More Effective Creative Briefs for Mass Media Audiences

Here are some guidelines for experimenting with a new, improved creative brief to be more effective for mass media audiences:

1. Think simple. The more sophisticated the brief, the simpler it should be. The more glissandi and grace notes the piece has, the harder it is to play.

2. More spaces to fill present a greater opportunity for bad poetry. Avoid theoretical definitions; keep the language at the 8th-grade level.

3. Write in clear, declarative sentences.

4. Test out the chosen version with products or services you know well. If you can get all the key ideas in, you're good to go.

5. Every fact or observation you add to the brief must be useful and actionable. If not, leave it out.

6. Does the final brief say what you want it to mean?

7. Write a couple of bad ads directly from your brief. What would the headline say? What would be the key visual? Is that the beating heart of your story?

This article on how to improve creative briefs was quite informative and quite the fun read. Howard Margulies said, "When you write a creative brief, you're not filling out a form. You're crafting the story of your product and its reason to exist and thrive in the world. This is the first, and arguably the most important creative act of the entire process. And yet it's often approached with all the delight of passing a kidney stone." But actually the more tight and formatted your creative brief is the more creative and free your creatives can be because you give them more options and ideas to go off of. Filling out a creative brief should not be a dreaded thing. If you just get everything out of your mind and onto the paper...to you it may just be a brain dump but to others it may be their biggest inspiration. I am not saying creative briefs should be outrageously spantaneos, we still must keep clear objectives and and meet the goals we are setting to make to inspire and give the most correct brief to our audiences. Creative briefs are important to get a set standard for the approach a company or campaign will take. To be effective in reaching mass audiences, a creative brief need not be lengthy and drawn out but catchy and have that "boom effect" to capture your intended audience and pull them into the product, service that you are selling/provide them.

The Great Web Site

…More an Art than Science…

“The more I research websites — the more I realize that many important factors com together in a way that is difficult to describe.” -DMS

Wow I feel exactally like that just as I read about these new rules of Marketing and PR. There is so much that goes into making a news release, blog, podcast and all other types of online media. It really is a learned art with so many intricate details. The rules and limits of the web aren’t just speewed out in a list or textbook just anywhere. You can’t find a compelete list of how to do it all…anywhere! The rules and limits to online media are being pushed beyond anything we have ever known and there is no telling where the boundaries will end. They are changing and morphing everyday. The Art of it is having to stay on top of it all and intune with what media professionals should be intune with….new upcoming media that is ever changing! My mass media text book {for Comm 140} is becoming outdated even as I am typing this. It is incredible to me how technology and the media around us is growing at such a rapid growth. The history of technolgy is not just walking or even running up a hill…it is skipping with leaps and bounds to what we have today.

3 Uses of Blogs

According to David Meerman Scott, these are the 3 {Marketing & PR} Uses you should think about beforestarting and writing a blog…

Marketing & PR Uses:

1. To easily moniter what millions of people are saying about you, the market you sell into, your organization, and it’s products.

2. To participate in those conversations on commenting on other people’s blogs.

3. To begin to shape those conversations by creating and writing your own blog.

It is important to get a feel for what is already being said in the blog world and how current users are already going about creating and writing their blogs. Some blogs are getting so big their readership is larger than some newspapers….shouldn’t this be a sign that what they are saying has some value we should be looking into? …then by participating and getting involved with those blogs, you are already establishing a “face” and persona in which people will be drawn to if/when you are continually adding your opinions to their blogs…This in turn leads to a plethora of opportunities for opening your own blog to expose new and unique avenues to your readers and to explore and enrich the blogosphere! Seriously blogs are the new pink. Everyone should be paying more attention to what is going on with them and how you can improve and make new of your own blogs and websites.

News Releases

An insight I had from reading David Meerman Scott’s New Rules of Marketing and PR {NRMP} is that News Releases…in order to be effective need to be updated regularly…not just when important and huge news comes up. This way you will have followers by the time big news really does hit. This can apply to basic Twitter accounts to Fortune 500 company’s news releases. Also, these news releases need to apply directly to your audience so they feel it is news perfectly fit for their consumption. These are just some of the New Rules that blogs and website should be applying to fit this ever changing media and readership. As our world is advancing more and more each day through the internet and blogosphere we need to be open to applying these rules and finding ways to improve that will best fit our product and in turn…what will best fit our audience.

