Category Archives: Advertising

How the digital media industry should react to Ad Blocking

With the recent announcements of Google's new ad filtering and Apple disabling cookies, the topic of ad blocking and the effect on the digital marketing and advertising industry has revved back up. However, the fact that consumers rather not see ads has been proven over time. Ad blocking itself dates back to the 1950’s with…
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8 Best Practices for B2B Landing Pages

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager   What is a landing page? The term is thrown out a lot, but do all marketers know the meaning and purpose behind it? A landing page is a standalone webpage — separate from an organization’s main site. A landing page has a focused objective that leads the visitor to…
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Classic Creative: Amoco

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Who thinks about what’s under the pavement, or those orange woven plastic fences alongside the highway, or those black plastic fences about knee-high attached to metal poles on construction sites. The answer is: not too many people. These are the products behind the scenes that make a difference in the…
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Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7]Using Facebook for B2B Lead Generations [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/facebook-b2b-lead-generation/309368/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7]37% of Consumers say Ads Placed Next to Offensive Content Impact Brand Perception [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/37-consumers-say-ads-placed-next-offensive-content-impact-brand-perception-217504" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Twitter Gives…
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Swipe and Scroll: 4 Ways Mobile is Shaping Advertising

By: Claire Wilcox These days mobile devices seem to be an extension of the human body. A millennial without a phone is like a baby without a pacifier. No wonder marketers are pushing themselves to take on the challenge and opportunity of reaching audiences on the go. It is determined that by 2021, 81% of…
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Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook’s lead ads just received a major improvement: offline conversion data. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-offline-conversion-solution-lead-ads-214133" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Pinterest’s object-recognizing Lens feature now also scans QR codes. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/pinterests-object-recognizing-lens-feature-now-scans-qr-codes-214164" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1]…
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Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] YouTube pauses search ads to implement brand safety measures. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/youtube-pause-search-ads-brand-safety-implementation-213976" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Snapchat debuts a self-serve tool to buy ads on the mobile app, called Snapchat Ad Manager. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/snapchat-rolls-self-serve-platform-vertical-video-ads-213501" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"]…
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Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] YouTube unveils new rules to vet channels who advertise in order to protect brands from appearing next to questionable content [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/pewdiepie-declares-adpocalypse-youtube-makes-rules/308591/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook gives agencies more transparency following metrics blunders [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-moves-offer-agencies-transparency/308578/" style="default" size="normal"…
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Classic Creative: Special Edition

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Have we gone full circle? In the 1940s and ’50s brands rushed to place their ads in the latest of thousands of magazines and ever-growing TV and radio broadcast stations, which soon became crowded with ads vying for the same attention. The answer came in the form of conceptual advertising…
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4 Best Practices for B2B Direct Marketing

By Claire Wilcox, Account Support Intern "Whether it's B2C or B2B, you're still talking about stories," said John Osborne, president/CEO of BBDO New York, Ad Age’s 2017 B2B Agency of the Year. BBDO revealed how compelling marketing for businesses is just as important (if not more) as connecting to consumers with creative and resonating storytelling.…
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Admirable Series: Killing Two Brands with One Ad

By: Claire Wilcox, Account Support Intern In a rising digital age, millennials don’t want more stuff, they want more experience. And brands will pay the price if they don’t adapt. Not only does Gen Y favor a trip (including lots of selfies) over a new car or wardrobe, it favors existential ads that connect with…
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7 Steps to Take When Executing a Paid Social Campaign

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager and Social Media Manager In 2016, 40% of marketers reported social media has become more challenging — with changes in search algorithms, emerging trends, and a decline in organic traffic. Organic traffic has especially become difficult for marketers. A Facebook page with over a million likes averages a 2.27% engagement…
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Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Pinterest Launches “Propel”, a Hands-On Support Program for New Advertisers [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/pinterest-launches-propel-hands-support-program-new-advertisers-210598" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Mobile Now Accounts for Nearly 70% of Digital Media Time [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/mobile-now-accounts-nearly-70-digital-media-time-comscore-210094" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1]…
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Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google Ramps Up Header Bidding Alternative as Pressure Mounts From Facebook. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/google-ramps-header-bidding-alternative-ebda/308434/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook Unveils a New Ad Format, Called “Collections”, Meant to Drive Product Awareness and Sales for Brands. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebooks-shoppable-collection-ad-latest-iad-like-format-209886" style="default" size="normal"…
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Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] xAd Reveals a New Location-Based Ad Model Where Brands Only Pay for an Ad When Customers Walk Through the Door [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/cost-per-visit-xad-brings-search-like-performance-mobile-advertising-209306" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Others Are Facing Pressure to Allow 3rd Party Audits of Their…
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ADmirable Series: Vans “Off The Wall”

