VUCA: Finding Order in Chaos

Que “Barbie Girl” song voice, “I’m a VUCA girl… in a VUCA world.” VUCA is chaos but what does it mean and how do we bring order to the mess? This concept came about to help us understand the complexities of the world around us concerning uncertainty, rapid changes, disruption, flux in the markets, etc. It seems uncontrollable right? Well, wrong. VUCA helps bring order to the chaos. The acronym stands for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Let’s break each one down and see how one can use this as a guideline in a chaotic world.

1.     Volatile: This refers to the speed of changes in industries. We’re up. We’re down. Life is truly a rollercoaster ride. In business, it’s important not to react immediately to volatile changes. Take a second to take a deep breath. Let’s take 5 actually to help you remain calm and make sound decisions. Another way to combat volatility is to leave slack in certain areas of your business. For example, keep a cushion in the bank account to help out with low revenue times or stockpile some inventory.

2.     Uncertain: Refers to all those unknowns in life and business. There is so much we cannot control in our lives. So, let’s take the thought-out approach and focus our efforts on those things that we can. Some things are almost impossible to predict in business. Focus on things that can help you be more certain, such as data. What information can you use to see what works and what doesn’t?

3.     Complex: There are a plethora of factors that have to be considered for anything we do. More factors equal more complexity. One way to deal with this is to surround yourself with people who can help you slow down and figure things out. Remember Occam’s Razor? The best answer to something is typically the most obvious and simplest one. Find allies who can help you break things down into more clear and concise forms to problem solve.

4.     Ambiguity: This is the lack of clarity on how to interpret something. Pretty much everything in life falls under that “grey area.” A way to deal with this is to be expeditious to abrupt changes that you may not have been expecting. Being able to pivot quickly is the best way to deal with vagueness in cause-and-effect situations.

In our urgency culture, VUCA isn’t going anywhere any time soon. The plus side is that there are ways to combat it in a more clarified and structured way. In business, it can help leaders manage the rapidly changing markets and maintain the right mindset while doing so. Long-term success is the end game, so understanding VUCA will help you and your team follow that non-linear line to the top!

Agile Marketing

Agile marketing is a fairly new concept and wasn’t introduced until 2012. It’s a strategy that prioritizes high-value projects and concentrates all resources on them. The team(s) then work in short, intense bursts to complete goals, assess their impacts, and work toward getting better results next time. At the core of this method, its values are:

·      Reacting to change instead of following a plan

·      Rapid repetitions over larger campaigns

·      Testing data and validated learning instead of “rules”

·      People and interactions over large audiences

·      Customer-focused instead of hierarchy

According to the 2022 State of Agile Marketing Report, “555 of agile marketing teams can release things fast, and 48% can change gears quickly when feedback demands it.” Research from McKinsey also found that “agile marketing increases revenue by 20-40%.” You can see the benefits of this method already, so how does one go about implementing it?

1.     Planning: This is a sprint kickoff meeting to determine the priorities of the project. The project will be divided into tasks that are given deadlines, and assigned to team members. It’s important to show that the customer is most important above all else and emphasize speed, collaboration, data, and accountability.

2.     Sprints: Short burst from 2-6 weeks to finish a project.

3.     Stand-up meetings: Every day all team members should meet to go over what each has completed the previous day so that everyone is on the same page moving forward. This is an important step for problem-solving as well.

4.     Board to track progress: Whiteboards, software shared doc, etc. Whatever means necessary to keep everyone on track in the same place.

5.     Teamwork: This goes for any team in any department. Teamwork makes the dream work!

6.     Retrospective: Run by the scrum master for the scrum team. This is where everyone shares what went well and what didn’t. This meeting is for improving on future sprints.

Now that we know the methodology, let’s look at the individuals who make up the agile marketing teams.

Scrum Method:

1.     Scrum: Responsible for keeping the team on track. They facilitate meetings, solve problems, and ensure collaboration and communication between all members.

2.     Product owner: They’re in charge of the why behind the work and ensuring that tasks are being completed promptly. They’re in charge of understanding the audience of the brand the most to provide them value.

3.     Developer: All others in the team are developers. They contribute unique skill sets from different departments that your project falls under.

Kanban Method

1.     Visualization: This method uses visuals to track progress. A board is used and divided into columns for each stage of work. In simple terms; to-do, doing, and done columns. Whatever the task at hand is will determine how many columns to create to track. 

2.     WIP limits: These are boundaries to outline how team members work on the tasks within each column. This places a limit on how many tasks one person can work on or how much time each task has to be completed. This keeps people focused on one job until it’s completed and moving on to the next.

3.     Meeting cadences:  Similar to scrub, planning meetings, daily stand-ups, and retrospective meetings will occur to make sure everyone and everything is on track. The delivery meeting is absent since Kanban doesn’t work on timelines.

