The World’s Best Commercials 2010-2011

July 1st, 2011

I love a great commercial. And recently, Adweek posted their list of the Best Commercials from 2010-2011. Being that it’s merely opinion that those that which they placed are the best, I thought I would review the ads and tell you some of my favorite spots. Keep in mind that I don’t often get to watch a lot of international advertisements, but I do occasionally get to view them – when they go viral. For the purpose of this commentary, I will try to stick to those commercials that I saw on Adweek’s website.

Adweek places Nike’s Write The Future ad as the #1 spot overall. I couldn’t disagree more. Not just because I think there are better commercials out there, but I think this commercial goes over the head of your average viewer, and they take too long to get to the point. That being said, I find it very hard to name a #1 overall commercial, so I will just mention some of my favorite in no particular order.

Heineken, “The Entrance”
What can you say that is wrong with this piece? I’m sure some will find fault with it, but I find it to be very entertaining, great music piece, great choreography and great timing with each piece. And they do what a lot of companies don’t do during these types of commercials – they show branding before the end! This commercial is definitely in my top 10!

Skittles, “Touch The Rainbow”
Ok, so there are several of these videos, but I am lumping them all in together as one. They have some very twisted humor and that’s right up my alley. Great branding and funny scenarios (for the most part). If you love just outright bizarre commercials, you will love the whole series. I’m embedding just one, but please feel free to browse them all when you get a moment. You won’t be sorry!

Volkswagen, “The Force”
Do I really need to talk about this one? This one went viral as soon as it was shown before the Super Bowl. Love the natural comedic timing this kid has (and if you didn’t see any of the interviews, it is a kid inside there). This commercial definitely qualifies as a top 10 smash!

Carlton Draught, “Slo Mo”
If you are a guy, you are going to love this commercial. Very funny. If you are a girl with a lot of patience, you might find it entertaining as well. Listen to the words of the song. Very funny stuff.

Traveler’s Insurance, “Trouble”
From the Super Bowl the previous year, this commercial debut and remains one of my favorite to this day. Just a very clever commercial with a dog that really knows how to act!

Google, “Speed Tests”
Actually, I like a lot of the new Google spots that I’ve been seeing on TV and the Internet. Google Goggles, Google Translate and the one for Google Maps (road view). But this one caught my eye because, to me, the browser speed is key to optimizing time spent on the Internet. Lately I’ve been on Firefox and Chrome and although I have experienced many bugs with Chrome, it definitely seems to be a faster browser. So the commercial rings true.

Honorable Mention

Carolton Dry, “Sheep Impact”
I saw this commercial on Adweek and, although it wasn’t a top contender in their eyes, I still found it to be entertaining. And, c’mon – it has Steven Segal in it!

So there you have it. My top picks from Adweeks Best of. Remember the key is to capture people’s attention and make sure you get your branding across!

Posted in Branding, New Media, Video, youtube | No Comments »

Author: Michael Kadrie

Category: Branding, New Media, Video, youtube

Posted: Friday, July 1st, 2011

The Inevitable Fate of QR Codes

June 14th, 2011

QR Code For those of you who have seen and image like this before but never knew what it was, this is a QR Code. What is a QR Code? QR stands for Quick Response which is exactly what this code will do. With an application on your hand held device, you can scan this matrix barcode and it will direct you (very quickly I might add) to a number of resources via the Internet.

Commonly, these codes are used to generate links to SMS Codes, Calendar Codes, Geo Codes, Text Codes, vCard Codes, Email Codes and other dynamic and static digital codes.

So just how safe are QR codes? IMHO, they are not safe at all. If you can embed links into the code that will send you anywhere without warning of what the content is, then people will start to use this in malicious ways. It’s sad, but true. What’s to stop someone from sending you to a website with a virus, or worse yet – someone may just figure out a way to embed the virus into the code (if they haven’t figured that out already). Virus’ for hand-held devices are not very common – yet! But the more we wean ourselves off of the PC and into the mobile age, the more common those virus’ will become. And how about porn sites? So many teens have phones that can scan these images and no way for a parent to block them. Then they are immediately swept off to Smuttsville, USA.

While QR codes are currently all the rage and very “today”, tomorrow they may become a tool for the evil. Since you can embed a phone number into the code, what’s to stop a terrorist from embedding the number of a phone attached to a bomb somewhere, and some innocent QR Scanner blows up a shopping mall? This all sounds a bit extreme, of course. But this is my point – if an upright citizen such as I can figure out this stuff, I’m sure the malcontents of the world are doing the same.

In today’s day and age, it will only take one or two incidents before people stop scanning the codes and they become obsolete. That’s a shame too, because this really is very cool technology. Unless someone is pro-active and starts working out a way to make these codes a little safer, I’m afraid the inevitable fate of the QR code will be pretty much the same as the 8-Track, cassette tapes, rotary phones, butter churns, the horse and buggy… you get the picture.

Practice “Safe Scanning” everyone!!

