Creatives: Rethinking and Reinventing

To creatives and designers alike, the industry is shifting into a more fluid and innovative landscape. Old mediums of the past are being thrown out; human focused design and art are paramount to achieving an effective creative voice in today's market. We'll look at two articles that detail this tumultuous environment.

Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94

The first article details artist, Laurie Simmons first foray into makeup with a limited edition red lipstick. Simmons speaks of her intuition and inspiration from everyday items around her. Lipstick was a big part of her life and identity in the 70s (where the picture above is from) and so she began to include it into her photography works. Pushing boundaries of art and what it means for a display to be considered art, Simmons has created a cosmetic that reinvents both makeup and artistry, solidifying her creative voice and influence.

Credit: Jonathan Knowles/Getty Images

The second article discusses the changing nature of the creative director role. Penston talks about how, like much of the marketing industry, most creative directors are stuck in the past, doing things the old way and ignoring the fluidity of today's modern creatives. Brand identity, Photoshop and repeat is their mantra. Penston states that UX (user design) is one of the most important facets of the creative director role today. As brands find the need to seem genuine, relatable and human, consumers become the paramount focus. In order to maintain a loyal following, your product or service must consider and reflect your efforts at designing a user friendly experience. Knowing your customers' interests, hobbies, needs, desires and how they engage with content is more important than ever. In order to maintain a creative voice and show that your brand is not just a bland machine, it's imperative to consider human interaction when designing anything these days.

Consider the following to build your own creative voice:

Quality over quantity: Now, more than ever, content must seem carefully crafted and personal instead of just another piece of content to be lost in a sea of media.

Design for life: Design should maintain practicality and be focused on user friendliness while remaining aesthetically pleasing.

Don't be afraid: Creativity is synonymous with innovation and requires a pushing of limits to be successful.

3 Tips for Marketers: Don’t Let Poor Design Hold Your Awesome Content Back

If content is king, design is queen. Design is content’s partner; it’s better, more eye-catching half. Emphasis is always on the message, but you need good design to help you deliver it. As a graphic designer, strategic communicator and graduate student in Northwestern Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications [IMC] program, I have a few easy lessons that will help you marry your awesome content with good design.

Design has a big impact on how audiences understand and receive messages. Communications scholar and professor Curtis Newbold, also known as "The Visual Communication Guy," in Top 5 Most Common Design Mistakes that Will Make You Look Like an Amateur outlines some of the most common problems in designing communications: center alignment, all caps, overemphasis, small margins, and tacky fonts. He says that while most people know poor design when they see it, they do not know why it is bad or how to fix the design issues. He is right and offers practical advice for avoiding a typical #designfail.

Design skills are necessary for marketers and communicators who want to better communicate to, interact with and serve their audiences. Tips are useful, but even more so when combined with design thinking. Designer and AIGA member Emily Hamre speaks to the process of solving communication problems with design in her article 3 Tips For Becoming A Better Design Communicator: understand the problem, gather insights from others, and make ideas tangible. Just as you plan your message and carefully craft copy, design is planned. 

Universal design principles and theories can help guide your understanding of what makes good graphic design — but you don't have to learn them all. I've synthesized my knowledge of good design into three key design rules that you can keep in mind the next time you plan the design of your marketing communication:

1.  Make it readable. 

Readability is twofold. Think legibility and comprehension. Knowing your objective and audience is just as important to design as it is to marketing. Ask yourself, is the text easy to read at a glance, and can my audience easily take away the key message I am trying to convey? 

2.  Make it consistent.

Clear and consistent use of type, graphic styles, and graphic elements gives your audience a framework for receiving your message and understanding the information. You want to provide an overall visual system for your content that brings all elements together into a more easily understandable whole. Consistency makes things instantly recognizable, simplifies learning, improves user experience, and ultimately builds trust. 

3.  Make it pretty (or make it C.R.A.P.).

For some, "making it pretty" comes naturally. For others, some things to think about when arranging elements in a composition: structure, order, harmony, balance, which translate into the main principles of design – unity, variety, and hierarchy. You can achieve unity, variety, and hierarchy using different strategies. One of the easiest is the C.R.A.P. or contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. The best way to get better at making things look pretty is to look at pretty things. Look here and here.

These are my mantras. You too can learn these simple design rules to make your communications look more professional and let your awesome content shine.

Maggie Hutaff
I am a graphic designer and communicator in North Carolina. I hold a bachelor’s in visual communication from the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication and am currently working on a master of science in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University’s Medill School. I have taught Introduction to Graphic Design at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Follow me at @designmah.

3 Easy Tips For CMOs To Improve Brand Marketing With Video

There’s tremendous upside for CMOs that can build a solid video presence into their branding, but without a background in video production, getting started can feel overwhelming. As both an experienced video producer and graduate student in Northwestern’s Integrated Marketing Communications Master’s program at the Medill School of Journalism, I can confidently tell you that the potential impressions and engagement you can get from a smart video campaign are too good to pass up, and that producing video can be a lot simpler than you think.