By Luke Suggs, Account Intern Image Source For nearly 60 years, the Vans slogan “Off The Wall” was thought to be a skateboarding term because Vans has historically been a skateboarding brand. However, in recent years, Vans has transitioned from an exclusive skateboarding brand to a broader lifestyle brand. And after all these years, Vans…
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7 Best Practices for B2B Social Media Marketing

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator & Social Media Manager Generally people consider B2C companies when thinking about brands on social media. But social media also provides a huge opportunity for B2B brands that should not be overlooked. According to Salesforce, “Social media accounts for a third of all time spent online.” And while B2B brands…
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16 Ads That Take Creativity To The Max

By Mel Sala, Graphic Designer The main purpose of branding is to increase sales and make the brand visible to the users. Not only do you want to make the brand visible to users, you want to make the brand alluring. One of the most important factors that plays a role in today’s branding game…
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What Is A Website Audit, and Why Do I Need One?

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager [caption id="attachment_9093" align="aligncenter" width="630"] The Historic Biltmore Village Website, developed and designed by The Goss Agency[/caption] The internet is a busy place. To say that it’s a “saturated marketplace” is a bit of an understatement. As of September 2014, the internet clocked in at 1 billion websites (website here refers…
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Classic Creative: Georgia Power

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director The utility industry was going through a government deregulation to prevent monopolies. In a nutshell, this meant sudden and new competition for our client Georgia Power. The challenge was to prevent client defection for cheaper alternatives now available. We came up with a solution directly derived from the question “Why…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Much to the Delight of Brands, Facebook Videos Will Now Play With the Sound on by Default [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-videos-play-sound-default/307983/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Report: Facebook Engagement Down Across the Board, but Influencer Marketing Continues to Perform Strongly for Brands [button text="See…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Competitors Leave Twitter in the Dust [button text="See Full Article" link="https://www.statista.com/chart/5358/twitters-user-growth-in-perspective/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook Opens Itself to Ad Measurement Audit, Giving Brands More Control Over Video Ad Buys [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-opens-measurement-audit-gives-brands-control-video-ad-buys-206387" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1]…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Pinterest Begins Testing Search Ads on the Social Media Platform [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/pinterest-doubles-search-advertising-biz/307771/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1486581732?utm_visit=1984901" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook is Refining its Ad Measurement Offerings to Give Markets More Information About Their Campaigns [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-marketers-data-tools-compare-tv/307767/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1486489455?utm_visit=1984901" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"]…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook updates News Feed algorithm to focus on video completion rates [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-video-completion-rates-204788" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Inmoji allows brands to create sendable, emoji-like stickers that they refer to as “Interactive Emojis” [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/inmoji-launches-first-self-service-platform-interactive-emoji-like-icons-stickers-204638" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline"…
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Award Series: Virgin Islands Telephone Company

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director The Virgin Islands Telephone Company had been our client for about 3 years. Our focus was a print, TV and PR campaign focused on stemming complaints about the quality of service in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as the weather, humidity and annual storms, wreaked havoc on above-ground lines. The biggest…
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ADmirable Series: “The Force” by Volkswagen

By: Luke Suggs, Account Support It’s Super Bowl time! A time when friends and family come together for wings, beer, football, a halftime show, and, most importantly, commercials. The Super Bowl is an exciting opportunity for brands and agencies to showcase their best creative work to millions of viewers. Volkswagen nailed it with this 2011…
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Branding in 2017

By Chloe Ayres, Senior Designer Just as our personality is a mixture of inherent traits and characteristics that develop over time, your brand is a mix of existing factors and developed characteristics. Branding is how you shape and communicate that personality to your customers. While some truths of branding will always stand the test of…
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Brand Engagement Grows as Fans Use Social Media During The Super Bowl

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator & Social Media Manager It’s hard to believe that the Super Bowl is this week. And like most advertising aficionados, we are getting pumped and excited the way anyone in the entertainment industry would the week of the Oscars. And now, as a majority of Americans are on social media,…
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The Importance of Music in Advertising and Branding

