Design 101 for “Error 404”

Posted by: Matthew Bick // May 2nd, 2012

Everyone has seen it at one point or another.  Your favorite website is having a bad day, and when you go to load it up, an Error 404 message pops up on the screen.  Of course, all you see is the generic, blank-looking error message and some variant of “try again later” on the screen in front of you.

Right?

Not anymore, at least not on an increasing number of websites.  Like it or not, an error page is still a page that must be planned for and an opportunity to put creative messaging in front of users.  In fact, it could even be considered one of the best opportunities to make an impression upon visitors to your site.  In a situation where the user may otherwise be frustrated both by the inability to reach their desired page and the blank, uninviting look of normal error pages, developers and content managers now have the chance to provide a little humor, or at least something visually interesting.

In fact, this design mini-trend has even sparked Loveish Kalsi of Stylish Web Designer to put together a list of 30 inspirationally-designed 404 pages.

@MatthewBick

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Canadians Cynical of Advertising

Posted by: Liz Mortek // November 30th, 2011

According to a new poll by the Gandalf Group on behalf of the Canadian Advertising Standards Council, A whopping 89 percent of Canucks are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to stop buying a product if advertising around it is untruthful.

The study noted that 57 percent of Canadians report having followed through on this promise. Conversely, according to the survey, only 36 percent of Americans claim to have stopped buying a product because of untruthful advertising.  So what can we have to learn from this?  If your company is thinking of expanding to Canada, consider telling the truth, EH?

@EMortek

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2011’s Marketing Mantra: “It Doesn’t Affect Me”

Posted by: Neil James // November 16th, 2011

The world is changing. Everything is changing. Digital is killing traditional. Successful brands will create social experiences. Insert your marketing platitude here.

Could marketers be tuning out the trends espoused by industry rags and Twitter-obsessed bloggers? A new study, chronicled by a new article for eMarketer, Do Marketers Feel Isolated From Industry Trends?, suggests this may be the case!

eMarketer reports that new research from Mechanica and Fast Company found significant discrepancies between how marketers believe marketing trends impact their organization versus broader industry in general. Consider the following:

  • 70 percent of marketers agreed that social media mattered for their industry, but only 49 percent said it influenced their own company.
  • Similarly, 31 percent of marketers stated that the declining importance of traditional distribution channels affected industry as a whole, but only 20 percent felt this trend impacted their organization.

@NeilAndrewJames

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For Web Banners, Size Matters, Just Not In The Way You’ve Been Told.

Posted by: Ben Schmidt // August 17th, 2011

Writing for AdAge Digital, Rob Gatto doesn’t think web banners need to get bigger to be more effective, or louder for that matter. In ‘It’s Not The Size It’s How You Use It,’ Paul urges us to take a step back, take a deep breath, and search for bigger ideas.

Rob discusses how these bigger ideas lead to better creative; that creative being key to a redefinition he feels digital advertising is in sore need of. He backs his assertions with examples of how good creative, executed via web banners, has had a surprisingly strong impact for companies like Ford and New Balance. But, as he notes, a creative web banner can’t win the day alone.

@BenWritten

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Killer Content, As Easy As Banana Cream?

Posted by: Ben Schmidt // March 14th, 2011

Killer Content As Easy as Banana Creme

In my last post I likened the importance of content to the filling in a Twinkie. Now we have ABC Copywriting’s Tom Albrighton, likening content generation to another delicious dessert in his blog post, Why Great Content Is Like A Pie.

You may be picking up on the fact that writers tend to spend a great deal of time thinking about food. This is true. Good writing employs empathy, as does good cooking, so the overlap of interests is rather natural. Perhaps this also explains why so many famous chefs tend to pen at least a memoir, if not an authorial travel show lacking any reservations. But the points Mr. Albrighton makes in his post do more than remind us that food analogies are an excellent way to make esoteric concepts simple and accessible. This particular analogy raises an extra, and crucial, point – content, like a pie, does not create itself.

Yes, there are recipes for great content one can follow, some better than others. Yes, as Mr. Albrighton notes, the quality of the ingredients that go into that content do make a difference. But far too often we focus on the product, not the producer, and go on to scratch our heads in disbelief when no one’s attracted to what we’ve set to cool on the windowsill.

