Brand Marketing Tips by Steve Poppe » Art direction

Screen Grab Retouching for All.

Steve Poppe — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:21:05 +0000

I suck as an art director but that doesn’t keep me from appreciating art and wanting to play at it. Having looked over the shoulder of some pretty good art directors, watching them silhouette and manipulate images and color, I know what can be done with the right tools. The problem is the tools aren’t ready for mainstream. And they are not free.

Polyvore

Polyvore is a women’s fashion website gets this and has developed a smart application where users drag and drop various clothing and accessories together into “sets” or looks. The UI (user interface) lets you flop things, flip things, enlarge, reduce, change color and purchase. By surrounding that functionality with comments, a community of fashionistas, and smart curating (showcasing Taylor Momsen and Keira Knightly sets, for instance) Polyvore has created a business.

Snagit

Polyvore has tapped into people’s need to art direct or fashion direct and it points to a business I think is ripe for the taking. A company by the name of TechSmith is aware of this and sells a product SnagIt that lets you grab and copy pictures and images via screen grab and do with them what you will. It looks fairly easy and for active users is a deal at $49.95. But the web needs an ad-supported version of this software for free. Think of it as a rudimentary retouching site – much like Flickr was to photo sharing a few years ago. Make it simple and they will come.

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Creating Desire.

Steve Poppe — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:30:39 +0000

Have agents of advertising forgotten how to create desire? I often think so. David Ogilvy –sorry, I had to do it– once said “our business is infected with people who have never sold a thing in their lives.” He was referring to artists more worried about the art than the sale. Until, you’ve actually looked into the eyes of someone while coaxing money for product, you haven’t sold. You haven’t learned about creating desire.

I saw a black and white ad for Omaha Steaks in the paper-paper today. Steak is one of my favorite things, with many mental images and smells conjured up simply by saying the word. But a poor reproduction of a plate of gray, less gray and glistening gray steaks is not one way to do it. The picture was more likely to create desire for turkey. “The ad’s headline “Give the gift that will thrill everyone” doesn’t create desire. Nor do the phrases “2 free gifts” or “now only $49.”

Advertising today has often jumped to the transaction without spending time on the sell — on creating desire.

The Internet as a selling medium is working because it offers up multi-media images: color, sounds, motion and a non-static storytelling. The problem is, the medium is doing more of the work than the creative department. The writers, art directors and creative directors’ fingerprints are hard to find in most of web selling today. Ergo, the industry’s fascination with consumer generated content.

The web gives sellers and selling agents an enormously rich canvas on which to create desire. Way more powerful than print and TV. Let’s use it people. Peace and Happy Thanksgiving to All!

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Art Director Day

Steve Poppe — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:28:00 +0000

I’m shallow. I realized it yesterday after seeing a pretty, smiling, curvy lass in a clothing ad. It stopped me dead. I wondered to myself whether I would have stopped and read the ad had the model been plain. The answer was no, ergo shallow. But later after being directed to a retail site selling hand bags, I was once again smitten. Smitten by a picture of bags: colorful, beautifully designed, magnetic. Apple profits just rose by 15% thanks to the iPhone. See any commonalities? I do. Beauty, art and design.

What art directors know and many marketing people don’t, is that art and design sell. Make something pretty, design it brilliantly, don’t clutter it up, and people will pay attention. One of the problems with advertising and marketing today is the loss of art. I love strategy – the science of marketing – but without art marketing is lost.

Today, the day after Earth Day, I’d like to suggest we all pay thanks to great art directors: the creators of style, design and visual beauty. As we move farther into the digital age let’s not forget the art director, without whom marketing becomes just a bunch of digits (1s and 0s and fingers). Still shallow? Yeah, probably. Peace!

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