Ain’t nobody fresher than my click

wrote this on March 1, 2013 Leave a Comment

“If you’re constantly tweaking and tailoring your website for natural search success, doesn’t it also stand to reason that this diminished focus on your website’s users creates an environment that isn’t enjoyable or interesting for real people?”

That’s a great quote. And although the author, Sujan Patel, goes on to argue that good SEO can also make for good user experience, he misses out when discussing the true importance of a web site: design. In fact, the word “design” isn’t used in his post at all.

Google domination

Google Search completed transformed the web site landscape several years ago in that it manipulated web sites to accomplish certain tasks in order to more likely appear at the top of a search string. These tasks include appropriate use of:

  • keywords, site descriptions, and meta data,
  • amount of content, and
  • uniqueness of content, amongst other factors.

Sites quickly learned that the way to appear high in organic search was to follow the Google Search commandments… or perhaps no one would find your site! Gasp!

With a heightened importance on search combined with analytics, data became an increasingly popular way in which to build – or dare I say, design – your site.

Balance

Over the past several years, the building and developing of web sites has been unbalanced – too high of a concentration on proper code and SEO and not enough on design and creativity.

It’s design, not SEO, that:

  • delivers stories and content in a visually-striking manner,
  • creates an engaging digital experience,
  • requires a deep, human interaction from the viewer, and
  • makes the world a more beautiful place.

Critical to user experience is design – in fact, it’s the most important part.

Trends are cyclical

Like anything else, trends tend to work in cycles. Towards the beginning of the commercial internet, amazing things were built with great design. Over the past few years, the data and measurement revolution changed that.

But I believe we are seeing a movement back towards the necessity of artistic design as the key factor in user experience and the building of web sites. Digital news consumption and the minimalist aesthetic result in sites embracing the beauty of white space and legibility. Mobile sites and apps require a simple, pleasing design in order to succeed. And the rise of the designer/developer is helping to put design at the forefront.

And that, as Panel says, is “enjoyable and interesting for real people.” In short, it’s a beautiful thing.

Filed Under: Design

Brand Evolution: from Tiger to Rory

wrote this on January 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

It was only a matter of time.

Nike hitched their wagons to Tiger Woods at an early age and turned the Nike Golf brand from a novelty to major competitor. The traditional golf manufacturers – Titleist, Ping, Taylor Made, Callaway, et. al – struggled to slow down Nike Golf’s meteoric rise since the late 90s. In fact, Nike equipment was considered a joke, even after Woods began using the clubs. But the brand’s explosion is all thanks to Tiger Woods.

And then Thanksgiving of 2009 happened.

Since the story broke of Woods’s extra-marital affairs, both the Tiger Woods brand and Nike Golf brand have taken a hit. Sure, Tiger won a few tournaments last year and his game looked solid. But Woods hasn’t won a major since 2008 and his popularity has decreased since 2009. What was Nike to do?

Nike did the smart thing, sticking by one of their most successful, famous, and marketable athletes. But they knew the Tiger magic couldn’t last forever. Could Tiger go on to win several majors over the next decade? Absolutely. But with a brand literally built by one star, Nike Golf needed the next step in its brand evolution.

Enter Rory McIlroy. Young. Multiple major victories. Incredibly likable. Sounds a lot like Tiger Woods.

And with Nike’s latest commercial featuring both golfers, the message is clear: Tiger is still a big part of Nike Golf, but Rory is THE part of Nike Golf in the not-so-distant future. The commercial literally shows them as equals, matching shot for shot, until the end… where Tiger says, “you’ll learn.”

Here, “you’ll learn” means much more than hitting a golf ball into a small plastic cup. It means that the brand rollout for McIlroy will learn a lot from the brand rollout of Woods. Within the next couple of years, Nike Golf will develop a McIlroy logo, apparel, and McIlroy-only commercials. As Tiger’s career winds down, McIlroy’s will be doing the opposite. And the Nike Golf brand continues.

Nike’s stance on McIlroy sets them up for the next couple of decades in continuing the Nike Golf brand story. All McIlroy has to do is keep winning… and stay away from the ladies.

