Every Monday morning, we sit down to discuss industry trends. Topics range from wearable technology to brand-sponsored short films. This week, our Creative Director Dave Geile brought something so technologically innovative to the table that we felt compelled to share.
The new gadget that had us geeking out in the conference room: a centimeter-long origami robot that climbs, swims, and carries loads twice its weight, according to MIT researchers. The fascinating, yet admittedly esoteric, device is expected to provide assistance in the medical industry—capable of reaching otherwise difficult-to-access areas inside the body.
Naturally, watching the bug-like device fold itself and chug through obstacles got me thinking about technology, marketing, and how the separate industries intertwine.
Advertising has a coercively isomorphic relationship with the tech industry; meaning the development and evolution of advertising is at least partially linked to technological innovation. Wait, isn’t this a movie?
In 2054, Washington D.C., wall-attached eye scanners assess moods and chime out tailored advertisements. Tom Cruise must’ve been thirsty.
In 2002 when the film was released, I’m guessing the concept of hyper-personalized marketing was so far-fetched it was promptly dismissed—like time travel or teleportation.
Now looking back, the scene portrays future advertising somewhat accurately. Although most advertisers don’t implement eye scanners or mood detectors, I imagine cookie tracking would’ve seemed equally improbable—but here we are.
The question is not how far can advertisers go? Technological advancement has shown little sign of slowing. The question is how far will advertisers go? As tech capabilities continue to increase, how advanced, personalized, and intrusive will brand messaging become? Will advertising technology ever go too far? Let’s hope these undetectable, body-diving robots stick to exploration… below the neck.
Here at Geile/Leon, we have our own approach. We believe results come naturally by making sure every project, interaction, relationship, and even handshake mean something. Before we even touch a project, we ask ourselves one question: Why? By determining why a project is important, we’re able to recognize what we need to do to make our client successful—now that’s personalized marketing.
Want to learn more about Geile/Leon’s approach to strategic marketing? Let’s chat. Drop us a line and we’ll get back to you within 48 hours.
As a marketer, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of the product life cycle. Not only will you be able to discern what phase your product is in, but with this knowledge you will also be able to prescribe the correct marketing support that your product will need to thrive and prolong its life.
The standard product life cycle contains four key phases: Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline. The very basis of the product life cycle comes from the biological life cycle that we are all very familiar with. For example – the plant process. First, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it sprouts leaves and establishes a root system as it develops into an adult plant (maturity); after some time the plant will wither and die (decline).
So morbid – I know.
When we refer to a product life cycle, we are assuming four things:
Products have a limited life.
Product sales go through specific stages, each posing new challenges and opportunities.
Profits will rise and fall during different stages of the product life cycle.
Products require different marketing, financial, manufacturing, and purchasing strategies in each stage.
Many products do not follow the cycle and the length of each phase varies extensively. The marketing support you provide during each crucial phase of the product life cycle can greatly impact the length of each phase and the success of your product.
A company’s positioning and differentiation strategy must be willing to adapt and evolve to the environment as the product, market and competitive landscape changes throughout the product life cycle.
Your marketing efforts should of course be targeted to audiences that find your product relevant. The more specific you can get, the more efficient and effective your marketing efforts will be.
Introduction
This phase is all about building buzz and awareness. Make a splash. Your product will be new to the marketplace and your promotions should focus on generating trial use.
Growth
The growth phase is exciting and profitable but also challenging. New competitors with similar product offerings emerge. It will be crucial to continue heavy marketing support during this phase and focus on building your brand. During this phase, your goal should be to maximize your market share as much as possible.
Maturity
Products that make it through the introduction and growth phases will spend the most time in the maturity phase. Product sales will slowly decrease and eventually stabilize. The market is saturated. With so many competing products, it will be crucial to define what makes your product unique through strategic marketing efforts. Price wars are prevalent and heavy promotion should be maintained across a variety of high impact mediums, encouraging consumers of your competitors’ products to switch to your brand.