New Official Mormon Radio Station

Monday May, 18th 2009, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched a new radio station called Mormon Channel which broadcasts online 24-7. Originating in Salt Lake City, Utah, this new LDS Church radio station broadcasts both new and archived audio content as well as content from third-party organizations. You can subscribe to podcast feeds of specific audio programs and at some point in the near future a Facebook Widget and iPhone Application will also be available. How cool is that? The church is very good at "staying up to par" with the latest media developments and trends so they can be the most successful at using the newest technology that is available. The internet's world wide reach is great for the church in that those who are looking to know more about what we believe in can access the church in ways easier than ever before, through even their very own home computer. There is no doubt in my mind our Heavenly Father has inspired men to create such a versatile and useful technology, the internet...and if used for good can be an extrememly powerful tool in even spreading the gospel. Awesome stuff!

Direct Niche Advertising is SO Possible

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly, by David Meerman Scott is a fresh new look at the biggest growing ways to use and implement the internet. This book provides an A to Z assistance and view of the new online marketplace. In reading the first chapter I am most impressed with the online marketing options he fully explains to us, showing us how they work and why they are important. The old rules of marketing and PR are ineffective in an online world. It is interesting to see how websites are improving and implementing these new rules already. “Prior to the Web, organizations had only two significant choices to attract attention.” he says, the first to buy expensive advertising or get third-party ink from the media. But this is not true for the internet. Now we are about to work directly with customers and we find a trend for, in my own words, a sort of niche/mass media advertising that is completely possible with the internet. While it is available to anyone through the internet, if can be directed and developed to meet a single customers needs. The relationship can be more personal. Instead of high volume billboard views to everyone, we can market the smallest of audiences and capture exactly what they want to see. Awesome!

Mobile Marketing: Is ‘App-vertising’ the Answer?

According to an article on AdAge posted by Garrick Schmitt, “half of the top mobile applications are games — and engagement for apps averages nine-plus minutes per session.” So what does this mean for advertisers? New and exciting oppurtunities to get into our brains! App-vertising is a great way for brands to get their product out in the online world while putting a creative and fun spin on their campaign. No other media can do what mobile marketing can do! It is still a very new medium, but one worth implimenting! A few years ago people were scared to use their phones for anything other than calling and texting, but now thanks to Apple’s iPhone and Apps Store we are seeing at least 20 applications being downloaded to each phone. The possibilities are endless. You can pick up an iphone and shake it to make a milk-shake, or watch an interactive movie or play a mini-racing game while you wait in the doctor’s office. It is definitely opening doors to a new revenue stream for the brands and agencies. “The trick is to make it interesting and worth downloading. And keep it fresh, geez.” says, chadschomber of Black Earth, WI. & I ditto that.

Trident’s Beyonce Dance Debuts as No. 2 Most-Watched Viral Video

Abbey Klaasen with AdAge.com said that every week since Samsung’s “LED Sheep,” T-Mobile’s “Dance” and Cadbury’s “Eyebrow Dance.” have been launched have appeared on the chart. “According to Visible Measures analysis of its data, all three have had remarkable runs. Over the course of the campaigns, T-Mobile’s “Dance” has logged more than 18 million total views, Cadbury nearly 12 million total views and Samsung nearly 10 million total views. Meanwhile, Durex, whose “Get It On” ad graces the chart again this week, has had almost 11 million views.” With the widespread popularity of camera phones and the ability that every one has of uploading a video, YouTube has made celebrities out of small people and documented some the most random yet most viewed videos to the day. The Youtube phenomenon has taken those without cable to new levels of entertainment. One of my favorite viral videos is harry potter puppet pals…now performed at talent shows all over the country. You know a video is popular when everyone and their dog is making remakes and posting them in reply to the video. In the week of April 27, 2009, the ranking is home to three new ads: Trident’s “100 Single Ladies Dance” makes a strong debut in the No. 2 spot, and the Boston Bruins playoff promotion (akin to last week’s Cleveland Cavaliers spot) and Marshall’s round out the other marketers bowing on the chart, in the Nos. 9 and 10 spot, respectively.” Go check em out (and then show them to everyone and their dog), you won’t be dissappointed.

Hulu’s a Big Splash, but Is It a Long-Term Business?