Filed Under: Branding, Sports

How the Obama 2012 Campaign Became the Most Successful Ad Agency in the Country

wrote this on November 8, 2012 Leave a Comment

Tuesday night Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States – with an electoral and popular vote margin that surprised both his opponents and the political pundits.

And with an unemployment rate near 8% nationally, who could blame them for not seeing this coming. What came was a race that was fundamentally different, because of the shifting demographics of the country and a campaign that was built in a fundamentally different, new, smart way. Where the 2008 campaign hit hard on message (Hope & Change) and imagery (the Shepherd Ferry posters and the thought of Americaʼs first black President), the 2012 campaign was driven by elegant and exacting strategy – focusing on key demographics groups, blending old and new techniques, and eventually building a whole ecosystems of political action specifically charged with re-electing the President. And it worked.

The Obama campaign had one key job – get the President re-elected. In one way thatʼs a simple game. Like Red Auerbach used to say, the goal of the game is to put a ball through a hole more times than the other guy. Translation – they just needed more votes in more places than the other guy. But rather than focus solely on the one-time transaction, Obama2012 created a functionally integrated ecosystem around their candidate where supporters were encouraged to vote, earn opportunities to meet the candidate and other celebrities, canvas, volunteer, work the phones, share content, dispel myths, fact check, poll check, and oh yeah, donate. The Obama 2012 campaign broke their own 2008 records for number and amount of small individual donations, largely made in $20 and $35 increments. That donation strategy gave the campaign a financial edge in campaign cash on hand versus Mitt Romney, which proved crucial in off setting the spending of outside groups and Super PACs. While Romney and his supporters clearly spent more money, Super PACs have a built in strategic deficit when it comes to advertising, because they donʼt have access to the guaranteed political rate that radio and television stations must honor to political campaigns. The Super PACs had to pay the market rate – which in a hot campaign season like this was sometimes 2x-4x the cost the campaigns would pay.

Pretty simple, huh?

Filed Under: Branding, Messaging, Politics

Why we are all Les Moonves

wrote this on October 30, 2012 Leave a Comment

Stop me if youʼve heard this before, the advancements in technology and media mean it no longer requires a huge infrastructure, or really all that much money to disseminate a message to millions, sometimes billions of people. Just a quick look at youtubeʼs home page will show you that every day people are able to draw huge audiences.

But what does that mean for you? It means that your business, your organization, or yourself are brands, not just business brands but media brands. Every one of us, our organizations, our families, our businesses are media brands just like CBS, NBC, Fox, you name it. And in some ways, you have just as much power as those networks to develop and disseminate your message. That also means that we each have a responsibility, like a networkʼs head of programming to make sure that our content is interesting and engaging. Basically, weʼre all Les Moonves (Head of Programming for CBS for those who donʼt know). We need to make sure our lineup is strong, ties together, and delivers for our audience. I donʼt mean to sound obnoxious (as many social media advocates are), but even though you can put it off now, this is not a long term choice. The businesses, organizations, and professionals who do not treat themselves like media brands will find it harder and harder to do business in the future.

So what do you do? Open a Facebook page, start a Twitter feed, figure out the next big YouTube dance craze video or lip-dub? Believe it or not, this is easier than you think, and you donʼt have run around chasing your tail. It boils down to determining what youʼre good at that your customers, stakeholders, employers, voters, etc. find valuable. Once you nail that down, you can start developing content that supports that value.

For instance, when my blog partner and I sat down to start Art & Strategy, we talked about what we enjoyed and were good at in the marketing space. Heʼs a designer by trade and now a terrific design and digital strategist that thinks very well about building brand, culture, compelling messaging and experiences. Meanwhile I come from a broadcast and business background that has morphed into communication strategy. I love targeting, measurement, audience segmentation, growing communities, and basically playing chess to accomplish a goal. We decided to develop this blog as a way to talk with marketers and business people about how effective art and strategy can accomplish almost anything.

Filed Under: Content Marketing