Ad Envy: A PSA You Can't Ignore

This very simple but effective public service announcement from AT&T proves that advertising doesn't always have to be flashy to be memorable. Sometimes the simplest method of delivering your message is the most powerful.

4 Ways to Get Your Online News Release to Rank Higher in Searches

If you’re trying to increase the ranking for news releases you’re posting on line, consider these simple tips offered by Adam Sherk with Ragan.com:

1. Identify keywords likely to be searched for. You can find out popular words by using tools like Google Adwords Keyword Tool and Google Insights.
2. Include some key words—but don’t go overboard—in the text, title and quotes if you can.
3. Include links (3–4 tops).
4. Keep your release short.

Want more details? Read his full article.

How to Get the Best Work from Your Agency

When we receive kudos for a successful project, it’s always a reflection on the client—as well as on our own firm. We’ve been fortunate to work for clients who know how to inspire the very best work in their creative team.

Here’s what an ANA and AAAA survey found that agencies said helped them to produce top quality work: 

1. Giving the agency the necessary time and resources to do its best work
2. Working with the agency in a collaborative manner that puts a premium on mutual respect
3. Identifying and articulating the outcomes the agency’s work is expected to produce
4. Providing clear and complete direction
5. Providing constructive, timely feedback
6. Understanding the problems and opportunities facing the brand and identifying key success drivers
7. Ensuring that all relevant information and necessary personnel are made available to the agency

Agencies and businesses are partners working together to achieve your business goals. On the flip side, we’re always interested in hearing what agencies can do to ensure that you receive the best creative solutions for your business challenges.

What are your biggest frustrations when working with an agency?

15 Ways Communications Will Change the Way You Live and Work

Whether you are a consumer or in the world of business, changes in communications will alter the way all of us live and work in the future. For us as professionals, this makes the world of communications exciting, challenging and at times, sobering. 

Below you'll find 15 significant changes we’re observing in the industry—changes that will have a huge impact on all of us—and on the world of business.

Everything’s going mobile
Our mobile phone is no longer just a phone. It’s  a remote control for navigating our personal and professional lives: communication device, portal to entertainment, camera, organizer, travel and commuting guide, connection to the world of knowledge. No communication plan should overlook the central role mobile is playing in our lives—and no company should fail to resource at least some key mobile strategies.

Creating our own realities
If you haven’t watched Eli Pariser’s TED Talk, it’s a must see.

Pariser reminds us that while human editors once served as gatekeepers for information, this responsibility is shifting to algorithmic gatekeepers, which don’t have embedded the ethics humans are capable of. These algorithms—filtering techniques for the likes of Google and Facebook—are increasingly deciding not what we ought to see or what’s actually occurring in the world around us, but what we want to see—based on what’s relevant to us.

Two people can search for Egypt, for example—and one will get travel information, while the other gets news of political unrest. This creates a filtered view of the world—one in which we are at the center, and reality is created to serve our preferences. It prohibits us from seeing differing points of view and information that is important, uncomfortable and perhaps even challenging—but that is necessary to make informed judgments of the world around us.
 
Anonymity, detachment and the decline of civility
Anonymity promotes a lack of accountability, truthfulness and civility. Marked by crude and even hateful language, anonymous comments dehumanize our relationships, causing us to behave differently than if we were speaking face-to-face with someone. 

And even when we’re not communicating anonymously, electronic communications create distance, shielding us from body language, facial expressions and tone of voice—all key aspects of communicating. This changes our behavior towards others and diminishes the kindness and civility that contributes to a more humane society.
 
Shift in power
The consumer now owns your business’ message, and this will only intensify. As we talk with clients about how to deal with online critics, they’re justifiably concerned. Businesses are more vulnerable and can more easily sustain damage by individuals who may or may not have a legitimate criticism or be informed, honest, civil or truthful.

On the other hand, this calls businesses to a higher level of accountability—and that’s good. Positive news can spread quickly, so endorsements from your customers can also increase the value of your brand. We hope this will cause all of us in business to focus as much on who we are as on what we communicate.

A rise in cynicism
Access to overwhelming levels of information, inability to discern authoritative sources from those that aren’t, and limited time to explore the truth of a claim or point of view can make us all feel like deer in the headlights. We may have more information, but we also have less certainty about its truth and credibility—and little time to sort it out. As a result, a healthy cynicism clouds our minds, making us skeptical of any communication. Successful businesses have to work harder now to break through that barrier to build trust.
 
Exploding technologies
The explosion of new technology allows us to deliver information in new and more personal ways. This is exciting but also difficult to sort through for businesses that are overwhelmed by the options. But it also provides some very exciting new possibilities for communicating. One positive outcome is that we now have more access to our customers’ stories, which can be used to reinforce the brand message.
 
Talking with, not talking to
Stories in print are static, but stories online develop organically and quickly, resulting in conversations rather than speeches. Today's customers want deals and dialogue with companies they follow—“talking to” them is no longer the most effective way to deliver your message.

A demographic of one
It’s hard to imagine today that the term mass media ever existed. Demographic slices are becoming smaller and smaller as microcosms of our culture connect more around ideas and interests than geography. As businesses, our job is to create and feed our tribes with the information and experiences they’re craving. It’s also much more complicated—and time-intensive—for businesses to create messages for many smaller marketers, rather than one mass market.
 
Information destinations vs. selling
Yes, there's still a place for messages that sell. But consumers are demanding information and experiences that fit their interests. Shifting our Web strategies from a focus on sales messages to an information destination is an imperative if we want to build a tribe that follows us.
 
Harder to get the consumer’s attention
We are all chased by too much information. In the rising sea of communication, it’s harder and harder to get the attention of the person you want to reach. This means that our messaging, visuals and methods all have to be sharper, more compelling and more original than your best competitor's.
 
