In a day long work session, Brill’s team knocked out three concepts, each with strong messages that focused on program benefits.

Dan Brill and his team climbed the Fifth Third tower to present their concepts, enthusiastic and confident that one would emerge victorious and be exactly on point with Fifth Third’s needs. And that’s just what happened…

“The Card That Rocks”

Back at their creative hub, the Brill Creative team went to work refining layouts, writing copy, and arranging photos shoots. In fact, Dan Brill and renowned music photographer Jason Koerner (Jason Koerner’s Facebook Page) met up in Miami, Florida in early summer to direct a photo shoot specifically for the Fifth Third project. The images from that photo session became the essence for what would be the “Card That Rocks” campaign.

Just this past week, Fifth Third launched the campaign to select campuses in the region. CLICK HERE for on-scene photos of the launch at Cedarville University.

The kick-off was a huge success and Fifth Third couldn’t be happier with the marketing and design performance of Brill Creative.

Click here for the full story of the genesis, evolution and launch of Fifth Third Bank’s “The Card That Rocks” student banking campaign.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.
~Edmund Burke

Visit the Run For Shelter Facebook page and ‘Like’ them, become a fan and stay tuned for next year’s event.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Run-For-Shelter/143670939000652

Learn more on the website: http://runforsheltercincy.org/

It’s often said that good TV ads should either make you laugh or cry. Apparently, good online ads should make you sweat.

The Online Publishers Association is so adamant about convincing traditional brand advertisers that good display advertising can pack an emotional wallop that it tapped Innerscope, a media research firm that specializes in neuroscience and biometrics.

The OPA’s work with Innerscope goes far beyond the typical online survey. According to the new study, sweating, an increased heart rate, changes in breathing and rapid eye movements are all indications of user-engagement with display ads.

For the study, Innerscope outfitted 100 18- to 54-year-old individuals with biometric monitors (which are worn across one’s chest) and had them visit three different news Web sites: NYTimes.com, CNN.com and MSNBC.com. Each site contained one of the OPA’s signature oversized ad units — the “XXL,” the “Pushdown” or the “Fixed Panel.”

Participants — all of whom were pre-screened to make sure they were frequent online news consumers — each saw six ads during the study, resulting in 600 user sessions. During the sessions, Innerscope monitored users’ physical responses — skin sweat, heart rate and the like — while also monitoring their visual attentiveness.

“We felt that by being able to employ something like this [study] versus having consumers define their experiences, [it would be] much more effective,” said OPA president Pam Horan. “We wanted to create as natural an experience as possible.”

By ensuring a “natural” experience, the study provided some of the most valuable research to date on display advertising and the OPA’s high-impact units, argued Horan. And generally, the OPA units have proved to be attention-grabbing and more important, emotionally resonating. “The questions we asked were, ‘Are they looking?’ ‘Are they fixating?’ and ‘Are they connecting?’” said Horan.

The answer, according to the study, was a resounding yes. A whopping 96 percent of participants were found to have paid attention to the OPA ads.

And even though many of these high-impact units take a moment or two to fully load on a Web page, 67 percent of the study’s participants went back to look at these ads after their first 10 seconds on a particular page.

However, the real payoff was the emotional punch these ads exhibited. Among the respondents who checked out the OPA ads after their first 10 seconds on a page, “[the respondents had] stronger emotional response[s] to the OPA ad units than to the rest of the Web page,” says the report.

May 25, 2010 – Mark Dolliver

The presence of one’s near and dear ones on an online social network doesn’t stop people from being wary of the network itself, according to the findings of a Vision Critical survey released this month.

Respondents to the polling (fielded online in March) were asked how trustworthy they think online social networks are. Few of the U.S. respondents said they regard such networks as “completely trustworthy” (5 percent) or “very trustworthy” (11 percent). Thirty-five percent rated them “fairly trustworthy.” Nearly half said they’re “not very” (32 percent) or “not at all” (17 percent) trustworthy. (The polling was also conducted among adults in Canada and Britain, but this story focuses solely on the U.S. responses.)