What can you gain from branded video content? In a blog post, Video Brewery CEO Andrew Follett compiled several shocking statistics about the efficacy of online video. Most notable is a survey of online shoppers where 90% said they found video useful when making a purchasing decision, and that on average, the presence of video in an email blast increased click through rates by 200%.

This simple video campaign was produced in an afternoon, but increased engagement by over 120% (courtesy of Sugo Media LLC)

With a little focus, your brand can benefit from a branded video campaign. Social media strategist Starr Hall suggests keeping each video brief and with a singular focus to help your message reach viewers. The most important suggestion Hall gives, though, is this: every piece of video content you produce should offer value to the viewer. Answer a question they might have about your product. Show them something new that might interest or surprise them. Entertain them!

This may seem like a tall order for a CMO to tackle without hiring an expensive contractor, however, I can tell you from my experience working as one of those expensive contractors that you can be successful on your own. Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

• Get to the point and be authentic - If you’re a small business, don’t try to produce a polished Super Bowl-caliber ad. Be real - viewers respond to authenticity. Also, tailor your messaging to the platform you publish on - there’s lots of video platforms available (YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Vine) with different strengths and weaknesses that marketers can use to share an authentic message. Do you want to be informative in 4 minute bursts? Host your videos on YouTube. If being rapid fire and goofy matches your brand, look to Vine or Instagram instead.

• Don’t be afraid to do it on the cheap - if you have a phone, it can film 1080p video. Load it up to YouTube, and you can edit the clips, add a soundtrack, and do a color grade entirely on the site before making your video live. GoPro cameras are another inexpensive option for high quality and low cost video - cameras can be purchased for as little as $200.

• Produce several videos at once - if you’re taking the time to produce a single video, you could probably use the resources to make several at the same time. The only thing better for a business than one video is four videos. You’ll be shocked at how much leverage you get out of an afternoon’s work.

With all the tools now available to marketers, and all the potential benefits a strong video component can have for brand marketing, you have no excuse to leave those impressions and engagements on the table. Grab a camera, and press record.

Joe Filipas is an advertising specialist and video producer in Minneapolis, and is currently earning an Integrated Marketing Communications Master’s degree from Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeFilipas, or connect with him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/josephmfilipas or on his website at www.joefilipas.com.

Strategists, and Creative Directors Take Note: This Is How Your Organizations Can Have Nice Things

Strategists and creative directors spend exorbitant amounts of time developing intricately planned strategies meant to communicate with a specific market, however, according to Roger L. Martin, thorough planning does not equal an effective marketing strategy. Throughout my time in Northwestern University's Medill Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program, equal emphasis has been placed on both quantitative and qualitative tactics for specifying target markets, and how to assess the myriad approaches available to effectively communicate a brand’s message to said market.

In his article The Big Lie of Strategic Planning, Roger L. Martin discusses three common mistakes or “traps”, as he refers to them, that organizations fall victim to when developing a marketing strategy. “First is Strategic Planning, second is Cost-Based Thinking, the third is Self-Referential Strategy Frameworks” (Martin, The Big Lie of Strategic Planning). Inherent to these three “traps” is a failure to break from one’s comfort zone, and approaching the strategic thought process through the lens of a budget planning committee. Instead of developing dynamic strategic approaches to communicate with target markets, they develop templates based on past successes that involve little to no risk. Martin prescribes three ways to avoid the “traps.” First “keep the strategy simple, second recognize that strategy is not about perfection, and third make the logic explicit” (The Big Lie of Strategic Planning). Martin believes these three suggestions are important steps to developing effective strategies, and making bold moves in a competitive marketplace.

Image Source: Richard Sheffield

One of the boldest, and often most criticized mobile strategies is that of Facebook. Josh Constine outlines the mobile strategy Facebook has adopted for remaining relevant among competitors who’s apps focus on a specific social functionality that users seem to prefer to Facebook’s original all-in-one mobile approach. In an earnings call with CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Constine points out that it was clear Zuckerberg was aware of the growing number of competitors chipping away at Facebook’s dominance on the mobile platform. In fact, Zuckerberg is actually following Facebook’s philosophy of “move fast and break things,” saying “One theme that should be clear from our work on products like Messenger, Groups and Instagram is that our vision for Facebook is to create a set of products that help you share any kind of content you want with any audience you want” (Facebook’s Plot To Conquer Mobile: Shatter Itself Into Pieces). Constine quotes Zuckerberg again later in his article when Zuckerberg refers to features within the main Facebook app as “second-class” and specifically states the need for Facebook to deliver “a suite of apps focused on executing specific functions that consumers need.” References are made to Facebook’s successes and failures in delivering these focused consumer experiences with the release of the Messenger app, the acquisitions of Instagram and Whatsapp, and the releases of the Poke, Camera, and Paper apps. It remains to be seen how effective this strategy will be but it is clear that Facebook is ready to “break things” in a bold effort to remain relevant.