Agile marketing can be a great way for marketing departments to react quickly to changes in the market. They can also try a lot of new things in short campaigns to see what will work for your brand and what won’t. But, how do you know if agile marketing is right for your brand? Is your company seeing high turnover rates? Are your employees folding under pressure from immense workloads? These both might be good reasons to try an agile marketing effort. If your team is willing to change and give it a try it’s worth the trial run. A good example would be a trend or challenge happening on the internet. We can help you gather those moments.  The truth is your brand won’t know if it works unless you test it out.

Informational Social Influence

Monkey see. Monkey do, as the saying goes. Turns out that this might not be far from the truth. People tend to conform to what others are doing or saying if they perceive them as a source of accurate information. Humans like to be right, so they look to others who are considered experts in their respective fields to understand something deeper. This typically occurs when someone is unsure of something or lacks knowledge in a particular area. Informational social influence is associated with the internalization of said ideas adopted by the expert. You can see how this can lead to social conformity. There have been experiments done to test this theory, such as the Jenness’ Bean Jar Experiment, where participants were asked to guess the number of beans in a jar separately. Then, they were asked to guess the number of beans while in a social group. It turned out that their guesses varied greatly but when they were put into the groups, their estimates were closer in value. This shows that humans can influence one another’s behaviors and beliefs. This is why “social proof” in the advertising world works. If consumers don’t feel like they have enough information on a topic, product, etc., they will seek out a way to have accurate views and information. Social comparison is the process of comparing our opinions with those of others to gain an accurate appraisal of the validity of an opinion or behavior (Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950; Hardin & Higgins, 1996; Turner, 1991). It should be noted that informational influence is different from normative influence. Normative influence is when conformity happens due to one’s desire to “fit in” with the group to gain acceptance and fulfill expectations. The use of informational social influence is used in advertising in the form of social proof to influence the opinions of consumers. A positive view of the brand is the objective to gain new customers. Informative social influence can be a useful tool for widening your brand’s audience.

Tailored Advertising

Think of your brand as a personal tailor for each customer of your audience. Your brand voice should remain consistent but customizable to communication style depending on your audience. Think of it like this, you’re selling the same suit but have to tailor that suit to fit each person differently. Same messages but different deliveries based on a particular group’s interests, perspectives, and backgrounds. Here are some tips to help you tailor your advertising efforts.

1.     Know your audience: This may seem like a no-brainer but it’s extremely important. Who are each group? What are each group’s needs? What motivates each group? What are each group's values and beliefs? You need to segment your audience into different groups with similar interests, etc.

2.     Use the right language: Speaking the language of your audience will help connect with them on a humanistic level. This is why it’s important to segment them. The language you use for your boomer generation will not be the same for Gen Z.

3.     Social proof: Knowing which group identifies with which influencers and creators will make a difference. Age and other factors, such as sex, race, etc. General reviews will be generally useful for all groups but specificity here can make the difference on whether they truly trust your brand.

Emphasizing the needs of individualized groups of your audience will ensure that your ads don’t fall on deaf ears. It will be more effective than generalizations made on your audience since it will reach them more personally. It will also help your brand to reduce financial waste.

Labor Day Fun Facts

We’ve written about the history of Labor Day in the past, so this year we thought we’d throw some fun facts at you on the holiday. Here is a quick list of fun facts about Labor Day.

1.     Oregon was the first state to declare Labor Day an official holiday in 1887

2.     Labor Day is considered the unofficial NFL season kick-off

3.     Labor Day marks the end of the summer season

4.     You can now wear white after Labor Day. The old saying that you can’t wear white after Labor Day roots back to the Victorian Era, where wearing white after the holiday was taboo. People don’t follow this anymore.

5.     One of the top Labor Day weekend destinations in Charleston, SC

6.     Other countries celebrate Labor Day but it’s called International Workers’ Day

7.     Canada celebrated Labor Day before us but it’s spelled Labour Day

Today is a day to celebrate the hard work that we all put in every day, every month, and every year. Take time off today to relax and reset before fall begins. Enjoy your last day of summer today and we’ll see you on the flip side.

Agency Case Studies

The proof is in the pudding as they say. We recently sat down and crunched some numbers for a client and were excited to see the data on some of our projects so we wanted to share it. Not to toot our own horn, but we’re very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. Here are the results of a few of our favorite and most successful campaigns we’ve done in the recent year, so you can see for yourself.

UBER

The goal of this campaign was to showcase their employees living their work/life balance that’s different from other careers. They choose their hours and take time off when they want. Uber and their respective agency needed 22 videos of people showing what it was like getting ready for their current jobs in a humorous way. We were able to discover/curate 251 moments in 3 days. The agency and Uber chose 40 pieces for clearance. We were able to clear 27 selects in 17 days. This was inclusive of background checks for creators in the U.S. and Canada. Uber and the agency licensed 12 assets.

