In 2011, Armstrong|Shank client Newton Medical Center made a major investment with their purchase of the robotic da Vinci® Surgical System. This amazing piece of medical equipment is a game-changer in surgery. Our task was to introduce the da Vinci robot and its amazing advantages to the market served by Newton Medical Center, a 103-bed facility 25 miles north of Wichita.

Newton Medical Center’s da Vinci robot was the 7th in Kansas, so a simple claim of “first in” would not suffice. Since this was an introduction of great science to the market, our first element was an outdoor board that paid homage to two of history’s master scientists and thinkers, Leonardo da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton: thus, the resulting outdoor, print and digital campaign “Newton, Meet da Vinci.”

That started the buzz. Our next strategy was to humanize the benefits of what is really a very high-end machine but a machine nonetheless. We needed someone who understood the machine and could explain it passionately yet simply.

Enter Dr. Kent Bradley, fertility physician and leader of Newton’s robotic surgery team. We had several conversations with Dr. Bradley about the da Vinci Surgical System, and his passion for the robot and the benefits it gives his patients was apparent.

We took Dr. Bradley into the radio studio and produced two radio spots in which he explained why he, as a surgeon, loves the machine and why patients end up loving it, as well.

Newton Medical Center da Vinci Radio 1

Newton Medical Center da Vinci Radio 2

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 2 of 5.

The new reality is that customers (happy and unhappy) are leading the conversation about their experiences with a company:  Social media has given individuals a bigger voice than ever before.

Smart companies will listen to those customers and engage with them.

Here’s a story that will terrify business owners who aren’t paying attention to what others are saying online about their brand.

In this excerpt from our “Storytelling and Social Media” seminar, author and business blogger Drew McLellan opens eyes to the importance of listening and engaging.

It takes less than three minutes, but this video is guaranteed to change the way people think about using social media.

Part 1: How much copy is too much?

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 1 of 5.

When you want to tell an advertising story that connects with your audience in an emotional way, less is more: Use fewer words to tell a story for greater impact.

Here’s a powerful reminder to avoid packing 10 pounds of information into a five-pound bag.

Watch this three-minute video from Armstrong|Shank’s 30^th anniversary seminar, “Storytelling and Social Media,” presented by author and business blogger Drew McLellan.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is a pretty serious institution. Talk of the walking dead would seem like a topic they’d like to avoid. But earlier this year they posted a blog titled Preparedness 101: The Zombie Apocalypse.

The article asks and then answers the question of how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. It’s humorous, zany, and more than a little out of character for a serious group like the CDC. But, strangely enough, preparing for the zombie apocalypse is remarkably similar to preparing for any other major disaster like hurricanes, floods, tornados and extended power outages.

The article was a hit. In fact, it attracted more than 3.6 billion impressions (yes, that’s a b). Not bad for an estimated $89 to produce the article. (Insert joke about the irony of the CDC going viral.)

But I can imagine, sitting here at my desk imagining things, that during the process of producing that article someone at the CDC held up a red flag. I can hear it now. “Are we sure that this is the image we want to project to the public? I’m not comfortable with it. What if someone thinks we are serious? Our credibility could be at stake here!”

I’m glad they remembered that it’s okay to show you have a sense of humor now and then — even if you are in a serious business.

Image is important to any business, and you certainly don’t want to undermine it just because some crazy marketing guy has an idea. But we shouldn’t sell short our audience’s ability to play along when we take a bit of a leap. And sometimes, crazy ideas really work.

The CDC has since added a permanent Zombie Preparedness page to their website. And a lot of people who never before thought about preparing for a natural disaster now have an emergency kit on hand.

I’ve had the opportunity over the last few months to redesign print materials for Friends University. Immediately, I knew that I wanted to do something young, fresh and easy to read. For me, the solution was simple, both literally and figuratively.

I am the queen of employing simple designs that use lots of white space, and I’m a big believer in less is more: The less text an audience is presented with, the more likely the audience is to start reading.

Sounds kind of backward, but think about it — when you open a newspaper and flip through the ads, you’re probably more likely to read one with less copy than one filled column to column with text and heavy images. It gets confusing, even a little intimidating, to be visually bombarded with so much at once. Maybe it’s just me, but when life is busy and time is of the essence, the shorter and more concise something is, the better.