Privacy is clearly an underlying concern behind such broad distrust. Sixty-three percent agreed with the statement, “I am very concerned about my privacy on online social networks.” Fifty-five percent agreed that they “worry that online social networks are selling my personal information to advertisers.”

The survey also asked respondents whether they agree with the statement, “I don’t mind online social networks using my personal preferences to target ads I see because it means they’ll be more relevant.” Six percent “agreed strongly” and 20 percent “agreed moderately.” But they were far outnumbered by those who “disagreed moderately” (23 percent) or “disagreed strongly” (30 percent, with the rest declining to choose or saying the question doesn’t apply to them).

It’s not as though word of mouth from family and friends is regarded as gospel. Fewer than half (47 percent) rated as “completely” or “very” trustworthy “friends/family/contacts discussing or recommending a brand/product” in the context of a social network.

Despite such negative opinions, though, 48 percent agreed that online social networks “are good places for brands/products to advertise to consumers.” Indeed, 18 percent said they’ve “purchased a product because of something I saw on an online social network,” with the figure rising to 28 percent among the 18-34-year-olds.

Zippo has been the case study for how to create a popular brand application for the iPhone. Now, the company hopes to turn that popularity into a new revenue stream.

The 78-year-old lighter brand has launched an in-app store that carries a line of skins for its Virtual Zippo Lighter application that will set back iPhone and iTouch users 99 cents. There are 150 premium skins, including imagery from Harley-Davidson, Bob Marley, The Who and Ozzy Osbourne. Zippo plans to add new skins each month.

Virtual Zippo Lighter launched in January 2009 as a simple application that lets users create a digital flame on their screens. It proved particularly popular for use at concerts during what the company deemed the “Zippo moment” of calling for an encore. Since its launch, the app has tallied over 10 million downloads.

While a smashing success for a brand app, Zippo can’t definitively say it has increased lighter sales, according to Brent Tyler, event marketing and promotions manager at Zippo. Site traffic has improved, though, he added.

“It’s not ideal, but that’s the reality,” he said.

Zippo is not the first brand to view the iPhone as a business opportunity. Kraft charges 99 cents for the iFood Assistant. Virgin Atlantic has a pair of premium applications: a $4.99 Flying Without Fear app and its recently released $1.99 Jet Lag Fighter.

The success of virtual goods sales on platforms like social gaming and mobile ringtones shows that consumers will shell out for virtual items so long as the price is right, said Jon Vlassopulos, CEO of Skyrockit, the developer that built the Virtual Zippo Lighter. There’s no reason brands can’t also play in the arena, he added.

“It’s a very interesting time for brands to use their marketing dollars to create new IP that’s advertising as content,” he said. “It can now become a new SKU or product beyond just communications.”

Great. Another iPad ad that makes me want to junk my Kindle. Amazon’s e-reader looks so sad and colorless in comparison. This new commercial from TBWA\Media Arts Lab sends me into another useless want-need internal debate. The spot poses the most basic question — “What is iPad?” A series of shots showing people using the ”beautiful” device to read newspapers and books, update Facebook pages and play music provides the answers. “There is no right way or wrong way to use it,” the voiceover says. It’s not only “crazy powerful,” but “magical” too. I can do without magic in my gadgets, but the case for a gorgeous do-all portable is compelling. Technophobes fear not — we’re informed that we “already know how to use it.” And for folks that just want to be trendsetters, “It’s already a revolution and it’s only just begun.” That’s the kind of not-so-subtle persuasion that stands to make the iPad the most culture-changing device since the iPhone. –Eleftheria Parpis

watch commercial

source

Gap makes iPad play.
Michael Ancevic, svp, group cd at Mullen, is nearly as excited about Apple’s iPad as those in the publishing industry. (The only difference: his future may not depend on it.) While working on an ad that will run in a Conde Nast title on the new tablet — he declined to name the brand or magazine — he said, “We felt we were doing something that’s going to change everything. … It’s print on steroids. What if that photo came to life? What if you can see different angles of a certain product or demo it? It picks up where print left off.”