Ford Ranger

 The goal of this campaign was to showcase still photos of drivers with their Ford Rangers between the truck years of 2006-2023 for a video commercial and a still flipbook. Ford and their respective agency needed 15 stills of people showing where they take their rangers and how they use them in their daily lives. We were able to dig out 167 moments in 2 days. Ford and their respective agency chose 40 pieces of content for clearance, inclusive of backups. We were able to clear 38 of those selects in 7 days.

Thrive Pet Healthcare

The goal of this campaign was to show the love that owners have for their pets by showcasing them in matching outfits, celebrating their birthdays, and even having spa days together. Thrive and their respective agency needed 20 video clips of people caring for their pets in a loving, sometimes human-like way. We were able to dig out 137 moments in 3 days. Thrive and their agency chose 22 pieces of those for clearance, inclusive of backups. We were able to clear 17 selects in 7 days. Thrive and the agency ultimately licensed 10 assets.

We hope this helps our B2B partners understand how sourcing content for every project is valuable over stock libraries. Most of these libraries don’t even have fully cleared content. About 80% to be exact. With sourced UGC you never have to worry about this or marked up licensing fees. We’re no frills and no markup. We focus on real creativity on a global scale.

Radio Advertising

Did video really kill the radio star? Is radio advertising still an effective tool with all of the streaming services, social media platforms, and podcasts available now? Let’s take a look at some stats first. “The average American listens to 1 hour and 39 minutes of radio daily,” according to research done by online Market Splash. That’s a surprising number but it demonstrates that people are still listening to the radio. There are some pros and cons, as with anything, to using radio advertising.

Pros:

1.     Reach a large audience

2.     Target specific areas

3.     Target specific audiences during shows, genres, etc.

4.     More cost-effective than T.V. or digital ads

5.     Produced fast and air immediately

Cons:

1.     Minimal buying intent

2.     Choice time spots are more expensive

3.     Ephemeral and short

4.     Not a guarantee that the right audience is listening

5.     Listens tune in and out (typically because they are driving to and from work)

6.     Limited performance tracking

If the pros outweigh the cons for your brand, how do you create a radio ad? First, there are three ways to do so.

1.     Hire freelance: Hire a freelance team to create your ad.

2.     Have the station create it: This can include professional production quality. It is usually the radio host reading the prompt in the ad so keep that in mind if you’re looking for something with a little pizzazz.

3.     Hire a production company: They will do everything from writing, recording, and mixing it. This is the best option in our opinion for the highest quality. It is still very cost-effective ranging from around $800-$1,200.

Once you have decided which option you will go with you need to decide which type of radio ad you want. Do you want:

1.     A jingle

2.     A testimonial

3.     A sponsorship

4.     A live read

5.     A narrative commercial

There will be different levels of cost depending on certain factors, such as the time slot you choose. Peak commuting hours are the costliest because they reach the largest audience. This is from 6-10 am and 3-7 pm. Audience demographics can also impact the pricing. Stations that have listeners between 24-54 will be higher due to their high purchasing power. Stations that have wealthier listeners, such as jazz or classical will also be higher. Special events will also increase pricing. According to Nielsen Sales Effect Studies, radio ads can have a massive ROI with an average return of $9.9 for every dollar spent. Let’s just say that the answer to our first question is no, the video did not kill the radio star.

Presentation in Business: Become a Champ at Public Speaking

Did you know that, “About 77% of people have a fear of public speaking,” according to Cross River Therapy Group. Why is having good presentation skills important in business? Well, it can mean the difference between getting a new client, sharing knowledge efficiently with the team, and/or it will improve the impact of your message through a self-assured and grounded persona. Here are some reasons why it is vital in business.

1.     Time management: Inefficient presentation skills can waste unwanted amounts of time. the more efficient your skillset, the more time you will save for everyone.

2.     Leadership: Delivering a message in a confident and inspiring way makes others want to listen. If you’re a leader in the organization, you need to be able to deliver messages this way to keep the respect of your employees.

3.     PR: Good presentation skills can give you a better public image. People tend to judge those in higher positions, so give them a positive one.

4.     Business success: As we stated above, it can be the difference between landing that new client or not. Conveying your presentation with confidence and a little pizazz will increase the likelihood of your business’s success.

This skill takes practice. Trust us. But, the good news is that if you’re not great at it, it can be improved. Here are some tips on how to become a better presenter.

1.     Practice speaking in front of groups: Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. Start small and practice in front of a mirror. Then, increase to a few friends or family members.

2.     Make eye contact: Look at different members of the audience in the eyes throughout your presentation. This will engage them by speaking more directly to them.

3.     Be you! Be your authentic self. This will automatically make the presentation feel more relaxed.  

4.     Pay attention to body language: Your body language can speak volumes for you without saying a word. Make sure to use open and friendly gestures. Don’t cross your arms. Don’t put your hands in your pockets.

