It's amazing how often you need some sort of stock photography featuring a human being. Why not create your own?

My client just finished up a simple, 2-hour shoot featuring our employees wearing their logo'd gear against white backgrounds and often holding various "placeholder" signs on which we can later write copy in post production. They're the same kind of photos you see on the various stock sites, but they're our employees wearing our logo.

A two-hour shoot with a local photographer yielded several hundred photographs for less than $400, and we have unlimited rights to use them.

And use them we will - on the web, in direct mail pieces, in brochures, in emails. Who knows? Maybe even lifesize cutouts for Christmas presents or to ward off evil sprits?

The possibilities are endless.

Read About Tim Miles

There are a many opinions on how to make a billboard ad work. (Depending if you are a graphic designer, marketing consultant, business owners or the audience)

But the main points are:

1. Use one graphic or photo

2. Try not to use more than 8 words. (Remember, your audience has a few seconds to see and read, thus, understanding the communication)

Surprising Broca could depend on the photo, the title, message or creative ways of designing the billboard. (Check out the links below)

3. When placing, try to choose locations on the right side of the driver, as close to the ground and close to the road as possible. Choose the more intrusive location you can.


I gathered a few links that you can use to get ideas on how to design a billboard for your advertising campaign.

Cheers,

Link 1: Beer Example

Link 2: Process

Link 3: For Small Business Owners

Link 4: Top 10 Tips

Link 5: Awesome Examples

Read About Luis Lopez

Just past A-Rod's steroid confession and the tales of national and international conflict, Google's news website reads like an indicator of a changing guard.  On the left, the business section teems with bailouts, resigning SEC officials and toppling industry giants.  On the right, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple churn out wave after wave of technological progress.  If you're committed to doing things the way you've always done things, I can tell you which column indicates the future of your business fortunes.

Opportunities abound in the turmoil of these times.  The climate has changed.  Gone are the predictions of “it's coming”, “it's on its way” and “things are about to happen.  We've embraced a recession era mentality.  Does it make you excited?  It should. 

Shifting media trends have resulted in advertising deals for businesses that aren't knee deep in debt.  If you need to get your message out, now's the time to do it.  People are beginning to realize that they can't survive with a website that sucks.  That's great news for website developers or anyone who's not afraid of learning a new skill.  Plus, it's much easier to find talented programmers who need income. 

If you can embrace or develop new technology to satisfy the requests of your customers, you'll rise head and shoulders above your competitors.  Don't get sucked into the mentality of only doing what makes you happy or sticking to your business model.  When the same request for something outside your company model keeps popping up, find a way to add it to your products or services.  Then incorporate your unique spin to it.  You'll find new revenue streams to supplement the decline in your current lines

It reminds me of the constant complaining I hear on my performance tours of England.  “I can't stand the rain.”  “It's been such a cold summer.”  When the sun finally comes out they say, “Oh, it's so hot today!”  I've always loved the weather there.  It's so much cooler than Texas summers.  I get to splash in puddles and drink in the green of rolling fields that stretch as far as I can see.  Come to think of it, I also love running in the hot sun and plunging into swimming pools to cool off.  When the weather changes it becomes that much more pleasurable.

Take advantage of the changes in our economic climate.  Don't cling to your dwindling supplies.  Decaying business practices provide the fertilization and growth potential for leaps forward in creativity.   Plant your seeds and watch them grow.  Experiment with new methods and see what inventions arise.  You'll get your hands a little dirty and encounter problems that you didn't foresee.  But it will keep you moving forward into brighter days instead of merely attempting to stay alive.

Read About Peter Nevland

By Wizard of Ads (Australia) Associate, Anna Gerard

Life is perfectly imperfect… And that… is the secret to its magnetism.  There isn’t any such place as Pleasantville where everyone smiles and no one steps in dog poo.

The problem with advertising is too much of it, particularly tv and radio, is missing the dog poo… It’s just too sterile.

The other day I listened back to a radio commercial of mine and decided it was “mediocre” at best.  For a while I couldn’t figure out why… the idea was ok, the voices were fine, but the problem was noise… or rather a lack of… The scenario was a hubby and wife mid argument, yet there was no noise except for the two voices… A studio producer’s bad habit… to make commercials sound flawless.

