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March 26, 2010   |   By Jeff Beer

Most talk about cutting-edge advertising these days typically focuses on online and the latest digital innovations and interweb wizardry, until, that is, someone breaks through the noise using a more traditional medium.

We’ve seen it recently on TV with Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” In outdoor, recent efforts like the Zimbabwean newspaper’s award-winning trillion dollar currency billboard and closer to home, Leo Burnett’s work for James Ready beer stood out.

Now, a new contest by Astral Media Outdoor aims to encourage just that kind of inspirational thinking by giving complete control to creatives.

Carte Blanche for Creatives challenges Canadian ad creatives to come up with an outdoor execution for any brand, with no brief and no restrictions (“Make the logo bigger!”), for a chance to win a paid trip to the Cannes Lions advertising festival and have their work displayed, pending client approval, on either transit shelters in Toronto or on billboards in Montreal.

“Creatives often complain about the constraints put on them by briefs, budgets and logo placement, so we just said, ‘Do what you have in mind for a client and we’ll see what comes out of it’,” said Astral Media Outdoor spokesperson Patrice Attanasio. “For us, it’s a way to get closer to the creative community and promote our outdoor products, which are usually perceived as traditional but are really the essence of creative advertising. To stand out in that frame you really have to exhibit a certain level of creativity.”

Creatives have until April 18 to register at CarteBlancheForCreatives.ca, where they can also comment on submitted work and vote on their favourite entries. There will be two rounds of judging, with each short list being reposted on the site for further voting until a winner is picked.

Astral Media Outdoor primarily deals with media buyers, said Attanasio. “But they want to create a better awareness within the creative community, so when a creative thinks about different projects, they also think about using outdoor as one of their tools.”

Many mid-sized organizations are in the process of redesigning their website, but few have the required capabilities to design their website internally. Use this research note to understand the benefits that web design consultants can deliver. Additionally, use Demand Metric’s downloadable Website Design RFP Template to compare vendors systematically based on pre-determined requirements.

Website Design Consulting Benefits:

Consultants are great at focusing the attention of senior executives who can otherwise be difficult to engage. Consider purchasing a Business Requirements Workshop professional service to build organizational alignment on the role & risks of web programs.

• Better Organizational Alignment - consultants are great at focusing the attention of senior executives who can otherwise be difficult to engage. Consider purchasing a Business Requirements Workshop professional service to build organizational alignment on the role & risks of web programs.
• In-depth Expertise – not only do consultants know the vendors very well, they have loads of experience with developing and refining business requirements, which are the foundation of a successful website redesign.
• Additional Resources – many organizations need additional help to complete a website redesign project. Help with defining business and technical requirements, back-end systems integration, search engine optimization, content management system training and maintenance are key areas where your partner consulting firm can add value and business benefit.

Action Plan:

1. Define Business Requirements – engage your website program team and gather Web Requirements by department. Use our Web Requirements Priority Index to logically prioritize each requirement based on Strategic Fit, Economic Impact, and Feasibility.
2. Determine Success Measures – build a Web Marketing Scorecard, define Web Metrics Reporting, and develop a Website Program Action Plan, to identify how success of your website project will be measured.
3. Conduct a Competitive Analysis – use our Competitive Website Analysis Tool to benchmark your website before and after your redesign to demonstrate a measurable improvement in relation to your top 2 competitors.
4. Find a Consulting Partner – use our Website Design RFP Template to present your requirements to the market. Partner with the firm that can meet your key selection criteria, provides a real service-level agreement, and has at least 10 solid references in your industry.

Disclosure

Demand Metric is not a sponsor. At the Direct Marketing Association of Toronto we have negotiated a special bundle price for a group of tools. (These are amzing btw!) Currently, we have a Lead Generation and Marketing & Branding packages. Here at One Degree I felt that some of the online tools might be beneficial and of interest.

If you are interested in One Degree offering the Demand Metric tools at a special package price please let me know at mose [at] onedegree [dot] ca. You can. of course, go there now and buy them at their regular price. This is not a formal endorsement, we are not being paid for this, I simply like the tools.

If you are interested in the Lead Generation or Marketing packages you can purchase them at the DMAT site.

By Peter Mosley

I attended the Buzz Report event the other night – some very interesting stats as a result of the research. I understand I will be able to share some with you shortly.  Stay tuned. Here is a quick re-cap.

I had links to some material previously, but it is not quite ready for prime time.

I want to set the record straight here on a couple of things …. Oh, the line about Ann Coulter was what I call an AGD! (Attention Getting Device!) Gotcha! LOL! Anyway – read on there is some stuff that might be good for you.