5.     Big visuals: A lot of people are visual. Striking visuals will grab attention and make things easier to understand. Simple is not too distracting and will get your points across. Make sure there is a structure that flows as well.

6.     Encourage questions and comments: Make sure your audience knows that comments and questions are welcome. You want to make sure they feel comfortable doing so.

7.     Avoid awkward pauses: Try to refrain from using the word “umm” a lot. Natural pauses should happen so this is another reason why practicing will help you know where those are.

Most people don’t like getting in front of groups of people to speak and that’s ok. However, if you’re in certain fields of work it will require that you do so, whether you like it or not. The good news is, you can take steps to get better at it. They can take time to develop but just can have a very positive impact on your professional career.

Stand Out Advertising: How to Embrace Your Uniqueness

Trends come and go but good advertising lasts forever. We read a great article yesterday on the benefits of standing out from the crowd in the ad business or any business. We couldn’t agree more that it’s easy to go with the flow and just be like everyone else. The hard thing to do is be different and creativity should be wary of consensus. So, as humans how do we step into our uniqueness and let that shine through in a world that attempts to stifle it? Here are some steps you can take to embrace your one-of-a-kind self.

1.     Accept your flaws and imperfections: No one out there is perfect and giving yourself grace is important as you try to better yourself on this journey of life. Accepting them is the first step to improving them. Growth will happen as you attempt to better yourself.

2.     Lean into your strengths and talents: What are you good at? Are you creative with art, writing, and music? Are you more science-minded? Find those things that you are good at but also enjoy doing. The last statement is important here. Just because you are good at something does not necessarily mean you enjoy it. The two must be in tune.

3.     Find like-minded individuals: Being around those who think like you is important. People who accept you for who you are and all those little weird quirks. Those that inspire you to step into your weirdness and power forward through life.

4.     Spend time doing things you enjoy: What are some of your passions? Do you like nature? Do you like baking or cooking? It’s important to find a little time each day to do these things. They

5.     Stop compromising: Don’t be a people pleaser. Stand out from the crowd and do what you want. Real connections are those that accept you unconditionally rather than who they want you to be.

6.     Embrace your beliefs: Everyone has a different belief system based on upbringing and personal experience. Your beliefs represent a large part of who you are. It’s important that you still be open-minded but also don’t be too fluid. Find a good middle ground.

7.     Stop comparing yourself: comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone has a different path of life. You must trust yours and allow it to unfold as it should without judgment.

8.     Stop asking for validation: Self-confidence goes a long way. It’s one thing to ask for advice here and there but if you need constant validation, it means that you aren’t exactly in tune with trusting yourself.

Dare to be different. Dare to be weird. Dare to stand out. Being you is special because there is only one out there just like you. This means that what you bring to the table in the creative world is unique. Your individuality is the best thing about you. It’s why your company hired you over the other guy. Don’t let the world try to convince you that those cookie-cutter styles are the way that you should be. Being different is extraordinary.

Data Storytelling

We’ve talked about good storytelling in past articles but what is data storytelling? Well, it’s just what it sounds like. It’s the usage of contextualized data collected by a business to craft a story that will be presented to your audience. They typically use infographics, visualizations, interactive maps, and articles. Just like any style of storytelling, data storytelling relies on engaging and informative narratives that can take very complex information and put it into laymen’s terms for the public. This is one of the benefits of data storytelling along with the ability to help brands understand their data and make good decisions going forward. Here are a few other reasons why data storytelling could be right for your business.

1.     It’s scalable: Because of the no-code data platforms that exist now, there will be no need for developers. Platforms offer subscriptions that allow you to publish unlimited stories to scale.

2.     Great performance: These tend to perform very well. CTR, social media metrics. You name it and the insights will be positive.

3.     Good for branding: High-quality content is always good for a brand. Since data storytelling uses graphics that catch the user’s eye, it can keep engagement high. It will also clout your brand to be an expert in that particular field.

These are all good reasons to use data storytelling but how do go about creating one? If you’re like us, you still might be a little confused as to how this works so, here are some steps to take to create a good narrative with your data.

1.     Determine what data matters: It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the insane amount of data that is available. Determine what you want to know and go from there. What topics about your business do you want to see insights on?

2.     Find the story: Now that you have determined what data matters, it’s time to find that story. Here is where you determine what the numbers are telling you. Look for correlations between things that may be interesting and this is your starting point.

3.     Analyze data: Now it’s time to find the meaning. Once you have found those correlations, dig into those relationships.

4.     Know your audience: Who is going to be looking at this story? It’s important to know your audience but if you’re a brand that’s been successful, chances are you already do.

5.     Visualizations: A lot of people are visual learners and this is a great way to help your audience understand the information that is being presented to them. Choose which visualizations your brand will use that best represents your data.