David Hewitt, mobile practice lead and cd for the Southeast region at SapientNitro, calls it “the most compelling mini-media consumption device” there is. Advertising on it, he adds, is as much about reaching the early influencers as it is about the buzz. “A lot of clients are using this as a first-to-market opportunity,” says Hewitt.

The industry has iPad on the brain, and agencies and brands alike are busy assessing ways to make their marks on the hottest new product to hit the technology sector since, well, the iPhone. Brands that have jumped in include Cadillac, which paired with trend-spotting site Cool Hunting (and BBH Labs) for an app that helps promote the CTS and CTS-V coupes, and Procter & Gamble’s Pampers, whose app, Hello Baby — its first mobile-device application — allows pregnant women to track their babies’ development.

Serena Connelly, cd at StrawberryFrog, which created the Pampers app, says that it was important for the brand to have an early presence. “Pampers wants to be present and part of innovations in technology that help to redefine mass culture,” says Connelly.

Apps are probably the easiest and most cost-efficient way for marketers to get into the iPad game because existing iPhone apps can be repurposed for the larger device. Dan LaCivita, president, Firstborn, says the agency is extending clients’ iPhone apps as well as creating new ideas.

“It all depends on the initial app itself,” says LaCivita. “If the apps can use the same functionality and it’s not a lot of redevelopment, the physics and math are going to be the same.” Size is the main issue, he adds: “For example, if you have an [iPhone] app that’s graphics heavy … we would have to redesign those images to make sure the quality is there, that the aspect ratio is correct.”

Hewitt, however, says taking the same app from iPhone to iPad is rarely optimal.
Text and graphics are going to get a little blurry, he notes, not to mention many popular iPhone apps rely on the phone’s camera and voice capabilities, features not yet available on the iPad.

Early entries that have optimized the features of the iPad so far, Hewitt says, are apps that allow users to manage their social networking, such as TweetDeck; to shop and browse, like apps for Gilt or eBay; or to watch videos, like those for YouTube and Yahoo Entertainment.

Because it’s so early in the game, the challenge, of course, lies in not knowing how much can be done on the iPad, and what will and won’t work.

“We haven’t even cracked the surface on the experiences we can create,” says Hewitt.

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May 5, 2010 – Antony Bruno, Billboard

For those wondering if the iPad would take off the way the iPhone did, Apple answered that question by revealing that it has sold 1 million iPads in less than a month.

By way of comparison, the iPhone took twice as long to reach the same milestone. And if you’re thinking these sales are merely indicative of only the Apple faithful buying up their new toys, two new developments point to additional sales success in the coming months.

First is the introduction Friday of the iPad 3G, which features both WiFi and wireless access to the AT&T network. It’s not clear how many of the 1 million iPads sold were for the initial WiFi-only verion and how many were for the iPad 3G. While more expensive, many fans have indicated their intent to wait for the more versatile iPad 3G before pulling out their wallets. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster this morning estimated that Apple sold 300,000 iPad 3G devices this weekend.

Additionally, the 1 million sales are domestic only. Apple will begin shipping the iPad internationally later this month, opening multiple new markets for new sales.

Apple also said that more iPad users have downloaded more than 12 million apps for the device since it went on sale, and more than 5,000 apps have been created specifically for the iPad. Apple didn’t say how many were paid and how many were free. It also didn’t break out how many of the 12 million downloads were iPad-specific apps or those created for the iPhone which can also run on the iPad.

The cultural hysteria around Apple’s new iPad has left many marketers wondering whether it really is a breakthrough platform or just a new flavor of Apple Kool-Aid. I suggest marketers sit up — or lean back or lie down or get in whatever position is best for using this titanium tablet — and take notice.

iPad sales hit 1 million in a third the time it took the iPhone, according to Apple. It works in more usage contexts than PCs, laptops and smartphones, and it will take companies where other technologies can’t go. It brings a brand into every room in the house in a larger, more consumable format, enabling people to relax with it on the sofa and use it lying in bed. And the potential for a 3G-enabled iPad outside the home is huge. (A harbinger is the current success of the Star Walk app that lets the user put the iPad up towards the sky and be an amateur astronomer.) I’m personally looking forward to outdoor iPad opportunities for auto, travel, and home and garden brands.

