We’ve all heard the saying, “Sex sells,” but many issues surround this idea of advertising. It is initially meant to evoke positive feelings about a brand association but one study shows that while people prefer ads with high sex appeal at first glance, when they are in the evaluation stage they prefer ads with low sex appeal (National Library of Public Medicine). While sexual imagery can bring attention to an ad it’s always a risky choice. Here we’re going to highlight the pros and cons of sexual advertising.
Using Good Storytelling in Content Creation
The art of storytelling goes back far back into human history with petroglyphs almost 12 thousand years ago. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been telling stories for that long. Humans are drawn to a good story. We continue to be fascinated by books, movies, shows, and even hatting in our living rooms to catch up with friends. Compelling content is based on great storytelling. As content creators, you want to hook your audience in and make them want to hear what comes next. T
Lagos: Rational Appeal Advertising
As we’ve been talking about emotional advertising, the other side of that coin is unemotional advertising based on reasoning and logic. This rational advertising relies on data, facts, and proof. These advertisements focus on the functional needs of the audience and what they gain by purchasing them. There are a couple of standard ways to appeal to logic.
1. Better Quality of Life: this is typically seen in the medical field or health and fitness industries. Pain-free living, healthier body, and mind, etc.
Get Your Content Licensed: A Guide for Content Creators
We deal with a lot of content creators and influencers on the daily. Some of them are very organized, and others, not-so-much. Their mistakes have led to good content that went to waste. If you are a content creator or influencer it’s important to understand a few things to remain successful when dealing with agencies like us. Here is our list of do’s and don’ts to get your content licensed so you can make money.
Emotional Advertising: Humor Appeal
Let’s take our PEMCO advertisement for example. It appeals to the humor of insurance through user-generated content videos we licensed for the spot. These videos consisted of “whoops” moments such as throwing a water balloon at the window of the house and breaking it. It’s funny, it’s something that consumers can relate to, and it shows the importance of the product they’re trying to sell: homeowner’s insurance. Humor is a great way to evoke positive emotions from your audience all while conveying a message. We find that funny ads are more memorable for us but that’s us so don’t take our word for it. A study done by the Journal of Marketing discovered that “humor is more likely to enhance recall, evaluation, and purchase intention when the humorous message coincides with ad objectives, is well-integrated, and is viewed as appropriate for the product category.”
Zero Party Data: Why & How
Let’s talk about consent before we dive into this topic. Consent is a term that is typically associated with sexual activity as well as within the medical field as informed consent. However, we feel that consent extends to any type of approval given by an individual, including data collection. Third-party data is data from a provider across other mediums that has no direct relationship with the customer, which is why this has been a hot topic lately regarding individual rights. First-party data is the other side of this coin. The more ethical side. The term zero party data was assembled by Forrester research only in 2020 and is defined as data that is shared by the customer, “intentionally and proactively with a brand.” Brands that intend to stay ahead when third-party data goes away should be focusing heavily on zero-party data collection.
Emotional Advertising: Fear Appeal
“This is your brain…. This is your brain on drugs,” says the actor as they drop an egg into a frying pan and begin to scramble it. These types of ads are often designed to create a reactionary response to motivate a particular behavior. In this case, it was to motivate behaviors for non-drug use. We’ve written on emotional advertising before but we wanted to do a deeper dive into each type of emotional advertising. This week we focus on fear appeal. A theory was developed by a woman named Kim Witte called Extended Parallel Process Model that explains why and when people follow health recommendations.
Importance of Curiosity
Desire. The desire to know something. This incredible motivator for learning facilitates the pursuit of knowledge and creativity. Children have this inherent trait of curiosity to learn about the new world they are in, childlike wonder if you will. We believe that when you stop being curious about things and become complacent it inhibits learning and thusly, growth will decay, whether it be personal or professional. When we think of the traits of successful people, the first one to come to mind is probably not curiosity. However, research shows that allowing curiosity to be piqued in a way that you don’t know the answer to something can increase the curiosity of a task and primes your brain for learning. All great, successful leaders were deeply curious in their respective fields. As humans, we have this attribute of wanting to seek out new information and experience.
Marketing for Good: Social Marketing
This style of marketing is sometimes called “marketing for good.” This style of marketing promotes a positive societal transformation that tries to influence positive actions instead of selling a product. Social marketing attempts to change behavior for the benefit of consumers or society. Commercial marketing, on the other hand, will attempt to change behavior for the benefit of the brand, such as sales. Typically, social marketing is used by nonprofits, charities, government organizations, emergency services, police, and fire groups. So, what is involved in social marketing and how do you go about creating a campaign? Here are some things to consider.
Shining Moments: Our Greatest Success Story
Since starting Locomotive, we have had a multitude of projects come through our doors. We treat each and everyone the same and put the utmost time and high-quality efforts into them. We view every project as an opportunity to showcase our skills at the maximum level. Whether the project is with a top ad agency or a smaller, local one, we give our clients our best work. Today we’re going to highlight what we consider to be our greatest success story at Locomotive. When looking back it was hard to choose a particular single moment. Was it a campaign?
Difference Between UGC & CGC
There’s a new term out there and it’s called CGC. If you have been with us for a while, you know what UGC is. If not, it can be defined as any piece of organic content created by a user. Hence, the name is user-generated content. So then, what is CGC? It is similar to UGC except that the people creating the content are professionals and it is typically co-produced with the brand. Let’s be clear here. These are not influencers. These are creators and they add value to a brand’s particular niche. Usually, they hire the creators to create content for them but the creators themselves do not post that content on their pages. This allows for more control from the brand.