Decline
Profits are declining. You’re slashing prices, phasing out weak items and milking your brand for all its worth. You may think that the end is near, but the decline phase could go on for quite some time. Opportunities emerge to innovate your now declining product and start over from the beginning of the life cycle.
Maximizing the Life of Your Product
The product life cycle has many ups and downs, but with the right marketing mix during the appropriate time, you can increase sales, profitability, and extend each phase and the life of your product.
Regardless of what phase your product is in, we can help you prolong it and maximize your success through our knowledge of audience development, strategic marketing and powerful branding. Reach out to us using the form below. We’d love to talk about how we can help your brand.
Sponsorships for professional athletes carry an extreme level of volatility for the simple reason that the outcome of the games they play aren’t predetermined (unless you’re a professional wrestling fan, that is).
It’s remarkable how quickly a golfer like Tiger Woods can watch his stock plummet while Rory McIlroy heads in the opposite direction. It’s incredible to watch a no-name utility infielder like Geoff Blum become a World Series hero in one night. It’s humorous even when it’s for all the wrong reasons and most casual fans probably don’t remember your name.
And then there’s LeBron.
There’s no question that LeBron James is a phenomenal basketball player. His legend was already well known when he was playing in high school, and this was really before the golden age of high school sports clips were available all over the internet. Even before he even played his first professional game for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, Nike had signed him to a deal just short of nine figures.
More than a decade later, that relationship between LeBron and Nike has been accompanied by everything that’s happened on and off the court. On the court, LeBron brought the Cavs to the brink of a title. Then, off the court, there was The Decision.
Shortly after, amid a strong fan backlash, Nike released this iconic spot, attempting to humanize LeBron and explain why he made the choice to leave home:
After winning multiple titles in Miami, LeBron returned home and nearly delivered a championship, falling short in the NBA finals despite a heroic effort.
Over the weekend, the Cavaliers and Nike took out a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, thanking the fans for their support and reminding them that the journey is not over.
The ad is minimalist, but it strikes the right tone and tells the story that just transpired as well as what lies ahead. For a partnership like this, Nike doesn’t have to be front and center because they’ve been intertwined with his story since the beginning. It allows them to focus more on why people should care instead of trying to just sell shiny new shoes.
Certainly not everyone has the resources that Nike does, but as this ad shows, you don’t need to create something overly flashy to resonate with readers and grow a brand. If you’re ever looking for help your brand take the next step, we’re here to help.
There’s a buzzword flying around the advertising industry these days, one that has a value of nearly $15 billion in 2015. No, I’m not talking about #Kimye (not even close). I’m talking about #programmatic.
Heard of it? Yes.
Know what it means? Yes…I think…maybe…kind of? No…not really.
…Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Programmatic media buying is the hot new gossip in advertising. It’s new, it’s shiny, it’s mysterious and naturally, like with most gossip, everybody wants a piece of it. But does everybody understand what it is or why they want it? Not exactly.
Well fear not, my friends, for I am about to bring you into the inner circle, define what programmatic buying is, and explain why it is projected to account for over 25% of digital advertising revenue in 2015.
“That’s right, Dorothy.”
But let’s look away from the dollar signs for a minute, because programmatic media buying goes far beyond the colossal projected revenues associated with it. Programmatic represents the industry’s gradual adoption of a completely new way of buying digital media that could revolutionize and alter the way media across all mediums is targeted and purchased.
What is it?
Programmatic, by definition, is the data-driven, automated process of buying digital advertising. Gone are the days of exchanging phone calls and emails and IO’s with sales teams, now replaced by…well…acronyms.
Specifically: PMP, DSP and RTB. Also known as the driving forces behind programmatic ad buying.
If you love tech speak as much as me (note: sarcasm), then you’ll love these definitions even more:
Private Marketplace (PMP) is a marketplace where specific, premium publishers make their inventory available to a select group of buyers. Unlike the traditional site-direct buy, PMP’s offer buyers access to these inventories via ad exchanges called DSP’s.
