Convergence communique: The importance of storyboarding – and your brand’s message

Editor’s note: This is the third of a three part article series. Part one of three can be found here and part two here.

William Cameron Menzies is considered by most to have been the greatest of all film production designers and art directors. His list of films includes The Thief of Bagdad, Things to Come, The Pride of the Yankees, and dozens of films that are foundations of the United States’ – and the world’s – film industry.

Menzies’...

5 March 2018 | Content Marketing

Convergence communique: Designing your story based on media and message (part two)

Are you watching The Crown, a biographical series on Netflix about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom? Wrapped within this historical story, there is a marketing lesson to be learned.

Even the most steadfast, traditional “brands”, such as the British Royal family, need constantly to review their messaging – without being blinded by preconceived internal and external beliefs – and to understand how their messaging is being perceived and viewed...

6 February 2018 | Content Marketing

Convergence communique: Designing your story based on media and message (part one)

“Once upon a time…” That is how most stories begin – and many of the stories that began with those four words are fairy tales, fantasies, or make-believe narratives. Some, however, are based on true events.

What about your story? How would you define your business story? A fairy tale? A fantasy? An autobiography? Fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, biz-fi… or none of the above?

The correct answer to this question is determined not by how you define...

9 January 2018 | Content Marketing

The rise of emojis and the ever-changing state of our social caves

Social caving – a visual tale – I can see it now…

Some 45,000 years ago, groups of world citizens gathered together in a variety of caves. These caves were spread across the earth and included wonderful scenic locations now known as Eurasia, Europe, Indonesia, Africa, South America, and Australia.

The groupings included hunters, gatherers, and yes, communicators. These bloggers of their time did their communicating by using art—some crude, some fine, and most...

16 August 2017 | Content Marketing

Is there a future for marketing? The change will come quicker than we think

There is no future for marketing.

AI, VR, VRS, holography, real-time marketing, branded apps, brand-based gaming, interactives, drones (UAVs), wearables, personalisation, targeted video content, autonomous technologies, expanded and manufactured social media networks, marketing technologies and data scientists. All will be (are and have been) slowly deconstructing, destroying what we today call marketing.

In its place will be a hybrid, a fusion, and a convergence of life...

5 July 2017 | Advertising Technology

What is the true value of your mobile app real estate?

How many branded apps does your brand maintain? What is the “real estate” value of these apps? Unlike bricks and mortar, the key phrase in branded apps is not location, location, location, but is engagement, engagement, engagement, carefully, methodically linked to the brands your important customers experience (UX).

What is a branded app? It is simply an application normally placed on a mobile device that a brand or company uses to reflect and promote its brand identity....

30 May 2017 | Branding

The value of messaging: Steering clear of self-inflicted brand problems

Target, United, Google, Starbucks, Wells Fargo, and most recently Pepsi are members of a short list of brands that have damaged their image and their stock price via avoidable self-inflicted wounds.

Even after receiving vast social media and press backlash, brands continue to shoot themselves in the foot and seem not to learn anything.

Lucky for all these brands, the self-inflicted wounds have not proven fatal.

But it is only a matter of time before a brand’s...

18 April 2017 | Advertising

Mobile gaming as a truly global marketing tool: Are you a gamer, or ‘brandventurer’?

Mobile gaming is the world's first truly global marketing tool.

With over 1.9 billion players worldwide according to Tapjoy, it is time for brands to start to adopt the video (mobile) game platform across their marketing platforms and use video games to provide solutions to their marketing needs.

Video or mobile gaming?

Perhaps part of the delay in using mobile gaming is the misunderstanding of the profile of current gamers, who are mistakenly thought to be people with limited...

29 March 2017 | Customer Experience

Mobile marketing is dead: Long live gaming marketing

(c)iStock.com/Cylonphoto

Opinion A recent study conducted and released by MobileBridge indicates that mobile marketing tools, though accepted by the marketing community, have been slow to receive updates and delayed in expanding their current mobile apps. It seems that mobile technology is way ahead of marketing applications and perhaps ahead of the understanding of this potentially beneficial technology as well.

What does that mean to me, as a supporter of integrated marketing...

17 February 2017 | Branding

Why marketing is the true ‘game of games’: Could a video game be in your future plans?

(c)iStock.com/ilbusca

What connects the ever-increasing rash of zombie-based, end/beginning of civilisations series, history of now, robotic lifestyles, and topic-related movies? They all seem to pose the question: does media drive culture, or culture drive media?

I ask this question in part based on this story, as well as my recent readings, which include Pendulum, by Roy H. Williams and Michael R. Drew, Prosper, by Chris Martenson and Adam Taggart, and Tribes, by Seth...

9 February 2017 | Customer Experience