Thursday, August 22, 2013

10 Ad Mistakes: Online or In Print

 
1. A one-time exposure is not an adequate investment to get the return you seek. Avoid running an ad infrequently. This is the most classic of all advertising errors. Viewers need to see an ad multiple times.



2. Don’t have unrealistic expectations. The first time someone sees an ad, they normally don’t go running for the phone or even click on the link. The first ad creates awareness. Exposure increases interest and, over time, the possibility of action.


3. Avoid including too much information. The message is more effective if it is focused. Instill one to three key thoughts. Studies show people can remember this amount -- much more and they do not retain it well.

4. Don’t draft your message around what you want to say but around what your clients want to hear. Understand their hot buttons and then craft your message. If you are not sure of what they want to hear, ask them -- before the ad goes to print. 

5. Avoid the dull and boring stuff. Make the ad more memorable by considering the use of color or unique imagery. In todays digital world a picture showing the benefits of using a product is better than a picture of the product itself - sell on emotion.

6. Don’t use poor quality photos and graphics. While pictures get more attention, poor photos and graphics can convey negative information about you. Make sure your graphics are optimized and scales for use in digital mediums properly.  

7. Don’t forget to insure you identify all the ways the client can contact you in the ad. Websites and e-mail addresses are often forgotten as valid communication channels. 

8. Don’t run the ad in varying positions. Readers for both traditional and digital media get used to seeing the same things in the same places. Try for consistent placement. In electronic ads and banners the placement will change depending on the site or service offered but usually the ad will appear consistently.

9. Don’t do it by yourself. Call the advertising department of the newspaper you seek to publish in to see if they help with design. They can also explain the impressions, circulation, demographics depending on the medium. Many digital publishers now have tools that allow you to create ads automatically, try and avoid these - well thought ads offer much better value.

10. Don’t forget to collect data and analyze it to understand if your ad is effective. By adding a distinct phone line or web page address you will be easily able to identify traffic generated from your ad. Always ask where you heard about us on phone calls and put in place a system to collect that information.  

Monday, August 12, 2013

Art Direction: A Product of the Adaptive Unconscious?

Art Direction, where do I start? There is little or no prescribed training for becoming a Creative Director or Art Director. This position, or should I say profession is perhaps the most important position in any media production regardless of the media or the message.

It combines years of experience working in a variety of media, a natural passion for expression and an innate curiosity about the human condition.  This skill draws upon your ability to think laterally and a passion for history, art, literature, popular culture, music and poetry and often demands “gut reaction” decision making.  It is also well served by a healthy curiosity about what motivates people emotionally and that can be expressed into a very defined work space like advertising in radio, print, videos, web sites, interactive design, etc.  

Many of today’s creative deigns are just that, simple designs made to look nice by a graphic artist but with little depth and understanding of subtle creative nuance that uses white space, layout, messaging and unique ideas to capture an audience and engage them emotionally. Why are good Creative Directors rare? ...well, because it is an impatient process, driven largely by a client’s subjective appreciation of good creative and an industry that values a process driven by time and cost rather than effectiveness. Quite a mouthful but true none the less…in a world dominated by short term goals and often young, short-staffed marketing and communications people, there is little appetite or ability to defend the creative process and all that it can achieve.  

Advertising or any media project, when done well can be a work of art, literally, and must be allowed to breath, and that often takes time and money to create something that will truly inspire people rather than simply inform them. An art director is a leader...he or she ...must trust their instincts, gained from exposure to a broad range of media, artistic ideologies and artists, emerging artistic trends and historical relevance. They must inspire the best out of their production team and in the end; the Creative Director must communicate that vision to clients and stand behind what are unorthodox ideas and unique creative concepts.  

I have been fortunate over the years, having been mentored under a number of good art directors and I have come to understand that my natural instincts, fostered over time through exposure to many unique artistic projects, and love of the humanities serve as important fuel for great creative decisions.  Understanding the use of typography, videography, imagery, white space, asymmetry, composition, depth of field, ideology, passion, curiosity, language, culture, boldness, spirit, truth, size and texture are but a few of the learned instincts that go into making an artistic decision.  Bringing these innate instincts to the creative decision making process, which often takes the form of quick gut reaction to a creative idea, take years of experience as postulated in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink through his term the “Adaptive Unconscious”.

As a society Malcolm suggests in his book, “I think we are innately suspicious of this kind of rapid cognition. We live in a world that assumes that the quality of a decision is directly related to the time and effort that went into making it.” Malcolm goes onto to say, “The power of knowing, in that first few seconds, is not a gift given magically to a fortunate few. It is ability that we can all cultivate for ourselves.”

Art Direction or Creative Direction is a cultivated skill that demands time and experiences. As Malcolm Gladwell postulates in another book, entitled Outliers, the 10,000 hour rule applies here. It claims that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. While 10,000 hours may seem like a lot...it really is only a lifetime’s passion!