Two advertisement campaigns have been able to gain massive amounts of publicity just based on weekly Youtube views. Blendtec’s “Will It Blend” and Evian’s “Live Young” are the only campaigns in viewer history to come close to receiving over 100 million views. In fact, they are the only two to greatly exceed that number! While these ads aren’t brand new, they still aren’t going anywhere. People seek out these commercials 700,000 to over 1.1 million times a week.

Old Spice has also been very successful in the realm of Youtube commercial searching with three campaigns on the top ten list.  Volkswagen, Pepsi, and Microsoft are among others to hit the big time views. What is it about these commercials that make them so intriguing to where people are still watching them consistently on Youtube? Is it that some of them are so absurdly creative that people insist on sharing the fun with their friends? Evian certainly has that going for them with hipster roller skating babies.

For more information and a full listing of commercials people love to watch, visit Top Ten Video Advertisements of All Time, watch the ads and let us know what you think!

Text vs Banners

Shiny, flashing banners were the bane of the Internet, back in the dark ages before web designers really got to grips with the medium. It’s no surprise that a lot of people really don’t like banners now – add-ons like NoScript and AdBlock became popular specifically because they were sick of their browsing experience being ruined by ads. Take a look at many popular sites where the banners have been stripped out, and you’d be shocked to see how little content is left over.

Google succeeds with text ads specifically because they’re unobtrusive, and they don’t really look like ads at all. The secret is almost counter-intuitive – as long as the ads don’t fight for the reader’s attention over the content on the page, they’re more likely to be accepted and noticed.

Colorwise

Ah, colors. The time of animated fluorescent gifs is over and done with, and these days there’s no excuse for having adverts with terrible color combinations. Design is important, if you choose to go with banner ads, and color is an integral part of design. The best kind of advert is one where the colors fit with the page and make it appear seamless; the worst kind is an eyesore where everything clashes. Remember, the name of the game is to attract customers, and if they can’t bear to look at your ad, they won’t have a chance to become interested in your products.

What you say and how you say it

Perhaps the one thing that many companies overlook is that adverts’ spelling and grammar should be 100% correct and appropriate for the market. Spell check is your friend, and it wants to make sure you don’t look foolish in front of your potential customers! We’ve all seen examples of “Engrish” signs, price tickets with the infamous grocers’ apostrophe, and even text shorthand on advertising, and in every case it sends entirely the wrong image. So, load up your word processor of choice, buy a copy of the AP Stylebook, and make sure every word is just right before you hand it over to your designer. Always check that you’re using the right expressions, spelling and cultural references. UK English in an advert for the US? Big mistake.

Quality

It should go without saying, but quality counts. If you run a bad advert, you’re losing more than your marketing budget – it’s possible you’re damaging your company’s image as well. Reputation isn’t something that can be bought back once it’s lost (just ask BP!), so it’s always worth your while to make sure your advertising is the best you can get within your budget.

Some smaller companies may go down the route of getting a friend or a relative to do a little graphic design work or a website rather than spend the cash on a professional. This approach can work out, true, but horror stories abound – and you get what you pay for.

Think Different

Traditional advertising is going strong, but with the rise of the Internet, you don’t need to limit yourself to paper and billboards anymore. The best thing about it is that it’s often cheap in comparison, and with some effort, you can reach audiences around the world with your products and services. Think Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and others – they’re used for sharing interesting things between people, and if you position yourself just right, they could be sharing news about you! The power of viral advertising is amazing, and it can propel a company straight into the public consciousness. The Old Spice ads that became a Youtube hit, for example, are clever, funny, and have broad market appeal to both men and women. The key is actually pretty simple – make something cool, or different, or interesting, and make sure people can pass it along easily, and you won’t need to push people into talking about you.

With great power comes great responsibility, however. Quality is even more important when you have the potential to embarrass yourself in front of a global audience.

Adverts are not going away any time soon, and advertising is getting more and more sophisticated as technology evolves. It’s hard to strike a proper balance between too much or too little, and discovering what type will really work for your company. The good news is that adverts are, of course, everywhere, and you can keep a look out for new and interesting ways to get people talking, try out combinations of ads in marketing campaigns, and read professional blogs on advertising that will work for you.

Appleton Creative partners with highly regarded practitioners and specialized public relations firms in order to bring convenience, expertise, additional services, and positive outcomes our clients. “By helping clients avoid coordinating contact and projects with multiple agencies, we simplify their marketing experience while also providing professional, quality service,” said President Diana LaRue. “Clients appreciate working with one point of contact to achieve results across the marketing spectrum.