By Luke Suggs, Account Support For most people, music is an essential part of everyday life. Although people may have stylistic differences, music has the ability to connect people and has power to make us feel. Similar to smell, music can trigger memory. Just the other day my friend said whenever he heard the song…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Pinterest to expand their advertising services by rolling out ad group functionality to paid campaigns in about a month. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/pinterest-ad-groups-203882" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Instagram accounted for 70% of GQ’s social revenue last year, bolstering the site’s credibility and value…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google appears to be introducing a simple website creation tool for small businesses. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/google-taking-another-run-simple-website-creation-small-businesses-203468" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook’s extended Ad Network now serves ads to over one billion people. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-serving-ads-washington-post-rolling-stone/307486/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"]…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook to expand their “Dynamic Ad” service, allowing brands to retarget users who have viewed products on other brands’ sites or apps as well as their Facebook followers. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebooks-retargeted-ads-broadened-include-rivals-site-page-audiences-203045" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook plans to add mid-roll video ads…
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Classic Creative – Austin Quality Foods

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director We conducted our Brand Exercise “Benefits Testing” to arrive at the primary benefit “End the hungries.” It sounds pretty obvious now, but it wasn’t so obvious before. Product benefits led to options like after-school snack, perfect travel food, most fulfilling and convenient snack, sports energy (this was before all the…
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DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Digital marketing continues to grow, with marketers spending a record-breaking $17.6 billion in the third quarter of 2016, a 20% year-over-year increase. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://thegossagency.com/2017/01/05/iab-advertising-report-finds-marketers-cant-stop-spending-on-digital/" style="default" size="normal" target="_self" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google will now actively work to pair brands with YouTube creators to produce…
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Chuck Archerd Digital Case History

Recently, The Goss Agency had the pleasure of working with Chuck Archerd on his race to become Chairman of the Buncombe County Commission. Over the course of the campaign, we leveraged Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, targeting users based on geography and political affiliation to achieve a whopping 642,000 impressions in only 8 weeks with…
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Study: 55 percent of mobile dollars wasted

More than 70 percent of mobile ads fail to create a positive user experience. Greg Sterling on December 21, 2016 at 9:55 am A recent study (reg. req’d) from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Celtra, argues that $0.55 of every dollar spent on mobile advertising is wasted. Beyond this, negative mobile ad experiences are hurting brand…
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IAB Advertising Report Finds Marketers Can’t Stop Spending On Digital

By George Slefo. Published on December 28, 2016. [row] [span8] Digital advertising is on a relentless path toward gobbling up more ad dollars, with marketers spending a record-breaking $17.6 billion on digital in the third quarter of 2016. That represents a 20% year-over-year increase, according to a report released Wednesday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.…
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The Death of the Click: The Impact of Voice Search

By Simon Schnieders Posted in Search on 4 January 2017, 08:00, 0 Comments It wasn’t too long ago that search engines were the jewel in the crown for marketers. Long before social media, digital channels and mobile apps, search engines ignited the digital revolution for marketing campaigns. However, every now and then a new technology…
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Google now showing product schema rich snippets in image search results

Google Image Search now supports product schema markup in the mobile image search results. Barry Schwartz on December 14, 2016 at 8:45 am Google is now displaying rich snippets via product schema markup in the Google Image Search results. If you do a Google image search on a smartphone and click on a result that…
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Facebook’s latest measurement error undercounted Instant Articles traffic

For those keeping count, this is the fourth time Facebook has disclosed measurement errors in as many months. Tim Peterson on December 16, 2016 at 11:00 am It’s happened again. For the fourth time since September and the second time this month, Facebook has disclosed a measurement error. Facebook had been undercounting iPhone traffic for…
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Salesforce moves beyond first-party data with Krux integration

The CRM/marketing giant unveils several new features for its Marketing Cloud that incorporate its recently purchased data management platform. Barry Levine on December 16, 2016 at 10:46 am In October, Salesforce announced it was buying data management platform (DMP) Krux. This week, the CRM/marketing giant unveiled the addition of three new features to its Marketing…
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Reserve with Google: Deeper booking integration through search and Maps

Online booking is becoming mainstream, with the principal points of entry being Google, Facebook and Yelp. Greg Sterling on December 15, 2016 at 11:32 am Local search is becoming much more transactional. Google previously worked with a range of third-party providers to bring online reservations to the Knowledge Graph. Now the company has gone much…
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Advertisers are cooling on Snapchat Live Stories

With viewership for Snapchat’s Live Stories stagnating, the feature is not a priority for media buyers. In addition to Discover, Live Stories is one of two media-driven features inside the Snapchat app. Available alongside Discover on the Stories and Discover pages, Live Stories provides content curated around different events and topics — everything from a…
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New wave of referrer spam wrecking Google Analytics data

If you're seeing a lot of referral traffic in your Google Analytics data, you're not alone. Contributor Jonathan Hochman explains how referral spam happens, lays out methods to combat it and suggests potential solutions for Google's consideration. Jonathan Hochman on December 8, 2016 at 11:13 am A new surge of referrer spam is damaging Google…
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Instagram Story links get 15–25% swipe-through rates for brands, publishers

