Automakers do it. Technology companies live for it. Designers exploit it. The most stylish in the class. The sexiest with the most horsepower. The coolest, prettiest, most innovative and fashionable. Today’s brands get it or get left behind. BMW, Apple, Target, Missoni and Motorola are a few brands “getting it” and leaving their competitors in the dust. In the last five years, these companies have reinvented design and have shot straight to the head of their industry lines.

The application of design thinking will be seen in places never before considered. Design strategist Tim Brown predicts that “business teams will think about problems as design problems and tackle them as such.” He also asserts that designers’ idea conception process will become more sophisticated as it moves beyond the user. Supporters are collaborating on how to get the right products to the right customer at the right time; these progressions are at the pinnacle of “future” strategy conversations.

The creative revolution is gaining full steam with no end in sight. Now is definitely the time to revisit your company’s design. How is design working to your advantage? How creative is the delivery? How clever is the presentation?

At the end of the day, design backed by a solid business infrastructure will get you there first. This newsletter explores what makes great design. So, what place in line do you want to occupy? If it’s 1st, Connect with Click.

Do you Moto? It’s a question we’ve all been asked over the last few years. Sleek, stylish, and ultrachic are the people of the Moto crowd. Who created it? Why is it the sign of the future? Is Moto leading the way to world domination?

Moto is Motorola’s advertising campaign that features their tech savvy products. Their business focus blends technology and design to create the ultimate combination for cellular domination. In fact, Motorola wants to create one iconic design a year. Take the uber-successful Razr model. Introduced in 2004 among a crowded market of generic competitors, the Razr instantly captured the spotlight to the tune of 24 million units sold. The industry compares its influence in cellular to iPod’s reinvention of the MP3 player market.

This hasn’t always been the case. It all happened in 2003 with a new CEO. He transformed product design from an afterthought to a mission. Designers moved from outside key strategy sessions to the front line. Motorola is so intent on the importance of design that they have modeled a design culture similar to Sony’s: focused, strategic and highly collaborative efforts to define and deliver a positive consumer experience through technology products.

Motorola supports a multi-project environment so that their devices relate to one another and build on successful technology and design. That long term agenda will feed their design driven organization.

So, when will your company recognize the strategic value of design? Don’t wait until it’s too late. Beat your competitors to the punch. Call Click.

You’re ad has got it all: a riveting photo, a catchy headline and an offer they can’t refuse. Pretty soon consumers will be at your door in droves, right? It all depends on the finished product – the good, the bad or the ugly.

Consider the following four ads:


The Good: The first ad is an example of a successful national campaign. All the important elements of the ad are working together; the message is clear, the font choice and size are appropriate for the ad space, the photograph is eye catching and of good quality and the layout is well balanced. Good.

Now, for the Bad and the Ugly:

Ad 2 Image quality is important, particularly in black and white. In this ad the photo has very little contrast, so instead of ‘popping’ and contributing to the message, it’s blending in and using valuable space. When selecting a photo, consider the lighting, resolution, clarity, framing and most importantly- its contribution to the ad’s message.

Ad 3 The style and size of the font makes the main message difficult to read. Consider everything you want to say in the ad and use your font as a tool to deliver that message. Do so by bolding just a few important words, increasing the point size, italicizing or using all caps to draw attention to important information. But use these tools sparingly, not all at once, or you’re right back where you started with a confusing message. Select one or two fonts you like (not four or five) and use their subtle variations to your advantage.

Ad 4 What in the heck is the message? Is this ad about the new location, the car in the photo or the discount being offered? Don’t make the viewer work too hard to understand what you’re trying to say. Decide on the order of importance of each piece of information and layout the ad accordingly.

Spend your advertising dollars wisely. Following these few basic suggestions will help get your ad noticed, your message delivered and your investment returned. Get rid of the bad and the ugly. Get with Click to get the good.

A change is happening. Companies are now designing online only events that are creating a paradigm shift. Which media is most affected? What is driving the online madness?

A shift of viewing sources is happening all around the country and the most affected shift is between TV and the Internet.

The recent virtual stardom of the NCAA’s March Madness online screening has advertisers shifting gears and reconsidering the destination of some major advertising dollars. In the first four days of the event, there were 14 million total streams, 268,000 simultaneous streams and 120,000 viewers that were left out in the cold due to a viewing cap. Presenting this gives advertisers plenty of reasons to consider investing in the new wave of big-time events that are popping up on the web.

While the final numbers are still being crunched, it is apparent that the cost-per-thousand for such special events may be much less than that of live television, which came in at about $35 CPM for March Madness. Additionally, the online ads had much less competition than live television, with only three spots shown during each webcast break. Each online ad was accompanied by both skyscraper and banner ads, utilizing interactivity and allowing the viewer to click at any time during the ad to learn more about the product.

Online screening still has some kinks to work out before it can claim the sky as its limit and offer advertisers security. Predicting the turnout of such an event is difficult with so few case studies to reference. Unlike television, where the broadcasting cost is static, webcasts run on bandwidth, which becomes more expensive as viewer numbers increase. The more bandwidth needed, the higher the number of dedicated servers that must be provided to the event. If the number of viewers exceeds the supply of bandwidth, the quality of the stream decreases. In the instance of CBS’ March Madness, the number of viewers was capped, guaranteeing the amount of bandwidth could support the traffic.

The event was such a success that media buyers are already scrambling to secure a spot for next year’s event.

Is your marketing equipped to address the shift? Contact Click to prepare for the madness.

Designing a crisis communication plan is similar to selecting the right long-term care policy: something that you would prefer to think about tomorrow, but what if tomorrow happens today? What can you do to prepare now?

