content is fire.

Social media is the gasoline.”

JAY BAER Social Media Consultant

07

THE OPTIMIZE interview

leatrice eiseman International Color Consultant

We talked to the Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute and Director of the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training about the key role color plays in branding, merchandising and communicating with consumers.

A

s the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute and a member of the International Forecasting team for the Pantone View Color Planner, Pantone View Home and PantoneView.com, world renowned color consultant Leatrice Eiseman plays an influential role in determining what hues will be trendy and fashionable across a wide range of industries in the coming seasons and years. Eiseman’s formula for identifying color trends is a sophisticated blend of monitoring and analyzing

history, current events, social movements, psychology, art and fashion, and the mass of information and research from her own color surveys. The author of eight successful books and with another in the works, Eiseman has helped many companies, from start-ups to large corporations make the best and most educated choice of color for product development, corporate and brand identity, packaging, point of purchase, interior/exterior design or wherever color choice is critical to the success of a product or an environment.

Fall 2013

Q: As a consultant to a wide range of businesses, what are the most common mistakes or misconceptions that you see?

Leatrice Eiseman: I would have to say that many people still do not know how to divorce their personal color likes and dislikes from what they’re trying to achieve at a professional level.

For example, you may personally despise the color green, but you can’t just pick whatever hues appeal to you without considering what those colors communicate to your target audience.

Q: Why do you think this is such a common problem?

LE: One key reason for this is because it is very difficult to “overrule” your natural or instinctive reaction to a certain color. Each color carries an intrinsic meaning that can differ significantly from individual to individual.

And the meaning that we attach to a color can come from various sources. If your personal experiences of a particular color are recorded deep in your psyche, you may not even realize why you react the way you do.

Q: Aside from personal experiences, how are we hard-wired to respond to color?

LE: Nature plays a key role. Wherever we are in the universe, color is an intrinsic part of our day-to-day surroundings. Every minute of every day, we are subconsciously learning about and reacting to color. Take a beautiful red rose as an example. We know that, in this context, the red rose is beautiful, its petals are soft to the touch and it has a lovely scent. So we admire it from an aesthetic standpoint. At the same time, though, embedded deep within our psyche is the knowledge that red is also a warning signal for fire, flame and bloodshed that humans have always responded to.

So as you can see, there are multiple elements involved in how we almost instinctively respond to color within a given context. Rather than making umbrella suggestions about how or why red always signifies danger or excitement, my response is to ask, “In what context is the color being used?” That’s how we derive real meaning.

Q: How else do we derive meaning(s) from different colors?

LE: We also derive meanings from what we have been taught. For example, when you walked down the street as a child and came to a red stop sign or a red traffic light, your parents would most likely have told you that red means danger and that you need to wait until the light turns green before it’s safe to cross the road. Again, it’s all about learning within context. Once you understand the context or the environment in which a product will be shown, then you can weave a narrative around it with an educated background. It’s not a story that’s pulled out of thin air; it’s a story that has basis in fact.

Q: What is your own, unique perspective on color?

LE: There are what I call color “fact” and “fictions.” Many well-educated people have studied the subject in depth and do a very good job, but there are also many others who continue to propagate urban myths about color that can be very damaging to businesses. I think it is wrong that a company should ignore a particular color palette on the advice of a so-called color consultant when that color would actually be an exceptional choice given the context and the environment in which the product would be positioned.

Q: Can you provide any examples?

LE: I was once told that yellow should never be used to decorate babies’ rooms because it is a hateful color and that it makes them cry. When I researched that statement, I discovered that no study existed that could justify or validate it. And, of course, babies are incapable of telling you otherwise!

Another strong myth that I hear constantly is that you should never use orange to promote or market expensive goods or services. The same person in the industry with the “yellow” issue also once told me that orange was a “declassifying” color. Hermes clearly didn’t receive the memo on that because the company has used orange as its signature

“Color is an intrinsic part of

our day-to-day surroundings.

