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Launch Agency digital work garnered four awards at the Dallas-Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association’s (DFWIMA) 2013 Excellence in Interactive Marketing Awards (EIMA). The award ceremony was May 9, 2013 at the Omni hotel in downtown Dallas.
Nature Nate’s Honey website was awarded 1st place for Most Effective Online Brand Awareness Campaign. Online Brand Awareness was judged by the look and feel of website creative as a reflection of the brand, including the site experience, overall design, usability, use of technology, etc. Nature Nate’s is a Texas-based premium honey distributor that provides raw, unfiltered, regional honey in major grocery retailers.
Promised Land Dairy’s rich media banner campaign was awarded 2nd place in both the Best of Show and Most Innovative Online Brand Creative categories. The Best of Show placement indicated the 2nd highest score of all entries, across all categories. The rich media banner campaign consisted of pre-expanding rich media ads created by Launch Agency, delivered on the Rocketfuel display platform via Pointroll. Each 4-week flight featured a video unit of a dairy farmer pulling a wheelbarrow of milk canisters across the computer screen. The farmer would fall, causing the milk to “spill” into an integrated 300×250 companion unit containing the farm-fresh ingredients specific to that quarter’s seasonal flavor of milk. The resulting ad unit highlighted one of Promised Land Dairy’s seasonal milk varieties, including Very Berry Strawberry, Mooberry Blueberry, Creamy Dreamy Orange, and Marvelous Mocha. Promised Land Dairy is a Texas-based premium milk made only from Jersey cows, available in a variety of sizes and flavors at major retail grocery stores.
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County’s (CACCC) Gala “Impact Moment video” was awarded 3rd place in the Most Effective Non-Profit/ Public Service Campaign category. The 2012 Impact video was a 90 second film which showed the severity of child abuse in Collin County through numerical facts and statistics, described the wide scope of services available and delivered a compelling call to action to support the mission of the CACCC. The video debuted at the 2012 annual fundraising Gala to an audience of more than 900 attendees, and has been used as a PSA piece. The CACCC’s mission is to bring safety, healing and justice to children victimized by abuse or neglect. They have provided free services to over 43,000 children to-date.
The DFWIMA‘s Excellence in Interactive Marketing awards banquet is an annual event recognizing DFW area leaders in the field. The 2013 winners demonstrated thought leadership, superior execution, outstanding metrics, and innovation in areas of online, interactive marketing from work completed in 2012. Entries were submitted entirely online (via custom webpages and entry forms) and judged by a distinguished panel comprised of representatives from academia and media. Entries were judged according to 1) creative (execution and functionality), 2) clarity of advertising message, 3) performance, and 4) overall experience.
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This year’s SXSW Interactive conference (held annually each March in Austin, Texas) was especially overwhelming, both in terms of sheer numbers (an estimated 24,000 uber-geeks were in attendance this year) and in terms of the topics covered. In fact, this year Launch Agency got extra coverage on the social media end of the spectrum, courtesy of New Media Specialist Alexandra Watson, who will be providing her take in a second installment of this blog series titled “SXSWi 2012 Conference 3 More Trends Impacting Advertising Agencies”.
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I recently returned from SIGGRAPH 2011, Vancouver, BC. SIGGRAPH (or Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is a premier international computer graphics, video, animation and new technologies conference.
SIGGRAPH 2011: Make It Home
The overall focus centered around the idea of community within the animation/effects/interactive industry. This was a chance to acknowledge the key companies and individuals that have steadily helped push and grow the computer graphics industry and specifically the SIGGRAPH family.
Of course great work, ideas and inspirations were all around. While last year saw a heavy industry push towards “stereoscopic 3D,” that emphasis seemed to have faded. Interactivity, through gaming and online productions, still held high interest. And some of the best, budding ideas were found in the student/research expo, “The Studio.” One incredible prototyped development actually measured an individual’s heart rate and vitals simply through web cam use and its recordings. Virtual reality and immersive interactive environments were prominent again; 3D printers were also on display and demoing capabilities.
The lectures at SIGGRAPH balanced technology with the human element and thoughts on the industry. The keynote speaker was Cory Doctorow, an industry blogger and Wired contributor. He spoke specifically on the effect patent laws are having on the individual and creativity. Production teams/directors from some of the latest features, Rango, Thor, Pixar’s La Luna and Cars 2, and Smurfs, shared personal and technical insights as well.
