Top Ad Agency Predictions for 2011

Stumbled across this on T3 Twitter page:

1. Social media gains greater speed: agencies will make better use of it and will be more willing to lead in helping clients prove the value of social media

2. Outsourcing continues to gain speed

3. Agency strategic integration skills become more critical: will be better at managing and leveraging the multiplicity of media options available.

4. The new hybrid ad agency: shift to more digital focused agencies

5. Agency strategic partner role to increase: marketing and strategy will become more important

6. Chief orchestrator role becomes vital

7. Blogging continues to explode: Marketers will use blogs to communicate their brand story (good thing I've started one then eh?)

8. May the best (digital) talent win

9. Traditional media will continue to decline

10. Greater engagement in social media to win new business: more ad agency staffers will open Twitter accounts and engage in social media

11. Ad agencies apply creativity throughout the enterprise: best ones will be engaged with clients during product development stages


Courtesy of Blue Focus Marketing

Coolest Billboards Worldwide

One of my favorite Internet searching festivities is looking up the coolest billboards around the world. Every year, there is something bigger, brighter, more innovative that it truly is amazing to look at everything going on around us. It makes me wonder, as I'm sure everyone else is, what will they think of next? Interactive billboards, seen as the next big thing only a few years ago, are now expected and constant. Companies have to continually one up themselves and others in order to stay relevant and fresh in the eyes of these media-saturated consumers. These billboards, however, don't have to worry about being eye-catching or new. They are fantastic!

Swiss Skydive Elevator


Perwanal Saatchi & Saatchi


Fitness First: Wait Watching


Duracell bus in India


Virgin Atlantic: What brings you to London?


Panasonic Nose Trimmer


Interactive Sharpie Cast


Cingular


Copenhagen Zoo bus


The Back Seat's No Safer


Mini Cooper


Sony PIctures: Flooding Subway

Let's run away to the Coke Zero island

Coca-Cola Zero launched an amazingly distinct summer attraction in the Red Sea: a man made mini-island called the "Zero Zone." I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that....Oh a mini-island! This summer destination station was built as a floating island in the middle of the Red Sea, "designed as an urban street" (adsoftheworld). Visitors are given Coke Zero served out of a swimming pool in the middle of the island, covered in the Coca-Cola logo of course. Coke also made sure to make great use of this publicity stunt by uploading Facebook pictures every hour so visitors could tag themselves. Although this seems like a pretty big spectacle, I didn't hear much of anything about it. And if I, as a crazy media student obsessed with the next big thing, didn't hear about it, then I'm wondering if their stunt actually paid off. Since the island was built in Israel, their target market may have been extremely different than Americans but you would think that something of this stature would make its way around the world in news!

Coca-Cola Zero Island

New Media Art

My entire family is made up of artists. My grandmother is a fantastic artist, who draws and paints every member of our family a Christmas gift yearly. My mother was an art and advertising major in college. She could turn the ugliest fly into a masterpiece. My uncle plays multiple instruments and paints on a daily basis. My sister uses art as a hobby but is one of the best artists I have ever known. That talent skipped my generation completely (thanks Dad), which is probably why I find it so enthralling. Art is now even popping up in advertising. What is known as new media art, even though it isn't so new anymore, is showing up in some unexpected places, including Central Park. I believe that one day this form of art will be used in advertisements, if it hasn't been incorporated already. New media art plays tricks on the eye and almost uses fantasies like optical illusions to lure people in and trick them into thinking they know what they are seeing. This would be perfect for advertisements in order to generate buzz and act as an eye-catching placeholder in a magazine or on a billboard.
Imagine flipping through a magazine and you see those addicting optical illusion quizzes that everyone used to play as a child. Come on, admit it. Those books in the Dr's office was your guilty pleasure! Now, say you are looking at one of those quizzes today where its solution leads you to a brand or product. I bet the number of people who would a) stop to play the quiz or figure out the puzzle in the first place and b) become enthralled by the advertising twist at the end would be overwhelming.
Examples of new media art follow:

Mickey D's

Everyone knows and loves McDonalds. Even if you think the food is disgusting and feel as if you've taken a grease bath every time you come out of one, everyone has a soft spot for the national brand of Mickey D's. Stumbled upon these creative ads the other day and I must say, I am impressed once more by this favorite American brand. Here goes:












Although not so environmentally friendly, I am a fan of the giant napkins in order to promote their largest burger yet. Touche, McDonalds. Touche.

Axe Viral Videos

The other day I stumbled upon this rather inappropriate, but hilarious, video that Axe put together to be the next "viral sensation." After the Old spice viral videos had such an amazing success (speaking in terms of popularity) it feels as if every company wants to jump on the viral bandwagon and come up with a hilarious video that will spread through all communication channels. Whether or not this video will gain followers or help the brand at all in selling the product is unclear. Yet, please take a look at it if not just for the sake of a good laugh in the middle of your day.
Warning: sudden bursts of laughter may cause glances from co-workers and passer-bys.

Axe - Clean Your Balls

Enjoy!

Get Ready to Throw Your Wallet Away

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have banded together in creating ISIS, a mobile payment system that will eventually allow consumers to toss their wallet altogether. Details haven't surfaced much yet but the three companies have a stated goal of replacing "cash, credit and debit cards, reward cards, coupons, tickets, and transit passes" (press release). At the moment, I can't imagine not carrying around a wallet at all. I can definitely see a world where cash doesn't exist and I can even see mobile transactions happening in the near future but just like checks were phased out slowly and surely, I believe wallets, debit, and credit cards will hang in there until there really is no need for them.

The main idea behind this near-field communication system is convenience: offering a world to consumers in which they really only need their phone and shopping lines can all but disappear. Their initial focus is to use mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases but who knows where they can go with this new software they are developing. The product is said to be released in the next 18 months. Imagine - in 18 months, none of us might have wallets or purses or coupons anymore at all.

LIke I said, everyone is a little hazy on the details but there are a few things I do know. NFC (near-field communication) uses "short-range, high frequency wireless technology to enable the encrypted exchange of information between devices at a short distance" (press release). Essentially, shoppers can go into a store and once they say they want to purchase something, their mobile device will wirelessly activate the transaction in much less time than it would take to wait in line and pay with cash or a card. It constantly surprises me how many things we now depend on for our mobile devices and this list is only increasing.