Strong Creative always starts with a Strong Visual.  In this print ad for Bobcat Compact Equipment Trendsetters Media Group carefully selected the iconic photo originally used by J.M. Flagg in 1917 as a poster for war recruitment. The photo was based on the original British Lord Kitchener poster of three years earlier and was used to recruit soldiers for both World War 1 and World War 2. Flagg used a modified version of his own face for Uncle Sam, and veteran Walter Botts provided the pose. The face also bears resemblance to the real Samuel Wilson.  A strong image always has an immediate emotional connection to the viewer and subliminally hooks you before the mind has a chance to defend its intuitions.

Still uncertain about the importance of a strong visual?  Take in consideration that this photo is 94 years of age and still is in high use today.  J.M. Flagg’s photo has immediate recognition even with today’s generation.

In the marketing industry we are often charged with trying to develop creative with less than desireable photographs, as well as struggle from time to time to try to get clients to budget the necessary money and time to either research and  purchase the perfect visual or budget for a unique photo shoot.   It’s funny how clients will invest thousands of dollars in print, tv, radio placement etc. and still want to skimp out on the creative.

The creative is without a doubt the most important part of everything that we do.  It’s the sole piece that stands between excellent results and just mediocre.  The next time your told, “just use that, it will be okay”  maybe you should stand up for what you know is right and reply “I think we’ll pass, were not interested in being a part of mediocrity !”

This is our featured website project of the week.  The Molly The Milk Leader Concept/Vision was conceived by Gina Clower and Kay Bradley and brought to life by the Team at The TSM Group.

Molly is the new state wide representative for The Tennessee Dairy Farmers and your local dairy products.

Here are a few things that you may not know about Molly!  Molly in her truest form and original colors was designed out of the color palette Neapolitan featuring strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla, which are the core dairy product colors.

Molly personifies three individual distinct characters; Molly the Milk Leader (cheerleader), Molly the Educator, and Fitness Molly!  Molly is in great shape, has an awesome spirit, and always includes dairy in her and her families diet.

From the beginning of this project Molly  always had a ton of school spirit, however the TSM Group was challenged with  Molly needing to be neutral,but at the same time be representative of all the schools in  the state of Tennessee.  This was accomplished by web master Josh Anderson of the TSM Group,  by utilizing universal programming languages and action scripts to allow the user to answer the question Who’s Your Molly?

This interactive functionality lives in the top left side of the website design and allows the user to pick their team colors by clicking on the desired color icon which totally changes Molly and her surroundings.  You can see Molly as University of Tennessee Molly, Tennessee Titans Molly, and of several of the high school team color combinations.

The site is totally custom, fully illustrated, and mobile friendly.  The Molly site also has integrated access to Molly’s social suite of You Tube and Face Book with a Blog Coming Soon.

We would invite you to explore this project and let us know what you think. You can reach Molly at www.mollythemilkleader.com.

Don’t Forge the Milk!

As I sit and Blog about social media, I can’t help but think how many recent misconceptions I have encountered in casual conversation with successful business owners recently. You hear things in corporate boardrooms like…

“Do you tweet?”
“We need to get a Facebook account.”
“Man, I just don’t have time for that stuff. ”
“Hey it’s free.”

In theory things like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, WordPress, and the list of ongoing social and or visual media depository platforms that continue to find their way into our daily vocabulary are absolutely free. Yes I said it. FREE. So why not use them.

Clearly Identifying the Who!
Who’s going to use it?  Who will set it up and maintain it?  Who’s going to customize it to ensure continuity with your current web presence?  Who’s going to populate it with content and keep it current and active?  Where’s that content going to come from?  How often will you have to update this new online word consuming monster?  What will your customers want to see on your social sites?  Who will be on the other end of the dialog box posed and ready to reply to the millions of potential hungry consumers ready to eat up your digital outlets and consume any value that you’re ready to serve up on a platter.

Who is this Who?
Most companies throw their organizations into the online wind without ever identifying the who only to find out that their social sites develop a negative digital image that is quick to mature but slow to fade.

Meanwhile back in the board room…

“Well, Bob this social media thing has gotten out of hand.  Have you seen some of the things being said about us by our customers?  We’re going to have to shut this thing down.”

Have you ever tried to cancel a free, online account?  Let just all agree to LOL on that one.

Free, meet Paid!
Back in the boardroom…

“Bob I believe were going to have to hire someone to monitor and advocate for us online.”

…and social media becomes paid media!

Meet the Social Media Directors. They’re savvy, street-smart, and digitally intelligent. They’re great communicators, sales-oriented, wear the marketer and consumer caps simultaneously, seemingly at least. They understand the brand. They’re great writers, and they’re company intelligence is (must be) boardroom level.  A true Social Media Director is a senior-level employee that simply doesn’t work for free.

Considering hopping aboard the social highway?  The Routes are many, the gas is high (but always there), and the exits are miles apart!

It might be better to burn out than to fade away.

Just Sayin!

A blog or a tweet. Just how long should they be? A tweet is seemingly short unless u r (excuse my short hand as this post is being drafted on an I-Phone which in the TSMG handbook code HB-19:31 this is allowed) of course talking about a blog tweet which is slightly longer by nature. However a blog is of the cloud family in the tweet universe of Post! The blog universe of Post used to be a quiet blog spot but not since the recent discovery by the blogettes! I thing blogging before bed gets a bit blogless! GN!