April 2009

April 29th, 2009

Iron Launches new CMS-based Web Site for Tech Company

You know the story. Your company enters the marketplace and you need a web site. It doesn’t have to be perfect… “just get something up!” cries the CEO. Well, several years later, the site is often still standing. It’s not harming, just not really helping.

That was pretty much the case when Ocarina Networks contacted us. They had a fully functioning site. It just wasn’t representing their brand values any more. So they commissioned us to give their old site a facelift. They also wanted the new site to be built using a fully functioning content management system (CMS), and they threw in an ultra fast turnaround time for good measure!

In just 8 weeks we restructured their old architecture, sourced a suitable CMS (joomla), designed and deployed their new site. Check out the result here.

April 29th, 2009

Viral Entertainment Marketing: Great, But it Could be Better

Viral

Last holiday season, Office Max hired Jib Jab to produce an innovative viral piece. Jib Jab isn’t a marketing firm, but if your budget is big enough they know what entertains. And they proved it with “Elf Yourself.” The site received 192 million visitors in 6 weeks – results you expect from a super bowl ad, with a budget that is miniscule by comparison.

But what did they miss? Only 40% of the visitors knew the piece was sponsored by Office Max. And only 30% of that 40% said they would be more likely to make a purchase from Office Max. Granted, you’re still talking about connecting with 24 million people in exactly the right way. But then there’s that other 168 million.

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April 27th, 2009

Reports of Radio’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Advertising Campaign

These days, radio feels like a dead medium. It’s considered old-fashioned and advertisers are moving away from it in droves. The thing is: the audience is growing, not shrinking. 93% of the country listens to it and that audience has grown over the last 7 years, not diminished. Studies show iPod users get sick of their play lists very quickly, then return to the radio to hear what’s new. And the hype that launched Satellite radio was… well, hype.

So nothing’s changed but perception. Oh, and the price. The perception I just mentioned has caused radio rates to drop off substantially – which means efficiencies have increased substantially. It’s hard to say how long this will continue. But it’s easy to see that right now, you have an unprecedented window of opportunity to get tremendous reach and frequency. Need help? Give my reel a listen and give us a call.