6.     Provide context & structure: The audience needs to understand why they are being shown this data. Show the data in terms of why it matters for the brand with any info that the audience may not be aware of. As we talked about before, you must create a story with good structure, even with data. The story must flow naturally with a beginning, middle, and end. Make sure your points are clear and concise.

 Think about the stories that your brand may want to share with its audience. How can your business data help you do this? Make sure that your topic is relevant to your brand and don’t skimp on those visuals. If you need some inspiration, here is a link to a great example of data storytelling on Brexit. With the insurgence of all the digital data we have at our fingertips today, not leveraging it would be a travesty.

Celebrity Endorsement Advertising

Just one endorsement can spell an increase in sales by 4% almost immediately, according to Social Media Week. People idolize celebs and that’s no secret, so when brands use celebrities for their ads people are more interested in that product/service. These ads usually generate a lot of attention. Here are some reasons to use celebrity endorsement in your brand ads.

1.     Builds credibility: People get attached to their favorite famous folks and generally, they trust them although, they don’t know them at all. This will reassure customers that your brand is quality.

2.     Gain a competitive edge: These types of ads can improve brand recall. It will make your brand stand out from the others.

3.     Increase brand awareness: Celebrities already have a brand of their own, so these ads gain traction fast with large names attached to them. Even the use of a small, local celeb can do the trick for a small business owner.

4.     Can open up new audience avenues: People who follow a certain celeb may not follow your brand but will open you up to a new audience.

Celebrity-endorsed ads can help a brand but there are a few words of caution when considering working with someone. They could overshadow your brand and your message will be lost. An obvious con is they are extremely expensive to work with as well. Lastly, celebrity reputations can change and not in a good way. This could affect your brand reputation negatively if a scandal occurs, so you would have to consider the fact of dropping them as an endorsed celebrity. It should be pointed out that just because your brand decides to use a celeb your brand will automatically start raking in the money. It’s not always a guarantee but chances are your sales will increase as a result.

Business Strategy vs. Business Tactic

Strategy: an action plan that you will take to achieve a final goal. These are set to help businesses figure out what their long-term goals are. Tactic: individual steps taken to help the business achieve the end goal. These two work synonymously together to help a brand reach its goals. Both are necessary for brand success. How do you know if you have a good strategy and a good tactics plan?

Good strategies include:

1.     Clear vision and goals

2.     Realistic goals

3.     Back up plans

4.     Efficient resource allocation

5.     Prioritization

6.     Streamlining the team toward common goal

Good tactics include:

1.     Assign specific tasks to those most qualified

2.     Evaluated for effectiveness

3.     Well-reasoned

4.     Have a timeline

5.     Use results for future planning

The relationship between these two but strategy will always come first. The goal must be clear to assign specific tasks on how to get there. Tactics alone will fall short alone. First, identify the overall business goal and then work on tactics on how to get there. Together they will take your brand to new heights.

Sex Appeal Advertising

We’ve all heard the saying, “Sex sells,” but many issues surround this idea of advertising. It is initially meant to evoke positive feelings about a brand association but one study shows that while people prefer ads with high sex appeal at first glance, when they are in the evaluation stage they prefer ads with low sex appeal (National Library of Public Medicine). While sexual imagery can bring attention to an ad it’s always a risky choice. Here we’re going to highlight the pros and cons of sexual advertising.

Pros:

1.     Grabs attention: makes an impression and gets the viewers’ attention quickly.

2.     Improves brand recall: Most people will remember a sexually appealing ad. Although, they may not remember what they were selling, they will remember the ad itself.

3.     Some positive associations: Some brands use this tactic in the “buy this to get this” model. For example, a cologne brand may use risqué imagery to show that using it could make one more attractive, and some people do want that.

Cons:

1.     Not family-friendly: It can limit the amount of people that you can market your brand to. If it’s not wholesome parents won't want it

2.     It promotes sexism: it shows the objectification of bodies. A study done in Italy in 2014 observed that “81.27% of women in advertising are depicted as models, sexually available or pre-orgasmic, used as decoration, or fragmented into body parts, whereas the sum of the corresponding categories for men is under20% (Italian Art Director Club report by Guastini).

3.     Body image dysmorphia: Many women feel pressure from constant advertisements promoting physical attractiveness which can adversely affect women’s body image. Ultra-thing ideals are pushed on women of all ages and this is a concern for many health professionals. 

Whether or not your brand should use sexual advertising is a very important decision to make. Using sex appeal in an appropriate way can depend on the type of brand, but it also has to consider the negative effects it may have on society as a whole or brand image. The choice is going to be different for each brand.

