Category: Articles 🔎

At the time of this writing, it’s been about eight workdays since the Designsensory team hunkered down and began our work from home journey in response to the current COVID-19 crisis. It’s imperative that we (and you) take responsibility and practice social distancing during this unprecedented time. To be honest, this whole experience has been a major change for our company, but we’re learning how to make the most of our make-shift desks, changing routines and new coworkers (read: furry friends and 5-year-olds).

There are a lot of challenges that come along with working from home for some—maintaining productivity, confusing conference calls, an insufficient work environment, you name it. But there is one challenge that you can’t overcome by adding a new conference line or second monitor and that’s maintaining your company culture.

We have a few examples for how we’re doing it here at Designsensory (or, uh…from home, but you know what I mean). 

Face Time? There’s An App For That.

Our team has adopted dozens of apps, platforms and tools to keep our day-to-day office life moving, from Forecast for planning to Basecamp for project management, but it’s the other tools in our bag that we admittedly hadn’t used as much that are becoming more and more important in maintaining our togetherness while apart. And, you guessed it, video chat. 

Zoom, FaceTime, UberConference, Google Meet, choose your fighter—they’ll all serve you well in getting that little bit of face time that we all miss already. Our agency regularly has large social gatherings with each other (quite literally the number one thing not to do right now), so we’ve moved those online. Our Friday team taco lunches? Still happening but from our kitchen counters. Our monthly cocktail club? Guess what, it’s weekly now. And all of it is happening over video chat.

Phone a Friend

Yes, it is important to translate the things you regularly do as a group online, as opposed to abandoning them. But, perhaps most significantly, check in on your coworkers. Those little moments you had in passing while making a cup of coffee or catching up for a second at the end of a meeting—that matters. A lot. 

But it takes effort to keep that up. We all have to reach out to each other more often, and no, project status updates and conference calls don’t count here. I’m talking about a chat or ping to see how the day’s going, a phone call in the evening, a goofy Snapchat of your cat, a reply to their Instagram story—however you feel comfortable maintaining a connection and starting a real conversation with your coworkers. In an anonymous poll to our team about working from home, we got an interesting response on this subject:

“I text them! At the end of the work day, I occasionally reach out to people to see how their day went. What the challenges were. What the small joys were…checking in on one another via text has been a sweet practice.”

And on the other end, be open and receptive if a coworker reaches out to your after hours. I’ve personally tried to invest in any and every coworker who has reached out to me. In fact, just last night I even spent an hour on video chat with a coworker’s husband. Actually…perhaps I’ve taken it too far.

Long story short, it takes effort to stay connected with your coworkers.

“We’re All In This Together” – High School Musical

And here’s where we encourage you to get creative. Think about ways that your team uniquely connects with one another and find ways to reinvent or recreate them from home.

For example, I sit in the open area where the office Pandora station is a common topic for discussion. That station is wild, y’all. We’re talking everything from 90s west coast rap to Irish punk bands. Anyway, when it came time to work from home, a few of us in the open area pulled together a collaborative Spotify playlist to keep jamming out together from afar.

Our recommended solution for your team here? We aren’t sure. It really takes you digging deep to figure out what those small moments and things around the office are that help connect you with one another. Does someone doodle something goofy on the whiteboard every day? Keep it up, but post in on your Slack channel. You probably get the idea by now.

We know this situation isn’t ideal. We know our team misses each other. I mean, I accidentally said “I love you” at the end of a conference call the other day, so that’s pretty indicative of my feelings toward my team, I suppose. There will always be challenges, but our team is making the most of this experience while doing our part to social distance—keeping our community and families safe the only way that we currently can. We hope your team is doing the same, without having to make many sacrifices to your company culture.

This story begins in New Orleans, LA, the last week of January 2020 at an annual cable television market known as Realscreen Summit. I’m in my hotel room, the stopwatch app open on the nightstand in front of me as I prepare to rehearse a pitch. Two minutes flat. I have two minutes flat. 

Next to my phone sits … a beignet. Beignets do not fall within my New Year’s resolution. But note that I said it’s the end of January 2020.