When I began designing the new look for Friends University, keeping the audience in mind was vital. This client deals with multiple audiences: undergraduate, graduate and adult degree completion. High school seniors, for example, receive numerous materials from colleges daily. Graduate and adult degree completion candidates don’t have time to fish through the mound of educational materials inundating their mailboxes. Friends University needed its marketing efforts to stand out from the rest.

Why not make it all visually simple, clean and less intimidating? Short headlines, short body copy and colorful pictures portraying the friendships and fun of college — that was the way to go.

So, in attempt to not be a hypocrite, I’ll keep it brief:
Keep it short, keep it simple, keep the white space.

Break through the clutter, don’t add to it.

The holiday favored by many people in the United States and around the world is none other than scary, spooky Halloween — and for good reason. Kids can dress up in just about any costume their imagination dreams up, prowl around the neighborhood as the sun goes down and ask for candy at every doorstop. What’s not to love?

True, the holiday is a marketer’s dream. But can every company get in the Halloween spirit and put great advertising out there? I suppose every company could, but sadly, every company does not. Some don’t get involved at all (sniff) and some put out some pretty scary ads — you know you’ve seen them, even though you tried to avert your eyes.

So in honor of this spooky holiday we have complied a list of some of our favorite Halloween inspired ads.

Goodwill Southern California

Goodwill wasn’t afraid to alter its logo in the name of good art and good fun. The bottom right box — the ending visual that people tend to see — maintains the untouched logo. But the other boxes employ the same simple, smiling cartoon shape, but with the Halloween theme played nicely.

Takethislollipop.com

True this isn’t really about Halloween but it is spooky and totally creepy to imagine the situations this implies are possible.

Westlake Ace Hardware Zombies Preparedness Center Campaign

This campaign manages to create a humorous, fun brand association, while tying to products they actually sell.

Snickers “Grocery Store Lady” ad

This “old lady” is definitely one of the scariest things we have ever seen.

FedEx Zombies

Because nothing can stop FedEx, not even a zombie outbreak.

Daily Monster’s Create Your Own Monster Blog

For all you creative types (we have our fair share here) now you can be scary and creative at the same time!

Crest and Oral-B – Scary things come to those who do not brush

Crest & Oral-B could have suggested that trick-or-treaters be given apples or
toothbrushes instead of candy. Instead, they used an iconic Halloween
symbol to make their point. Well done.

McDonald’s Ghost

McDonald’s doesn’t judge; even if you are dressed as an infamous serial killer at 4am they will still take your order. That’s our kind of service!

Do you have a favorite Halloween ad that we missed? Share it in the comments! Happy Halloween!

A stool needs three legs to stand. If one leg is weak, broken or nonexistent, then the stool cannot stand — and a nonstanding stool is not an effective sitting apparatus. Likewise, an effective online media campaign has three legs: keywords, ads and landing pages. If one of these is weak, broken or nonexistent, then you don’t have a very effective ad campaign.

I’m sure by now that if you advertise online, you have at least heard about landing pages. In case you have not, let me break it down for you:

A landing page is exactly as it sounds ­— a page on your website that someone arrives at when he or she clicks on a link or an ad. Landing pages can be used to encourage the “landee,” if you will, to perform a specific action, such as making a purchase or filling out a request-info form. Landing pages can be optimized based on who the visitor is, where they are coming from and what information they are looking for to improve the probability of the visitor performing a desired action.  According to this study by Marketing Experiments, a properly tested and optimized landing page can increase conversion up to 548 percent.

A client of ours recently implemented landing pages. We had been running a fairly successful search campaign for this particular client for more than 12 months. Click-through rates were great. The quality of visits was fantastic. But conversions were low. Why? We discovered that many people were visiting the site, looking at several pages, making it as far as visiting the “Contact us” page and then not converting. (The conversion action for this client is submitting a form requesting more information.) So we implemented optimized landing pages. We saw a 133 percent increase in conversions after the first month and a 185 percent increase after three months.

Keywords, ads and landing pages work together to keep your online media campaign moving in the right direction. Keep the trifecta in mind as you plan your strategy, and you’ll no doubt have greater success in the long run.

