I’ve mentioned Dave Trott’s CST blog before, but why not throw out another mention.
Dave is approaching one of those legendary ‘ad men’ statuses, perhaps. The tales he recalls and weaves on his blogs entertain, educate and provide decades of insight into the complex business of advertising, marketing and client relations. I wouldn’t be surprised if [...]
An interesting, and rather long-winded question posed to Dave Trott on creativity caught my attention today. Dave, likely flabbergasted by such an exhausting query, posted it on his blog and allowed the world to share their views instead.
Amongst the ramble, several tricky and often avoided questions emerged:
Can you train your mind to be more creative [...]
Your logo is your brand!
Yep, that just about sums it up. Everyone knows that your company logo encompasses everything you stand for, your past, present and future, your ethos and vision. That’s why it’s so essential that your logo commands as much real estate as possible on your website and every facet of print advertising [...]
Flame’s very own Dom Rodwell spoke at the North event – Rule of Thirds (I’m not sure why it was called that). Not to seem biased, or to be sucking up to my boss, but it’s a bloody good presentation looking at how the communication of narrative has fundamentally changed in the age of digital media; how you can no longer talk at consumers but instead craft compelling and engaging experiences worth talking about. This isn’t another waffling rant about clients getting board with social media – it looks at the entire process of how creative digital agencies work with clients and their clients’ clients to develop irresistable, functional experiences, and what skills and structures companies need to face up to the undoubted challenges the rapidly changing communications landscape will bring.
Further reading:
Regular readers may have noticed that Redswish has taken a slight turn in topic style over the past few months. This is largely because it’s a one-man mission and I tend to blog about what I’m interested in or learning about at the time. Recently I’ve been focusing a lot on new marketing, building up more personal and effective relationships with clients, the demise of mass media and commoditisation, the evolution of experience design and authenticity and the psychology behind how we, as marketers and advertisers can influence and connect with people and craft stories that spread.
Hence the reason it’s been a while since a design post, which as a web design blog I truly feel I owe you. But I must admit there’s been a wealth of great design articles blanketing the web at the moment so feel free to hit up Smashing Magazine, Web Designer Depot etc and you’ll find lots of great material. BUT NOT RIGHT NOW! Because I have other stuff to sell.
This article may not seem beautifully crafted and may come across as thought spilled onto paper (or a computer screen). Well, that’s exactly what it is. I want to hear what people think about this, I’m merely dipping my toes in the vast lake of this subject and I’m totally cool with holding hands!
Advertising will never die. But it sure as hell is transforming massively. And we’ve known this for a long time, but are still slow to respond. Investing stacks of cash in big, bold, flashy, in-your-face ads isn’t enough anymore. Breaking through the noise is too difficult. How often do you notice the Google AdWords or daft banner ads on a site? Most certainly less and less as we subconsciously train ourselves to tune out the distractions. I’m not saying billboards, TV, radio etc are completely useless, but yeah unless you’ve got a silly marketing budget and creative license to bang your head against a brick wall, then yeah.. go home.
It’s the way forward folks. Viral is still in it’s infancy. In old marketing the marketers jump in at the end and try to bridge the gap between product and consumer, now flip it upside down. Authenticity is essential. Great products and services that people talk about is what will drive you forwards. Your customers are your marketers.
Who said that adverts had to be directly relevant to what a company does or provides. At the end of the day, everyone knows who McDonalds are. A billion pound marketing budget couldn’t make them any more well known.
So what’s wrong with making people smile?
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