Advertising & Marketing Trend Forecasting

CURRENT EMPLOYMENT

Of all the creative industries, Advertising and Marketing has the greatest percentage of employees being embedded creatives as at 2011 (Valuing Australia’s Creative Industries, Final Report, CIIC, Dec 2013 page 52).

Embedded creatives are those employed within industries whose primary service or product is non-creative or outside the creative industry categories. This imbalance of the workforce in 2011 was estimated at 83.4% of creatives in Advertising and Marketing being embedded creatives.

This fact is important when considering employment opportunities within this sector.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/rise-content-marketer-role/90925/

   While data on the creative industry prior to 2000 is scarce, from my own experience there has been a gradual increase of embedded creatives, from the last century.

The technological changes that have occurred in the last twenty years are a major contributing factor. Desktop computers and the evolution of user friendly software have made it viable for larger corporations and government departments to take control of their advertising and marketing initiatives.

For the foreseeable future, this trend is likely to prevail and possibly increase further, ensuring embedded creatives remain an integral component of business and government structures, while specialist design studios are left to grapple over the small to medium sized businesses. Fortunately a common trend across all sectors of business is that the vast majority can be classified as small to medium sized.

MEDIA TRENDS

Although print media is a long way from being dead and buried, there is an ever increasing swing from print to digital advertising.

Content viewed is now controlled by the consumer. The popularity of the internet and the mobile devices used to view such content has enabled the user to be more selective of the content viewed.

This has increased the proliferation of Programmatic Advertising. Programmatic Advertising is an automation of how digital ads are bought and sold with end user appropriate targeting criteria used to optimise and select ads with real time bidding (RTB).

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2014/06/11/still-cant-figure-out-how-programmatic-advertising-works-watch-this-video/

The ability of the consumer being able to access the internet from anywhere at any time on mobile devices, presents advertisers with the unique opportunity to specifically target individuals at a time when maximum return on investment (ROI) can be achieved.

Research shows that 2 out of 3 Australians now own a smartphone and at least 1 out of 3 own a tablet, equating to more than 40% of our media being consumed on mobile devices.

Further to that, Google advises that a third of all mobile searches are for local information and that as high as 94% of smartphone owners have conducted a local intent search.

Locating a device is possible as most mobile devices are equipped with a GPS. Alternatively, the IP address from WIFI connections serve to locate a device. This information combined with the demographic data available from mobile carriers, enables advertisers to supply subject and location specific content to users.

This mobile trend of consuming media will increase exponentially. The use of Big Data, location and subject specific targeting by advertisers, I expect, is set to skyrocket over the next 5 years. There is also the anticipation that programmatic buying and selling of advertising will extend to print media in the future.

DIGITAL DESIGN TRENDS

ACCESSIBLE, QUALITY CONTENT

Although not necessarily a trend, it stands true that quality content that is easily accessible has been and will always be integral to ignite and maintain user interest and interaction. While its equally true that websites are a business presence on the internet, it is also accurate to say, that for many users, a website is an advertisement for a business’ products and services. 

Source: http://www.visioncritical.com/blog/emerging-trends-contributing-to-advertising-consolidation

The following, describes trends in web-design with an advertiser’s perspective in mind.

CARDS

One of the biggest design trends, that targets mobile devices in particular, is the use of cards. The increase in popularity of mobile devices with a variety of size and shape of screens, is steering the internet away from multiple pages linked together to individual snippets of content aggregated into one experience.

Twitter is moving to cards, Google is moving to cards, Pinterest is built around cards, Spotify’s discover feature is built around cards, a lot of Facebook now represents cards, many parts of IOS7 are now card based and so on.

Source: http://blog.intercom.lo/why-cards-are-the-future-of-the-web/

Cards have been around a long time, in various forms, giving bursts of information in a compact handy format. Classic examples are sports trading cards, business cards, cards in games such as Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit and more recently the series of collectable cards on various subjects, distributed with every shopping at Woolworths. Then there are playing cards, birthday cards, greeting cards, debit cards and the list goes on.

One begs the question then, “What is so new about cards?”. The answer is technology! When designing for screen we can take advantage of the versatility of the manipulation of cards and combine that with multimedia content, photos, videos, music and so much more to invent.

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobile_devices_DSC_0988.JPG

Cards are the perfect size for mobile devices and varying screen shapes and sizes. With social media rapidly becoming the source of choice for internet interactions and their propensity to the card design format, cards are set to be the next big design of advertising and marketing on the internet.

CUSTOM ILLUSTRATION

Illustrations, vector graphics and hand-drawn images offer a uniqueness to a website serving to make the website experience more memorable.

