by Andy Strote
All together now
It’s an integrated world. Your campaign should be too.
Here we are well into the 21st century and newsstands are exploding with more new magazines than anyone could hope to read in a lifetime. What’s happening?
Wasn’t the Web supposed to replace paper? Why do most major cities have a number of daily “quality” papers competing with free papers which are further augmented by free weekly entertainment papers?
The fact is, paper has survived the onslaught of all the other media quite well. Consider that over the past 100 years, we’ve had the introduction of radio, movies, television, VCRs, DVDs, cell phones, the Web, email, blogs, podcasts and more – all of which were predicted to be the death knell of print.
An accretive process
At Context Creative, we work across media and see it as an accretive process. As the media pie gets larger, we use each one for its strengths.
Paper is portable, tactile and “slow”. It doesn’t move in time or space. Readers can read at their own pace.
On the other hand, audio touches emotions that print can’t reach. That’s where radio, CDs, MP3s and podcasts do the job best. It’s also portable and in virtually every car.
Television and movies deliver the most complex of messages combining sight, sound and motion. But, they’re not so portable and tend to be expensive to produce.
For some, the Internet is becoming a way of life with the Web, email, ftp, MP3s, IM, Podcasts and more. It’s the media that poses the biggest threat to the others in terms of global reach, easy access and ease of publishing.
But it’s also the one that can allows marketers to update their messages instantly at modest costs, collect immediate feedback and get highly specific information about individuals who are interacting with them.
Use the media your customers use
Our clients know that most campaigns work best when they engage a variety of media. Typically we will link print to the Web, encourage downloads, email subscriptions and other sign-ups. In most cases, our goal is the enabling of two-way one-on-one interactions.
The media revolution hasn’t stopped yet. The next few years will see the rollout of pervasive wireless networks and ever more sophisticated multimedia cell phone communicators. Anyone lining up for media chip implants?
This is the big idea
These are the things we think about at Context Creative. With competition coming from everywhere – China, India, the guy in his garage down the street – you must work harder than ever to make your brand have meaning, memorability and visibility.
We like to think that it is our curiosity, analytical thought leadership and creative insights that makes us dig deep and do whatever it takes to help make you a success in the marketplace.
Whether you are launching a new product, creating a new marketing model or recharging consumer behaviour, Context can help brand, market and communicate your products or services.
If you’re ready for a fresh look at your marketing and communications, call us at 416 972-1439 or contact us.