Every minute of every day, we are subconsciously learning about and reacting to color”

color for many years. And orange was the color of the year in 2012, too.

Q: Where does a color trend come from?

LE: It’s no great secret that fashion is acknowledged as the leader in instigating and driving trends in color, but it’s certainly not the be-all and end-all any more. In fact, I tell all my students and audiences that they need to look at every industry that is colorrelated today because there’s something to be learned from everybody.

In the 1990s, the graphic design and print industries had to respond to pressure to be more environmentally aware by using recycled paper and soy-based inks. Bloomingdales still uses the big brown bag that was launched some 20 years ago when all the shopping bags at the time were glossy, loud and colorful. So even Bloomingdales – the citadel of women’s fashion – was influenced by an industry outside of its own field.

Q: Aside from fashion and cosmetics, are there any other influential industries?

LE: To a certain degree, the technology industry has been influential. Everybody knows how Apple changed the whole look of electronics, but what’s really interesting is how so many other companies jumped on the bandwagon and imitated those early iMac colors. Even though Apple was already a well-

f

09

10

Fall 2013

interview

interview: Leatrice Eiseman » known company, it differentiated itself in the computer industry with the Bondi blue iMac and earned even more market share when they introduced more colors.

Ultimately, those colors found their way into the fashion world, too.

Q: What else plays an influential role in determining a color trend?

LE: It’s important to be aware of what is happening in the world on a macro level. Is there a social movement of some kind taking place, for example? The environmental movement has been – and continues to be – very instrumental in bringing back the various shades of green. Art is another area. I’m not necessarily looking at what’s in museums today, but rather is there something on the horizon in the art world that we believe will make its way around the world in the future?

Q: What’s the definition of a trend?

LE: In my opinion, for a trend to be big, it really has to be seen across many different cultures and in many geographical areas. If something comes out of New York, London, Paris or California, people will often say it’s a trend. But does it have legs? That’s what color consultants like myself have to discern and figure out. Sometimes we stick our necks

out and make a prediction and then we start seeing it in Wired magazine and Harper’s Bazaar! That’s a good feeling.

Q: How did you select the color palette for your own website?

LE: Each color I selected is symbolic of a particular mood or feeling. However, I don’t like to say, “red for excitement” or “purple for creativity.” I like to create mixes that embrace a wide range of colors since colors are rarely used individually. In most instances, a color will be used within a larger palette.

leatrice’s 3 keys for a successful Brand Identity You need a lot of information to make an educated decision on selecting the best color(s) for a company’s brand identity. Here are three questions to help point you in the right direction.

1. How do you want people to feel about your brand?

This is the key question that any color consultant or marketing/ design agency needs to ask its client. What kind of image does the company want to present to the world?

What is its core message and how do they

want people to feel about them when they see their branding?

2. What is the brand’s personal color history?

It’s important to know the history of a company’s use of color. You will need to know what colors they have used before and

what has been most successful. Although it’s sometimes important to move into a new color territory to achieve new goals, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to change a company’s entire color identification package. You might make tweaks or simply add a spot color here and there to bring in a fresher feel. Color association is very important for companies.

It is important to not

just throw away all of the equity that may have been built up over the years.

3. Who is the target demographic?

You certainly need to look at the target audience demographics. Is the company creating products or services for younger people, trend oriented people or an older generation that may have preconceived ideas about color?

For example, if I randomly open my Color: Messages & Meaning book, I arrive at a page called “Pungent.” What do most people think of when they hear that word? Acrid, sharp, hot, peppery, snappy, tart and spicy. What colors would you use to illustrate and describe those adjectives? Perhaps something like chili pepper red, curried yellows, olive greens and paprika. All of those colors have a descriptive edge that goes beyond “spicy red.” The lesson is to use colors together that build a story around your expectations but understand the intrinsic meaning behind it.

Q: Color and typography often go hand in hand. Are there any golden rules for how they are used?

