Category: Advertising & Marketing

5-Hour Energy commercials

Posted on by Brian Lee

I’m stunned by the poor quality of the 5-Hour Energy commercials I see on TV. If you’re not familiar with the product, it’s a little bottle of liquid that contains as much caffeine as a cup of coffee.

The production value of these spots reminds me of a high school A/V club. It’s almost like the video team tried to make the commercials bad, but I doubt that’s the case.

Check out this commercial. Poor lighting, bad actors and ugly graphics come to mind for me.

Yet, the product sells, so the spots must be resonating with the intended audience. Maybe people are so groggy that they don’t care?

How AEC Marketers Can Use Pinterest

Posted on by Brian Lee

pinterestPinterest is one of the fastest growing social media sites. In January 2012, Pinterest became the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark. The following month it broke into the top 30 websites in the country.

An increasing number of companies are turning to Pinterest to engage with their fans and ultimately drive traffic to their sites. Pinterest allows companies to create a visual representation of their brand by “pinning” content from around the web while integrating pins of their own products as well.

So how can AEC marketers use Pinterest? Here are some of the tips we came up with:

  • Pin photos of your firm’s buildings, designs, projects, etc.
  • Make sure to balance your firm’s photos with photos from other websites and blogs. Your pinboards are not supposed to be used solely for self-promotion.
  • If your company has a blog, make sure to pin any relevant images from the blog onto your pinboards. When users click on these images, they’ll be redirected straight to your blog.
  • Create other pinboards to keep track of inspirational photos, products you use and like, products you’d like to check out, materials, etc.
  • Add a full description of your company to the top of your page and include links to your other social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
  • Most importantly, make your pinboards fun and visually appealing!

Rowland Broughton-Architecture in Aspen, Colo., has a great Pinterest account to check out: http://pinterest.com/rowlandb/. Notice the ample categories, the stunning, high-quality photos and the lack of (obvious) self-promotion.

For a good example of what NOT to do, take a look at Hammers Construction’s account: http://pinterest.com/tuknov/hammers-construction/. Notice how the company has only pinned photos of buildings it has made without integrating any outside media sources into its site, plus it didn’t categorize the photos.

For AEC marketers, Pinterest also has the opportunity to change the way you exchange ideas with your clients. The site is rumored to be adding private pinboards that are not available for the public to see in the very near future. This will allow you and your client to create private pinboards to exchange ideas and inspiration for current projects.

With a little bit of creativity and planning, Pinterest can be a great tool for promoting your company. Get out there and start pinning!

— This post was also published on the SMPS Wisconsin website.

Buzz for Google Glasses

Posted on by Whitney Trotta

Google revealed Wednesday “Project Glass,” with a video on a Google+ page, unveiling their hybrid technology glasses.

The glasses are designed to give the user access to hands-free technology, that “helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment.” The video shows a user going through his daily life using the glasses- they updated him when the subway was out of service, then proceeded to show him a map with walking directions. It also could take photos and allows for video chats.

Although the glasses will most likely not be available to the public this year, by creating a Google+ page to share the product and allow people to give their input, Google has created quite the buzz. Not everyone has good things to say about this slightly-invasive technology, but people are talking,
creating a demand for the glasses more than a year before they will be available.

I still get a kick out of seeing someone passionately talk to themselves, to realize soon after they’re using bluetooth. Imagine walking down the street surrounded by people not only “talking to themselves,” but stopping randomly to stare out into space with great concentration, as they check the directions from their map on their Google Glasses. I can’t predict what kind of advantages this technology will bring, or how many people will actually buy Google Glasses, but I predict lots of unfortunate mishaps due to people not watching where they’re walking!