Brand Design Blog, News and Ideas

You’ve probably already seen this in a million different places on the web, but I thought I’d make a comment anyway.

For the last year or so, there has been a format war over which High Definition video format will be the future.

Our combatants – HD DVD Vs. Blu-ray

Much like the older video formats – VHS Vs. Beta

There was simply no place for both. Double the cost for consumers, more importantly double the cost for producers. Having to produce multiple format versions of a film would add millions to the cost of distribution.

So, after a year of back an forth from one film studio or another, backing one format or another – then after a lot of money changing hands – All major film studios are now supporting Blu-ray as there format of choice.

So what does this mean for the consumer?

When there are going to be positives and negatives.

Firstly, having one format is going to make it much easier for the consumer to purchase a single hi-definition player and be able to stick to it.

On the other hand, because we only have one format, we’re unlikely to see any competition on price. So, for the mean time the Blu-ray players are in no real hurry to come down in price.

Personally, the convenience of only having to buy one player to get films from all studios has won me over. I could see nothing worse than having to buy one player to play one movie and then another player to play a movie from a different studio.

Either way, this is an interesting story and one worth paying attention to.

To read more information on this weeks events visit: www.engadget.com

Helping future clients find you online.

Millions of people search for products and services each day on Google, Yahoo and other Search Engines.

So, of course, we all want our part of it. But how can we help your web sites to be found online.

Search Engine Optimization.

We optimize our sites for keywords and phrases that people use to search for our business.

But how can we be sure that the keywords we’re aiming for are the right ones?

Well, we could guess. Pick words that we think people will use to find us.

Unfortunately, it’s often hard to know what words people ‘outside our business’ might use to describe our business.

Now, Crimson Fox fixes the problem by providing you with a keyword testing system that will allow you to test your keyword theories and get some real results about what people are searching for.

The customers that have used this service so far, have been surprised at the results.

We’ve been able to help them redirect the aim of their web site and they are already showing the returns.

If this service sounds interesting or if you would like to know more – contact us and we will be more than happy to let you know more.

I’ve just finished reading a great book that you might be interested in.
‘Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die…’

Written by Chip & Dan Heath, Made to Stick deals with why some ideas, stories and products become world famous and why most don’t. Why some things are ’sticky’ and why others are not.

I found the topic particularly interesting from a marketing and advertising point of view.

Not only does the book direct us to examples of the ’stickiness’ factor. But it then breaks them down and describes why they work. Then best of all, how we can replicate them.

Of course, with all great things, many elements have to align for our ideas to become hugely successful.

But by following methods described in the book, you will certainly place yourself closer to the mark. Giving you every chance to make sure that your next thing - is the ‘Next Big Thing’.

I’d definitely recommend reading the book if only to freshen your ideas about marketing and presentation.

To read more about the book including excerpts, you can visit the Made to Stick web site here.

I can’t finish the week without making reference to the biggest advertising event on the calendar.

The American Superbowl has become the most highly contested advertising spot worldwide.

With over 3 Million US dollars being shelled out for a single run during the game.

You then add the cost of producing each commercial, including A list entertainment talent. You are looking at a cool 5-6 million dollars for a single advertising spot.

While those figures sound insane from a return on investment point of view. Studies have shown that many products advertised during the Superbowl have received in excess of a 10% increase in yearly sales, directly attributed to Superbowl ads.

For high profile products this can mean an increase in revenue of tens of millions of dollars. Certainly worth the initial expense.

To see some of this years Superbowl commericals click here.

In my opinion, some Superbowl commercials are brilliant. Delivering a message that calls customers to action, while delivering just the right about of entertainment value to make the message stick.

While other ads have missed the mark by placing too much emphasis on the entertainment and not enough on the message.

Check them out and let me know which ones worked for you.

Here’s quite a good article from the Wakeuplater.com blog

It details some of the common web design mistakes made by developers, amateurs and design beginners.

While experienced designers may find the article to simply be common sense – The points mentioned, make for a good reminder and an excellent read for those new to web design.

Certainly worth a read.