Advertising

A few days ago Adobe not only officially unveiled the next version of its Creative Suite – Adobe CS6 – but also introduced its Creative Cloud offerings. According to Adobe, its new subscription service is “the digital hub that lets you download and install every Adobe Creative Suit 6 application; access online services for file sharing, collaboration, and publishing; and benefit from new apps and features as soon as they’re released…”

Although you can purchase CS products individually through online and retail stores, Adobe believes that Creative Cloud is a better way to get your desktop tools because you get access to the latest updates and features as soon as they’re available. In addition to providing maximum flexibility, members benefit from significantly lower upfront costs. Creative Cloud also includes new Internet-based services and enables the delivery of high-impact content experiences such as interactive websites and stunning digital magazines…

Anyone who wants to achieve the attention of a target group member and acquire a potential customer in a highly competitive market should design creative online ads, says a new survey. According to the survey, a quarter of the respondents said that the actual ads in the internet were neither entertaining nor humorous. This is not a new problem, it has existed for years. The “perfect mix” would be made of entertainment and humor, but some information is also welcome.

Many internet users do have a clearly defined image of a good advertisement in their heads:

• 40 percent like it humorous
• 35 percent like to see informative advertisements
• 18 percent like entertaining advertisements

What nobody likes are annoying and disturbing advertisements.

When asked what they think about trends in the online advertising market in a recent study, experts from the branch confirmed the desires of the users: 47 percent of those questioned really appreciate the creativity in online advertises. The creativity is even more important than Multi-Channel-Tracking or retargeting.

This survey was conducted among 6500 internet users. The survey was managed by Fitkau & Maaß on behalf of eprofessional.

Seen at: internetworld.de

Even though the capital investment in social media advertising is rising, every second company questions the prosperity. Half of the members of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) are not sure if it’s worth it to invest furthermore in facebook, twitter, xing or other social networks. Advertisement in social networks can be e.g. a xing profile, a business account on twitter, a group on facebook, a typical advert on the homepage or the like.

So the is it really lucrative to call the customers attention on social media platforms?

The conclusion of the survey Value of a Fan by Millward Brown is that 23% of the members of the WFA think that it is profit-making to invest in advertisement on social media websites. There again 27% say that the cost-effectiveness is at an average or lower. Admittedly 96% of the respondents at last the investment in social media advertising but per contrast one quarter named that working on fan-pages claims more time and money than assessed.

The companies have nearly all the same aims: 85% said that they want to narrow the brand-loyalty of the people using social networks to their corporations as well as they are trying to get more information about their target audience. 80% want to heighten the number of their intercessors.

The combined members of the WMA represent 90% of the expenditures in marketing and public relations worldwide. Basis of the survey is a poll on marketing-guarantors of 24 multinational companies and 3.687 brand-fans of the companies. Questioned was the engagement they put on social media.

1.    KISS
Keep it short and simple! This is what KISS means. It is a very basic rule in communication. Consumers do not like to read long texts. They must understand your message in 5 seconds.

2.    Do not sell the product, sell its benefits
Most ads are simply descriptive, they explain what the product or service is about.
Example: If you drink this water you won’t be thirsty any more. This is not very unique, because water can always satisfy your thirst. A benefit could be, if you drink this water your digestion will work better or you will feel fit.

3.    Communicate to peoples basic needs
Nowadays a lot of advertisers count on the famous slogan “sex sells”. Here you’ll find Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and see why this is:

a) Physiological Needs
Food, water, air, shelter, sex

b) Safety and Security Needs
Protection, order, stability

c) social needs
affection, friendships, belonging

d) ego needs
prestige, status, self-esteem

e) self-actualization
self-fulfillment

Many companies doubt the effect of expensive advertising banners. A U.S. study now shows that online advertising does increase sales. Two U.S. economists have analyzed the shopping behavior of 1.6 million consumers – without them knowing about it. The result of the research project “Does Retail Advertising Work?” on behalf of Yahoo: The promotional effect on consumers is positive, significant and lasting.

For the study, the researchers have worked with a major U.S. retail chain that sells its products online too. A number of consumers has been shown the retail chain advertising on Yahoo, while the control group didn’t get to see it.

Sales increases significantly thanks to online advertising

The result is impressive: users who were shown online advertising, bought significantly more at the company – and paid more than the control group. On average, these consumers spent five percent more money. Thats why the online advertising budget of the retail chain is well spent: Within four weeks the turnover was three times higher than the cost of the online advertising. Overall, the U.S. company had made seven U.S. dollars additional revenue for every dollar they’ve invested in banner and pop-ups.

Click rates unimportant
Another result of the study: It is not important whether the user clicked on the ads or not. About 22 percent of the increase was caused by users who have clicked on the banner. However the revenue was increased most significantly by the users, who had been exposed to the ads.