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Posted in New Media | No Comments »

Author: Michael Kadrie

Category: New Media

Posted: Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Google’s Panda Incorporates Searcher Blocking

June 8th, 2011

Late February, Google launched a substantial algorithm change (known as “Farmer” or “Panda”) aimed at identifying low-quality pages and sites. These are pages (often seen on so-called “content farms”) with text that is relevant for a query, but may not provide the best user experience. (Google calls it a “high quality sites algorithm”.)

Today, Google has rolled this change out to all English language queries and made a few minor updates (with an estimated impact to 2% of U.S. queries).

So what will creative design firms and those who practice at the art of SEO need to be made aware of?

They will be affected several different ways. First, they will have to start creating better quality sites – content and navigation will be key. Can your visitor easily find their way around? Is it obvious what the topic on the page is about? Is the content original or used from other sources? Do any ads on the page obscure the visitor’s ability to access content quickly? And other criteria will need to be examined.

Also, the use of obtaining domain names for the use of SEO (such as YourSearchQuery.com) will no longer be effective. Creating landing pages for the sole purpose of SEO will more than likely get blocked as well as several other SEO “shortcuts”.
This might seem like a pain at first, but what it’s doing is cleaning up the clutter that is on the Internet. This alone won’t do it, but it’s a start.

So we suggest you use this information to start making improvements to your web designs and to your SEO practices. If you get a jump on it now – you will only benefit from it sooner.

Posted in Google | No Comments »

Author: Michael Kadrie

Category: Google

Posted: Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

7 Realities of Social Media that will change in 6 months

September 17th, 2010

We’ve been thinking a lot about measurement lately at Applebox Studios. Not only measuring our efforts as an ad agency in Pittsburgh, but also our social media efforts, as well as our marketing initiatives and how it all plays out into today’s economy and it utlimately affects you, the consumer. Thus, we came up with a couple of absolutes that for now, make sense to us.

  • Social media measurement will adapt with the changing of external markets and it‚Äôs influencers.
  • The rules of engaging the consumer and marketing to that consumer are changing at light speed with the advantage shifting towards the consumer.
  • Social media engagement should be measured differently in tough economic times.
  • The tone of marketing and social media marketing is changing.
  • Consumer expectations of social media will not change during¬† the current economic woes because they haven‚Äôt set any precedents yet.
  • The importance of social media optimization and SEO has never been larger.
  • Social nets have a better chance to thrive now, more than they did at this point last year.

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Posted in Pittsburgh ad agencies, Social media strategy, pittsburgh social media, social media marketing | No Comments »

Author: Marc Meyer

Category: Pittsburgh ad agencies, Social media strategy, pittsburgh social media, social media marketing

Posted: Friday, September 17th, 2010

Why most people don’t know about your blog.

September 14th, 2010

Is this your company?

You’ve been told that you should have a blog. Though the reasons why seem somewhat hazy. You’ve been told that you yourself should write the blog posts. Though the last time you wrote anything of length it was a letter to the judge to try and keep you out of Juvee.

Ok maybe I’m kidding about that last part. You know, you probably actually read some blogs yourself. Though you might not even know they are blogs. If I asked you what the basic structure of a blog was, could you tell me? If I asked you what the purpose of a blog was, would you be able to muster an answer?

What If I said it was for SEO purposes-would you know why and how? If I told you that you should write a blog so that you can connect with your customers-would you know how? Would you know what to say? Would you know where they are?

Please don’t tell me that your company does have a blog…

You keep hearing that social media is THE thing that your company needs to get into-but what do you know about social media? Do you even have the time to answer that question, and any of the questions asked above?

If I were you, I would at least make time to learn it before you decide whether it is right for you.

Most people don’t know about your blog, because you don’t what you’re doing or why you’re doing it.

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Author: Marc Meyer

Category: Social Media

Posted: Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

7 Ways to Doom your Marketing or Social Media Marketing Strategy.

September 10th, 2010

Sometimes marketers think they know what they are doing. Other times, if they don’t, they pretend that they do.¬† Luckily, our little Pittsburgh based ad agency is smart enough to know that it’s easier to say I don’t know or to appeal to a higher power than it is to suffer these 7 marketing mistakes.

1) The lights are on but no one is home: In your push to increase customer loyalty and retention, you’ve driven your customers away with poor messaging, poor communication and complete disdain and compassion for them and the product they love.

2) We must be #1: In your zeal to hit the ground running with your product, you have failed to realize that the product has serious deficiencies and you choose to launch anyway. Your product awareness campaign has only increased the awareness of how bad the product might actually be. Why? You were not listening and your timing could not be worse.

3) You have burned bridges. In your quest to create brand advocates you have created the anti-brand champions who have made it their goal in life to do everything in their power to make sure that your brand does not succeed. You made enemies and yet you continue to not listen and you decide to push on without addressing it.

4) You really don’t know who your customer is. In pushing to roll out your social media marketing plan, you miss the mark completely¬†and are marketing to the wrong¬†people. In your¬†rush to create new revenue streams, you‚Äôve decided to beat a dead horse. Not knowing your customer and assuming you did. Bad.

