by Next Wave Team | Jun 22, 2008 | Everything You Want to Know About Advertising
Steve Greenblatt, formerly VP and Executive creative director at BRC Marketing has opened www.greenblattcreative.com. The Dayton Daily News (which unlike the Dayton Business Journal) provides a website and phone number, where you can see a long list of clients and some representative work. The paper reports that he will be offering freelance creative resources to business.
This is the second ad agency announcement in as many days- with U! Creative announcing their spin off from Wilson Advertising yesterday.
It seems the new trendy word to name your agency is “Creative.”
Here is to Creative! Let’s hope clients start buying it, instead of the same old hum-drum “advertising” most locals seem to actually pay to produce.
by Next Wave Team | Jun 21, 2008 | Ad Agenices in Dayton, OH, How To Select An Ad Agency
The Wilson Advertising site has been a holding page for as long as I can remember, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the latest ad agency spinoff in town picked a name (U! Creative) that is already taken as a URL by someone else.
And, of course, the Dayton Business Journal doesn’t include an address, phone or web address with a business story about a start-up, something that would seem obvious to almost any first year journalism student, so, I can’t add anything except a name to our list of “Agencies that aren’t The Next Wave” page.
Advertising trio launch new agency - Dayton Business Journal:
Three area advertising veterans have departed their jobs and launched their own agency.
Ron Campbell, Ike Imhof and Sheila Siefer opened U! Creative Inc. last week in a 2,000-square-foot office in downtown Miamisburg.
The trio are all former employees of Miamisburg-based Wilson Advertising and Design Inc.
As founders, owners and sole employees, the trio said they bring 70 years experience in the market.
The firm will handle advertising tasks including paper or pamphlet ads, newsletters, commercials and branding initiatives. It will also do media placement for radio, campaign organizing and “anything creative in the business world,” said Siefer, director of operations.
Company officials anticipate $500,000 in billings the first year.
As the business grows, U! Creative owners anticipate employment growth as well. By next year, Siefer said the company should have between six and eight employees.
Brian Wilson, president of Wilson Advertising, said he doesn’t expect the new agency to affect his company.
U! Creative executives said they departed to have more control with their own agency. They expect to be competitive in the marketplace, especially with overall pricing.
Siefer said most ad agencies charge markups on outside services. But U! Creative proposes to connect clients with vendors — such as printers and photographers — so the client can manage the projects themselves.
It’s driven by customer need, Siefer said.
“That is why we call it ‘U! Creative,’ and not put our own names on it,” she said.
Campbell, company president, proposed the business venture in late March. Despite rushing to budget financing, order equipment and find a location, officials are confident in the agency’s future success.
While it’s noble to talk about not marking up outside services, the idea that this makes them a better choice for clients is not exactly a ground breaking creative strategy, nor is not putting your names on the masthead.
Having a website that people can find, along with your phone number and address, now, that’s a good starting point.
If U! Creative needs help going online in a way that will actually show up in Google, we highly recommend our www.websitetology.com seminar.
by Next Wave Team | Jun 11, 2008 | Apple Advertising, Future of advertising, Practical Marketing 101
Apple announced the 3G iPhone on Monday, June 9 2008. I imagine the lawsuits will start by today, but, don’t quote me on it. If they don’t, they should- and Apple should be ashamed.
This isn’t the first iPhone price debacle, the first generation iPhone started out at $599, only to have the price cut by $200 less than 60 days after launch. Apple made it up (sort of) to early adopters by granting them a $100 credit at the Apple store.
This time, the part that’s missing from the small print is that Apple’s US partner in this, ATT, is going to require all 3G iPhone buyers to sign up for a new 2 year contract that is $10 more a month for the data plan that you have to have with the iPhone if you want to use all of its features. That works out to $240 extra- $40 more than you’d pay for the original iPhone with service. This iPhone might be $199 instead of $399, but, you will pay more monthly.
It’s not clear if ATT is offering the old “EDGE” or 2.5G price option to new 3G buyers or not. As a user of the original iPhone, I can tell you this:
ATT’s idea of “Internet access” via the “EDGE” network- is an absolute farce- my old carrier, Sprint- not only had faster access, but less dropped calls, and better coverage. Also, the visual voice mail on the phone only works when you have internet access- which means without EDGE or a WiFi connection- you can’t reliably easily retrieve your voice mail.
Apple still has other issues in this price change. The old iPhone hasn’t been readily available for months. If your 2.5G iPhone (still under warranty) has an accident (like mine did on Saturday night- slipping out of the holster into a bucket of ice water)- Apple is still charging $249 for a refurb, with no additional warranty:
This price- $249 to replace a phone that will soon be obsolete- and that can be purchased new on July 11 for $199 makes no sense. Apple’s pricing guru’s are asleep at the wheel on this.
It’s also sending a message to Apple’s customers that Apple really doesn’t care about taking care of it’s best customers- the early adopters.
Besides the “half the price” being a lie, Apple and ATT still haven’t learned the number one truth of the internet enabled consumer: pricing games are over; “There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.” This was thesis 12 of the “Cluetrain Manifesto” published in 1999.
Subsidizing prices with subscription plans isn’t a viable way to build in hidden costs. Apple and ATT will have to learn this the hard way, which is really too bad, since they are probably reintroducing the greatest product in history- with features that will change the perception of what a phone can do as a computing platform- again.