Advertising acts permanently
Also online advertising takes effect even beyond the Internet: Only seven percent of the positive advertising effect is attributable to the online business of the company. Most sales were made in the stores. The researchers also demonstrated that the benefit of online banners is permanently: Even four weeks after the end of the campaign, customers who had seen the advertising had purchased more.

origin: media-treff.de

Hamburg has been known as a commercial metropolis all over the world for years. If you ask Google about “advertising from Hamburg”, you will get 3.33 million results. Not surprisingly, I think.

There are a lot of large advertising agencies such as Jung von Matt, Draft FCB, or BBS (Bartel, Brömmel, Struck) in Hamburg. They are known – among other things – for their unusual ideas or catchy advertisements for one of the biggest newspapers in Germany (“BILD”), Beiersdorf (Nivea) or Johnson & Johnson.

Currently, there is an art exhibition in Hamburg on the subject: „Advertisingworlds made in Hamburg -100 years Reemtsma-“(original title: “ Werbewelten made in Hamburg – 100 Jahre Reemtsma”).
This could be very interesting for all those people who work in the advertising industry and for all who live in and around Hamburg.

When? From 10 September 2010 to 20 March 2011

Where? In the Museum of Work (Museum der Arbeit): Wiesendamm 3, 22305 Hamburg

What? The exhibition presents historic imagery of advertising as well as pictures from the history of the cigarette manufacturer “Reemtsma”.

What do you think as a freelancer? Would you yourself make advertising for tobacco or reject such a thing maybe even out of moral considerations?

Did you enjoy the exhibition? We are looking forward to your feedback.

For more information: http://www.museum-der-arbeit.de/Sonder/Reemtsma/

To fall back on internationally established project management standards helps to optimize competitiveness

The competence concerning the planning and controlling of projects is more limited in German creative agencies than in the majority of other industries. There, international management standards have already been established says the Hamburg-based project-management enterprise PM Firefighters based on a recent market monitoring. Facing the difficult market environment, advertising, public relations and internet agencies currently bet on structural adjustments, thus neglecting the potential to enhance the efficiency of the agency, the optimization of internal processes and management skills can present.

Often, the agencies´ project management focuses on schedule and cost management, which causes important sections to remain uncontrolled and creates typical but avoidable friction losses. Optimization potential especially exists in the sector of resource management. It regulates backlogs and continuous bottlenecks alike and helps improving the creative products´ quality as well as employee motivation.
Another relevant sector is the stakeholder management, whose role it is to control the information flow and integrate those involved in the project individually.

The objective should be to create the greatest amount of cooperativeness on all sides and to avoid the proverbial last minute changes. Change management – the question who can make which changes when – is a part of project management that, according to PM Firefighters, has already been incorporated by other industries.
This also holds true for the so called `lessons-learned-process´ that systematically analyses and documents experiences subsequent to the completion of a project and thus prevents the repetition of mistakes.

„Many CEOs and budget managers are concerned that a far-reaching project management will limit the company´s creativity and flexibility. But the opposite is true!” Hauke Thun, CEO of PM Firefighters, emphasises. „Professional approaches relieve the creatives from administrative processes, which generates more free space for high-quality campaigns and promotes the agency´s competitiveness.“

About PM Firefighters
PM Firefighters Project Management Ltd., which is based in Hamburg, was founded 2003 and has specialized in the management of operative project tasks for medium-sized companies and major enterprises.
The objective is the successful completion of challenging projects, particularly in critical situations. Another business area is the insourcing of lacking project management capacities on the client side. PMFF works intersectoral with references from the industries media/IT, telecommunications, medical technology and trade.
Please address any queries to: Frank Plümer l plümer)communications
Tel. 0049/40/35 70 13 50 l E-Mail: fp@pluemercommunications.de

Anna Clea Skoluda is a freelance art director and designer and has a background in advertising. Here, she answers some questions concerning difficult customers, the perfect team and plans for the future. All further information you will find here: www.anna-clea.de.

What was the most interesting project you have implemented?
Every project that I deal with is 100% interesting in the implementation phase. If I would not feel this way, the only thing that could help would be an oversized payment.

What was the most difficult experience you have had with a customer?
None. Every customer requires to be attended to optimally. Especially the customers with the smallest wallet. Which actually is kind of funny.

What was the biggest challenge that you had to face?
Professionally: The transition from being a freelancer in advertising to being self-employed as a designer. But it was the thought, really, that was the challenge, since everything went smoothly thanks to some lucky coincidences.

Are there customers for whom you would not work?
Possibly. That would be a spontaneous decision.

What does the client of your dreams look like?
Tasteful. Or did you mean which hair colour..?

Which qualifications characterise your dream team?
Fun, diligence and creativity.

What was your best performance for free?
I do not work at no charge. No payment = no respect for performance.

How long have you been in the business?
Since the 1. semester.

How often have you changed your specialization?
Once: From advertising to design. Thankfully, there has been and still is continuous further development.

Can you imagine to take another job?
Yes, the area of creativity is infinite.

What will you do in 10 years?
Beautiful things.