If you’re anything like me, the end of January rather predictably involves re-working my initial New Year’s resolutions into slightly more realistic goals. After all, resolutions are – at their core – tactics. If our ideas aren’t aligned with the reality of our needs and daily demands, they will ultimately fail … regardless of how appealing they may have originally seemed. Simply put, a resolution’s fate relies far more on “viability” than vision, ambition or dedication. 

Developing an ability to sniff out, steward and sustain “viability” has always been critical to the role of Executive Producer or Showrunner. But, in recent years, as the content landscape has morphed in response to the implications of an evolving digital marketplace, this skill has become absolutely vital. 

To better understand the increasing importance of viability, it helps to first understand the challenges being addressed within the broadcast world. I’m guessing the term “cord-cutting” comes to mind for many of you, but, as popularized as the term is, it’s misleading. Sure, significant proportions of viewers are choosing to access content through a different means than the ubiquitous cable outlets we once held so dear … but the majority of those audiences are still loyal to their favorite channels and/or they’re utilizing OTT (Over The Top) services, which still deliver linear broadcast programming through alternative technology. 

In other words, networks aren’t really losing viewers or the licensing premiums associated with those viewers; instead, it’s the network’s relationship to broadcast advertisers that are imperiled.

This is where the true value proposition of digital comes into the conversation — data. You see, broadcast insights are fairly limited, especially when it comes to advertising. For example, advertisers have few triggers to determine whether a viewer is paying attention during a broadcast commercial break, whereas digital placements within an AVOD (Advertising-based Video On Demand) platform – e.g. YouTube – allow advertisers to track how long you watched a piece of content, if you clicked through, where you clicked and if you returned (not to mention paving the way for re-targeting or reselling the information to related industries and brands). By comparison, broadcast advertising is significantly more expensive, more difficult to evaluate return and less targeted.

This evolving competition impacts content creators in three primary ways: the need to brand, to co-produce and to generate a broadcast-to-digital circuit. 

Brand 

In lieu of the granular analytics digital media can provide, successful broadcast channels aim to pitch advertisers against the backdrop of a distilled, pre-qualified audience. These audience profiles are cultivated through focused programming slates and produced within certain parameters, along with the network being mindful about incorporating intuitive brand partnerships when possible. For content creators, it means crafting pitches that are customized to the tastes, partnerships and formats that are succeeding on each network. 

Co-Productions

Speaking of partnerships, intuitively attaching brands to projects – even identifying means of integrating extended experiences like e-commerce — is an emerging trend that further offsets risk for the network partner. This is especially true if the brand can bring some level of financing to the negotiation as well. Overall, networks have smaller budgets for licensing or commissioning conversations than they have in the past. As broadcast ad revenue has decreased and the scope of distribution options that a network is responsible for has increased, the viewer’s appetite for originality has increased as well-meaning networks have more content to develop and less budget to develop it with. Branded content allows both the network and the brand to harness the momentum and reach of the other while engineering a more dynamic business relationship than was possible within traditional advertising models. 

Broadcast-to-Digital Circuit

As I mentioned earlier, networks haven’t really lost viewers as much as they’ve started engaging with those viewers through more platforms, such as the large number of direct-to-consumer services that went live in the latter half of 2019. In an ideal scenario, networks simply increase engagement with a viewer across multiple screens, rather than cannibalizing one platform for another. For example, Food Network Kitchen allows viewers to extend the channel experience into both their meal preparation and grocery shopping, all while burnishing the viewer’s affinity for network content on both broadcast and social media in the process. For content creators, taking a bit of time to sketch out opportunities for extending your IP across multiple platforms creates more opportunities for your content to gain a following while building a stronger business case for your series and minimizing network risk. 

What all of this boils down to is that networks have always expected Executive Producers and production companies to entertain—that much is a given. But, increasingly, the expectation is to collaborate with partners both upstream and downstream from production on how that content will also prove viable within the evolving network business model. 

Which brings us back to me rehearsing pitches the night before the Summit, after which I promptly ate that beignet. Because even though beignets weren’t originally in my New Year’s resolution, it sure did sweeten the deal of working late into the night. 

