The Cyphers Agency is proud to announce another addition to our ever growing team. Kari Miller joins us as an account coordinator, providing support on the account management front. She will be working with clients such as Plastic Surgery Specialists, Severn Savings Bank, and Heim Lantz, among others, and will help strengthen our marketing efforts.

Kari graduated from Elon University with a degree in Strategic Communications and a minor in Psychology. Aside from advertising and marketing, Kari loves Mexican food, downtown Annapolis, the beach, and country music in the summer. Her favorite tv show is The Office (whose isn’t?) and she enjoys travelling and even spent some time in London. Cheerio!

Welcome Kari, we look forward to working with you.

Over 50 years ago, a CD from the agency that represented Mobil Oil was on-site at their headquarters. He took a tour of the plant and discovered that a small amount of detergent goes into the gasoline. The tagline “drive your Engine Clean” was born.

In todays digital world, we rarely take time to actually know a product or consumer personally. When it comes to primary research, we send off a survey via the Internet.

My favorite way to do primary is through trial and observation. Go visit or buy your product. Try it. Smell it. Taste it. Give it to your family and friends. Watch them use it. Go to a store and observe customers. How much time do they spend looking at your product? How many additional services do they take advantage of? Do they look at the price tag and frown or buy it in bulk?

Firsthand experience gives you important insights that may lead to the big idea. But remember, firsthand experience alone may cause you to think that others may think or behave the same as you. Therefore observation of others is also a critical component of this research method.

Last Call, a dark and interactive horror film created by German horror channel 13th Street, just scored a top prize at the Cannes Lions. Owned by NBC Universal, 13th Street’s take on branding goes above and beyond anything we’ve seen lately.

Interactivity

The movie-turned-commercial is interactively groundbreaking; it uses new technology to allow the audience to participate in the film. Using voice recognition software, a select audience member is chosen to give instructions via cell phone to the protagonist in the story. Because each audience member provides different answers, each creates a unique film.

The great thing about this (or any) interactive campaign is that it allows the consumer to participate. It gives them something to latch onto that reinforces what the German Horror Channel is all about. It creates an active experience out of what would ordinarily be a passive one, allowing the consumer to have in depth interaction with the movie and brand.

Branding & Identity Strength

Zombies might not be your thing, but this stuff has some strength. In addition to the interactive movie-turned-commercial, a series of stationary was created. It seems that every aspect was thought out, taking normal stationary to interactive and creative pieces of advertising. It took 13th Street branding to an entirely new level, continuing along the path of interactivity (as you rip the envelope open, you also “rip off” some dead guy’s eyeballs).

Although it might be gory and gross, the movie and stationary have some mental staying power. They are brilliantly unique and again, reinforce what the German horror channel is all about: gore, guts, and scary stuff.

While the creativity is strong, there lacks a certain carryover. The 13th Street website lacks any resemblence of the strong brand identity that the movie, stationary, and overall brand have. If NBC had carried this over, the overall impact could have been staggering.

What do you think about the horror filled movie and stationary?

Images compliments of Behance.

People love to be recognized as experts. This means you should tap the expertise of your customers. Ask them their opinions and reward them for it. They’ll appreciate you for realizing that they are experts and they’ll be free with their words of wisdom for you. Not only will you win another sale, you’ll increase the chances of them engaging in word of mouth marketing for you.

Many marketers offer incentives in order to gain ambassadors. By asking and appreciating their opinions, they’ll do the work for you on their own. By trusting in them, they’ll show their gratitude by buying more and recommending your products or services on the street and online.

Being in the ad industry, we pride ourselves on being creative. And while it is something we are always thinking about, we’ve come to realize one thing: creativity is a fragile thing. If you try to rush it, dictate it, limit it, or add too many rules, you end up with an inferior product.

While our industry hinges on short timelines and on-your-feet thinking, it is important to make sure the creative team has a healthy environment to function within so they can create the best work possible; creativity, ingenuity, and originality must all be fostered. Some features are essential, like open space, music, toys, and a team approach, etc. But something else is essential that we might not consider a quality or necessity of creativity: time.

When our creative team finishes an execution, their work is good. But giving them an extra hour – hell, an extra ten minutes – they can always tweak their work to make it GREAT, whether it be a color change, a new font, or an additional element. Fostering a creative environment that doesn’t put creative under the gun can only bring good things for everyone at an agency.

See what creativity looks like.