Archive for May, 2010

The Colour Limit

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Colour is a major factor in all aspects of design. It can create moods, styles and can evoke feelings and actions within people. Colour is a truly fascinating area, one which is constantly evolving and inspiring us to create new and refreshing designs.

Gone are the days where there were certain rules  with colour such as never mix red with pink, now we can put any colours together and still achieve a well balanced and stimulating design. But what if we start to limit colour in design? Instead of splashing colour about without much thought, what if we refine colour back to the very basics and only use what is really necessary.

Limiting colour in designs can create a more coherent and consistent look, making them more defined and altogether stronger. Using a limited colour palette doesn’t mean restricting the design, rather it can create emphasis on content, branding and messaging. It can also make a design more creative and intuitive, focusing on typography, imagery and layout.

Black and white is commonly used to create this limited colour scheme, however any colours used in isolation can be manipulated for this type of style. For instance take our very own 360innovate website, where we employed the dark blue as the primary colour with only white included for text and purple and orange used very sparingly for some content headers. This gives the site an easily flowing design, pulling the information together giving it a clear sense of purpose.

Below are some examples of other websites employing the effectiveness of limiting colour:


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Is B2B dominating social media?

Friday, May 28th, 2010

For far too long consumer led companies have held the social media throne. Social networks such as Facebook and micro blogging site Twitter have provided them with a direct channel to their target market whilst business to business companies were left somewhat in dust trying to figure out how exactly social media tools could be used for business.

The common misconception held about business to business social media management is that social media is only for young people and Facebook users therefore it won’t work for B2B. Despite still being a commonly held opinion it is entirely false; social media is highly versatile stretching way beyond Facebook, the average social network user age is 37 years old and research shows that 91% of B2B decision makers consume social media. Companies such as Scania, Oracle, and John Deere are all shining examples of how diverse social media is and how it can be used to engage with the market.

These individual cases show that social media provides B2B companies with the perfect suite of online tools to engage with their online market, and a recent article by eMarketer has revealed that B2B companies are now taking advantage of social media even more so than their B2C counterparts. The article confirmed that B2B businesses have overtaken B2C in terms of utilising the various opportunities available online.  Perhaps because, despite knowing of its multiple opportunities it was never as clear cut as B2C for B2B marketers to approach social media. Yes, there were boundaries and B2B’s had to work hard to overcome them but as a result B2B online marketing and its uptake has evolved at lightening speed.

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Jumping on the interactive brandwagon

Friday, May 21st, 2010

We may like videos, but we love interactive videos such as the ‘Choose a Different Ending’ video on YouTube.

For Drop The Weapon the interactive video made the audience face difficult scenarios and essentially choose their own outcome through selecting various options that pop up throughout the video. My particular ending saw me get into a fight and attacked by a weapon.

The Choose a Different Ending video is very effective in not only demonstrating how many young adults are living in the UK but its interactive element is key in demonstrating that these young adults have the power to choose another path in the life, one free from knife crime.

I have since came across another excellent example of how interactive videos can be used by brands, and in this case by movie companies. The Sex and the City 2 movie comes out at the end of May and the hype has been mammoth; the storyline somewhat overshadowed by the impressive wardrobe which is rumoured to have cost around $10 million. Essentially Sex and the City is, and always has been, a brands dream; it is the programme that has launched a thousand fashion trends and every brand is trying to get in on the act. In the last movie alone, off the top of my head, I can think of at least a dozen different product placements: Vogue, iPhone, Starbucks, Vivienne Westwood, Louis Vuitton and, of course, Manolo Blahnik; and despite the movie not even being released yet already the brandwagon has begun.

Much of the promotional activity has been played out online and one aspect of the online campaign which caught my eye was the launch of an interactive trailer as seen on the Heat magazine website.

The interactive trailer is essentially the same as the one we watch on our TV’s but we can click on the video throughout to find out spoilers and information about the clothes the cast are wearing. This is once again, an excellent opportunity to increase the brand exposure even further and it really does take product placement to the max- but it is an effective way of doing so! No doubt it will be a matter of time before this is introduced to online tv programmes and movies.

What do you think, is this taking product placement too far or an ingenious use of online video?

EDIT: Due to the video being ultra noisy I have removed it from the blog post and you can now find it here.

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Being paid to blog.

Monday, May 17th, 2010

It is commonplace for bloggers to receive gifts and samples from brands hoping to receive a cheeky review or name drop. Being a fan of fashion blogs it is a regular occurrence to read about bloggers receiving boxes full of clothes from high street retailers and designers which they then go onto model and discuss.

