Brennan's Gifts and Home DecorWritten by Clarice Powers
Looking for individuals to visit our online store and perhaps request information we have for Wholesale Job Opportunities. Our products are of quality and are only chosen for such. We offer nothing in
| | Thinking CreativelyWritten by Harry Hoover
Three seconds. That’s what you have to convey your message. Creativity is strategic weapon that allows us to capture those few precious moments of attention from busy consumers in our increasingly competitive, time-crunched environment. Let’s examine our audience for a moment. Who are today’s consumers? What are they thinking? What matters to them today, or tomorrow? What will motivate them? Compel them? Focus groups tell us that time is a precious, yet dwindling resource. Attention spans seem to be dwindling, as well. Consider: average TV spot in past 30 years has fallen from 60 seconds to 30 seconds. Today we produce 15 and 10-second spots. Five-second and three-second spots are now being considered. And not just for economic reasons. Many forces condition people. They are surrounded by competing messages, special effects, quick cuts, pop-up videos. This environment requires extra effort on our part to get people to read beyond a headline. In writing and designing an outdoor billboard we have to communicate clearly and creatively in three seconds. Anything more and you lose their attention. The same now is true of print ads. In this neon, strobe-laced, fast-cut, quick-dissolve, sound-bite world, we bore easily. We should not totally surrender to these trends but instead look at yearnings they reveal: a desire for simplicity, efficiency, truth, quality of presentation. Everyday in our business we deal with commodity products. Me too versus very few unique. And unique products in consumer’s mind are few and far between. More products than ever are becoming commodities. So, when we design and write marketing communication material we must recognize a very fundamental fact: we are interrupting someone’s day. The fact that they chose to read, hear or view our message places a great responsibility on us to present this work as best we can. All elements must contribute to a single point. A single reason for being there. Add something and it is excess baggage. Take something away and it’s thin soup. The balance is critical. Competition for that shorter attention span is increasing, too. Today, advertisers are competing for consumer’s time with an increasing number of non-media related activities. Segmentation to special interests is exploding. Not because suddenly people have lots of free time to pursue other interests. It’s because tools and delivery systems exist to create and produce publications – online and offline – faster than ever. There are magazines and websites on every conceivable subject and more coming. Digital TV advancements provide six-channels-to-one over current systems. Competition for your customer is increasing. The choices will continue to expand. And people will increasingly filter out that which doesn’t meet their needs. It’s not just about meeting these challenges. It’s about anticipating them, too. As you institute changes that help you remain competitive today ask: where will consumers be one year from now, three years from now. Anticipate market on best model you can find then add your imagination, excitement and personality. And, we can’t underestimate today’s consumers and readers. They are smart and you must not fall prey to communicating to lowest common denominator. Our consumers demand creativity, and ultimately they are who we work for.
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