I’m late to the 2020 welcome wagon, but here we are and welcome aboard! A new year brings new trends in marketing, and I’m going to go through a few of my best guesses for what we’ll see (and continue seeing) from our favorite brands.

Social Media Content Shifts

Changes in social media are like the sands of the sea—innumerable. From what I’ve seen in 2020, there seems to be a shift in the style of content that people are sharing, especially on Instagram and Youtube. Over the last few years, we’ve seen hyper-stylized content being produced, but now I’m seeing more authentic pieces surfacing. Less studio lighting, more natural light. Less Photoshop, more reality. This doesn’t mean that curated pieces won’t be popular, but this trend is attached to Millennials’ desires for truth. No one wants to see perfection all the time. It’s depressing. This year is all about the makers and their stories instead of superficiality. 

Another social media trend on my radar is shopping. If you’re like me, it’s now instinct to click on a photo to see if you can purchase any of the items. Instagram and Pinterest, in particular, are seeing rises in purchases directly through their platforms. And why not? After all, convenience is key. Want that new couch from that pop-up shop across the country? No problem. Brands like Nike Sportswear, Warby Parker, Nordstrom and more are loving the trend, and I don’t expect it to see decline any time soon.

Technology-Powered Communication

If you’ve seen Ex Machina, you know we’re doomed for failure when it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI). But maybe not. As a 2020 trend, AI isn’t manifesting in the grandiose ways that were once predicted. A major trend continually growing is chatbots and voice assistants. Calling a car or checking a savings account is as easy as texting—just look at Lyft and Mastercard, who offer SMS transactions.

Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa and Cortana have been on the rise, and they’re only getting more streamlined across various businesses and industries. Websites are integrating with voice search technology too, creating a whole new spectrum of brand voice.

Oh, and what about planning and designing interior spaces? Hello, Ikea Place. Thanks to AI, you can now download an app and see what furniture looks best in your house. Some apps allow you to see paint colors and floor options as well. Feeling like Judy Jetson yet?

Digital Video Storytelling

Last on my list, but certainly not least, is digital video content. For a generation obsessed with experiences, it makes sense that we are seeing a rise in immersive video (like Interactive 360º). Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have played a role in attracting new audiences to unexpected places and things, like musicals, international destinations, outdoor activities and sports games. And though it’s not easy to produce, it pays off in the end.

Also on the rise for the last couple years, and I predict will continue growing, is live streaming. Brands have expanded far beyond a simple Facebook Live video and recognized the ephemeral spirit that producing live content can foster. It’s the new radio or TV, where people can gather around to watch and share special moments in life. Brands can then save their videos for a multi-platform placement strategy.

For storytelling, a big trend for 2020 is User-Generated Content (UGC). Coke mastered this idea with their “Share a Coke” campaign that buzzed with personalization, and it’s taken off ever since. It’s easier to ask users to share their photos or video content with a rallying cry, and those assets are free marketing vehicles for your brand. And though UGC can sometimes produce duds, the best can be incorporated into your videos for paid media placements, putting the persona into your brand personality.

And that’s it! There are so many trends that will continue blooming over the year, so pick the ones that fit best with your brand and its goals. The advantage of having an agency like Designsensory on your side is the ability to step back and see when and where to use trends within your marketing and media plan. Get with us to craft a new 2020 vision.

Research, analytics, data, data and more data. In the world of marketing, we are bombarded with information, and the need for even more keeps growing. To many, all of this information can be too massive and unwieldy. Mention the need to gather and process all of this information and some people look like the proverbial deer-in-headlight.

The first way to reduce this literal information overload is to gather and curate data that your business actually needs. I can’t tell you the number of occasions I am asked to add questions to a project because it “might possibly be nice to know that.” My general response is NO! When asking survey questions—whether online, in a designed app, in a telephone survey or even during customer intercepts—brevity is important. Ask only questions that uncover the truths you want and need to know in relation to the goals and objectives of the project or task.

And that is true as you look at all data available to you. Pull what is relevant, study it, uncover the learnings and understand what action is necessary from what you have learned.

