Native Advertising Ideas - Cadillac on Mashable

The Native Ad Concept

A series that consists of interesting people talk about interesting things while using a brand's product.

Props for: 

Not putting the brand name in the title of the series so it feels more real, and having a great shot of people having a good time in the header. People always want to get involved with people who (authentically) look like they're having fun.

Props for: 

Having people not talk about the product, but showing them using it and enjoying it. 

Props for: 

Making it a series! Seeing this promoted series a few times on Mashable makes it more of a regular Mashable thing, rather than a one-time soulless promoted post. You almost forget it sponsored.

Here's the link.

Digital Dumbo Holiday Bash Agency Showcase

Jonathan Santoro from Carrot Creative

Digital Dumbo hosted their "Holiday Bash + 2min Agency Showcase" last night. Carrot Creative, Free Association, Huge, HUSH, Prolific Interactive, Red Antler & Stinkdigital each had two minutes to present their work from the past year, and their predictions for the coming year.

All of the Dumbo-based creative agencies had interesting things and ideas to share. But, here are my awards:

Coolest 2014 Projects: Carrot Creative

Most Amicable Presentation: Prolific Interactive

Brains I'd Most Like to Pick: HUSH

Best Tag-Team: Free Association

Most Creative: Stink Digital

Best Overall Presentación: Red Antler

David Landa from Free Association

Takeaways
Start thinking about the space in between the internet of things and ways to hit two birds with one stone in a single update to a client's new site.

A Perfect Email for Getting People to your Brand's Blog + Content - SumAll

1. A nice image, a big heading, and big CTA, so you don't have to read the middle text part, but can just get on with it.

2. A descriptive, but short heading and CTA, so you don't have to read the middle text part, but can just get on with it.

3. Summary as the heading and a simplified version of it as the CTA, so what you're getting is rich, but what you're clicking on is simple.

4. The idea of what this email is about was broken down as I experienced the email. The subject of this email was "4 Ways to Deliver Awesome Customer Service", making it interesting enough to open and trust-worthy enough to open because it told me what I was opening and how much content I was investing in reading. Then the heading was a little more formal, so I could trust the content. Then, the CTA was simple, so it was easy to read and click on.

Perfect.

This is how to compose an email if you want to share content as brand from your blog.

Cold Email Marketing - What I've Learned

Before "shoppable" was an understood concept (shoppable video, photo, etc), I had to get thousands of people to sign up for a mobile app that published shoppable photos onto their existing social media accounts and blog platforms. Oh, and I had to do this before the app was published. 

Target Audience: fashion bloggers 
Method of Reach: cold email 
Thoughts: shit 
Ultimate Conversion Rate (cold email sent --> sign up for app): ~60% 

It wasn't all sweet and dandy. I went through about nine versions of the cold email before reaching this rate. Here are some tips for cold email marketing I learned from the process: 

Strategic Punctuation 

The Em Dash is a beautiful and versatile punctuation mark. Instead of using tacky BOLD AND BIG TEXT — use an em dash. 

Eyes go to it because it's a nice break from text. I like to use it to point out emotionally intriguing points that I want readers to pick out, even if it's not the main point of the email. It helps to let your email stand out as something they can connect with. 

Name Dropping 

Not just for when you're at da club, name dropping lets the reader attach something they already know and trust to your brand, helping to legitimize it and let it be a part of their lives. I like to keep name dropping at the beginning or end of paragraphs/sections/sentences. 

A Trail of (alluring) Details 

Give readers small bites of alluring details to digest rather than big hard-to-chew bites. Maybe it's the impressive company you're emailing from, or something that makes them feel special, followed by another thing that makes them feel special, and ending with a cta. 

But, whatever you do, keep each bite small and alluring — speaking to a financial, emotional, or social incentive. 

Talk with, not At 

Put your keyboard away, and don't type a damn thing until you've reached an understanding of how your audience communicates. 

Read blogs in their communities, search relevant hashtags on social media, spend a few hours reading related customer reviews... I could go on. After spending at least a week just doing this, you'll be about ready to speak with your audience, not at them. Would you rather email with a friend or solicitor? 

Get out of your head, and into theirs. 

Here are two versions from my cold email on-boarding campaign. See if you can spot the improvements from the older to newer version.