LE: I always draw back when I hear the word “rule” because it takes you away from creativity and experimentation. I far prefer the word “guideline” because it gives you the ability to explore and examine a possibility without dismissing it out of hand.

Sometimes you do want to hold onto some of the basic tenants of color. If a bank is looking to reinforce its values of loyalty, reliability and dependability, for example, we know that blue says that. But what shade of blue? If you’re targeting a slightly younger demographic, say, you might want to heat up the blue and add a little excitement to it. It’s

Fall 2013

Q: Since the graphic communications industry often seems to be slowest to react to color trends, do you recommend that creatives use trending colors or traditional and stable colors?

no longer just a question of “blue is trustworthy” – end of story.

Q: Color is often described as the “silent salesperson.” Can you explain that statement?

LE: Let’s take the most mundane thing like walking down a supermarket aisle. If there is a particular color combination that attracts your eye, you are more likely to reach for it. Similarly, if you’ve entered the store looking for a soothing bar of soap, your eye will react to the color that will evoke that feeling inside of you.

Q: How do you arrive at the Pantone Color of the year?

LE: Through a lot of research, travel and homework! I’m fortunate to be able to travel the world with my presentation and consultancy work, and that gives me the opportunity to view different cultures and to get a preview of what’s coming on the horizon. I also attend and give many presentations at a wide variety of trade shows. That enables me to come into contact with many people and to observe upcoming trends. I also have colleagues in other industries that I can call on for specific information, including the high-end jewelry industry. In the case of Emerald (last year’s Pantone Color of the Year), I looked for the trend in jewelry and gemstones. The meaning

behind the color is unity and harmony. The psychology of the color is also an important part of how we arrive at a color.

Q: Are colors globally popular?

LE: That’s an interesting question. Twice a year, I go to Europe to meet with a group of color forecasters from around the world. It’s always fascinating to see how we’re almost always on the same wavelength when it comes to choosing forecasted colors. There are times when I will say, “That’s a very European take,” or when I can see a particular influence. But I don’t discard different opinions because there’s a huge availability of information out there today. These days, a graphic designer or an art director can go online and immediately see how color is being used in other parts of the world.

Of course, there are regional differences within different industries, too. If you’re a paint manufacturer, for example, you know you will sell more of the traditional colors in the north east of the country because that’s what the market is accustomed to. In Boston, you’re not going to sell a lot of the flaming pink that you might see on the outside of houses in Phoenix or Miami where the intense sunlight will soften the hues. But in general, the world is becoming a much smaller place because people are taking a broader, more universal standpoint.

LE: Again, it all comes down to context.

Of course, there are times when you want to break from the traditional. The danger, however, is that if you do embrace a trend and then use it in a product with a long lifecycle, you can get stuck with a color that becomes out of date very quickly. Think about how you would use color in your own home. You would probably use a safer and more stable color for a “permanent” installation like tiling.

You’d then use splashes of a more adventurous or trending color for accent or attention.

Q: Is it possible to predict how long a trend will last?

LE: People say trends come and go quickly, but I don’t agree. I can tell you that orange and yellow/greens were the two least popular colors many years ago. Today we’re seeing much less of a resistance to these color families. Because of many factors, including the economy, people are allowing themselves more time to accustom themselves to colors.

We’re not so much of a throwaway society any more, so people are keeping things longer.

Yellows and greens have been popular during the last couple of years but I still see them in forecasts for fashion and family home for 2014. I don’t think they’re going to fall off the end of the earth at the end of the year. n For more information and insights from Leatrice, go to: www.colorexpert.com

Celebrate 50 years of color with Pantone’s Celebrate Color Infographic.

Scan the QR code or visit www.hopkinsprinting.com/50-yearsof-pantone to view the infographic.