More sophisticated visual appetites
Remember the PowerPoint presentations crammed full of charts, graphs and full-on prose? In today’s market, those will never do. In a culture that expects Target to sell artful kitchen spatulas, we must deliver increasingly higher quality visuals. Mediocre pictures, design and writing will instantly brand your company as second rate—even more than in the past.

The video imperative
If you’re not using video and motion graphics to tell your stories, you’re falling behind your competitors. Video can add authenticity and increase Web traffic. It brings stories to life more than any other medium, and by adding motion, voice and music it increases engagement.

Entertain us, please
Our culture’s insatiable appetite for entertainment is impacting the world of business in big ways, as businesses are finding their messages get better traction when they also entertain. This has proven to be a very effective way to generate consumer interest in a topic they might not otherwise seek out. Regardless of whether we think it’s a good idea to select our information on the basis of whether it can amuse or even shock us, this is a reality we can’t ignore.

Restraint: the other side of freedom
One can't observe these changes without thinking philosophically about their impact on culture. Because we can now speak on any topic to a much broader audience, our messages carry more weight. We must govern ourselves with restraint and responsibility, consciously considering the impact of our words and messages.

Decentralizing company communications
Communications will no longer come only from a business' official communication team. Employees, friends and stakeholders are all voices of the company, and while they can’t be controlled they do have the added value of authenticity. Attempts to script these voices are usually detected and chided. As this shift continues, the role of the organization’s chief communicator will need to adapt to fit this new paradigm.
 
Communication remains the engine of societies. No building is built, no product launched, no democracy preserved without it. It’s up to each of us to write our own script about how we’ll navigate these changes. At CMBell Company, we're embracing these changes, thinking about how they'll impact our clients, and creating communication strategies that will work in a very new paradigm.

Showcase: Making the Case for Bread and Water

This week the entrepreneurial Wilkinson Baking Company launched the in-store testing phase of the world's first fully automated commercial Bread Bakery—a technology that mixes and bakes fresh, healthy bread from start to finish without any human involvement.

We worked with them to develop a series of electronic billboards (see below)—among other promotional elements—that deliver in-store key messages.

This one-of-a-kind technology has been in development for nearly four decades—and introduces a completely new way of thinking about bread. Using only the purest and best natural ingredients, Wilkinson bread is more affordable than other premium brands and has a smaller carbon footprint than national brands. They never sell any loaf older than 24-hours—and natural enzymes keep it fresh for at least seven days.

Taking inspiration from the creator of Tom’s shoes, WBC took the bread concept one step further and has committed a portion of every loaf’s sale to drilling and maintaining wells in Africa. Each loaf provides 77 cups of fresh, pure water to people whose only source of water is often filthy and several hours’ walk by foot.

This is a company to watch, so if you’re in eastern Washington, stop by Super 1 and follow your nose.

Results: Helpline Raises Money to Keep its Women’s Shelter Open

If you saw our blog post about the motion graphic we designed to help raise funds for a local women’s homeless shelter, then you might be interested to know that we just learned that they have raised all the needed funds to keep this shelter open. A board member told me this week that the coverage in the local paper, direct mail to donors and supporters, and this motion graphic helped generate enough donor interest in the course of month to sustain its operation through 2012.
 
We’re thrilled at the news, and want to thank any of our readers who helped with this project for their generosity. This is the best part of being professional communicators—when words and images converge to help relieve suffering and bring hope to people in need.

The Overlooked Sign: Increase Your Business With Better Signage

We designed a window graphic for this medical group in Colorado in an effort help differentiate it from its retail neighbors—and promote the clinic. Walk-in business increased by 333% the first two months, and those who set up appointments because they saw the sign while driving by went up by 380%.

If you’re spending money on media buys but not looking at how well your own signage is working, maybe it’s time to take a second look. It could be your most effective—and least expensive—ad ever.

Ad Envy: Uptown Community Clinic

Did this ad make you read the copy clear to the end? It did us.

This ad (click to view larger) from a series created by a Minneapolis-based agency cleverly plays off research findings which revealed that people were more likely to have a sympathetic reaction to images of abused animals than to photos of abused children.

It works on several levels:

1. The headline and the photo are arresting, and evoke an immediate response—drawing the reader in.
2. The copy is compellingly written, and does a fine job of telling a story and making a point with limited words.
3. It’s simple, and pared down to the most necessary elements.

This didn’t require an expensive photo shoot, but just a big idea that was executed well.

Ad Envy: Mt. Sinai Medical Center

This ad created by DeVito/Verdi was featured in Communication Arts Advertising Annual Volume 51. Here are some reasons we think it works:

1. An effective use of white space draws your eye to the important elements on the page.
2. Although it doesn’t use the typical photos of smiling doctors and patients, it’s still clear this is a health care ad because of the prominence of the words “Doctor” and “Hospital.” Also this ad boldly breaks two design guidelines—avoid centering text and using all capital letters—but in this case, you can see that ignoring these rules makes for a very striking composition.
3. The ad is suggestive of a joke, and uses that to get our attention. It then juxtaposes the joke into a serious topic, and makes us want to read more.

But we have to ask what you think about the use of this particular image. How does it play into the overall ad’s effectiveness?

Department of War or Defense: Words Matter

From 1789 until 1947 the department responsible for the operation of the United States Army was called the War Department. In 1947, it was renamed the Department of Defense.

Play along with us on this little turn of words, if you will, and ask yourself which you’d rather support with your tax dollars: a war department? Or a department of defense?

See the different feelings these two names for the same thing evoke? It’s much easier to rally support for defense then war. And so we see yet another example of how much a word matters in evoking a desired response.

What words in your business might need rethinking?