As new technology and media constantly enter the marketplace, partnerships enable advertising and public relations firms to share the full benefit of these innovations with clients. These benefits of partnerships are being recognized even at a national level between firms and also between firms and large companies such as Microsoft.

Strategic partnerships – just one more way Appleton strives to provide excellent service and value to our clients.

http://orangeappeal.com/

Diana Simaan, Principal of Baker Barrios Architects, has been succesfully launching her own couture line of clothing and was the winner of the Emerging Designer of the Year Award. Her design graces this month’s cover. Please stay tuned for more or her great designs and our launch of her couture web site.

Work it, girl.

With so many social networking sites available and so much marketing buzz, where do you begin? Give some consideration to the type of social networking community that has the most potential customers before you design your marketing plan. At Appleton, we work with you to think of innovative ways to interact with interested members of a social network, so you can establish new relationships. Your efforts may result in an increased client base and revenue source.

Here are 3 suggestions from the Appleton Social Media Team that can help you reach out to potential customers on a variety of social media websites:

*Create new social networking connections with professionals, companies, and organizations in your specific industry. Take the first step and join their list of fans or contacts, and hopefully they will return the favor. If they do, you have more contacts listed in your social network.

*Identify other organizations and individuals you can reach out to on social networking sites like LinkedIn and review and respond to their published information. These new contacts may be outside of the defined target market for your company or organization. One example is to join a literacy group in the Facebook community if you are in the publishing business. You can talk up your publishing services with your new contacts.

*Search for special interest forums. We also see the social networking craze includes more people flocking to niche websites to regularly participate in user forums. Join a forum if you have something meaningful to contribute or if you believe you will generate good contacts for your business.

There are infinite ways to use social websites to generate consumer awareness and we’re excited to be a resource. Let Appleton Creative help you develop a marketing campaign using social media outlets according to clearly defined objectives.

Battered by low consumer confidence and reduced availability of credit, small businesses are cutting it close during these times. Businesses react to shrinking profits by reducing costs such as advertising, often to the bare minimum, and occasionally stop marketing their business completely. However, Appleton feels, this cut-and-slash approach to cost management can lead to a loss of customers, reduced future revenue and smaller market share. Multinational companies like American Express and Kelloggs are maintaining or increasing marketing spend in the recession because branding is a key value driver for these companies. (“Best Global Brands,” Burt Helm, Business Week, September 2008). Small businesses should follow these successful companies lead – albeit on a smaller scale – as there are considerable benefits to maintaining a consistent marketing plan during hard times.

Attract new and keep old customers

Small businesses need to reel in new customers and keep existing ones through effective and sufficient advertising exposure. Rather than cutting back on advertising, businesses should reassess their marketing budget for ineffective spend. For businesses that rely mostly on local custom, an expensive advertisement in a national newspaper is unlikely to affect revenue significantly. We believe, small businesses should focus on effective media, such as targeted advertising in the local newspaper. A white paper written for the Customer Collective by Joshn Gordon espouses increased focus on shifting more product to current customers as opposed to chasing new customers. This approach is more profitable, easier and helps improve customer relationships. The small business that takes this approach will need local and targeted ads to carry the message of new products and packages to their existing customers. Appleton can help you with your message and create a plan that will work.

Maintain customer influence

Advertising is a powerful tool that can be used to convince customers of the reliability of the business and is ironically, even more influential during a soft economy, a time when businesses are intent on reducing costs to stay afloat. An Ad-ology Research (“Advertising’s Impact in a Soft Economy”) found that almost half of American adults believe a reduction in advertising by a shop, bank or car dealership during these times indicates the business is struggling. On the other hand, businesses that continue to advertise are seen as competitive and committed to doing business. The study shows that cutting back on marketing during soft times can adversely affect customer relationships with small businesses and lead to a reduction in future revenue.

Find a competitive edge

An effective marketing strategy that focuses on online advertising, such as Search Engine Marketing, listings on Yahoo! and monster.com through local digital media companies, is a cost-effective way for small businesses to increase visibility. Research by Opus indicated that almost 45% of all small to medium enterprises had intentions of moving towards online advertising (“Aug 2008, US Small Businesses). Savvy business owners could find a competitive edge and increase their market share with a well-timed, integrated print and digital marketing campaign conducted through local newspaper and media companies. Millward Brown, the leading British research company, found that businesses that increased marketing investment while their competitors cut theirs substantially increased the prominence of business’s brands.

For more ideas or to talk about your advertising campaign, call Appleton Creative: 407.246.0092 ext. 1#.