If that same scenario happened in a glossy magazine, the magazine would be required to clearly state that the article was in fact an advertisement or advertorial.  Within the UK the use of advertorials, without making it clear that the trader has paid for the promotion, is in breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and could result in a fine (OUT-LAW). In terms of blogs it is unclear whether these regulations would apply.

In the United States the Federal Trade Commission has released guidelines stating that any blogger or brand that fails to disclose sponsorships could potentially face a fine of up to $11,000. The main intention of such guidelines being to provide the consumer with a level of protection from misleading blog posts. Considering that online reviews are one of the most influential factors in the online decision making process it is easy to see why the FTC is keen to prevent brands from disguising sponsored messages as genuine blog posts and reviews.

In terms of business conduct and advertising in the UK the ASA dictate that companies have a corporate responsibility not to mislead, harm or offend consumers. Writing a paid for or sponsored blog post without stating so would clearly fall within this definition; but given that anyone of any age can set up a blog the diverse range of individuals which this rule would have to apply to would  make it somewhat difficult to enforce.

With there being no official code of ethics we are dependant upon bloggers being honest and clearly stating when a blog post is paid for. However, in doing so it’s possible that the blogger may compromise their credibility; will their readers trust the review of a product that has been gifted or paid for? That’s up to the reader to decide, even if the reader knows the blogger received the product for free they may still decide they like it and the brand still manages to expose the product to the consumer. On the flip side, by not disclosing a blogger could still face losing the trust of your reader and fellow bloggers, as what happened in the case of Royal Caribbean.

Receiving payment or gifts as payment or thanks for content is in no way unethical, it is common practice across a broad range of  industries. The main issue is the power and influence a brand can have on the consumer through the use of an ‘independent’ blog, where the readers are not made aware of any affiliation.

The introduction of a formal code of conduct will not only help to protect the consumer from such influence but it will also help to protect the blogging industry, who stand to suffer at the expense of a small few whose non disclosed affiliation will make consumers less trustworthy of online content in general.

How to moderate bloggers disclosing gifts and payments is beyond me. I imagine that it would be no easy task, each case would be pretty unique; perhaps rather than focusing entirely on blogs we should be looking to moderate how brands engage with blogs… If and how the issue is to be resolved is unclear, but one thing is for sure that with the FTC taking action Stateside such regulations will no doubt be slowly introduced within the UK.

Some further reading:

PR 2.0 Blogging- Should Bloggers Accept Gifts?

Econsultancy

Joel on Software – Bribing Bloggers

Web Pro News – Key Perspectives on the FTC Blogging Guidelines

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Adding Value – Not just a phrase in buzzword bingo

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Having the bank holiday out of the office gave me a bit of time to review the previous week’s activity. One thing in particular stood out; a fantastic initial meeting with a potential public sector client.

During the build up to the election the TV and newspapers have spent a lot of time talking about cuts in public sector budgets, because of this the meeting really stood out.

As with most clients in the public sector the big topic for discussion right now is budget savings or efficiencies.  It’s never easy to get clients to sign off budget for new projects during a time of economic uncertainty, even more so when an impending general election means that nobody knows the breadth and depth of the cuts.

That’s why face to face conversations with clients are so important. Not emails, not conference calls, time spent in a clients company, helping you understand what’s important to them.  What challenges do they face?  What are their key objectives?  What internal and external factors influence their decision making?

The phrase “adding value” is one which is too often used in games of buzzword bingo. In fact it’s up there with “low hanging fruit”. In this case it is particularly pertinent. The conversation eventually got round to the budget cuts that client will no doubt have to make, and it’s there where online can come to the fore.  How can an online agency add value and become indispensible?

They may have no products to sell, however it’s just as important to measure the success of past and present activity.  Just because it’s been the way things have been done in the past doesn’t mean that it’s right to keep on doing it. In difficult times reviewing every last penny of your marketing spend is the right thing to do.  Spending time taking stock of present strategies informs your future planning.

Online can’t do it all, there will always be a need to engage with your audience through offline channels and in the case of this client it’s as important to speak to primary school children as it is pensioners. So overall reach is hugely important; however at what cost?

Are there better, more effective ways to communicate with your target audience? If so then the legacy strategies have to go.  Difficult times call for inventive use of budgets.  It’s time to break the status quo.

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