Demand-Side Platform (DMP) is the software platform by which buyers purchase digital media within a PMP. DSP’s make the ad-buying process more efficient by allowing buyers to access 1st and 3rd party data that ensures them that the impressions purchased are delivered on the right sites, to the right audience and at the right time. Allowing this access to buyers eliminates the need for any humans to be involved in the buying process—no extra costs, no negotiation, no back and forth. Instead, ads are purchased via RTB.
Real-time Bidding (RTB) is the entirely transparent, auction-style method for buying and selling ad impressions in real time, like the stock market. A general assumption throughout the industry is: RTB=auction=low quality/remnant ad stock. However, with the rise of programmatic, a growing number of publishers are making their premium inventory available through PMP’s.
So, how does a buyer get their hands on this premium stock? We refer to age-old adage:it’s all about who you know.
How are we using it?
Here at G/L, we are “getting with the programmatic.” One thing we prioritize as an agency is the importance of implementing business practices that not only benefit and drive our work forward, but those that do the same for our clients’ brands. True, the programmatic waters are still a little murky, so we knew we needed to seek out a partner to help us navigate. One whose expertise in developing strategic programmatic buys would help us produce successful, optimized digital campaigns and see that our clients achieve their desired ROI. Enter Goodway Group.
Working with Goodway Group, we are able to cultivate digital media buys based on specific target audience parameters versus the traditional site-direct buy. Thus, for example, rather than assuming a clients’ regional customers are solely surfing regional sites (that often have a higher monthly premium restricting the overall reach and frequency of a campaign), we’re able to utilize rich data that tells us exactly where the people we want to target are, in real time, and serve them the message within milliseconds. In turn, programmatic also offers us the ability to access immediate reporting data to track campaign success and pause or augment the campaign based on ad performance. Insights like these effectively inform the campaign, our targeting and our creative.
In joining forces with Goodway, we are able to be a dynamic player in the ever-evolving world of digital media by adopting programmatic as a way to produce better, more strategic digital campaigns that provide our clients with the greatest impact and highest ROI. Removing humans from the process of ad buying allows us as an agency, along with Goodway Group, to make our primary focus optimizing clients’ campaigns and ensuring they are on strategy.
Where is it going?
According to eMarketer, programmatic is the fastest growing area of online advertising. By 2017, it is predicted that programmatic media sales will account for 83% of all U.S. digital display ad spending. The trend is catching, however, and is predicted to represent 4% of U.S. TV budgets in 2015, increasing to 17% by 2019. We think it’s going to cause a pretty big shift in the industry, and we’re excited to be on board!
Want to learn more about how we’re working with Goodway Group in the developing digital landscape? Download your own copy of our webinar presentation, A Strategic Approach to Digital Media!
Geile/Leon is growing! We’re looking for creative individuals who want to build brand-driven strategic marketing solutions that mean something to those we’re trying to reach. Folks who want to work hard and have a lot of fun along the way. If that sounds like something you think you could be a part of, read on:
G/L is looking for an Associate Creative Director with strong writing experience to assist our creative director with every aspect of the creative process, as well as management of the department. We’re looking for someone who’s comfortable leading and supervising our awesome creative team.
We’d also consider a seasoned writer who has ACD potential. If you’re not sure whether or not you should apply, our advice is DO IT!
The ideal candidate is a proficient copywriter with a strong track record of developing strong creative campaign concepts. They’re someone who can inspire our team and clients. Someone who’s able to develop ideas and creative work that’s compelling, memorable and strategic.
Responsibilities and Requirements:
Providing concepts for projects/campaigns to meet approved marketing communications objectives and strategies.
Working closely with account services as a liaison to the creative department, helping the creative department sell their best ideas to account executives and the client.
Managing the creative/production department’s day-to-day operations.