The next step you can take earlier on in the research process to reduce the overload is to always start by knowing what you want to learn or what hypothesis you need to test. Truly define your goals. Those goals serve as your touchstone in all things relative to the project. And there are so many touchpoints that collect individual information is downright scary!

Finally, if you have access to a market researcher or data analytics professional, I suggest you engage their services to guide you. It’s an investment that can pay dividends to business performance short-term and mid-term.

When Sir Francis Bacon stated in 1597, “Knowledge is power,” I’m pretty sure he had no idea of the vast information that would be at our beck and call in 2020, but he did recognize that we are better off absorbing information to make better decisions—personally and professionally.

Information is there for you. Just take the time and move slowly if necessary, but lean into information utilization and be careful not to swallow the entire cake—small but deliberate bites will do.

UX 2020 Design Trends 

As we welcome the new year, we’re also welcoming more User Experience (UX) design projects here at the agency, and we expect 2020 to be a year where UX only becomes more important in the world of marketing.

We sat our User Experience Director, Matt Montgomery, down to discuss what he believes are going to be the most important trends in UX in the coming year. But, before we get there, let’s recap what UX is and why it’s so important.

What is UX Design?

According to a study from the Oxford Journal Interacting With Computers, the goal of UX in business is to “improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through the utility, ease of use and pleasure provided in the interaction with a product.”

Simple enough. However, in terms of how UX design actually achieves that, it’s all about understanding how people interact with a brand and its products on its website and other digital platforms—like apps, software, tools and more—by analyzing their usage and optimizing through visual design for better results. Interaction design, visual design, usability and human-computer interaction are only some of the disciplines that make up UX design.

Because UX is a human-centered concept (putting the human perspective first in all stages of the design process), one of the key aspects of the discipline is performing research to understand how users think and what their needs are. To highlight what the process of UX might look like when redesigning a website, Matt offered three tactics typically used during the research phase.

1. Interview the User: One of the best ways to discover a user’s needs is to simply interview them. In an interview, you can dig into a user’s opinion of a brand or product, discover what it is the user needs and uncover what can be done differently to satisfy them. Interviews are a great way to obtain qualitative data from users, whether it be face-to-face, phone calls or even email interviews. The data you acquire will be more accurate than surveying.  

2. Usability Studies: Usability studies are an excellent way to discover problems as they happen. Oftentimes, users are asked to go through the process of purchasing a product or navigating a website, which will reveal where they have their frustrations. This allows researchers to pinpoint the problem and use that feedback to better the product, site or brand. 

3. Analytics and Heat Mapping: Today, the world of marketing relies heavily on data and analytics to better serve and to identify the “what over the why.” Analytics, provide quantitative information containing what social pages people interact with the most, website traffic, bounce rate, click-through rate, where users are, who they are and what their interests and behaviors are. Heat mapping is a unique way to track what content users are interacting with on a given web page. This includes how far they scroll, what elements they click on and how users are engaging with important calls to action. It is an invaluable tool in optimizing websites when every conversion matters.

Top 5 UX 2020 Design Trends 

Finally, Matt provided us with his top 5 trends for UX design in 2020.

1. Personalization is Key: Personalization is a key factor in being able to reach users. In 2020, more sites will try to cater to personalized personas as a way to meet the user’s needs and wants. 

2. UX is a “Team Sport”: Gone is the day of the solo designer. In 2020, great UX requires a talented team of cross-disciplined individuals and minds. It is imperative for teams to brainstorm together and develop impactful ideas, strategies and plans.

3. Mobile E-commerce Will Continue to Rule the Day: 2019’s Black Friday purchases resulted in 2/3 of all sales on mobile devices. Therefore, it is critical for brands to have a strong online presence and not just be mobile-friendly, but be mobile-first. With more people purchasing on phones, social media will continue to dominate the way users handle the web. 

4. The Rise in Inclusive Design: In 2019, 4.8 billion people actively used the web, which is more than 58 percent of the global population, so it is safe to say that the internet plays a major part in our day-to-day lives. With that being said, brands need to be inclusive and accessible for all. Even today, brands struggle with accurately providing accessibility for those with disabilities. With that being said, online accessibility and inclusive design will be a major factor for UX in 2020 to provide website accessibility for all, making sure anyone can connect. 