11

4 Mobile Marketing Trends You Can’t Ignore

1

Location-based apps

Targeted marketing content, if you haven’t heard, is the order of the day thanks to the world’s aforementioned dependency on mobile devices. That makes using locationbased apps to drive consumer demand from the palms of their hands a no-brainer. A quick summary: when your location services are enabled on your mobile device, an app can determine where you’re located and send you messages to push products nearby.

How it’s done: In the UK, alcoholic beverage company Bulmers targeted mobile users with a location-based app that allowed them to claim a free bottle of cider at a nearby pub. The company partnered with O2 Media to set up geo-fences around London pubs that sold Bulmers so that when O2 subscribers walked near them, they were sent a text message telling them where to go for their free drink.

In total, more than 50 percent of the recipients clicked on the message, 25 percent bought Bulmers at the pub they were told about, and another 53 percent went on to quench their thirst at another pub. It’s vital that any locationbased marketing effort delivers true value to the recipient, rather than annoys or interrupts.

And in our opinion, a cold cider on a hot day certainly qualifies as added value!

Here are four areas of mobile marketing you ought to be up to speed on.

f

There are now officially more people on the planet with a mobile phone than a bank account or a toothbrush. While that is not a ringing endorsement for worldwide dental care or financial know-how, it makes it quite clear why marketers are so intent on targeting mobile devices–people are always on them.

mobile marketing trends

2

Mobile Couponing

3

4

Push Notifications

Fall 2013

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Developing Your Own App

Remember when mom used to cut coupons out of the Sunday newspaper and head off to the grocery store? Nowadays, you can put away the scissors and break out the smartphone, as more companies offer mobile coupons designed to give consumers an incentive to purchase, increase sampling and trial, and drive sell-through at retail.

The Mobile Marketers Association defines a mobile coupon as an electronic ticket sent via a mobile phone that can be exchanged for a rebate or discount when making a purchase.

Many companies use this tactic to build their database because it forces new consumers to enter their personal information to receive the cash back. The manner in which mobile coupons are accessed can vary, but generally consumers must enter a code to activate a coupon or simply receive a coupon via a text message.

Anyone who has downloaded smartphone apps probably has plenty they never use. If your brand’s app is buried away unused on a mobile device, that consumer is interacting less with you. Push notifications – small reminders that appear on the home screen of your mobile device to deliver a message from an app – are an effective way to keep your app relevant and maintain consumer contact.

The most straightforward way to utilize them is to issue simple reminders. The most common subject matter is letting users know about updates to the app. Push notifications can also be effective marketing tools, delivering subtle hints of the app’s usefulness. Sports apps often send score updates when a game ends, while some public transportation apps send updates if a train is running late.

There are a number of major benefits to developing your own app. For starters, your brand will always be at the fingertips of smartphone users, which can go a long way toward strengthening your brand in their eyes. Those who download your app clearly want to stay connected with you and, therefore, should be much easier to convert into sales.

If you’re eager to develop your own app, but unwilling to invest in the services of a specialist developer to design and create one for you, the good news is that pretty much every platform (Apple iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows) has its own app-making tool to get you started. There are also a number of free and paid app development tools for those of us who don’t naturally converse in code.

If you follow this route, you’ll most likely stumble a few times while developing your app early on, so be prepared to learn the hard way.

How it’s done: When developing a mobile coupon, there are a few key points to remember.

First, be sure to align your mobile coupon efforts with your other advertising channels. It’s not an offer if no one knows about it. Secondly, spell out your offer specifically to your audience, even if you only have 160 characters of a text message to do so. Third, make it as easy as possible to cash in; ideally you’d put the coupon in the message itself. Finally, make sure the coupon offers true value to the recipient.

How it’s done: If you’ve added new content to your app, that’s a perfect excuse to send a push notification letting consumers know what new features are available. By adding more value to your app, you’re giving users more reasons to interact with your brand, and you might as well market your app innovations.

For example, Walgreens uses push notifications to let its customers know when they might be due for a prescription refill.

How it’s done: Consider creating a few small apps before undertaking your end-all, be-all savior app.