Finally, the SIGGRAPH animation showcase gave attendees a chance to view some of the strongest visualizations and productions from the past year. Enjoy just a few unique styles and amazing ideas from around the world — some beautiful, some dark, some funny, but all very well-crafted:
La Luna (the latest Pixar short – trailer, and another beautiful piece on its way)
Paths of Hate (Jury Award – trailer)
Coke “Siege” (commercial spot, Wieden + Kennedy, Nexus/Fx, Mat)
Amnesty International “Death to the Death Penalty” (commercial spot, Pleix)
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (Best in Show – trailer and iPad app)
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Launch Agency digital & social media planner, Alexandra Watson, just passed Google’s AdWords certification exams in advanced search engine marketing. She is now a Google AdWords certified professional. Alexandra was also awarded a DFWIMA (Dallas-Ft Worth Interactive Marketing Association) scholarship for excellence in interactive marketing.
Watson attended DFWIMA’s 2011 Excellence in Interactive Marketing awards dinner at the Dallas Museum of Art on April 19th, to be recognized as a scholarship recipient. The scholarship program is new to DFWIMA this year. The fund was established in 2010 to support the study of interactive marketing at DFW area universities. Outstanding students were selected by faculty nomination and included recipients from Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Texas at Dallas and University of North Texas. Watson was selected by Temerlin Advertising Institute faculty as SMU’s first recipient of this prestigious award.
Watson graduates from SMU in May 2011 with a Master’s degree in Advertising-New Media. She maintained a 4.0 grade point average while working full-time at Launch to build the digital and social media planning discipline at the agency.
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For the third year in a row, Launch sent senior creative team members Richard Wezensky and Alex Slotkin down to Austin to attend one of the world’s premier interactive conferences: South by Southwest Interactive. It was five days of inspiration, information and borderline-overwhelming intensity (especially with conference attendance having swelled by more than 30% over last year).
Naturally, high-tech gadgetry was everywhere, from the brand-new iPad 2 to hot new group messaging apps, QR codes, tweets and location-based “check-ins.” At the same time, the conference covered an even broader swath of subjects, everything from Web coding and design to marketing, social media, gaming and the societal implications of technology.
Despite the plethora of seminars, panels, interviews, workshops, networking sessions and parties, a few recurring ideas seemed to come to the fore. First was the idea that brands are moving from the role of being traditional marketers to publishers. Some are creating original content, others aggregating content from third parties (and in some cases, a bit of both). By building a reputation as a go-to source for information on a specific topic of interest to consumers, brands can better establish themselves as trusted authorities and reach an increasingly marketing-averse audience.
The second big takeaway was the notion that advertising and marketing agencies need to start thinking more like software companies. They need to be less precious with their work, take less time to go from idea to market, and then make constant, iterative adjustments to their work in response to customer feedback. While selling this approach in to clients can be challenging, it helps if agencies start with smaller and less costly initiatives, and then try to grow them over time.
Finally, there was a lot of emphasis on the unique qualities and challenges of social media—specifically, how social engagement has to be an honest, one-to-one conversation with customers. Companies need to give their audience more of a say in the direction their brand will take, and work to create long-term relationships. Whether it’s through Twitter, Facebook or a company blog, brands need to provide more humanity and transparency. These days, being obviously promotional is the fastest path to becoming irrelevant.
There were plenty more nuggets of wisdom, chance celebrity encounters and other fascinating discoveries at SXSW, but those are best experienced in person. Of course, the next best thing is to peruse the sizable catalog of SXSWi 2011 podcasts, videos, notes and other materials, which you’ll find at sxsw.com/interactive. Also, don’t miss the full Launch SXSW photo set at www.flickr.com/photos/launchagency/sets/72157626249293558/, and the Launch Twitter feed, including live tweets from the event.
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Like most successful agencies, Launch has focused an increasing amount of energy and resources on interactive communications. We do a lot of email marketing as part of integrated campaigns for our clients, including Park Place Dealerships, and offer this Top 10 List of pointers:
1. Focus on one message with one call-to-action
Keep the message simple and be clear about what the reader’s next step should be. In general, the click-through button should be large enough to see from a few feet back.
2. Remove alternate paths that would distract from the call-to-action
Don’t feel the need to duplicate the website’s navigation. Direct traffic to your end goal.
3. Keep it easy on the eyes
Large blocks of copy are difficult to read onscreen. Make use of bullets. Remember that people tend to read in an F-shape (left to right, up to down).
4. Keep the most important information at the top
Many email users view their emails in a preview pane, so keep the most important information at the top of the email. That may be all some people see.
5. Remember your medium
When designing, remember that there are only a handful of web-safe fonts. If you stray from this list, your copy will need to be saved as a graphic. But use too many graphics, and your email could be flagged as spam.
6. Craft your subject lines carefully
If a subject line doesn’t pique their interest, they may delete the email without opening. To improve your open rate, keep your subject lines as relevant as possible and avoid common spam keywords like “Free.” Shorter subject lines test better than long ones.
7. Timing is everything
Deploy emails at various times to see what works best for your database. Generally speaking, mid-morning and mid-afternoon are preferred. Emails sent mid-week (Tuesday-Thursday) tend to perform better than those sent on Monday or Friday.
