U.S. businesses spend more than $300 billion on advertising each year, but only about 15% of that is spent on online advertising. The other quarter trillion dollars is spent each year not to drive a click but to drive a store visit or a phone call - tens of billions of phone calls each year from U.S. consumers to businesses. And that number is growing by billions of calls each year due to the growth of mobile search and the ubiquity of mobile phones, which results in consumers being connected wherever they are.
These developments have increased the importance of call marketing for advertisers. So, for businesses that talk to their customers on the phone, call tracking is now an essential capability. It allows marketers to properly attribute calls and marketing campaigns to a lead source, providing essential business intelligence.
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A marketer's job is to make something interesting. That's easy enough when you work for Red Bull, but what if your client is a soap company? Or a data-storage firm? Not exactly riveting. Let's face it, some industries are naturally a little more exciting than others. But the best marketing can make anything compelling, even something you never thought would resonate strongly with your audience.
Before you let a boring industry dictate the tone of an otherwise exciting company or write off, check out this abbreviated list of five companies that put an edgy spin on seemingly boring industries. For the full catalogue, download the free ebook 16 Companies from "Boring" Industries Creating Remarkable Content.
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Apart from the fact a Speedo just isn't built to properly support or contain a real man, wearing one in a hottub full of bikini-clad babes and acting like your dad is, well, just not a good way to roll.
That scenario, along with two others, is the latest effort from Mentos and tells guys, "Don't Become Your Dad." So yea, don't snap your Speedo and slap baby powder on yourself when leaving the huttub, don't refuse a ride with two hot chicks and don't ever be that idiot who exclaims in the middle of a quiet library, "how about a phone that just makes phone calls?"
Yea, Don't become your Dad.
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Today, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's have released their new ad, Mrs. Robinson. Created by 72andSunny and starring heidi Klum, the ad mirrors the seduction scene from the classic coming-of-age Dustin Hoffman movie, The Graduate.
The ad, which just doesn't seem to capture the essence of the film with respectable homage or even humor, touts the brands' Jim Beam Bourbon Burger.
The ad aims to "introduce the mature taste of bourbon to hungry guys." But all we get from the ad, thanks to that crunchy sound effect, is that the burger is akin to biting into a box of toothpicks. Not very appetizing.
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In what for the first 15 seconds appears to be your every-day, run-of-the-mill skinny jeans ad, this new American Eagle commercial turns out to be something a bit more daring.
The ad, released on YouTube two days a go has been seen by about 300,000 peoplel so far. In the 30-second ad, young people can be seen doing and saying young people things -- skateboarding, "if it's your passion, it isn't really work," "I love the feeling you get when you make something all on your own," "I don't want to be put in a box," etc.
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What's a PSA without a good fart joke? That's the tact BBDO Toronto and the Perlorian Brothers took when they created new work for the Ontario Ministry of Health's Quit the Denial campaign.
The campaign introduces us to a girl who admits she is a social farter. In the PSA, she claims, "Just because I fart at parties now and then, it doesn't make me a farter." Our lass has no trouble at all letting it rip at parties, while dancing or talking to guys. And she has no problem approaches guys to ask, "Do you want to go outside for a fart?"
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Ad man Floyd Hayes, formerly creative director at Cunning, has launched the World's Fastest Agency. Hayes has a long history of interesting stunts including most recently sending a 3D replica of his head to prospective employers.
This week, Hayes has launched a new agency that promises to be really fast in three easy steps. Here's how it works. First, send $999 to Hayes via PayPal. Second, DM Hayes your 140 character brief to @FastestAgency. And three, receive a 140 character response from Hayes.
As proof of concept, Hayes points to similar work he did while at Cunning where a brief, "Gain media and buzz for our park-anywhere small car," resulted in the concept, "Attach replica cars to landmark city buildings."
Would you send Hayes $999?
As you may have heard, Google will shut down Reader on July 1. Yes, you heard that right. If you use Google Reader to read Adrants (or any other site for that matter), you will need to find another way to consume our content. Never fear. We have suggestions.
Our first suggestions may seem old fashioned but sometimes old and reliable trumps new and shiny. Subscribe to our email newsletter. Yes, remember email? Quaint, right? But here's the thing about email? Email is a direct connection between you (the reader) and Adrants (the publisher). As long as Adrants lives, there will always be an email newsletter
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Despite the fact that most Americans have embraced social media, recent studies show that as many as 72% of businesses that have a social media presence do not have a clearly defined social strategy in place. Without a clear social strategy, building a successful social presence that inspires customer loyalty and engagement is nearly impossible.
Is your business one of the 72%? The good news is you are not alone. If you're just starting to develop your social media strategy, or taking a second look at a strategy that just isn't paying off, here are some best practices to make the most of your company's social presence.
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TBWA\Chiat\Day New York Head of Planning, Ed Castillo, attended a SXSW panel entitled Anarchists to Sell-Out: Punks Make Better CEOs and had these thoughts to share.
The presentation I enjoyed most at SXSWi was "Anarchist to Sell-Out: Punks Make Better CEOs" by Deep Local CEO Nathan Martin. Martin's candid account of his journey from skate punk, to electronics anarchist, to metal front man, to tactical-media artist and agitator, to design professor, to creative technologist for hire (my characterizations, not his) was a provocative and inspiring story about embracing the disruptive force of creativity and living strictly on one's own terms. In a career punctuated by hacking the Nintendo Gameboy, trading sex for votes, and Nike Chalkbot, Martin has apparently found a way to participate meaningfully in the circus that is brand marketing while staying true to the idealism of his art and the hacktivism of his youth.
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