VisualSnare

#3

 

It's been a hectic week here at work, but still some hot links came across my desktop. So, time to share!

NUMBER ONE: McCain: Branding genius

I usually don't post political stuff up here, but I've just been overwhelmed by the well done posts over at brandsinger. You won't be disappointed. Actually, while your there, you might as well read the archives as well. You might just learn something new... I sure did.

NUMBER TWO: Nike 6.0 Ill Mobile Truck

What do you get when you cross an amphibious armor-plated war truck with an active sports offshoot of Nike? Well, they're calling it an "ill" truck... and I agree with them. One, because it's really freakin cool looking in a sort of Mad Max of sports way. But, second, because you feel ill when you see the gas (or diesel) bill when driving from "secret" spot to another.

NUMBER THREE: Magic, the mind, and marketing

We all love magicians, but if you're like me can't help but ask the question, "How the hell did that just happen? I swear he just cut her in half?" According to Tom, marketers employ the same sort of smoke and magic to their acts with brands. Watch this quick, candid video to see why he thinks it's true.

NUMBER FOUR: Polished bliss

Talk about hard work! Here's 55 hours (in pictures) invested in cleaning this Lambo. You gotta love it when people are this pumped about their job, it shows... or more-so reflects.

NUMBER FIVE: A few different ways to tie your shoes

The title basically says it all for once. This is a nice, graphic treatment of all sorts of ways to tie your sneakers shoelaces. From the tradional "Sawtooth" to the supercool "Checkerboard." Now you can be the coolest kid on the street!

Enjoy! ~Reed

go ahead... trash talk

Who can resist a little trash talking? Whether it's a pick-up game on the local courts or while coaching via the couch. VitaminWater wants to elevate this primal art into the e-verse with their new TrashTalk site.

Featuring big names from skate, baseball, hockey, and more you can go on the site and start dishin' it out after you've entered your promotional code, which I guess is found on the drink somewhere.

My thoughts? I really liked the graphic treatment of the van. The call to action was nicely treated and inspired me to even take a picture of it to share with you guys, and to go the site. The site is trendy using stylized images and HDR photos of the athletes in dramatic, sport oriented poses. (So far so good!)

Then the trash talking process started. Selecting prompts like "jacking homers instead of eating crackerjacks." After a couple pages of these random selections, I clicked play. All of sudden I hear David Wright trash talking what I just selected. Cool!

...until he said "try knocking back some VitaminWater C like me..." (cool level just dissappeared)

Wait a sec, I didn't select that to be part of his trash talking? Why did he say it? I was all ready to send this via email to my brother as a joke. But, that line is so salsey that it kills it. I can just imagine the branding firm that created this idea cringing when they were told that they had to include the product plug.

So, here's my un-plugged version of the trash talk (using the site selections) now directed at the VitaminWater for this misstep:

"Hey VitaminWater why are you swinging like a rookie?
You could of hit the cover off the ball... and gone yard.
Instead, you're two busy mowing your own yard,
...guess you should just stick to whiffle ball."

~Reed

get smart

[Disclaimer: Another post about simplicity. I'll try not to repeat myself too much...]

I saw this branding (one-sided) co-op driving down the street a couple days ago, and just started laughing. The best things in life really are simple aren't they?

Leveraging just a tad of vehicle knowledge completes this joke as it's a SMART Passion Coupe. There are a couple other reasons why this SMART was a great choice for this smart marketer.

1. The vehicle is unique. It stands out... at least for right now.
2. The local market is eco-friendly and everyone knows space is precious in Cali, so this small-footprint vehicle is perfect.
3. The styling of the SMART evokes a lot of personality, and if this relates to the driver (supposed agent) then it's a great pairing.
4. The vehicle is unique. Yes I already said this, but many real estate agents driving around this area have luxury vehicles with big wheels or big suvs (seriously... have they not gotten a clue yet?) so, this vehicle stands out in this pack as well, which is even more important.

That's 4 BIG things that this very small car have done for this marketer/real estate agent's brand. I delighted in it's simplicity and I'm sure others have too. It's got me wondering if the actual real estate offering would make me feel like this as well...

Proof again that creativity doesn't just live within the walls (or minds) of so-called creatives. ~Reed

50 said it best...

"...It's [my] birthday, and we're gonna party like it's [my] birthday."

Here's the video if your were overwhelmed with nostalgia after that line.

Anyway, short and sweet today as celebrations will ensue soon, but have to bring up Facebook's impact on birthdays - it's made them so much more fun! Because it broadcasts your birthday to your whole friend network, you get a great chance to reconnect and talk with old acquaintances (and new ones).

I can't imagine that it was that hard to program, but look at the longtail effect it's had on social media! Just more proof that real success is often found in the details. -Reed 

What did you say?

Do your customers and prospects understand what your telling them?

I was watching a video yesterday from the Forrester Marketing Forum, and one of the keynote speakers had a great quote about this very subject (about a couple minutes in):

"Communicate not just to be understood, but to not be misunderstood."

I felt this was a great way to sum up the communication problem that most businesses run into online: they don't communicate enough. Now the last thing we need is more websites with TONS of useless content. What I'm talking about is more relevant messages, repeated throughout the site.

If you've got a remarkable product story, tell it in a couple different ways throughout the site in different contexts. This allows more customers, with more worldviews, to really understand what you're trying to tell them.

In addition, I'm constantly amazed at the brilliance of customers in finding insight where we, as designers or marketers, blindly overlook. So, if you're having trouble finding out what your customers don't understand: ask them. This can be done with simple phone call, emails, company forums, or even blogs.

So readers, taking my own advice, how can we improve this blog so that you can get more out of it? -Reed