The finished product will be better for it and you won’t be investing time and money on an unsuccessful effort.

To save time and money, learn some basic coding skills and be prepared to spend some time getting familiar with your Mac or PC. Finally, remember that it’s perfectly acceptable to build apps in phases and to release updates later. The quicker your app is up-andrunning, the quicker you can build your business.

3 Great Mobile Case Studies ENHANCING USER EXPERIENCE

CREATING AWARENESS

OPTIMIZING FOR MOBILE

Ikea’s Catalog App

LG’s Ticket Hunter Game

Vegas.com

The Challenge: Revitalize the brochure experience

The Challenge: Reach a new consumer demographic

Swedish home furnishing company Ikea has been promoting its catalog the same way for more than 60 years. Feeling it was time for a change, the company wanted to create a richer consumer experience.

Electronics firm LG wanted to raise awareness of its L-Series mobile phone handset among a younger female audience.

The Solution: Create an interactive viewing platform Using a free app, users could unlock extra content by scanning pages of the printed catalogue.

The Ikea Catalog app was the most downloaded marketing app for a brand in 2012.

The Results: Users spent an average of eight minutes with the app compared to just three minutes with the catalogue.

The Solution: Create a social/mobile game To create buzz and interest, the company created LG Ticket Hunter, a Twitterbased mobile scavenger hunt. Each of 25 secret locations hid a pair of exclusive VIP tickets for a One Direction concert. An online map showed the location where each ticket would be kept. With each #lgtickethunter tweet, the map zoomed in closer until the location was finally revealed.

The Challenge: Improve sales conversion rates

The Solution: With almost 50 percent of mobile users saying that they are unlikely to return to a website that is difficult or time-consuming to view and navigate using their phone, the destination website created mobile-optimized versions of the home page, category pages and hotel room search tool with improved functionality for an enhanced customer experience.

The Results: More than 9,000 people visited LG’s site and spent an average of six minutes on the site. The L-Series phone saw a 28 percent increase in sales during the five-day campaign.

Before

Visitors to the Vegas.com mobile site could access general information, but couldn’t book hotel rooms or show tickets.

As a result, the site was converting less than three percent of its visitors and had a 50 percent abandonment rate.

After

The Results: An immediate 22 percent reduction in bounce rate and a significant increase in sales conversions.

4 steps to writing copy that sells Writing short, sharp and compelling advertising copy is a specialist skill. We asked two experienced copywriters to share their secrets for connecting with, engaging and selling to consumers. By Tim Sweeney There seems to be less space for good writing these days. Attention spans are shrinking as consumers are bombarded with messages from what seems like a million different sources, including magazine print ads, direct mail offers, online banner advertising and email newsletters. Given this crowded and chaotic environment, it has become increasingly important for brands to be able to cut through the clutter and communicate their ideas in a concise way. Here are a few ideas on how to do that.

our experts

Bryan Karr Current: Associate Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Chicago, IL Previously BBDO Clients: ESPN, truth, Jack Daniel’s

Travis Graham Current: Partner/Creative Director, Taco Truck Creative, Carlsbad, Ca. Previously: VP/Creative Director, NYCA Clients: Dodge, Jeep

1

Create an emotion Don’t “tell” your audience; make them “feel” it For Bryan Karr, an Associate Creative Director at Leo Burnett in Chicago, an effective headline is about one thing – making your audience ‘feel’ something. “A good headline should convey whatever emotion you’re trying to elicit from the person you’re selling to,” says Karr, who has worked on campaigns for ESPN, truth and Jack Daniel’s.

Travis Graham, Partner and Creative Director at Taco Truck Creative, a new agency in Carlsbad, Ca., admits that it may sound ‘cheesy’ to keep writing headlines until you feel something in your gut, but he knows that if his words make him feel something toward the product he’s working on, they will likely do the same for his audience, too.

