ROOFTOP banter

A Trending Topic: How to Advertise on Twitter

Posted By: 

Brandi Hensler

Date: 

May 27th, 2011 /// Industry Insight

Clients often ask about advertising on Twitter. Can you do it? How? Is it like the Facebook? Here’s the deal: Twitter, like Facebook before it, has taken its time releasing an advertising platform (with good reason). Until recently, advertisers have had to be creative to utilize the site with tactics such as promotional accounts, hashtags, celebrity endorsements, etc.

But now – brands rejoice – there are three options that Twitter has rolled out for advertisers:

• Promoted Tweets: A lot more people will see your tweet, so make it good.
• Promoted Trends: Get your brand, message, etc. on the coveted Trending Topics list.
• Promoted Accounts: Fire up your follower count by being featured in the “Who to Follow” section.

But don’t drop the rest of your social strategy yet. Twitter doesn’t take just anyone; you can only request to be included. If you think you’ll make the cut, enter here.

Check out this great infographic from Mashable to see the history of Twitter advertising in detail. And read the accompanying article here.

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Will 2011 be the year of location-aware applications?

Posted By: 

Nik Brown

Date: 

April 15th, 2011 /// Marketing Trends

All the keys have been in place for a while: Mobile data, GPS and high-resolution screens. Services like Foursquare and Google Goggles have popularized the use of the GPS in today’s smartphones, but we’ve only just scratched the surface.

Last month the world’s first location-aware music album was released. Created by D.C.-based band Bluebrain and released as an iPhone app, “The National Mall” features tracks that mutate based on your location.

2011 is set to finally become the year of location-aware applications. Smartphone penetration is only increasing and the latest figures show that we are finally breaking the 25% mark here in the U.S. In fact, in 2011 global smartphone sales are expected to grow 49% (source).

So what does all this mean for the advertising industry?

As we narrow down our general audience to a very specific target audience through tools such as contextual advertising and location data, we gain incredible power as advertisers. We gain the ability to talk directly to a person in the palm of their hand (or in their ear), about a product RIGHT NEXT TO THEM!

Consumers have always had a love/hate relationship with advertising, but that is mostly due to relevancy issues. The reason people hate popup ads so much is because it interrupts their interaction with content by force-feeding a message that isn’t necessarily relative to them. If we can target a message about a nearby restaurant as they are looking for dinner ideas, that would be a completely different matter.

Will we abuse the power that location-based information affords us, and alienate the very people we are seeking to convert? Or will we create smart, effective advertising that serves both the customer and advertiser? That is up to us…

Go be creative, effective, and most important, RELATIVE!

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Will The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Sell Us Out?

Posted By: 

Brandi Hensler

Date: 

March 31st, 2011 /// Industry Insight, Inspiration, Marketing Trends, Uncategorized

“So what I want to do is make a film about product placement, marketing and advertising where the entire film is funded by product placement, marketing and advertising.”

From Morgan Spurlock, the director of Super Size Me, comes a documentary that plans to reveal all the dirty details of the true world of advertising. I would guess that many in our industry are responding with a deep sigh or an “uh oh.” People are going to see who we really are. What we really do to make them want what we have. All with complete transparency.

This girl? Not worried. Excited, actually.

Advertisers today aren’t necessarily the same malicious manipulators that I grew up hearing ranked right next to lawyers on the Scale of Evilness. Today, if you’re smart, you know better.

The gap between social media and PR is closing everyday. Information sharing is increasing exponentially. Consumers trust word-of-mouth 60% more than traditional advertising. With all this, brands are being forced to be more transparent and honest… or else (cue the Nestle palm oil push back).

There’s no hiding who you really are anymore, and I don’t have a problem with that. It’s only pushing us all to do what the best of the industry have done all along – find the truth about your product and communicate it to those who will take interest. Work harder. Be more creative. This documentary may be perfect inspiration to take it even further.

In any case, the film and related aftermath promise to be wildly entertaining. So stock up on name-brand munchies and update your Fandango app. This is an extravaganza we won’t want to miss.

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The Executive Creative Director: What the hell do you do all day?

Posted By: 

Tom Keathley

Date: 

March 28th, 2011 /// Industry Insight, Keathley Culture

I’ve heard this question quite a few times over the years. Sometimes it’s because someone is curious about what my job entails, and sometimes it’s because, to the untrained eye, our office environment seems too good to be true. Recently, I thought that maybe I should keep track of what a week as executive creative director of Keathley Advertising looks like. So, that’s what I did one particularly busy week last fall.