Vox Media’s Curbed, MeUndies, Outside and Whisper discuss their early strategies and success with linking to their sites from Instagram Stories. Tim Peterson on December 8, 2016 at 9:00 am Instagram may have arrived late as a traffic source for brands and publishers, but it’s already showing early signs of success, driving new visitors to…
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New features may be coming to AdWords Responsive Ads

Some accounts are now requiring a square image. Ginny Marvin on December 1, 2016 at 2:27 pm It seems Google may be getting ready to test some new features for responsive ads in AdWords. Spotted by Jonah Pessin at HeBS Digital, Google is requiring two image sizes in some accounts. In addition to the landscape…
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What Businesses Should Know About Local SEO

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Coordinator Of course businesses want to draw visitors from across the state, country, and even the other side of the world. But what about the local visitor? Businesses should optimize their local search ranking and provide content to encourage traffic from their local geographic region as well. According to…
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5 Marketing Predictions for 2017

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator Ready or not, 2017 will be here before we know it! Here is a compiled list of predicted trends that will help you adjust, prep and optimize your advertising and marketing plan for the new year: [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] An increased focus on analytics — including the use of…
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ADmirable Series: H&M “Come Together”

By Luke Suggs, Account Intern Nobody likes delays, especially on Christmas! In H&M’s new holiday ad, “Come Together,” passengers on a train are informed there is a delay and will be missing Christmas with their families. The train operator sets his efforts to ensure that a young boy gets a Christmas even if it’s with…
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Award Series: Sky Dive North Georgia

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Small client, small budget: How do you get the word out? It was the perfect fit: Creation of powerful headlines to go in, well, “Headlines,” Atlanta’s premier facilitator of restroom advertising. You might say our ads were in the toilet — strategically placed above the urinals. The look was simple:…
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3 next-level Yelp tricks for business owners

Struggling with Yelp reviews? Columnist Brian Patterson shares his tactics for understanding and improving your review score. Brian Patterson on November 21, 2016 at 9:24 am I’m always on the lookout for interesting tips, tricks and strategies that marketing managers and business owners can use to improve their Yelp pages. From dissecting Yelp’s own videos…
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Google is testing images in Sitelink extensions

Spotted on mobile, the extensions display in a swipeable carousel.   Ginny Marvin on November 22, 2016 at 11:31 am Image extensions have come and gone and come again. Google tested them in 2013, but they never got off the ground. Bing Ads brought its own version of image extensions out of beta just over…
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Snapchat Video Ads Average Less Than 3 Seconds a View

Automated video ads, new Play inventory and in-app purchase audience modeling are now available. By Garett Sloane. Published on November 28, 2016. [row] [caption id="attachment_10733" align="aligncenter" width="642"] Snapchat ads don't get to play for long on average, but two-thirds play with sound on. Credit: Snapchat via YouTube[/caption] [/row] Snapchat ads are averaging less than 3…
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US Presidential election data: searcher intent vs. demographic polling

Politics aside, data from the 2016 US Presidential election illustrates that intent-driven search data “trumps” demographics-based polling data. Brian Ussery on November 23, 2016 at 2:00 pm During the hotly contested and seemingly never-ending campaign season running up to the 2016 US Presidential elections, Americans were exposed to more demographics-based “polling data” than at any…
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Snapchat shuts down Story Explorer feature in Live Stories

Snapchat has removed its Story Explorer feature that allowed people to view specific moments of a Live Story from different perspectives. Tim Peterson on November 30, 2016 at 11:00 am A year after introducing Story Explorer as a way for people to view the events documented in Live Stories from many different angles, Snapchat is…
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Pinterest launches Showcase to give brands a way to shape their stories

Pinterest has launched a showcase feature to give brands the ability to present their best selves. Tamar Weinberg on December 1, 2016 at 3:35 pm Pinterest has given brands an edge with a new update on its user interface. Announced today, the platform has launched a new feature it calls Showcase, allowing visitors who interact…
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IAB Proposes First Major Update to In-App Advertising Since 2013

George Slefo on on November 30, 2016 Consumers and advertisers have been rushing to mobile apps from desktop computing at a breakneck pace, but standards for the ads haven't been keeping up. Now the Interactive Advertising Bureau has proposed its first major update to in-app ad guidelines since 2013, touching on areas including viewability, location…
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Advertising is Crucial for Mobile App Developers

