Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Video Games Fifth Network??

Interesting piece in MediaWeek today claiming that video games may be the fifth network. Check it out and decide for yourself.

An excerpt...
Nielsen’s report also puts one more nail in the coffin for the enduring young male, pasty-faced gamer stereotype. Console game usage has become more and more mainstream, particularly with the explosion in popularity of the family friendly Nintendo Wii, which has sold 18 million consoles versus 11.6 million for the Xbox 360 and 5.7 million for Sony’s PlayStation3.

Overall, the Wii now accounts for the highest percentage of usage minutes for adults, per the report. And not necessarily young adults; nearly of third (32 percent) those usage minutes were consumed by women 35 and older.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Basement Design + Motion Wins Louies

INDIANAPOLIS‐BASED BASEMENT DESIGN+MOTION SNAGS LOUISVILLE ADVERTISING FEDERATION HONORS FOR OUTSTANDING INTERACTIVE CAMPAIGN

Hoosier Firm Brings Home the Gold from Kentucky Contest
Indianapolis, IN – March 10, 2009 ‐‐ The annual “Louie Awards” for outstanding
advertising have a distinctive Hoosier flavor this year, thanks to the award‐winning work of The Basement Design+Motion, LLC, which is bringing home three silver trophies, a gold statuette, and the Judges’ Award for Best Interactive Advertising from the Louisville Advertising
Federation.

Headquartered at the former Fort Harrison on the northeast side of Indianapolis, The
Basement is a digital design studio that specializes in concept, design, and production of highend contemporary web sites, Flash games, motion graphic production for the web and broadcast, and 2D and 3D computer‐generated animation.

The Basement won both a Gold Louie for Best Online Game and the Judges’ Award for
Best Interactive Advertising for the fun KFC Restaurants game called “Surf the Crowds,” which is still available for play at www.surfthecrowds.com. Internet surfers can jump into a fun and engaging rock concert crowd surfing experience, first by either picking a preset game character or customizing an alter ego and then jumping in to ”surf the crowd” as a rock star.

Silver Louies were also awarded to The Basement for Best Consumer Flash Web Site,
Best Micro or Mini Site, and Best Online Campaign in conjunction with the “KFC Rocks”
campaign, which also included “Surf the Crowds.”

The Basement was hired to collaborate on design and fully develop interactive campaign elements for the KFC Ultimate Game Room Sweepstakes, a promotion developed for KFC Restaurants by Louisville‐based Creative Alliance, Inc. A full‐service advertising agency,
Creative Alliance develops print advertisements, television and radio broadcast advertising, point‐of‐purchase, and Web design, and corporate identity services for a variety of clients. “Creative Alliance came to us with a specific opportunity to create some very contemporary marketing materials for this promotion. We collaborated to create what became a very effective and popular digital campaign. As a result, KFC exceeded their goals they had established for the promotion,” said Jacob Leffler, President of The Basement Design+Motion.

The Louisville Advertising Federation includes more than 650 members and represents
the Kentucky city’s billion‐dollar advertising industry. Awards were presented at the 35th annual Louie Gala last week. Five judges reviewed nearly 700 entries for this year’s awards. The Louisville competition is part of a larger regional and national awards program conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation. The local awards are the first of a three‐tier, national competition.

# # #
About The Basement Design+Motion: Headquartered in Indianapolis, The Basement Design+Motion, LLC is a digital design, motion graphic and content production company. The Basement specializes in concept, design, and production of high‐end contemporary web sites, Flash games, motion graphic production for the web and
broadcast, and 2D and 3D computer‐generated animation.

Monday, March 9, 2009

You vs. Them

You are a savvy tech set digital marketer, they are your client.

You eat sleep and breathe everything digital - you do not know novelty, you easily get bored and constantly look for the new next. Your client needs to sell more of whatever it is they are selling - be it soap, shoes, sandwiches, underwear or shellac. They really don't care about what's new or next or the flavor of the month digital social, API, viral, PHP, Open, closed, CMS or flex. They just need to sell more of their stuff.

The battle for their marketing approach is on - you offer them a magic pill, a silver bullet, a potion comprised of the latest, greatest digital cacophony of splendid strategy and devices any one person can think of. At first they resist, then they buy-in because they trust you - or did you just wear them down?

They get all kinds of praise for being "progressive", on the "bleeding edge", social, "transparent", viral, forward thinking and all kinds of adjectives that make them feel 20 years younger and you feel like the "smartest guy in the room." After all you can talk "tech", you are social, hell you are on like 23 web sites with a profile - you are "everywhere" and they just look at you in awe. You must be a genius. They must be simple.

Their sales don't budge. They are frustrated. It is now you vs. them. They will win because they control the purse strings and need to work with someone who will listen and do what is effective, not what is "next."

If I had a dime for every time I have either witnessed this scenario, heard others talk about this scenario or had the unpleasant experience listening to one of "them" with a sympathetic ear I would not be writing this from my dining room. I would be planning my next adventure in a far off place wondering how I would spend my billions.

The moral is...
in a completely horrid economic climate - or even in a decent economic climate - you better quit worrying about what is next in the technological frontier and more about how you can leverage solid, effective strategies and execution to help them succeed. The market is ugly and will get worse. If they don't recognize value in you, you will be replaced by them quickly.

They don't care about technology, they care about how you, as a trusted partner, will help them succeed in the all out war companies are already facing for market share in this bad economic situation.

Am I decrying technology - absolutely not - I have had a lot of success concepting, creating and executing digital centric campaigns over the last 9 years. I will say a well researched approach matching the patient with the most appropriate cure, not the newest cure, has proven out to be a very wise path.

Every client has a unique opportunity and technologies are not one size fits all, even though many tech writers would try and have you believe that.

So the next time one of them comes to you for help, don't just throw them into what interests you because you want to tinker with the newest application. Stop and work through scenarios that you know will solidify their position, expand their exposure and ultimately win them new customers and embolden their existing fans to spread the love.

Make their experience one their audience cannot deny. Did you get that?? Let me repeat again in all caps - it may help you create their next masterpiece. Don't just create something, MAKE THEIR EXPERIENCE ONE THEIR AUDIENCE CANNOT DENY.

Wouldn't it be nice if their customers were your biggest proponents??

**You may think I am nuts, but I am typically more concerned with what my clients' clients think of The Basement Design + Motion work more than our actual clients. After all, if they are engaged our clients will see the results and that securely locks in our future success.