“Trying to find an interesting, concise and interruptive message that has a chance to break through the other thoughts running around a consumer’s mind is the challenge,” says Graham, who was previously the VP, Creative Director at NYCA and also has worked

on Jeep and Dodge while at BBDO. “If I can’t convince myself, then I really can’t expect to convince anyone else.”

Of course, the desired emotion depends upon the message being delivered. In Karr’s case, that might be sympathy or anger for a truth public service announcement versus desire or fun for a product like Jack Daniel’s.

“I find headlines are a lot more intelligent when the writer isn’t telling the reader something, but instead making them think or feel something,” he says.

It’s important to establish a routine that works for you. It’s probably best not to emulate Hunter S. Thompson’s habits, but he clearly was a creature of them and they worked for him.

Graham and Karr take slightly healthier approaches, however. Graham says he “writes down any thought that comes to mind as it relates to the product I’m working on,” while Karr has learned that his best headlines come from filling pages to the point of feeling spent.

“Some days you get lucky and it’s in the first handful you write, but typically that is not the case,” he says.

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Match your language to your audience Engross yourself in the minutiae of the brand If you had an audience with the Queen of England, you probably wouldn’t rap to her. When it comes to advertising copy, the audience may be less defined, but should always dictate the language you use. So should the product itself.

Karr uses the example of relying on humor to sell Ramen Noodles to a college kid. While writing, he slips into the carefree attitude he had at that age, but always with his mind on the noodles.

“It would be a totally different language if you were selling a baby carriage to an expecting mother,” he explains.

A vital skill for a copywriter is the ability to adjust his or her style to the audience. The good writers immerse themselves in the minutiae of the brand, learning as much as possible about its heritage, how it speaks to its

copywriting

Fall 2013

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“Headlines are a lot more intelligent when the writer isn’t telling the reader something, but instead making them ‘think’ or ‘feel’ something” – Bryan Karr

audience and what those people are saying about it. Today, that information is more accessible than ever. “The audience wants to communicate,” says Graham. “Yes, most active brand evangelists are biased toward their preferred company, but there are enough insights buried in social media and blogs to get a good understanding of how a brand is perceived.”

3

Strive to say more with less Create engagement with one simple sentence Given that consumers now digest information in bite-size chunks, the art of copywriting, more than ever before, lies in evoking emotion concisely.

When consumers see something of interest, they now immediately go to their phone or computer to look for more. “They are engaging in a totally

different way,” Karr says. “I think copy is going to get shorter and shorter, which is a good thing. However, getting a consumer’s attention quickly takes a lot more skill.”

Contrary to popular opinion, the one thing that writers understand better than most is that you can say more with less. And that’s where the skill of effectively communicating a good idea lies. “Today, everything is a headline – tweets, posts or the first line of voiceover or a super that starts a video,” Graham says. “If it’s good, they remember, watch more, retweet it and share it within their circles.”

The shorter consumer attention span makes print an even harder medium to write for because it demands audience engagement from just one simple sentence. Still, keep in mind what you’re selling. “Personally, I will probably want more information if

you’re selling me a life insurance policy, but if it’s cereal, you can most likely just tell me that it’s crunchy,” Karr says.

4

finish with a strong, compelling thought Give direction using as few words as possible Assuming you’ve crafted an emotive headline using smart language that speaks to your audience while erring on the side of brevity, all that’s left is to convert the sale with a call-toaction. First rule of thumb: Don’t tell your audience what to do. Today’s smarter, more informed consumers know where to go and how to get there if they want to learn more about your products. “Leave them with a thought that requires them to act,” says Graham. “If the idea is strong enough, they’ll want more. If it’s not, then telling them where to click, share

or visit is not going to get it done.”

Secondly – and this is a continual theme – keep your call-to-action nice and short. Karr continually asks himself how to give a person direction using as few words as possible. Only after that’s been achieved will he look for places to dress up the copy so that it’s more enticing for the reader.

“The headline is where you want to hook your reader with an emotion and the call-to-action is about giving them a clear and direct way to act on that emotion,” he explains.