Source: http://brandigaluzzi.com/category/all-posts/page/4/

    They also are able to convey a message quicker and easier than words can, as cliché as that sounds.

BIG AND BOLD

Again driven by the increase in usage of mobile devices, big, bold messages are becoming more popular with designers. They are actionable across all platforms and screens, can be set over a related photograph, and are quickly digestible.

Source: https://aliceovolk.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/web-2-0-workshop/

A single typeface set large, telling a succinct short message about a company or organisation, on a subject related image as a landing or home page is increasing in popularity. 

VIDEO

Motion graphics have been around for a while usually created with video editing software. However motion graphics are moving into  a new era via HTML5 Canvas Video. When you consider a picture is worth 1000 words, one wonders the value of a video.

Source: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/313824/file-1446012816-png/blog-files/screen-shot-2013-08-21-at-5.56.39-pm.png?t=1415312642371 Website: https://www.kickstarter.com/team

PARALLAX SCROLLING

Another form of animated motion graphics is Parallax Scrolling, created with HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript. Parallax Scrolling in computer graphics is where background images move at a different speed to foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in 2D images. This movement can be responsive to a mouse pointer position.

Source: http://www.kitkat.com/android/#/home

While websites like www.designyourway.net play down the trend, many more websites applaud the innovation. thevarguy.com, highlights Parallax Scrolling as being one of 5 design trends to dominate website design in 2015.

FLAT DESIGN

On the other side of the coin is flat design. No shadows, no textures, just clean simplicity and clarity using large typefaces in short concise messages, crisp images and bright colours.

Source: http://designyoutrust.com/2013/06/8-portfolio-wordpress-themes-that-use-flat-ui-design/

Straight lines, square corners, no added effects, minimal elements, good typography and unique colours, has risen in 2013 and 2014 and is anticipated to flourish through 2015.

PRINT DESIGN TRENDS

TYPE-ONLY

Clean looks are also being portrayed in print. Minimal type without the clutter of embellishments and with brief concise messages are making inroads in print design.

Source: http://www.coroflot.com/klaracu/typography

IMAGE-ONLY

By the same token, image only designs are offering clear messages that are not lost behind words.

Source: http://www.coroflot.com/rjfrick/advertising

These last two trends appear to separate words and images into stand alone messages.

AUGMENTED REALITY

Augmented reality is the successor of QR codes. In a nut shell, Augmented reality merges the offline and online worlds to create a real time 3D experience on hand held devices.

Accessing the camera facility, which most mobile devices feature, and using an Augment app available for IOS and Android devices, you are able to identify markers which then superimposes 3D content in real time on your device.

Source: http://marvel.com/comics/issue/50537/scarlet_spiders_2014_1

For example you can watch a video summary of the story in this Marvel comic by scanning the AR marker. 

DESIGNER SKILLS

In order to take advantage of these trends, designers quite obviously need to acquaint themselves with the software required to build or produce the various features.

The Standard for visual design for many years has been the Adobe Creative Suite. Although many have created cheaper replicas, they lack the in-depth ability of the Adobe Software.

Source: http://diginomica.com/2014/03/25/adobe-set-pass-major-cloud-milestone-creative-suite-licensing-ends/#.VF7AVCgm5FQ

Additionally a designer should become proficient with the ever-evolving HTML (currently HTML5), CSS (now at 3) and Javascript. They should know the limitations of the common browsers used, the differences between them and make HTML adjustments accordingly. Also to ensure their designs are equally adaptable to mobile devices.

As future advances in coding are realised, these should also be embraced in order to capitalise on future trends.

WHERE TO ACQUIRE SKILLS

Colleges and institutions continually keep abreast of technological advances and offer courses for experts and novices alike.

Source: http://www.createawards.com.au/2011-winners/catc-design-school-branding/

Lynda.com is always adding tutorials to its already massive database and is an excellent resource for keeping up-to-date with technology.

Source: http://naptimeismytime.com/2012/08/learning-with-lynda-com.html

Personally I have always found Google useful when searching the internet on how-to subjects. The internet, as a whole, is an inexhaustible resource.

SUMMARY

Every new trend attempts to embrace advancements in technology, analyse the pros and cons and determine the value of real-time application to their own purpose and function.

Clearly ROI’s are expected to increase with the change to direct targeting as opposed to the more traditional wide net being cast. This will only become more singularly targeted with cost effective automation.

Design of the appearance of material goes through phases. While the clean unencumbered look is coming back into vogue, once many jump on this band wagon, the tend will once again enter a new phase in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. Multiple messages and multiple images may very well once again emerge.