As far as it being a mobile-entertainment platform, it’s better for viewing content than laptops, reading devices or smartphones. Its larger screen and clever, wide-viewing angle feature ensure good views of the images even when the tablet is held sideways.

And TV advertisers, take note: Recent qualitative research from PHD among iPad owners indicates the iPad TV experience is so good that many respondents forecast it will replace the second and third TV in their homes and, possibly, their primary TV sets. ABC’s TV app, which offers free access to the network’s shows in exchange for users watching five traditional 30-second ads per hour, generated millions of ad impressions in the first 10 days of the iPad launch.

Additionally, the iPad can create stronger emotional experiences than a smaller screen — an obvious plus for brands. Removing the mouse brings the brand experience closer to the user, and the screen’s size means we’ve moved from widgets to truly sensory experiences. Both consumer and neurological research shows that being able to interact with brands through sight and sound experiences can result in stronger emotional connections, brand associations and memory recall.

Pampers leveraged this interaction with “Hello Baby,” its app designed especially for the premiere of iPad, which allows pre-natal moms to experience their baby’s changes week-by-week with simulated life-size, 3-D images and baby sounds.

The iPad’s cinematic, touch-screen experience is also game changing. People, for instance, are buzzing about the app Elements: Visual Exploration (an interactive look at the periodical table) because of its visually breathtaking approach to the normally mundane table. Imagine the potential of this device for the visuals in print magazines. The iPad also has a willing audience of e-readers waiting. According to a CNET poll taken last week, 20 percent of iPad owners bought it for the primary purpose of reading books and magazines.

Additionally, the tablet offers a unique platform for social interaction with a brand. If you have wrestled with others to view pictures, videos or text on iPhone handsets, you know the benefits of the iPad screen. It’s also great, of course, for movies and board games. I think we’ll see a lot of multiple-user games taking off.

The iPad, which is more like an appliance than a computer, also reaches less tech-savvy audiences with high-technology capabilities. Its menu of apps is simple to use, and there are no folders so you don’t have to worry about where you save stuff and where you install it. Once the iPad goes mainstream, it will be a perfect platform for older consumers.

We know that the iPhone interface has resulted in much greater Internet use than other smartphones. And it’s clear in its first month out that the iPad has had the same impact. According to Web metrics firm NetApplications, the approximately 500,000 iPad users have a larger Internet consumption — in terms of percentage of Web traffic terms — than 30 million-plus BlackBerry users over the same period.

There’s also the product lust it inspires — for itself — which will generate more usage and thus more marketing possibilities. It’s a beautiful device that inspires the visceral reaction, “I have to have one.” Just as the phonograph was originally invented as a telegraph recording device (a relatively vertical audience) and was quickly adopted as a music recording device, and Twitter evolved from being a tool for social updates to a social organizing tool, so the iPad will likely be embraced by users who will find additional applications for it.

The launch of Apple’s iAd service that allows app developers to create advertising experiences within applications also means there’s the potential to develop new kinds of in-app ad formats.

To put it simply: the iPad is a solution waiting for a problem. And when marketers start figuring out what problems the iPad can solve for them, things will really get interesting.

Ilana Bryant is chief strategy officer at StrawberryFrog. She can be reached at Ilana@StrawberryFrog.com.

April 25, 2010 – Eleftheria Parpis

When considering colors for upcoming models in Toy State’s Road Rippers collection, Will Coleburn, svp at the company, which also makes the Freedom Force and Caterpillar toy vehicle lines, looked to trends in other industries for cues. “I spent a lot of time looking at what the ski industry is doing,” he says. “They’re on the cutting edge of art and decoration and color for teens.”

While the main target for Toy State’s products skews much younger — 5- to 7-year-old boys — Coleburn figures what attracts the big guys will also appeal to little kids.

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