In the end, effective copywriting isn’t that different from crafting good screenwriting or fiction; it all comes down to making the audience feel something. “No one wants to be told to buy something,” Karr says. “But if they feel an emotional connection with a product or service, they’re a lot more apt to actually consider it.” n

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Fall 2013

Social Media marketing

How to “humanize” your brand One of the world’s leading golf equipment manufacturers, Callaway Golf has recently adopted a more open and honest dialogue with its consumers – and is reaping the benefits. By Tim Sweeney

T

here aren’t many consumers who love being sold to.

If you ask them, they’ll tell you. Heck, ask yourself if you like being sold to. That, along with the fantastic capabilities allowed by social media, is at the heart of a major shift in how companies now speak to consumers in more “human” terms. Rich content is seen as the key to building trust between a brand and its consumers and if you’re not taking part in this new approach, you’re most likely being left behind.

Nowhere is this more obvious than at Callaway Golf. After a couple of down years, the golf equipment manufacturer is on the comeback trail and finding success by creating open and honest dialogues with its consumers. In doing so, the company has given golfers access to the inner sanctum of a place where, quite likely, many of them would kill to go to work every day.

Callaway’s Senior Vice President, Marketing, Harry Arnett, says the key to constantly creating relevant content for golf equipment consumers comes down to two things: 1. A philosophy that you must behave more like a newsroom and less like a marketing

enterprise and; 2. Delivering ‘stories’ in a very entertaining and natural way.

“Everyone must buy into the notion that you are there to seek out stories that are culturally relevant and topical,” Arnett says. “Then the format of the medium works cohesively with the actual message you want to convey.

In that regard, we are operating much more like an entertainment network than a marketing organization.”

Since Arnett joined the company in June, 2012, Callaway has leaned heavily on what he says are the company’s greatest evangelists – the employees who live and breathe golf equipment every day. Callaway’s marketing and

R&D team members are very active on Twitter, with many of them engaging daily, often hourly, with a golfing public hungry to converse with the people that build the golf clubs they play.

Arnett himself writes a blog, answers consumers’ emails in his ‘mailbag’, and hosts an online talk show and podcast where his guests include the company’s designers, engineers and even the occasional Callaway Tour Pro. “We want consumers to feel like they are right here in the middle of it and can connect easily and on a deeper, more personal level with the people at the company,” Arnett explains. “And it’s not just one-way. We use those connection

Fall 2013

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The Callaway success Formula Humanizing your company requires buy-in across your entire marketing organization. Here are five key points to getting it right.

1. Create rich content For Callaway, this means leveraging precious corporate assets – such as its team of sponsored Tour Professionals – and tapping into its audience’s passion for information on golf equipment technology.

2. Treat your marketing like an entertainment network This means everybody within the marketing department needs to start thinking like journalists and producers. A missed story opportunity is a missed opportunity to start a meaningful consumer dialogue.

“We want consumers to feel like they are right here in the middle of it and can connect easily – and on a deeper, more personal level

3. Solicit buy-in from EVERYBODY

– with the people at the company”

points as valuable feedback loops as well. At any given time, we know what consumers are thinking and wanting because they’re telling us directly in an unfiltered and natural way.”

Arnett stresses that the one crucial non-negotiable in this process is that the company treats every social interaction the way it would if engaging with the consumer face-to-face.

“Be honest, open and work hard to create an awesome experience for that individual,” Arnett says.

The main result of this transparent dialogue with the people who play, or will play, Callaway products has been an increase in trust between

golfers and the brand. In opening this straightforward conversation, Callaway has also had to embrace a whole new level of vulnerability – a willingness to hear not only from consumers who praise the brand, but also from those with negative feedback. “It’s always nice to hear the good stuff we’re doing, but this approach only works if we are equally as responsive and attentive when people are more critical of our products and service,” he says. “When you are honest and try to fix those issues, it creates a stronger relationship.”