Report: Most users will need multiple exposures to an app before they download TUNE study based on a mix of consumer survey and app download data. Greg Sterling on November 11, 2016 at 2:14 pm How does brand impact app installs? That’s a question TUNE sought to answer with a number of related consumer and…
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Brands Will Soon Have an Analytics Tool for Their Facebook Messenger Bots

Facebook has created its own analytics tool for Messenger bots Facebook's free Messenger bot analytics tool will cross-reference Messenger interactions with Facebook user data and can tie into mobile app, web analytics. Tim Peterson on November 15, 2016 at 2:12 pm With more than 34,000 Messenger bots on the market since their April 2016 debut,…
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The Power of Online Reviews (and How You Can Improve Yours)

70% of consumers will leave a review for a business when asked Want to get inside the minds of potential customers for your local business? Columnist Sherry Bonelli shares insights from BrightLocal's annual Local Consumer Review Survey. Sherry Bonelli on November 14, 2016 at 10:03 am A business’s online reputation is more important than ever.…
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Pinterest Testing the Waters With Autoplay Ads

Pinterest queues up autoplay video ads for new Explore tab American Express, The Home Depot, Macy’s and Sony Pictures are among the first brands to test Pinterest’s autoplay video ads. Tim Peterson on November 15, 2016 at 2:12 pm A few months after introducing click-to-play video ads, Pinterest is catching up with the times —…
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Facebook Attempts to Restore Trust With Advertisers

In major measurement update, Facebook overhauls metrics, makes corrections, adds viewability Facebook is also adding more third-party verification and forming a Measurement Council to stay in step with evolving products and metrics. Ginny Marvin on November 16, 2016 at 9:00 am In a sort of course correction, Facebook made several announcements Wednesday pertaining to audience…
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New Creative: Alliance AutoGas

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Our client, Alliance AutoGas, proudly offers fleet managers across America the ability to convert their fleets to propane autogas, one of the cleanest burning fossil fuels known to man. In creating this digital direct piece, we aimed to create an emotionally compelling advertisement that highlighted this product benefit, contrasted it…
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7 Ways to Improve Your Search Rank Using Social Media

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager & Digital Director Social media is like a multi-tool; use it to engage with customers, sell products, market new products, for PR. But did you know that social media can also help your SEO? That’s right! And while its effect on your search results is indirect, it goes a long…
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Award Series: Farnam Custom Products

By Jeff Goss, President One of the biggest mistakes business-to-business clients make is getting too technical. They forget that, although their customers are buying a product for business and there are a lot of technical features, they have to add up to a benefit at the end of the day. But, most importantly, that benefit…
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Adobe Marketing Cloud’s Secret Agent: How’s your Customer Experience?

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager Everyone needs a laugh, and everyone loves a story. Brands that use storytelling and humor can connect with their target audience in a personable and impactful way. A brand that has successfully used humor this fall is Adobe Marketing Cloud. Adobe speaks to the problem many brands face…
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Branding Process Kicks Off For Elizabeth City, NC

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Two weeks ago, The Goss Agency had the pleasure of visiting one of its clients, Elizabeth City, to present the results from our branding process. Located on the Pasquotank River in Eastern North Carolina, Elizabeth City truly is a gem of Southern charm and culture. The branding process uncovered Elizabeth…
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ADmirable: Dell and Intel’s “The New Experts”

Many brands use back-to-school ads to showcase flashy clothes and products that’ll appeal to students and parents. But this year, Dell went a step further. Rather than focusing on products, Dell tells the inspiring story of its “New Expert,” 22-year-old physicist Taylor Wilson. At the age of 14, Wilson was the youngest person to produce…
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5 SEO Mistakes You’re Making

In the early days of SEO, the mindset for most specialists was, "How do we trick Google into giving us better search results?" Well, if Google has ever been accused of something, it wasn't stupidity, which is why they've since begun penalizing SEO specialists who try to game the system. Nowadays, good SEO isn't achieved…
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Classic Creative – Haywood County

Haywood County, after our branding workshop filtering and prioritizing all the features and visitor experiences, determined that the authentic Appalachian culture and clean natural environment were the assets that rose to the top. Thus, “Haywood County, Authentic Appalachian, pure and simple” was born. A new logo was created by illustrating the landscape in a turn-of-the-century…
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How Brands are Getting Millennials to Flex their Voting Muscles

By Rachel Hornay, Copy Writer Intern It has become that time of the year when political campaigns are everywhere in the media. This election year there is a huge number of millennials who are able to vote. According to ABC News, millennials have edged out baby boomers as the largest living generation in U.S. history…
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4 Reasons Why Your Brand Should Use Instagram Stories

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager Was Instagram being a copycat of Snapchat when it rolled out its new feature, Instagram Stories? Of course. Should brands still use and be aware of this new feature? Most definitely. Just like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories are available to be seen by all followers of a user…
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ARE YOU FOR REAL?