I was on a panel the other night at this event run by the LOKBP. (Hopefully will have some stuff from the folks there to post here – was a great event!) Anyway, I had a great time – I always do at these things. You see, I am first and formost a ham. Fer instance … I tell folks that if I get up in the middle of the night, go to the kitchen and open the refrigerator – when the light comes on – I will give ya a twenty minute routine. (Ba dum pish!)

I am a ham. Full stop.  I am a ham, because I am a professional entertainer and musician and a paid MC – I also teach folks how to get up in front of people. (You can win a ticket to one of these sessions BTW!) Anyway, couple of things came out of the other night …plus I want  to set the record straight on the last bit.

First, is that at networking events – no one really networks? I want to point back to an article I did a while back. Also, there are some things that event organizers can do to make events like this far more network-friendly (If they want to?) but, that is a post for another day and will add that later.

Second, the social web works only if each and every one of us works it properly. There is no difference between this thing called Social Media (or whatever ya wanna call it) and real life. If you don’t clean up your room, or have a sloppy desk or are simply horrible at details – this SM stuff will fall right off the rails. God is in the details.

I liken this to when desktop publishing hit in the 80s. It was about the most atrocious thing I have ever seen. Amateur communication materials made at home, a dozen fonts used, lots of shadows – butt-ugly stuff. But, it all worked out in the end. Took a bunch of years, but all is good now – for the most part. It simply takes time. I noticed this cause all the BUZZ on the back channel at this event that concerned me, or involved me, or was directed at me was addressed to my wrong Twitter account. @mose not @themose. See details, details details!

Now, before I go any further, anyone that knows me in “meat space” (That is a term for the real world.) will know that I am not a self promoter. Not my point in writing this.

The point I am making is that SM is, in fact, just like real life. Think about those implications for a while. In fact, I have a post coming about that. I am wrestling with it quite a bit. Stay tuned.

Third, I was called a Guru.

Hardly! Sheesh!!! I am simply someone who has been around a while. I am pushing 60 so that represents 40 years of working. In my case, working all over the place. I have simply experienced some stuff. That does not make me a Guru. I do know one difference is that I love to be up in front of folks presenting – but that is not being a Guru. I know that cause I have worked with real Gurus! Peter Zarry, Tom Suiter, Lee Iacoca. Look em up. They are/were Gurus. Pas moi. Now, that, that is out of the way. It was credited to me that I predicted this … (Here is the setting things straight bit!)

Well, I don’t think I said that? What I did say, if I remember correctly, regarding traditional agencies, was that until the current generation of owners and managers die, or retire, we will not see traditional agencies adopting, embracing and fully utilizing this Net thing, let alone SM. Traditional agencies will not be going away.

You youngsters coming up REALLY, get this. The next generation of kids coming up behind you REALLY, REALLY get this.

Get it?

Successful
branding, or re-branding, requires that key stakeholders are involved
in a democratic process to agree on what the new brand will be.
However, working with every stakeholder throughout the process is
simply impossible. Read this Research Note to learn how you can achieve
consensus on your brand.

Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Branding Selection Tool to help you provide choices for your stakeholders that are equally satisfactory for the brand champion.

What are the Key Branding Drivers?

• Mergers & Acquisitions - combining two distinctly different brands is perhaps the most difficult of all re-branding exercises.
• Entering New Markets – when new businesses are formed, or when old business units are spun off, organizations typically create new brands.
• Updating Corporate Image - organizations that have been in business for over 20 years often have a requirement to get their brand up with the times.

What Key Choices Need to Be Made?

• Mission Statement – your mission statement describes the fundamental reason you are in business. For example: to help our customers succeed etc.
• Vision Statement – this is how you envision your
  organization and would like others to view you. Typically, vision
  statements look to the future.
• Corporate Values – these are the core values that your organization believes in, i.e. Excellence, Continuous Improvement, Community etc.
• Positioning Statement – this aspect of your brand positions your product/service or company, correctly within the industry.
• Corporate Tagline – normally a very punchy 3-6 word sentence(s) that drives home your core messages. Be careful not to make this too generic.
• Logo – corporate logos are images that identify your organization.

Action Plan:

1. Understand Business Strategy – speak with senior
   management to get a clear picture of where your organization is headed.
   It is impossible to develop a brand when there is no strategic
   direction.
2. Build a Small Team – branding exercises can be
   implemented much more efficiently if you have the right stakeholders
   engaged each step of the way. Build a cross-functional team of 3-6 key
   executives that can represent each of your brand constituencies,
   including customers.
3. Gather Feedback – poll customers and employees to
   identify how you are currently perceived in the market, and compare
   this to how you’d like to be seen. Additionally, ask for suggestions
   related to your branding choices.
4. Narrow Down Options – take all the given ideas and
   further develop them until you have 3-4 options for each brand category
   that would satisfy Marketing & senior management. Go back to your
   general audience with these options and vote for the winners.
5. Make Branding Selections - use Demand Metric’s downloadable Branding Selection Tool to provide your stakeholders with 3-4 clear options for branding decisions. Tally up the results and re-vote if necessary
6. Implement Branding Strategy - now that you have
   your brand elements selected, develop, and implement your branding
   strategy. This could include: updating collateral & the corporate
   website, changing policies & procedures to accommodate your new
   identity, and communicating to customers.