5. Increase in Data-Driven Approaches: The process of creating a user-friendly product relies heavily on data-driven results to better understand the audience’s needs and wants. Modern technology and research methods allow us to analyze data from where one lives to their favorite hobby. In 2020, data-driven approaches will continue to increase, not only in UX but agencies and corporations alike. UX can fold in data results to develop and guide specific business strategies that are tailored to answer the question, “What are users asking for?”

Importance of Teaching UX Design 

Matt will take these design trends into the classroom this year. In his third year of teaching Interaction Design to graphic design students at the University of Tennessee, Matt aims to share what he has learned through his years of UX to create an energized experience for all of his students. The class focuses on teaching graphic design for new technologies, which in turn, provides skills on how to develop designs that work for other people. 

Students are exposed to human-centered design approaches and how to take data results and improve designs to what the user wants and develop patterns that work. “The most rewarding part of teaching is when students reach that ‘ah-ha’ moment,” Matt said.

As a regular contributor to Adweek, I’m able to speak about diversity and inclusion to a much larger audience. Below is my most recent article “5 Ways to Make Job Interviews Less Awkward and More Accessible”  in its entirety.

October was National Disability Employment Awareness Month and the perfect time to look among staff at agencies and advertisers and consider how disability is represented beyond portrayals in campaigns and, more importantly, within the workforce.

Disability is gaining visibility in the ad industry, with many of the Cannes Lions winners featuring disability inclusion in their work. Caroline Casey, founder of the Valuable 500, a nonprofit driving global businesses to commit greater disability inclusion, recently hosted the panel Disability Inclusion: A Valuable Conversation. This positive momentum will continue as more disabled creatives, programmers, strategists and others compelled to advertising are welcomed into the industry as young professionals and those already employed are promoted to leadership positions where they can continue advocating for inclusion.

Hopefully hiring managers, human resource teams and everyone on the job hunt are aware of ethical, moral and social boundaries and etiquette when it comes to interviewing a marginalized person, whether that person in the hot seat is a woman, person of color, queer or a combination of any of those groups. But what if that person has a disability? A big barrier for many employers to consider hiring someone with a disability is the fear of perceived unknowns, such as unknown costs, unknown physical barriers and unknown distractions, among other considerations. Many of these unknowns may be brought up by hiring managers during the interview process as reasons for not selecting a viable candidate that has a disability.

The situation facing people with disabilities on the job market is so unique that the A&E Network premiered The Employables, which, according to the network, is a “groundbreaking new docuseries [that] follows job seekers with conditions such as autism or Tourette Syndrome as they work to overcome obstacles and find fulfilling employment.”

Hiring managers and disabled job seekers should consider the following disability-specific tips to make interviews less awkward and more accessible.

Ask about a company’s inclusion practices

Reach out to diversity and inclusion employee resource groups in an agency to gain insights. Ask questions on sensitive areas and other points to lean into. Or simply connect with one (or several) disabled staff members at the company that are open and comfortable to share a conversation about day-to-day agency experiences and how disability fits in to better guide the hiring process.

Meet with professional groups that advocate for diversity

Connect with industry professional organizations that help to foster greater inclusion in the workforce, such as the American Advertising Federation’s Mosaic Center for Multiculturalism, where anyone that is hiring or looking to be hired will find diversity and inclusion information.

Attend disabled student mentoring group events

Seek out disabled student mentoring organizations such as Lights! Camera! Access! 2.0 and consider attending one of its media, advertising and entertainment mentoring summits, which include guidance on self-disclosure and how to leverage your disability to sharpen your competitive edge.

Research an agency’s overall approach to disability

Understand how diversity and inclusion is, or isn’t, part of the agency’s culture and where disability fits in. Consider the most recent Cannes Lions winners that included disability in some way and which agencies led those creative campaigns. Dig deeper to find out how disability commitment is promoted within agencies and advertisers beyond inclusive ads.