Attending creative input meetings in the creative director’s absence or at the creative director’s request.
Selling creative internally or to clients at the creative director or account executive’s request.
Making recommendations to the creative director for creative positions and freelance services.
Has working knowledge of all software programs needed to fulfill approved creative concepts.
Must have at least four years of agency experience.
Bottom line: If you want an opportunity to lead and grow with some awesome (and modest) creative minds in a mid-sized agency environment, this is one heck of a position.
To apply, send a resume and portfolio to Anne-Marie Vaughan at [email protected]
David Droga, chairman of Droga5, recently wrote an article, Sweating Ad Copy Like ‘Mad Men’, for The Wall Street Journal about the “totem pole of ‘real’ writing” for ad agency copywriters. What constitutes good writing from the bad when it comes to advertising? Some headlines and taglines are written with such simplicity and clarity it could be considered poetry, while others can leave you cringing from cheesiness or scratching your head in confusion.
I think that what really separates great writing from the rest is the ability to get out the most essential message in the least amount of words. Most billboards have 8 words maximum -how can we trigger action in 8 words or less? The answer to that is creativity. As writers, me must delicately finesse and distill our copy to its most simple and captivating state. As Droga5 mentions in the article, some of the advertising’s most memorable lines have been as short and sweet as, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” “Where’s the beef?” “A diamond is forever.” or “Got milk?”
Clients will give you a myriad of features and benefits they want the copy to convey, and your job is to decide what actually needs to be said in that first, powerful line of headline copy or those precious 30 seconds of airtime. Remember: information overload is a turnoff for consumers, too many messages will just distract. Brainstorm about what speaks to your audience–what inspires them, moves them? And live by the mantra that less is more.
I think great writing is minimalist writing. Strong. Powerful. Simple. And when executed properly it really is an art, moving people to think and act differently. It takes time, endless brainstorming and lots of rejection to get the perfect line, but it’s worth it.
Now, let me first say, I am a strong and firm believer, even advocate, of SEO writing for small businesses. But… there is a strategic art to balancing out your budget when it comes to re-doing a company website. Yes- some capital should be allotted to SEO writing because it will most definitely be driving traffic to the site. But that doesn’t mean you should burn up all your dollars and skimp on the actual content and quality of your website copy.
Remember, your company’s voice should be communicated through the online copy. It should be interesting, and invite browsers to click through and read more. If your copy is dull and obviously written exclusively to stuff as much awkward SEO phrasing in as possible, consumers will quickly become disengaged and navigate away from the page, making the whole effort of driving website traffic fruitless.
My advice to small businesses or anyone with a limited budget, is to first get your copy written in a unique and strategic style. Then with remaining budget, make sure to add-in strong SEO writing. By making the quality of your content a top priority, you’re more likely to have the people that do come to your website, stay longer and engage with your brand longer.
So, how do you keep online copywriting in check? BALANCE your content with information, quality content, good style and SEO. Never write solely for SEO purposes and never write without any SEO dialogue. If working for an interactive and online marketing firm in St. Louis has taught me anything, it’s that SEO and quality of content can work together to boost search rankings and drive traffic.
Any ad agency, should realize the strategy of web writing. G/L has recently brought on a Digital Strategist to help boost our online marketing company.
If you’ve been to a St. Louis Blues game, you’ve seen the segment on the JumboTron where they take random photos of fans in the audience and show them next to a celebrity they most resemble. It’s a hoot! And believe it or not, our friends at Facebook have an app called FacedoubleTwin–where you can put in your photo or someone elses photo, and it will source the celebrity you most resemble right next to yours. I thought it would be fun to pick Geile/Leon ad agency employees and do their celebrity look a like. Just for the heck of it, I also included the celebrity that I most resemble.
I plan to do this on occasion with other employees here….and maybe some of our clients (that have a sense of humor), Enjoy!
People always said I looked like Brad Pitt. The resemblance is uncanny.