By Rachel Hornay, Copywriter Intern Technology is always developing but the recent craze of virtual reality invites brands to explore a whole new platform. Virtual reality (VR) is defined as a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real way by a person using special electronic…
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ADmirable Series: Dove’s #MyBeautyMySay Campaign

By: Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator & Social Media Manager It is admirable when a brand takes hold of a deeper message and a cause that goes beyond their product and penetrates the emotion and feelings of their target. Rather than just advertising soap and shampoo, Dove has been able to successfully take a stand for…
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4 Ways To Attract Millennials To Your Destination

By: Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Millennials are armed to be the driving force behind the travel industry. They use travel to go on adventures, learn other languages and study. Why are they so eager to travel? This generation was jaded by the recession and now places less importance on saving for retirement and instead values…
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“Webrooming” is Shaking Up the Retail World

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager/Digital Director For brick-and-mortar retailers, the internet has been a mixed bag. Sure, it allows them to reach a much wider audience than a street corner ever will, but it also begs the question: “Why have a brick-and-mortar location at all”? With costly overhead and property taxes, it can seem as…
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Q+A: HOW TO OPTIMIZE PINTEREST FOR YOUR DESTINATION

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator and Social Media Manager 1. Why is Pinterest important for travel destinations? You may ask: Isn’t Pinterest just a website where stay-at-home moms find cool recipes and quirky DIY crafts? While there may be some truth in that, there is so much more to Pinterest that your destination can benefit…
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Some Web Design Trends in 2016

Photo Credit: UXPin By Eddie Maiale, Design Intern Web design trends are consistent in one aspect - They are always changing. You could say it is a living beast on its own. Tackling the beast this year is no different. Trends this year include: moving toward a more minimalist design versus the 3D look, adding…
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Why You Need to be Focusing on Native Advertising

By: Ryan Laffler, Account Manager & Digital Director Display ads, the advertisements that you see on the top and sidebars of almost every webpage nowadays, are in decline. One part of the problem is that they are rarely relevant to the user. While this has changed somewhat with Google Adsense’s targeting algorithm, it started to…
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Pin It! – The 3 Most Important Tips to Optimize Your Pinterest

By Travis LeJune, Account Intern Do you have a Pinterest yet? If you are a shopper, you should definitely get one. If you are a seller, you MUST have one! Sure, it is still a fairly young social media platform, but it has been churning up some extremely surprising statistics we think you should know…
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ADmirable: Chipotle’s New Campaign

Fast food giant Chipotle recently came out with an animated short about two kids who grow up locked in competition with each other. The heartwarming video works because it captures Chipotle’s brand distinction in an entertaining way that resonates with others. Memorable brands don’t just offer great products or services, they connect with their audience…
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Award Series: The Thoms Estate

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director The heir to a 100-acre estate in the heart of Asheville partnered with GDR (Global Development Resources), our client, for an environmentally responsible development design that paid respect to the property and her father, who established the estate in 1937. Her mother was an artist, as were many in her…
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Top 5 Mobile Advertising Trends in 2016

By Ryan Laffler, Digital Director, and Rachel Hornay, Art Direction/Copywriting Intern 1. FORGET YOUR WALLET Mobile wallets have become the new way to pay. Once companies proved that mobile wallet transactions were properly encrypted and secure, mobile wallets began to take off. Many top brands such as Apple, MasterCard and Android now offer mobile payment.…
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Q&A – What is the core of Award Winning Creative?

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Q: What is the core of Award Winning Creative? A: Award, which award? Many awards are meaningless because the standards are so low (everybody gets a trophy). Others are an ego-stroking fest among “creative elites” congratulating one another for work they created more for themselves than the client and client’s…
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Digital Advertising Statistics You Need to Know (Infographic)

Ever since the turn of the century, Digital Advertising has been changing the ways brands communicate with their audience. The number of tools and techniques that have surfaced over this time can be a little overwhelming, but with the right strategy and agency behind you, digital advertising can produce tremendous returns for you and your…
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YOUR EMOJI SAYS IT ALL

By Rachel Hornay, Art/Copy Intern They say that a picture is worth a thousands words, especially with today’s language evolving with the usage of emoji characters. Emojis are intended to illustrate, or in some cases replace altogether, the words we send each other digitally, whether in a text message, email, or tweet. Instagram calls emoji…
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What is Material Design? (Part 3 of 3)