In the unfortunate time of crisis, a plan is a prudent investment in the future. A crisis is any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of your organization. These situations may be of legal or civil nature, or they may even be a perceived incident brought on by negative media attention. Crises, whether minute in scope or otherwise, are unavoidable. The most dangerous action is to do no action.

And if tomorrow happens today? Your plan should include these components:

Team/Spokesperson
A small team of representatives should be identified to develop crisis scenarios, craft a plan of action and assign a spokesperson(s).

Protocols
Crisis management is not limited to the media, and should also be handled internally. Therefore, an emergency communications map should be established and distributed to all company employees telling them precisely what to do and who to contact if there appears to be the potential for an actual crisis. Don’t forget about temps! They can inadvertently damage external communication if they do not know about the “map”.

Plan Objectives and Components
Once the potential crises are identified, key messages that address these issues, individually and honestly, should be written. These are the Crisis Threats and Responses that will need to be internally communicated. In fact, a “fire drill” should be conducted to make sure the plan works and has addressed all of the potential ways that threats can be interpreted.

If your business is active in the media, then developing a crisis communication plan should be your first priority. Tomorrow could happen today, so connect with Click about your “map”.

Let’s talk beyond the invitation and get right to the experience. Event planning is about designing the flow. What are the top 4 ways that event flow can be blocked?

Off Timing
Plan the event in realistic time increments. If the reception is one hour, then stick to it. Guests become antsy and walk out if an event does not honor its own timetable.

Registration Confusion
Have you ever registered for an event, received a confirmation and then arrived only to find out that you’re not on the list? These things do happen, but a well organized registration area will efficiently process the RSVP’s, lost RSVP’s and the walk-ups. One simple solution is to provide an alphabetized master registration document to every registration worker. When everyone operates off the same page, registration flows smoothly and your guests will feel great about the event from the moment they arrive.

A/V Drama
It never fails. The slide projector breaks down. The PowerPoint is corrupted. The sound is too loud, too low or gone. The laptop battery is dead. Event attendees expect that all of these details will be dealt with in advance so that they are not subject to tapping their toes, whispering under their breath or sitting in utter dismay about the lack of professionalism they are currently experiencing.

Participant Expectations
Everyone, spanning volunteers, staff, sponsors, speakers, venue staff, etc. should all receive written communication about the event, including a timeline, responsibilities, contact personnel and expectations. These items should be examined as a group to avoid any drama during the event. This simple step will help to keep everything on track and avoid the top event blunders.

Don’t lose your great event idea to bad organizational design. Call Click.

Break through the barrier of boredom. Studies estimate that the average person is subject to 1,000 plus advertising messages daily. As a result, an automatic tune-out occurs when consumers simply shut out most of the messages. It is estimated that as much as 80% of messages rank in the boring category and only a mere 20% break through.

Creativity, design and clever copy distinguish the haves from the have nots. Effective design is not copying a competitor’s ad with a slight twist. It is clearly understanding your brand to determine what most accurately represents your company in a way that is relevant to your target audience. As we discussed in the March newsletter, there are many ways to add differentiation to your advertising. One of the best options is to take your message and implement it through a new medium. Here are some of the freshest trends:

Outdoor
"Happiness in a bottle campaign" is what we discussed last month and ironically, the granddaddy of it all, Coca-Cola®, launched a new outdoor ad campaign inspired by the iPod. The ad, which positively explodes with happiness, evokes the feeling of the brand rather telling consumers what the brand is. The initial stage of the campaign targets the top 10 billboards in the top 28 markets. The creative features colorful wallscapes with bold images splashing across and above the canvas. Fifteen second viral videos or “Bottle Films” that express brand love fill the internet slot, and “Coke side of life” commercials will be televised. Be prepared to grab your taste of happiness!

Internet
Close on outdoor’s heels, ZenithOptimedia has revised its global ad spending outlook and now forecasts that internet advertising will overtake outdoor in 2007 and pull alongside radio by 2008. The internet is currently the fastest growing major medium and is taking no prisoners.

Outsell Inc., a research and advisory firm, announced that newspapers will become primarily online products at varying paces over the next decade. The study indicates that people want community content. Locally, The Arizona Republic has been aggressively moving toward community driven content by narrowing its neighborhoods and reformatting the size. The news segmentation is showing up online as well. Is this a forecast for the future?

Now, don’t immediately discount radio, outdoor and newspaper. These shifts continue to illustrate that in order to most effectively reach consumers, a combination of these tactics is beneficial.

For more information on integrating outdoor or online tactics into your media campaign, contact Click.

Industry Trends and News
CW, the new network from the WB and UPN merger, along with My Network TV, a FOX owned network, is set to launch in September. CW will contain a blend of programming from the UPN and WB networks, including popular syndicated shows such as “Friends”. My Network TV’s programming schedule is still in the works. What does this mean to advertisers? Well for one, having one network that reaches a younger demographic equals more bang for your buck. The best shows from the WB and UPN will be aired on CW with an established audience following.

It’s official – again. Univision is top dog. The February TV sweeps are in with Univision placing numero uno in total weekly viewing with Adults 18-34, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54. This marks their seventh consecutive Valley sweeps as #1 with Adults 18-49. On a national level, it was the most watched network last season among Adults 18-34 years old. As the major four networks, (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) fight to keep viewers, Univision’s audience is growing, up 67% from decades ago. Let’s not forget that they are still up for sale.

Promotional products are getting more and more play as they respond to the environment of more sophistication, more customization and higher quality. The little widget that lasts for five minutes is quickly being replaced with a more substantial product that is fully integrated with the rest of in a marketing campaign.