Using Good Storytelling in Content Creation

The art of storytelling goes back far back into human history with petroglyphs almost 12 thousand years ago. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been telling stories for that long. Humans are drawn to a good story. We continue to be fascinated by books, movies, shows, and even chatting in our living rooms to catch up with friends. Compelling content is based on great storytelling. As content creators, you want to hook your audience in and make them want to hear what comes next. This can even be true in short-form video content. This can’t be truer in today’s digital age when people can just swipe through your video because they’re already bored in the first few seconds of seeing it. Though be it short, you still want to follow traditional storytelling techniques. Understanding the elements that make a good story is crucial to your content’s success and performance.

1.     Understand your audience: who is watching your videos? What do they care about? If you’re a fitness content creator, they probably won’t want to watch something on cooking. it should also reinforce your brand voice.

2.     A compelling narrative: start with a clear, concise theme that has a clear beginning, middle, and end with smooth transitions.

3.     Relatable characters: the character should be well-developed. Let’s say that you’re a comedian. You want to create a specific character with a distinct personality. How does this character relate to your audience? What do they have in common?

4.     Emotional appeal: you want to be authentic and appeal to some type of emotion. Is it humor? Is it happy? Is it angry? This will be where knowing your audience comes into play. What types of challenges do they face? What motivates them? What is it that they care about? What are their values and beliefs?

5.     Use the 5 senses: this can create a life-like description that the audience can feel like they are there with you.

6.     Story arc: this is the structure that moves your audience through events. It typically builds to the point. Lead them there with a good hook, some tension, and finally to the conclusion. Make them want to see what that is.

Storytelling in content creation is a powerful way to encourage your audience to stay engaged and possibly even act. Here’s an experiment, do two different video content clips. One of those videos doesn’t follow these guidelines and you just kind of post something with no specific structure. Now, do a similar post that follows good storytelling guidelines for the video and post. Compare the performance insights to see which one did better. We’re certain that you will find it in the second video. Stand out in a sea of creators. Create engaging content that people won’t be able to ignore.

Lagos: Rational Appeal Advertising

As we’ve been talking about emotional advertising, the other side of that coin is unemotional advertising based on reasoning and logic. This rational advertising relies on data, facts, and proof. These advertisements focus on the functional needs of the audience and what they gain by purchasing them. There are a couple of standard ways to appeal to logic.

1.     Better Quality of Life: this is typically seen in the medical field or health and fitness industries. Pain-free living, healthier body, and mind, etc.

2.     Product or service benefits: this is where a company highlights what makes them stand out from their competitors and why they should be chosen over them. This focuses on some benefits they offer that the other brands don’t.

3.     Financial security: everyone wants to feel financially secure. Using charts, graphs, data, and numbers is good here. These are usually ads used in the financial industry.

4.     Authority: usually endorsements by government officials, etc. Providing backing from these authority figures can increase the rationale for choosing this product over another.

5.     Safety: this one focuses on how their brand is safe or makes customers’ lives safer. Think about the auto industry here and promoting safety ratings for vehicles.

Logos is logic and it is obvious why it works in advertising. It won’t work for every brand, though, depending on their niche, but if it does fit a brand, you can win over your audience by appealing to their reasoning.

Get Your Content Licensed: A Guide for Content Creators

We deal with a lot of content creators and influencers on the daily. Some of them are very organized, and others, not-so-much. Their mistakes have led to good content that went to waste. If you are a content creator or influencer it’s important to understand a few things to remain successful when dealing with agencies like us. Here is our list of do’s and don’ts to get your content licensed so you can make money.

1.     Don’t outprice yourself: there are industry standards. We compensate correctly and fairly. If you’re unsure how much your content is worth, there are plenty of resources out there with calculators as well as guides to help you.

2.     Don’t let “management” outprice you: A lot of times, “management” or representation proposes pricing that blows the brand out of the water, so the content does not get selected. A good manager knows the correct industry rates. Also, make sure that your management team is responding to inquiries in a timely fashion. Ask to audit them. If they are doing right by you, they shouldn’t have a problem with showing you receipts.

3.     Film your content logo free: no logos, please! Strive to create content that is completely logo-less or as logo free as possible. This could be the deciding factor in choosing your content over someone else’s. it’s better to license videos that are for editing purposes and typically, a brand does not want to see a huge blur over a Nike logo on a t-shirt, center screen in their commercial.

4.     Create family-friendly content: try to do this as much as possible. A lot of times the brands we’re sourcing for, want family-friendly content.

5.     Respond promptly: a lot of times there are backup selects that we have in mind so if we don’t hear back from you or your management, we will go with those and not choose your content. Make sure your inbox settings do not always usher inquiries to an “other” folder where you won’t initially see the messages. You can always delete spam on the fly. You can’t always make the deadline of the commercial if you miss the reach out!

6.     Be careful where you submit your content/and which agreements you sign: most creators don’t realize that when you submit your content to be featured on a website, that you are granting that entity to own your content exclusively. Also, companies will approach creators with an EXCLUSIVE agreement. While it seems like this will be great at first, you relinquish control of your content, and sometimes, your content will be shelved forever, and you’ll never be able to get out of the agreement. Don’t fall victim to this and make sure you read the fine print, including the terms of service for platforms, to remain the copyright holder of your content.