By Eddie Maiale, Design Intern Welcome back! We are reaching the end of this series on material design, and the information in the last sections of material design is not to be ignored as it is just as important as something like style and color. Today we will be going through some guidelines for a…
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Sustain Your Brand using Instagram and Food

By Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Brands are constantly looking for ways to engage with consumers on social media. However, one challenge is noticing the trends occurring on various platforms and capitalizing on them successfully before the competition. One such trend that is growing in popularity centers around food. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t…
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Award Series – Speidel ID Bracelets

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Clunky ID bracelets of the ‘50s and ‘60s by Speidel were engraved with teens’ names and exchanged and worn when dating--a brand and product withering of the vine in the ‘90s. What to do? With a little research we identified the top 3 social issues for teens: drunk driving, environment…
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Classic Creative – Gold Toe Socks

by Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Gold Toe socks, depending on direct sales to department stores for decades, became a household name brand in America from the 1930s-70s. Back then, men didn’t really care much about socks. They were an afterthought, “black, brown, grey, or did I say black?” That all started to change with competition…
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Vine on the Decline

By: Ryan Laffler, Account Manager         Vine has had a rough year. The popular social media app that allows users to string together a series of videos up to six seconds long in all is quickly losing market share in the digital advertising industry. Competitors like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat are all moving to capitalize…
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7 Digital Marketing Takeaways from the Digital Summit 2016

By: Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Earlier this month, I was privileged to represent The Goss Agency while attending The 2016 Digital Summit Conference in Charlotte. I was able to gain knowledge from industry leaders during those two days. I almost felt a tad nostalgic of college lectures as I quickly scribbled down note after…
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Award Series – Franklin Graham Crusade

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Faced with the communications objective to create an invitation for the Franklin Graham Crusade, we did not go the traditional route and do a classic card and envelope with script type. We thought about what would happen upon receiving the invitation. One would be moved to go but then rationalize…
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Classic Creative – Asheville Regional Airport

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Down 40% over a 3-year period, Asheville Regional Airport was “leaking” travelers to Charlotte and Greenville by the thousands monthly. Some said, “It’s the dated facility”; others said, “Not a powerful and long-enough stay destination”; and some said, “Hey, it’s business travelers driving to Greenville and Charlotte to save a…
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6 Tips To Succeed In Real-Time Marketing

By Dari Mullins, Senior Account Manager As the capacity of digital devices continues to increase and the craving for new, current, engaging content from consumers rises – Brands have to act quickly to stay ahead of the emerging trends. Real-time adverting has been around for several years, but it’s popularity continues to grow on Social…
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Creative History: Qualla Arts Basket Ad

[mp_row] [mp_span col="12"] Here is how we, “Turn Facts Into Visitation” in an actual campaign. In researching the history of the Cherokee and their culture in preparation of an ad campaign to be designed to transcend all media, we came across a simple fact that might be overlooked by many. After all, the fact was…
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YouTube Introduces a New Ad Package

    By Brady Rothschild, Intern   YouTube is introducing a new ad package for companies looking to advertise through them. Last Tuesday (on April, 26, 2016) they announced the start of bumper ads. Bumper ads are 6-second ads that you can’t skip, rather than the traditional 30-second YouTube ad that you can skip after five…
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The Blue Dot Back-up Plan

By Dari Mullins, Senior Account Manager   Recently I was reminded the importance of always having a back-up plan. So often we rush through life from planning trips to attending events and numerous work functions. Usually we rarely plan for these things and hardly ever do we have a back-up plan. I found out that…
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Creative History – White Horse Scotch

The USP (unique selling point) for White Horse Scotch is its peatiness. What is peat? Well, have we got a story for you. It is the earth. On the moist moors of Scotland and Ireland, the source of heat and fire for centuries has been peat. It is sliced out of the ground into bricks,…
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Coca-Cola’s New Campaign, Taste the Feeling

by Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator Mixed ‘feelings’ arise as Coke launches a new ad campaign from “Open Happiness” to “Taste the Feeling.” “Taste the Feeling,” is going back to the basics with their product (displayed in the iconic glass bottle) at the centerpiece. They hope the campaign will drive home the point that Coke is refreshing and…
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Virgin Islands Telephone Company Super Bowl Spot

By Jeff Goss, CEO The Virgin Islands Telephone Company had been our client for about three years before our greatest opportunity presented itself: a chance to do a Super Bowl spot. Our focus had been on print, television, and a public relations  campaign, with a concentration on  stemming complaints about the quality of service in…
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The Spokesperson Struggle

By Dari Mullins, Account Manager As I watched my beloved (and often underrated) Carolina Panthers devour the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship game on Sunday, I was struck by the increased frequency that our quarterback, Cam Newton, appeared in as a spokesperson for several different brands. Cam has always been involved in several advertising campaigns,…
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Cultural Tourism Destinations

