As the graphic designer at 20/eight I am always on the lookout for inspirational color schemes to use for client projects. In choosing colors I always factor in a company’s current branding, competitor colors, theme of the promotion/project and time or season of the year. Each color tells a story and can elicit specific emotions, in some cases without the use of a single word. The colors you choose will help determine how people perceive and interact with your brand, so it is important to do … [Read more...]
Hello! Bonjour! Hola!
If you haven’t already seen the latest numbers: Statistics Canada reports 1 in 5 Canadians were not born in Canada and MediaCom Canada predicts that approximately one-third of Canada’s population will be a visible minority by 2031. Given widespread access to internet, it makes perfect sense then that first-generation immigrants would use digital media including social media, youtube and even Search to maintain connection with their roots. So how do advertising platforms address language … [Read more...]
YouTube Matches Volumes with Precision
Collectively, humanity watched over one billion (1,000,000,000) hours of YouTube yesterday. Just as it has done every day for the past six months. Logged-in users spend over an hour each day watching YouTube, and YouTube now sees over 1.5 billion logged-in users monthly. I am one of those users. Between September 13th and October 11th, I streamed 48GB worth of YouTube videos in my home, on my mobile phone. In comparison, I streamed 6GB worth of Netflix on my phone during that same period. … [Read more...]
How Much is Too Much for a Click?
It is true that some industries are forced to pay sky high prices to advertise on Google Search – the financial and business services industries are known for this phenomenon with click prices reaching as high as $250 plus dollars (yes that’s per click). So at what point should advertisers throw in the towel in a high click price environment? According to my cost … [Read more...]
Bing Search Comes Out of its Shell
Microsoft’s BING, after being perceived for years as “the little search engine that couldn’t”, has been making its move on Google and the results are starting to show. According to Comscore March 2017 research, Bing’s piece of the search pie in Canada is now at 17%. This recent momentum has been fueled not only by Microsoft’s Cortana Voice activated search but also through … [Read more...]
There are No Tourists on Your Website
Studies show the amount of time a person spends online each week is fixed. Time spent on your website means less time spent reading their favourite blog, catching up on the news or trade journals, and connecting with people on Facebook. If they are on mobile, they might be taking a moment away their lunch break, hanging out with friends, or watching the big game. Visitors come to your site to perform a multitude of tasks — from getting a sense of your brand to measuring you against a … [Read more...]
Giant Media Firms Boycott Google Display and Youtube. What is the fuss about?
You may have heard back in March of this year that giant media firms in the UK got together to boycott ad placements on Google’s Display and Youtube networks causing advertisers around the world to wonder about the effectiveness of their own Google display campaigns. The concern of these media buying agencies is that their clients’ ads are too often published next to inappropriate content. These agencies argue that Google’s automated systems are not doing enough to guarantee the proper … [Read more...]
What does Programmatic really mean?
The term “programmatic” has been around for several years but only recently has become part of the lingo of the online advertising world. So what does it really mean? Programmatic refers to the process of one computer talking to another to complete an advertising transactional operation as opposed to a human calling another human to book an ad campaign. Google Adwords has used “programmatic” technology since inception. Nothing new. You may also have heard about RTB – Real Time Bidding – … [Read more...]
Do experts need a qualification in anything?
Do you have an opinion on this debate? Mark Ritson, in a recent Marketing Week editorial, took to task what he defines as "so-called marketing experts" who have no formal qualification in the field. My issue is with the label "expert". In today's marketplace it so easy to define oneself as an expert with a few articles or broadcast interviews. Just because someone has a megaphone to voice their opinion doesn't qualify them as an expert. Just look at CNN & FOX NEW's contributors. I'd … [Read more...]
The winner of the RIO 2016 Summer Olympics is ____!
P&G’s latest installment in its Thank You, Mom series: Rio 2016, kills it! If you are one of the 17,909,453 persons who have already viewed the YouTube commercial you know what I mean. If you haven’t seen it, you are missing out on storytelling genius. The first time I saw the commercial I was washing the breakfast dishes as my wife was setting up her yoga class on YouTube. The volume was muted but even without sound the storytelling through the video images brought tears to my eyes. The … [Read more...]