5) Stubborn as an old school mule. You decide to do it your way. You think your one way style of contacting and talking at the customer using the latest social media tools should work just fine in its own intrusive way. You have decided that frequency is better than reach and breadth is better than depth. You have not heard a thing that has been said.

6) You’re an impostor.¬† You‚Äôve decided that you need to hide behind a few layers. You don‚Äôt want the customer to know anything about you, the company, the realness of the people behind the product. Nothing.¬† One of the most important aspects of social media marketing is being transparent, or had you not heard that yet?

7) You’re a liar. You’re not who you say you are. This speaks as much to #6 as it does all of the rest.  But one of the keys to any relationship be it personal, or business, is honesty.

Have anything to add?

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Posted in social media marketing | No Comments »

Author: Marc Meyer

Category: social media marketing

Posted: Friday, September 10th, 2010

What Social Media is Not…

September 8th, 2010

Often times we get caught up in the semantics of what social media is and isn’t. In this slide share presentation we look at what social media is not.

Social Media is Not.

View more presentations from Marc Meyer.

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Posted in Pittsburgh ad agencies, Social Media | No Comments »

Author: Marc Meyer

Category: Pittsburgh ad agencies, Social Media

Posted: Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

The RO-Why of Social Media

September 3rd, 2010

So do we talk about the ROI of social media or KPI’s? Do you know the difference? The difference is similar to the difference between an advertising agency and a company that focuses on marketing. Or better yet, Heinz Field and PNC park.

From a purely definitive standpoint ROI is pretty basic, ROI = (X – Y) / Y, If you invest $10 and get back $30, your ROI is (30 – 10) / 10 = 2 or 2 times your initial investment.

Now let’s apply that to social media. Having solid goals and a realistic baseline measurement is crucial to figuring out your social media ROI.¬† So before you set out to measure and monitor your social media returns, you need to have a clear idea of what it is you want to accomplish. <—-Isn’t this something you would do in any business situation?

So once you have your goals defined, you need to gauge the baseline for your levels before starting or changing your social media strategy. For example, if your goal is to increase social media mentions of your company, in order to measure the ROI of any actions taken toward that goal, you need to know where you stand now. You can’t evaluate the ROI accurately without a baseline. If the baseline is zero, so be it.

Now KPI’s are completely different in that you’re tracking and making sense of interactions, which is a fundamental part of social media. Many of these metrics are factored into the notion of “Key Performance Indicators” and in the same way you can score different interactions to create some kind of interaction index, each one has it’s own merit. For instance here are 15 fairly common social media KPI’s.

  1. Alerts
  2. Bookmarks
  3. Comments
  4. Downloads
  5. Email subscriptions
  6. Fans
  7. Favourites
  8. Feedback
  9. Followers
  10. Forward to a friend
  11. Posts
  12. Social media shares / participation
  13. Uploads
  14. Views
  15. Widgets

So what are the KPI’s that you are using within your organization to measure your social media interactions?

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Author: Marc Meyer

Category: Social Media

Posted: Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Influence versus Popularity

August 31st, 2010

In the world of social media we at Applebox talk about the need to be authentic, the desire to be transparent. But on a larger scale, is it more important to be influential or to be popular beyond transparency and authenticity?

If we’re to measure the effectiveness of a social media persona, some might say that you have to look at the number of friends, followers or friends. But there is something deeper there. Is that really being effective? You have to look at the impact that you have on those friends, fans and followers. Popularity can be measured by how much you are liked and that in turn can somehow turn into influence but..numbers don’t mean squat-it’s what you do with the numbers that matter.

Conversely, having 20 followers, friends, or fans is not going to get it done either. But that might be pointing to a larger issue and that’s effort.

Effort=Impact in social media but that does not equate to popularity nor does it have an effect on influence.

Effort (tweets, updates,shares, mentions) Total aggregate number

_____________Divided By_____________________________=Impact

Total number of followers, friends and fans added each day

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Posted in Social Media, pittsburgh social media | No Comments »

Author: Marc Meyer

Category: Social Media, pittsburgh social media

Posted: Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

5 Characteristics Needed in Creating a Social Media Practice

August 26th, 2010

Often times in the rush for social media adoption, advertising agencies create social media practices based on a house of cards. Their thinking is, “We need to offer this (social media) to the client” or we need to be able to offer Social media to the client so let’s just say that we “do” social media and see what happens.

In that rush, the cards can quickly collapse when a client does hire the agency specifically for their social media practice and then they, the agency looks inward and asks, “Now what”?

Well we know the thinking is wrong but should an agency go down this path anyway? They offer every “other” marketing and advertising solution, why not social media? There has to be a jumping off point for agencies. At this stage in the game, when is the appropriate time for an agency to fold social media into their business offerings?

They would be well served to inherit the following characteristics in establishing their social media practice.

  1. Understand what social media is
  2. Educate themselves and their internal staff
  3. Participate first internally
  4. Hire someone with experience in social media to manage any social media initiatives
  5. Ask for help

What do you think?

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Posted in Social Media, Social media strategy, pittsburgh social media | No Comments »

Author: Marc Meyer

Category: Social Media, Social media strategy, pittsburgh social media

Posted: Thursday, August 26th, 2010

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