Show, don’t tell, your strengths

Show how disability, diversity and inclusion bring out strengths of adaptability, ingenuity, creativity and commitment, all traits any hiring manager in the ad industry would agree are worthy of a candidate’s consideration. Be comfortable weaving disability into the narrative in a positive way to define your passions, personality and purpose. Often, there is a strong bond between disability and creativity, and in those instances, boldly include it at the forefront of the conversation.

One example of an individual connecting creative and disability is James Rath, who is a legally blind video producer. He wove his talents and disability together and produced Tommy Hilfiger’s inclusive ad and accessible campaign.

Disability isn’t one-dimensional. Disabled creatives and advertising staff don’t need to be segregated to only focus on disability-specific campaigns or creative elements unless that is an agreed-to role, such as a user experience specialist focused on accessible websites or an inclusive design strategist. Disabled staff will share a depth of insights to guide disability-specific campaigns, but also know that disabled creatives will bring bold ideas to any brainstorming session or boardroom meeting.

Because we took this month to celebrate, educate and value disability employment awareness, take the time to plan and discover how disability can be purposefully and proactively woven into your agency’s career recruitment efforts on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Be a champion for diversity and disability inclusion and a leader in your workforce to open the door, break the glass ceiling and welcome individuals from a group that has been marginalized, misunderstood and often invisible in advertising for so long. Look beyond diversity and inclusion quotas to the powerful qualifications and passions of so many creators in the disability community.

In a world where video content is king, strategy needs to be the crown jewel. What that really means is that, to build an effective content calendar, you need to know what types of content you should be making and at what lengths. With a landscape that is increasingly distracting, you might think that short-form is the leading lady. However, a quick look at the best content strategies in advertising (and especially on social channels) will argue a different point. Let me enlighten you.

First, let’s define what we mean by long-form. 

In the digital world, and specifically when talking about broadcast or digital advertising, long-form is anything over 30 seconds. Who knew? We’re not always talking about 20-minute clips when we say the word long-form.

When we talk about short-form content, we’re talking about 10 seconds or less, and then mid-length is in between. YouTube offers up some terminology that I’m going to steal here: Bite (0-0:10), Snack (0:10-0:30), Meal (0:30+). And thus, long-form content is the most filling. You’ll want to include long-form content in your strategy for that very reason. A careful incorporation of each of these will produce the most effective ROI for your brand.

Next, let’s discuss some content frameworks. 

Instead of just creating for the sake of creating, using a content framework can get everyone on the same branded page. There are three different types of content (actually four, since we added one) we use here at Designsensory when determining a content strategy for clients. 

• Halo: Halo refers to a larger segment of content that introduces your brand at a very high level. It could be a TV or streaming series or movie. (Halo is a content option that lets your brand speak for itself).

• Hero: This content type is specifically for informing or catching attention. Think of it as your big-picture, awareness content. (Side note: hero can be great short-, mid-, and long-form content).

• Hub: Hub content is a shorter series format that is more focused on product or service. It includes in-depth content specific to your audience’s interests. (Again: This lends itself to a longer storytelling approach).

• Help: This might be self-explanatory. Help content is answering questions that your users have for your brand. We’re talking tutorials, how-to’s, customer service, etc. (Last side note: notice which videos are doing well and at which length. Rinse. Repeat).

Now, let’s wrap it all together.

Each of these formats can expand into unique long-form setups. The more people are willing to watch long-form, the more invested they are in your brand. In essence, I’d always recommend getting a media plan from an expert (you know, like Designsensory), but you should always be exploring ways to establish your brand and its content in a sustainable way. Start with a strong concept and stay consistent. Then, as you’re pushing it out, or placing it in the digital world, keep a track record of what’s working and what isn’t. The key to success is adjusting to your users, but ensuring you place different content lengths is also pivotal.

Before we go, enjoy one of my favorite pieces of hub content, Undercover Lyft. And, of course, an indescribable brand favorite: Apple. They do a solid job of segmenting their hero content from hub and help. We also do a hero, hub, help model when advertising Bristol Motor Speedway and Zoo Knoxville, from awareness videos and micro campaigns to a digital series. Go create great (longer) content!