7.     NEVER film your content inside the Tik Tok App: When you film using Tik Tok’s proprietary camera, they own an exclusive to your content, which means you need permission from them to make any money from the content.  This makes your content un-licensable. Always film or shoot on your phone or camera, AND THEN if you want to upload to Tik Tok, we can still license your video/still/audio/design for a commercial.

8.     Beware of SCAMS: There are a ton of scams out there whether it be a text message, an email with a blurry PayPal prompt telling you that your account has been locked, or a series of others. The trick to identify this is PERSONALIZATION. If someone reaches out to you by your real name, provides examples of work, and asks for an in-person call/video chat, they are most likely, NOT a scam.

We hope that this helps any content creators out there who have questions about best practices may have when dealing with agencies such as ourselves. We want to see content creators thrive. Our business wouldn’t be where it is without them, so we appreciate all their hard work and dedication to their craft. We understand it can be a tedious job at times. Happy creating!

Emotional Advertising: Humor Appeal

Let’s take our PEMCO advertisement for example. It appeals to the humor of insurance through user-generated content videos we licensed for the spot. These videos consisted of “whoops” moments such as throwing a water balloon at the window of the house and breaking it. It’s funny, it’s something that consumers can relate to, and it shows the importance of the product they’re trying to sell: homeowner’s insurance. Humor is a great way to evoke positive emotions from your audience all while conveying a message. We find that funny ads are more memorable for us but that’s us so don’t take our word for it. A study done by the Journal of Marketing discovered that “humor is more likely to enhance recall, evaluation, and purchase intention when the humorous message coincides with ad objectives, is well-integrated, and is viewed as appropriate for the product category.” Under these circumstances, it will:

1.     Grabs the viewer’s attention

2.     Be associated positive emotions with the brand

3.     Make a lasting impression

4.     Increase persuasiveness to purchase

There are different tactics for using humor in your ads, such as surprise, personification, puns, exaggeration, and comparisons. Surprise is just as it sounds and involves a BIG surprise element that shocks the audience. Personification involves giving inanimate objects, plants, or animals humanistic traits. We should all know what a pun is but just in case, a pun involves a play on words. For example, say you’re a cat food brand so you create an ad where something goes wrong and use the statement, “You’ve got to be kitten me right now.” I know that’s not the greatest example but it gets the point across. Exaggeration blows things way out of proportion as the name states. Lastly, the comparison uses a side-by-side comparison with the humor of a particular brand vs another but amplifies the negative aspects of the competitor. All of that said, there are several types of humor that a brand can use in their ads such as:

1.     Irreverent: this style is also called dark humor. Older populations won't respond as well to this style. It also appeals to those that are highly intelligent but isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

2.     Dead Pan: blunt and awkward. Dry and emotionless in style. Good for funnily giving information.

3.     Absurd: as it sounds it’s weird. It pushes boundaries and is typically very silly.

4.     Topical: this is all about trending events. DO NOT do something about tragedies or disasters. You will miss the mark there.

5.     Wordplay: pun intended. You can even play with visuals humor here as well.

6.     Blue: ah, this one is indecent. Usually about sex, it tends to be risqué. You have to be careful with this one though not to offend from being too explicit. You’ll lose business and have to deal with a PR nightmare.

7.     Observational: this turns everyday quirks into relatable scenarios. We can see ourselves doing the funny things that we’re seeing. Important to know your audience on this one.

Humor is a great way to spice up your advertising campaigns and humorous using user-generated content is even better! Get creative here but stay appropriate and make them LOL IRL. And of course, if you need help with finding that perfect funny piece of content, contact us anytime at info@locomotivecontent.co

Zero Party Data: Why & How

Let’s talk about consent before we dive into this topic. Consent is a term that is typically associated with sexual activity as well as within the medical field as informed consent. However, we feel that consent extends to any type of approval given by an individual, including data collection. Third-party data is data from a provider across other mediums that has no direct relationship with the customer, which is why this has been a hot topic lately regarding individual rights. First-party data is the other side of this coin. The more ethical side. The term zero party data was assembled by Forrester research only in 2020 and is defined as data that is shared by the customer, “intentionally and proactively with a brand.” Brands that intend to stay ahead when third-party data goes away should be focusing heavily on zero-party data collection. There are some serious benefits to collecting zero-party data besides being a more ethically sound brand. These include:

1.     More accurate customer information

2.     More engaging with the customer

3.     Customers are more trustworthy of the brand

4.     Creates a more personalized audience experience

5.     It will help AI generate more accurate predictions about their audience

There is a plethora of ways to collect data to better your brand experience for your audience. Here are a few.