8. Clean your database
Any email effort is only as good as its list. Keeping your database clean will help you deliver the right message to the right people.
9. Know the CAN-SPAM regulations
Make sure you’re familiar with CAN-SPAM before you start emailing your database. A tarnished email reputation can be difficult to combat. Click here for a CAN-SPAM compliance guide to learn more.
10. Test and optimize
Last but certainly not least, be sure to test your email before you deploy. Yahoo and Hotmail recently made subtle changes to their back-end email coding. The revisions were not announced because they were so minor – unless you’re an email marketer. The only way to be certain your email will appear correctly is to test before deploying. Open a few free accounts and take a moment to review them all. It could save you from embarrassment later.
Once that email has finally deployed, track your results. Over time, you’ll spot performance trends in day, time, subject line, offer, etc. and be able to optimize for greater success.
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Launch Agency welcomes a new digital specialist to the team. He answers to Jon, not Muse.
With the addition of Jon Fullrich, Launch is expanding its digital creative capabilities. David Wilgus, Launch Principal, Creative Director raves, “Jon is incredibly talented. He enhances our current offerings to our clients and can provide new innovations, which will allow us to lead our clients in the digital content arena.” Jon has a Masters Degree in Visualization Sciences from Texas A&M University, where he “learned everything I could about animation, video, and motionography.”
After a stint at interactive shop imc2, Jon freelanced for several top digital agencies, including Tribal DDB, and Click Here. In addition, he was part of some award-winning project work for Launch, which is how this beautiful relationship began.
We dove deeper and asked Jon some more revealing questions:
Q: Favorite sport?
A: Basketball and football . . . and some baseball. I played basketball in high school.
Q: Favorite spare time activity?
A: Watching sports and playing poker. I just played in my first real tournament and placed 106 out of 600.
(Not a bad debut.)
Q: Favorite animal?
A: I always liked penguins.
Q: Bow tie or Ascot?
A: I don’t know what an ascot is, so bow tie.
Q: Any pets?
A: A chihuahua named Bobinot and a black cat named Pepper.
Q: Most played song on iTunes?
A: “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.
Q: What’s one of your favorite artists?
A: M.C. Escher. His art is a blend of engineering, architecture, and optical illusion.
We’re happy to have Jon on the team.
Jon and his wife Leigh at a U2 concert
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For a couple days last month, Launch was short two Art Directors as Richard Wezensky and Reuben Miller expanded their horizons and got fired up about digital creativity at the annual HOW Conference in Austin, Texas.
Each year, the HOW Conference acts as a reminder of how rapidly interactive advertising is changing. Two years ago, Flash was the big ticket for most agency sites, but now its popularity is fading as strategy and content management become the new heroes. Like the revamped Modernista! and Crispin Porter + Bogusky beta-style sites, there’s been a breakdown of all things ornate and more focus on simplicity, substance and social media. To prepare for this evolution, Richard and Reuben went to two web-focused seminars: “Web Strategy That Works” and “Print to Web Breakthrough”; presented by Mark O’Brien, President of Newfangled.com.
Web strategy that works
In this seminar, O’Brien played up the value of making creative content and strategy, not cool design and visuals, the main focus when creating a great marketing website. If the purpose of a creative website is to “inspire and inform,” then it’s critical to strategize the site with content to bring people in, and develop a stronger point-of-difference from the competition. Along with valuable strategy info, Richard and Reuben were given tips on search engine writing and making the best use of platforms like blogs, newsletters and webinars. Reuben describes this type of search engine optimization strategy as “writing for Google.” The big takeaway—using a content strategy would get people to their site faster, easier and more frequently.
Print to web breakthrough
In the second seminar, O’Brien covered several principles and best practices of web design, and how to cut through the clutter with attention-grabbing work. To successfully shift from a print focus to more of a web focus, designers need to “give up control.” To illustrate the relationship of print versus web design, O’Brien used the analogy of music, where print represents a symphony and web design is jazz. “A symphony is crafted with complete control over all aspects of the piece – with very little flexibility. Jazz often starts with a baseline where other varying components are added more fluidly, giving each piece a different personality as it grows.” Bottom line, you need to be conscious of flexibility when creating for the web.
Tips to ensure search optimization and better viewership:
-Focus on content strategy.
-Write about your niche. People will find you most likely by content, not by name.
-Set up a sort of monthly/weekly/daily deadline for blogs, newsletters and webinars, and get more information on the site more often.
-“Give up control” and make a web plan with flexibility.
-Allow for content management, allow readers to contribute, and use tags.
-Stay informed with web updates and know a little bit about the medium.
-Remember that web developers are your allies. (Help them out by working in layers, providing template options, work on a grid and keep up the dialogue).
-Keep all you assets under your domain. Ex: http://www.yoursitename.com/blog