Version 4 - 7/13 
Hey Olivia Gossett, 
I'm Director of Publishers at COMPANY. I manage our top content creators, and I want to extend an invitation to you. 

In collaboration with brands like Alexander Wang, Theory, Saks (+200 others) we’ve built an app for fashion + beauty publishers that makes linking your photos with affiliate products on social media and your blog, more like tagging a friend on Instagram -- no more copy and paste. Check out a demo here. 

You can request an invite here while we’re still accepting new publishers (please register with this email address as it’s been pre-approved) and I'll ensure you’re on the list for a publisher account. 

I’m here day or night just for our Digital Publishers should you have any questions at all, so please don’t hesitate to ask! 

Very Best, 
Olivia 

Version 8 - 7/29 
Hey Olivia, 
I really like your style and aesthetic on Olivia's Blog. I'm Director of Publishers at COMPANY — I manage our top content creators, and I want to extend an invitation to you. 

In collaboration with brands like Alexander Wang, Theory, Saks (+200 others) we’ve built an app for fashion + beauty publishers that makes linking your photos to affiliate products on social media and your blog, more like tagging a friend on Instagram -- no more copy and paste. Check out a demo here. 

You can request an invite here while we’re still accepting new publishers (please register with this email address as it’s been pre-approved) and I'll ensure you’re on the list for a publisher account. 

I’m here day or night just for our Digital Publishers should you have any questions at all, so please don’t hesitate to ask! 

Very Best, 
Olivia

Downy Ad Review

Uuuuuuuuuugh. This Downy ad.

Yo, I get it. It's clever, sort of. But it's stuck in between over produced and real. If you're going to show Joe Schmoe on a subway, then show Joe Schmoe is a subway... for REAL. This produced "real" setting and people just pisses me off and actually puts me off. The ONLY way anyone is going to smell you on a subway is if they are smushed up against you during rush hour. THEN you'll want to smell good and impress the lady who has her nostrils already an inch away from your sweatshirt.

American Apparel Ads - Why They Rock

I saw this ad today in a newspaper, in a coffee shop.  It caught my eye, obviously, and made me appreciate American Apparel branding more than ever. This ad just SCREAMS "share me!", which nowadays is more rewarding than spending big bucks for a billboard.

In-Your-Face Ads

Pretty, photoshopped models are not a risk. A sleek car driving down a winding road is not a risk. Sure, if you're just looking to maintain brand recognition then don't worry about taking share-worthy risk —your job is done if someone sees your ad in their peripheral vision and sub-consciously digests it. But, if want to be in someone's shareable conscious, then get real and raw and take some risks.

Shameless Ads

WAIT. If you're going to take a risk, you better get ready to stand by them. American Apparel ads get banned. I LOVE that. Fuck it, let's push the envelope. They don't apologize, they just try again, with the same branding.

They take risks. They are in your face with sex sex sex, but it's all raw, funny, and REALish. You want to join the American Apparel party. Sure, they objectify women, but who doesn't? If you want to break it down, I'd say Dove objectifies women just as much... they are using bodies to sell their product, just a different type. At least American Apparel is transparent about it. But that's getting off topic.

Real

I came across a re-brand exercise for American Apparel on someone's Behance profile. They suggested using the "Wear Your Freedom.", showing some chic in weird positions and yellow tights. They're trying to be inspiring with hosh-posh inspirational wording that's supposed to speak to young people. Like some ad exec was like "yes, let's connect with the free youngens and speak to their freedom!" and then he coughs and eats more of his chicken salad sandwich.

The original branding is so much better because it feels organic and real. Like someone just took the photo and wrote the first relevant thing that came to mind. It's not TRYING to be anything.

Unfiltered

Maybe that's what it is. 

Hyatt House - Messaging to Believe

What I See
Communication goes way beyond copy, but you already knew that. Here, Hyatt is using photos that resemble the look of phone or instagram photos on their website. I love this. It's smart.

Why I Like It
I believe these photos. I don't believe some stock photo of a man smiling because of his free shitty continental breakfast. That stale toast sucks — we both know it.

When we believe what we see, we think it can happen to us. People's perception of what's possible is changing. They don't believe as much because they are being told more.

And because these photos resemble something I create and share on my phone, it makes me want to go to this place that is full of photo-sharing opportunities.

Show and tell consumers something they can believe, while still being aspirational... like these photos.