Silence might be golden but it doesn’t live in my neighbourhood… this morning I stopped… I stopped in my bathroom and just stood… listening… Within 5 minutes a plane flew over, I could hear the trucks of a roadwork crew nearby; the guy next door clanged last night’s bottles in the bin and the wind sneaking in the corner of my bedroom window causing a “thwack thwack” of blind on blind. 

Life’s symphony doesn’t stop, it’s always present… the hum of an air conditioner, a car radio, the sound of wind stirring the trees, a newspaper blowing off a table, someone coughing… take that away and you take people away from what’s real.  

So insist your ads be real… Real could be you voicing your commercials… the smooth radio announcer has had his day!  Real could be recording the ad outside… watch the production guys go nuts when they can’t find a wind sock to block that “dreadful” noise!  Real could be getting real reactions from customers, even strangers… Real could be doing something completely off the wall… And coming up with the most amazing result.

Sony Bravia decided for a tv campaign to toss 250,000 balls dancing down a San Francisco street.  You’ve probably seen it, but did you know it’s 100 percent real… Watch the making of the ad.

I’m sure this concept would have cost a lot less to computer generate, but would it have been as spectacular?  Take a look at the finished product. 

Life’s imperfections are what make this so magnetic… the surprise of a frog leaping out a drain pipe, the way an abandoned bicycle rests against a power pole, the way juice spills out as a trash can tips to the ground.  Would the computer wiz have thought of that?  Or would they have made it perfect?

Most of the time we look past the simple moments in life, looking for something more spectacular, but the truth is real life is more captivating than any make believe.

Perfectly imperfect moments… they cling to something inside, and pull you in, because you know… they’re just like you. 

Read About Craig Arthur

During your quest to make the perfect ad, your client suggests, “Hey, let's try using a testimonial from my favorite customer.” You stop, pause, put finger to mouth--hmmm is the only sound heard by your client. You’ve seen and heard testimonials before, and they usually seem fake, scripted, and contrived. Then, you remember a few testimonial ads that resonated down to your cellular level. In fact, you never forgot those testimonials that seemed genuine and thought provoking. So here is the question: how do you create a testimonial ad for your client that will be sincere and unforgettable? Here are 10 tips to producing better testimonial ads.

1. Reduce the interviewee's anxiety level.   As a loyal customer, he or she is ready to help as much as possible and will try his or her best to deliver the "right" answers.   Make sure to explain to the interviewee that anything he or she says is correct, even if it seems to contradict what the advertiser wants.
2. Don’t use a script.   You cannot tell the interviewee what to say.   If you do, the language will sound robotic, and most will be able to tell it is staged.   Even the smallest hint of a faked response and the testimonial becomes insignificant.
3. Prepare and use an outline of questions at the audio session to keep you on track and on schedule.   Send that outline of questions to the person being interviewed the day before the recording.
4. Use open-ended statements and questions like, "Tell me about your business?" Rather than closed statements like, "How long have you been in business?"   The first requires a full explanation; the later only requires a simple answer.
5. Talk with the potential interviewee before hand.   Even if he or she is your client's best customer, he or she may not have a talkative, outgoing personality. If they seam uneasy about being interviewed, suggest to your client that this particular person may not be the best one for the job.
6. Record more testimonials than you will need.   Then you can pick and chose only the best ones. Better to have too many good takes than not enough to make an effective ad.   Be sure to tell each person that you interview that there is no guarantee that he or she will actually be featured in the ad.  
7. Do not force or cajole statements out of the interviewee. Instead, ask questions, listen, summarize, and repeat.
8. If you feel you must coach an interviewee, do so one suggestion at a time. Take baby steps, or they will be trying to remember too many things at once.
9. Do not use local TV or radio celebrities for testimonials.
10. Producing good, clean audio will positively influence the overall effectiveness of the testimonial.  

Your major objective is to help the interviewee feel confident and to trust the process so that they can reveal genuine commentary. Anything south of that, just don’t use it! In other words, almost as good is the same as unusable.

Read About Adam Deatherage