Bottom-Line:

Effective branding requires input from all your key stakeholders.
Work to understand your organizational roadmap, build a branding team,
open the floor to suggestions, and achieve consensus on your brand.

Enter and win a ticket to an upcoming CMA seminar in Toronto. Value $395.00

Details and entry form here!

By Alan Langford

Most bloggers have seen the word “trackback” in their blogging software. If they've turned the feature on, they might even have noticed a list of trackbacks at the bottom of some of their posts. It's fairly easy to figure out what they do, but it's not exactly obvious what purpose they serve and how to use them.

Like all social media, blogging is at its best when it results in a dialogue between people with a common interest. Trackbacks are designed to help readers follow a topic of discussion between different blogs and different authors.

When a blogger mentions another blog, they usually include a link to the related post. That's good in itself, but the problem is that it's a one-way connection. There's no link from the older post to the new one. One way links don't foster communication.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was some sort of automatic mechanism that detected when another blogger linked to one of your posts, and it automatically added a link from your site, so that people who read your post could see what other bloggers were saying about it? The answer is yes, and that's exactly what a trackback does.

Six Apart, creators of Movable Type, created the trackback standard now used by most major blogging software (Blogger is a notable exception). If your software supports trackbacks, then when you finish a post, your blog software checks all external links for a “pingback” URL. If the other end has trackback support, then your blog sends information about your post to the pingback URL. This information includes a link to your post, and can include other tidbits like the title of your post, an excerpt, and the name of your blog.

The blog on the receiving end of the pingback records this information. It's common for the trackback to be held in a to-be-approved state, to prevent spam. Once the trackback is approved, it shows up at the bottom of the post, and the blogs are linked to each other.

Trackbacks improve the reader experience, encouraging them to engage more deeply and explore what people have to say about your posts. Trackbacks also tend to link pages of closely related content, something that scores well in search engine ranking algorithms.

Our contributors are One Degree’s greatest asset. If you’re interested in writing for One Degree, we’d love to hear from you! Here’s how you can become a contributor.

Step 1: Contact us

Contact us at mose [at] onedegree [dot] ca and let us know what your passion is to write about. We’re looking for case studies, position pieces, relationship between online and offline marketing and how-to’s. We’re looking for articles that will spark discussions around interactive marketing topics and/or that provide solid take-aways or implementable ideas for our readers. Really, we’re looking for anything that you think a fellow marketer would be interested in or benefit from. We’re particularly interested in local flavour, e.g. reports from regional marketing associations or conferences.

You don’t have to submit a topic for clearance – you can just send us a finished article. Or, conversely if you have an idea we are happy to have you bounce it off us first. The only reason we like to know ahead of time is in case someone else is writing about it. We would be happy to have different articles about the same topic, we simply would like to schedule better and make sure there are perhaps different opinions or takes on the subject.

Step 2: Write it Down

Articles can be as short as 200 words or can be a multi-part series of articles if you have a lot to say. Important points to note:

1. Be Transparent
   If you’re using your own business or work you’ve done for a client to illustrate a point in your article, be sure to be transparent about your relationship with that client.
2. Formatting
   We convert every article into HTML when we post it on One Degree. You can submit your article in any format you choose, but please check with us first on specifics!
3. Take Credit
   For your first contribution, please provide us with a short (two or three paragraphs) bio and photo. Photos should be 150 pixels square if possible.
4. Concurrent Publishing
   One Degree likes to feel special. One of our goals is to provide content that our readers can’t get anywhere else. However, we know that you like to share your content on your own blog as well. We’re happy with concurrent publishing; we just don’t like to publish articles “after the fact”, but we’ll work with you on a publishing schedule.

Step 3: Airbrushing

Here at One Degree, we offer spelling and grammar check as well as light editing on every article submitted. If we do make any edits to your piece, we’ll be in touch before we publish so that you can approve any changes we’ve made.

There you have it! As you know we are just ramping up and we believe we have contacted all of our previous contributors. It will be a couple of weeks till we get the input from all of them flowing again. That being said we are looking for new contributors.

Just three easy steps to One Degree glory. So contact us at mose [at] onedegree [dot] ca and get the ball rolling.

We also need correspondents for different events that we receive media passes to. We keep our Correspondent Page updated with all current opps.