Though for now the Card metaphor is likely to prevail for some time, given their propensity to mobile devices. One thing is certain however, the future is full of exciting changes.

REFERENCES

12 South Music, Web Trends: Parallax Scrolling, http://12southmusic.com/parallax/

Ad Exchanger, Define It - What Is Programmatic Buying?, http://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/define-programmatic-buying/

Creative Industries Innovation Centre, Valuing Australia’s Creative Industries, Final Report, December 2013

Design Your Way, How The Web Design Trend of Parallax Scrolling Has Faded, http://www.designyourway.net/drb/how-the-web-design-trend-of-parallax-scrolling-has-faded/

Digiday, WTF is programmatic advertising?, http://digiday.com/platforms/what-is-programmatic-advertising/

Forbes, Still Can’t Figure Out How Programmatic Advertising Works? Watch This Video, http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2014/06/11/still-cant-figure-out-how-programmatic-advertising-works-watch-this-video/ 

Forbes, What Is Programmatic Advertising And Is It The Future?, http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2013/03/20/what-is-programmatic-advertising-and-is-it-the-future/

Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia, Mobile Trends Report, September 2013.

Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia, Programmatic and RTB, http://www.iab.net/prgrammatic

Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia, State of the Video Industry, 2014

Inspired Mag, Print design trends of 2014, http://inspiredm.com/print-design-trends-2014-presented-cubicle-ninjas/

Intercom, Why Cards Are The Future Of The Web, http://blog.intercom.io/why-cards-are-the-future-of-the-web/Just Creative, 7 Web Design Trends To Look Out For in 2014, http://justcreative.com/2014/01/21/2014-web-design-trends/

Marketing Land, Get With The Programmatic: A Primer On Programmatic Advertising, http://marketingland.com/get-programmatic-primer-programmatic-advertising-94502
Marketing Profs, Print’s Not Dead: Print Marketing Will Thrive in 2014 and Beyond, http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24084/print-marketing-will-thrive-in-2014-and-beyond

Media Pace, World trends suggest Internet ads will outsell magazines and newspapers by 2015, https://abmmediablog.wordpress.com/014/01/22/fipp-trends-report/

My Ink Blog, Parallax Scrolling in Web Design: Hot New Trend with Examples, http://www.myinkblog.com/parallax-scrolling-in-web-design-hot-new-trend-with-examples/

The Var Guy, 5 Website Design Trends to Dominate 2015, http://thevarguy.com/value-added-resellers-channel-marketing-solutions/110414/5-website-design-trends-dominate-2015

Back from the Abyss!

After a 6 month hiatus to reassess the goals of my freelance business, I'm back. My immediate goal is to earn enough money to purchase my first block of land. So if you want to help a middle age man with a family of 6 kids and a wife realise his dream of buying land and building his first house, then I'm the man you need to talk to.

To this end I have updated my profile page on ....

Feel free to visit this site, and see why you should hire i-Imagination for your next project.
Cheerio for now

Prices Plus Integrity

I would like to thank David Fielding of Prices Plus for seeing my worth and granting myself an audience in an interview for the career position they have available. He renewed my faith in the value that the skills I have achieved still have to the industry that I am so passionate about ... Graphic Design and Marketing!

Even if Mr Fielding should choose another for the position, my experience is worth enough to be considered, and that is worth commenting about here.

With the company behind Go-Lo, Crazy Clarks and Sam's Warehouse going into receivership recently, I see this smaller, yet strong player in the market, being Prices Plus, with the opportunity to develop an ascendancy in this niche market.

Obviously, I would relish the chance to be a part of this growth potential, nevertheless, I wish David and his team all the best in the future, and once again thank David for granting me the opportunity to create a first impression.

Position available only if you ...

Position available only if you ....

If you are what I ask?

Since winding up iImagination in June of this year, I have been seeking to gain employment within the Graphic Design industry here in Brisbane where I now reside. After numerous applications outlining my wide range and exhaustive experience, eloquently presented, probed to be error free, with some of my best work attached as samples, you would think I would have offers being thrown at me.

You only have to look at my record. 5 years, yes 5 years in an advertising company from 1995 to 2000. The only reason I left was because the business was taken over. I've held positions of Graphic Designer all the way up to Art Director (2007), and yet my applications, one by one, are being knocked back.

I'm more than efficient with the Adobe Suite of software, Internet software, sound editing and film editing software, as well as the despised Microsoft Office software. I've had experience being the lowly indian, and the responsible chief. And yet, I still am unable to gain employment within my chosen field of expertise.

