When the Tiger Woods scandal broke, the world cringed. But maybe none of us cringed as hard as the folks at Nike Golf. From 1996 – 2006 they supported Woods with $140 million in sponsorships. The deal was renewed in 2006 for presumably upwards of 100 million. So what will Nike do now that Tiger’s reputation is ruined? Support the icon of their brand and let it reflect on their reputation? Or drop him and try to save face before any more bad news surfaces?

This is the very expensive question that many in the advertising world are asking. With huge implications for the brand either way, Nike has a crisis on their hands. What would you do if you were in Nike’s PR/Marketing departments? We took a little poll around the office to see where people stood on the issue. Let us know what YOU think in our comments below.

Darren Easton, Creative Director: I say keep him. According to research, Mr. Whipple was the most hated brand icon in advertising history and yet Charmin was the #1 toilet paper brand for 20 years. People talked about him because they didn’t like him. So what?… they talked about him.

Lucas Hanyok, graphic designer: I’m not sure what Nike will do. I am one who believes someone’s personal problems should be left alone. To me he is still an icon of GOLF. Nike should continue to support him as an icon of the sport. On the other hand your personal life becomes your brand in ways, and will stick with you no matter what you do. Your personal brand is not just one thing that you do, it is the total of all things you do. If I were Tiger I would keep my stance as: “leave me alone, I’m really good at golf”

Dave Cyphers, owner (obviously joking!): I think they should pay him more; he just added a whole new dimension to “Just Do It.”

So there you have it, some insight from our greatest minds. What is your stance? Do you think Nike should give Tiger the boot or support him?

Also, how much traffic are your competitors’ websites getting? It is easy to tell using these sites:

• Alexa.com — A free service that estimates site traffic over a three-month period. The numbers are compiled from the Alexa Toolbar that’s installed on the millions of users’ browsers. This information can be used to gauge a site’s overall online ranking by combining a measure of its current reach and monthly pageviews. This reach is determined by the number of Alexa users who visit the site daily.The site with the highest combination of users and pageviews is ranked highest.You can use Alexa to see how your site rates compared to the competition. Alexa also provides information on incoming links and traffic trends over time.
• Compete.com — provides free tools and data to compare two or more sites for monthly traffic, specific site keywords, overall online reach, US audience share, current promotions, and many other competitive data points.

According to Wikipedia, ambient media is “the name given to a new breed of out-of-home products and services determined by some as Non-Traditional or Alternative Media.” This is advertising seen in unexpected places such as on the handle of your shopping cart or on the ceiling at your dentist’s office. It makes me think of the future societies portrayed in the sci-fi classics Blade Runner and the The Fifth Element where advertising has taken over and is everywhere. The best ambient media appears in unexpected places so it is attention grabbing. Here are a couple examples:

Do you have a question you’d like to see answered on our blog? Send it in, please! Would you like to determine if ambient media could work for you? Give us a call at 888.412.7469 or visit our site.

Happy new year everyone! Here is the answer to the question of the week.

Keyword advertising, also known as PPC (or pay per click) advertising, is placing ads in search engine results. You can buy your ad’s position on the search results page for any keyword or keyword phrase. You pay a predetermined amount every time someone clicks on your ad. The ad cost varies depending on the popularity of the keywords you have selected.

SEO is short for search engine optimization. This is the practice of making your website search engine friendly.  SEO is done to improve the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines organic (or unpaid) search results. Your site can be optimized around the keyword phrases that relate the most to your service or product. An optimized site is easily indexed by the major search engines and will rank higher in the organic or non-paid search engine results in time.  So when someone searches for something you offer on Google, your site might appear at the top of the organic results. This could bring lots of web traffic to your site. However, having an optimized site does not guarantee you top position in the search results.

As you can see, keyword advertising and SEO are very different things. One is not better than the other. Marketing your website requires using a variety of techniques including keyword advertising and SEO. SEM or search engine marketing encompasses all the methods used to promote your website. SEM includes both search engine optimization (SEO) and search advertising, or paid search. An example of an SEM method is building links to your site from other sites. With the proper use of SEM techniques, your site will rise in the unpaid ranking results as well as the paid and your site traffic will increase.

Are you interested in improving your website’s search engine marketing? Call us at 888.412.7469 for more information on how we can help. Click here to visit our site to learn more about us.

Is your ad agency completely building your brand?

Many agencies will tell a client that building a brand is no more than Corporate design. A new logo, consistent color palette and MAYBE a sterile slogan. At The Cyphers Agency, we do it right.

BRANDING is the constant and consistent use of color, graphics, type and icons in your advertising materials. e.g. The headline is always this font, all caps, reversed out and centered. The photos are always duotones, flush left with a blue rule around them. And the logo is always in the lower right hand corner. These colors and consistencies have nothing to do with your logo or corporate design standards.

BRAND DEVELOPMENT is developing a way to communicate what makes the brand unique. This is done by creating a tagline and a character, graphics or icon that all serve as a consistent reminder of what makes a brand unique. e.g. Verizon Wireless says it unique because of it’s service and superior signal. The tagline says “it’s the network” and the tech on the street with the trademark glasses and gray jacket is always present to assure the best quality service or asking “can you hear me now?”

Here is one of our brand development projects currently underway (more to come about this project for MarketClub soon):

Happy Holidays everyone!

Remember to send us your advertising questions so we can answer them here. Call us at 888.412.7469 or visit our site for more information.