Posing a question about usability and benefit of QR Codes for advertising. Check out this article in imediaconnection that questions the effectiveness of QR codes. What has been your experience as a consumer or business using them?
Enjoyed a wonderful evening of music and entertainment at the Sangamon Auditorium this past Friday, when Omni sponsored the 
Erin Bode Group, an eclectic, jazzy acoustic ensemble that was equal parts inspiring and fun! Kudos to the team at Sangamon Auditorium for bringing such great acts to our town. Looking forward to the rest of the season! Check Erin Bode out on YouTube and enjoy.
Check out All Creative World, this inspiring and informative online story aggregator features a steady stream of creative content & tidbits generated from the creative industry with such categories as advertising, branding, design, photography, fashion and architecture.
An RSS feed is also available.
Enjoy!
Check out this inspiring article from Sharon Fisher, at HOW Design, on how to set the stage for an innovative thinking and creative work environment. Below is an excerpt of ideas from the post, happy brainstorming!
10 Ways to Get More Creative at Work
“1. Innovation isn’t just for creative types. Involve everyone — even outsiders. We frequently ask the UPS man to stop in and share a quick idea. Invite customers, too.
2. John Cleese, of Monty Python fame, once gave this advice: “If you spot any colleagues engaging in unfamiliar activity such as wondering out loud or gazing thoughtfully into space, poke them with a sharp stick and accuse them of wasting time.” Enough said.
3. Hang a giant piece of paper on your office door; at the top, write a question or issue that you need help with. Invite everyone to come by at their leisure to share thoughts and ideas.
4. Show a stand-up comedy video before every creative session. Laughter stimulates great thinking.
5. Keep magazines unrelated to your business in the office. Encourage your team to cut out pictures that relate to a project you’re working on and make a collage.
6. “The amount a person uses his imagination is inversely proportional to the amount of punishment he will receive for using it.” This anonymous quote says it all. Allow your team to get comfortable taking risks and support them for doing so. From small things like sharing personal anecdotes and wearing goofy hats, to physical challenges like trust falls and walking high ropes, seek activities that get people out of their comfort zones.
7. Hang an “If Only” board. Let people jot ideas, then use them to spark your imagination during the next creative session.
8. Have everyone choose a different hat, then participate in the creative session as if they were that person.
9. Trade environments. Going somewhere else to generate ideas—the park, a toy store or even someone else’s conference room—will stimulate fresh thinking.
10. Encourage people to do something with their hands during the creative process. While playing with toys and doodling have been criticized as being “too simplistic,” there’s scientific evidence that 97% of the nerves in our hands are connected directly to our brains. Busy hands stimulate brain cells.”
Posted on August 7, 2011 by Sharon Fisher
Who doesn’t LOVE a picture book now and then?! If your interested in organizing your web discoveries to help generate inspiration – check out Wookmark! It’s a great place to collect what visually inspires you while your traveling across the world wide web! Happy Collecting.
A few weeks ago, Social Commerce Today published an article about Taco Bell’s struggles to effectively utilize Facebook with their social media tactics to drive traffic to their stores. Their offer for free tacos for 6 million fans only reaped a 3% response rate. So much for the old adage that anything with “FREE” in the offer motivates buyers.
On the other hand, P&G sold 1000 diapers in less than 60 minutes on Facebook. Free vs fee, and fee wins? What gives?
The author hit it on the head when they noted two major obstacles:
1) The Taco Bell offer lacked the offer of convenience. One had to actually get in their car and drive to Taco Bell to get it. Apparently in our increasingly couch potato society this constitutes hardship, and whether you agree with it or not, that’s the reality.
2) There was nothing exclusive about the offer. Taco Bell’s free taco was the same product one could get for 99¢. Not a big price differential especially since one had to print off the coupon to get the free taco. P&G’s diaper offer, on the other hand, was introducing a new product that could not be purchased anywhere else.
Social media is just as much about being exclusive (in terms of info and offers) as it is about being inclusive (dialogue with the public).
The takeaway? To use social media such as Facebook to motivate consumer behavior, make it easy, make it quick and make it exclusive.
Really interesting Harvard Business Review article showing how the basic premise of social networking’s value to marketing was outlined over five decades ago. The author shares how Ernest Dichter, considered a major player in motivational research in the 60′s, conducted a study about word of mouth advertising. He noted how companies should gather customer feedback, engage rather than just talk at their audience, and use dialog to move customers to buy. Sound familiar?
I have noticed an uptick in some of the marketing forums I review, where debates about defining social media are taking main-stage. What’s interesting is how long we seem to have been talking about this “new trend”, although I would propose that this does not really qualify as a “trend” any longer; it’s part of our daily experience.
Consider it was only a few decades (and several questionable fashion trends) ago that there was no such thing as TV advertising. Today, TV advertising is not discussed as separate from marketing, it is discussed and evaluated, (along with all other promotional options), as one part in the potential marketing mix for a client. It seems time to make social media more like that.
Rather than create entire plans around only social media, or talk about it as an add-on, it would seem more beneficial to clients if we simply treat social media as one more marketing tool, evaluated for how it can help the client along with every other marketing tactic. Social media, broadcast tv and cable advertising, radio, outdoor, direct mail, e-blasts, websites, blogs, tweets, facebook, interactive, display – the list grows, the opportunities increase. The challenge is selecting what works best for clients, not just relying on the latest trend, which in the end, may very well be the right tool.
Check out this interesting write up from eMarketer, on the effects of the economy has on online couponing, and how consumers are responding to digital marketing efforts. Are the days of clipping through the Sunday circular a thing of the past?
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008414
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Thoughts on advertising, marketing and graphic design from Omni Communications Group in Springfield, Illinois
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Attn at you social media gurus, ninja’s & wizzards, check it; Adweek’s Erin Griffith’s top Social Media Trends for 2012
December 15, 2011 in Client Services, Marketing, Social Media by Jessie at Omni | No comments
Below is a link to video, where Erin shares her thoughts on what’s to come!
Erin Griffith\’s top four social media trends to watch in 2012
http://www.adweek.com/video/technology/business-social-christmas-presentiments-137116?auto
While your at it, feel free to tweet, post or comment at us with your predictions!
Happy Holidays to you and yours! Cheers!