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Nature Abhors a Vacuum – Advertisers Should Embrace It

Posted by: Neil James // February 7th, 2011

Nature Abhors a Vacuum Advertisers Should Embrace It

The classic quote “nature abhors a vacuum” applies equally to a variety of social and scientific constructs: politics, thermodynamics, pop culture and more. But how often do most advertisers reflect upon the unnatural existence of empty spaces? Not as often as they should, says Derek Halpern in an article for Social Triggers, How to Pull Readers Into Your Content Instantly. Just as in nature, according to Halpern, a gap in human knowledge is quickly filled, only knowledge gaps are filled with a substance much more precious to marketers – aroused curiosity. Halpern urges marketers to leverage George Lowenstein’s information gap theory of curiosity, that innate human behaviors are triggered when people feel there is a gap between what they know and what they want to know. Halpern explores the variety of ways marketers can approach copy and messaging to arouse curiosity and maximize reader interest.

@NeilAndrewJames

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Great Creative Shouldn’t End at the Web’s Edge

Posted by: Mark Palony // December 29th, 2010

Seems self-evident, doesn’t it, that great creative is as important to the success of digital advertising as it is in the traditional arenas of print, radio and television. But that what’s obvious is not necessarily practiced.

comScore ARS recently released what the first in a series of “reports on the role of creative in digital and traditional television advertising”. When Advertising Goes Digital begins to explore why creative for digital is not given the attention it deserves and asks the question, “What would Don Draper do” in a digital world?

The paper is full of data and charts that prove we, as marketers, need to place the same importance on testing creative intended for digital delivery as we do television creative. Too often, however, digital is an afterthought and what we toss on the Web is given no more consideration than the shoes we put on to walk to the mailbox. Oddly, we all preach about the growing influence of the Internet, yet our actions do not match our words.

The answer the question, of course, is that Don Draper would treat digital as he would any other medium because, in the end, it is simply another platform for reaching consumers.

People are spending more and more time with digital media – web, mobile web, text, ect. – and comScore ARS is telling us it’s time to begin treating it as a primary channel to the hearts and minds of consumers.

@MarkPalony

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One In Five Report Commercials Are Often Confusing

Posted by: Neil James // September 27th, 2010

Clear before clever. This simple axiom will ensure that no matter what, your marketing message is unambiguous. Yet, according to Mark Dolliver in a article for Brandweek, Commercial Confusion, a recent survey reported that 20 percent of adults find television commercials confusing somewhat often. Interestingly, this figure showed little variance throughout different age brackets, dropping to only 18 percent among 18-34 year olds. Older adults had the greatest likelihood of confusion, as 28 percent of those age 55 plus found television commercials confusing somewhat often.

@NeilAndrewJames

R.I.P. Outpost.com – View the flying gerbil commercial here

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Relevance Radio #3 – When Should a Brand Update Its Tagline?

Posted by: Neil James // September 21st, 2010

When cleaning out our fridge, it’s easy to identify stale and expired products by their expiration date. Unfortunately, brands and taglines come equipped with no such indicator. In our newest episode of Relevance Radio, executive creative director Brian Herder discusses when brands should and shouldn’t update their tagline. Citing real life examples such as Radio Shack, Old Spice and Morton’s Salt, Herder emphasizes the importance of subtlety and gradation in keeping a brand fresh and current.

@NeilAndrewJames

 
 Relevance Radio #3 – When Should a Brand Update Its Tagline?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (101)

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ARSgroup: Creative Four Times More Important Than Media Spend

Posted by: Neil James // September 14th, 2010

“Our competitiors outspend us 10 to one on advertising,” lament scores of American businesses. Faced with competitive pressures, it can be easy to forget that what you say and how you say it is as important as how loudly you shout it. Frank Findley, VP of Research at ARSgroup reminds us of this fact in an article for Comscore, ARS Findings for Retailers: Focus on Advertising Creative Can Yield Big Dividends. Findlay argues that, ultimately, advertising creative is four times more important than media spend in determining sales outcomes. In addition, Findlay identifies several key practices that maximize message impact, including committing to specificity and working to establish emotional connections.

@NeilAndrewJames

Image Credit – Influx Insights

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