Scratch Baking: How to Build an Email List
Email marketing is one of the most effective. A stat according to Statista said that “companies make an average of $36 for every U.S. dollar they spend on email marketing.” That’s some pretty good ROI, right?! But… how do you get a quality email list? First, you have to get quality contact information. Second, you need relevant prospects who will want to buy what you are selling. Lastly, you will need to grow that quality, relevant list to BIG numbers. Here are a couple of ways to start an email list for your brand.
Propinquity Effect
Have you ever met someone new and felt that instant click? You somehow knew that the two of you were going to be friends? It may even feel like you’ve known them for years already. You can’t quite put your finger on what it is but you know you’re a match for each other somehow. This is the propinquity effect. This is caused when we meet someone with similar ideologies, attitudes, beliefs, etc. as ourselves. It is also known as the proximity between two individuals as well. When someone is in contact or closer to someone a relationship is more likely to form with that individual. Brands can use this effect to create strong bonds with their brand image and voice to those with similar ideologies, etc. If you create a solid and consistent image of your brand that your audience can relate to and expose them to your image more often, then you are destined for success when using the propinquity effect. This strengthens brand salience. There are two reasons that this effect can take place.
Guide to Gated Content
“I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer.Volguus Zildrohar, Lord of the Sebouillia. Are you the Gatekeeper?”
-Ghostbusters
What is gated content? It is any type of content that viewers can access only after they have given their information, such as email address. This is a way for brands to collect emails for lead generation. It can lead to more sales, and email list growth, and provide insights into your customers. Here are some examples of gated content that your brand can use to generate new leads.
Conformity Bias and Social Influence in Advertising
Most people are influenced heavily by society, whether they will admit to it or not. Conformity bias is when we change our behavior to become part of a bigger group or trend. This is the whole concept behind things that are “trending.” Think about hashtag challenges. People swarm for a chance to become part of these in hopes that their videos will go viral. With this in mind, how can your brand leverage conformity bias and social influence? For one, it can help with brand loyalty. Conformity to a particular group can satisfy Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to belong. “Self-image congruence will reinforce the effect of conformity motivation on brand loyalty” (Journal of Brand Management, 2011).
Project Completion: Dealing with Grief
We never really think about the fact that advertising is a fast-paced industry with high demand. It comes in waves of really, really crazy and stuck in the doldrums. In other words, the highs are high and the lows can be low. We saw an article the other day that talked about dealing with grief when a big project ends. It’s interesting to think about. Sometimes we spend large amounts of time on these projects and we can feel a sense of sadness when they’re over, just like any other art profession. Actors deal with this. Athletes deal with this. Academics deal with this. We will tend to experience post-project depression and it’s a real term known by psychologists. Typically, it’s coupled with triumph and satisfaction but eventually that high wears off and we’re left with sadness. Having a purpose gives you motivation and determination, so it’s good to have these projects that make you feel that way. But that said any change in familiar patterns of behavior can cause conflicted feelings. This is the definition of grief. Here are some ways to deal with career grief after a project ends.
The 10 Kawasaki Slide Method
Guy Kawasaki is a world-renowned entrepreneur who created a list of 10 slides to pitch your business idea to investors. He used to be the Chief Evangelist of Apple and currently Canva. Rob Schwartz recently did a blog on this idea, and we loved his breakdown. Guy follows the 10-20-30 rule. 10 slides, 20 minutes, and 30-point font. Here are what these 10 slides are all about.
1. Title: Who are you and what is your idea? First impressions go a long way here so it must be impactful. This is where all contact information should be and don’t be afraid to add s headline, image, or photo.
Acquiescence Effect
Are you a people pleaser? Turns out that since we live in a society with behavior standards and expectations most people want to act a certain way to “fit in”. Acquiescence bias occurs when people agree with sentiments or statements even when they may disagree with them. For example, when a survey is conducted many respondents will answer based on what they think the researchers want to hear instead of what they feel. When conducting market research for your brand it’s important to avoid this effect to obtain accurate responses that will be used for product and service improvements. There are a few things that cause this bias when conducting audience surveys for your brand.
Brand Engagement Strategies
“More than 60% of customers interact through multiple channels, and irrespective of time, place, device, or medium, they expect consistency” (Deloitte Digital). There are two types of brand engagement: internal and external. External is what we will be talking about here between the brand and customers. Brands can engage with their audience in a variety of ways today more than ever. Social media, email marketing, digital advertising, live events, etc. That being said, there is a difference between brand engagement and customer engagement. Brand engagement is focused on pulling consumers to the business whereas customer engagement pushes people toward actions towards a purchase. Brand engagement tends to be on a larger scale than customer engagement as well. Here are strategies to increase customer engagement for your brand.
Good CTA’s That Will Increase Clicks
CTA’s are an amazing way to get your audience engaged. Whether on your website, social media, or email marketing, your brand will want to use blunt, relatable, bold, subtle but efficient CTA's that use psychology, funny, and/or are different. Which type you choose will depend on the marketing campaign's goal. CTA’s can take a few different forms. They can be buttons, submission forms, banners, links, pop-ups, and/or slide-ins. When you’re creating your CTA marketing it’s important to know the goals. Think about these questions:
