This is not a rumor, but an idea. With the launch of the iPad and the other e-book readers launched on the market there is a new opportunity for content creators and advertisers to force the reader to view advertising.
Advertising in printed magazine
We all learned that advertising in print magazine has to be eye catching because we have 2 seconds of eye contact on average. If you cannot catch the eye of the reader you have lost the opportunity to deliver the message. The reader has also learned (just like on websites) to recognize advertising and ignore them.
The e-book magazine
There are several ways to deliver a magazine on the new e-book readers and iPads. You can have a PDF, a e-pub version and the most common way will be an App. Since the App comes from the publisher they can force you to view advertising in various ways:
Embed the advertising in the layout
Just like print magazines – not so effective
Show advertising every time you start read in the App
Like most video advertising for video content on the internet
Interrupt your reading experience with commercial breaks
Like on TV, every 20 Minutes you are interrupted and you have to watch an ad for a certain amount of time
This advertising possibilities are an revenue channel for the publishers and even when they will not start right away with them you will see them further down the road. I can immagine that it will go the same evolution as cable companies went through.
So what do you think, will the advertising have a bad impact on your reading experience?
Everyone of you uses email, but did anyone of you learn how to write emails? In the old days of the ground mail there we learned how to write a business letter. There are books on how to write business letters with templates for any occasion. Writing a business letter is time consuming and the time it takes to get to the recipient seems endless nowadays. So the email took over. Faster to write, faster to send, faster to receive a response. What get lost? Not only the form. I cannot actually know how my email is displayed and and on what device. But the worst is, that many times we cripple the message because we are such in a hurry when writing the email.
I write every email like I would write an ad. I’m no copywriter, but I do fine enough. And I try to structure it, especially if I write to a person for the first time, following this advertising rules:
Who I am (for first contact)
Reason Why
Unique selling proposition
Call to action
Who I am
Introduce yourself in one sentence – if I get an email from an unknown person I want first of all know who he is.
Reason Why
Right after the introduction tell the people why you are writing them. Studies show that if you give a reason why your are asking for something people will be more likely to comply. You must give a reason why they should continue reading and make them know that it matters to them. How many times I get calls where a graphic designer asks me to send him a logo in a printable format. The first thing I ask is: “What do you need it for?”
Unique selling proposition
This is maybe the trickiest part, because you have to think always in a way that you are selling something – even if you ask them to do something for you. In fact if you ask them to do something for you (send you something, give you a backlink) you are actually selling them this favour they will do to you. You must therefore find a benefit for them and possibly one that doesn’t sound bland. Or it can be a straight “if you do this x for me, I can do this y for you”. Don’t try to sell “x” and pay “x” back (say backlink for backlink) – it doesn’t work. Your a genius if you can write this part in a way that the receiver thinks he profits from doing what you ask him to do.
Call to action
I sometimes wonder how many times I get emails where after reading them I think: “Ok, and what should I do next?” No, really. Check if your email has a call to action in the end where you distinctively tell the reader what you expect him to do. This applies also to “informative” emails, where you just want to inform someone about a specific topic – include in the end a phrase like “Please keep this email in your records for further reference” or “You can delete this message after reading”. Very popular call to action phrases for emails, where the request is actually clear from the central part or where you respond to a request “If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me.”
And now an example
A classic example – you are making a brochure for an event and your client gives you a list of sponsors. You have to include all the logos of the sponsors and you have none. The agreement between your client and the sponsors are usually made at management level and therefore the marketing department doesn’t know anything about it. Not all firms have printable logos at hand so the email must include the right information about what you need and that they might better forward the request to their graphic designer or advertising agency.
Dear Sirs,
my name is Frank Neulichedl and I write you on behalf of
Mr. Smith from ThisIsAfirm ltd. I am currently designing
the brochure for the annual spring concert in Holland Park
and I've been told that your firm is one of the sponsors.
I would therefore include your logo in the brochure and would
ask you to send me a high resolution digital version of the
logo suitable for print in order to display your commitment
in the best way.
Suitable file formats are Adobe Illustrator (.eps, .ai)
or high resolution images .jpg .tif (File size larger
than 500 KBytes).
If you do not have a suitable format at hand please forward
this request to your graphic designer or advertising agency.
Feel free to contact me for any further questions.
Yours faithfully
Frank Neulichedl
...
For further reference on this subject I’ve found a nice resource here:
Better writing – tips, useful phrases and sample letters
The recent TV spots from Nike+ is neat, the campaign interesting and it worked for me, somehow. I do running and a lot of other sports actively but I hate watching them on TV. I don’t read the results in the newspaper and I couldn’t care less who will win the Serie A. A friend of mine talked to me about the Nike+ Spot about how much they might have spent for all the stars you can see running. I replied “I didn’t see any stars.” Then I realized – sport stars. I don’t know any of them – ok a few but only in their working dress
In the end the spot doesn’t gain from the athletes – it’s nothing unusual that sportsmen do running. IMHO they could have spent less – the idea would have worked great even without stars.
Advertising lies all the time – at least this is what most people think. I must admit that I tend to believe them when I see all the rubbish on various home shopping channels or housewife-magazines (no really, this kind of magazines exist). To be honest, advertising doesn’t lie more than the average human in any position and mansion, but I think advertising should not lie.
In many countries “lying” in advertising is strict prohibited and if you check the ads you probably find small clues for the omitted facts or the specific “conditions” to get the praised results. But this is not my point.
When do you reach the point where it is advisable to not advertise at all a product? Is it ok for a Aspirin to advertise its painkilling for sportsmen? I’ve seen an ad in TV where two girls talk after a fitness session. One complains about her aking muscles and other one gives her aspirin. Hmm. Stretching or not overdoing might be the better advice.
As an art director I was more than once presented to advertise products with small to none improvements or benefits when compared to the competitors products. I had obviously to show the product as if it where the best product of the world but I always avoided to push it over the top. I also refused to do advertising for certain products. I will not do advertising for weapons, drugs, cars (if they claim to save nature), the usual stuff – but where do you trace the line?
Is the graphic designer responsible for the products of his client? In my opinion any art director and graphic designer take a part of the responsibility because he helps to deliver the message to the costumers of his client. If you deliver a faulty message or if you do not deliver the truth you take part in the disguise. You as a graphic designer might not spot on first sight that the product doesn’t deliver what it claims but this is not always the excuse – it should come out when you do the briefing.
What do you think about the morale in advertising, where do you trace the line? Your opinions are welcome.
Just had to share this with you – hilarious. BTW Monty Python has increased their DVD-Sales by 300% by openining their own Youtube Channel, giving away some of their best sketches for free. What a fine example of marketing 2.0
Scholz & Friends, abig german advertising Group made this little animation how advertising in the old days compares to today. Very ne at and you can’t explain it a simpler way.
What is the job of an art director anyway. How is it like? And how to learn to do the things the right way in real life. I will present you here some insights and some tutorials about becomming an art director, not just a graphic designer. Tips & Tricks you won't learn in any school and normally you will have to figure them out yourself. So go ahead and start your lessons.
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by 300% by openining their own Youtube Channel, giving away some of their best sketches for free. What a fine example of marketing 2.0
