BIG Ideas from Integrated Advertising Network

A few weeks ago, I posted an ad to sell a storage cabinet on Craigslist and within 4 hours, I received 3 emails, 2 texts and one phone call. So, I contacted the first interested party and set up a showing for the next day and poof, that cabinet was gone with the wind. Cost to me: $0.00. I had $70 in pocket and the buyers went merrily on their way with a storage cabinet. I started thinking, as many others have, how exactly does Craigslist make money and who is this Craig anyway? In my research, I learned that Craigslist is on pace to make more $100 million in revenue this year based on analysis by classified advertising industry consultants Advanced Interactive Media Group. So then how do the newspapers advertising sales agents feel after a year of withering ad revenue and dwindling classified sections? (Another rewrite for this sentence because newspapers don’t feel, people feel. Not sure how to rewrite, sorry). Well probably not ecstatic as more and more people are using the internet to list and search for classified ads and often times as with my sale, the cost is nothing. Craigslist charges only for a tiny percentage of ads; $25 for a job posting in most markets and a small $10 fee for a brokered apartment. But that small percentage will generate over $100 million in fees this year for Craigslist, not bad for an office of only 30 employees located in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco.

And about the founder Craig Newmark? Craig remains fairly low-key, he works in customer service and wants to keep Craigslist simple. When asked “Do you think you would increase your revenues by allowing ads? Why do you not have them?” Craig’s reply, “Why? How would that serve the community?” That’s a slightly understated answer coming from the founder of a site that has more than 50 million US users and ranks #7 worldwide in terms of english-language page views.

Last week I get a call from one of our favorite clients and their vendor is asking for a logo in a dst format. So I ask, "do you think they meant eps format?" "no, they requested a dst file." he says. So, after a little google research, sure enough there really is a .dst file format. Turns out it is an embroidery format, a CAM (computer aided manufacturing) file that contains instructions for creating embroideries or other stitched decorations with a sewing machine; including codes such as "stop," "jump," and "trim" that tell the machine how to move the needle.

On the creative side of the advertising arena, we get a lot of different file type requests but it seems that there are more and more each day: jpeg, gif, pdf, eps, wav, etc. But a dst? OK, so now we've heard it all, right?

If you are wondering what a specific file format stands for, there is a very helpful and thorough website that explains file formats in detail as well as listing programs that can open or create these files. The site is called fileinfo.com

So, the next time you get a call from someone asking for a dst file, simply visit http://www.fileinfo.com/ for a simple explanation.

The intent of this blog is not to prove a point or to attempt to give any kind of design lecture but more so it is an opportunity to remind myself and others of an important design principle that I learned way back when in design school and am often guilty of forgetting. The general principle is that white space or absence of content (pictures or copy) can be effective in advertising.

As advertising producers, trying to make the most of our clients' budgets, we're constantly looking for ways to maximize our impact within the confines of premium advertising space. So why would we consider leaving any unoccupied space within a 15 second television ad or in an expensive magazine space? Because white (negative) space can draw a reader in and create hierarchy while enhancing the imagery and copy within its space. As general rule of thumb, when creating a layout, I was taught to use one-third copy, a third photo/image and a third negative space.

White space should not be considered merely 'blank' space - it is an important element of design that enables objects in it to exist. Balancing figure and ground is key to the overall aesthetic and can make the perceived image more clear.

A page crammed full of text or graphics with very little white space runs the risk of appearing busy, cluttered, and is typically difficult to read. Strategic use of empty space can create powerful contrast and give a layout important breathing room which ultimately gives headlines and text better readability. In today's era of information bombardment... with streaming web content on the iPod Touch, BlackBerrys and Kindles, a resting spot for a reader becomes ever-so refreshing; we could all use a spot to rest our weary eyes from content overload.




                                          Get my drift?

In the last year or two of shrinking advertising budgets, more emphasis has been placed on "churn and burn" marketing vehicles. Lately, our creative team is often asked to produce same-day sales-driven eblasts, site pop-ups or fast and furious Google optimized web copy. There are several helpful web posts regarding common grammar mistakes that one can avoid while writing. These "Writing 101" mistakes may be second nature to you, but for many they rear their head from time to time often requiring a second set of eyes. Some examples include: when to use the word "their" rather than "there" and "its" rather than "it's" as in this list: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6075621.html?tag=fdlead1

What I wanted to focus on though, were the pronoun mistakes that are still often heard in conversation. These "ear soars" are well described on essortment.com:
Pronoun Hell - Pronouns like nouns have what is known as "case" and shift their form depending on case. In other words, within a sentence they may function as subject, direct object, object of preposition, or indirect object and vary their form depending thereon. The dilemma for the speaker is inserting the correct pronoun in terms of its function in the sentence.

Garden variety pronoun errors include-- 'the boss gave he and I a raise.' Unfortunately, correcting this type error takes a modicum of grammatical skill, for one must determine the role of the pronoun in the sentence. Thus, "he" and I went downtown is correct inasmuch as "he" is the subject of the sentence and "he" is a subject-case pronoun whereas "him" is an objective case pronoun. Ironically, and much like the school-inculcated fear of "good," "him" has developed an aura of incorrectness that then drives a speaker to say gave "he" and I a raise, when in fact "he" and I stand in an indirect-object position in the sentence and therefore demand objective case pronouns--"him" and me.

Other common pronoun errors are: I'm taller than "her" (should be "she"). This kind of simple mistake is so widely made that the correct form actually sounds stilted,
but technically speaking taller than "she" is correct since "she" is the subject of an understood verb "is."

Got to run, I'm off to make dinner for my wife & I.... I mean my wife and me!