“Hulu hasn’t just grown since it launched 13 months ago; it’s exploded.” Hoag Levins from AdAge.com says. “It streams more online video than any other site except YouTube.” It is viewed as by many as a symbol of a bright new future for traditional television but some are wondering about the long-term strength of its business setup. It is hard to say how Hulu and other websites of its nature will be paid for. Right now Hulu is 100% advertising while YouTube is around 10% advertising. Hulu is a giant step into the realm of portable, watch-it-wherever-you-go-at any-time television. But with the cost of producing TV, what is going to happen when millions go to the internet to watch Hulu and traditional TV suddenly tanks? It is a hard thing to measure and seems that it’s only good for picking up additional profits after real air time. This shitft will move the focus of advertising and find what content viewers are really interesting. Just because a few things in the business model don’t seem to click right now, the internet is an unavoidable source for this mass kind of media and there is no telling when it will stop.

Cell Phones as a Mass Media Device?

by Joshua Brockman

NPR, All Tech Considered

"The sound — and sight — of cell phones is all too familiar in airports. And it's likely to become even more of a presence as many airlines move toward a paperless check-in system by expanding what customers can do from their Internet-enabled mobile phones. It's part of the industry's continued emphasis on self-service." Says NPR digital news writter, Joshua Brockman. Mark Shalz, a trainer for Graystone Associates Inc., in Kansas City, Mo., says it would be "a lot more convenient" if he could handle all of this from his BlackBerry. I would have to agree. It would be way more convenient and such a complement to technology, not to have to carry around another thing, if all your ticket information was available on your cell phone. This fact alone clearly shows the new frontiers technology is bringing us to. "Airlines including American, Delta, and Continental are testing mobile and smart phone check-in technology at more than a dozen U.S. airports. And a number of foreign carriers have already implemented it." The idea sounds great but there still might be a few kinks in the system with this move to self-service. "It will become almost like a pocket travel agent or a pocket travel assistant," says Rob Boruki, a solution manager for mobile travel and gaming at NCR. But regardless of how fast or how smart your phone is, there's still no guarantee that you'll whisk through security." I am enthusiastic about where this technology transition will take us next. I am hoping for vacation to Hawaii??! :P

Powerful Effects Theory

The classic example of the application of the Powerful Effects Theory was illustrated on October 30, 1938 when Orson Welles, and the newly formed Mercury Theater group, broadcasted their radio edition of H.G. Well's, "War of the Worlds." On the eve of Halloween, radio programming was interrupted with a "news bulletin" for the first time. What the audience heard was that Martians had begun an invasion of Earth in a place called Grover's Mill, New Jersey.It became known as the "Panic Broadcast" and changed broadcast history, social psychology, civil defense and set a standard for provocative entertainment. Approximately 12 million people in the United States heard the broadcast and about one million of those actually believed that a serious alien invasion was underway. A wave of mass hysteria disrupted households, interrupted religious services, caused traffic jams and clogged communication systems. People fled their city homes to seek shelter in more rural areas, raided grocery stores and began to ration food. The nation was in a state of chaos, and this broadcast was the cause of it. [Source: Katz & Lazarsfeld (1955)]

It is evident that the media has a very powerful and direct influence on us. Once we make a decision to accept a type of media message for what it is and then consume it, it impacts us. Whatever previous opinions and beliefs you have will effect how you react to a media message. If you make a decision to believe what is being broadcast on the radio and then hear that an alien invasion is taking place, you are inevitably going to perceive that message as being true and you will react to it's message. However, the receivers can be invisible as they can choose not to accept the message put across through the communication and the message can be terminated at will. It is all based on our past experiences and exposures to the types of messages that are being communicated.

Selective Retention

Selective Retention is a minimalist theory that says we are most likely to retain messages that agree with our view of the world. We will tend to perceive things according to our beliefs more than as they really are, and react accordingly. According to an article from Illinois State University, Selective Retention is the personal filtering of what we see and hear so as to suit our own needs. ISU also says, Much of this process is psychological and often unconscious. A good example of this is, being accused of only hearing what you want to hear when say your mother asks you to do something. Well, in the sense of the media this fact that is quite true. We simply are bombarded with too much stimuli every day to pay equal attention to everything so we pick and choose according to our own needs. Putting this theory to use, makers of the media should beware of showing people 'compelling evidence' when their beliefs will still turn them away. A time when I have seen selective retention apparent in my life was when my husband and I were at a friends house. Our friend decided to put on a movie, one that we would never have chosen on our own time because of the content and we were utterly turned away from the movie because of it's light mindedness and seemingly sea-level maturity. We left early that night and I realized that movies such as those are movies that do not agree with our values and beliefs so we will never turn to them for a source of information let alone a source of entertainment.