Is it because I'm now 51 years young? What, a 51 year old can't have fresh ideas? Bollocks!

Is it because my reproductive organs are on the outside and not the inside? Well I'm not about to change that! Why mess with perfection!

Honestly. You are not going to find a person capable of doing some jobs unless you look to someone with the experience, and lets face it, experience comes with a drawback, it takes years to earn it.

To be fair dinkum, What do they want? I am more than qualified to fill a position from graphic designer to art director. All I ask is to be paid according to the position I am filling, not as a reflection of my experience or age.

However I think most of these so called boutique art studios are looking for a breed of person that just doesn't exist.

Good luck with that. Meanwhile expect to see my application in your email box!

You have the Audacity?

You may be confused by the heading as to what this entry is about, suffice it to say I'm not discussing an emotion or attitude.

In fact this entry is about a great little FREE software called, wait for it, "AUDACITY".

If you are like me and have decided to convert all those Vinyl Records and worn out Tapes into MP3s rather than try and purchase CDs or visit the i-Tunes store, then you will find Audacity an invaluable tool to clean up those scratchy, old tracks.

I thought I might just mention a couple of pointers that work for me in the clean up though. Hence the purpose of this entry. Initially I record the tracks using a great little record and tape 'record to mp3' unit made by Fission and bought for under $50 at Aldi. When playing it sounds rather ordinary, but that is due mainly to the speakers, which appear to be El Cheapos! The recordings through the logitech speakers attached to my G5 is more than acceptable.

I then switch to Audacity! Open the software, select new file and drag and drop your mp3 recording. The first thing I do, with recordings off vinyl anyway, is run the Click and Pop removal effect through the whole track. It's amazing!

I then identify if there is any unwanted buzzing from the needle contact to the vinyl. If you check at the beginning before the song starts you may notice tiny little vertical lines. Select a portion of this, then in the effects drop menu, select 'Noise Removal' then select the button "GET NOISE PROFILE". After you've done that, select the whole track "Apple A", go back to the effects drop menu and Noise Removal effect and click the OK button. Magically the noise is gone!

The next step, with the whole track still selected I go back to the effects drop menu and select Normalize leaving the default setting at -1.0dB.

The next and last effect I run is BASS BOOST. Really only needed for vinyl records which seem to come across a little tinny.

And your done! Export as an mp3, I use the option of Insane at 320, but this makes for a bigger mp3 file. No real need to save the .aud (Audacity) file unless you want to play with it some more.

At i-Imagination, we can do all your conversions for you as well as many other things. Drop over to our Website and check us out.

Cheers

i-Imagination's Write Up

Out of the blue, Ashley Jones, the business editor at the Queensland Times, calls me up offering to run a feature story on the Better Business page with i-Imagination being the subject matter. Of course I leapt at the prospect and below is the end result.

If you can't read it here, visit our website at i-Imagination and click on the thumbnail image in the feature section.

Just for the record the first 'i' in our name stands for 'information' giving us the catch phrase 'Information with Imagination'.

Former Work Colleagues

Now at 50 years old, I look back at all the companies I worked at in my past only to recollect some fond memories of former colleagues. It occurred to me to try and locate some of these people on the internet, unfortunately, due to multiple names the same, this became quite a difficult task.

So I have resorted to my blog to see if by chance anyone else, or indeed they themselves, may do a search of their names, and this blog might just appear.

If you know, or you are:

Matt Bailey, former production manager of the now defunct Auburn Advertising in Leichhardt, Sydney, who grew up in Wagga Wagga (I think) feel free to contact me on 0421 669 877 or email phil@iimagination.com.au.

Greg Jones, former production manager of the now defunct Auburn Advertising in Leichhardt, Sydney, who grew up in Coffs Harbour, feel free to contact me on 0421 669 877 or email phil@iimagination.com.au.

Astro Cabrera, current owner of Adstream Media & Marketing, former Art Director of the now defunct Auburn Advertising in Leichhardt, Sydney, feel free to contact me on 0421 669 877
or email phil@iimagination.com.au

Auburn Advertising was one of the longest stints I had in one place during my working life, and feel that I formed not only a strong colleague relationship with these guys, but also a strong friendship. As I was also a mobile DJ, I recall DJ-ing Matt's Brother's wedding reception, as well as other functions that Astro, Matt and Greg attended.

Come on guys, give me a call and let's catch up.

Visit my website at www.iimagination.com.au and maybe give me some creative input (I can take criticism) .... that's an in joke!

Cheers
Phil