adthropology

More Web Services Please

"I love this idea. Toyota has just launched a web service that allows users to create their own "coat-of-arms" which can then be downloaded as a high-res image. The idea is that Scion owners can then use the images they create as personal icons for online profiles or even have them airbrushed on their vehicles. Scion has always targeted a younger audience that is presumed to be more interested in self-expression, so this should be a good fit. But, what I really like about this is that it is a service that gives real value to the end user.

It is time for brands to expand beyond informational poster-style websites and banner advertising. Web services and real products are the wave of the digital marketing future because they precipitate real interaction with customers. I'm not suggesting we do away with banners, but I would like to see more money spent on web services and digital product-based marketing."

via Three Minds Organic

Harnessing Your Mixtape Nostalgia with Muxtape.com

"Right now much of our office is taking a break from generating/aggregating/disseminating ideas and inspiration to play with Muxtape - a new site that allows you to simply and quickly make your own digital mixtape (with its very own URL to share with anyone you want). You can create your 12 song “mixtape” by simply uploading any of your MP3s from you computer to the site, which then puts them in a playlist that you can reorganize and edit as you please. The songs can then be streamed by anyone visiting your muxtape site. Check out ours (ok, mine) to get an idea of how it works."

via psfk

Shopdropping

 

"What's going on in the above images? I've discovered a phenomenon called 'shopdropping'. Excerpted below is an explanation from shopdropping.net.

SHOPDROP: To covertly place merchandise on display in a store.  A form of "culture jamming" s. reverse shoplift, droplift. *As defined by Ryan Watkins-Hughes        

SHOPDROPPING is an ongoing project in which I alter the packaging of canned goods and then shopdrop the items back onto grocery store shelves. I replace the packaging with labels created using my photographs. The shopdropped works act as a series of art objects that people can purchase from the grocery store. Because the barcodes and price tags are left intact purchasing the cans before they are discovered and removed is possible. In one instance the shopdropped cans were even restocked to a new aisle based on the barcode information.

Well, what if branding and packaging designers used the shopdropping method to more practical ends? We always want to know in advance: how do consumers react to more artistic, risk-taking packaging? Brands are scared to break away from the sameness, but taking some risks with design can be a very powerful way to impact sales. I think shopdropping as a research method (for those without focus-groups and big market research budgets) can make a lot of sense. Armed with video footage of consumer reactions to shopdropped product, a designer can make the  case for that riskier, but stronger design.

I realize the concept might be flawed, because how can you really measure the reaction. Either way, it's better than working in a vacuum and I think it could be a fun learning experience.

Can grocery staples be beautiful, so much that people will want to buy them and leave them on the kitchen counter? It's possible, and it's a new year. No time like now to take a chance and help brands make the changes they've always (secretly) wanted to make."

via The Dieline

IBM: The End Of Advertising As We Know It

"IBM released an interesting new report earlier this week that predicts the end of advertising as we know it within 5 years.

To quote IBM

Traditional advertising players risk major revenue declines as budgets shift rapidly to new, interactive formats, which are expected to grow at nearly five times that of traditional advertising. To survive in this new reality, broadcasters must change their mass audience mind-set to cater to niche consumer segments, and distributors need to deliver targeted, interactive advertising for a range of multimedia devices. Advertising agencies must experiment creatively, become brokers of consumer insights, and guide allocation of advertising dollars amid exploding choices. All players must adapt to a world where advertising inventory is increasingly bought and sold in open exchanges vs. traditional channels…

The report observes four change drivers tipping the advertising industry balance of power:” control of attention, creativity, measurement, and advertising inventories.” Consumers’ attention has shifted, with personal Internet time rivaling TV time. Consumers have tired of interruption advertising, and are increasingly in control of how they interact, filter, distribute, and consume their content, and associated advertising messages. IBM’s survey findings demonstrated that half of DVR owners watch 50 percent or more of programming on re-play, and that traditional video advertising doesn’t translate online: 40 percent of respondents found ads during an online video segment more annoying than any other format. Amateurs and semi-professionals are increasingly creating low cost advertising content that threatens to bypass creative agencies, while publishers and broadcasters are broadening their own creative roles. Advertisers are demanding accountability and more specific individual consumer measurements across advertising platforms. Self-service advertising exchanges are attracting revenues that were once exclusively sold through proprietary channels or transactions.

The Full report here (pdf) makes for interesting reading, particularly for anyone working in an advertising related business. A lot of it states what many of us already know, but it doesn’t hurt to have this validated in writing."

via TechCrunch

Online Video to Take TV Money

"Video advertisements are now being seen as a suitable alternative to TV and are expected to continue their exponential growth during the coming years.

Online video adverts will haul $410 million this year, up 82 percent from 2005, according to eMarketer. In 2008 revenues will exceed $1 billion, or 6 percent of the total online spend.

The growth is due to advertisers becoming more comfortable with online video in general and as a replacement for TV. According to one estimate, TV ad revenue will drop by 6 percent in 2007."

continue reading...

via Marketing Shift

PSFK: 2007 Trends: You Tell Us What Will Be Big

"So - a little fun for the last month of the year: we'd like you all - and your friends - to submit a little video clip of yourself telling us one thing that will be 'big' in the next 12 months. Could be anything, but probably the first thing that springs to mind.

All you do is video a clip up to 1 min long and add it to YouTube with the tag psfk2007 . After 2 weeks we will go through them all, have a ponder and come up with a single film containing clips that illustrate some macro-trends that are reflected in what you are all saying in the videos.

Simple?

Need an example? Here's Ryan on his big thing."

via PSFK