Cultural tourism isn’t a brand new term, but the concept isn’t quite as simple to grasp as promoting, for example, a striking mountain range in your area or a Michelin rated restaurant
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Super Bowl Ads

The Super Bowl (and the Super Bowl Ads). The one night of the year that you, your significant other, their parents, and that incredible three-cheese chip dip your coworker makes share the same room without anyone cursing. That is, until the clearly-biased referee calls facemask on a shoulder tackle. There is something inherently American about…
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Social Media Predictions for 2016

by Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager Businesses continue to seek out different ways to reach their consumers and increase brand awareness using social media. More and more brands are joining the social media band-wagon, and the need for brands to differentiate themselves from their competitors is critical. As we begin this New Year, here is a list of social…
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Marketing to Women in 2016

Gone are the days that sex sells everything. A sexy, twenty-something model advertising a car will not sit well with most female consumers. The 75 year old trend of only using women IN advertising has drastically shifted to advertising TO women
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Creative History – Disney’s Vero Beach

Vero Beach was chosen due to the stretch of available land on the Southeast coast and its proximity to The Magic Kingdom. With a construction trailer and grading still taking place on the property, we began the marketing for the first Disney Resorts outside of the Walt Disney World Resort with “Disney Magic In a…
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2016 Marketing and Advertising Trends Roundup

2016 is right around the corner, so we’ve rounded up 10 pieces of the top advice about marketing and advertising trends to help your business reach new heights next year. Share this with everyone you work with, then schedule a brainstorming session so January 1, 2016 can’t sneak up on you. Forbes “Video ads will start…
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Cyber Monday Versus Black Friday

You’ve probably seen the holiday shopping reports. “Holiday Sales ‘Perfectly Average So Far” via CNBC, and “Black Friday Sales Down More Than $1 Billion” via Time. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Adweek reported...
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Snapchat Explores Audience-Targeted Advertising

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Four years ago, Snapchat burst onto the social media scene with a novel idea: an app that lets users share photos and videos that are only viewable for a limited amount of time (as of today, the range is from 1 to 10 seconds). The idea started out as a…
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Holiday Window Displays

As a visual person, one of the things that I get most excited about when shopping is the holiday window display. Window displays are a wonderful way to entice a shopper on foot to come into your store, and show off the goods that you are currently really trying to sell. However, as with any…
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New Creative Released!

One of our core responsibilities as an advertising agency is to mine for the most compelling gems from a company's story and share those messages across various platforms including print, web, digital ads, and email marketing with new creative. For our long-time client Alliance Autogas, we started with the idea of "Making a Big Impact on…
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Holiday Ads 2015

It’s early November, but we all know that holiday advertising heats up after Halloween, and many times even earlier. The iconic Lexus ads with the big red bow have been running since 1998 as part of their December to Remember campaign, which it will continue this year. Other iconic holiday advertising campaigns include the Coca-Cola…
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Airbnb’s Incredible, Failed Ad Campaign

by Ryan Laffler, Account Manager San Francisco is currently experiencing one of the worst housing crises in the nation, with skyrocketing rent and home prices in part caused by short-term renting services like Airbnb and HomeAway. Here is how it works: a landlord offers short-term renting through Airbnb which in turn removes the property from…
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Mary Kay Brand – Making Up For Lost Time?

Or watch full video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=964-8YFfXNk Mary Kay Cosmetics has run into trouble with their brand reputation. What started as an empowering business opportunity for women in an age where “being your own boss” was unheard of, has become “your mother’s makeup company,” the opposite of the fresh-faced cosmetics company that it once was. If you…
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Arby’s Beefs Up Its Branding, Drills Down to Core Messaging

Adweek recently broke down the resurgence of Arby's as a successful brand thanks to a renewed focus on branding and their core messaging. Writer Katie Richards writes, "The brand's turning point arrived about two years ago. It was either going to crash and burn or rise to the challenge of its teetering brand. The difficulty was…
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New Display Ad

Who doesn't love a home-cooked meal? This creative encourages healthy eating, prioritizing quality family time, and the ease of using propane cooktops and ranges. The bright colors of the ingredients in the skillet are eye-catching and look delicious, too! The logo at the bottom completes this display ad.
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4 Examples of Interactive Ads

Advertising has changed rapidly thanks to the onslaught of the digital age. So, companies that do invest in traditional advertising methods such as print and billboards are pushed to think of a way to create interactive ads, getting more bang for their buck by bringing their offline advertising efforts online, too. How? By getting viewers to…
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