A Week in the Life of an Executive Creative Director

Sunday
Relaxed at home while reviewing artwork that needs creative direction and approvals while I’m traveling Monday morning. Basically, work left over from Friday afternoon. Some may call it procrastination, but I call it strategic planning for a focused state of attention, because “focused” is not a typical Friday-afternoon mindset.

It’s 3:39pm. Packed my luggage in 9 minutes. Took a little longer than normal, because this trip requires two stops before heading back to Cleveland.

6:00pm flight to Las Vegas. Could be going to worse places, but there will be little time for fun. We have a PR event to throw for 60 members of the press on Tuesday, as well as multiple meetings at the second biggest trade show in the world.

Monday
Woke up at 7:00am to my phone beeping. It’s 10:00am back home. I work from my room for a while. Early morning emails. Phone calls creative directing a pitch for a new client due on Thursday. Conference with my associate creative director discussing a photo shoot she’s covering while I’m out of town.

Breakfast with the client at 9:00am. Then pre-event planning with the Hard Rock to art direct the stage and venue set-up.

Met with our account exec and event planner in the afternoon to go over final details and trade show logistics.

Dinner with the client. Played some cards before going to bed. Not a bad day.

Tuesday
Spent the entire day working from my iPhone and paying attention to the details of a client and her business. My mobile devices make it nice to be able to manage an ad agency, as well as view and provide feedback on projects day and night from any location.

Wednesday
Met with a new business prospect for breakfast. Sounds like Keathley’s ability to grow his business is a perfect fit for his marketing aspirations. I promise him a discovery process and strategy in two weeks.

PR event went off without a hitch. Spent a lot of the day making decisions that sometimes seem silly, but all the details are integral to building the brand at every artistic and strategic opportunity.

Celebrated with the staff and clients over a late sushi dinner. Yum.

Thursday
Flew directly to Chicago at 8:00am. New business meeting. Three meetings with potential partners. Meeting with our web team about the final stages of a groundbreaking site. Straight to a commercial pre-pro for one of our biggest clients. Already feels like a full day.

Met my associate creative director and our senior creative writer. We planned out the shoot over dinner and drinks. I’m very comfortable with our team and the spokesperson that we’ve developed. I’m sure it will go smoothly. I drag myself to bed preparing for an even longer day tomorrow.

Friday
16-hour shoot. Location was very upscale and allowed us a breathtaking view and easily designed sets. My day was filled with creative decisions and creative direction that empowers others to run the show. It was a great shoot and we got tons done. Client was thrilled at how much we accomplished.

Saturday
Flying home this morning. Reviewed footage in the airport while waiting for a delay. Then reflected on the week while grabbing a coffee before boarding. It was a busy one. Most of my weeks actually include two days like this, and three filled with helping clients solve their business objectives and keeping the creative atmosphere in our studio at world-class levels. That requires a creative cocktail, and it’s a tricky dance. It consists of one part empowering creative direction, one part landing large brand strategies, one part of fun diversions from work, and one part not worrying what everyone does all day.

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Logo Wars

Posted By: 

2 Cents

Date: 

February 4th, 2011 /// Industry Insight, Marketing Trends

Uh-oh, Starbucks simplified their logo. Will the consumer be able to handle rush hour? Aren’t folks’ Monday mornings hard enough? It’s rough out there for those fond of “their brands;” from the new Pepsi “smiles” and the Gap logo revamp fiasco to Starbucks bringing its little mermaid to the forefront. As we grow old and change, so do the products and services all around us. Even I remember a dark day in ‘03 when I saw that UPS was retiring Paul Rand’s “box tie” logo.

People tend to not agree with what they are not familiar, and may get p.o.’d when a brand they’re close to changes its appearance. And, as with most things in life, change can be great or it can bite you in the butt. Companies will continue to look into the mirror from time-to-time with or without the consumers blessing… but watch-out: social media has created an immediate response-vehicle from the masses.

My personal opinion matters not in response to these recent identity face lifts; for the most part I look upon others’ creative with a “glass half full” eye and I do like when companies throw a curve ball to shock the system. But I’ll end by saying as far as mega-corporations logos go, there have been the bad & good, but I sit here and think the last really clever rebrands seem as long ago as ‘94 (FedEx) and ’98 (Citi).

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