In its quest to behave like a cross between a morning show, a news-

room and a creative agency, the Callaway marketing team has taken to using giveaways to help strengthen its connection with consumers. The company uses various social media channels to gift T-shirts, commemorative coins, headcovers and autographs from its Tour Pros to followers.

“It’s not complicated, but it does require constant commitment and a creative engine to continue to come up with the cool consumables that consumers and enthusiasts want,” Arnett explains. “When we go out of our way to extend the brand to people who are engaging with us, it helps further the bond.” n

A social media initiative is only as strong as the weakest link in your team. Everybody must understand the objectives and understand the value of frequent one-to-one dialogue with consumers.

4. Encourage across the board social media activity Today’s consumer expects frequent interaction with your brand. Long gone are the days when Facebook and Twitter were banned from office computers. Participation in work-related activity on social platforms is not just acceptable these days – it’s essential.

5. Be honest and open The major currencies for social media are transparency and honesty. Lose these and you lose the trust and support of your consumers.

Remember that you need to be willing to address both the positive and negative comments/feedback about your brand.

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Fall 2013

What’s On My Mind?

The writing profession is rapidly changing. We asked three senior wordsmiths in different industries to tell us how their jobs have evolved in recent years.

Tim Buckman

Rebecca Nordquist

Jeff Cole

Vice President, Strategic Communications

General Editor

Creative Director/Copywriter

NBC Sports Regional Networks

ESPN The Magazine

three, Atlanta

“There is a clever phrase used by editors preparing a field reporter’s copy: ‘I guess he/she didn’t have time to write a short story.’ It takes time and discipline to write efficiently. And as the media landscape has shifted toward shorter content cycles, those skills are needed more than ever.

Communications/PR has always embodied a healthy mix of proactive (pitching stories) and reactive (handling media inquiries) activities. Today, social media means more source platforms for journalists to track, which increases media inquires. But I still feel that pitching stories is best done in person, over the phone, or in excess of 140 characters.

“I still feel that pitching stories is best done in person, over the phone or in excess of 140 characters” When we were dependent on external media, pitches and press releases, we were always at the mercy of outside factors. Now we can design and execute our own platforms, connect directly with audiences and build communities.

Social media is a total game-changer.” n

“Magazines don’t break news; magazines advance the news. Social media has only made that more true” “We rethink how to tell stories every day and how to build sidebars that help tell the story in a graphical way. It’s no longer enough to deliver a series of articles without some kind of visual relief.

From the perspective of a sports magazine, we’re talking to many fans who are obsessed with stats. Graphics and ‘charticles’ allow us to interpret and deliver those stats in an interesting way.

Magazines don’t break news; magazines advance the news. Social media has only made that more true. We have an opportunity to start a new conversation around a story that readers think they already know. We ask: ‘People are talking about this today, but what will they be discussing when the magazine is on the newsstand in three weeks’ time?’

There is no such thing as a print journalist anymore; we’re all multimedia journalists. We have cameras in our hands and social media to tend to, no matter the size of the publication or its budget. We have to evolve.” n

“I still believe that a good, clear idea or concept is critical regardless of the medium in which it lives. The difference now is that there are almost always extra dimensions to that idea.

Twenty years ago, a TV commercial, print ad or radio spot had a phone number attached at the end – just one simple, call-to-action. Today, more often than not, the ad itself is just the start of a story-telling journey that might take place across multiple platforms.

With this in mind, the biggest change for copywriters today is having to think in terms of those extra dimensions. How do we keep that consumer engaged? It goes without saying that we also need to be versatile enough to craft copy in different styles for all of those mediums while ensuring that the brand voice and personality remain consistent.

And we have to play nicely with others, too. Whereas a few decades ago, writers would lock themselves away until they came up with a killer line, today you’ll find us collaborating with coders and developers and UX specialists.” n

“The biggest change for copywriters today is having to think in terms of extra dimensions”

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