During a volunteer build day for Habitat for Humanity, I learned that hammering a nail into a piece of wood is not an easy thing to do. It seems easy: The equipment is relatively straightforward. There is a hammer, a nail, some wood and your body. The process seems reasonable – drive a nail into the wood by hitting the nail with a hammer.

But when I actually got down to doing it, it was a pretty sad scene. Countless swings seemed to only produce horribly bent nails sticking far out of the boards. It took me hours to finally hammer with a faint glimmer of proficiency.

The lesson: Just because something looks easy doesn’t mean that it is.

Not unlike advertising. On its face, advertising appears uncomplicated. There is a product with a target audience, a message and a few different media options. Simple, right?

Except when it’s not.

Anyone who has put together an advertising plan knows that things get complicated quickly. Budget constraints make decisions more difficult. Fragmented media consumption by the target audience creates communications barriers. Trying to find creative and unique messages that cut through the clutter can, at times, seem impossible.

So what are we to do?

I was able to learn how to hammer better by asking the experienced project coordinator for help. He has spent hours upon hours of his life hammering nails and was able and willing to share his knowledge with me.

When you are tackling an advertising challenge, there is no shame in reaching out for help. Maybe you need the guidance of a media planner to find the right mix for your budget. Maybe the traditional media side is all set, but you need advice on how to integrate digital marketing tactics. Whatever the task, there is someone out there who can help. And a bit of time and money spent on consultation can save a tremendous amount of wasted investment in the long run.

Thirty years.

It sounds like a very long time. Yet looking back, it seems that the years disappeared into thin air. Time is funny like that.

Our minds reach back to recall decades of work, and we are rewarded with a fast-motion blur that makes our heads spin. Then, magically, hundreds of shining moments raise up to dazzle us with a golden clarity that we can’t deny.

They are big occasions and small ones. Triumphs and tribulations. Public and private. Together, they are the sum of our journey in the advertising business — and they make us thankful for the amazing people we’ve met along the way.

As I was reflecting on our 30 years in business, I was astonished at the number of magic moments that sprang so quickly to mind. Snapshots of people and places that have touched my life in ways they may never know.

We have worked with clients who became such close friends that I can’t imagine life without them. We’ve laughed together. Created great work together. Celebrated successes together. And grown to respect each other.

Our vendor partners have taught us more than we ever dreamed possible. They have encouraged us. Met our deadlines. Honored our budgets. And made us look like heroes.

The members of our staff have carried us through the best of times and the worst of times. They have consistently given us their very best work. They have generated brilliant ideas. Worked through the night without being asked. And walked through our doors every morning ready for the next big adventure.

Once, when a tornado struck our agency, our clients and vendors and staff — and competitors — all worked together to get us operational again.

If you are reading this, it’s likely that you played a role in our company’s growth. For that, I thank you most sincerely.

The wonderful thing about the advertising business is, just when you are sure that you have seen everything, something new comes along. You are absolutely, positively never bored. Not for a minute.

Even now, I can hardly wait for tomorrow.

Oh, the places we’ll go!

According to a Forbes Insights and Coremetrics survey of marketing executives, customer retention is a top marketing priority.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The old marketing axiom goes, “It is less expensive to retain and grow business from an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one.” It makes sense that ever more budget-conscious companies are turning to customer retention strategies in search of a higher ROI.

But, what does it take to retain a customer?

When you look at the consumer buying cycle (awareness, consideration, interaction, loyalty, advocacy), retention fits somewhere after the interaction, or point of purchase. At this point, the consumer has chosen you over the competition and has begun to trust you on some level.

Retention starts by building on that trust through actively fostering loyalty and enabling advocacy. A good way to develop retention strategies is to ask three questions:

1. Are we asking for loyalty? This involves going beyond the initial relationship formed by the first purchase. Soliciting feedback and acting on that feedback strengthens the level of trust and starts to engender loyalty.
2. Are we helping our customers share their experiences? Adding social-sharing features to your follow-up process increases the chance that your customers will share their experiences.
3. Are we active in the communities where our customers interact with each other? Finding the social communities where your customers are sharing experiences is key to building a retention program. These are the places where you can gain insight through listening and enable advocacy by interacting in meaningful ways. If there is not place for your customers to share experiences, consider building one.

If you are serious about retention, you need to get serious about building loyalty and enabling advocacy. If you don’t, your competitors will.