In reading the articles mentioned above I began to consider how they would fit in a real-world scenario. Realizing there is no "breaking things" without building trust and support in your reasoning I thought of three action items anyone can apply at the office.

1. Define Key Stakeholders - At the outset of the strategic thought process there will always be a number of variables to consider. One variable that can easily get out of hand is the approval process. Be sure to define relevant individuals who will be affected by the strategy being developed and get them onboard immediately in order to gain their trust and ambassadorship. Establish that they will be the liaison between their respective departments and yourself in order to streamline the approval process.
   
2. Establish Pragmatic Parameters - As stated earlier in Roger L. Martin’s article, the end result of a strategy should never resemble a budget plan. However, you do need to have pragmatic and quantifiable financial parameters in place before allowing yourself the freedom to break things. Get the CFO, or their direct report, onboard from the get go to assist in researching target markets and solidifying your reasoning for pursuing the high value target market. This will help you develop a 360-degree view of your target market and allow for creative strategic thinking within well-defined parameters.
   
3. Let Your Organization Have Nice Things - Now to "break things," after establishing relationships and building trust rooted in quantifiable reasoning it is time to break from the tried-and-true and reinvigorate your brand’s message in order to empower you highest value consumers. Allow for brainstorming the rejects no ideas at the outset and pair down the results. Then refine, refine, refine until you have something spectacular.

While it is true that many companies are quite successful at retaining consumers through tried-and-true tactics, every once in a while a break in communications pattern is necessary in order to reinvigorate an existing consumer-base or expand to a new consumer-base. Strategizing, not planning, and having the courage to break from the familiar can produce great results for your organization.

Raul Torres is a freelance graphic designer and strategic thinker who has worked with non-profits, start-ups, and agencies around Chicago. He is a Master of Science candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. You can follow him on twitter at @tar050.

Marketers Leverage Unexpected Sources into Revenue

As a CMO or marketing manager, you see the consumer is changing and expectations of advertising are changing, as well.  Marketing that was once new and different has become commonplace and expected.  Finding a new way to market to the evolving tastes of the consumer has become more challenging in a market where most consumers believe they have ‘seen it all before’.  To meet that challenge, CMOs and Creative Directors need to tap into assets they may not realize they have.  They need to look outside of the marketing world in order to develop non-traditional marketing strategies.  These non-traditional strategies are those that move the success of the campaign to the consumer.

Picture Source: http://www.mediapost.com/

In his interview with AdAge, Trevor Guthrie, East Cost director of OMD’s Ignition Factory, talks about deliberately constructing a team of people from places other than advertising and media, looking for those who “who see things differently, who travel around looking for inspiration or ideas”.  His team developed a billboard baseball drop to promote Showtime’s new program “The Franchise”.   As people checked into the show’s billboard through Foursquare, they got a free baseball.  Dropping 3,000 baseballs meant 3,000 check-ins at a single billboard, and each of those check-ins were immediately broadcast to all their friends.  Using this non-traditional media, the Ignition Factory got consumers to start spreading the word to each other through these broadcasts.

Having consumers spread the word themselves is the key to the success of non-traditional advertising.  Most consumers brace themselves against traditional advertising, whereas they are more receptive when the message comes from a friend.  In order to get those consumers to start spreading the message, marketers need to start thinking like the consumers who will eventually deliver their message.  It is because of this that the most effective sources of non-traditional marketing will not come from the marketer’s brain, but rather from the mind of the non-marketer.

Here are a few tips for using non-marketing sources to develop powerful non-traditional marketing:

11.)    Don’t limit who you hire.

Guthrie talks about him being more interested by a potential employee who has studied dolphin brains, than by one with traditional marketing experience.  As the consumers have more control of the market place, companies need employees who don’t think like marketers to reach those consumers.

22.)    Don’t be held back by technology.

As a CMO or Creative director, as soon as you start putting constraints on what can be done with your non-traditional marketing, you will constrain how effective it will be.  Technology is moving so quickly that even if a platform doesn’t exist now, it can probably be built.

13.)    Keep sight of what is relevant 

Stay focused.  Just because it is new doesn’t mean that good non-traditional marketing abandons everything the consumer already knows about your product.  Any marketing, traditional or non-traditional, is not going to work if it doesn’t align with what the consumer thinks of you.

There is a risk in using non-traditional marketing, as it puts the more control in the hands of the consumer.  The evolving consumer makes this risk worth it, however, because they are looking for that control.  The concepts above will help in developing the best possible - revenue generating - non-traditional marketing.

Ryan McGuire has spent five years in media execution and is currently a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC marketing program.  Follow or contact him @RyanIMC