Advertisers Are Skeptical of Mobile

Posted on June 4, 2008 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

So far it looks like the mobile market will be only $1.72bn in 2008. That may sound like a lot but it isn't. The potential is much larger. The problem is the big advertising spenders have not committed to the medium yet. The main concerns seem to be ROI and high cost. See the article on mobile advertising here.

What we are calling "mobile advertising" today is really only advertising on mobile devices. True mobile advertising does not exist. When it combines user profiling, location, and communication with unique mobile inventory, then we will have something.

Personally, I still have my doubts about how well receiving ads on your mobile phone will be received by users, but I seem to be in the minority. Others think this medium has huge upward possibilities.

Stay tuned....

The Package Design Process, Part 2

Posted on June 4, 2008 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

Perhaps the most important step is for the client to carefully consider what his expectations are for the project, or as they say in business today - "What are the outcomes - what does success look like?"

Carefully chosen outcomes talk about both visual results and emotional results. Visual results are tangible, measurable, and objective. You can look at the design in the context of its product category and determine with some certainty whether or not it meets the outcomes.

The emotional part is a bit more complicated because it is far more subjective. Good design must speak to the soul. The design must say something about the product's position but do so on a gut level. Does the design say something along the lines of, "I may be expensive, but I am worth it, because I make you look good, smart, cool, sexy, rich, famous, chic, or (whatever you want him to feel)." This is much more important than the tangible outcomes. If you don't touch the customer at this personal level, the tangible outcomes are of little value.

It takes a really experienced designer to pull it off successfully. How that is done is usually far more subtle than obvious. Poorly done and it simply doesn't work. In fact, it could cost you when advertising must make up for the package failing to reach the consumer.

This is one area where a good designer is priceless. Clients tend to be very left brained and designers are right brained. Left brainers struggle with understanding this; it takes a right brainer. For that reason clients should defer these subtle design decisions to the designers and focus on the more objective outcomes.

But before you define the outcomes you must identify the target audience.

To be continued....

Email Grows But Traditional DM Media Declines

Posted on June 4, 2008 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

We all hate those intrusive email messages cluttering up our inbox. Well, maybe not all. I get a lot of email that I have subscribed to, much of it is business related that helps me stay in touch with what is going on in this business, and some of that content becomes subject matter here in Intel.

Like this one....

According to a recent survey, of the firms polled, 72% send e-mail to customers, a 10% increase over 2007. And over half of those intend to increase email activity next year. At the same time traditional media numbers are down.

Get the details of this story here.

Quote of the Week

Posted on June 5, 2008 | Permalink

From Branding, The Mind And Search

by Gord Hotchkiss , Thursday, June 5, 2008

"Before most ads can work, they have to get our attention. And we pay more attention to things we like. This led to a hyper-creative explosion in the advertising biz, as agencies churned out ads designed first and foremost to make us like them. Unfortunately, most ads forgot that once you get someone's attention, you also have to sell something. And that can be a difficult balance to maintain. Our cues to switch selective perception to something that captures our attention and our natural defenses against unsolicited persuasion usually work counter to each other. And it's in that dynamic abyss that 250 billion dollars of advertising -- in the U.S alone -- gets poured every year."