1.     Quizzes

2.     Surveys

3.     Contests

4.     Account creation

5.     Chatbots

6.     Social media polls

We should all get comfortable in the zero-party data space soon because this will be the future of data collection. The EU created the EU General Data Protection Requirements in 2018 and the CA Consumer Privacy Act limits the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information so you can see that individuals’ rights to privacy when it comes to data are getting stricter. It will be more and more important to collect zero-party data and move away from third if you had used it in the past.

Emotional Advertising: Fear Appeal

“This is your brain…. This is your brain on drugs,” says the actor as they drop an egg into a frying pan and begin to scramble it. These types of ads are often designed to create a reactionary response to motivate a particular behavior. In this case, it was to motivate behaviors for non-drug use. We’ve written on emotional advertising before but we wanted to do a deeper dive into each type of emotional advertising. This week we focus on fear appeal. A theory was developed by a woman named Kim Witte called Extended Parallel Process Model that explains why and when people follow health recommendations. Something called the danger control response is ideal for changing behavior and occurs when the threat is high and the individual’s sense of efficacy is greater than the threat. If the individual’s self-efficacy is lower than the perceived threat then the person will show a defensive response to the fear control ad. You saw examples of these types of ads during the pandemic with the “get vaccinated” campaigns. To sum it up, EPPM states that the perceived threat MUST be higher than the person’s self-efficacy to work. Also, the audience must be understood to create an effective fear appeal campaign. It needs to make people think, “Oh wow, that could be me.” Here are a few examples of the types of fear appeal ads that are possible.

1. Personal hygiene

2. Cancer risk

3. Therapy

4. Drunk driving

5. Drugs and tobacco

Since fear appeal can lead to negative feelings and anxiety, care should be used in an ethical manner that focuses on the betterment of people’s lives. Here are some guidelines to follow when creating a fear appeal advertisement.

1. Introduce the threat

   1. Demonstrate severity

   2. Describe with vivid pictures or words

   3. Use solid references

2. Show the risk to the viewer

   1. Focus on the audience here

   2. Point out similarities between viewers and those in the ad

   3. Personalize it to your audience

3. Show the effectiveness of the solution

4. Show viewers they can use solutions in their lives

A fear appeal can take the form of FOMO, fear of change, fear of death, fear of risks, and fear of failure. Now that you understand what makes a proper fear appeal ad you can use this to your advantage. Keep it personal and keep it ethical.

Importance of Curiosity

Desire. The desire to know something. This incredible motivator for learning facilitates the pursuit of knowledge and creativity. Children have this inherent trait of curiosity to learn about the new world they are in, childlike wonder if you will. We believe that when you stop being curious about things and become complacent it inhibits learning and thusly, growth will decay, whether it be personal or professional. When we think of the traits of successful people, the first one to come to mind is probably not curiosity. However, research shows that allowing curiosity to be piqued in a way that you don’t know the answer to something can increase the curiosity of a task and primes your brain for learning. All great, successful leaders were deeply curious in their respective fields. As humans, we have this attribute of wanting to seek out new information and experience. The workplace can benefit greatly from an environment that cultivates curiosity. There are some serious benefits as well, such as gaining more respect as a leader from your team, inspiring creative solutions, and enticing deeper, more rational thinking. Your employees won’t feel stressed about coming to you for questions when they’re encouraged to do so; this communication will remove many barriers. Here are some ways to encourage curiosity in the workplace.

1.     Ask employees daily “why” questions, such as:

a.     What is one thing that you are curious about today?

b.     What is one thing that you take for granted that you want to ask about?

2.     Emphasize learning: it’s been proven that focusing on learning instead of the goal is more beneficial to the business. Looks like the old saying, “It’s about the journey, not the destination,” may be on to something here. Emphasize learning goals over performance goals, such as hitting numbers, etc. According to Harvard Business Review, “When people are motivated by learning goals, they acquire more-diverse skills, do better at work, get higher grades in college, do better on problem-solving tasks, and receive higher ratings after training.”

3.     Hire with curiosity in mind: ask potential employees about their interests outside of work. People that read about a wide variety of topics typically are curious about learning things. You can administer curiosity assessments in the hiring process as well as take note of the questions that the potential employee asks.

4.     Lead through an example: leaders can always foster curiosity in the workplace by being inquisitive. Ask questions from your employees when you may not have an answer. This shows them that you are human and will foster trust in the relationship because you trust them enough to ask for their help.

5.     Encourage employees to broaden their horizons: For example, companies such as Facebook give their employees time off to explore their interests outside of work. Some brands even pay for further education for their employees. Whatever your resources may be, encourage your employees to go out and explore their unknown.

Curious people tend to be more open-minded and create relationships with others more easily. Curiosity will increase creative thinking, collaboration, and deep problem-solving that can lead to innovative ideas. If you want your brand to be one of the top brands in the world in your niche, then creating an environment that promotes curiosity in the workplace and outside is a must. Stay curious my friends!